Rise like Lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number,
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you -
Ye are many - they are few.
The Mask of Anarchy - Percy Bysshe Shelley
Shelley's Children existed from about 1989 to 1992 and were part of the thriving Anarcho Punk/Folk scene in the UK at that time. The founder members were Neil (guitar), Coral (vocals) and Greg (guitar). We soon recruited Tracey as a second vocalist, then managed to find Martyn (bass) and finally Wig (drums) to complete the initial line up. This was the band that toured North Wales with Blyth Power and recorded the "Born Too Late" track (although we had our mate Danny filling the vacant drum stool on that).
The songwriting duties mainly fell to Neil, but there were a couple of notable additions from Tracey and Coral.
Following Neil's grand scheme to re-create The Mekons (i.e. As many people playing on stage as you could fit - and then some more) we pulled in Kev (yet another guitarist) and Imogen (violin). It was with this little lot and various subsets of it that we played most of our gigs and also recorded the "Everytown" single. Eventually Tracey left the band and Steph replaced her, however it was not very long before the band dissolved completely.
What we did next...
Wig and Martyn were in Wob's band for a while.
Imogen played with Pressgang.
Neil, Coral, Greg and Steph went on to form Cuckooland.
Tracey is now recording and touring as a solo artist.
If anyone's got any interesting info, photos etc then please contact us.
The "Everything" compilation CD was released in 2005 and features all the tracks from the "Mask of Anarchy" album and the "Everytown" single, as well as pretty much anything else that made it to tape. We recommend buying direct from the Damaged Goods website, but you can also find it at Amazon and other online retailers.
There are online reviews of Everything at Punk & Oi In the UK and Aquamarine Online (a big thanks to Sean McGee and Kim Harten for those).Pics from the slideshows are here
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