We’re a garage band…….
It must have been late 1978 in Binley Village when we began to sow the seeds that eventually grew into Riot Act. Me (Stuart Knapper), and my punky mates Archie (Stephen Ball), Wuff (Stuart Waugh), and Carl Plichta had embraced punk rock from day one (the summer of ’76) and had become regular faces at all of the punk hot spots in the city centre. We had seen them all: The Clash, The Pistols at Mr Georges (not the Lanch), The Vibrators, The Adverts, Sham, The Jam, The Stranglers, The Dead Boys, The Buzzcocks, Penetration, The Damned and The Flys. In 1977 we were either 16 or 17!! This was our time!! Our Moment!! Our Music!! They were crazy days: Local Ballroom Tiffanys had punk bands on every Tuesday and Thursday; Mr Georges night club had bands every week as well as pubs like the
Hand and Heart in Hertford Street. I remember seeing “Menace” (GLC GLC your full of shit shit shit) at the Hand and Heart in the back room one Friday night. Pubs like the Bear Inn and the Swanswell Tavern welcomed us with open arms. I had always wanted to get a band together ever since I had seen Marc Bolan fronting T.Rex on TOTP playing Hot Love. My older brother Phil (see my Phil Knapper blog) was an excellent guitarist and had painstakingly helped me learn a few chords on his guitar over the years. So the four of us had talked and talked and talked about the band but it just never happened. This was due the fact that at the time, none of the others could play a note. So I turned to my life long friend Steve Gaggini who was sitting on the outside looking in, and only occasionally dipping his toes into the puke filled waters of punk rock. Like me, Steve was a mad
T.Rex fan. Indeed, we had seen T.Rex twice together at the Birmingham Odeon the last time being March 17th 1977 with The Damned supporting and the added bonus of Steve and my wife to be Helen sitting on the stage with Marc Bolan due to the safety barriers giving way at the front of the stage . Steve could also play guitar!! Like me he was limited, but was a little further down the track than I was so we decided to start putting a band together. So Steve and I started to write songs together in his bedroom at his sister’s house. I can’t remember how we discovered that James Conlon (Murph) could play bass guitar but somehow we did, and soon began to rehearse in his dad’s garage in Penarth Grove in Binley. The three of us would get together two or three times a week and make a shit load of noise for the benefit of Archie, Wuff and Carl who were always in attendance. We would knock out covers of The Clash, T.Rex and even the Boom Town Rats spliced with our own early compositions. Pretty soon the noise and the word on the street spread around the village that some guys had a band and did concerts in a garage!! Very soon 15-20 kids would turn up to listen to us in the street as we played away behind the locked doors of the garage. It wasn’t long
before Murph’s parents were receiving complaints from the neighbours about the noise from ever growing gang of spikey haired punk rockers hanging about outside the garage. It was at this juncture that we realised that we needed to do things fairly quickly: Find better rehearsal space and get ourselves a drummer!!!
Schools out…….
Finding bigger and better rehearsal space turned out to be easy. We found out that you could hire the music rooms at any of the nearby schools via the council offices in the city centre. So for the princely fee of around £4 a go, we hired the music room at our old school, Binley Park Comprehensive two nights a week, utilising my future brother in law’s (Alistair) work’s Tartan van to transport our gear to and from Murph’s garage twice a week. Now for the drummer: Steve and I had grown up with a good friend called Will Simpson (Sanka) who had always told us that he had a drum kit and had been having lessons. The reason that we had not approached him earlier was that he had not shown much interest in music since leaving school and therefore we had erased him from our list of likely band members. In our early teens I had been to see The Glitter Band and Sparks (Kimono My House Tour) with him so I knew that he had at one time been vaguely interested. So one evening we invited Will to the school with his kit and he began to rehearse with us. After around three or so rehearsals it was painfully obvious that he couldn’t really play. He tried so hard but as any band will tell you: if you have no confidence in your drummer you may as well forget it!! We let Will go, it wasn’t good because as I said he had been a friend for many years and had been part of our lives for such a long time I think that’s why persevered with him for a couple of weeks. We
As you can see from the photo caption above I had dropped the guitar to concentrate on the vocals. I had never felt comfortable that I could give my best performance with the constraints of dragging a guitar around the stage with me. And anyway Steve was getting better and more confident as the weeks rolled by especially since Gray had joined giving us the benefit of his pounding rhythm and perfect timing. Now I could be Iggy, Johnny, Joey or just me of course. Ever since my brother Phil and told me to watch some footage of Iggy Pop jumping into the crowd and rubbing peanut butter over the audience I had wanted to be a frontman. My ethos was, and still is, that if your on stage with Stu Knapper and you want to own it, you better be prepared to fight for it, because I don't give it up for anyone!! By now the word had spread that the band had moved to the school and the same kids from the village began to turn up. However, this time they were not alone!!! They now had kids from Willenhall and Ernesford grange in tow and on some nights there would be 30 or 40 kids hanging around the school. It was a situation that we thought may get out of hand with regards to vandalism on the school site so we decided that we would invite them into the music room to watch us rehearse. On one occasion the caretaker turned up to find the music packed with kids and asked us what was going on? We played innocent and told him that we didn’t know them and they just walked in through the door and sat down. I’m not sure if he believed us but he just turned and walked out and left us to it. To be fair we thought that they would soon get bored and find some other outlet to occupy there evenings but as the weeks rolled on you could see the kids change in their appearance. Many were already punks but some were still wearing flares etc…it wasn’t long before the spiky hair cut and Oxfam clothes replaced the fashion garments worn by the current crop of “Top of the Pops” pop stars. Queen and Pink Floyd T-Shirts had been replaced by the Pistols and the Clash….These kids were ready for a gig!! And so were the band!! Carl, Archie and Wuff were installed as the management, and were now responsible for all gigs and promotion. I can’t remember who came along to rehearsals with a small section cut out of “The Coventry Evening Telegraph” detailing a rock band competition to be held at Warwick University but we decided that this would be our focus for the next 8 weeks. We entered the competition, were given a date of the heat (Heat 1), and started to rehearse for the 20 minute set that each group had been allocated. If memory serves me correctly David Hearn (Hearnie) happened along at this time and quickly became our sound man. Hearny had been in the same classes as Gray and myself throughout school so we new him well and were pleased that he was on board with us. As the weeks rolled on we rehearsed the set as if we were performing the gig over and over seeking perfection in performance and sound. In between we would continue to work on new songs but our aim was to tighten the 6 songs that we had chosen to showcase on the evening. All kinds of stories about the other bands in the heat started to filter through to us and we began to get nervous as the gig grew ever nearer. What if we finished last?? We decide it didn’t matter as long as we put in the best performance we had in us and we could walk away with our heads held high. As you can see our expectations were not very high! On the plus side, we now had a dedicated following of around 40 real hardcore fans that new every word to every song and were ready to spray paint “Riot Act” on every wall in the town if they had to!!
100 Punks Rule……
The day of the gig had arrived and the band travelled nervously across town to perform our songs at Warwick University, not only to the general public, but also a panel of judges, and being at the university our presumption was the judges would probably be student hippies who would hate our two and half minute, four chord, non lead break punk anthems. I guess you could couple that with the fact that none of us had performed on stage before. My only experience had been as a 7 year old at Robin Hood Holiday Camp in Rhyl when my parents entered me into a talent competition for children. I sang the classic “5 Little Ducks” and came second to some spotty kid who sang the chorus, and only the chorus to the Beatles song “She Loves You.” The difference was that while I stood motionless and sang, he made strumming movements playing air guitar and shaking his head. The fact that he only new the chorus didn’t appear to matter to whoever was judging!! This was the first and last time experience of me being upstaged. If only I had seen Iggy 3 or 4 years earlier I am sure I would have kicked his ass. Any way I won a cowboy gun and holster set for my performance so it wasn’t a complete disaster!! The highlight for me as I walked onto the stage that night in Rhyl with my bright blonde hair shimmering under the lights was that the host of the show commented that he thought it was Adam Faith walking on the stage. Adam would later become a hero of mine in the 70s and I later called my second son Adam. When we arrived we were told that we were the first act of the evening. Fuck me!!! We had to open the whole event!! More pressure! More nerves!! Carl who had really taken to the role of manager was fantastic, he quickly organised a dressing room for us and chased the organisers to swap the lead vocal mic as we had noticed it was taped to the stand and this did not suit me at all. I needed a loose mike to allow me the freedom to roam the stage, and believe me it was a fucking big stage!! The drinks started to arrive and the dressing room filled with friends, girlfriends and wives all seemingly as nervous as we were. Helen my then girlfriend but now my wife applied some black eye make up to my left eye. I guess it was a tribute to my glam rock up bringing as it didn’t really fit the punk ethos but I new I just needed to do it.A riot of our own…
As the cheers rung out we took our places and I gazed from the stage at the faces that seemed to be a long way below me. Some faces I knew, some faces I didn’t! Now the first song was a right belter called “Strike Out” that had been self penned by Steve. It opened with Steve playing a simple but powerful riff made up of a few simple bar chords, the first of which I think was an A chord. A very nervous Steve played a B flat but realised as soon as he played it and stopped dead in his tracks. I turned in surprise and Steve and I exchanged a glance across the stage. It seemed as though a deadly silence descended on the whole venue. We had frozen in the opening seconds of our debut performance!! Disaster!! Someone in the audience laughed and I had the feeling that if we weren’t careful the whole thing would turn into farce. I don’t know what made me do it, but I turned and faced the crowd, leaned into my mike and with my best Johnny Rotten voice, sneered “Most Amusing!!” and then screamed "1-2-3-4." Steve ripped into the A chord like a shagging banshee and we were off. An A chord had never sounded so good!! From that moment on we were faultless. We played the set with an anger that I don’t think any of us had felt before. Angry because we had fucked up!! Angry because some fucker laughed!! Angry because we thought we had blown it!! However, we were
propelled through the set by the amazing driving pulse of Gray and Murph. I have to say that the two of them were incredible that night and seemed to be bonded together like a human metronome. The opening fiasco didn’t appear to affect them at all. Steve played like a demon. Me, well I was just me!! I was driven by an un-relenting force that didn’t subside until the final chord had been struck. I thought if we are gonna lose! lets lose in style! So I pulled out all the stops, using every move I had stolen over the years from all of my heroes. I snarled, sneered, and growled in their faces. To be fair the crowd were amazing: singing every word; shouting insults; gobbing: and pogoing as if they had duracell batteries up their arses. We left the stage with the noise of the crowd ringing in our ears and our adrenalin levels at maximum. In the dressing room afterward I don’t think we even mentioned the opening, we just jumped all over each other, shaking hands, hugging, clearly relieved that our mission had been accomplished. Horace came in and congratulated us on our performance and remarked that he couldn’t believe how tight we had been for our first gig. I think that was testament to Gray and Murph on drums and bass. As I have already said they really pulled us through!! We left the dressing room on a high to mingle with our friends and fans and watch the remaining acts. I can’t remember too much about them other than they just seemed very dated. I am sure one band was called “Silmarillion”, obviously named
after the Tolkien book of the same name. I remember thinking that they were a bit prog rock, all hair, lead breaks and high pitched vocals. One thing that was clear, was that none of them filled the floor and created the excitement that Riot Act had done earlier on in the evening. When Horace Panter climbed onto the stage at the end of the evening no one was more surprised than me when he announced that Riot Act would be in the final. The crowd went crazy!! chairs, tables, bottles and glasses were smashed as the punk fans celebrated. A few scuffles broke out but there was nothing too serious. We had done it!! Riot Act were in the final!!
We never went to watch either of the other two heats as we didn’t want anything to interrupt our own preparations for the final. We received a reprimand from the organisers due to the behaviour of some of the Riot Act fans but quickly put that to one side as we concentrated on our final set. What could we do about it anyway?? Our main concern was that we had had two new songs near to completion prior to the heat and we wanted at least one to be ready for the final as we didn’t want to just play the same set again. We felt it was important for the judges to see that we were progressing and that our song writing was a constant process. As it turned out we were only happy with one of them before the event but at least the set would be a variation of the first. We were on first again, so what!! We overcame that obstacle last time and we felt sure that we could do it again. The judges tonight were Simon Frith (now the head of the Mercury Music awards), a music journalist who wrote for the Melody Maker and was also a lecturer at Warwick University. Simon and I became friends a few months later when I started to work for Virgin Records in the Arcade in Coventry. Also on the panel were Brian James, ex- Damned guitarist and co writer of the punk classic “New Rose,” and I think one of the guy’s that owned Horizon Recording Studios in Coventry. The fans had turned up in their droves again and the roof almost lifted as we walked on to the stage for the second time in a matter of weeks. All eyes were on Steve, so solid in rehearsals but he had fucked up
last time!! We opened perfectly this time as memories of the last time instantly evaporated from our memory banks as we ripped through the set with all the subtly of a buzz saw in the hands of that guy with the mask in “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre,” even if I say so myself, we really rocked the house!! We were excellent!! Even the new song went down well, but that was maybe to be expected as a lot of the crowd had heard perform it at rehearsals over the last few weeks. So I guess in that respect it wasn’t that new!! Anyway, we left the stage to the applause of a really appreciative audience and the inevitable adrenalin rush. We retired to the dressing room too whoops and cheers and lots of back slapping as the drink began to flow and we wound down from our high. We knew that we had put ourselves in with a chance of winning but still thought it was a long shot. Also in the back of my mind was that we had never seen the other finalists!! I sunk a few drinks and found myself a perch from which to watch the remaining bands. It turned out to be a three way finish between ourselves, The X Certs and Gods Toys. The X Certs were the winners, a clean cut trio of chaps that looked like the kind of kids that were always chosen to be milk monitors at school. They had a kind of mod sound and looked a bit like the Jam but without any real anger. They were led by a guy called Dave Pepper who I had forgot to mention dropped in to one of our rehearsals one night with some guy’s from Ernesford Grange. I can’t remember if it was before the first heat or the final, either way, it don’t matter. God’s Toy’s on the other hand were a band caught between time, neither, Arthur or Martha you might say. I say this because they were very art school, a cross between early Roxy Music and Japan. They were fronted by a guy called Dill (yeah, all the jokes were used over the course of the night, days and months), I remember they had a guy called Larry on bass who became known as Larry the Lamb. Why?? Because he was a lamb!! Also in the ensemble was a guy a called Nicky who wore a yellow jump suit and painted his face yellow and called himself! Wait for it!! That’s right!! The Yellow man!!! He played synths ala Eno!! They were a good band, as I said just caught in the wrong moment I guess. They did however secure a support slot on the Adam and the Ants "Kings of the Wild Frontier" tour and I am sure they made at least one TV appearance on one of those regional tea time student type shows that spewed out sixth form politics and informed students were they could get cheap drinks!! Both bands were excellent on the night and I am sure we pushed each other to the wire. I know it was close because Simon Frith told me later that on the night he had voted us the winners, so it must have been very tight. Either way we were very proud of ourselves. However, as the result was announced the Riot Act fans erupted and a full blown riot began to kick off. The security started to move in and chairs, fists, glasses and boots were flying. I jumped on to the stage and grabbed the microphone and pleaded with the punks to stop by informing them that we would come back and win the competition next year. Amazingly they stopped grabbed me from the stage and carried me around the dance floor on their shoulders. Job Done!! Simon Frith found this worthy of a mention in his Melody Maker article the following week. Thanks mate I am still very proud of that mention!!
(Do You Remember the) Saturday Gigs? (We Do!! We Do!!)
With the euphoria of the rock band competition firmly behind us we sent Carl, Archie and Wuff out into the big wide world to secure the band some gigs, not just in Coventry, but the world,………. and elsewhere!! The guy’s did well and soon we had a host of bookings around the city. I am pretty sure that our first gig was just a week or so later at the Dive (Godiva Pub). For those of you that have never visited the Dive, it was a fairly popular basement pub in the city centre and was a regular music venue for local bands and those from the surrounding areas. It wasn’t a big venue but could probably hold a 150 on a good night. I don’t think I had ever seen it full before but that night it was packed to the rafters!! Even the stair that led down to the bar was packed with punters. Needless to say we had a great night with the band playing as tight as ever and the manager (Brian, I think) offering us an immediate re-booking that was
gratefully accepted. As far as the band goes I guess we were just relieved to be playing without the added pressure and scrutiny of judges. I think it was the first time we really felt free on stage. Maybe it was because this was our first gig in our own right!! It was our name on tickets so to speak. Anyway, we played with a real freshness and energy that was perhaps gleaned from our experiences in the competition. Gigs at popular punk venue The Swanswell Tavern and a return to the Dive followed on that back of that first gig. However, our biggest night yet was looming on the horizon!! There was a small pub on the outskirts of the city centre called the Heath Hotel that was inviting bands to play. Now the bar itself was a pretty poor affair, in fact the locals wouldn’t have looked out of place in that bar in the first Star Wars movie. Yeah, you got it!! Full of mutants!! However, at the back of the pub there was a hidden function room that could fit 250/300 punters, it had its own bar and a small but comfortable stage, to be fair was a nice little venue for local bands. It was laid out with tables and chairs with low hanging lights over each of the tables and a small area for dancing (po-going). I don’t know when it had been used last but we didn’t care especially as the deal was only a payment of £5 for the electric and the band could take all of the door money. The manager would make all his money over the bar. He couldn’t lose really, as I said the only punters in the front bar 6 days a week were Chewbacca, R2D2 and some of the cast from Dr Who!! On the night we had support from a band called the Wild Ferrets. They had supported us at the Swanswell Tavern and were a really nice bunch of guys. The lead singer was a guy called Johnny who worked with Steve at Coventry glass. The venue was full to capacity with punks from Binley, Willenhall, Ernesford Grange and a contingent of city punks that as far as could see had never attended a Riot Act gig before. We opened the set, and as usual blazed through the songs with our typical brand of punk energy. The place was jumping, everyone was singing along to the songs and Carl, Archie and Wuff were kept busy keeping the fans of the stage as they swarmed forward
toward the relentless noise from the stage. I can’t quite remember when or how it happened but a scuffle broke out in the centre of the dance floor, it quickly turned into full blown riot. Unlike the university gig I was helpless to stop it. We all tried but it hopeless as nobody could hear us over the sound of shouts, screams and breaking glasses. The double door fire exit to the right of the stage was kicked completely out of the wall and lay like a fallen tombstone as those that didn’t want to fight clambered over it to escape. It was a mad moment to witness. I had been involved in many such incidents during my football hooligan years but standing on a stage watching it kick off and feel totally helpless was a sobering moment for me. It really was like watching a fight scene in a movie but this time I knew most of the participants. Finally the police and the emergency services arrived to calm down the situation and tend to the wounded. It was then that the funniest incident of all happened. I kid you not!! This is true!! The room had cleared and the band and our entourage were packing away the gear when the manager of the Heath Hotel made his way across the glass and debris strewn floor heading in my direction. Now lets be honest the place had been packed and we had made a packet on the door so I thought I would make a deal with guy regarding the damage to the place in particular the fucking big hole in the wall were the fire exit had once been. However, here is a transcript of my conversation with the manager after the riot:
SK “Sorry about the damage mate I tried to stop it but I couldn’t.”
Manager “Yeah, I know you did. It wasn’t your fault.”
SK “Look we feel a bad about all this mess, let us put some of the door money to the repairs”
Manager “No that’s ok!! Can you play again next week??”
I nearly fell through the floor. He didn’t even ask for his £5 electric money!! I can only assume that he made a fistful of fivers over the bar.
Below is a review of the gig in the local fanzine "Alternative Sounds."
The band started with Strike Out, a fast heavy punk number which the crowd liked. I reckon RIOT ACT are better than the MEMBERS musically speaking. They have a very good presence, some feedback couldn’t be helped. The group didn’t mind the followers shouting SHAM 69 slogans, they’ve got a good crowd following but with the wrong people – it reminds me of two years ago when punk came into full swing.
RIOT ACT have got a good strong pulse beat, it keeps the adrenalin beating, it’s not boring. They keep going fast and loud and are very good fun with chanting lyrics. Tonight it was a very full house.
Other songs they did were Numbers, also a cover of Pretty Vacant – brilliant. They played for about an hour: their best numbers are – Strike Out, Pretty Vacant, Numbers and Tougher than You. I think they should drop Oh What a State, One way and Legalised Persecution.
The crowd went that mad that fighting broke out between Squad fans and Riot Act fans. – started by some roadies throwing glasses – boots going, fists flying, glass bottles flying everywhere. Two guys I saw were badly injured, blood pouring from forehead and cheek. – and to think that the Heath is only public house the punks have for seeing new bands, it’s disgusting that a thing like this should happen. After tonight there will probably be nowhere to see bands.
I HOPE YOU ARE ALL PLEASED WITH YOURSELVES YOU FUCKING LOUTS – YOU SPOIL IT FOR EVERYONE IN COVENTRY.
Now there might be nowhere to play, thanks to you.
As for Riot Act – they tried very hard to stop the trouble and violence, but it was too bad to do anything about it. Now you know how Jimmy Pursey feels about the trouble at SHAM 69 gigs. It looks like RIOT ACT will be banned from playing anywhere, and when they do play it will be a sell out just to see them play live. – Lots of luck Riot Act and keep it up STU.
One last thing – they should bring out an EP – the songs I would choose would be – Pretty Vacant, Tougher than You, Strike Out and Numbers which is my favourite.
As you can see it was quite a night!!!
As a result of the riot the Heath Hotel was closed for two weeks for “refurbishment.” When it eventually re-opened the management had installed doormen to supervise the gigs. It was usually a couple of punch drunk locals who looked like they had gone a few unsuccessful rounds in the ring. Now although things had ended on an ok note that night, and we had taken up the offer for a couple of return gigs there was a nasty outcome from the whole affair. It was my first brush with political spin and I can tell you it left a horrible taste in my mouth. There were a couple of right wing NF bands doing the rounds in Coventry at the time. Without much support I might add! One of the bands was called
“White Boss,” and had approached us to play a gig with them at some venue or other. We had of course declined their very kind invitation with a very firm “Fuck Off.” However, they went ahead and played the gig without incident. But to my surprise I walked into Virgin Records one afternoon and was confronted by John “Brad” Bradbury (Specials Drummer) and some other faces on the scene at the time and questioned about my political beliefs. As you can understand I was very taken aback and before answering any questions I asked the reasoning for the questions. I was then shown a NF/Right Wing magazine article claiming that the Riot Act “riot” at the Heath Hotel had in fact happened at the “White Boss” gig, but the most galling thing of all was that they claimed that we had played and the riot had been between black and white youths. I was fucking furious!! I was really pissed off that Brad and his buddies had even dared to think that I would be involved in that racist bollocks but mad as fuck that those NF wankers had dared to associate Riot Act with their bullshit belief. When we had started the band we honestly had no political vision, we just wanted to write songs and play to anyone who would listen to us. We now had an issue that we had to resolve as none of us wanted the band tagged with an NF image. This incident led to one of our most bizarre gigs: I can’t remember who approached who, but we signed up play at the “Anti Nazi League Rally” in Coventry during the summer. What a laugh we had!! Our stage that day was the back of a carnival float loaded with all of our gear and an entourage of punk rockers hanging off the side. We were pulled through the city at the head of a march of thousands all the way to either the Memorial Park or Hearsall Common I can’t remember which. Anyway, I remember the weather was at boiling point and it was a long slow journey and we belted out every song that we had about four times each. The great thing was that people kept handing us cans of beer as we made our merry but very sweaty way along the route. I remember some guy handing me a “Party 7” but he hadn’t opened it and I didn’t have the tools to do it either. As you can imagine the more beer we were given the more we drank and the float began to fill with empty cans and a lot of drunk punk rockers. Fuck knows how we managed to stay on the thing!! At one point as we puled into Trinity Street Steve broke a string on his guitar and as usual we had no replacement strings or guitars so David Hearn ran off to buy one from a local music shop on route to the park.This of course rendered Steve into playing a 5 string guitar for a small section of the journey. I tell you how mad a day it was: As we were winding our way through the the streets of Coventry playing our merry tunes we of course were escorted by Coventry's finest boys in blue some of whom, to our amazement (pointed out to the band by Carl) were seen to be mouthing all the words to our version of the Pistols classic "Pretty Vacant." You didn't see that very often Coventry in those days I can tell you!! Now By the time we reached the destination we were well and truly wrecked!! There was a big stage set up at the park and a big line up of bands but sadly I can’t remember much more about it, maybe due to my memory but probably because I was so pissed. I do remember Carl chasing the organisers for the grand sum of £30, our payment for the day. I wish I had some photos of that day but sadly I don’t. But if anyone reading this blog has some please contact me. One things for sure we firmly buried the NF tag!!