Penetration

Robert Blamire – Bass, Pauline Murray – Vocals, Gary Smallman – Drums, Gary Chaplin, Neale Floyd & Fred Purser – Guitars

Make no mistake Penetration were a big league band and seen by their record company Virgin as so. Formed like so many after seeing the Sex Pistols the band was lead by Pauline No Name (Murray) and Robert Blamire. Unusually they immediately had positive features/interviews in the music press for their performances and music and played all the usual classic punk venues like the Roxy Club and Vortex.

They were late getting a single out with a one-off deal with Virgin Don’t Dictate in winter 1977. A second one-off deal followed with Firing Squad and they lost guitarist Gary Chaplin just before its release and a major tour. Undeterred the band replaced him with superfan Neale Floyde

Finally Virgin offered them a deal and it was substantial at £100k. The band also took a step that would divide fans and critics to this day onboarding extra guitarist Fred Purser to fatten their sound who was more rock inclined with his riffs and solos.

The band became rockier and their image softened. The hunt was on for a hit and to break the band commercially but singles like Danger Signs, Life’s A Gamble and Come Into The Open all just missed. Arguably their name and commendable refusal to capitalise on singer Pauline as frontperson probably wouldn’t have helped. Their debut album Moving Targets received rave reviews but was blighted by Virgin’s coloured vinyl debacle that lead to the band publicly slagging the label off in the music press.

Regardless Virgin supported them but the band were now on the industry treadmill that required product and touring to maintain their growth. The final straw was an intensive tour of the States that brought niggles in the band to a head. After going into the studio, recording their final album Coming Up For Air and releasing it guitarist Neale announced he was leaving and spontaneously at a gig at Newcastle City Hall in October 1979 Pauline announced onstage the band was splitting.

And so ended Penetration.


Unlike many other bands, Penetration maintain an absolute fans delight of a website and of course the obligatory Facebook page.

Like so many others Pauline Murray and Robert Blamire, from Ferryhill  County Durham, were spurred into forming a band by seeing the Sex Pistols in May 1976 and also had the traditional influences of New York Dolls, Iggy and Roxy Music. The and also visited McLaren and Westwood’s shop Seditionaries and bought clothes and McLaren tells them there will be a scene in England to rival the New York one.

They had some sort of band around October 1976 that may have been called The Points and played a gig at the Middlesborough Rock Garden. 

The name change to Penetration came from a poster on Pauline’s boyfriend’s wall. Though the name was a good one, coming from Iggy & The Stooges song and sounding suitably punky, it would arguably (like The Slits) become a liability later on in terms of commercial acceptance.

It would be Christmas before the band took on guitarist Gary Chaplin and then Gary Smallman on drums so by January the band were ready to go.

Gigs came by just ringing up and asking to support bands like The Stranglers they played their first London gig at the famous Roxy Club on 10th April 77 supporting Generation X. This first gig in the bright lights of London was fondly recalled by Pauline

Pauline We spent a fortune getting down there. We thought it was great. Then when we got there it was such a dump. I don’t know what we were expecting but it wasn’t quite that. But we did get our first real publicity from that so it wasn’t that bad.”   NME, 10.6.78

It also resulted in some oddness with a proposed single contract that made the NME of 23.04.1977 with the very strange Rui Da Costa (aka Rui Castrator) of The Warm and Warm Records who was described as The Adverts manager. It must have been for this reason the band sent a 5 song demo to him and he tried to first sign them up to a single with a dodgy contract, then record them at the Roxy Club without success. He then booked them for an event with The Adverts and his own band The Normal for a soiree of 600 Portuguese immigrant football fans. There was some kerfuffle as the bands allegedly ate the food for the evening, insulted the Portuguese flag and got drunk but the question really was WTF was the thinking behind this event! This was Penetration’s first publicity.

From spring 1977 onwards, events in punk speeded up and the newly formed independents were beginning to supply records to an eager unsaturated market and majors dipping their toes in. The band had also sent their demo to their local Virgin Record shop who passed it to head office and their interest was duly aroused.

Newcastle City Hall and togs from the shop ‘Sex’ – Photo Credit Cindy Stern

The band were very distinctive on the punk circuit with Pauline’s spiky punky looks dressed in Sex Clothing, distinctive vocals and the band’s full aural assault and a great draw. They played The Roxy Club, Vortex and Nashville to name a few of the venues.

Vortex – Photo Credit – Mick Mercer

Burchill & Parsons in their excoriation of punk described Pauline’s voice as “distinctive, soulful. Slick English voice” but reduced by punk to “ screeching like a frenzied housewife.” And suggested talking her band out of circulation while punk died and then “display that extraordinary soaring, searing voice to the public afresh.”

According to music papers Decca, Miles Copeland and Virgin were interested but the band went with a one single deal with Virgin (like X Ray Spex)with the label an option to extend. Their relationship with Virgin always seemed a little challenging. They weren’t overly happy with the production of their first single Don’t Dictate and were presented with a fait accompli for the cover. Though their insistence on basing themselves in Ferryhill and travel up and down to London, though admirable, didn’t help them.

I’d rather live outside London. I think it helps you work better…it means you really have to prove yourselves. There’s a bit of prejudice against the bands from outside London…But it definitely  gives you time to sort yourselves out.  Zigzag, June 78

Virgin dithered after their first single option over whether to sign or release Penetration and released Firing Squad again as another one-off single. It would be June 1978 before they got a contract for an album and one week before the option was due to run out. That came at a gig the band were headlining at The Marquee.  Virgin arrived backstage just as the band were belting each following an argument. That said they gave the band a not inconsiderable advance of £100k

Pauline & Gary – Nashville 1977 – Photo Credit Mick Mercer

By then they had lost original guitarist Gary Chaplin around February (1 week before a major tour supporting the Buzzcocks and as they were finishing off Firing Squad) and replaced him with Neale Floyd (a hardcore fan of the band who knew the songs).

Neale Floyd left

They also took on a second guitarist Fred Purser some four months later. Fred was more rockier and provided a metallic edge and flashier solos to the songs just before going into the studio to record their album. This wasn’t always perceived positively given HM’s negative press and connotations.

The introduction of Purser was also a surprise to Neale Floyd who had thought it was going to be a keyboard player to fill out and embellish the sound. In an interview with Eccentric Sleeve Noise website in 2021 he revealed the band wasn’t a democracy and that decisions were made by Pauline and Robert. This was one of them.

Fred Purser far right

The band also saw the delay in being signed as working to their advantage rather than a hindrance allowing them to develop and improve rather than a hindrance.

Pauline I’m prepared to wait . We’re probably not ready yet anyway ..but we will be.” Pauline asserts that the groups that take the longest to ‘make it’ also last the longest. NME 10.6.78

 … In the beginning we tended to be ignored by the rock press, and it used to get a bit annoying like there were lots of other bands who we knew we were better than who were getting more coverage. But in the long road its worked out well, because a lot of bands who got coverage very early on in their career have burned themselves out straight afterward.

It was a curious statement given that a band had an interview before they even had a record out then one after and in mid-1978 a full two-page NME interview with Adrian Thrills and all overwhelmingly positive. In fact, by the end of their career, they probably had more front pages than any other punk band.

They also saw the explosion of bands and divergence of punk as something positive and healthy but there was the challenge for the record label in how to market them to be a commercially viable band and that was a challenge. Fair play to the band that they resisted the obvious ploy to market Pauline as the sexy punkette lead singer.

Pauline.. I don’t think of myself as a girl…we’ve never considered Pauline as anything different from just another member of the group. Why should she be any different? Its person to person that important.

“I’m always aware that people see a girl singer as an obvious attraction. Its up to me  to show it isn’t like that…I don’t think I flaunt myself for instance”   Pauline, Zigzag,  June 78

Regardless it did make promotion more challenging and though Penetration offered another strand on the post-punk narrative but there were quite a lot of buts.

Again, though their image had softened from short shorn hair, bondage strides and leather at The Vortex to to headbands (Pauline) and less threatening threads, their name as we’ve said earlier, could be perceived as aggressively sexually. It was a great 1976/1977 name but in 1978 and how the band had developed arguably now mismatched and a hindrance. But it was too late to change. Fantastic commercial songs like Firing Squad didn’t help either with their titles.

Long gone are the punk threads – Penetration 1979

Interestingly 3 other female formed bands were in the same position as them in the delay before being signed –  Siouxsie, X Ray Spex and The Slits. Siouxsie developed their angular sound and released The Scream the same time as Moving Targets and had a massive top 20 hit with Hong Kong Garden. X Ray Spex didn’t change a thing, signed to EMI and had multiple hits though Poly had a breakdown under the pressure. The Slits had ousted drummer Palmolive and were beginning their journey of completely changing their look and sound.

It was probably these elements that caused Virgin marketing to come up with the ploy of releasing Moving Targets on glow in the dark vinyl. It certainly got publicity because the quality was so bad it was a regular in the music weeklies letter pages with irate punters writing in and got to the stage where the band replied in the letters pages and slagged Virgin off.

Virgin certainly pulled out the stops. There were interviews and front covers on the music weeklies supported by full-page ads but no chart breakthrough.

Just half a year later and Virgin were landing punk singles in the charts like no tomorrow with The Members (clear vinyl), Skids (white vinyl) and Ruts (just black) but for Penetration there was no breakthrough which was the same for labelmates Magazine.

From here the treadmill started with tours and interviews. Virgin would have been aware of Miles Copeland’s success with Squeeze and The Police in America and they followed his model. The band went to America and toured for five weeks playing up to two shows a night and were mentally and physically exhausted. For some bands it makes and for others, it breaks. Arguments were starting to happen.

Pauline says this was when the band were ‘connected to the machine’: “It was too much. It was non-stop. We were physically and mentally burnt out. We were really young. It was something that we loved to do but we worked so much that we just got sick of it. It became a job and that’s not what I’d want to do as a job.” Robert agrees, “We never saw it as a career… But if you’ve got management it’s the way that you’re going to climb up the ladder. You go out there and work.” Simon Mackaye, Eccentric Sleeve Notes

Generating excitement and a buzz means more product and once back they were required by Virgin in the studio to write a second album. While the first had over a year and a half to gestate and develop, they now had to write on the fly and come up with the goods and the result was Coming Up For Air which is what the band probably felt like.

They all felt jaded and with the record just released, Neil Floyd, who was the co-writer in the band, decided he had had enough and announced he wanted to leave. Part of the burn out he attributed to Pauline and Robert who accepted all the constant tours. He was left from the band on the dole with an amp and guitar and £25k bill from the advance.

In October 1979 the band played Newcastle City Hall that was being recorded for a live album when Pauline suddenly announced they would be splitting. Their last gig was at the London Nashville Gig on the 5th November their last.

Fred and Neale left – Gary, Pauline and Robert right

Pauline Murray I never wanted to be in Penetration and to be worrying all the time. I wanted it to be fun, not to be always thinking of hit singles and cracking America and writing for the next LP. NME, October 1979

Pauline MurrayI think we were a bit of a weird band really. We were always vulnerable. Looking back I think we were truer to what it was all about than anyone else. We were absolutely pure punk spirit. We came from this place – Ferryhill, Newcastle and although we’ve seen these people in London were very calculated, we didn’t know that. We just went out and did it. We even split up when things started to go horrible ! Split up and destroyed ourselves. Quote source forgotten


Don’t Dictate/ Money Talks
(Virgin November 1977)

Classic punk rock with mid-tempo riff with shout a long defiant vocals from Pauline. Like for X Ray Spex, this was a one-off single for Virgin to test the waters. The band wasn’t overly happy with the production and the cover was done without them. This single wasn’t really indicative of the band’s set of songs but a good marker. While it may not have sold buckets, Virgin signed the band for another one off single.


Firing Squad / Never
(Virgin May 1978)

Fantastic single with a galloping danceable beat with superb catchy tune. The only thing stopping this being a perfect 45 was the solo in the middle which seems a little forced and superflous. This should have been the breakthrough for the band what with a set of strong songs, a high-profile tour with the Buzzcocks and major label push. Was the name of the band (like for The Slits) a blocker? and the title of the song and the bland black and white cover probably didn’t help. It wasn’t a hit, but must have sold fairly well, as after this second one off single Virgin offered them a major deal.

Gary Chaplin left the band almost straight after the recording. The band were pissed off by this and though they left in his rhythm guitar they rerecorded the middle solo with new guitarist Neale Floyde and replaced his image on the back cover.

Clif White in the NME of 20.5.78 described it as .. a fast-phased and largely indecipherable rocker…Unlikely to harm their fast-growing reputation but it won’t be one to boost them into the major league.

Bob Geldof in Record Mirror 20.5.78.. described it as “…a dense neo-psychedelic sound- very oppressive, very worrying…Pauline is a great singer.”


Life’s A Gamble / VIP
(Virgin October 1978)

Superb single from the Moving Targets album demonstrating Penetration’s qualities of Pauline’s voice. Well arranged commercial song with a heavier rockier sound to differentiate them apart. Nice cover with sperm! The latter wasn’t to everyone’s taste as the reviews show. Neal Floyd also reveals the pressure was on.

He remembers the recording session as being ‘a funny one’ and that there was a lot of pressure to have a hit single. Mike Howlett and Mick Glossop were producing again. They chopped the song up and moved the pieces around. Neale says, “They spent all day on it, but then put it back to how it was … So, I don’t know how much that cost us.” Eccentric Sleeve Notes Website

In the NME of 14.10.78 the band found themselves praised by Paul Morley for their album with the song described as “exquisite” and pilloried by July Burchill in the same week’s singles column.

Julie Burchill Penetration used to be all bang-thump-punk but these days they’re quite musical apart from an awful guitar whose ego needs neutering…she [Pauline] does write embarrassing words, all profound titles and gargantuan insights which ordinary people take in their stride day in, day out…They aren’t even a dance band, with that aimless beat like a fiend from hell on their back and Pauline’s voice inevitably deteriorating into a fish-wife bawl. Essentially a band all worked up with nowhere to go

Jon Savage The danger signs appear on the back sleeve with the band presented as a ‘rock’ group…..Change oriented lyrics given sharpness by Pauline’s soaring vocals and a gorgeous hook, for which you’re kept waiting a little too long. Is consequently undersold for true precision and power as a 45….I’m not sure this is the right choice either for what they want. Sounds, 7.10.78

Penetration at the Reading Festival 1978


Danger Signs / Stone Heroes (Live)
(Virgin April 1979)

Another catchy single with enough hooks and tune that again should have been a massive hit but inexplicably wasn’t. From here on in the covers no longer feature the band and go very abstract. Single of the week in the NME 21.4.79 by Charles Shaar Murray

A big black 12″ in an opulently bleak modern sleeve. Danger Signs finds Penentraion sounding uncannily like Blue Oyster Cult when they were good. and Pauline exuding all the deadpan menace of Grace Slick when she was good…boasts a loopy, flash guitar solo, a serpentine melody and an impressive hint of reserve power….People who don’t like Penentraion {or did before they got successful] are fond of accusing them of having gone Heavy Metal…but Danger Signs remains simultaneously untainted by either flatulent pomposity of mindless thrashing, two of the most prominent characteristics of bad HM.


Come Into The Open / Lifeline
(Virgin August 1979)

Final single completes a fine run of 5 singles and it’s a very mature-sounding band displaying a fine sense of song dynamics, quiet build-up to the main riff and tune with changes of speed and textures and restrained lead guitar. This won’t go down well, but later Rush seem to my ears to sound a lot like Penetration 1978/1979. Make of that as you will!

Moving Targets (Virgin October 1978)

Punk77 says: My memory of the album was a whole load of angry readers’ letters into the music weeklies because the luminous vinyl crackled and popped. The band, who were against the whole release on coloured vinyl and saw it as a gimmick, urged people, to send them back in and get a refund.

But what about the music? I’ve always struggled with Penentration’s music. Some of it I love, but on the whole it just doesn’t appeal as I don’t always feel the more rocky guitar works and I don’t always like Pauline’s vocals. But that’s the beauty of music – it’s all opinions. Picks – Life’s A Gamble, Lovers of Outrage and Stone Heroes. Interestingly the album features two cover versions – Patti Smith’s Free Money from her 1976 debut Horses and the Buzzcocks’ Nostalgia from the album Love Bites which was released at the same time as this album.

Mick Mercer They brought to Punk something nobody else had managed or dared to attempt: Compassion…they brought a naked emotion and undeniably trustworthy fury. In refusing to adhere to a strict, severe musical policy, striving for the expansion of their ideals…they came up with the most advanced debut album to come out of the initial punk period.

The debut album Moving Targets was and remains, a classic of adventurous capricious mystery and zeal. A questing, arresting collection which ignored the first two singles  and plunged straight ahead with the breathtaking  sensurround sounds of Future Daze, Life’s a Gamble …..and a cover of a Patti Smith song Free Money…. the glistening songs all interspersed with unpredictable, slower material that sucked you in.”  Spiral Scratch #15, April 1990

The music journos loved the album.

Bev Briggs Record Mirror 14.10.1978

Paul Morley New Musical Express review 14.10.1978

Click for larger readable images

Coming Up For Air (Virgin September 1979)

With barely 6 months passing since the last album followed by relentless touring including a mind and body-sapping tour of the States meant that Virgin’s request for more product to keep the momentum going put immense strain on the band. So much so that this would be their final release and they would split in October. With less time to write and develop the songs its still a failr strong album and follows the same formula of the first. Less well-received than Moving Targets

Mick Mercer Under such trying circumstances you would imagine that Come Into The Open would be a prime contender for second album syndrome, but this isn’t the case. The climactic rock of On Reflection, Shout Above The Noise and the title track have a stern yet joyous touch about them. The emotional secrecy of She Is The Slave and Last Saving Grace is freshly invigorating, and the weirdness of the breathless The Part’s Over is as bewildering now as ever. New Recruits and the daft Killed In The Rush seem too obvious but the tremulous Challenge and Lifeline lend a grinding touch somewhat, with hindsight, an oddly menacing, disturbing album, with plenty of lyrical clues as to Pauline’s unhappiness. Spiral Scratch #15, April 1990

Life’s Gamble – Pauline Murray Omnibus 2022

Life’s A Gamble is the autobiography of singer-songwriter Pauline Murray who was the vocalist for punk band Penetration and later on the post-punk Invisible Girls.

Penetration were an old school early Punk band who were tipped for great things while all Virgin punk signings were having hit but never broke through and suddenly split up in late 1979 after their second album came out.

First off the book is exquisite. It’s an A4 hardback with a fantastic picture by Ray Stevenson of Pauline in a beret on the front in Johnny Rotten’s old pulled apart pullover. Inside is equally as sumptuous, from the way the writing is laid out to the choice of images pulled from the very early stages of their career (mainly from her ex-husband Cindy Stern) through their lifespan. The only thing missing is one of those lovely bits of string in the binding to enable you to bookmark a suitable spot.

A point to notice is that the whole book, as you’d expect because it’s an autobiography of Pauline, is all from her viewpoint and that essentially by the end of 1977 Pauline and Robert Blamire were the key people and decision makers in the band which would have consequences to what happened to the band.

The other notable thing about the book is out of all of the punk bands who who came into being Penetration came from a background so different from the tower blocks and urban London or Manchester city life. Their roots was a working class mining village. A strength of the book is the way Pauline doesn’t just recount a standard rock tale but also tells the story into her roots of where she lived and her parents and you can see how it informed some of here lyrics which are also shown.

The book could just as easily been called Being In A Band Is A Gamble or Danger Signs and I would suggest it is essential reading for any aspiring band just setting out on their journey or getting some attention on the pitfalls of being in a band.

Punk short circuited the need to spend years developing and improving your stage presence and an ability. At the same time that created its own problems as inexperienced musicians and interpersonal relationships were at the mercy of savvy record companies and management and thrust into the spotlight at such a rapid speed it pressured and forced cracks in those bands.

And Penetration had it all and arguably made every mistake. As their history unfolds they get dodgy contract offers for a first single and to appear on the Live At The Roxy album having only played a couple of gigs. A one off deal with Virgin Records takes an age to turn into something bigger and that offer, though big, basically means the band will have nothing unless there is big success. Meanwhile they have key members leave the band and new members join and they have Virgin suggesting they need additional members which causes friction and unbalances the band when Pauline & Robert make their choice.

There’s very little mention of Pauline being a female fronted band. It doesn’t appear that Virgin pressured the band into trying to focus on Pauline which is admirable. The portrayal of touring of late nights, poor food then home and no respite as friends and family visit, is always in the background and there’s the unspoken continued support of her husband. In fact the only time personal relationships come in is during the Invisible Girls period where Pauline splits up with her husband after she realises her and Robert Blamire are in love and their manager then declares his love interest in her as well!

They have management troubles with another poor contract and end up on an endless cycle of tours as Virgin unsuccesfully try to get a hit. They finally end up in the States on the harshest of tour treadmills and then the demand for another record before they have enough material causes guitarist Neale Floyd to quit and the band call it a day with nothing and actually owing Virgin money.

It’s a relieved Pauline who comes across most proud of her work in the Invisible Girls and then her solo stuff which again aren’t successfully commercially and she’s loses her record deal before stepping away and then Penetration coming back again.

Highly recommended book. For an alternative view see Neale Floyd’s memories here. They differ somewhat and offer some balance.



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