THE PSYKIK VOLTS
Dewsbury, West Yorkshire

 

 
 

UK FIRST PRESSING OF 7"

 

          

Totally Useless / Horror Stories No. 5

Catalogue Number - EJSP 9262

Label - Ellie Jay

Year Of Release - 1979

Quantity Pressed - 1000

 

 

UK SECOND PRESSING OF 7"

          

Totally Useless / Horror Stories No. 5

Catalogue Number - EJSP 9262 (MHG GHM 109)

Label - MHG Records

Year Of Release - 1979

Quantity Pressed - 1000

 

 Psykik Volts was my first original music band & we were inspired/influenced by bands like The Clash, Sex Pistols etc. .We were aged around 17/18 at the time of releasing our self-financed single & it was our first time in the studio, hence some of the rough & ready bits of the single (feedback, bum notes etc.). I think we probably formed just the year before the single (1978). We considered ourselves more ‘new wave’ than ‘punk’ at the time as the initial wave of punk bands had died down by then. Our bass player, Nathan, designed the picture sleeve & we stuck them all together ourselves! We lived in Dewsbury, West Yorkshire which is near Leeds, by the way.

John Peel played the single quite a lot on Radio 1, & it was subsequently repressed on the MHG label after the initial 1000 copies had sold. I think they released another 1000 (in plain white sleeves) but we never saw any money if I remember correctly. The band got signed shortly afterwards to Graduate Records (UB40, The Circles etc.), who recorded 4 songs. They were "Wooden Heart", "Nervous Men Whistle", "(Rise of the) Appliances" and one other that I can't remember, but sadly they were never released!

Myself & drummer Mick Reed then got signed to Rockburgh Records in 1980/81 & released a single called “Wooden Heart” backed with "(Rise of the) Appliances" which were re-recorded versions to the Psykik Volts versions and we changed our name to ‘Poptones’ (after the Public Image song). This got a few airplays but didn’t sell many copies & once again we never got any money (boo hoo!).

I’ve had quite a few more singles released under various pseudonyms until my last single in 1993 (Club X “WAM RIP” cd ), & almost made it in the early 80’s with a duo called ‘The Toy Shop’ (signed to Towerbell), while living in Sheffield. I now live in Perth, Western Australia and am currently working on recording old Psykik Volts (now ‘Psychic Volts’) songs that never saw the light of day originally (project title “Psychic Volts – Revolting”).

Paul Metcalf (aka Victor Vendetta) 26th October 2004

 

Victor Vendetta – Guitar / Vocals

Nathan Teen – Bass

M.J. Reed - Drums

 

 

 

Read What The Press Said

 

Thanks to Paul Metcalf & Ian from Damaged Goods

 

<<BACK TO INDEX

©Detour Records