Kick City were regulars at The Three Queens in Weston in the early to mid 80s. The went on to do a lot of work on the university circuit and recorded one unreleased album, from which this song is taken. Dedicated to singer Rich and drummer Andy who are no longer with us.

Kick City - Set Them Up

Cold Morning

Steve Redwood was Weston's own king of the Korg. Starting out with a small synth, an ancient 2-track reel-to-reel recorder and a Roland Drumatix in 1981, he coaxed amazing sounds out of thin air. Later, as he bought better gear, his songs became more complex but never lost the incredible rhythyms and catchy hooks that were Steve's trademark.

This song was probably recorded in the late 1980s, with backing vocals from Maria Chenoweth.

With his distinctive voice Steve collaborated with many bands and musicians, including an appearance on a complilation of Darlington bands with No Picnic, and a stint fronting almost-made-it 1980s rockers Giant International.   

Steve Redwood - World Of Trash

Renegade Flight were regulars at the Three Queens in Weston in 1984, which is when this track dates from. They went on to do some pretty cool things, becoming well-known in Bristol as well as playing The Marquee and generally doing quite well.

Renegade Flight

Hey Pop Star! formed in Weston in about 1985 and played around the town, and further afield, including in Germany, for a few years. 

Tim Day (guitar and vocals)
Matt Organ (bass)
Adam Tinsley (guitar)
Pete Roe (drums)

After all the excitement, Tim moved to Brighton and worked with Norman Cook for years before starting a career in film-making. Pete plays with Weston brit-punk band the Fanzines. 

Hey Pop Star! - Reds Fight The Blues

If any band defined 1984 in Weston, it was Cast the Heroes. Saturday nights at the Three Queens just wouldn't have been the same without Mark Ely and his troupe playing classics like Why and Ambition to a bunch of people with weird hair, pre-loaded on cheap cider and Liebfraumilch.

Mark Ely (bass and vocals)
Dave Eglington (guitar)
Christian Riou (keyboards)
Andy Holt (drums) 

Always on the edge of something big, Cast the Heroes never quite got there. But if the world was a just place, they would have been massive.

Mark Ely continues to play with Eastertown. Christian Riou went on to great success, leading 90s goth rockers Claytown Troupe, with Andy Holt on drums.

Cast the Heroes - Why

This page wouldn't be complete without my favourite song to have come out of Weston. Written by Hutch way back when, it was performed by Cast the Heroes, then by Mark Ely in his solo guise and, more recently, by Eastertown. 

Cast the Heroes - Ambition

"That was the Noiz Boiz, and they certainly are." John Peel, 1981. Noiz Boiz 15 minutes of fame lasted just 3 minutes 34 seconds, but even such a brief mention from the great man was a huge achievement for a Weston band. 

Noiz Boiz were formed in 1981 by Julian Gutsell and Mark Chapman after Negative Earth split. They were joined by Andy Upstone on drums and Ian Foster on bass. The track Noiz Boiz was written at their first rehearsal and, with no small amount of bravado, the decision to record it was made there and then.

The single was released as a limited edition run of 500 copies on Caveman records in late 1981. It sold well but the unsold copies propped up manager Chas Taviner's bed well into the naughties. Eventually Chas sold them on to a dealer who in turn sold them (with a repackaged Mod cover) to Japanese punks.  

Always a great live band, Noiz Boiz gigged extensively around the West Country over the next few years building a loyal fan base. A number of line-up changes saw Negative Earth bassist Paul (Tank) Griffiths replace Ian Foster and Geoff Crofts join the band on keyboards. In Noiz Boiz final incarnation Jim Reynolds replaced Mark Chapman as singer. 

Since 1997 Noiz Boiz have turned up on a number of compilation CDs, including Raw And Rare British Punk Volume 3, proving that if you're noisy enough people will always want to listen. 

www.noizboiz.co.uk 

Noiz Boiz - Noiz Boiz

After Steve moved to London he surprised everybody by joining a rock band. It seemed like a strange decision at first, but  when I heard this demo it all made sense. 

Two of the qualities that made Steve's music unique were his voice and the way he used rhythym. Taking those qualities out of their natural environment in electronic music and mixing them into rock songs created a huge and fresh sound.

I went to see Giant International at The Marquee in 1987 and Steve was brilliant. He always had a very powerful voice and with this band it really came into its own. You could tell that he was different from the rest of the band, and knew it - they were wearing the usual black uniform but Steve had dressed completely in white. He threw himself into the frontman role with all the power of the outsider. And it worked perfectly.

Steve's background and approach brought a huge amount of energy to what could otherwise have been a fairly ordinary rock band, but I think the differences were probably too vast to reconcile and Steve and the band parted company after quite a short time. 



Giant International (featuring Steve Redwood) - True Force

Weston's first indie single, released in early 1981. The band's story is brilliantly told in Gary Palmer's article on the Bristol Archive Records site (http://www.bristolarchiverecords.com/bands/Burning_Sound.html). If you would like your very own copy of the song and the B-side - Fit To Burn - you can buy them on Amazon (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shining-Through/dp/B0042KJGZ4). 

Burning Sound - Shining Through

Cast the Heroes - April Girl

From Hey Pop Star's second demo recorded at Brian Monk's Horizon Studios in Locking Road.

Hey Pop Star! - Fade Away

The Cassettes - Call me anytime

A very early version of Ambition, with Gary Palmer on vocals, Hutch on bass, Mark Ely on guitar, Andy Upstone on drums and somebody on sax - if you know who it was please let me know and I'll add their name.

The Cassettes - Ambition

Why? was a stand-out track in Cast The Heroes set from the very earliest days at The Three Queens. There's an older version on this page as well, but this version, padded out with strings, a new arrangement and better production, is from the Forever And A Day cassette.

Cast The Heroes - Why?

The second track from the Forever And A Day album.

Cast The Heroes - Today

The Cassettes - Moving Time

This page features music from Weston super Mare's alternative scene, between 1979 and 1984. Eventually, the aim is to have a mix of studio, rehearsal and live recordings on here to form a record of a very special time down Wessun. If your music fits with that, let me know and I'll pop it on the page. Please bear in mind that this music has been hanging around on tapes in attics for about 30 years so the sound quality isn't going to be perfect, even though the music is...

Alternative Weston

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