‘ Read all about it – urchins on the street – urchin rock hits the nation ! ‘

South London – the home of Pop-Oi! – and the birthplace of The Introze – described by 'Garry Bushell' as ‘ the band most likely to make it to radio ‘ and the crossover into the pop market (thanks to the hooky choruses) from the pile of Oi!-band demo tapes he reviewed one week for Sounds magazine. The Introze sound became dubbed ‘Pop-Oi’ from this review on.

Croydon’s own lead singer 'Twister' together with bass player and backing vocalist 'Kane Hill' formed urchin rock sensation The Introze after the demise of 'The Locators' in 1979.

The Introze was given a strong brand image to support it’s music, based on a mix of Oliver Twist star Dodgers top hat and Oi!’s own Doctor Martens. This emblem of the bands style was captured by 'Twister’s' brother 'Pat' , a graphic artist, who supplied the artwork for the badges - for the price of a beer - that were proudly worn by the Introze fans and have now become collectors items for this era.

An advertisement in Melody Maker brought drummer 'Bomber' from Nottingham and guitarist 'Thamus O’Really' completed the original line-up.

The band evolved as new members replaced old – founder member 'Kane Hill' moved away from London and 'Mickey Boy' from Crystal Palace became the new bass player and backing vocalist - new guitarist 'Bren' from Essex replaced 'Thamus' on guitar and features on Kids in Uniform, but was replaced by local ex - Heroes 'Rodders' on guitar and backing vocals when 'Bren' left to join another band closer to home.

'Kids in Uniform' was the opener for The Introze sets and would be accompanied by theatrical flash bombs to make an exciting opening statement from the Pop-Oi! boys from Croydon and beyond.

Naggin’ naggin’ naggin’ Oi! – Oi! – Oi! – it could only mean one thing – ‘The Naggin’ Song’ - the Introze anthem about nagging girlfriends - who won’t let the boys ‘drink beer all night with their mates (only calling on the girls when they wanted ‘afters’ etc. etc.)

The Introze took their rowdy brand of Pop-Oi! around South London playing local gig’s initially such as The Star in Croydon (their home gig), The 101 Club in Clapham, The Queen’s Head in Brixton, The Fulham Greyhound and The Hammersmith Clarendon.

After a while venues such as The Rock Garden, Dingwall’s and The Marquee opened their doors to the Introze, knowing that they had built a large enough following to at least fill the front row or so.

The Introze were lucky enough to have 'Big Ade' as their road manager and thanks to him gigs always ran smoothly – he wouldn’t allow the band more than 6 pints of lager each before ShowTime and agreed to be paid in kebabs with a curry bonus at Christmas.

Towerbell Records label boss 'Bob England' (Chas & Dave’s manager at the time) very almost signed them, courting 'Twister' and 'Mickey Boy' with tickets for a 'Chas & Dave' gig and sending a mobile recording studio to record one of The Introze gigs at The Star.

Unfortunately 'Chas & Dave' had become so famous that Bob didn’t have time to seal the deal, but he did put The Introze in touch with producer 'Tom Newman' (Tubular Bells) with whom they recorded a version of Naggin’, which the Stiff organisation were considering signing before the label unfortunately went bust.

The saviour, without whom The Introze would probably never have got the opportunity to reach a wider audience outside London, was Monarch Records boss 'Stan Blackman'.

Stan knew that this band provided an opportunity to test the Pop-Oi! sound on the national record buying public via radio broadcast promotion. A lively Pop-Oi! version of the classic musical song and live Introze gig favourite ‘The Lambeth Walk’ was recorded – the band was well supported by publisher 'Campbell-Connelly', with senior publisher 'Bob Halfin' making a guest appearance as a news stand vendor in the promotional photograph shot on location by 'Steve Fulford-Brown'.

'Steve Wright' loved the intro to The Introze’ lively version of The Lambeth Walk and had it personalised by The Introze with the following lyric (to the tune of ‘Any evening, any day ‘ etc……..) ‘ Steve Wright, Steve Wright, Steve Wright, Steve Wright – you all right – I’m all right – yeah Steve Wrights all right – you can’t see the Steve Wright show - ‘cos it is on the radio – OI! ‘

He played this regularly, but unfortunately never played the record, so – apart from the copies sold to The Introze fans and family, the Introze never got the break they so justly deserved!!!

The above gig advert from Tuesday 22nd December 1981 for the "Star", Croydon appeared in the 'NME' on 19th December 1981.

The above gig advert from Saturday 30th October 1982 for the "101 Club", Clapham appeared in the 'Melody Maker' on Oct 30th 1982.

The above snippet appeared in 'Sounds' on the 6th February 1982

The Introze Biography