*After becoming 'The Captains', which for a very short period included Paul Simmonds on Guitar (Catch 22 and The Men They Couldn't Hang).

Southampton’s first punk band, Strate jacket were cursed by appalling luck, which meant that they never made the impact that many in the town believed was their destiny. They began in 1977, and played their first show at an anti-National Front benefit in September at St Matthews. The event was reviewed in local fanzine Breakout, which enthused about their set, consisting of four originals. ‘Boredom City’ was their hometown anthem, while ‘Punk Bashing (Ain’t It Smashing)’ was prescient given later developments. It was also scheduled as their debut single, but this was not to be. The other brace were ‘Stop Press’  and ‘Talkin’ About London’. A further show in Romsey was scheduled but the band never got to play due to violence between competing Southampton and Romsey fans.

 The reasons, according to local fanzine writer Ged, related to the fact that they chose not to relocate to London, and that two members of the band were detained at her majesty’s pleasure, alongside several friends and roadies, for causing trouble at a Generation X show in Bournemouth where they were the support act. They were cited as being guilty of beating up local Teddy Boys, which they fiercely denied.

 They recorded two demos, one in 1977 and the second in 1978. However, their solo single, finally released in December 1979, suffered from poor production and neutered the band’s natural attack. They changed their name to the Captains in 1980, but did not record again.

The above text was written by Alex Ogg and taken from his excellent 'No More Heroes' book

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