East London

*REPLACED BY 'GARY WELLMAN' IN JULY '77

1st Pressing

Teenage Treats / She Made Magic

Catalogue Number - FOUR 001

Label - 4 Play Records

Year Of Release - 1977

2nd Pressing

Teenage Treats / She Made Magic

Catalogue Number - FOUR 001

Label - Illegal Records

Year Of Release - 1977

3rd Pressing

Teenage Treats / She Made Magic

Catalogue Number - FOUR 001

Label - Illegal Records

Year Of Release - 1977

Formed Feb ’76 The Wasps were one of London’s earliest punk bands. They were regulars at The Roxy and numerous other key venues. Their first two singles, ‘Teenage Treats’ and ‘Can’t Wait 'til 78’ are classic anthems of the UK punk era.

Biography

THE WASPS BIOGRAPHY
In 1975 Dave Ambrose a top executive of EMI Publishing heard a tape of songs written by Jesse Lynn-Dean and said he would like to sign Lynn-Dean to EMI as a songwriter. Lynn-Dean then told Ambrose he wanted to sing these songs himself and Ambrose advised him to get a band together and come back.

Soon after Lynn-Dean heard Johnny Rich (Drums), Steve Wollaston (Bass) and Del Ma...y (Guitar) rehearsing and was impressed with their power and open mindedness to new ideas (Johnny first approached Del and Steve about forming the band in December 1975, but they didn't start playing together until February 1976). At the time Rich, Wollaston and May were looking for a singer and thought Lynn-Dean’s material would be perfect for the band. Lynn-Dean and Wollaston had both been listening to the likes of the Velvet Underground, The Stooges, MC5 and had a lot in common regarding their musical tastes and they both agreed that Rich’s outstanding musical ability as a drummer and May’s versatility as a guitarist would add the required dynamics to Lynn-Dean’s material.

After some months of rehearsal the newly formed Wasps decided to wreak havoc on the tired and staid Blues & Pub Rock scene that was dominating the London circuit at the time. They were asked by Terry Murphy to play at his venue The Bridge House in Canning Town, London. The Wasps played to a packed house and the gig was reviewed by the legendary Giovanni Dadomo of Sounds Magazine who declared The Wasps “an exciting new band”. The Wasps were soon playing regularly at venues all over London including, The Roxy, Rochester Castle, The Marquee, Hope & Anchor, etc.

Curiously it seemed that whenever they played outside London the audiences were becoming more violent. When The Wasps played at Shrewsbury Civic Centre things got very rough and the band had to play behind a barricade of chairs stacked five high. Security staff sustained injuries while trying to keep fans off the stage who were trying to join in with the band. During this gig drummer Rich’s shirt caught fire due to a firework although fortunately he wasn’t injured and guitarist Del May’s versatility was stretched to it’s limits when he had to combine playing lead and rhythm and knocking people off the stage with the end of his guitar. People were throwing themselves from the balcony onto the crowd below and fights broke out. A local newspaper said the gig had put a strain on the casualty department of the near by hospital. The town council branded The Wasps as “depraved” and banned them from playing there again. Other venues followed suit with bar staff refusing to work if The Wasps played.

The paranoia died down in a few weeks but all this had taken its toll on guitarist, Del May, who wanted Lynn-Dean to tone things down a bit. He believed that Jesse’s repartee between songs (listen to “Can’t Wait Till ’78” for example), was winding people up too much. But Lynn-Dean didn’t believe that Punk was just about playing some songs and going home. He said he thought the audience were as much a part of a gig as the band and if things did sometimes get a bit extreme so what, it was “their time”, after all.

In July ’77 Del May finally decided enough was enough and resigned from the band. May was an exceptional guitarist but luckily 16 year old Gary Wellman, The Wasps sound engineer, was also an accomplished guitarist and knew every note of the set. He fitted perfectly into the line up and after Del May’s final two gigs at The Music Machine, Camden, London when The Wasps played with The Police and XTC, Wellman made his debut at the same venue on September 3rd 1977.

The Wasps made their first single in November ’77 with two original compositions, “Teenage Treats” coupled with “She Made Magic”, on 4 Play Records. They were two superior slices of Punk with lyrics that epitomised what was going on at the time. The single evoked outstanding revues, “Teenage Treats” was in and out of the New Wave and Indies charts for the next couple of years and is now regarded as a Punk classic.

The Wasps next appeared on the notorious “Live at the Vortex” album with “Can’t Wait Till‘78”, (which can be found on many Punk compilations and now considered a classic example of British Punk Rock in ’77) and a cover of Lou Reeds “Waiting for My Man” recorded live at the end of a manic set with only five strings left on the guitar and a split skin on the drum kit.

Later that year whilst playing at The Bell, Kings Cross, London, during their set a Wasps fan was beaten up by over zealous bouncers and consequently died. The band decided to cancel their gigs and take a break. After this break The Wasps returned to the UK circuit and did the first of two John Peel sessions on BBC Radio 1 on February 13th 1978. RCA Records then swooped and signed The Wasps. RCA chose “Rubber Cars” as the first single and it was released on February 16th to positive revues. The song was performed live on “Runaround” at Southampton TV who went to the expense of making an animated cartoon that was edited into the live performance on the show. A fully animated series based on the song was soon under consideration by TV producers.

Suddenly The Wasps were hot property and it seemed as if anybody who had ever had anything to do with the band in a business capacity was trying to claim a piece of the action. Hassles in the form of writs and threats of legal actions from previous “managers” caused RCA to pull the record out of the shops after only a week. During this week RCA said “Rubber Cars” was their fastest selling single and was expected to go to number one.

The disappointment of what was happening and the continuing legal battles tore The Wasps apart. After almost continuous gigging, writing, rehearsing and recording for years, plus suffering the usual pressures that always exist in a band situation, The Wasps were exhausted and they split. After attempting to put the band back together with Wollaston, Rich and Wellman, Lynn-Dean again ran into a brick wall and the legal turmoil seemed insurmountable. After this last ditched attempt to salvage something from the mess caused by the greed, insensitivity and ego’s of so called “interested parties”, who make a career out of trying to extort money from record companies, Jesse Lynn-Dean sadly decided to put The Wasps to bed.

The above text is from : https://www.facebook.com/TheWaspsPunk/info

 

Thanks to Gary Miles, Mark Woodley, Jesse Lynn Dean & Steve Wollaston

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