ADDICTION

Pontypridd

* Replaced Steven Pittman – Early Departure

     The first version of "Addiction" featured singer, Steven Pittman. Who at the time, had an unfortunate penchant towards Evo- stik, this unfortunately rendered him incapable of fulfilling his band commitments. The band didn't have to look far for a replacement & recruited Andy Bevan (BEVA), from another of the areas embryonic punk bands, "The Nucleuz" as their new singer.  This was a fortunate early change which happened during the period of writing the first Addiction set of songs, with BEVA becoming the main lyricist & prolific songwriter for the band.  The band were all from the Pontypridd area, which lies between the Rhondda valleys & Cardiff & all went to Hawthorn Comprehensive School.  There was a very healthy punk scene in the area from early 1977, driven mainly by the exposure to very early local punk bands like the Tax Exiles, who were older than Addiction.  The main meeting point for punks in the Pontypridd area was the Llanover Arms, which was also where all other musical types went, everyone got on very well though!  Due to the bands age a lot of their early gigs were in places like Community centre’s, YMCA’s, Drill Halls, schools & colleges etc.  But, with there being a very active punk scene of their age group this didn’t matter. Addiction soon made the transition to playing clubs.  This never failed to be interesting for the band as they would play a “real club” venue in Cardiff on one day, then a social club or labour club in the valleys the next, quite a contrast!  I think looking back on Addiction they were the real essence of what punk set out to be.  A bunch of working class kids, picking up their instruments & doing it on their own terms, in the main, having a lot of fun.  The unfortunate thing being that it was very short lived.  In it’s entirety the band lasted about 18 month’s, although these were very fast moving times & there seems to be a lot of memories from such a short space of time.

Addiction's sole vinyl appearance. Was on the critically acclaimed  Z Block records release "Is The War Over?", which also featured "The Young Marble Giants", who went on to gain much well deserved success, via a deal with Rough Trade etc.

At the time of recording Is The War Over? The oldest member of Addiction was 17, with BEVA being 15 for the first two tracks and 16 when he recorded the third!  So you could say that Addiction were quite a young band. The band received airplay with the songs, on radio shows like John Peel. The track ‘Violence’ was also used on  the BBC television programme Something Else when it was broadcast from Cardiff. The track was played as the presenters walked down Charles street in Cardiff, which was then the sort of centre for punk venues in the city, with Club Montmerence being the main one. Montmerence was also the first venue Addiction played in the city. Charles Street also later housed the Grass Roots coffee bar, which was a great venue to play and also where ‘Is the War over’ was recorded, on a very basic eight-track set-up. Recorded live, plus one guitar and one vocal overdub. Addiction also featured in interview on Welsh language TV programme Twndish, commenting on the local scene etc. The only other available Addiction item was a very basic, although still good, cassette of an Addiction set, which was bootlegged at the time.” As well as the three tracks featured on "Is The War Over", it featured originals ‘Hold On’, ‘No Bores’, ‘Recorded Life’, ‘Night Attack’, ‘Addiction’, ‘Vandals’, ‘Yellow Fever’ plus covers of the Runaways’ ‘Hollywood’ and rock ‘n’ roll chestnut ‘The Hop’.

Stand out gigs for Addiction would be the early Club Montmerence gigs, supporting Tax Exiles and Rudi & the Russians. Also @ the Guards Club, Cardiff, supporting the Nylonz. Along with this the 1979 Charles Street carnival based at Grass Roots, this gig was particularly chaotic, with the crowd blocking the bands way from the stage, insisting on more songs, it was like one big happy family as the band regularly played Grass Roots & knew everyone there! This was just after the release of "Is The War Over" so it was kicking! Addiction also really enjoyed playing venues such as local community centre's / village halls etc, mainly due to the enthusiasm of the local kids, many of whom were to young to go to the club / pub gigs!  The band also enjoyed playing alongside other bands, including Cardiff greats, Victimize, of Baby Buyer fame, @ the Great Western Hotel . The local polytechnic, now Glamorgan University, was also very good for the band with gigs in the students union and an outside festival thing in the summer.

By mid-1979 the original line-up became defunct, basically due to musical / girlfriend differences!  Original guitarist Rob Leader was replaced by Carl Hopkins. As far as I know, & this may be doing him an injustice, this was Rob Leaders first & last band (a shame). Alongside this bass player Ashley Evans was replaced by Sian Williams. Ashley Evans, along with Addiction drummer Nicky Rees, formed local ‘dirt punk’ three-piece the Intruders who played locally. Last heard of (Is it true?) Ashley Evans is as a “one man band” musician / comedian, still having his trademark, peroxide white hair, who has played extensively across the UK and Europe and now owns a pub in Blackpool, England, (or is he in Thailand)! The second line-up of Addiction played just one memorable gig at The Trelewis Legion club. The set at this gig was a mix of older Addiction material and some newer material written with the new members. After this successful gig it was decided to make the transformation into a totally different band.............. "CAMPAIGN 1" were born!

"Campaign 1" followed on the good groundwork put together by ADDiCTION continuing with the DIY ethic & a belief that anything was possible!  Playing gigs throughout South Wales the band received rave reviews in the local newspapers with BEVA hosting a 2 hour best of & requests show on CBC radio (later to become Red Dragon) on New Years Day 1982. The bands music was described in many ways from" industrial punk rock" to "funk / punk" With the later being more prevalent on the bands later material with tracks such as "Dilemma".  The emphasis for the bands song writing was always to have strong songs, in whatever style they turned out!  All the songs on this page were recorded by the penultimate line-up, as named above.  Unfortunately I am not aware of any useable surviving recordings of early "Campaign 1" featuring Carl Hopkins & Nicky Horton.

Sadly the opportunities in Wales at this time were not quite what they were to later become & with the frustration of limited venues & very little industry support, although the support of Gwyn @ the Movie Music studios, Tonypandy, was greatly appreciated.  Beva & Sian made the difficult decision to relocate to London..........

Andy Bevan	Sian Williams

Thanks to Andy Bevan for the above information and photographs.

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