Since the 1950s the UK has been keeping rock 'n' roll alive through clubs up and down the length and breadth of the country. Newcastle was no different from any other place. Friday night was rock 'n' roll night at the Ravenshill Club in Gateshead (just on the opposite side of the river) where life long friends were introduced for the first time: Andy Hall Summers, Drew Bartley (Shanahan) and Mark Coppin. At the club there used to be a Kat called "Chalky the Yorky" who had a stall selling vinyl and had the latest releases from the "scene" at that time like Crazy Cavan, Whirlwind, Flying Saucers and Johnny and the Roccos. Not long after, other bands were putting out more raucous more up beat stuff which we liked.
Soon, "Meteor Madness" was released and, luckily for ourselves, The Meteors played our home town supporting The Theatre of Hate. In 1981, overnight, we transformed from rockabillies to the new term psychobillies and decided to start a band. Drew was already playing with a band called the Atomics (which later changed to the Sureshots). Andy had a band with a guy called Stan Wilson of whom the song "Stan Likes Making Babies" is an ode too. Mark took over drums in the same band after the previous drummer left. We're proud to say the Dead Rocks was the first full-blown psychobilly band in the North East of England. Drew eventually left the Sureshots and joined the Cyclones. Drew, Alan and Davy Dewers were left playing traditional rockabilly stuff.
We're proud to say the Dead Rocks was the first full-blown psychobilly band in the North East of England.
We have to say Newcastle upon Tyne was a great place for music and was full of great places to play. Back in the day, if you were in a psychobilly band, it made you exempt from playing rock 'n' roll clubs as they didn't want to know you, so the Dead Rocks played with punk, blues, and new-age bands. This was great but we also supported the few psychobilly bands that existed at that time: The Meteors, Guana Batz and King Kurt.
Stan quit the Dead Rocks to go back to play in a teddy boy outfit, so after a few weeks, we changed our name to The Swamp Babies and enlisted Davey Dewers on double bass from the Cyclones. Dave left for pastures new after about five months. After a short time there was a band called the Hell Kats in which Mark's cousin played. These individuals were Gavin Bagnall , Darren "Ditcha" Ditchburn and Richy Middleton. At this point, Mark and Andy weren't playing just writing new material. We got an invite to watch them rehearse and when we got there they were playing their own stuff with a few standards thrown in. From then on it went pretty quickly and we amalgamated; Mark on drums, Andy and Ditcha on guitars, Richy on bass and Mark's cousin on percussion. Soon though, Mark's cousin left to join the navy and never looked back. This was also around the time when we came up with the name The Sugar Puff Demons (the name derives from the staple diet for unemployed musicians which was breakfast cereal - Sugar Puffs being our weapon of choice). This became the very first line up.
The name derives from the staple diet for unemployed musicians which was breakfast cereal - Sugar Puffs being our weapon of choice.
This band became quite successful in its own right by generating a core following alongside groups like the Guana Batz who we're still in touch with to this day and we class amongst friends. Unfortunately, Andy's relationship problems at the time put him in a bad place and also took its toll on the band. Richy used to do a lot of busking when he wasn't with us and soon quit the band to go solo and went on to make a good life as a professional musician.
Over the next turbulent months we replaced Richy with a guy called Pete Burns (not of Dead or Alive fame) but a librarian and also the first groove bassist we played with. His idols were Jamie Jameson and Donald Duck Dunn and Carole Kaye. Pete is the also bassist responsible for the runs on the song "Burke and Hare". Alas, Andy was getting worse and this line up folded. Ditcha went and done his own thing, Pete went to another county library, Andy went to join King Kurt but changed his mind after he got the job and Mark spent time with his family. Despite the brief separation it did not stop Mark or Andy writing stuff as it is in their blood. One day Mark got a call from Andy and Drew who had a session booked to see if he'd play drums. One of the songs to come out of it was "Weedin'" and this was when Big Jim by the sea Collins was there assisting with backing vocals. He suggested we send the demo to a new label "Raucous Records" which we did and soon it was released by Howard on the Psycho Tendencies album. All of a sudden SPD had reformed with better musical prowess. Mostly because during the lay period Andy and Drew played in a traditional bluegrass band which is where their speed playing and guitar chops came from... thank you Tony rice. Thrash metal had also started to become more popular so we also got the speed thing there too which we liked.
The band never lost its loyal local following and as soon as SPD started playing again they were there. We got invited to play at the psychobilly all-dayer in Sheffield's Take Two club which was being recorded (and we fortunately still have) but just prior to this gig Drew dropped the bombshell that he was quitting the band for another job. Despite the band having momentum, he had a big mortgage and he couldn't commit anymore. Drew played the Take Two gig and then we took on his replacement, Simon - an under graduate studying medicine at Newcastle University. The gig went great and on the strength of it we got an album deal. Unfortunately, Simon changed back to London to study and so we had an album to do within a month without a bass player. Andy and Mark asked Drew to play on the album as they wanted him to be a part of it and today he openly admits he wish he had. As things turned out, Andy went on to work with Steve Hindmarsh, a punk bassist that didn't know any psychobilly or rockabilly (he might of heard the terms but never played them), so Andy taught the bass lines to him so the recording could be completed. This was intended to be a stop gap as we were going to get a replacement, but while we were recording we found out that we had a tour lined up with The Frantic Flintstones to promote the album. The tour was badly organised and Mark ended up playing with the Flintstones as they sacked their drummer just four gigs into the tour. After a week-long break we had one gig left in London, which was the best gig booked on this tour, but during this Steve took it upon himself to act on behalf the band to drop the record label. Mark knew nothing about this, even though he got the record deal and was the contact to the management, and only Andy can explain why he went along with this decision. On that, Mark quit to join a pro outfit... The rest is history as they say.
We would like to especially thank big Jim Collins and Tom Nipper Quinn as our roadies, album logo designer and genuine people who have been with SPD from day one.
Andy, Drew and Mark are currently in talks. Watch this space ...