Back in the early 90's when Grunge was King and Britpop was yet to lend awkward kudos to Cabinet Ministers with "Cool Britannia", Medway's "Premiere Party Band" Johnny and The Bandits decided to ditch the cover versions (well, almost!) and write some of their own tunes. After all, Johnny Barker and Glenn Prangnell had both written for The Kravin' A's and prior to that The Daggermen (Johnny) and The Offbeats (Glenn) so it almost seemed rude not to. Along with former Prisoner and James Taylor Quartet bassist Allan Crockford (taking lead guitar duties here) and former Daggermen and JTQ drummer Wolf Howard, the band morphed into Goodchilde and from 1993 to 1998 they played many gigs including a number in Europe. They recorded two albums- "Elizabeth's Talking Straight Into My Head" (1993 vinyl only) and "Straight Out The Fridge" (1995 cd only)- and one single, "Sarapeutic" b/w "Chips With Everything" (1996 vinyl only). There was one other single recorded but, alas, never released- "E-Mail Female" and "Hang-Up" (1996) would have made a brilliant swan song.
After their amicable split in 1998 Glenn Prangnell became Groovy Uncle, writing and recording his own material, Johnny Barker formed Sergeants Mess and joined Billy Childish for a spell as The Buff Medways bassist. These days he is playing original material with the brilliant Vandebilts. Wolf Howard also played with The Buff Medways and then Musicians Of The British Empire (another Billy Childish project) and continues to paint and write poetry. Allan Crockford went on to play bass for The Solar Flares (alongside Wolf and Graham Day) from 1999 to 2004. He currently plays lead guitar with powerpop combo The Stabilisers and bass guitar for the brilliant Vandebilts. Goodchilde remain fondly forgotten so give them a listen.
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