Above is the Original master tape to the bands VERY first recordings which have never been released.

In a little town called Renfrew (near Paisley about 20 miles from Glasgow) in Scotland.

There were a lot of teenagers full of energy to burn.

4 of them wasted no time and formed a punk rock band called Fire Exit. The year was 1977.

All of the guys had played in other bands, but not like this one.

Gerry Attrick (throat effects) said at the time, this is going to last till I die. Gerry had played with a few punk bands before Fire Exit and a few while Fire Exit kept going as well - The Pencils, The Invaders, The Serpents Of Love and others. Before punk came along he had played bass, drums and sang in various rock bands. Gerry is still the frontman of Fire Exit 41 years on.

Billy Holland - bassist, had played in various rock and pub bands, but never punk, so he wanted to give it a try. He was in Fire Exit for 3 years. After Fire Exit he joined Tubeway Army.

Brian Kerr - guitarist, had played in various pop, rock and club bands, but never a punk band. He and Gerry once spent a night writing 12 songs, some still to be heard to this day. Brian has been in & out of Fire Exit totalling 5 years give or take a few gigs. He went on to play with Captain Sensible, Johnny Moped, Ed Tenpole, The Zips and various other bands.

Dougie Maxwell - Drummer, could never really keep up. This was his first punk band and he was used to pop club material. We were too fast, made him sweat and spoiled his perm hair (which we threatened to chop off all the time). He's a very nice guy and great drummer for his style of music. Dougie lasted 6 months after this recording with Fire Exit - RIP Dougie.

After a few Fire Exit rehearsals we decided to record some of our songs. We could not afford a full day in a studio, so we hired it for 4 hours. The result is what you hear today on this record.

1 hour to get drums and gear set up and 3 hours to record.

We told the sound engineer we didn’t want any mixing, that should be done as we play, just like a live gig. So he took our money and did what we asked.

A short time after the recording in Glasgow, Fire Exit moved to Hounslow in London, without Dougie.

We were based there for 9 months in the back of our walk through transit van. (Boy was that smelly). We toured around England playing anywhere we could - youth clubs, pubs, clubs and even the Stonehenge Festival 1979.

We eventually got into record “Timewall” & “Talking About Myself“ properly at Alaska Studios London. It was engineered by Pat Collier (The Vibrators/The Boyfriends bass player) in August 1979.

Over the years Fire Exit have played all over and continue to do so today. As I said in 1977 - till I die.

Dizzy Holmes at Detour/Only Fit For The Bin records has become a great friend and has released various material from Fire Exit. Last year he released 2 CD`s on our 40 year anniversary (man we're old!)

40 years of Fire Exit - a 2 CD set with 40 tracks throughout the years.

Fire Exit live in Berlin (this was recorded live at the Wild At Heart in Berlin and engineered by Uli from - Church of Confidence).

Fire Exit will continue to play until I physically can’t do it anymore. Enjoy the recording and thanks to Dizzy for sharing & releasing this and letting us hear what we did all those years ago.

The pleasure is all ours.

Gerry Attrick & Fire Exit

Gerry Attrick in Kelvingrove Park, Glasgow 1977

Brian Kerr	Gerry Attrick	Flemmy	Neil Down
The above photo was taken at Silver Thread Hotel, Paisley in 1977.

Glasgow & London Stanklifters		Gerry Attrick Chelsea Cherokeez
The above photos were taken at the 'Lord Palmerston', Hounslow, London, TW3 3LH on Tuesday 19th June 1979.

The original poster for the gig at the 'Lord Palmerston', Hounslow from Tuesday 19th June 1979.

 

 

Thanks to Gerry Attrick

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