The Johnny Seven Combo.
Formed in March of 1977 in the crumbling Essex seaside town of Clacton-on-sea, the influential but short lived ‘Johnny Seven Combo’ were born out of a collision between two local teenage bands, ‘Black Dog’ and ‘The Firesharks’.
With the group’s ages ranging from 16 to 17 (with only drummer Adrian breaking rank at 25) the band fully embraced the emerging Punk/New Wave movement of the time, while retaining elements of a 60’s blues/garage rock sound and aesthetic.
Based around the competing song writing nucleus of 16 year old bass player ‘Barry Payne’ and 17 year old guitarist ‘Tony Lewis’, the band wrote more than 20 songs in a relatively short career lasting just over 8 months. (Of these, 7 were recorded ‘Live’ in Ipswich’s Hillside Studios)
Initially taking influence from 70’s Pub Rock Bands such as ‘Kilburn & the High Roads’, ‘Dr. Feelgood’, and ‘Eddie & the Hot Rod’s’ as well as more established artists such as ‘The Sensational Alex Harvey Band’ and even very early ‘AC/DC’. The attitude and intensity of the band echoed that of ‘The Sex Pistols’, ‘The Clash’ and ‘The Dammed’.
“... Even though we were all dead young, I’d say in retrospect, our sound was definitely more ‘pre’ than ‘post-punk’. We were closer to ‘The Stooges’ or ‘MC5’ than we were say ‘The Velvet Underground’. The fact that we were listening to old Blue’s and R&B records linked us clearly to the classic 60’s guitar and garage bands, rather than what eventually became the popular ‘alternative’ or ‘indie’ music of the 1980’s,...†(Barry Payne).
Combining guitar heavy rhythm with a ‘Who style’ driving bass and drums, offset by 16 year old ‘Paul Crotty’s’ higher pitched, punky vocals, the initial songs still retained a definite R&B slant, however other influences began to manifest, in particular ‘Tom Verlaine’ and ‘Television’ and even ‘Captain Beefheart’, and the latter songs feature a more crystalline guitar sound and show a more dynamic approach.
The band were heavily into stage dynamics and had a strong visual and theatrical flair, often using props, smoke pellets and even fake blood capsules on stage. However, culminating after a riotous gig at Clacton’s ‘101 Disco’ (when singer Paul was hit square in the face with a shattering pint glass), the pressure of the general negative public reaction to punk, Tony’s subsequent mugging in london and Dean’s family’s pending emigration to New Zealand, finally caused the band to fracture and split on the verge of a series of important London showcase gigs in October of 1977.
Although a cassette tape is known to have been distributed locally, the bands short career and the lack of any officially released material, has affectively allowed them to slip through the net of music archivists and the chroniclers of Punk and 70’s music. Individually however, various members of the band have gone on to achieve more notable success, and in this perhaps, (as in ‘The Yardbirds’ a decade before), lies an element of the bands influence and legacy.
Dean Bareham (16) emigrated to New Zealand (with his parents) where as ‘Dean Martelli’, he found notoriety with late 70’s N.Z garage punk bands such as, ‘Rooter’’ , ‘The Terrorways’ , and ‘Rebel Truce’ . A photo of Dean’s hand gliding across his guitar, (complete with leather studded arm band), graces the front cover of the New Zealand, New Wave compilation L.P ‘AK79’ . .
Barry Payne joined ‘Wreckless Eric’s band’ at the end of 1977, recording Eric’s first LP for Stiff Records before going on to join ‘Pearl Harbour & the Explosions’ and touring and working with an assortment of bands, from ‘The Talking Heads’, ‘The B52’s’ and ‘The Clash’, to ‘Madness' and ‘The Alabama 3’. He was a member of ‘Chris Jagger’s band’ in the mid 80’s and has more recently worked with ‘Eileen Rose’ , ‘Viarosa’ , 'Simon J. Alpin’ , and ‘Dj Yoda’ , (recording two albums with ‘Eileen Rose’ for Rough Trade).
Guitarist ‘Gully’ Steven Gallifent (15) (who joined a latter version of ‘The Johnny 7 Combo’, after Dean had left for New Zealand), moved to London in the mid 1980’s and signed to the ‘Anxious Records’ label, with his own band ‘Pleasure’ . He went on to play with ‘The Eurythmics’ and eventually become a full time member of ‘Shakespeare's Sister’ . He still continues to work and record with ‘Siobhan Fahey’ .
Paul Crotty switched from vocals to drums and finally guitar. He moved to London in the early 1980’s and spent a while working in the fashion industry while playing in a fledgeling band with saxophonist ‘Chris de Margary’ (now of Simply Red) and drummer ‘Bob Leith’ (of the Cardiacs), He eventually gave up music and moved to Devon in the late 1980’s where he still lives.
Both Tony Lewis and Adrian Coppin remained in Clacton. Tony quit music for a while before returning in the early 90’s as lead singer with a local blues cover band. Adrian continues to play drums in a variety of local bands.
Plans are finally in motion to gather together the various tracks recorded by the band in 1977 for a ‘posthumous’ album release. This has been fuelled in part by the recent renewed interest in Garage Rock, Punk and more earthy Lo-Fi Rock music.
‘....At the time there were no other Punk bands in Clacton and in fact relatively few in the country, contrary to the amount of press punk rock was receiving (although bands were beginning to emerge). The Sex Pistols had been attacked in the street and ‘Punk bashing’ was on the increase encouraged in part by tabloid headlines. Venues were banning groups associated with the scene and it became hard for us to get gigs. Every where we went, people seemed truly shocked and hostile to our appearance. We spent a few days in London in June 1977, we dressed down and expected to be somewhat better accepted and see a few other punky types wondering about. In fact we saw none at all! and were surprised that we enlisted the same kind of response as we had in Clacton....’ (Barry Payne)
Compiled by: Gabby Pierson.
Photography: Richard Brew
