Public Heirs

The Public Heirs were a punk band from Southsea in Hampshire and featured Finn Panton on guitar. Dave Cairns the drummer was originally playing in Arms & Legs (which featured a young Joe Jackson before he went solo and relased 3 singles) before he formed the Public Heirs in late 1977 with Finn Panton (Guitar), Ken Gardner (Vocals) and Martin Sawtell (Bass) from covers band Lycanda. Demos were done but never released till 2015. Interestingly the band reformed in the mid eighties playing gigs and releasing records for a number of years before again folding in 1987.

Finn Panton I was into punk when it started. Initially I was in a rock n roll type band called Lycanda. Punk came out and there was all this shit about musicians not being able to play and some couldn’t play for sure but some were really good ones you know. We took the piss and thought anyone can do this. At the time I was listening to Neat Neat Neat and we tried playing it and we thought fuck me, the speed they play it and the skill needed; this is serious stuff and that was it we became a punk band.

We went through a couple of names for the band like Bleed Lip or The Magazines before Magazine. We changed to the Public Heirs in 1977. This was Portsmouth Fareham and we played the Barn and The Rotary Club. There was a riot at one of our gigs. We did mostly originals but did some covers. Whenever we did Pretty Vacant the place would go nuts. There’s be fights and chaos but it was great. 

Punk77 Interview November 2021

The local Punk scene. Where we were there was just us and The Dials. I watched The Dials and they were genuinely Punk; they just could not play. I had to get on and play the drums for them at their only gig at the Fareham Youth Club. Not sure if they ever got it together to do another one but they looked the part! (Laughs and chuckles.) There was more of a scene in Southampton. We used to play some of the little towns around but the locals couldn’t understand us at all and we did get bottled a fair bit.

I don’t know why we split up. Joe Jackson left his band Arms And Legs who were one of the biggest bands in our area. I nearly joined with him. He took some members from his band and they took members from our band leaving me on my own. 

Punk77 Interview November 2021

FORMED DECEMBER 1977 from the ashes of ARMS N LEGS [Joe Jackson] and LYCANDA [Finn, Mart & Ken]…played the first punk rock gigs in Fareham Hants playing the Rotary club Portsmouth with CHAOS 78,the ROUNDABOUT HOTEL Fareham 1978, Fareham’s first punk gig along with the now legendary DIALS . played the ALHAMBRA Brighton normally stalked BY Peter and the TEST TUBES and THE PIRANHAS…the Oranges and Lemons in Oxford, the BARN in PORTSMOUTH 78.[Still going] south PARADE PIER Portsmouth supporting SHAM 69 who never showed up!78 then 80s dates at the 100 Club, Fulham Greyhound, Dingwalls and many more. The last gig was the 100 club in 1987

Not many 1978 photos floating around; we didn’t really bother. But these seem to be from the Portsmouth Pier Sham 69 non appearance gig 1978. We were the support but ended up headlining…might have been Xmas 77.

The Public Heirs did actually make it to the studio and were present at a defining moment in music history. Good or bad – you take your pick!

Finn Panton The Public Heirs did a studio session. We got picked up by an agent in London and he put us in Leatherhead studios to do a single of some songs that he’d written that were absolute shit but we tried to make the best of it. In the studio at the same time was this bunch of blond poseurs we thought were never going to go anywhere and we heard their name which was The Police. They were doing Roxanne  and we were doing some shitty thing I can’t even remember; Temperance Lady I think it was called. We were wrong about them weren’t we? (laughs) So there was a connection there with Menace already with the Copeland angle. 

Punk77 Interview November 2021

They also managed some demos in 1978 featuring the songs New Wave and Broken Down which were finally released on Projectile Platters records in 2015.

Here’s a little clip below.

Finn would go on to join Eyes, another Southampton band and play on their second single for Raw. He went onto have a long and varied career in multiple bands (Headhunters & Junior Manson Slags to name just two of many) for the next forty years eventually returning to his punk roots when he fronted  Menace for 10 years. Sadly in August 2022 he tragically lost his prolonged fight with cancer. Sadly Dave and Ken from the band are also no longer with us.

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September 2022 – Dedicated to Finn Panton – An unsung Hero
Images from Public Heirs Facebook Page

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