EMERGENCY were born in Manchester, 1982, rising from the ashes of The Hoax with the line up Dennis 'The Oi' Matthews (vocals), Chris Corvette (bass), Flannel(drums), Aky (guitar). With Chris writing the music and Dennis scribbling most of the lyrics the band were soon gigging and ripping up punk clubs in Britain.
Record companies were desperate to get a piece of Emergency, but the auction was won by Riot City, who quickly locked them in the studio and released, one of the finest singles ever from a 2nd generation punk band, the 'Points Of View' ep which peaked at 21 in the independent charts and smashed it's way to 3 in the punk listings,just behind the Damned ! Major tours were in the offing and monster labels wanted to find out what these four upstarts were about.But while Chris and Dennis were loving every minute, Aky and Flannel didn't like the musical direction and walked out when the band were on the verge of cracking it.Emergency RIP or so the punk world believed.Fast forward to 1996 and the first Holidays In The Sun festival in Blackpool where scores of old school bands reformed.Corvette who was in the audience and now living in London met a load of old mates from the eighties. The bands sounded better than ever, even if his former sparring partners were older, fatter and balder. He decided the time was right for Emergency to reform. Tracking former band members down was impossible and his dream of getting the band back together was going nowhere until December 1997 when he went to see The Angelic Upstarts at London's Astoria and bumped into a complete fucking nutcase named Johnny Wah Wah (on trial/glueball)After that Astoria alcohol and drug orgy, Corvette arranged to meet Wah Wah and his loyal sidekick Fuzz (ex Ceed) who became the band's guitarist. The new drummer was to be Chris Martin a German jazz drummer who fitted like a glove with this bunch of oddballs. Emergency were back and Corvette's phone was red hot with calls from promoters who all wanted Emergency to play for them. Then, not for the first time, disaster struck, fuzz broke his hand and several fingers playing football.
With gigs all over Britain a new guitarist was needed overnight and
incredibly silver tongued Chris persuaded Rob Miller (ex Chelsea/splodgenessabounds) to join the band, chris the drummer then leaves & fuzz resurfaces on drums !!
But they still make it to the studio and record a CD which wasn't released coz the band were potless although 'Whats It All For' was donated to the Punkaid charity album. The band were managing to stick together and in February 2001 the boys headlined there most prestigious gig to date at the world famous 100 Club on London's Oxford Street treading the same boards as The Sex Pistols, The Who, The Rolling Stones and The Clash. The rows continued and a few months after packing the 100 Club the band not surprisingly went their own separate ways.However, Chris was determined that all the good work shouldn't go to waste and after 18 years apart tracked down Dennis to his successful record shop in Hyde, a stethoscope away from Harold Shipman's surgery.
Albert Awful (ex stains) joins the band on guitar, and Baz (ex Slutch) a grade A loon but brilliant drummer from Preston is also brought in. The latest line up debuted with The Vibrators in Coventry in April 2002, Drummer Baz went into rehab after a London gig supporting the UK Subs and vanished leaving the band without a drummer again.Banjo (The Spitting Dummies) joins and his first ever gig at The Witchwood, Ashton Under Lyne in August 2002,with GBH was one of their finest - not that the promoters where too chuffed when 30 fans invaded the stage at the end of there set.A sell-out gig and another crowd invasion at Manchester's Star and Garter followed and Emergency were back with a bang.January 2005, After yet another split,the band came back, featuring Tommy Couch (One way system/uk subs/business) on drums & Bill Gaynor (psychodrama) on occasional 2nd guitar. They have just played there first gig in 18 months with punk legends 999, and will be appearing at the wasted 2005 punk festival in Morecombe. May 2nd will see the release of the long awaited 'shut your north & south' album.also worth checking out is the brilliant book 'burning britain- a history of punk rock' featuring a whole chapter on the band & an interview with chris corvette.
The current line-up is Dennis 'The Oi' Matthews (lead vocals), Chris
Corvette (bass, lead/backing vocals), Albert Awful (Guitar, backing vocals),Bill Gaynor (Rythmn Guitar) Banjo (drums).If you want to book this brilliant punk band e-mail
[email protected] (ST promotions)Written by Steve Lillis (Promoter & Daily Sport Writer)
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