| Robert Collins - Vocals & Guitar | Jim Doak - Bass |
| Iain Shedden - Drums | |
Before they were absorbed into the mod revival, probably a couple of years too
early to secure any fiscal return, and despite a reliance on R&B standards such
as 'Route 66' from early in their development, the Jolt, from Wishaw, 15 miles
outside of Glasgow, were definitively part of Scotland's late 70s punk movement.
Shedden, a local newspaper journalist for the Wishaw Press, whom he’d joined
after leaving school, was the founding force behind the Jolt, linking with
Collins and Doak after both had dropped out of university. “We were most
definitely in tune to the punk thing," Shedden told me in 2003. “When we first
got together we were into the Feelgoods, the Stones, Them, even AC/DC, but
latched onto the Damned, Pistols and Clash as soon as they first appeared in
Sounds and NME. We were of like mind even before they even had records released,
writing our own primitive, punky songs. When the whole thing exploded it seemed
meant just for us. Throughout the rapid rise in Scotland from local punks to
national contenders, we were essentially a punk band with a punk following.” Or,
as Robert Collins noted in 1977, “The new wave came along at the right time for
us, because it made us feel that we weren’t alone in what we are trying to do
and helped us move our ideas into the 1970s.” But by the time they played their
debut Glasgow show in March 1977 at the Burns' Howff, steady gigging was made
more difficult by a media convinced punk rock was a perilous half-step up in the
evolutionary chain from eating your own children. But they also played on this,
such as this newspaper advert in April 1977. “Punks – they stopped The Pistols!
No one can stop the Jolt. See them tomorrow at the Burns’ Howff in Glasgow.”
Partially because of this resistance to punk, the Jolt took an early decision to
relocate to London - one that may have seemed adventurous at the time, but
probably lost them some development time afforded Scotland's other name punk
group of the time, the Rezillos. “We were all desperate to get out,” Shedden
told me. “Go to Wishaw, I dare you. I know there was a school of thought at the
time (particularly with Simple Minds, I recall) that you didn't have to move to
London, that in fact you were selling out if you did. I'd only ever been to
Wembley for the football and I don't think Jim and Robert had been at all.
Reading every week about the Marquee, The Hope and Anchor, the Nashville, the
Music Machine, all the places we ended up playing, gave us a romantic notion of
the place, which was, of course, in sharp contrast to sharing a house in Golders
Green and living on 10 quid a week.” At the time, the Jolt were considered a
seriously hot property. Polydor demonstrated their belief by offering £90,000
for a four-year contract. Shedden remembers having “every label in the country
after us.” Indeed, he thinks they may not have ended up so hopelessly
pigeonholed as a Tartan Jam had they accepted a counter-offer from CBS.
“Although I may not have had tea at Mr and Mrs Weller’s,” he concedes. The group
locked horns with the London punk scene by supporting Generation X, X-Ray Spex
and, of course, the Jam. They’d first played on the Jam’s bill in
Glasgow,
and at a subsequent Falkirk gig finally agreed to sign with Polydor. “It was
also the night when we adjourned to the pub with the Jam to watch them, the Sex
Pistols and the Saints on Top of the Pops,” recalls Shedden. “I think we
knew then the Jam would be big, but if we didn't, 70-odd gigs with them over the
next year convinced us.” Debut single 'You're Cold' was unspectacular but solid,
somewhat derivative of the Damned’s ‘New Rose’, though its urgency was
emblematic of the times. Thereafter the Jolt streamlined their approach, and
began composing music with a steadily more obvious debt to the band's heroes -
the Who, Kinks, Faces and Rolling Stones. That conversion was signified by their
subsequent cover of the Faces' 'Whatcha Gonna Do About It’ as they picked up
further supports to the Motors and, inevitably, the Jam. However, the decision
to pursue the Mod fanbase wasn’t altogether an organic one. “It was only when we
signed to Polydor, and in particular with the Jam’s producer Chris Parry,”
Shedden tells me, “that we were talked into the whole Mod thing. Considering the
label already had a three-piece Mod outfit on the books, it was an incredibly
dumb move. But we were young and, of course, in the music business you learn by
your mistakes.” After all, here was a three piece, bedecked in sharp suits
playing high-velocity R&B with punk attitude - a market which Weller's mob had
effectively cornered. Indeed, they penned an open letter to the Record Mirror
insisting: "We would like to say we do not rip off the Jam. But if you just
glanced at us, it might appear that way." 'I Can't Wait' preceded an eponymous
debut album, produced by Jam production team Chris Parry and Vic
Coppersmith-Heaven, and a Radio 1 In Concert recording, after which they
extended their line-up by adding second guitarist, Glaswegian Kevin Key. The new
line-up made its debut on 30 September 1978 at London’s Marquee. But by now
attention was cooling, even though they remained a decent live draw. The Jolt's
final release came in 1979. The 'Maybe Tonight' EP featured a then unreleased
song written by Paul Weller, 'See Saw'. Soon drummer Shedden had left for the
Small Hours, another mod revival band, before joining the Saints and helping
them cut 1982's
Casablanca.
He recorded and toured with The Saints for most of the 80s, with spells in the
drum stool for UK bands The Snakes of Shake, Summerhill and 13 Frightened Girls
and Arizona rock band Giant Sand. He relocated to Australia in 1992 where he now
works as music critic for The Australian newspaper. He rejoined The
Saints for an Australian tour in 2002 and is currently playing with Belfast (now
Melbourne) singer/songwriter Andy White. Neither Collins nor Doak pursued music
after the Jolt – “I think they were disillusioned,” reckons Shedden. Collins now
works with the handicapped in Cornwall. Doak moved back to Scotland and lives
with his family in Lanarkshire while working for Sky.
From Alex Ogg's forthcoming book "No More Heroes"
©Detour Records