The Addix
It was certainly getting congested namewise for the number of bands related to ‘addiction’. First there was the Drug Addix, then this band The Addix meaning another (soon to become fixated with Clockwork Orange) band had to lose a ‘d’ and became The Adicts! Got it? Not quite because The Addix WERE the Drug Addix just losing the ‘Drug’ and girl singer Mandy Doubt aka Kirsty McColl.
In Zigzag 1979 the Drug Addix had complained about the …” low volume, the lousy quality” of the single and promised “The next one though, that’ll be the one – wait for it”. That next single was on… errr… Zigzag records.
It’s hard to be charitable about the single. At best you could argue it sounds curiously dated for late 1979 like late R&B Lurkers crossed with the New York Dolls which sounds better than it is! You decide.
Rick Smith: The Too Blind to See Release came out to great reviews and a entry into the Time Out top 10, but the week of it’s release ZigZag records promptly went bust!
It had been recorded in a single overnight session at Phonogram studios at Stanhope Gate. At the time budding young studio staff could make use of dead time to record artists that they talent spotted with a hope to a mutual leg up the ladder. The session was paid for with a gram of sulphate and a ¼ Oz of Moroccan, the talent spotting engineer who at the time was (along with Steve Lillywhite) a lowly tape op at the studio was Steve Brown who later produced the Cult and the George Michael album Faith.
The B side was recorded at Pukka studios next to Crystal Palace football ground (where the original 4 track demo that became the Chiswick release – Make A Record – was recorded), but as George’s girlfriend at the time wouldn’t let him out that night he’s absent from the recording.
Where are they now?
Rick Smith: I don’t know where Alan Offa (Bassist) is these days, but I do know that Ronnie Griffin (Drummer) sadly died last year from an overdose of prescription drugs.
George Lloyd: Rick now tour manages for major international rock acts. Alan Offa may be dead…always a ‘Addixive’ personality…heard a rumour that he started doing smack in a big way…I could be wrong……Ronnie Griffin was last seen daubing his estranged children with paint and proclaiming himself to be The Messiah, shortly before they wheeled him away.
I guess I’m probably the worst sell out in that I work as an engineer for Network Rail…not very rock n roll but still get out a bit to play. I have all my own teeth, hair and am still skinny and pretty…56 is looming large but I’m newly and duly dumped by my latest wife and ready to rock another day!
Bass – Alan Offer
Drums – Ronnie Griffin
Guitar – George Lloyd
Vocals – Rick Smith
Too Blind To See / No Such Thing As A Bad Boy – Zigzag Records 1979
