Hi

I played in a band with Keith Harroway and Pete the sax player in 1978 .

I left to go to University and they went off to join Bitch. I bumped in to Keith several times after this.

After Bitch they formed a band called The Glass Icons which were based in Manchester. Gaby the (male) Bass Player was also in that band.

 After that, who knows...

 Matt Howes

Brentwood

For the last couple of years I've been trying to track down members from the band Bitch as I ran around a bit with them in 79. I was aware that there was a post regarding their single on the Bored Teenagers site and was pleased to read some of their history, particularly as it gave all the band members names which made it a little easier to try and track them down, but until reading the update they all seemed to have disappeared into thin air. Anyway, thought I'd drop a few lines as it will hopefully add the myth that was the band, a cracking one too may I add, totally underrated. I'm also hoping that at some point it might actually prompt one of the band members to release some pictures or recordings as the single did not do them justice.

Anyway here goes........

Back in the day I lived in Middlesbrough (Boro) where we had a thriving punk/new wave scene made readily accessible through a club called 'The Rock Garden'.  The venue was a regular on most people's tours so we were very fortunate to have bands like the Pistols, Clash, Ants, Damned etc play there. 

In 1979 the Pretenders were booked to play and the support band a lesser know group called Bitch. So I could gain free entry into the club I used to work there, letting the bands in and humping the gear about. However on this particular occasion I wasn't working and instead went next door to the Acklam Pub to meet my pals and drink some decent lager as the stuff in the 'Rocky' was just about drinkable. While I was in there I met Charley and a few others from the support band who suggested we should go and watch them as they were 'shit hot', as she described them. Anyway to cut a long story short, we did, they were and they invited us to go see them play the following day in Warrington supporting Punilux. I agreed to this and then helped them carry their few bits into the back of their van before they set off. Moments later a car pulled up with three blokes and a woman in it. They got out, asked if the support band had finished, to which I replied " yeah, they were fucking great, if I were you I'd save your money and fuck off home as it's only a shitty band called the Pretenders who are on now". As you can guess, 10 minutes later the 'three geezers and bird' from the car were up there playing on the stage.......a simple lesson on how to make a tit of yourself.

The next day I hitched to Warrington where I met a few others from Boro, including a skinhead bird called Sham (who I didn't know). The band were great to us, got us in for free, let us watch the sound check, introduced us to Punilux, got us free drinks etc. After the gig they also asked us if we wanted to travel to the next gig with them which I think was in London, but couldn't be sure for definite. Anyway, Me and Sham decided we would and like the rest of the band we just jumped into the back of the van with half of the members and their guitars and amps. I'd done this before as I used to follow the ants about so was used to sleeping in the backs of PA van's and stuff, but what made this different was the friendliness of everyone in the van, including their manager. They also fed us and put us up round the manager's house and in their squat in Covent Garden. I went on to follow them about for a while longer watching them play at places like Bradford, Leeds, London (music machine) and remained good friends with Charley the singer, but like with all good things eventually it all just fizzled out, as the band split up and everyone (me included) drifted off into other things.  

However, even though I haven't seen them for a long time I can tell you that Charley went on to marry Tam, the drummer from the band the Skids. From what I recollect, she moved up to somewhere like Aberdeen or Dundee in late 79/80 and then disappeared after that. I know that Tam now owns a bar in Spain and I believe that Jock from Punks re-united is a friend and might still be in contact with him. As for Pete (prickly Pete), met him on a tube station platform in the early 80's and haven't heard from him since, I was last told that he'd moved to New York. As for the rest of them I hadn't heard anything about them or their whereabouts until the post on Bored Teenagers by Jules.

Couple of things I can confirm, they did have a manager who's wife wrote for Sounds/NME, they were really good to me and Sham, they fed us for days, let us stay around their gaff, gave us records and clothes and generally just looked after us as both of us as we were only 16ish. I also remember him taking lots of pictures at the gigs, so there are some out there. I recently contacted Brian from Punilux to see if he might have some from his collection given the band supported them but unfortunately not. The squat in Covent Garden was great, they didn't have a toilet if a remember rightly but they had 'borrowed' the electricity from surrounding buildings. Charley was a real face on the punk scene, there's loads of images of her at the Roxy club, on LP covers, snippets of her in the Punk Rock movie and cracking pics of her and Pete (then known as SS Pete) in the book 'In the Gutter', safety pins dog collars and all. However, what there isn't is any good pictures of the band on stage floating about. I still have a couple of press cuttings that Charley used her influence at Sounds to get printed to advertise their gig's, as well as a set list and stuff, but that's all there seems to be regarding this little known band.

I have to be honest though and tell you I don't re-call Jules who wrote the last up date for Bored Teenagers, he must have joined after I stopped seeing them, doesn't he have any pictures of them? The other person I will try is Jock over at Punks re-united. He knew Charley quite well back then so maybe he would post a 'has anyone got any info' request, lets try as I think they deserve some more recognition.

Anyway, having read through this I've realised it's a bit waffly, if you want to use any of the facts please do as the more is added to their page, the more light maybe poured onto their whereabouts. Your more than welcome to jot me back if you want any other info.

Take care 

Paul Wanless (formerly known as Paul Ant.....) 

 Matt Howes

Brentwood

Reply to Paul Wanless (formerly known as Paul Ant.....) 

Re The band Bitch

You wouldn't remember me as Jules as no one called me that. My nickname was "Spike". I was in the line up that supported The Pretenders and did the PuniLux tour. 

We did our own mini tour. 

We also played the Marquee and Music Machine. 

Jules Standen

I was (& presumably still am!).. the Pete? Sax player mentioned in the London version line up (actual name Pete Morton-Lowry )

To clear up the fuzzyness in the write up .......Gaby was Gabriel Gawin, the bass player, he's the guy on the left in the record sleeve pic..... in the centre in black, Keith Harraway , drums...on right, leather jacket and jeans, Julian 'Spike' Standen, guitar, .....and obviously singer Charlie sprawling on the steps!

I knew Charlie from the 77 Roxy Punk 'scene' etc etc and was brought in, with Keith who I'd been playing with previously, to get Bitch (London) going! 

There's a pic of Charlie and me covered in chains and safety pins in a few of the coffee table punk books from that era, someone gave me a copy a year or two back !

Before Spike, we had another guitarist called Gavin, he was a bit prissy and didn't really suit. He went on to play with Shane McGowan I believe.

I was not depicted on the record sleeve as I had gone on to other things by then, I thought that to let the deal with Beggar's Banquet slip through the fingers was very stupid  tbh, and they swapped it for a very 'mickey mouse' single thing with Hurricane ( who??) I felt it was a sinking ship so i departed...

(The record is actually on you tube if you look)

I actually moved to being a bass player and for a time took Spike Standen with me. We joined up with a lady called Soozee Bowler to form a more forward looking post punk experiment.

This went through a couple of names and incarnations ( Spike didn't seem happy in this set up and shortly went his own way) ....we however became The Last Dance.

Curiously we appeared at Deeply Vale  festival too, although I wasn't aware of Bitch being there, (but hey, it was a festival!!)

At that point we were a sparse electronic 3 piece, Matty Roberts vocals, Soozee B synthesizers, me Bass ...probably a bit weird for the festival crowd of that time!!!

Matty was a lovely lady but a total smack addict so didn't last long.

Soozee took over vocals and we tried a few different line ups, 4AD were interested and a song appeared on one of their compilation albums of 'interesting' bands..... actually this was much to my embarrassment as the track used was a rough working out version 'out take' never meant for anyone's listening, one of the bass strings was painfully out of tune and sounds shit.. bastards!!!!!

We never really fully settled unfortunately, we did sporadic gigs culminating in a slot supporting Bauhaus at the Lyceum. By this time I was thinking of moving on, I had been back in contact with Keith and Gaby from Bitch, both of whom had now moved to Manchester (they'd split from Charlie) and I had an invite to come and join them, which I did.

Subsequently (crashing in flats on the Hulme housing estates) formed a 3 piece called The Glass Icons , with Keith, myself, and a guy called Graham Bailey (who was actually another southerner like us) we gigged around the Manchester area for a while, this was when the likes of A Certain Ratio and Swamp Children were around, although we weren't part of their 'scene' being outsiders kind of.

I was also jamming some stuff with Gaby, who I always got on well with, despite being quite cool ideas worthy of development, we regrettably didn't do anything with them.

Anyway this takes us through 1981 and well out of the Punk era for sure, hope the fill ins for Bitch are of interest, please feel free to contact me for any other info if interested!...

Cheers, Pete