The Cheetahs

Droo Farmer – Drums & Andrew Allan – Bass
The Cheetahs were great friends with The Valves and played on the same bill as them at The Valves last gig before splitting. Here is their story courtesy of Chris and his brother Joe – singer of the Cheetahs (via Ralph Heibutzki and ‘Gadgie’magazine).
In the late 1970s the perceived threat to humanity was not the Coronavirus but nuclear power plants with their associated dangers. The late 1970s was also the golden era of punk rock and Edinburgh had a thriving scene with The Valves and the Cheetahs leading the charge. Both had a big following and both were brilliant live acts. Further north in Stirling I was the drummer for a lesser known but equally enthusiastic outfit Dougie and the Barbs. However, it was my older brother Joe, lead singer of the Cheetahs who seemed bound for stardom – or at very least bound for an appearance of Top of the Pops.
The Cheetahs were simply immense live – tight as duck’s arse, very good musicians who knew how to keep it simple and loud. With a wealth of original material and some great songs they were wowing audiences up and down Scotland and they were wowing me big style. The Cheetahs’ Thursday night residency at the West End Club in Princes Street became a sweaty,pogo-ridden highlight of every week, kicking off the weekend in fine style.

Meanwhile down the coast in Torness, East Lothian the South of Scotland Electricity Board (SSEB) were commissioning a nuclear power station and the politically savvy punks were not happy. A demo gig was planned in 1979 and the Cheetahs were booked to blast out the ‘No Nukes’ message. Joe and guitarist John Dobson sat down a week or so before the gig and within 20 minutes had written Radio-Active. Andrew Allan later chipped in with the haunting persistent bass intro and thumping bass line and Droo Farmer gave it even more oomph with his customary driving-them-on drumming. The fifth band member Nasty Phil, the harmonica player, was not required on Radio-Active.
What an absolute belter that song is! The number was played for the first time at the West End Club on the Thursday before the weekend demo gig. Record shop owner and founder of Zoom Records was in the audience that night. Bruce had already got the Valves signed to Zoom and it is reported that after hearing Radio-Active that night he decided to sign the Cheetahs there and then with Radio-Active to be their first (and sadly only) single. Bruce Findlay also later signed Simple Minds. Soon afterwards the two bands appeared on the same bill and the Cheetahs blew the Minds off stage – a raucous, rapturously received set was followed by a downbeat poorly received performance from the Minds delivered to a now half-empty hall.
A couple of days after the historic West End Club gig the Cheetahs took to the stage at the demo ready to tell the protesters “I don’t wanna be radio-active”. Sadly, after playing one chord the generator powered by normal electricity packed in and the gig had to be abandoned. If only the generator had been nuclear powered.

The single was released in the summer of 1979 and received good reviews and some UK wide radio air time. Up here in Scotland, the disc sold more than 4000 copies. It entered the charts at
no 83 and at the time the BBC had a rule of thumb that if a new release got into the 75 then it was featured on Top of the Pops. All eyes were on the Record Mirror (the only music weekly to print the entire top 100 every week) the following week. Unfortunately, the next chart had Radio-Active at 92 after that it did not feature in the top 100. The Cheetahs moment in the sun had come and gone and they spilt up less than a year later.

Forty years later the Torness Nuclear Power Station is still producing electricity for the national grid. Maybe some of the 1970s fears were unfounded. The four surviving Cheetahs are of course all 40 years older. Sadly John Dobson passed away in 2016 with alcohol related illnesses cited as the cause. After the Cheetahs split up in 1980 he made some very dark but copelling music. A very talented guy and great company he is sadly missed. Droo Farmer is still in touch with Joe and now works as a courier in the London area and is in good health. Andrew Allan, like John, had alcohol related issues but is currently going through a good phase in his life and working as a postman. asty Phil is out there somewhere and believed to be living in the Edinburgh area. As for my brother Joe after working as a bar manager and a taxi driver he is now retired but sometimes things go the full circle and in his new growing-old-disgracefully phase he has oined the re-formed Valves as their singer and frontman. Never mind the bus pass look out for Joe Donkin with the Valves in forthcoming gigs promoting their debut album ‘Better Late’!
TalkPunk
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