The Vibrators
The Vibrators produced without doubt two of the finest pop Punk albums in Pure Mania and V2 along with some classic singles along the way. Yet the band have always, like The Stranglers, been outside the ‘Punk’ circle of recognition. Their credibility was under scrutiny from the 100 Club Punk Festival with the Sex Pistols, to signing with pop producer Mickie Most.
But The Vibrators were a great punk band, and more than just a ramalama 3 chord thrash, with tunes and songs a plenty. Enjoy!
The Vibrators story actually starts in the sixties with a young musical Knox (real name Ian Carnochan) – “I was in a band called the Renegades when I was a little kid, right, and we all wore black shirts and sunglasses.”
About 1961/2 Knox was Knox and the Nightriders doing Cliff Richard and Shadows numbers and even beating The Zombies in a talent contest!
After that several bands followed including Stilletto, Lipstick – a three piece with a MS Fudger later in the Art Attacks – and lastly an Irish show band with a strange Nazi transvestite jazz organist in a gay bar in Hammersmith!
John Ellis was also playing. He had formed Bazooka Joe in 1970 with Danny Kleinman and later Stuart Goddard (Adam Ant) and legend has it that following a gig with the Sex Pistols at St Martins 6.11.75 the gig Adam left and embraced Punk rock. At that gig was also Pat Collier, Ellis who had left the band and Eddie who was roadying for Lipstick.
In 1976 the Vibrators formed
Knox The band was started by Eddie in February 1976 and was essentially four friends. It did its first gig supporting the Stranglers at part of Hornsey Art College in March 1976. The band played lots of gigs, and the material was a mixture of pub rock classics (basically so we could get out there and play without a lot of rehearsal), and our own heavier material we were introducing, songs such as “Whips & Furs”, Sweet Sweet Heart”, “She’s Bringing You Down”, etc. which I’d been playing in three bands before the Vibrators, something most people don’t know. Pure Mania/V2, CD Booklet, 2002
The Vibrators like many bands in 1976, had long hair, were sartorially challenged and were playing a large amount of cover versions for punters. But Punk rock was in the air, they had some originals that lent themselves to being punked up and they were astute enough to know which way the wind was blowing or maybe unconsciously songs were speeding up. However even at an early stage had the knack of shooting themselves in the foot credibility wise.
Pat Collier recounted to journalist Caroline Coon “We don’t really go along with the Punk Rock thing, but it’s the fashion isn’t it.” The band at the gig all have long hair. Next time it’s short.
Knox We supported such luminaries as The Pistols and The Clash, then for me the thing which really Put punk on the map was the 100 Club Punk Rock Festival on 20-21 September 1976.’ We played the second night, and backed legendary guitarist Chris Spedding (topping the bill) near the end of our set. Pure Mania/V2, CD Booklet, 2002
Pat Collier We played the 100 Club and Chris Spedding was more or less dragged into it by the scruff of his neck against his will.. Sounds, 12.3.77
Knox Spedding saw these adverts which said he was appearing at the 100 Club. Sounds, 12.3.77
John Ellis …the first time Pat ever met Chris Spedding was when he walked onstage to do the numbers with ‘im. Sounds, 12.3.77
The gig certainly cemented the Vibrators being bracketed with the emerging Punk scene but considering their set was filled with old rock ‘n’ roll standards it was hardly year zero compared to the raw sets from the Pistols, Clash, Buzzcocks, Damned and Subway Sect.
Pete Shelley (Buzzcocks) on the 100 Club Punk Festival. My lasting impressions? I always remember the Vibrators’ drum kit. On the bass drum they’d painted this, like, house. The windows were cut out, and whenever they hit the bass drum this piece of cloth from behind flopped out. I thought, that’s not very punk, that. They were one of the London bands. I don’t think time’s been kind to them. They’re not remembered as one of the great punk bands. But when Caroline Coon did her original piece about punk she did have the Vibrators in there.
Knox. The Vibrators got lots of work through Eddie and Pat driving round to venues and asking if we could play. We had gradually been playing faster as both us and the audience liked it better; and we were then included under the press umbrella term of punk rock with a number of other bands, as people must have sensed that there was some kind of movement happening.
And so the Vibrators cock the trusty gun and aim at their feet once more as quite understandably they take the first opportunity to release a record. However, in terms of credibility signing to Mickie Most’s RAK label wasn’t perhaps the best idea. Nor would making your first single backing Chris Spedding on the the kitsch (but viewed as a cash in single) Pogo Dancing which was released in November 1976.
Knox We had no manager up until we signed to Mickie Most, who had an unbelievable track record with getting hits, on his label RAK Records, and he released Pat Collier’s “We Vibrate” in mid November 1976. Pure Mania/V2, CD Booklet, 2002
John Ellis Before we made Pure Mania we had made 1 single for RAK records. In hindsight, this was a bad move from a credibility point of view and cred was the thing you needed at that point in time. But being a little more naive in those days … Pure Mania/V2, CD Booklet, 2002
They also cut We Vibrate coupled with Whips and Furs and again that was released in November making Sounds single of the week but the damage was perhaps done credibility wise.
The band secured a prestigious support slot on Ian Hunter’s tour but in December Rotten swearing on Grundy caused a wave of cancellations of their gigs.
Pat Collier We’re suffering the worst but we’re never gonna give in. There’s nothing the establishment can do to stop punk coming through but punk doesn’t necessarily man smashing glasses in peoples faces.
This got the back up of the punk cognoscenti even more
A second single Ain’t Got No Heart/ Bad Time was recorded for Most but never got released. In January 1977 there was talk of them recording the Rolling Stones Jumping Jack Flash; again a move not likely to endear them to the Punk crowd. However the majors were sniffing around and the band signed to Epic a division of major CBS and the Clash’s label in April 1977.
Meanwhile the band began to play venues like the famous Roxy Club and were even considered for the live album from the club that went top 30. However the band had signed to CBS Epic under new manager Tom Wereham (a relative of Knox) and they didn’t go on the album. When EMI got the gig and not CBS, the latter vetoed the Vibrators involvement.
Knox I think we were going to be on the record but I don’t know why we were not on it as we played the Roxy a bit. I think it might be that our record company weren’t going to get enough money or something. Or it could be Punk politics that we didn’t fit in with the format of the record…etc., etc. Looking back we probably should have been on it. Punk77 Email, 2006
The Vibrators suffered terrible press both for their first album and their punk credibility but there are several undeniable things about the Vibrators that can’t be argued. They weren’t the first or last to change style and they did it with aplomb. Pure Mania is a Punk rock classic filled with hooky, taut punk rock tunes with a brittle driving guitar sound and the distinctive nasal punk twang of front man Knox. Their look was also perfect and the album cover was both iconic and a classic. Like the Stranglers the times had rubbed off on them and they’d hardened and speeded up. But unlike the Stranglers they didn’t have neither their commercial success or aggression which set the Stranglers apart and made them feared. Its interesting, and I hope its not true, that The Vibrators now claim that being friends with the Stranglers damaged their credibility because the Stranglers were uncool.
That said critics like Burchill, who slated them, were seriously twats, too concerned with form rather than substance. If there was a problem it was that it was ahead of its time in its pop punk inflection of the oncoming splits of punk into first new wave then powerpop.
If the critics were not on the side then the public was coming round through the Vibrators relentless touring which later proved a double-edged sword.
They lost Pat Collier for reasons that were never known, though it would seem musical differences would be the main reason as he formed the powerpop band the Boyfriends immediately afterwards and who released 3 singles before disbanding in 1979. Pat would go on to run Alaska Studios and has become a well known producer.
His replacement was unknown 19 year old Gary Tibbs. As punk began to mutate mid 1977 to both a harder edge style represented by Sham 69 and a new wave and away from the original faces the Vibrators again made a strange move claiming the UK was too restrictive and decamped themselves to Berlin where they had previously toured mid 1976 and caught the eye of Iggy Pop who invited them to tour with him.
Knox Punk in Britain is becoming very fascist, very right wing all this business about people believing they have to conform to a certain image which is really only being determined by a small elite in London. Its getting so depressing when the main thing should be fun. 24.9.77, Sounds
Ellis One of the reasons the Vibrators have always been slagged off is because we’ve never fitted into the posey idea of what a punk band should be about.
The whole elitism thing is just stupid. The whole credibility thing built up because we used to play pubs doing old rock ‘n’ roll numbers.
The irony was of course that Berlin was even more paranoiac and schizoid because of life living with a wall running through the city and constant tension between Russia and the West.
The Vibrators return to the UK and even more fragmented punk scene of hard punk, new wave and the main band the Sex Pistols split.
The Vibrators returned home on the up with the tougher punkier V2 garnering good reviews and reaching #33 in the charts and a charting single Automatic Lover and appearance on Top Of The Pops. Yet all was not well as first John Ellis departed, as the record was released, to form Rapid Eye Movement.
The band now wanted to change the harder edge.
Knox We are taking a more pop approach now. The time wasn’t right for a pop approach last year – its only now that people would listen. Record Mirror, 25.3.78
The band appeared to be changing. Appearances on the Old Grey Whistle Test performing V2 numbers now had Knox in a white suit (it was modelled on Elvis’s white suit but shrunk in a hot wash!) and longer hair. Another single Judy Says made the lower reaches of the charts and then that was it.
The band now seemed in a strange phase. Dave Birch was brought in on guitar and Don Snow on keyboards and sax. At this stage the more heavily punked up Vibes were being fronted by a white suited Knox! Shortly after Judy was released, Gary Tibbs left to join Roxy Music in June 1978 (before joining Adam & The Ants in their most successful phase) in 1980 and Snow and Birch were essentially let go.
More changes then as Ben Brierley, ex of the Front and Streak and husband of Marianne Faithful, was brought in on bass and Greg Van Cook, ex-Electric Chairs, on guitar. While these were seasoned players, they also came with a bit of history as both were heroin addicts at the time.
It was a turbulent time and even under consideration was a name change to Professional Low Life due to the bad press. Knox’s confidence was low and he was next to leave in October 1978 for a solo career after filming for the music show Revolver. The rest of the band considered its options and split.
Knox And that was that, it was over. I came out of the band with less equipment than when I started, it had used up a whole bunch of my songs for which I had never got any money, and businesswise I was in a terrible mess. The band had given me a lot of good memories, and it given me a lot of bad ones. The Vibrators – Twenty One Years Of Punk Mania
Then in September 1979, after nearly a years absence, they reappeared with Eddie on drums, and ex Electric Chairs guitarists Cook and Elliott Michaels on guitars, new vocalist Kip and ex Eater bassist Ian Woodcock.
There were reformations and line up changes aplenty. Over the years John Ellis famously joined the Stranglers augmenting then replacing Hugh Cornwell and appeared on several albums. Eddie continued in the Vibrators but famously did a one-off gig as PIL’s drummer. Gary Tibbs’ last band was the Fixx before leaving in 2008. Ben Brierley would divorce Marianne Faithful and end up on Don Was’ ‘Sleep It Off’ album. Pat Collier is still producing records.
In 2011 Knox hung up his boots and opens and still runs the opening of Rock’n’Roll Rescue, a music-themed charity shop in Camden next to the Dublin Castle.
Knox I think we should have a bigger place in the punk thing. I think because most of the time in the band we didn’t have a manager and a PR company we’ve not got the recognition we deserved. You sometimes don’t get mentioned in articles where they mention really tiny bands and it’s annoying. Plus they occasionally still say we jumped on the punk bandwagon when if these people really did their homework they would know I was playing early Vibrators’ songs two or three years before the Vibrators started in a band. Punk77, Interview 1999
If you consider that the Vibrators really only released five singles from 1976 to when they split in late 1978 then you’d have to say something wasn’t quite right.
Punk was predominantly singles driven yet at the moment when they should have had most success i.e. when Automatic Lover was a hit and there was a resurgence of charting punk singles from the likes of The Clash, Boomtown Rats, Buzzcocks and Stranglers, the Vibrators or their record company, seemed to do very little or more likely the band was imploding at this time with a number of band members impending departures.
What you get though is five classic punk singles with a noticeable rise in quality from ‘Baby Baby’ onwards. Enjoy!
Pogo Dancing/ The Pose (November 1976 RAK)
Blatant cash-in? Jumping on the Punk train? Call it what you like it’s a glorious piece of punk rock kitsch featuring what would be the trademark Vibrators rocky punky tuneful sound and featuring ace session man Chris Spedding.
Hey this is your chance
To do the pogo dance
So get your both feet up off the ground
What goes up – must come down.
We Vibrate/ Whips & Furs (November 1976 RAK)
A Pat Collier song and it’s a pleasant enough rock ‘n’ roll tinged ditty that sits nicely between Eddie & The Hot Rods and the Sex Pistols whose ‘Anarchy’ would emerge a month later. In other words, it has enough of an edge to set it apart.
The B side ‘Whips & Furs’ is one of Knox’s pre Vibes songs and a belter.
Their last for Mickie Most’s RAK label.
Baby Baby/ Into The Future (May 1977 Epic)
And so from the more high paced and furious Anarchy, New Rose and even Grip comes the Vibrators with a mid paced lurrrve song complete with solo, tubular bells and organ! In fact it is a bona fide Punk rock classic.
Its iconic punky cover belies the tuneful classic that perhaps would have been a hit for the band if it had been released later in the year when Punk turned into New Wave and Power Pop. Knox describes it as his “…favourite Vibrators’ song … I always think when I play it it is like being on holiday.”
London Girls/Stiff Little Fingers (June 1977 Epic)
Of all the tracks to choose off Pure Mania I’m a little unsure why Epic chose this and to use a live version from the Marquee but they did. It’s an OK track about girls again though plaudits must go to the Ellis penned B side Stiff Little Fingers which a little known Irish band, Highway Star, would later take for their name.
Automatic Lover/Destroy (February 1978 Epic)
Pure 100% classic punk rock. The cover may be a nod to Buzzcocks (design by John Ellis) but the sound and style is pure Vibrators. Again no songs about anarchy and rebellion but a paean to girl Knox met in Germany who was slightly unhinged with a replica gun! A great riff and chorus that saw it reach the top 40 and get the band an appearance on Top Of The Pops.
Not to be confused with Automatic Lover by Dee D Jackson which was a disco hit at the same time. The B side Destroy however is another kettle of punk fish – 2 minutes of pure punk sneer and attitude!
Judy Says/ Pure Mania (May 1978 Epic)
Another girl based toon that sees the Vibrators romp through another high octane punkerama with a nifty sax break to boot!! Another hard woman lyric about Judy who will knock you in the head tonight and you could wind up dead!
The B side continues the tradition of pairing with their more extreme examples of punkiness. This time the rather excellent Pure Mania all full of spite and riffs and with a Jimi Hendrix sample to boot though fuck knows where it is!
Three John Peel sessions clearly showing the evolution of the band
12.10.76
1. Dance To The Music (Whips & Furs)
2. Sweet Sweet Heart
3. Jenny, Jenny
4. I’m Gonna Be Your Nazi Baby
5. We Vibrate
13.6.77
1. Petrol
2. Keep It Clean
3. Baby Baby
4. London Girls
5. She’s Bringing You Down
6.3.78
1. Automatic Lover
2. Destroy
3. Troops Of Tomorrow
4. Fall In Love
The Vibrators – Pure Mania (CBS 1977)
Punk77 says: From zeroes to heroes in one album. At the time of Pure Mania the Vibrators were getting a critical panning for allegedly being bandwagon jumpers. Pure Mania came out shortly after the Clash’s and Stranglers debuts. Despite the bad reviews, the album is a bone fide punk rock classic with an iconic cover to boot!
Knox To me at the time the actual recording process was still a bit of a mystery, and the results -problematic and erratic, something I still feel a bit to this day, part of the “charm” of recording, but it did produce what in hindsight was one of punk rocks defining albums. I never feel that we can claim much credit for it, for although we recorded it, it sort of appeared on its own, from our naiveté, our quasi-originality, combined with our almost total lack of studio experience (except for Pat Collier), plus producer Robin Mayhew and the band’s deliberate policy to have a cutting edge lack of a production.
From this album came the singles “Baby Baby”, and “London Girls’, though the actual “London Girls” single was a live recording from one of our shows at the Marquee Club. 2002
Eddie Pure Mania was recorded at CBS Studios in Soho, mainly during April 1976, using Robin Mayhew, as producer. He was our live sound engineer on the Iggy Pop and Ian Hunter tours and the idea was to capture the live sound on the album. Robin owned a studio called Ground Control and was a highly respected live engineer who had worked with David Bowie so it was good on the Iggy tour as it gave us a connection with those guys. This album was done in about 10 days. It was remixed by Lem Lubin and the bond for the US release. 2002
John Ellis “Punk” music (were the Vibrators a punk band? Discuss) was not about over production, so it was very much a live feel we were trying to achieve. The most produced song was Baby Baby with the big ending featuring organ and tubular bells. The rest were fast, tough Pop-Rock songs, bashed out with lots of enthusiasm and a little bit of ability. 2002
PURE MANIA THE VIBRATORS Epic EPC 82087 (UK import)
So far, this is my favorite new wave album from England, although the Pistols should be great and I’m anxiously awaiting the Boys. But this one’s been on my turntable a good 3 months and ! haven’t tired of it yet. It’s basically the same elemental pogo music all the UK bands play, though done with flair and polish enough to avoid monotony and give it wider commercial appeal-songs like “Whips & Furs” or “London Girls” sound like hits, punk or no punk. But what I really dig about the Vibrators is their thematic orientation; where the Pistols and the Clash have their politics, the Jam their nostalgia, the Stranglers their dark misogyny, etc., the Vibrators are just plain kinky.
Blatantly violent sexuality is as much a part of UK punk as anarchy, and this is where the Vibrators find their subject matter, in songs like “I Need a Slave'” “Stiff Little Fingers” and of course “Whips & Furs.” It seems they’re always having problems with girls (no doubt inevitable when fetishes collide) and they relate their weird adventures with a sense of humor that’s refreshing, honest, and fun.
Greg Shaw ‘Bomp’ November 1977
THE VIBRATORS Pure Mania (CBS)
SAYS JOHN OF The Vibrators: “The songs are about all sorts of things; insanity, dead bodies, whipping.” How could a crazy necrophiliac masochist like myself resist? I should have followed my heart and recalled how I hated The Vibrators when they supported the Big Ig at Aylesbury. I hated them principally because I was very drunk and the silver fabric of their tight trousers made my eyes ache something rotten.
And then I was swayed by he fact that no-one I know likes them; whenever their name is mentioned, a knowing titter passes across the collective countenances of the New Wave elite, it seems.
I always thought they were just a bunch of wrung-out old hippies looking for a new jugular to drain, like so many of the New Wave flotsam.
And let’s face it – The Vibrators are bad. Their material’s made up solely of the riffs, mannerisms and personas which wiser mortals chose to dispose of: Lou Reed; Bowie; the Beatles; The Rolling Stones; Deaf School. It’s also clear that being on the same label as The Clash has gone to the collective head of El Vibs.
But occasionally their moronic crassness reaches the dumb, beautiful depths of Ramonic splendour. The Vibrators have a habit of repeating a phrase until it loses meaning and becomes just another weapon in the barrage of noise – which can get tedious when you’re just looking for a cute tune and a riot.
They play with all the conviction of a blind man driving a Panzer up a blind alley; they’re good musicians. But then there’s good musicians in the Simon Park Orchestra. Music isn’t the half of it nowadays.
“Into The Future” is an adolescent celebration of free enterprise and cheap thrills with its feet firmly planted in the 101’ers “Keys To Your Heart”.
It’s hard to tell when one track quits and the next track hits; “Yeah Yeah Yeah” is identifiable only by its increased head banging ambience. “Sweet Sweet Heart” is cutely like Lou Reed after castration.
“Keep It Clean” is dire: “Cocaine, heroin never use speed I never put the needle in. ” What a bundle of fun. “If you want to get on you got to keep your business clean, ” The Vibrators chortle ad infinitum, sounding like a more sinister, more stupid Deaf School.
“Baby Baby” (the single) is a High School love song; “No Heart” sounds like the Stones forgetting to be yobs for a few minutes. The refrain pretty well sums up The Vibrators brand of Seventies torture: “No heart, no feelings, no love. ” “She’s Bringing You Down” is pathetically appealing diluted Velvet Underground.
Side Two finds The Vibrators pontificating on the state of the opposite gender in greater detail. When referring to women they bend over backwards attempting to emulate the Stranglers; whereas Cornwell and Co actually evince disgust for women and the world that recreated her, The Vibrators merely pout petulantly and wrinkle their delicate noses in distaste.
“Petrol” is a Girls-Cars requiem and “London Girls” shies away from dissecting what The Stranglers did so callously and coolly, playing coy with inoffensive slights like: “And sometimes I think that I love you! And sometimes I think that I need you! And sometimes I don’t want you around at all.” Tuff stuff. “You Broke My Heart” is the Velvets singing “Get Off Of My Cloud” plus watery guitar solos on a track that’s fifty-eight times as long as it should be.
Contrary to their alluring titles, “Need A Slave” and “Whips And Furs” are pretty pop songs which wheel along easy, tame as a cage of tax exiles in spite of their brutal
promises.
Sexual cruelty is interesting, but The Vibrators sound like they couldn’t even whip a top.
“Stiff Little Fingers” – good title, The Vibrators have good titles – is a “Polythene Pam” riff with an “I Love The Dead” message, which just happens to contain the refrain “Remote Control. ” Back to Plagiarism Prairie for “Wrecked On You”; The Vibs go ape on “Protex Blue”. Last of all is “Bad Time”, a good song weighed down by a messy execution. “Gonna give you a bad time honey/Treat you any way I chose Bad time honey/To make up for the days of school. “
The Vibrators – very much – a creation of plastic and public demand – are aptly named. They illustrate admirably that technology is no substitute for flesh.
Julie Burchill – NME June 11 1977
The Vibrators V2 (Epic – 1978)
Punk77 says: By mid 1977 the band fed up of the negativity and mistrust and paranoia of the London musical scene, decamped to Berlin strangely enough to find half a city carved in two by a wall and full of … mistrust and paranoia! Not withstanding that, the atmosphere informed the whole of the ‘V2’ album giving it a taut aggressive edge and choc full of classic punk toons all held together with Knox’s nasal bite and that was it for the band within our time period as by the end of 1978 the band would be no more before a series of restarts.
Eddie 2002 When it came to V2 we decided to get a producer more used to the studio environment, and many names were suggested including Mick Ronson who was busy with the Rich Kids. Vic Maile was eventually chosen due to his work with Dr. Feelgood and Tom Robinson. With a bigger budget we spent a whole month in the studio, including a whole day singing “Troops Of Tomorrow” over and over again to get the crowd effect. The strings on “Nazi Baby” were put on back at CBS Studios, and the part was written by Nicky Graham who was our A & R at CBS. Vic’s influence and his care and attention to detail made the album tar more polished, and got us our first top 40 hits with “Automatic Lover” and “Judy Says”.
John Ellis 2002 This album was an altogether different kettle of fish. We went to live in reconstruction Berlin and put together songs for the album. Then we decided to demo the material and try some out live. So by the time we got into the studio with producer Vic Maile we knew the stuff pretty well. Once again, the tracks were laid down as a live ‘performance and then guitar solos, vocals etc were over dubbed.
From my point of view, I had decided to go with a much “thicker” guitar sound using a Les Paul with a Mesa Boogie combo. Since Pat Collier had left to star in “The Boyfriends”; Gary Tibbs had taken on the Bass Guitar mantle. Gary’s style also brought something new to the feel of the band. Once again the album consisted of some interesting material, slightly more adventurous than Pure Mania. One of the high points for me was when we heard the string section, arranged and recorded by Epic A & R man Nicky Graham, added to ‘Nazi Baby’.
The late Vic Maile did a brilliant job with the album. Mixing it was real fun especially the first track perversely named ‘Pure Mania’. We flew in some Jimi Hendrix guitar solos, bits from the previous album and synth noises. I still think V2 is a classic. By now the credibility problem had polarised the press. They mostly hated us. However one or two writers gave the album the coverage it deserved.
THE VIBRATORS V2 (CBS) Sounds 25.3.78
The stereo picks up the drone of a V2 closing in for the kill. Cut out.
The dull empty thud of an explosion and the Vibrators cut in to action with Pure Mania’, the first track on their new album and named after their first (confused, huh?). They’re out and fighting, – hitting you where it hurts most – no feinting, this is the real article. Eddie’s drumming is a relentless driving staccato with Knox and John Ellis tearing your hair out by the roots with their blistering guitar attack.
But hang on, this isn’t just formula crash bash, there’s some synthesiser twirling away in there too, and weirdo paranoia striking deep with the sound effects of a manic laugh, Howard The Duck on a bad trip. Mania. Pure.
The single, Automatic Lover’, vocals hung around a repetitive title hook, simplicity itself. A hit.
The Vibrators always threatened to be bigger than anyone wanted them to be, looks like they’ve finally decided to go for broke. Their recent time in Berlin has etched strong impressions on their music, not militaristic, but often desperate and savage. The child of tomorrow crying in anger this may not be — but they can see a future and since they’ve always been somewhat ahead of events, I reckon they must be at least half way there by now.
`Flying Duck Theory’ is John’s contribution to the album and his stage guitar forte. Opening with the wide-spread of a transistor wave band, snatches here and there- `Are you sitting comfortably?’. Let’s go. A fine sweat-shaking beat, no quarter given. `Public Enemy Number One’ switches the riffing to a ‘Little Girl’ bass beat, bubble pop with some acid guitar overlay. A hydrochloric pop song for 1980. `Destroy’ is a vicious piece of negativism, not my favourite cut but a harsh and slashing climax, with the title word sten gunned over and over, Ellis’s drums shooting in the bullet belts.
Side one closes up with the old stage favourite, one of the Vibes’ first songs, ‘Nazi Baby’. Opening with archetypal fuzz it defies expectations – by breaking wide apart with no holds barred. Ellis’s persistent rhythm lacerates your senses and Knox spits venom from somewhere deep under the mix – ‘I’m gonna be your Nazi Baby, I’m gonna make you feel alright’. Touches of the early Velvets’ mental assault, with EIIis ripping out some searing white guitar licks.
This ain’t no run of the mill New Wave/Power Pop package, hear the strings start to weave in, gradually edging out the band until all you’re left with is a menacing cello and soaring violin work. Crawl out of the debris and switch sides, Wake Up’ (To the Twentieth Century …were gonna smash your toys), fit to peak, it’s off and running again Bounding along with a choppy instrumental hook chorus line, pop organ and all oohing and oohing – a New Wave death songs with a heart rending angelic finale- `Now he’s up there with the angels, he’s really flying high. I bet by now he’s talking with Jesus way up in the sky’. `24 Hour People’ is neatly framed with some Berryesque guitar licking from Ellis, sandwiching a neat pop tune with brief and tantalising guitar runs (a la `Here Comes The Weekend’) nibbling at the heels of each chorus.
Rock ‘n’ roll, you’re not dead yet -and so let’s `Fall in Love’. A Pure Love Song For Today, crew cut, bubble gum and spitballs wrapped up in some mean assed guitar work, spreading itself out in virtuosity that snubs its nose at two chord anarchy. `Feel Alright’ intrigues with a cocky, semi-classical guitar run, here comes the cavalry … short but varied. `War Zone’s’ the only track that I don’t drool over, all heavy attack and empty echoing, I’ll skip it past.
So to the highpoint of the album, of a whole genre if it comes to that: `Troops of Tomorrow’, psyche shattering. If you’ve seen the Vibes live you can almost recreate the naked power they project, the red-V glowing behind them, strobes flashing. From the distance the rumbles come, pounding drums, empty and aching, interspersed with the muted screams of a paranoid guitar gradually filling the horizon, building, hammering, inexorably steamrolling its way through the ruins of a dying world. The troops of tomorrow are on the march and there isn’t anything gonna stand in their way as their fists smash through your speakers and the whole ankle grabbing, pride burning light whips into your face. This is power, undeniable; one of the strongest anthems from a desperate youth … left, right, left, right back into your stereo, you following in step.
At long last the Vibrators are going to reap the praise that’s slipped them by, along with Vic Maile, producer, they’ve come up with the pop album the New Wave was created for.
Dave Keemis
VIBRATORS: `V2′ (Epic) Record Mirror 15.4.78
THEY DO have some irritating aspects, The Vibrators: a lead singer who for some reason uses the word “honey” on nearly every track; a lead guitarist who leaves the band as soon as they make a decent album; a terribly homogenised musical frame.
Also, they take a rather outmoded approach to subject matter. I’m beginning to find songs about Nazis, speed, wanton destruction and all those 1977 idols, a mite ragged at the edges.
Then, The Vibrators are a very double edged band. I’ve seen them on nights when they bombed like a hundred V2s, and on others when they’ve been threatening, deadly exciting. This album is more of the latter than the former.
Oddly, and depressingly, the best song on ‘V2’ comes from John Ellis the lead guitarist who has just left the band. In his one and only contribution, ‘Flying Duck Theory’, despite its hackneyed radio dial twirling intro, Ellis’ rounded cockney yells have the edge on Knox’s clipped vowels and his summing up of suburban blankness is an improvement on Knox’s Lou Reed-isms. Ellis offers the band identity, and seems badly under represented on’V2′.
But it’s too early to write off Knox, who, though lyrically crass, composes songs with a visceral energy that pooh-poohs the dictates of fashion. ‘V2′ is, incidentally, an unfashionable album, all power power power and whip sneer. Who cares! You do, huh? Your problem, and your loss; `V2’ is, better than you expect.
+ + + + TIM LOTT
The Vibrators took a credibility hit by signing with with pop Mickie Most’s RAK records. Most was a hit maker more commonly associated with bands like Racy. The Vibrators weren’t the only Punk band to come in contact with the man. Check out Eater’s Andy Blade’s hilarious story in his book ‘The Secret Diary Of A Teenage Punk Rocker.’
The Interview from Record Mirror 1977 gives an insight into both the man and thoughts of bands like The Vibrators.
A SMART record producer – Mickie Most
A shabby bassist – Pat Collier
An eyebrow less guitarist – John Ellis
A disenchanted drummer – John Edwards
A guitarist with bruised knees – Knox.
(Scene – a record company office somewhere in Mayfair. The four musicians, otherwise known as The Vibrators, are seated on a large sofa)
Knox – We’re not going to get a hard core Pistols or Clash audience. We are much more acceptable than The Clash; Like in Germany we’ve just sold out a 1000 seater and one paper there called us the best rock band to come out of England for 10 years.
(Enter Mickie Most)
MM – Hi fellers
Vibs – Hi Mickie. Someone wants to take publicity shots of us down a Soho strip joint
MM – Not a good idea. Okay, rock ‘n’ roll is about sexuality, but we have to present the record stations with your name and we want them to think of you as a band, not a sex aid.
One of the things that interests me about this band is that they are prolific writers. Let’s face it, they ain’t no Carole King, Albert Hammond or Neil Sedaka but they’ll do. See, punk to me isn’t a new thing. The Heavy Metal Kids are in a class of their own as far as punk is concerned. They were into the seedier side of rock before any of the new bands hit the scene – and they are better musicians.
The Vibrators don’t even look like punks. I don’t know what punk is – but I do know about records that sell and don’t sell.
PC – I have no great ambitions to be a good musician.
Commercial radio doesn’t want rock ‘n roll to happen because their listeners will switch back to Waggoners Walk.
Knox – So why can’t we make records better than anyone else?
MM – I’ve been a record producer for 20 years trying to re-create the sound of Eddie Cochran. The trouble with English people is they have a hang up about the past. That’s why I want to put out ‘Jumping Jack Flash’ as the next single.
PC – We don’t want to. Ellis- It’s important for us to put out our own material.
Edwards – We have songs that are better than ‘Satisfaction’
MM – You want a hit Commercial record on your own terms. That’s ridiculous.
PC – We think we know the record we want to do. And we don’t want `Jumping Jack Flash. ‘
MM – Why do it on stage then?
K – Because it’s a powerful stage number. We have completely rearranged it.
MM – That’s why I like it.
PC – But part of the punk ethos is to be against the old stars. We can’t do it.
MM – Who makes these rules? And if we cut it and it went up the charts you would be as happy as sandboys. And I don’t think my relationship with you matters.
The public are very unimpressed with me producing your records. They don’t care. To them I’m part of the establishment, a capitalist in cashmere while you wear torn shirts, someone who dishes out marks on TV – but for £500 they would do it as well.
PC – Okay, your track record may be better than ours. But we still know what will sell because we are more on the street than you are and as you said – ‘Fashion is created in the street’ – and in six months time our kind of music will fill the charts. We have to write our own hit.
MM – I’ve been involved with a lot of bands and they all think like you. They want success and when it comes they’re the biggest cop-outs going. They even start making support acts pay for the privilege of appearing on the same bill
PC – Sure. If society gave me 100 grand I’d feel no compunction in spending it and living in a grand style.
MM – Right. I’d much rather be on a beach in Nassau than a recording studio which is about the worst place in the world. It’s no great highlight of my life to go in the studio and listen to you tell me, who’s sold over 250 million, how to make records. Even if Elvis is in there I’d still rather not because I’ve done it all these years. You need a buzz. Going to bed with a girl is not a buzz unless she can make love well.
(Pause)
MM – Chris Spedding got very involved with the Pistols last year and cut tracks with them in our studios. He asked me to listen and I wasn’t that impressed. But I discussed a deal with the manager Malcolm McLaren which fell through. I’m glad I wasn’t involved. I hope I never have to resort to those sort of amateur dramatics to sell a group.
So the Stones shocked, so the Who shocked but the Pistols OD’d. The manager planned it and good luck to him – but it’s dated. If the Vibrators did anything I didn’t like I’d drop them right away.
MM – I’d sign another new wave band though – even if I don’t completely understand it all. (Exit Mickie)
Knox – Quick, call Princess Anne and tell her everything’s off.
PC – Y’know something. He ain’t a bad bloke at all.
Record Mirror 12.3.77 Barry Cain
Check out Barry’s book Sulphate Strip which is a collection of his writings from the period.
TalkPunk
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