The Maniacs
When we last left The Rings they had just ousted Twink from the band and mutated into The Maniacs. With already a full set of material, they were ready to go with Alan Lee Shaw taking over vocals and live wire Robert Crash on bass. Their first gig was replacing The Rings at The Mont Marsan Punk Festival so imagine their suprise when they arrived to play and found Twink & The Rings still going and higher on the bill than them! C’est la vie!
They were joined onstage by guitarist Henry Paul, a friend of Johnny Thunders. This filling out of the guitar sound must have appealed to the guys because back in Blighty they auditioned for a bass player so Robert Crash could move on to second guitar. This never happened & they remained a three piece.
Around the end of 1977 they lost Robert Crash and Tony Bateman was brought in. It was shortlived as the band split in January 1978.
Ian Dickson By 1978, it was all beginning to fall apart and punk was becoming passe. We talked about adding a second guitar or keyboards and extending the range of songs and things like that, but in reality, there wasn’t that much enthusiasm by the end. Robert was the first to go then Rod joined The Adverts and Alan formed The Physicals. I don’t really know how far The Maniacs could have gone but what we got down on vinyl shows that they were a tight, musically competent outfit and you can’t ask for more than that.
Ian Dickson, Sounds photographer, became their manager and secured a deal with United Artists (home of The Stranglers, 999 & Buzzcocks) on the strength of a five track demo produced by Dave Goodman (early Sex Pistols & Eater producer) which should have led to bigger things but if they were honest I don’t think they had strong enough material.
One good single Chelsea 1977 / Ain’t No Legend (1978 United Artists). Hard driving with a stooges kind of guitar.
There was talk of an album but Andrew Lauder who signed the band to UA left and that was that.
Their life span was a matter of months but they were regulars at The Vortex which got them two songs on the Live At The Vortex album from the club released in December 1977 where they virtually had a residency – You Don’t Break My Heart and I Ain’t Gonna Be History. For me You Don’t Break My Heart is The Maniacs defining moment: fantastic riff and catchy chorus. It would have made a great single. As It happened that was it for them.
TalkPunk
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