Back in 1977 Photographer Eddie Blower (a well connected geezer in the world of Rock Photography) met Colin Hall and John Kavanagh at a wedding in Bearwood, they got on well and in late 77 their path’s crossed again at a Stranglers/Steel Pulse gig in the Mayfair Suite in Brum. The punk thing was well underway by then and they got intrigued by the idea that any old band could make a record and release it on their own label. Colin had played in various bands for 4 years playing Mott the Hoople, Bowie and T.Rex covers and was a little sceptical at first but agreed to have a crack at it. One Sunday at the end of January 78 Colin and John were around Eddie’s house to start the project…….they wrote ‘The Only Sound’ (in about 45 minutes) and then the following Sunday ‘NME’ was written, Colin recruited ex covers band members Jeff Collins (Bass) and Les Salcombe (Drums) to complete the line up. Eddie called The Old Smithy Studio in Kempsey (he had been there with the brilliant and under rated Little Acre) to book some studio time………………..mmmm not ridiculously expensive but more than the boys could afford, so a couple of mates stumped up some cash in return for getting their pictures on the sleeve, so now there were seven members (with only three players) with no studio experience and two very raw songs.Eddie had taken some family pics for Robert Plant and by coincidence Robert asked Eddie to drop them to him on the Sunday before the band went into the studio on Monday, Robert played footie on Sunday mornings for The Blakeshall Bashers (see pics section) so Eddie, Colin and John went along to watch the game and met up with Robert at The Queens Arms in Wolverly for a drink and a chat…………after an hour or so Eddie mentioned the studio time they had booked (Led Zep hadn’t played for a long time and Robert had no plans to do so in the near future), maybe it was the drink or the enthusiasm of the boy’s but Robert asked if he could come along and produce the session……………(this part of the Dansette Damage story goes on a bit so if you wanna read more buy their album ‘SOLD AS SEEN’ it’s all written in the gatfold sleeve courtesy of PETE FRAME – Rock Family Trees) more to come!
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