Rudi
Graham Marshall – Drums and Gordon Blair – Bass
Rudi were the first, and for some arguably the best Northern Ireland punk band. Though their clothes suggest a hardcore band, their glam and New York Dolls influences (and guitarist singer Brian Young was a total Johnny Thunders devotee) ensured they were tuneful guitar-driven more on the side of edgy pop punk.
Having their first singles on the now legendary Good Vibrations label is kudos, but they couldn’t make the move to the UK and capitalise on any success/critical acclaim like Stiff Little Fingers and The Undertones did and a final wrong decision of signing to The Jams record label instead of a major just before that band split did for them in the end.
Were they the best NI band? Listen and compare and make your own mind up.
Check out the excellent Spit Records site | Brian Young has fronted for many years the excellent rockabilly band The Sabrejets
If ever geography and circumstances conspired to kill a band it was Rudi.” Unfairly overlooked by the history books, its time to set the record straight on Rudi, the band that time forgot. Not sure where this frikkin quote came from!
Northern Ireland is not perhaps well known as a hotbed of musical talent let alone Punk. Yet for Brian Young armed with a band name stolen from a 1973 single by Jook – Rudi – they had the right credentials with influences such as the New York Dolls, Bowie and T Rex when punk came a knocking in mid 1976.
Building up a fearsome live reputation around Belfast through 1977, the classic line up was Brian Young on Vocals & Guitar, Ronnie Mathews on Vocals/Guitar, Graham Marshall on Drums and Gordon Blair (Ex Highway Star with Jake Burns!) on Bass. Songs in the set included the infamous Cops featuring the chant “SSRUC!”. On one of their live occasions, they were witnessed by Terri Hooley, who owned the record shop Good Vibrations, and who stumped up the money for the single Big Time in April 1978 and the Good Vibrations label was born. It sold by the bucket load and received a unanimous thumbs up from all quarters of the music press and radio.
In a way you can see trouble coming. It was mid 1978 and Rudi had only just released a single and the scene was already changing. So Rudi came to England to set the scene alight arriving in London without an agency and without a home. While gigs came in thick and fast, including Raped, their punk holiday in the smoke was cut short by our generous boys in blue the SPG who jailed Ronnie & Graham for a week and so the band to avoid further trouble returned straight home unable to build on their name.
So back to Belfast and more packed gigs. This was followed in February 1979 by the release of Overcome By Fumes on the double single Battle Of The Bands featuring among others The Outcasts. Things were picking up, Polydor were interested, John Peel was raving about them and they were featured on TV.
Another single in October I-Spy was released again to much acclaim yet still not breaking them. Big Time was re-issued. A couple of singles were recorded for release but never released. They did sessions for Mike Read. Instead of a major they opted to sign for The Jams label ‘Jamming’. Another single Crimson made Sounds single of the week though by this time they had long ceased having a punk sound and had become a threesome with keyboards.
With everything set up for the next single to tip them into the, excuse the phrase, ‘big time’ it all went pear-shaped as The Jam split and their record label folded. And then calling it a day Rudi was no more.
Time and time again through the site we’ve seen how success and the media can distort history. It must grate on Brian that mention Northern Ireland and we think of SLF and The Undertones as being the bands who achieved commercial fame and who gathered the plaudits. For them one single catapulted them into success and fair play to both they produced some excellent singles and albums to follow up and showed it wasn’t a fluke.
However it’s bands like Rudi who should be remembered and cherished as being a seminal part/ influence of the scene and through bad luck never made it. Buts that’s rock’n’roll and them’s the knocks!
Big Time / Number One
(Good Vibrations April 1978)
Good Vibrations were certainly masters of the fold out poster picture cover! Original sleeve was the Karloff mummy/lipstick design available in several colours of sleeve depending on what colour of paper it was printed on. Re-released in October 1979 in a completely different sleeve.
It’s the first Northern Ireland punk single and a frenetic punky, but tuneful romp, which is pretty much what Rudi served up in spades.
Battle Of The Bands ep – Overcome By Fumes
(Good Vibrations February 1979)
Another pop punk pearl. A kind of Subway Sect dry guitar and Clash lead riffing over the top was Rudi’s contribution to this sampler.
I-Spy / Genuine Reply / Sometimes / Ripped In Two
(Good Vibrations July 1979)
I Spy and Sometimes the pick here as the boys continue their well-crafted pop-punk tunes in the obligatory wrap-around sleeve.
A Fan’s View – Joe Donnelly, Belfast
It’s the 2nd of Feb 1978, I’m 15, and I’m entering Queens Uni Belfast for my first punk gig. The Adverts are headlining supported by two local bands, Stiff Little Fingers and Rudi. I’d been here a week earlier for a Buzzcocks gig which was called off because their van had broken down on the way to the ferry (true apparently) so I went home and missed a free gig by this band Rudi. I’d also been to the Ulster Hall in Oct 77 for a Clash gig that was cancelled at the last minute due to the insurance being withdrawn which ended up with a riot in the street, so at last a gig was going to happen and I was there.
SLF came on first, playing a set consisting of mostly punk cover versions with a few originals and were very good. Rudi were on next and from the first chord I was blown away. They were wearing bondage suits covered in graffiti and heavily made up.. I couldn’t believe it. I never thought there was a band like this in Belfast. My friends and me loved all the glam rock bands of the early seventies Bowie, Sweet, T Rex Mott etc. I had even discovered the New York Dolls a year and a half or so earlier…both LP’s for two quid in a second hand shop. I will admit that I was attracted to them by the photos on the covers rather than he music but after a few listens I got to like them and I still like them and listen to them today .
Rudi were just pure energy with great songs. At the end of their set sirens started to wail, the crowd began to chant SS RUC, the band launched into ‘We Hate The Cops’, the place went mental. In my over excitement I slipped on the wet floor an broke my wrist in two places. What a night !! What a band !! There s no way The Adverts could follow this and they couldn’t. From that day on I tried to get hold of some Rudi material but there was nothing available. I went to se them live again and eventually Big Time was released. A fantastic record and still a punk classic. This was a band who could go all the way.
In Mid 78 Inspired by Rudi and punk my friends and I decided to form a band The Producers…I didn’t last long. At Christmas 78 Rudi returned from a successful spell in London to play a fantastic couple of gigs with Raped. Rudi were my favorite NI band. I went to se them live in Belfast numerous times over the years as they packed out venues such as the famous Harp Bar and the Pound etc. and I bought all their records. Through time they got fed up with their continuing bad luck and decided to call it a day. I was sad to hear it but I was happy that I was there to see and hear this great band so many times (you don’t know what you missed).
I rate Rudi as highly as any band ..The Dolls, Pistols, Clash and that’s saying a lot for a local band. They were a Belfast band, our band and that made them special to their fans and I think of that first gig as a defining moment in my time as a punk. I can remember it as if it was yesterday. I was definitely in the right place that night. To me they represent what could never happen again. Anyone who may be interested or is curious should check out the CD ‘Big Time-The Best Of Rudi and listen to some classic pop/punk and regret what you missed.
Joe Donnelly. Belfast
TalkPunk
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