- Formed towards the end of 1976, the Bleach Boys were the first punk band
to exist in
- the North Herts area. Their first gig under the name “The Fur Coughs”,
took place some
- months later and was a support spot to "Ultravox" at the local college, a
gig marked by
- chaos and an awful lot of alcohol. Their line up at the time was
“Frankenstein”
- (Vocals), “Jimmy Jesus” (Bass), “Nuke” (Drums) and “Phnuff” (Guitar). In
addition to
- those on stage the band had two non playing members – “Rocket” & “Max
Profit” The band
- continued to play both local and London gigs, in 1978 were approached by
local grave
- digger Terry Friend with a view to releasing a single: Chloroform came
out some months
- later on Terry’s Tramp label.
- The band made it’s first line up change shortly afterwards when the non
- playing “Rocket” became the playing “Rocket” and the Bleach Boys briefly
became a two
- guitar band. They continued to play gigs however it became clear that
differences
- existed between the members and this resulted in “Jimmy Jesus” leaving
and “Phnuff”
- who originally joined as a bassist abandoning his 6 string for a 4
string. At some
- stage, they then recorded their second single “Stocking Clad Nazi Death
Squad Bitches”
- on their own Zombie International label. This 12” single owed nothing to
subtlety, the
- title being the result of a bet between the owner of a rehearsal studio
and the band.
- The band continued to play gigs however it was getting increasingly
difficult to book
- time from the by now professional musician “Nuke” on drums and as a
result, the band
- went through a period without a regular drummer. At some stage during
this period,
- they released a 4 track cassette tape entitled “Children of Wallyworld
Go Wild For
- Kicks”.
- The band were then approached by a local studio owner called Andy Davis
with a view to
- recording a CD. In one very long session, and reunited with the original
“Nuke”,
- the “4 Cyclists of the Apocalypse” was knocked out and issued jointly on
Zombie
- International and Damage. Produced by Andy, this CD sold out rapidly and
on the few
- times it has been available on Ebay went for in excess of £250. If you
get a chance to
- hear it, do so. It is serious “Punk” not the “Punk Rock” which had
become the vogue.
- The band continued to play gigs with a number of stand in drummers and
somewhere in
- the mid 1990’s, again with the original “Nuke”, went into a studio in
Bedfordshire and
- recorded the Bicycle Song/Weirdo and released it as a 7 inch single in a
plain white
- bag. Soon after this, a drummer living in Welwyn Garden City came along
for an blast
- and in “Nuke(2) the band once again had a permanent drummer. With the
regular drummer,
- the band suddenly found what they had been missing and began to play
better than ever.
- In 2002, they went into a studio in Welwyn and recorded “Taking the O
out of Country”,
- a 5 track CD of all new songs.
- In 2005, the band released a limited edition CD entitled “Brain Plugin’s
Spaghetti”
- featuring songs from their whole period together. Released through
Fragile Records
- of Berlin, the CD contains about 16 tracks and a short video of the band
- performing “Nuclear War”
- And that is the story so far. The band apparently has enough new songs
to fill another
- CD and at some stage will get their act together and record them. Check
out their
- website
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