Curiously Smashed
This post is looking at a town in Hertfordshire located about 20 miles north of London called Welwyn Garden City and a couple bands from that neck of the woods. The 'Garden City' bit relates to the urban planning movement set up in the 1920's which saw areas outside of London such as Letchworth and Welwyn develop and combine the space for residences, industry and agriculture, but away from the City and located in areas of countryside.
Above Letchworth in all it's 'plant based garden glory', a mere 20 minutes away from Welwyn, to be honest I tried to find a decent picture of Welwyn, but got sadly disappointed 😁. Anyway as well as the above Garden type nonsense it also appears to have 'cultivated' some bands over the years, so enough with the waffle and on to the music...
Johnny Curious?
To start with an interesting little punk number from the band Johnny Curious and The Strangers. The band evidently supported The Stranglers in 1977 and they recorded the track below 'Pissheadsville' in '77 at Spaceward Studios, the track was engineered by Gary Lucas (one of the founders of the studios).
All the tracks were recorded for the 7" single called 'In Tune' on the Independent 'Illegal Records' label and it was properly released as a single in 1978. The record label was founded by Miles Copeland brother of Stuart Copeland, drummer with The Police. Miles kicked the label off in 1977 and released The Police's first track called 'Fall Out', the label then expanded 'over the pond' with I.R.S. Records, releasing for artists such as Wall Of Voodoo, The Go Go's and R.E.M.
Track List
- In Tune
- Road To Cheltenham
- Pissheadville
- Jennifer
They were originally formed from the ashes of a band called Mask from Welwyn Garden City in 1976.
The Band
- Bob Green - Bass/Vocals
- Ian Cowley - Drums
- John Phillips - Guitar/Vocals
- Alan Cowley - Guitar/Vocals
Guessing that Ian and Alan were in some way related, otherwise Oh! what a coincidence😉
They seemed to record quite a few songs at the studio including tracks such as 'Stainless Steel Rat', 'The Pit, 'Brainless'. I can only guess perhaps they were recorded but never released?
They played many gigs in the local area as well as some of the most well know London clubs of the time such as The Vortex, The 100 Club and The Marquee to name but a few.
You can catch a little more about them including and interview on the wonderful punk77.co.uk website.
S*M*A*S*H
So, flipping forward into the early part of the 1990's and another band from Welwyn Garden City called S*M*A*S*H. I brought their cassette E.P. called 'Spring in 1994 released on the Virgin Records sub label called Hi Rise Recordings, it was brought on a bit of a whim as I hadn't heard of them before, sometimes that is the best way!😉 I was happily surprised, I instantly liked their sound and attitude, a little punky/new wave and certainly loud. They actually got lumped into a genre called 'The New Wave Of New Wave'...sigh! you can't beat another good old music genre.
Track List
- Real Surreal
- Drugs Again
- Revisited No.3
- Lady Love Your C*nt
- Shame
Catch a couple of their tracks at the youtube links above for a taste of their sound.
The Band
- Salv (a.k.a Salvatore Alessi) - Bass
- Ed Borrie - Guitar/Vocals
- Rob Hague - Drums
They formed in the mid 80's and were a bit 'edgy' and caused some stir in one of their tracks (I Want To) Kill Somebody which reached #26 in charts of the day. but was banned due to it's subject matter. As a band they toured relentlessly often gigging under the name S*H*I*T*E, so were quite happy to take the p*ss out of themselves, they were loved by the fans in the UK, but remained relatively unknown elsewhere despite releasing a single on the US based Sub Pop Label and touring both the States and Europe. They were to disband in 1996 with Salv going to work with Carter USM, have a check out of their well known Indie hit 'Sheriff Fatman' at the youtube link.
Video Sources
Picture Sources
Photo by Nathan McDine on Unsplash
Photo by Nick Hawkes on Unsplash