Blanx

The Blanx were formed in 1977 at Syd Smith School by Rich Cundill, Kev Precious and Adam Marshall after seeing The Saints and The Sex Pistols on Top of The Pops. [Strong parallels can be drawn with The Fall here as reknowned curmudgeon Mark E Smith also formed his band after witnessing that legendary Saints performance - parallels could also be drawn between The Blanx and The Falls careers, but unfortunately they would be false.]

Nobody wanted to sing, so a mate of Kev's, called Ian, turned up to the first practice but, unfortunately, had 'lyringitis' so couldn't perform! An early tape of a cover version of Substitute (made famous by rock combo The Who) had people rolling in the aisles but the band realise that they needed another input. This input, rather larger than expected in the shape of Fatty Bagley did spark the band into action (albeit with wad of ramones LP's under their collectibve arms).

The band did their one and only gig at the St. Marks Scout Hut when the legendary 'ping-pong ball incident' occurred. The band played a set almost entirely composed or Ramones cover versions (for example, Beat On The Brat and (I Don't Wanna Go Down to the) Basement, for a brief respite, the audience were treated to a version of Chinese Rocks by Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, however, it was sson realised that is was exactly the same song as The Ramones' 53rd and 3rd, and so the Ramones theme continued. The band did have one original song called Media Distort but the arrangement has, unfortunately, been lost in the annals of time.

After this gig the band soon disintegrated and only reformed for one last performance. A tape was made as document and eye-witness to this (rather self-indulgent and laclustre) event but thankfully this meant that the one and only impromptu performance of (The Buzzcocks) What Do I Get (Just Dogs) was captured for posterity. A somewhat infamous recoprding in certain South Liverpool circles, the track (a note imperfect copy of The Buzzcocks famous tune, augmented by a hastily thought up vocal accompanyment) contained such classic lines as "I wanted to fuck a girl but my dad wouldn't let me, so what do I get - just dogs - and cats-ah (...is this thing working ... have we started yet...hang on a minute ... we can't record that .... rewind the tap.. (etc. etc. ad nauseum in silly 15 year-old high pitched voices)..". Also included in the set was a version of 'Our New Riff' (a Blanx original) and 'Whole Lotta Love'.