The John Fuller Interview...
ADRENALIN recorded three tracks in the spring of 77 at 'Swan Street Studios', Torquay. All three tracks were written by Ian Roberts and originally intended for a single/EP release on Step Forward Records. Kim Turner (later to manage The Police) produced the session and the tracks recorded were...
1. TV Violence
2. No Love (In a Modern Society)
3. Don't Tell Your Parents
Unfortunately, the only copy that exists of the session is a cassette copy of the final mix. Band members have recently been trying to track down the original master and it could be in the possession of a local promoter.
ADRENALIN were, without a doubt, the first punk band to come out of the South Devon area. Possibly the first in the whole of the South West! Even in 1975 (while some members were still at school) they were playing a curious mixture of Velvet Underground and Dr Feelgood numbers! The line up changed over the years (the mainstays being Ian Roberts and drummer Mike Farrow) but at the time of the recording was...
Ian Roberts - Vocals / Guitar Adrian Stephens - Bass / Backing Vocals
John Fuller - Guitar Mike Farrow - Drums
Kirk Brandon briefly replaced Adrian in the band but by the summer of 77, Ian Roberts moved to London, the others carried on as 'The Cane' with Kirk taking over vocal and song writing duties.
Chris Skornia (lead vocals, guitar), Kirk Brandon (bass, vocals), John Fuller (lead guitar, vocals), Simon Wright (drums, vocals)
The Cane, or initially The Kayo Punks, came into being when Devon promoter Lionel Digby booked the Sex Pistols for a show at the 400 Club in Torquay on 28 September 1976. However, the Pistols were not exactly flavour of the month in conservative south coast holiday resorts, and the gig was pulled, just like the preceding event at the Scunthorpe Priory and the subsequent dates in Plymouth, Penzance and Wolverhampton.
With interest growing in his much vaunted punk night, and no band to fill the bill, Digby asked local musicians Chris Skornia and Simon Wright if they could help him out. They put together a quintet drawn from local musicians who quickly learned a basic set of covers using recently issued 45s as the template. Despite these inauspicious beginnings, the Kayo Punks proved a success and that convinced the main participants that they were on to something. They initially operated as a trio, the duo joined by Jerry Iles on bass, and changed their name to The Cane, unaware of the existence of a similarly titled outfit who’d contributed to the Streets compilation. Nevertheless support slots with Chelsea, Sham 69 and the Cortinas ensued.
By 1978 Iles had bowed out and was replaced by future Pack, Theatre of Hate and Spear Of Destiny mainstay Kirk Brandon, with John Fuller also joining on lead guitar. Simon Wright left and was replaced by Mike Farrow ex ADRENALIN and subsequently- replaced by Rab Faybeith on drums when band re-located to London
Flushed with optimism they decided to make the move to London, armed with demos they’d recorded in a Torquay studio, and set themselves up in a house near Heathrow. The recordings they made there are lost to posterity, however. Despite stout-hearted efforts at blagging their way into the London punk community, they never quite made it, despite changing their name to The Pack Of Lies.
We all know what Brandon did next, but Skornia joined the Boyfriends with Pat Collier of the Vibrators then formed the Truth with Dennis Greaves (ex-Nine Below Zero). Fuller, who joined Ack Ack, had a band in California and was in an early version of Culture Club on his return. Wright still performs in and around Torquay.
Evidence of the band’s potential was put on display when Detour Records unearthed those original Torquay demos for inclusion on a forthcoming version of Bored Teenagers (‘Truant Boy’ and ‘Schooldaze’ will be included on the vinyl album, with three tracks, additionally including ‘Food Kills’, on the CD).
Ack Ack
Mick Foley (guitar), Steve James (aka Steve Wright; bass), Mark Williams (vocals), Stuart Russell (drums)
Ack Ack’s origins lay in Dirty Mack And The Stains, formed in 1977 by school friends Foley and Williams, plus bass player known only as Lawrence, in Twickenham and Iselworth in Middlesex, West London. Alan Spencer on guitar and Stuart Russell on drums joined the band in short order, at which point, though they still hadn’t migrated from the participants’ bedroom to the stage, they changed their name to Ack Ack.
Steve James was invited aboard in 1978 to replace Lawrence, shortly before their live debut at Chessington Rugby Club, with the band managing to pull a fair audience due to an aggressive poster campaign. But Spencer was a bit queasy at the band’s punk direction, and as a result, John Fuller stepped in on lead guitar. But with a now settled line-up and shows booked by Williams’ elder brother Tony, they were able to get gigs at venues such as The Grove in Kingston, The Winning Post in Twickenham, etc.
That helped the band build up to its first recording session, at Spaceward Studios in Cambridge in early 1979, ostensibly as a way of getting a tape together to secure further gigs. Paul Brett, former guitarist with Elmer Gantry’s Velvet Opera, took over their management and found them shows at the Starlight in Hampstead and the Pegasus in Stoke Newington, as well as support slots to the Adverts and the Specials amongst others.
I (John Fuller) was replaced by unknown guitarist prior to recording the debut album. I went to America in September 1979
They set about recording their debut album in 1980. Titled Trouser Kicks, it was recorded over six days in a small studio near Hammersmith. Twelve tracks were mastered, but after some initial interest, the band were hit by the cold chill of the industry’s commercial downturn. Not to mention the fact that punk was now considered several years past its sell by date by the majors. As a result, it never did get a release. Disillusioned, Stuart Russell, the band’s main songwriter, decided to accept an invitation to work for a job in advertising. The band chucked in their hand, the towel, and any pretence towards pop stardom thereafter. John Fuller (would later play guitar with The Cane before –no so The Cane was before Ack Ack) headed to California.
I am back in Devon and still playing, but not much punk.
From Alex Ogg's forthcoming book "No More Heroes"
©Detour Records