The Depressions
Eric ‘Rico The Knife’ – Guitar and ‘Ammer’ Frank Smith – Guitar
The Depressions from the South Coast of England had the punky name, image and looks and they had the backing of The Animals’ legendary bassist/manager/producer Chas Chandler and his record company Barn. They released albums and singles, got featured in the music weeklies and had a good stage act.
So what went wrong?
The Depressions were pretty much seasoned players and jumped the punk bandwagon. They were given the opportunity to make five singles and two albums with a lot of support and money spent on them. Arguably I just don’t think they had the class or the material to deserve this. To put it in context Subway Sect made two singles – The Killjoys – one – all irrefutably classics!
But that’s the luck of the draw!
Jordan: “I like Shirley Bassey, and The Depressions for half their set…” Fair Dukes Fanzine December 1977
I can’t put my finger on it; something just didn’t seem to ring true with The Depressions. One reviewer described them as “One of the last bands to jump aboard the punk bandwagon just as the wheels were coming off.
Dave Barnard and Eric Wright were Originally in a Who / Small Faces cover band from Brighton called Tonge (right) who were formed in the late sixties and went on hiatus around 1975. They were managed by Ian Grant who later managed The Stranglers and Big Country for a while.
In short pretty much all the band had form in other more pedestrian pub/rock bands and weren’t musical starters like fellow Brightonians Wrist Action or Plastix.
At some stage The Depressions are formed, most likely early to mid 1977, and are influenced by the punk look and sound. They had a good image – All of them had dyed blonde hair and the drummer wore an eye patch for some reason. (The Police later nicked this image but decided against the eye patch !)
Dave Barnard and Eric Wright visited Pebble Beach Sound Recorders which was in Worthing Sussex and gave a tape to the manager there called Paddy Bergin.
By October they had signed to Barn Records which itself was a curious affair and to Slade’s Management. Chas Chandler was a legend already. Bass player with the multi-million seller The Animals and manager/producer of Jimi Hendrix and later Slade, he’d set up Barn Records to release later Slade records. Legend and successes he may have been/had but owning and running a record company was not to be added to the list. Wikipedia recounts that the Slade records released by Barn sold so few that they were melted down!
So how on a label with around five artists does a punkish band from Brighton called The Depressions get added to the roster?
The Depressions manager Paddy Begin sends the band’s demo tapes around record companies and somehow Chas gets to hear it and likes it. That’s the luck of the draw in punk rock. Chas couldn’t have been unaware of what was happening in music at the time but you have to question what did he hear in the tape to make a leap.
Paddy Begin Arrangements were made for Chas to come and see the band playing at The Buccaneer in Brighton. Andy Cowan Martin and I were to wait on the steps outside Worthing Railway Station and Chas would be turning up in a car. We waited for a while and then saw a gold coloured Rolls Royce cruising around the corner and knew instantly that Chas had arrived.
He loved the band, signed them and the adventure began.
Their first act before moving down to London was to get arrested for spraying their names in Brighton and got fined £150 each! They then begin to play the London pubs, venues and punk clubs including The Vortex and Roxy. They also venture further afield and straight on the heels of them being signed and releasing their debut single are caught live by Sounds’ Donna McAllister, who is clearly a fan (and high on something judging by the hyperbole!), and get an interview with her.
Ammer Smith People are just freaks. Seems like the more freaky you are the better the chance you have of getting anywhere
Er.. excuse me, but, why then are you clad in the uniform of punk rockers?
Dave Barnard… to be honest with you – of course this may change in a couple of days cos we just signed this contract (wink, jab)
Herein lies a group who have produced hard driving straightforward and still meaningful music, minus the angry and pointless shouting that less talented punk groups are knocking out in a blundering effort to mimick their heros. They have used their influences to stimulate their own creativity, rather than melting into an already cast mold, and are destined to wear the chrome-plated crown that signifies kings of the psychotic era. Donna McAllister, Sounds, 22.10.77
Paddy, like Chas, also becomes the band’s manager and producer and they are straight into the studio and release the very unpunk like Living On Dreams which must have confused people buying the single with the punky picture cover. In short they just didn’t sound punk.
Their releases perhaps helped to confuse: They just didn’t sound punk. As The Depressions they released three singles and an album supported by a lot of PR coverage and advertisements in the music weeklies (did they only ever do one photo session as every publicity photo seems to have them in the same clothes and poses?)
Post the release of the album they bagged a tour with The Vibrators who were in the charts with Automatic Lover but disaster struck when they played Preston Poly. As they finished, a fight broke out between rival local football supporters and someone died. The ensuing publicity virtually killed the tour stone dead and the band.
By June that year, they had completed what was left of the tour. Nineteen year old guitarist ‘Ammer’ Frank Smith, who had been with the band for a year, left for health reasons and they recruited Tony Mayberry from Joe Cool & The Killers to replace him.
At the same time they shortened their name to The D.P’s, lost the all blonde look, lost the punk togs and unsuccessfully tried to reinvent themselves in a more rockier style; which lets face it, wasn’t that far removed from what they were playing originally. Suitably changed the boys set off to achieve stardom one more.
Unfortunately, it was not to be, and instead, they received a critical panning for their two singles and another album. In February 1979 they split and that was it.
Well nearly it because Dave Barnard and Tony Maybury jumped musical ship and became a mod band called The Vandells or as they described themselves ‘spontaneous psychedelic pop’ and appeared on the legendary Vaultage 79 follow-up live album featuring Brighton bands.
Stuart Home in ‘Cranked Up Really High’ reckons they spent their record company advance ‘on drugs and a huge truck’. He also says their music was infinitely superior to The Stranglers and comments that Career Girl by The DP’s “…unintentionally demonstrates the complexity of social stratification…Without wishing to deny the existence of patriarchy..”
I like Stuart but cmon seriously? I’ll stop there before I die laughing. It’s a mixed bag of tunes to say the least.
Living On Dreams / Family Planning
(Barn October 1977)
Poppy, commercial and got single of the week in Sounds who described it as “…good tunes…very sixties influenced and they don’t throw them away on pointless lyrics.”
Donna McAllister in her feature on the band in Sounds went further
[I] was mesmerised when I heard it.It is a classic work of modern art that any rock musician would be proud to be a part of. Absolutely brilliant….. blistering brilliance. Sounds, 22.10.77
No buzzsaw drones for these boys; more a lighter Eddie & The Hot Rods so totally at odds with the cover, band image and name! No surprise the single flopped.
Messing With Your Heart / Street Kid
(Barn February 1978)
Absolute storming single. Great riff, controlled pace and aggression and as catchy as crabs! If they had made the one single like this they would have been guaranteed fame forever.
Get Out Of This Town
If You Know What I Mean
August 1979
The only words I can think of are why? Why would you release more singles and without picture covers. This review from NME 16.9.78 could sadly be applied to most of The Depressions material. Sorry!
The Depressions
(Barn Records April 1978)
Great cover and look which by itself would be enough for punky folk to park with their hard-earned dosh. It has a kind of familiar feel to it. A bit like The Stooges or Generation X first albums. In fact famed snapper Gered Mankowitz did both The Depressions and Generation X covers so they spent some cash there.
So what would they be getting as they rushed home to get it on the record player? The usual punky subject matter for songs including fighting, no money, dole & sex. The latter is the basis for the opening track of their album Screw Ya which is ahem…well about screwing in the most graphic sense.
The album was panned by the critics who in the clippings below interestingly were both women. Donna McAllister, who liked the band (she’d interviewed them for Sounds in October 1977 and was singing their praises), said it was ‘…a promising beginning’ whereas Rosalind Russell said it was ‘3rd rate punk’ and to start the band again without the punky trappings.
It is a patchy album and has all the singles. Punk or light rock or what? That said it’s not devoid of some charm and songs – Check out Basement Daze or Street Attack.
Screw Ya
Tonight I’m gonna screw ya
Gonna give it to you so hard that you won’t forget.
Bring tears to your eyes and cream to your thighs
I’m the best thing that you’ve ever had.
15.4.78
8.4.78
TalkPunk
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