Spitfire Boys

Maggot – Vocals. Blister – Drums. Jones – Guitar. Zero – Bass. Paul Rutherford – Vocals. Peter Clarke – Drums. David Littler – Guitar. Peter Griffiths – Bass.  

Spitfire Boys were formed in mid 1977 in St Helens and within six weeks were gigging with The Heartbreakers. Mainstay of the Liverpool club Eric’s, no band in that city sounded like them or as Punk rock as the Spitfire Boys and they produced its first, finest and only slice of punk vinyl with their one classic single – British Refugee / Mein Kampf on RK records.

Friends and fans of the band included Holly Johnson, Pete Wylie, Ian Broudie and Pete Burns all who would go on to form or be part of their own bands and those bands would become the Liverpool post punk/art scene and achieve success leaving the Spitfire Boys often left out of any histories and recognition of the city as a single punk anomaly.

The band didn’t last long, disbanding in December 1977 and one more single followed in name only (over a year later in 1979) – Funtime – with David Littler (Jones) being the only original Spitfire Boy present and that was it.

However fame was to come at a later date for some members of the band. You and I know would know Blister better as Budgie, later to join The Slits & Siouxsie & The Banshees, and Maggot as Paul Rutherford later to become famous as backing singer/dancer in Frankie Goes To Hollywood.  For David Littler a spell with The Photons would see him co-write with Steve Strange such songs as Mind Of A Toy and Tar which Mr Strange would eventually use for Visage. He would try out for Generation X unsuccessfully and is still in music today.


April 2010 | Updated January 2020

David Littler: It was early in 77, about March I think, that I saw the Heartbreakers at Eric’s and spoke to them after the gig. I told them I had a group called the Blackmailers (which I didn’t) and they offered us a support slot at Warrington Parr Hall with Slaughter and the Dogs and Buzzcocks in May. This gave me about 5 or 6 weeks to put the band together. We had a friend called Mike Rigby who offered to sing and we loaned a drummer from a local rock band. I gave Peter Griffiths my brother’s bass guitar and showed him the notes to play, and with me on guitar, we rehearsed in Mike Rigby’s garage.  At some point around this time I met Wayne County and asked him for a good name for a band as I wasn’t happy with the Blackmailers. The Spitfire Boys was his suggestion and it stuck.

At the Parr Hall gig we played mainly Ramones covers with a couple of originals such as Mary Whitehouse. I remember leaving the stage towards the end of the set with my guitar feeding back against the amp. This was unplanned and I expected the others to follow me off the stage but they didn’t and I returned to the stage with rousing applause and finished the set.  Shortly after this, I rang Roger Eagle at Eric’s and asked if we could play, he agreed and we did our first Eric’s gig not long after. 

We did not have a drummer for the first Eric’s gig, but used a friend Peter Clarke (Budgie) an excellent drummer from St Helens who I had previously spoken to about getting some sort of NY Dolls band together. We used to frequent a club in St.Helens called the Geraldo, and it was there that I first met him in ’76. He was at Art College in Liverpool in 77 and I remember arriving at his digs one Saturday morning armed with a live recording from the Parr Hall gig. I played the tape and although he was playing with a group called Albert Dock (later the Yachts) he agreed to join us.

Erics Club Liverpool 20.8.77 –  Courtesy Bombsite Fanzine

We played the Eric’s gig and it was after this gig that it fell on me to tell Mike Rigby that his services were no longer required (we felt he wasn’t up to it). Budgie suggested Paul Rutherford as a replacement and I remember he turned up for an audition with Peter Burns, and Holly Johnson in tow. He joined straight away and we got down to rehearsing new material with him. Peter and I had written British Refugee and Spitfire Girl and I was keen to drop the covers.              

At that time in Liverpool we were the only Punk band and had the fortune to support most of the American and London bands who played at Eric’s as well as occasionally headlining. We had free access to the club and it became our second home.

We didn’t play many other Liverpool venues as there weren’t any that catered for Punk. We played an outdoor festival in the City Centre and a  private party once…… but most of the gigs were in the established Punk venues in the UK and the University circuit. We never got gobbed on except at some rural venues. Corby was a violent one and we had to be escorted out of the Town by the Police. Holly Johnson supported us at this gig for his first solo live appearance.

David Littler Whilst the Spitfire Boys played in London and hung around with The Slits, we did not move there. Our only booking at the Roxy in Covent Garden was cancelled. The connection with the Slits came about because Paul Rutherford was a Seditionaries customer in the Kings Rd and had met several London punk people. He became friendly with them and the connection was through him.

Paul Rutherford I was just in love with every one of them…To me they were the  biggest band in the world, still are. Typical Girls? The Story of The Slits  – Zoe Street Howe

Punk77 The Spitfire Boys became great friends with the Slits and were viewed by them as ‘Boy Slits’. They also played with them a few times and supported them in Liverpool on the girls’ first gig up North at Eric’s. Budgie stayed at Ari up’s mum’s place and one time when up in Liverpool, The Slits pulled out or were banned from staying at their hotel and ended up all staying at Paul’s dad’s flat.

Another incident was recounted by US Journalist Vermilion in her London Scene column in US Punk Magazine Search and Destroy which showed the violence of the time towards Punk rock and bands.

Vermilion Spitfire Boys on tour from Liverpool recently played the Band Q club in Bristol with the SLITS. They were squeezed into a club with 200 people and onto a modest stage…at about 10.30 the trouble begins when the over-30 types cruise in for a late one. Soon they start chucking glasses at the stage, then proceed to break the mics, bust the machinery off Dave’s guitar, and fling bass drums into the audience…Roadies with leather studded belts drawn against the madness….the hooligans weren’t satisfied until the local police broke it up.  Search & Destroy #4, 1977

Click above for larger image

Vermilion at the time lived with the Slits tour manager and also had her own band Dick Envy. In this edition, she also did an interview with the band and featured the lyrics of British Refugee. It was a close circle.

Vermilion Budgie, drummer for the SPITFIRE BOYS, and Dave the guitarist jammed in Holborn with Dick Envy before their gigs at the Roxy & Vortex. British Refugee and Mein Kampf are great live. Paul (lead vocalist) and I made up a new dance called ‘mistakes of a thousand lands’ Search & Destroy #4, 1977

David Littler A moment that stands out in the Spitfire Boys history for me (actually there are many) was being delayed to go on stage at the Rock Garden in Covent Garden because two members of the entourage were having sex in the van outside. I was not one of them and Budgie is married to Siouxsie.

Budgie & Paul – Photo Credit?

Budgie We were playing a gig at the Rock Garden in Covent Garden, and The Slits came down to hang out…There was nobody else there. We were really privileged to have The Slits in our audience because they were the only audience! Typical Girls? The Story of The Slits  – Zoe Street Howe

David Littler We always felt the London scene was vibrant, but without strong management, we did not get the opportunities the bigger bands got. I don’t recall any rivalry as such and the Slits were really pleased when British Refugee came out.

David Littler We played at the Wigan Casino on one of their ‘Rock nights’ and Peter Griffiths was approached by the clubs manager. He wanted to manage us and arranged for us to do a demo in some small studio in Wigan. Shortly after we signed a record deal with RKO Records.

Maggot live at the Wigan Casino 25.5.77 in his Seditionaries finest – Photos courtesy of Mudkiss Photography

Melanie Smith: It seems a lifetime ago but on May 25th 1977, Slaughter & The Dogs & The Spitfire Boys played Wigan Casino, the famous Northern Soul all nighter. We were pretty nervous going to the gig, yet excited; this was only the 2nd punk gig that we had attended. The news was spreading about how dangerous the punk scene was, but we just had to find out for ourselves and it didn’t put us off.

Manchester band Slaughter and the Dogs were really great. Wayne Barrett came onstage covered in talcum powder, wearing an old headmaster’s cloak and guitarist Mick Rossi was a total guitar legend. It was fast and frenzied is all I can remember.

The support was an unknown band to me at the time; they were the Liverpool band Spitfire Boys. The scene felt dangerous and it was loud and I totally fell in love with the singer Paul Rutherford. He just had something special about him. We got to the backstage area to ask him if we could take his photo and my friend (Vanessa Goode – see right) wanted in on the action so he posed alongside her; he was a sweetheart. Punk77 email

We saw a lot more of Paul. over the coming years. We started going to Eric’s and often chatted to Paul before we watched the bands. We saw Spitfire Boys again on 16th June 1977 at our first visit to Eric’s, with Radio Blank, which featured Teardrop Explodes and Blur producer Dave Balfe. Feb 2020

David Littler The last song we recorded with the original line up was ‘Nice Words Pretty Story’ but Paul did not turn up for the session. It was simply because he didn’t know about the session times, but the record company went mad and this was the main reason for the split as everyone was pissed off with it all. It was no longer the same after that day. “

Punk77 The Spitfire Boys Mark 1 split up in December 1977 – a brief bright flame of 6 months! While Budgie joined The Slits and then briefly the Jimmy Norton Explosion with Glen Matlock, Steve New and Danny Kustow and finally Siouxsie & The Banshees, Paul would be best known as backing frontman with Holly Johnson in Frankie Goes to Hollywood. If he could have played drums then he, not Budgie, would have been the first choice for The Slits after Palmolive was ousted from the band.

Paul Rutherford They were interested in me as the fifth Slit!”. laughs Paul. They said, ‘if you could play drums, we’d have you…’  Typical Girls? The Story Of The Slits Zoe Street Howe

Punk77 David moved down to London in January 1978 and looked for another band. He joined The Photons in Feb/March 1978 with Vince Ely (ex The Unwanted) and later Steve Strange. The band managed some gigs and a demo tape but little else before the band folded. David then moved to Wales.

Spitfire Boys Mark 2

David Littler The second single came about with a totally different line up. I wrote, sang and recorded  Funtime whilst in Wales in 1979 with a scratch band. I did not want to use the Spitfire Boys name on it but was persuaded by the guy who financed it to use the name because he thought it would sell better. It only had a short run of a thousand copies. The original band was well finished at that point and I sort of owned the name as it was all my own making. Budgie was with the Banshees by then and the other two doing their own things. This scratch band recorded about 8 songs with me, the last three in the RKO studios. Nothing came of them.

And so ends the story of the Spitfire Boys.

David Littler I was disappointed the group did not feature too strongly in Liverpool’s  Punk history, taking second place to  Big in Japan, Nova Mob, Crucial Three, etc. who all came much later. We were the first to have a record out and the first to play on a regular basis in the City but coming from St Helens (about 12 miles away from Liverpool) we were always the outsiders. Liverpool at that time was still engrossed in Art Rock with Deaf School being the only noted band. Albert Dock/Yachts was a Pop band with leanings to the B52s. I don’t recall any other band along the lines of the Spitfire Boys. Radio Blank with David Balfe played at Eric’s once or twice but they were from the Wirral and could not be described as Punk. When Big in Japan formed they could not be classed as a Punk band either as they were more Art Punk i.e. Velvets circa 1967/8 covering ‘I’m Sticking With You’ or some similar Mo Tucker thing. I remember they had a track called ‘Peggy Suicide’  which was their showcase.

I suppose the reason that all the others got attention was because of their later successes but before they even had bands, Julian Cope and Holly Johnson used to travel in the van with us. Pete Wylie joined us in December 1977 for a few rehearsals and Peter Burns was simply always there. Ian Broudie was always around and was friendly with Deaf School and Bill Drummond.

Spitfire Boys & Pete Burns

The Spitfire Boys released just one classic single in 1977. The second single shouldn’t really be counted, though it bears their name.


British Refugee / Mein Kampf
(RK Records October 1977)

Mein Kampf

Sick Of Being Told What To Do.
Tired Of Being Told What To Say.
My Life Is The Way.
Me, I Got My Own Mein Kampf.
Mein Kampf, I’m Free.
Free From Me. 

Punk77 says: A classic 24 carat punk stormer – both A and B side but with Mein Kampf the pick with its existential lyrics of angst!

But come on RK. At a time when picture covers were an essential aid to buying singles and publicising them, inexplicably in England the Punk target market, it’s issued in a stock record company sleeve! That should have been the warning. The only other single released by RK was the Band Of The Black Watch with a bagpiping single! Same producer as well – Barry Kingston. An unsuccessful punk cash-in.

David Littler: We never received a penny from the single. I don’t know how well it sold, but I heard reports of it being sold all over Europe. I remember we had been given 25 copies of the record each by RKO. Pete Griffiths astutely sold his for beer money and I gave mine away to friends. I don’t know what Paul Rutherford did with his. 

Budgie: It was pretty bloody awful and nobody wanted to buy it, so we used to throw it out from the stage. Rhythm October 2002

“…a muddy mix. It is very frustrating when you can hear something going on within a record such as this but are unable to pull anything out of it. Sounds, 22/10/77

It’s not surprising it sold well across Europe. Below right is the mega rare German edition on Bellaphon records featuring a brilliant band pic with Eric’s posters in the background and a PR sheet with info on the band. I’m sure the name Spitfire Boys and song title Mein Kampf would be the just the ticket to sell to the Germans!!

A couple of other tracks exist somewhere that haven’t surfaced and a demo tape that got the band the deal with RKO Records.

David Littler (Guitarist) The last song we recorded with the original line up was ‘Nice Words Pretty Story’ …We recorded a song for the Eric’s label which may be knocking around someplace. The label did not release it because it had swearing on, or so they told us, it was probably because RKO wanted tons of cash as we were signed to them.

Other songs in their set included Spitfire Girl, TV Stare, My Generation, Straight Hate, Let’s Dance and Ridicule.  


Funtime / Transcendal Changing
Impeccable Records 1979

David Littler (Guitarist) The second single came about with a totally different lineup. I wrote, sang and recorded Funtime whilst in Wales in 1979 with a scratch band. I did not want to use the Spitfire Boys name on it but was persuaded by the guy who financed it to use the name because he thought it would sell better. It only had a short run of a thousand copies. The original band was well finished at that point and I sort of owned the name as it was all my own making. Budgie was with the Banshees by then and the other two doing their own things.”

David Francis (Littler) – Vocals, Guitar. Peter Millman –  Guitar. Kurt Prasser – Bass. Chris Brazier – Drums.



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