Please give a brief history of the band, including current line up.
We staggered into action in late 94. The first line up
featured sonny and Mel and a bunch of Herbert's (hello Matty and Shithead)
and those were the days when we had two singers (Mel and Matty). We played
loads of UK gigs, recorded the BORN TO BOOZE demo and split up after a hazardous
tour with POLICE BASTARD.
Soon after we we,re back on our feet. This time with a more youthful line up
from Wisbech! (Mel, Mooner, lee and sonny) Once again we played all over the
Uk, recorded a split demo with the BUS STATION LOONIES and then followed it
with our debut Lp on Bomb Factory Records. Years later , we released an Ep
on Weird Records! After a tour of France in 2000 Lee decided to leave for a
career in fatherhood, Mel and sonny moved to sunny Brighton. The current line
up is Mel on vox, Mooner on guitar, Garth on guitar, Bemble on bass and Sonny
on drums. The saga continues.......
Discography.
)Our first demo was "BORN TO BOOZE" which was
released back in 1995 which has now long since sold out next came the split
demo with the BUS STATION LOONIES which has also sold out we then had a 21
track CD LP out on BOMB FACTORY entitled WISHFUL DRINKING you can apparently
still get hold of this but is quite tricky to find so we have been told.
We then had a single released on WEIRD RECORDS which came out in July 2000,
this has now also sold out. BEAT BEDSIT RECORDS has just released a split
CD single of us and ANAL BEARD which has two new songs on and one anal beard
cover on this has been released to coincide with our tour in march of this
year
Describe your sound and the main theme of the lyrics
I suppose you could say we are a noisy anarcho/hardcore/streetpunk
band with a sense of humour and a belly full of beer! We have no particular
theme to our lyrics but i suppose they are mainly on a "social/ political" level,
with songs about beer for good measure! One of our latest forthcoming ditties
is called T.W.A.T (the war against Tony) and is about Tony Blair being a
puppet to George W Bush and how we are sick of seeing Blair forever licking
Bush's arse. (some people would pay money for that!).
How did the band get together in the first place and why did you choose the
name Combat shock?
We got together out of a joint appreciation of punk and
also boredom as I think most bands do! I (Mel) had never been in a band before
sonny had been in other bands before like PUS the others had been in various
bands as well. As for our name we got that from an old Vietnam gore film!!
What is the funniest thing that has happened to you whilst
touring?
I think the funniest thing that ever happened to us whilst
on tour was the time when we went on tour with W.O.R.M a few years ago. We
were driving from Southampton to London when our drummer Sonny informed us
that he needed to go for a shit, but we could not stop as we were on the
motorway and he was to shy to go at the side of the road, so basically he
had to wait until we found a services, so to try and forget that he needed
to go he went to sleep. When we arrived in London he jumped out of the van
and ran inside to go to the bog, only he emerged ten seconds later looking
very sheepish, it turned out he had shit himself in his sleep and had not
realised. So for that little episode he won the punk points cup that W.O.R.M
had brought with them !!
What is your favourite compilation album Combat Shock have appeared on, and
why?
We have not really got a favourite to be honest. We,ve been
on the "keep it angry" comp (bomb factory) which was a benefit
for the hunt sabs association, and we were also featured on a rape crisis
benefit on outcast recs from America. Recently we were featured on Beat Bedsit
Recs comp which was to raise money for a new club called the Cowley club
in Brighton which will be based on something like the 1 in 12 club. We are
also going to be featured on a Crass label covers Lp on Ruptured Ambitions(we
do an Omega Tribe cover) and also punk Aid vol 1 in aid of cerebral palsy,
all these albums deserve our support we reckon!
What is the Punk/Oi scene like in your area?
The scene is great in Brighton we have the JUST ONE LIFE
collective who put on loads of hardcore gigs in various venues Buzz also
runs his own record shop as well called punker bunker so if you,re ever in
this part of the world then we recommend sticking your nose in! Beat Bedsit
put on plenty of evens as well these tend to be more quirky/punky, they also
host a series of spoken word events as well. Ian Beerzone puts on alldayers
at the Junction in burgess Hill and these tend to be more streetpunk orientated.
We ourselves have put on one gig with Red Flag 77, Lovejunk and ourselves,
we called ourselves "decidedly fishy promotions"
What bands would you recommend checking out?
Band wise there are loads, but to name a few there are;
SLAUGHTERHOUSE 57, FLATPIG, ANAL BEARD, GODS LONELY MEN, M.T.A, THE FISH
BROTHERS AND OF COURSE THE TEST TUBES.
Plans, gigs and releases planned for 2002.
We are touring the UK in March with Anal beard and Asbest
from Germany . Then we aim to record some more of our new songs for our forthcoming
Ep called T.W.A.T on Weird records, we also aim to play as many gigs as possible
(any offers get in contact)
Any final comments?
Cheers Rebecca for the interview if anyone wants to get
in touch then they can email me at mel.gordaine@iconlive.com
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