Three Minute Warning/Four Minds Crack
What drew you to punk in the first place? and what was the punk scene like in your area? can you remember the first punk gig you attended, and how it made you feel?
I suppose it started with all the notoriety at the end of ’76, with the Sex Pistols interview on the tea time Bill Grundy TV show and all the fallout from it with the ‘Filth and the Fury’ newspaper headlines and media meltdown. Punk singles started to hit the shops - even Woolworths - around the same time and punk bands with outrageous names and attitudes sprung up all over the UK, while the establishment tried to stop the live gigs and tours. For bored 14 year old school pupils from Basingstoke, a dreary satellite town in Hampshire, Punk looked exciting, rebellious and anti-establishment and a reaction to all the stale, bloated stadium rock that had gone before. Punk music was fast, short and aggressive, with great tunes, the musicians and bands looked unique and had cool and unusual names and sang about things youth could relate to. All the violence and angst that followed Punk just made it even more startling and dangerous and there was a lot of dark humour involved in it too. Early on, away from the Kings Road scene, the punk fashions were cheap and DIY, until the Jubilee celebrations of ’77 kicked in and it all became more uniformed. In Basingstoke the scene was very underground, as there weren’t many venues to play, apart from pubs, so it was slower to get going. As a result Punks would travel to nearby Reading or up to London for concerts.
Our first gig was The Clash at the Roxy Harlesden in ’78 when we were just fifteen. It was on the ‘Sort it Out’ tour and the single ‘Tommy Gun’ had only just been released. The rockabilly band Whirlwind (unfortunately not The Special AKA) were supporting and there were some threatening Teds hanging around as we made our way to the venue. On entering the seedy, ex-sex cinema with a mob, we were given free white ‘Tommy Gun’ t shirts with a photo of the band and it glowed when we entered the fast filling murky venue. The support band were largely booed with punks shouting ‘We want the Clash!’ The DJ music between the acts was fantastic; the Banshees’ ‘Hong Kong Garden’ was spun as it had just been released. The atmosphere was electric, everyone anticipating the mighty Clash’s entrance. The anthemic chords of ‘Complete Control’ broke out through the ear-splitting PA and the whole audience became a seething mass of bodies as the band entered the stage. Luckily, we managed to push ourselves down to the front through the pogoing very near to Joe Strummer and it was amazing to watch him up close. The energy and attitude of the band was incredible with Mick Jones throwing guitar shapes and Paul Simonon exuding cool. We even joined in with some gobbing when they played songs like ‘Garageland’ from their first album, which Strummer reacted with, ‘Stop fucking spitting!’ (He’d only recently recovered from hepatitis from spit in his mouth from an earlier gig). They played for well over an hour with no let-up in the tension and encored with ‘English Civil War’, ‘London’s Burning’ and finished with the classic ‘White Riot’. For us it was a life changing and unforgettable night.
Where, when and why did Three Minute Warning form? how did you all know each other before the band? and what prompted you to choose that band name? who were your main influences, both musically and lyrically?
Three Minute Warning was formed in Basingstoke around the spring of 1981, although there were only two members to begin with. Later on we added another mate from school after he was our band manager. We had wanted to get a punk band together straight after leaving school, being influenced by so many great bands we’d seen live and partly as our academic futures looked limited and a potential lifetime on the dole wasn’t encouraging either. So we settled on good old rock’n’roll as a potential way out. It took us about ten months of constant rehearsal on cheap Kay guitars to learn to play, once we’d decided who was going to sing and play guitar and bass and how we were going to write the songs.
After a lot of deliberation we chose the band name Three Minute Warning as Basingstoke was situated near both Greenham Common (infamous for the US Cruise missiles stationed there) and Aldermaston (Atomic Weapons Research Establishment) and they were both a top target for a Russian nuclear ballistic missile strike. Living in sunny Basingstoke you had approximately a three minute warning before the missiles hit and so the name stuck.
We had many musical influences: The Sex Pistols, The Clash, Sham 69, The Ruts, The Stranglers, ATV, 999, Crass, Zounds, UK Subs, The Damned, The Skids, X-Ray Spex, Buzzcocks, Stiff Little Fingers, Gang of Four, Crisis, The Jam, Dead Kennedys and Ian Dury. Lyrically we were heavily influenced by Malcolm Owen, Jimmy Pursey, Paul Weller, Jake Burns, Joe Strummer, Jello Biafra, Crass and Ian Dury.
Who was in the band, and who played what (ideally full names & nicknames, but just nicknames will do as well!)? what bands were you in previously? what were the major line-up changes you underwent (if any), and why?
‘Meanaxe’ Al Gregg (Guitar, Lead Vocals)
Laurence ‘Plug’ Harris (Bass, Vocals)
Dave Wilkinson (Drums, vocals and early band manager)
(No previous experience was at all evident)
The major line-up changes in the band revolved around the problem with drummers. In the early eighties they were a rare commodity in Basingstoke. We went through ‘Danny’ a mate who was a neighbour who was too nervous to play: ‘Mike Stand’ another school mate who couldn’t play but really looked the part: Roy Dodds (later of Fairground Attraction) who was a brilliant drummer who played on a live demo, but couldn’t join because of ‘other commitments’: Rab Fae Beith (The Wall/UK Subs) the formidable tattooed Scotsman was due to play our first gig, after Dave our school mate manager had reportedly rung up Charlie Watts, Mark Laff and Rab to see if they were available. But despite the ever present percussion issue Three Minute Warning carried on, full to the brim with punk spirit.
Can you remember where your first gig was - when, where, and who with? and how was it?
Our first gig was in early 1982 on a big Right to Work march in London. This meant that we would arrive off the back of a lorry. Rab Fae Beith had kindly agreed to drum for us, as previously mentioned, so we rehearsed our set furiously with him before the gig. Our songs were now sounding brilliant backed by Rab’s titanic jungle drumming. However, when we arrived at the march, the organisers informed us that the lorry’s generator had blown up so we wouldn’t be able to play, but we’d still get paid. Ironically the most money we ever made from a gig. We then went to a greasy spoon and Rab regaled us with his various exploits in The Wall, and soon after he agreed to become our manager, so Dave could now become our drummer full time.
So our first real gig was at the Moonlight/Starlight Club again in London. We supported another Basingstoke band Terminal Jive and as a result we had a couple of coachloads from the town which meant there was a really good turn-out. We were nervous as Dave hadn’t been playing drums for long, but he played a blinder and our punk set went down well and we started to get a following.
In fact, what were your best - and worst - gigs? (and why, of course!)
The best gig we ever played was at the 100 Club supporting The Straps. Rab had arranged the gig and we were more than chuffed to be appearing at such an iconic punk venue: The legendary bands and punk rock stars who had played there before just rolled off the tongue. Again we had another coachload from Basingstoke which included Liz Hurley who was a local punkette at the time. Quite a few of whom managed even to pogo to some of our songs. Unfortunately for Liz though, her then boyfriend, a mohican called ‘Si’, was our roadie for the gig, and as our drummer Dave, sporting a Sweet T shirt, had forgotten his drum clips, Si spent most of the set crouching down in front of the bass drum to stop it from falling off the stage. In spite of this we again went down well and there was a really good turn-out as The Straps had a large South London following. We even lent our guitar amp to their guitarist as his had burnt out just before they went on. Playing the 100 Club was a highlight and a real buzz and we even found out that the venue enjoyed our set and wanted to book us again.
Our worst gig was when we headlined at the town hall in Newbury. Just beforehand we had supported The Wall at the Blue Coat Boy ‘Skunx’ in Islington and noticed on their gig listings that there was a band called Four Minute Warning and they looked to already have had a vinyl release out. This sent panic through the ranks and made us look immediately into changing the name of the band. Again deliberations were made long into the night but seemed unproductive until we reached the Newbury venue for the gig and saw on the flyer that we were now called The Walking Dead. A band fall-out quickly ensued; our drummer Dave had temporarily resumed his managerial authority without telling us. The name came from a dodgy Zombie film of the time. The upshot was that noone local and from Basingstoke turned up to the gig as they didn’t know who we were. In fact the support band Pink played to more people than us who left straight afterwards so we were left to perform to the sound engineer and one man and his dog.
Did you record many demos? where & when did you record them, and who with? and how do you regard those recordings now, with the benefit of many years of hindsight? did any of the songs see an official release anywhere?
The first demo was recorded early on when we were struggling to find a drummer and we did a live session of seven songs with the talented Roy Dodds at the Albert Haul studios in 1981. Amazingly, Roy managed to drum them straight off without any rehearsal and the session became known as the band’s ‘Dodgy Demo’.
The second demo was recorded at Matinee Studios in Reading in ’82, with Dave Parsons of Sham 69 producing. Our drummer Dave knew him from going to gigs and he kindly contributed some quality guitar and backing vocals to two of our songs - ‘No Rules’ and ‘Night Shift Blues’. We were really pleased with the outcome as Parsons had done a fine job and it was much better quality than our earlier live one. It was also great recording with one of our punk heroes who we’d all seen play live at the terrifying ‘Sham’s Last Stand’ at the Rainbow in the summer of ‘79. Basically a Nazi Skinhead riot fest.
The third demo ‘Nervous Breakdown’ was recorded at a studio in Basingstoke with Rab Fae Beith producing. We did four songs ‘Fallout’, ‘Protest and Survive’, ‘Member of Parliament’ and ‘Nowhere to Go’. We sounded more punk on this demo but perhaps the quality wasn’t as good as the second. But Rab was his irrepressible self and contributed a Marshall stack, Gibson Flying V and a thick Scottish accent to the backing vocals.
The last demo was recorded back at Matinee Studios again which we self-produced in ’83. We did three songs; ‘In the Night’, ‘Suffer in Silence’ and ‘No Reply’. This was probably the best demo of the lot as the quality was really good, the song writing had developed considerably and our musicianship had improved immeasurably. As a result it stands the test of time well too.
The closest we got to any official releases were having one of our songs included on a Cherry Red compilation that unfortunately fell through and an offer of an EP in New Zealand of all places. Sadly we couldn’t take up the offer as we couldn’t scrape together the airfare.
When & why did you change the name to Four Minds Crack? was there a change in style or approach at the same time?
We changed our name to Four Minds Crack after the fallout from The Walking Dead debacle. As we all liked ATV, their song lyrics on the single ‘Action Time Vision’ seemed fitting and struck a chord. It didn’t really matter that there were only three of us in the band. There wasn’t really a change in style with the new name as we played all our old songs, except for ‘I’m so Stiff’ which was an early comical warm up riff, so we were always trying to progress as musicians. We also recorded the last demo under the new moniker.
Did you have any concept of yourself back then as a ‘DIY’ band? and how important to the spirit of punk is the DIY approach? what other messages was it important to you as a band to impart?
We were constantly aware of the DIY ethic throughout the bands history. Punk was a DIY movement at its foundation. We were just passed on the do it yourself baton so to speak. We learnt to play by listening to records ourselves and going to gigs and everything, including promoting the band, was all self-taught. We had a healthy optimism and had a laugh so the beer glass was more often than not half full. We never took ourselves too seriously even when imparting some serious issues about nuclear war, Margaret Thatcher or fascism. More importantly we stayed largely true to ourselves and didn’t get starry eyed and crawl up our own proverbial.
When and why did FMC split up? where, when & with whom was your last gig?
We didn’t so much split as fade away. Gigs that we had lined up we started to not appear at, sometimes down to illness, sometimes down to apathy. Things were becoming stagnant and writers block ensued. We were due to support the Subhumans in Andover but for some reason we bottled out. A shame as their crowd was right up our street. Absence was becoming a habit and Punk around 82/83 was dying a death and many bands were splitting up. Some mates had long since cashed in their bondage trousers for a fitting outfit to a Spandau Ballet concert. Gary Numanitis had grown to such an extent that any visit to a music shop to buy some strings would end up trying to avoid all the synthesisers and techno drum machines. Guitar based rebellion rock was on its last legs and I suppose with it we started to go our separate ways. Full time work and earning some dosh started to interfere with our hectic rehearsal schedule and so regrettably we began to join the rat race.
Our last gig was one of our best at the 5-1-0 Centre along the Harrow Road in London. We headlined a CND gig which was a sell out playing all the songs from our set. Laurence on bass really nailed it, sounding like Norman Watt-Roy
of the Blockheads. The PA was thumping and we received a rapturous response, climaxing with a couple of encores.
What did the various band members go on to do after FMC, both musically and otherwise?
Al joined The Wall and after punk trained professionally as an actor and writer. He continued with his music throughout, touring/recording for heavy rock singer Caroline Alexander (produced by ‘Ace’ of Skunk Anansie). He also reformed with The Wall on UK tours and at the Rebellion Festivals in 2007 and 2016/17. He wrote a novel The Wrong Outfit and co-wrote a play Reality Chokes both about punk and since 2010 played in The Clones a punk covers band.
Laurence formed The Psychotropes after Four Minds Crack split who were a very experimental outfit with lots of sampling and unique sounds and brilliant lyrics and they released a long catalogue of songs, one of which Al had the honour of playing guitar on. Laurence continued to work in Basingstoke as a cinema projectionist and later a taxi driver.
Dave joined the UK Subs soon after the band split and appeared in many other bands, including the Angelic Upstarts, Bazooka Joe and an offshoot of The Sex Gang Children. He even teamed up with Al again in Caroline Alexander’s rock outfit to tour and record. Throughout this time and later on Dave worked as a builder/carpenter.
How would you like TMW/FMC to be remembered in the grand scheme of things? what do you think you contributed to the local (and wider?) punk scene that was uniquely yours?
To be remembered in whatever shape or form however small is a positive thing. We were young and impressionable and just wanted to get up on stage and have a go, like our predecessors. We always felt that we had been born just at the right time and punk rock was definitely the coolest motor to transport us from A to Z. We didn’t follow the punk stereotype, all mohicans and studded leather jackets, so in that respect we were unique and our music was impressive considering we learnt it fast from scratch and we had no previous musical experience to speak of apart from feeble attempts at grade two piano and the bassoon at school.
To what extent are you still involved in the underground punk scene to this day, and how do you think it differs from the scene as it was back when TMW/FMC were plying their wares?
We all continue to listen to punk music, though our impressive record collections are no more, having been sadly moved on for small change back in the 90’s. We still go to the occasional gigs and up until recently continued in the underground scene as mentioned above. But music and being in a band is so different now to how it was back in the 80’s. Now there’s not many places to play and rehearsing/recording costs an arm and a leg and there’s no dosh to be made from gigging or even selling merchandise. Everything is now talentless, craving immediacy. Youth culture is non-existent among the technologically obsessed. There’s no more rites of passage - attending that liberating but potentially violent gig for example. And noone earns their spurs anymore playing crappy venues the length and breadth of the UK. Tribute bands predominate and original punk bands with their original members are dwindling as time goes by apart from the legend Charlie Harper of the Subs. He’s now an octogenarian. But it won’t be long before bands will be requiring someone who can knock out a beat on a zimmer frame. Though I suppose they at least can say they’re keeping the good old punk fires burning.
Three Minute Warning/Four Minds Crack
What drew you to punk in the first place? and what was the punk scene like in your area? can you remember the first punk gig you attended, and how it made you feel?
I suppose it started with all the notoriety at the end of ’76, with the Sex Pistols interview on the tea time Bill Grundy TV show and all the fallout from it with the ‘Filth and the Fury’ newspaper headlines and media meltdown. Punk singles started to hit the shops - even Woolworths - around the same time and punk bands with outrageous names and attitudes sprung up all over the UK, while the establishment tried to stop the live gigs and tours. For bored 14 year old school pupils from Basingstoke, a dreary satellite town in Hampshire, Punk looked exciting, rebellious and anti-establishment and a reaction to all the stale, bloated stadium rock that had gone before. Punk music was fast, short and aggressive, with great tunes, the musicians and bands looked unique and had cool and unusual names and sang about things youth could relate to. All the violence and angst that followed Punk just made it even more startling and dangerous and there was a lot of dark humour involved in it too. Early on, away from the Kings Road scene, the punk fashions were cheap and DIY, until the Jubilee celebrations of ’77 kicked in and it all became more uniformed. In Basingstoke the scene was very underground, as there weren’t many venues to play, apart from pubs, so it was slower to get going. As a result Punks would travel to nearby Reading or up to London for concerts.
Our first gig was The Clash at the Roxy Harlesden in ’78 when we were just fifteen. It was on the ‘Sort it Out’ tour and the single ‘Tommy Gun’ had only just been released. The rockabilly band Whirlwind (unfortunately not The Special AKA) were supporting and there were some threatening Teds hanging around as we made our way to the venue. On entering the seedy, ex-sex cinema with a mob, we were given free white ‘Tommy Gun’ t shirts with a photo of the band and it glowed when we entered the fast filling murky venue. The support band were largely booed with punks shouting ‘We want the Clash!’ The DJ music between the acts was fantastic; the Banshees’ ‘Hong Kong Garden’ was spun as it had just been released. The atmosphere was electric, everyone anticipating the mighty Clash’s entrance. The anthemic chords of ‘Complete Control’ broke out through the ear-splitting PA and the whole audience became a seething mass of bodies as the band entered the stage. Luckily, we managed to push ourselves down to the front through the pogoing very near to Joe Strummer and it was amazing to watch him up close. The energy and attitude of the band was incredible with Mick Jones throwing guitar shapes and Paul Simonon exuding cool. We even joined in with some gobbing when they played songs like ‘Garageland’ from their first album, which Strummer reacted with, ‘Stop fucking spitting!’ (He’d only recently recovered from hepatitis from spit in his mouth from an earlier gig). They played for well over an hour with no let-up in the tension and encored with ‘English Civil War’, ‘London’s Burning’ and finished with the classic ‘White Riot’. For us it was a life changing and unforgettable night.
Where, when and why did Three Minute Warning form? how did you all know each other before the band? and what prompted you to choose that band name? who were your main influences, both musically and lyrically?
Three Minute Warning was formed in Basingstoke around the spring of 1981, although there were only two members to begin with. Later on we added another mate from school after he was our band manager. We had wanted to get a punk band together straight after leaving school, being influenced by so many great bands we’d seen live and partly as our academic futures looked limited and a potential lifetime on the dole wasn’t encouraging either. So we settled on good old rock’n’roll as a potential way out. It took us about ten months of constant rehearsal on cheap Kay guitars to learn to play, once we’d decided who was going to sing and play guitar and bass and how we were going to write the songs.
After a lot of deliberation we chose the band name Three Minute Warning as Basingstoke was situated near both Greenham Common (infamous for the US Cruise missiles stationed there) and Aldermaston (Atomic Weapons Research Establishment) and they were both a top target for a Russian nuclear ballistic missile strike. Living in sunny Basingstoke you had approximately a three minute warning before the missiles hit and so the name stuck.
We had many musical influences: The Sex Pistols, The Clash, Sham 69, The Ruts, The Stranglers, ATV, 999, Crass, Zounds, UK Subs, The Damned, The Skids, X-Ray Spex, Buzzcocks, Stiff Little Fingers, Gang of Four, Crisis, The Jam, Dead Kennedys and Ian Dury. Lyrically we were heavily influenced by Malcolm Owen, Jimmy Pursey, Paul Weller, Jake Burns, Joe Strummer, Jello Biafra, Crass and Ian Dury.
Who was in the band, and who played what (ideally full names & nicknames, but just nicknames will do as well!)? what bands were you in previously? what were the major line-up changes you underwent (if any), and why?
‘Meanaxe’ Al Gregg (Guitar, Lead Vocals)
Laurence ‘Plug’ Harris (Bass, Vocals)
Dave Wilkinson (Drums, vocals and early band manager)
(No previous experience was at all evident)
The major line-up changes in the band revolved around the problem with drummers. In the early eighties they were a rare commodity in Basingstoke. We went through ‘Danny’ a mate who was a neighbour who was too nervous to play: ‘Mike Stand’ another school mate who couldn’t play but really looked the part: Roy Dodds (later of Fairground Attraction) who was a brilliant drummer who played on a live demo, but couldn’t join because of ‘other commitments’: Rab Fae Beith (The Wall/UK Subs) the formidable tattooed Scotsman was due to play our first gig, after Dave our school mate manager had reportedly rung up Charlie Watts, Mark Laff and Rab to see if they were available. But despite the ever present percussion issue Three Minute Warning carried on, full to the brim with punk spirit.
Can you remember where your first gig was - when, where, and who with? and how was it?
Our first gig was in early 1982 on a big Right to Work march in London. This meant that we would arrive off the back of a lorry. Rab Fae Beith had kindly agreed to drum for us, as previously mentioned, so we rehearsed our set furiously with him before the gig. Our songs were now sounding brilliant backed by Rab’s titanic jungle drumming. However, when we arrived at the march, the organisers informed us that the lorry’s generator had blown up so we wouldn’t be able to play, but we’d still get paid. Ironically the most money we ever made from a gig. We then went to a greasy spoon and Rab regaled us with his various exploits in The Wall, and soon after he agreed to become our manager, so Dave could now become our drummer full time.
So our first real gig was at the Moonlight/Starlight Club again in London. We supported another Basingstoke band Terminal Jive and as a result we had a couple of coachloads from the town which meant there was a really good turn-out. We were nervous as Dave hadn’t been playing drums for long, but he played a blinder and our punk set went down well and we started to get a following.
In fact, what were your best - and worst - gigs? (and why, of course!)
The best gig we ever played was at the 100 Club supporting The Straps. Rab had arranged the gig and we were more than chuffed to be appearing at such an iconic punk venue: The legendary bands and punk rock stars who had played there before just rolled off the tongue. Again we had another coachload from Basingstoke which included Liz Hurley who was a local punkette at the time. Quite a few of whom managed even to pogo to some of our songs. Unfortunately for Liz though, her then boyfriend, a mohican called ‘Si’, was our roadie for the gig, and as our drummer Dave, sporting a Sweet T shirt, had forgotten his drum clips, Si spent most of the set crouching down in front of the bass drum to stop it from falling off the stage. In spite of this we again went down well and there was a really good turn-out as The Straps had a large South London following. We even lent our guitar amp to their guitarist as his had burnt out just before they went on. Playing the 100 Club was a highlight and a real buzz and we even found out that the venue enjoyed our set and wanted to book us again.
Our worst gig was when we headlined at the town hall in Newbury. Just beforehand we had supported The Wall at the Blue Coat Boy ‘Skunx’ in Islington and noticed on their gig listings that there was a band called Four Minute Warning and they looked to already have had a vinyl release out. This sent panic through the ranks and made us look immediately into changing the name of the band. Again deliberations were made long into the night but seemed unproductive until we reached the Newbury venue for the gig and saw on the flyer that we were now called The Walking Dead. A band fall-out quickly ensued; our drummer Dave had temporarily resumed his managerial authority without telling us. The name came from a dodgy Zombie film of the time. The upshot was that noone local and from Basingstoke turned up to the gig as they didn’t know who we were. In fact the support band Pink played to more people than us who left straight afterwards so we were left to perform to the sound engineer and one man and his dog.
Did you record many demos? where & when did you record them, and who with? and how do you regard those recordings now, with the benefit of many years of hindsight? did any of the songs see an official release anywhere?
The first demo was recorded early on when we were struggling to find a drummer and we did a live session of seven songs with the talented Roy Dodds at the Albert Haul studios in 1981. Amazingly, Roy managed to drum them straight off without any rehearsal and the session became known as the band’s ‘Dodgy Demo’.
The second demo was recorded at Matinee Studios in Reading in ’82, with Dave Parsons of Sham 69 producing. Our drummer Dave knew him from going to gigs and he kindly contributed some quality guitar and backing vocals to two of our songs - ‘No Rules’ and ‘Night Shift Blues’. We were really pleased with the outcome as Parsons had done a fine job and it was much better quality than our earlier live one. It was also great recording with one of our punk heroes who we’d all seen play live at the terrifying ‘Sham’s Last Stand’ at the Rainbow in the summer of ‘79. Basically a Nazi Skinhead riot fest.
The third demo ‘Nervous Breakdown’ was recorded at a studio in Basingstoke with Rab Fae Beith producing. We did four songs ‘Fallout’, ‘Protest and Survive’, ‘Member of Parliament’ and ‘Nowhere to Go’. We sounded more punk on this demo but perhaps the quality wasn’t as good as the second. But Rab was his irrepressible self and contributed a Marshall stack, Gibson Flying V and a thick Scottish accent to the backing vocals.
The last demo was recorded back at Matinee Studios again which we self-produced in ’83. We did three songs; ‘In the Night’, ‘Suffer in Silence’ and ‘No Reply’. This was probably the best demo of the lot as the quality was really good, the song writing had developed considerably and our musicianship had improved immeasurably. As a result it stands the test of time well too.
The closest we got to any official releases were having one of our songs included on a Cherry Red compilation that unfortunately fell through and an offer of an EP in New Zealand of all places. Sadly we couldn’t take up the offer as we couldn’t scrape together the airfare.
When & why did you change the name to Four Minds Crack? was there a change in style or approach at the same time?
We changed our name to Four Minds Crack after the fallout from The Walking Dead debacle. As we all liked ATV, their song lyrics on the single ‘Action Time Vision’ seemed fitting and struck a chord. It didn’t really matter that there were only three of us in the band. There wasn’t really a change in style with the new name as we played all our old songs, except for ‘I’m so Stiff’ which was an early comical warm up riff, so we were always trying to progress as musicians. We also recorded the last demo under the new moniker.
Did you have any concept of yourself back then as a ‘DIY’ band? and how important to the spirit of punk is the DIY approach? what other messages was it important to you as a band to impart?
We were constantly aware of the DIY ethic throughout the bands history. Punk was a DIY movement at its foundation. We were just passed on the do it yourself baton so to speak. We learnt to play by listening to records ourselves and going to gigs and everything, including promoting the band, was all self-taught. We had a healthy optimism and had a laugh so the beer glass was more often than not half full. We never took ourselves too seriously even when imparting some serious issues about nuclear war, Margaret Thatcher or fascism. More importantly we stayed largely true to ourselves and didn’t get starry eyed and crawl up our own proverbial.
When and why did FMC split up? where, when & with whom was your last gig?
We didn’t so much split as fade away. Gigs that we had lined up we started to not appear at, sometimes down to illness, sometimes down to apathy. Things were becoming stagnant and writers block ensued. We were due to support the Subhumans in Andover but for some reason we bottled out. A shame as their crowd was right up our street. Absence was becoming a habit and Punk around 82/83 was dying a death and many bands were splitting up. Some mates had long since cashed in their bondage trousers for a fitting outfit to a Spandau Ballet concert. Gary Numanitis had grown to such an extent that any visit to a music shop to buy some strings would end up trying to avoid all the synthesisers and techno drum machines. Guitar based rebellion rock was on its last legs and I suppose with it we started to go our separate ways. Full time work and earning some dosh started to interfere with our hectic rehearsal schedule and so regrettably we began to join the rat race.
Our last gig was one of our best at the 5-1-0 Centre along the Harrow Road in London. We headlined a CND gig which was a sell out playing all the songs from our set. Laurence on bass really nailed it, sounding like Norman Watt-Roy
of the Blockheads. The PA was thumping and we received a rapturous response, climaxing with a couple of encores.
What did the various band members go on to do after FMC, both musically and otherwise?
Al joined The Wall and after punk trained professionally as an actor and writer. He continued with his music throughout, touring/recording for heavy rock singer Caroline Alexander (produced by ‘Ace’ of Skunk Anansie). He also reformed with The Wall on UK tours and at the Rebellion Festivals in 2007 and 2016/17. He wrote a novel The Wrong Outfit and co-wrote a play Reality Chokes both about punk and since 2010 played in The Clones a punk covers band.
Laurence formed The Psychotropes after Four Minds Crack split who were a very experimental outfit with lots of sampling and unique sounds and brilliant lyrics and they released a long catalogue of songs, one of which Al had the honour of playing guitar on. Laurence continued to work in Basingstoke as a cinema projectionist and later a taxi driver.
Dave joined the UK Subs soon after the band split and appeared in many other bands, including the Angelic Upstarts, Bazooka Joe and an offshoot of The Sex Gang Children. He even teamed up with Al again in Caroline Alexander’s rock outfit to tour and record. Throughout this time and later on Dave worked as a builder/carpenter.
How would you like TMW/FMC to be remembered in the grand scheme of things? what do you think you contributed to the local (and wider?) punk scene that was uniquely yours?
To be remembered in whatever shape or form however small is a positive thing. We were young and impressionable and just wanted to get up on stage and have a go, like our predecessors. We always felt that we had been born just at the right time and punk rock was definitely the coolest motor to transport us from A to Z. We didn’t follow the punk stereotype, all mohicans and studded leather jackets, so in that respect we were unique and our music was impressive considering we learnt it fast from scratch and we had no previous musical experience to speak of apart from feeble attempts at grade two piano and the bassoon at school.
To what extent are you still involved in the underground punk scene to this day, and how do you think it differs from the scene as it was back when TMW/FMC were plying their wares?
We all continue to listen to punk music, though our impressive record collections are no more, having been sadly moved on for small change back in the 90’s. We still go to the occasional gigs and up until recently continued in the underground scene as mentioned above. But music and being in a band is so different now to how it was back in the 80’s. Now there’s not many places to play and rehearsing/recording costs an arm and a leg and there’s no dosh to be made from gigging or even selling merchandise. Everything is now talentless, craving immediacy. Youth culture is non-existent among the technologically obsessed. There’s no more rites of passage - attending that liberating but potentially violent gig for example. And noone earns their spurs anymore playing crappy venues the length and breadth of the UK. Tribute bands predominate and original punk bands with their original members are dwindling as time goes by apart from the legend Charlie Harper of the Subs. He’s now an octogenarian. But it won’t be long before bands will be requiring someone who can knock out a beat on a zimmer frame. Though I suppose they at least can say they’re keeping the good old punk fires burning.
Three Minute Warning/Four Minds Crack
What drew you to punk in the first place? and what was the punk scene like in your area? can you remember the first punk gig you attended, and how it made you feel?
I suppose it started with all the notoriety at the end of ’76, with the Sex Pistols interview on the tea time Bill Grundy TV show and all the fallout from it with the ‘Filth and the Fury’ newspaper headlines and media meltdown. Punk singles started to hit the shops - even Woolworths - around the same time and punk bands with outrageous names and attitudes sprung up all over the UK, while the establishment tried to stop the live gigs and tours. For bored 14 year old school pupils from Basingstoke, a dreary satellite town in Hampshire, Punk looked exciting, rebellious and anti-establishment and a reaction to all the stale, bloated stadium rock that had gone before. Punk music was fast, short and aggressive, with great tunes, the musicians and bands looked unique and had cool and unusual names and sang about things youth could relate to. All the violence and angst that followed Punk just made it even more startling and dangerous and there was a lot of dark humour involved in it too. Early on, away from the Kings Road scene, the punk fashions were cheap and DIY, until the Jubilee celebrations of ’77 kicked in and it all became more uniformed. In Basingstoke the scene was very underground, as there weren’t many venues to play, apart from pubs, so it was slower to get going. As a result Punks would travel to nearby Reading or up to London for concerts.
Our first gig was The Clash at the Roxy Harlesden in ’78 when we were just fifteen. It was on the ‘Sort it Out’ tour and the single ‘Tommy Gun’ had only just been released. The rockabilly band Whirlwind (unfortunately not The Special AKA) were supporting and there were some threatening Teds hanging around as we made our way to the venue. On entering the seedy, ex-sex cinema with a mob, we were given free white ‘Tommy Gun’ t shirts with a photo of the band and it glowed when we entered the fast filling murky venue. The support band were largely booed with punks shouting ‘We want the Clash!’ The DJ music between the acts was fantastic; the Banshees’ ‘Hong Kong Garden’ was spun as it had just been released. The atmosphere was electric, everyone anticipating the mighty Clash’s entrance. The anthemic chords of ‘Complete Control’ broke out through the ear-splitting PA and the whole audience became a seething mass of bodies as the band entered the stage. Luckily, we managed to push ourselves down to the front through the pogoing very near to Joe Strummer and it was amazing to watch him up close. The energy and attitude of the band was incredible with Mick Jones throwing guitar shapes and Paul Simonon exuding cool. We even joined in with some gobbing when they played songs like ‘Garageland’ from their first album, which Strummer reacted with, ‘Stop fucking spitting!’ (He’d only recently recovered from hepatitis from spit in his mouth from an earlier gig). They played for well over an hour with no let-up in the tension and encored with ‘English Civil War’, ‘London’s Burning’ and finished with the classic ‘White Riot’. For us it was a life changing and unforgettable night.
Where, when and why did Three Minute Warning form? how did you all know each other before the band? and what prompted you to choose that band name? who were your main influences, both musically and lyrically?
Three Minute Warning was formed in Basingstoke around the spring of 1981, although there were only two members to begin with. Later on we added another mate from school after he was our band manager. We had wanted to get a punk band together straight after leaving school, being influenced by so many great bands we’d seen live and partly as our academic futures looked limited and a potential lifetime on the dole wasn’t encouraging either. So we settled on good old rock’n’roll as a potential way out. It took us about ten months of constant rehearsal on cheap Kay guitars to learn to play, once we’d decided who was going to sing and play guitar and bass and how we were going to write the songs.
After a lot of deliberation we chose the band name Three Minute Warning as Basingstoke was situated near both Greenham Common (infamous for the US Cruise missiles stationed there) and Aldermaston (Atomic Weapons Research Establishment) and they were both a top target for a Russian nuclear ballistic missile strike. Living in sunny Basingstoke you had approximately a three minute warning before the missiles hit and so the name stuck.
We had many musical influences: The Sex Pistols, The Clash, Sham 69, The Ruts, The Stranglers, ATV, 999, Crass, Zounds, UK Subs, The Damned, The Skids, X-Ray Spex, Buzzcocks, Stiff Little Fingers, Gang of Four, Crisis, The Jam, Dead Kennedys and Ian Dury. Lyrically we were heavily influenced by Malcolm Owen, Jimmy Pursey, Paul Weller, Jake Burns, Joe Strummer, Jello Biafra, Crass and Ian Dury.
Who was in the band, and who played what (ideally full names & nicknames, but just nicknames will do as well!)? what bands were you in previously? what were the major line-up changes you underwent (if any), and why?
‘Meanaxe’ Al Gregg (Guitar, Lead Vocals)
Laurence ‘Plug’ Harris (Bass, Vocals)
Dave Wilkinson (Drums, vocals and early band manager)
(No previous experience was at all evident)
The major line-up changes in the band revolved around the problem with drummers. In the early eighties they were a rare commodity in Basingstoke. We went through ‘Danny’ a mate who was a neighbour who was too nervous to play: ‘Mike Stand’ another school mate who couldn’t play but really looked the part: Roy Dodds (later of Fairground Attraction) who was a brilliant drummer who played on a live demo, but couldn’t join because of ‘other commitments’: Rab Fae Beith (The Wall/UK Subs) the formidable tattooed Scotsman was due to play our first gig, after Dave our school mate manager had reportedly rung up Charlie Watts, Mark Laff and Rab to see if they were available. But despite the ever present percussion issue Three Minute Warning carried on, full to the brim with punk spirit.
Can you remember where your first gig was - when, where, and who with? and how was it?
Our first gig was in early 1982 on a big Right to Work march in London. This meant that we would arrive off the back of a lorry. Rab Fae Beith had kindly agreed to drum for us, as previously mentioned, so we rehearsed our set furiously with him before the gig. Our songs were now sounding brilliant backed by Rab’s titanic jungle drumming. However, when we arrived at the march, the organisers informed us that the lorry’s generator had blown up so we wouldn’t be able to play, but we’d still get paid. Ironically the most money we ever made from a gig. We then went to a greasy spoon and Rab regaled us with his various exploits in The Wall, and soon after he agreed to become our manager, so Dave could now become our drummer full time.
So our first real gig was at the Moonlight/Starlight Club again in London. We supported another Basingstoke band Terminal Jive and as a result we had a couple of coachloads from the town which meant there was a really good turn-out. We were nervous as Dave hadn’t been playing drums for long, but he played a blinder and our punk set went down well and we started to get a following.
In fact, what were your best - and worst - gigs? (and why, of course!)
The best gig we ever played was at the 100 Club supporting The Straps. Rab had arranged the gig and we were more than chuffed to be appearing at such an iconic punk venue: The legendary bands and punk rock stars who had played there before just rolled off the tongue. Again we had another coachload from Basingstoke which included Liz Hurley who was a local punkette at the time. Quite a few of whom managed even to pogo to some of our songs. Unfortunately for Liz though, her then boyfriend, a mohican called ‘Si’, was our roadie for the gig, and as our drummer Dave, sporting a Sweet T shirt, had forgotten his drum clips, Si spent most of the set crouching down in front of the bass drum to stop it from falling off the stage. In spite of this we again went down well and there was a really good turn-out as The Straps had a large South London following. We even lent our guitar amp to their guitarist as his had burnt out just before they went on. Playing the 100 Club was a highlight and a real buzz and we even found out that the venue enjoyed our set and wanted to book us again.
Our worst gig was when we headlined at the town hall in Newbury. Just beforehand we had supported The Wall at the Blue Coat Boy ‘Skunx’ in Islington and noticed on their gig listings that there was a band called Four Minute Warning and they looked to already have had a vinyl release out. This sent panic through the ranks and made us look immediately into changing the name of the band. Again deliberations were made long into the night but seemed unproductive until we reached the Newbury venue for the gig and saw on the flyer that we were now called The Walking Dead. A band fall-out quickly ensued; our drummer Dave had temporarily resumed his managerial authority without telling us. The name came from a dodgy Zombie film of the time. The upshot was that noone local and from Basingstoke turned up to the gig as they didn’t know who we were. In fact the support band Pink played to more people than us who left straight afterwards so we were left to perform to the sound engineer and one man and his dog.
Did you record many demos? where & when did you record them, and who with? and how do you regard those recordings now, with the benefit of many years of hindsight? did any of the songs see an official release anywhere?
The first demo was recorded early on when we were struggling to find a drummer and we did a live session of seven songs with the talented Roy Dodds at the Albert Haul studios in 1981. Amazingly, Roy managed to drum them straight off without any rehearsal and the session became known as the band’s ‘Dodgy Demo’.
The second demo was recorded at Matinee Studios in Reading in ’82, with Dave Parsons of Sham 69 producing. Our drummer Dave knew him from going to gigs and he kindly contributed some quality guitar and backing vocals to two of our songs - ‘No Rules’ and ‘Night Shift Blues’. We were really pleased with the outcome as Parsons had done a fine job and it was much better quality than our earlier live one. It was also great recording with one of our punk heroes who we’d all seen play live at the terrifying ‘Sham’s Last Stand’ at the Rainbow in the summer of ‘79. Basically a Nazi Skinhead riot fest.
The third demo ‘Nervous Breakdown’ was recorded at a studio in Basingstoke with Rab Fae Beith producing. We did four songs ‘Fallout’, ‘Protest and Survive’, ‘Member of Parliament’ and ‘Nowhere to Go’. We sounded more punk on this demo but perhaps the quality wasn’t as good as the second. But Rab was his irrepressible self and contributed a Marshall stack, Gibson Flying V and a thick Scottish accent to the backing vocals.
The last demo was recorded back at Matinee Studios again which we self-produced in ’83. We did three songs; ‘In the Night’, ‘Suffer in Silence’ and ‘No Reply’. This was probably the best demo of the lot as the quality was really good, the song writing had developed considerably and our musicianship had improved immeasurably. As a result it stands the test of time well too.
The closest we got to any official releases were having one of our songs included on a Cherry Red compilation that unfortunately fell through and an offer of an EP in New Zealand of all places. Sadly we couldn’t take up the offer as we couldn’t scrape together the airfare.
When & why did you change the name to Four Minds Crack? was there a change in style or approach at the same time?
We changed our name to Four Minds Crack after the fallout from The Walking Dead debacle. As we all liked ATV, their song lyrics on the single ‘Action Time Vision’ seemed fitting and struck a chord. It didn’t really matter that there were only three of us in the band. There wasn’t really a change in style with the new name as we played all our old songs, except for ‘I’m so Stiff’ which was an early comical warm up riff, so we were always trying to progress as musicians. We also recorded the last demo under the new moniker.
Did you have any concept of yourself back then as a ‘DIY’ band? and how important to the spirit of punk is the DIY approach? what other messages was it important to you as a band to impart?
We were constantly aware of the DIY ethic throughout the bands history. Punk was a DIY movement at its foundation. We were just passed on the do it yourself baton so to speak. We learnt to play by listening to records ourselves and going to gigs and everything, including promoting the band, was all self-taught. We had a healthy optimism and had a laugh so the beer glass was more often than not half full. We never took ourselves too seriously even when imparting some serious issues about nuclear war, Margaret Thatcher or fascism. More importantly we stayed largely true to ourselves and didn’t get starry eyed and crawl up our own proverbial.
When and why did FMC split up? where, when & with whom was your last gig?
We didn’t so much split as fade away. Gigs that we had lined up we started to not appear at, sometimes down to illness, sometimes down to apathy. Things were becoming stagnant and writers block ensued. We were due to support the Subhumans in Andover but for some reason we bottled out. A shame as their crowd was right up our street. Absence was becoming a habit and Punk around 82/83 was dying a death and many bands were splitting up. Some mates had long since cashed in their bondage trousers for a fitting outfit to a Spandau Ballet concert. Gary Numanitis had grown to such an extent that any visit to a music shop to buy some strings would end up trying to avoid all the synthesisers and techno drum machines. Guitar based rebellion rock was on its last legs and I suppose with it we started to go our separate ways. Full time work and earning some dosh started to interfere with our hectic rehearsal schedule and so regrettably we began to join the rat race.
Our last gig was one of our best at the 5-1-0 Centre along the Harrow Road in London. We headlined a CND gig which was a sell out playing all the songs from our set. Laurence on bass really nailed it, sounding like Norman Watt-Roy
of the Blockheads. The PA was thumping and we received a rapturous response, climaxing with a couple of encores.
What did the various band members go on to do after FMC, both musically and otherwise?
Al joined The Wall and after punk trained professionally as an actor and writer. He continued with his music throughout, touring/recording for heavy rock singer Caroline Alexander (produced by ‘Ace’ of Skunk Anansie). He also reformed with The Wall on UK tours and at the Rebellion Festivals in 2007 and 2016/17. He wrote a novel The Wrong Outfit and co-wrote a play Reality Chokes both about punk and since 2010 played in The Clones a punk covers band.
Laurence formed The Psychotropes after Four Minds Crack split who were a very experimental outfit with lots of sampling and unique sounds and brilliant lyrics and they released a long catalogue of songs, one of which Al had the honour of playing guitar on. Laurence continued to work in Basingstoke as a cinema projectionist and later a taxi driver.
Dave joined the UK Subs soon after the band split and appeared in many other bands, including the Angelic Upstarts, Bazooka Joe and an offshoot of The Sex Gang Children. He even teamed up with Al again in Caroline Alexander’s rock outfit to tour and record. Throughout this time and later on Dave worked as a builder/carpenter.
How would you like TMW/FMC to be remembered in the grand scheme of things? what do you think you contributed to the local (and wider?) punk scene that was uniquely yours?
To be remembered in whatever shape or form however small is a positive thing. We were young and impressionable and just wanted to get up on stage and have a go, like our predecessors. We always felt that we had been born just at the right time and punk rock was definitely the coolest motor to transport us from A to Z. We didn’t follow the punk stereotype, all mohicans and studded leather jackets, so in that respect we were unique and our music was impressive considering we learnt it fast from scratch and we had no previous musical experience to speak of apart from feeble attempts at grade two piano and the bassoon at school.
To what extent are you still involved in the underground punk scene to this day, and how do you think it differs from the scene as it was back when TMW/FMC were plying their wares?
We all continue to listen to punk music, though our impressive record collections are no more, having been sadly moved on for small change back in the 90’s. We still go to the occasional gigs and up until recently continued in the underground scene as mentioned above. But music and being in a band is so different now to how it was back in the 80’s. Now there’s not many places to play and rehearsing/recording costs an arm and a leg and there’s no dosh to be made from gigging or even selling merchandise. Everything is now talentless, craving immediacy. Youth culture is non-existent among the technologically obsessed. There’s no more rites of passage - attending that liberating but potentially violent gig for example. And noone earns their spurs anymore playing crappy venues the length and breadth of the UK. Tribute bands predominate and original punk bands with their original members are dwindling as time goes by apart from the legend Charlie Harper of the Subs. He’s now an octogenarian. But it won’t be long before bands will be requiring someone who can knock out a beat on a zimmer frame. Though I suppose they at least can say they’re keeping the good old punk fires burning.
Three Minute Warning/Four Minds Crack
What drew you to punk in the first place? and what was the punk scene like in your area? can you remember the first punk gig you attended, and how it made you feel?
I suppose it started with all the notoriety at the end of ’76, with the Sex Pistols interview on the tea time Bill Grundy TV show and all the fallout from it with the ‘Filth and the Fury’ newspaper headlines and media meltdown. Punk singles started to hit the shops - even Woolworths - around the same time and punk bands with outrageous names and attitudes sprung up all over the UK, while the establishment tried to stop the live gigs and tours. For bored 14 year old school pupils from Basingstoke, a dreary satellite town in Hampshire, Punk looked exciting, rebellious and anti-establishment and a reaction to all the stale, bloated stadium rock that had gone before. Punk music was fast, short and aggressive, with great tunes, the musicians and bands looked unique and had cool and unusual names and sang about things youth could relate to. All the violence and angst that followed Punk just made it even more startling and dangerous and there was a lot of dark humour involved in it too. Early on, away from the Kings Road scene, the punk fashions were cheap and DIY, until the Jubilee celebrations of ’77 kicked in and it all became more uniformed. In Basingstoke the scene was very underground, as there weren’t many venues to play, apart from pubs, so it was slower to get going. As a result Punks would travel to nearby Reading or up to London for concerts.
Our first gig was The Clash at the Roxy Harlesden in ’78 when we were just fifteen. It was on the ‘Sort it Out’ tour and the single ‘Tommy Gun’ had only just been released. The rockabilly band Whirlwind (unfortunately not The Special AKA) were supporting and there were some threatening Teds hanging around as we made our way to the venue. On entering the seedy, ex-sex cinema with a mob, we were given free white ‘Tommy Gun’ t shirts with a photo of the band and it glowed when we entered the fast filling murky venue. The support band were largely booed with punks shouting ‘We want the Clash!’ The DJ music between the acts was fantastic; the Banshees’ ‘Hong Kong Garden’ was spun as it had just been released. The atmosphere was electric, everyone anticipating the mighty Clash’s entrance. The anthemic chords of ‘Complete Control’ broke out through the ear-splitting PA and the whole audience became a seething mass of bodies as the band entered the stage. Luckily, we managed to push ourselves down to the front through the pogoing very near to Joe Strummer and it was amazing to watch him up close. The energy and attitude of the band was incredible with Mick Jones throwing guitar shapes and Paul Simonon exuding cool. We even joined in with some gobbing when they played songs like ‘Garageland’ from their first album, which Strummer reacted with, ‘Stop fucking spitting!’ (He’d only recently recovered from hepatitis from spit in his mouth from an earlier gig). They played for well over an hour with no let-up in the tension and encored with ‘English Civil War’, ‘London’s Burning’ and finished with the classic ‘White Riot’. For us it was a life changing and unforgettable night.
Where, when and why did Three Minute Warning form? how did you all know each other before the band? and what prompted you to choose that band name? who were your main influences, both musically and lyrically?
Three Minute Warning was formed in Basingstoke around the spring of 1981, although there were only two members to begin with. Later on we added another mate from school after he was our band manager. We had wanted to get a punk band together straight after leaving school, being influenced by so many great bands we’d seen live and partly as our academic futures looked limited and a potential lifetime on the dole wasn’t encouraging either. So we settled on good old rock’n’roll as a potential way out. It took us about ten months of constant rehearsal on cheap Kay guitars to learn to play, once we’d decided who was going to sing and play guitar and bass and how we were going to write the songs.
After a lot of deliberation we chose the band name Three Minute Warning as Basingstoke was situated near both Greenham Common (infamous for the US Cruise missiles stationed there) and Aldermaston (Atomic Weapons Research Establishment) and they were both a top target for a Russian nuclear ballistic missile strike. Living in sunny Basingstoke you had approximately a three minute warning before the missiles hit and so the name stuck.
We had many musical influences: The Sex Pistols, The Clash, Sham 69, The Ruts, The Stranglers, ATV, 999, Crass, Zounds, UK Subs, The Damned, The Skids, X-Ray Spex, Buzzcocks, Stiff Little Fingers, Gang of Four, Crisis, The Jam, Dead Kennedys and Ian Dury. Lyrically we were heavily influenced by Malcolm Owen, Jimmy Pursey, Paul Weller, Jake Burns, Joe Strummer, Jello Biafra, Crass and Ian Dury.
Who was in the band, and who played what (ideally full names & nicknames, but just nicknames will do as well!)? what bands were you in previously? what were the major line-up changes you underwent (if any), and why?
‘Meanaxe’ Al Gregg (Guitar, Lead Vocals)
Laurence ‘Plug’ Harris (Bass, Vocals)
Dave Wilkinson (Drums, vocals and early band manager)
(No previous experience was at all evident)
The major line-up changes in the band revolved around the problem with drummers. In the early eighties they were a rare commodity in Basingstoke. We went through ‘Danny’ a mate who was a neighbour who was too nervous to play: ‘Mike Stand’ another school mate who couldn’t play but really looked the part: Roy Dodds (later of Fairground Attraction) who was a brilliant drummer who played on a live demo, but couldn’t join because of ‘other commitments’: Rab Fae Beith (The Wall/UK Subs) the formidable tattooed Scotsman was due to play our first gig, after Dave our school mate manager had reportedly rung up Charlie Watts, Mark Laff and Rab to see if they were available. But despite the ever present percussion issue Three Minute Warning carried on, full to the brim with punk spirit.
Can you remember where your first gig was - when, where, and who with? and how was it?
Our first gig was in early 1982 on a big Right to Work march in London. This meant that we would arrive off the back of a lorry. Rab Fae Beith had kindly agreed to drum for us, as previously mentioned, so we rehearsed our set furiously with him before the gig. Our songs were now sounding brilliant backed by Rab’s titanic jungle drumming. However, when we arrived at the march, the organisers informed us that the lorry’s generator had blown up so we wouldn’t be able to play, but we’d still get paid. Ironically the most money we ever made from a gig. We then went to a greasy spoon and Rab regaled us with his various exploits in The Wall, and soon after he agreed to become our manager, so Dave could now become our drummer full time.
So our first real gig was at the Moonlight/Starlight Club again in London. We supported another Basingstoke band Terminal Jive and as a result we had a couple of coachloads from the town which meant there was a really good turn-out. We were nervous as Dave hadn’t been playing drums for long, but he played a blinder and our punk set went down well and we started to get a following.
In fact, what were your best - and worst - gigs? (and why, of course!)
The best gig we ever played was at the 100 Club supporting The Straps. Rab had arranged the gig and we were more than chuffed to be appearing at such an iconic punk venue: The legendary bands and punk rock stars who had played there before just rolled off the tongue. Again we had another coachload from Basingstoke which included Liz Hurley who was a local punkette at the time. Quite a few of whom managed even to pogo to some of our songs. Unfortunately for Liz though, her then boyfriend, a mohican called ‘Si’, was our roadie for the gig, and as our drummer Dave, sporting a Sweet T shirt, had forgotten his drum clips, Si spent most of the set crouching down in front of the bass drum to stop it from falling off the stage. In spite of this we again went down well and there was a really good turn-out as The Straps had a large South London following. We even lent our guitar amp to their guitarist as his had burnt out just before they went on. Playing the 100 Club was a highlight and a real buzz and we even found out that the venue enjoyed our set and wanted to book us again.
Our worst gig was when we headlined at the town hall in Newbury. Just beforehand we had supported The Wall at the Blue Coat Boy ‘Skunx’ in Islington and noticed on their gig listings that there was a band called Four Minute Warning and they looked to already have had a vinyl release out. This sent panic through the ranks and made us look immediately into changing the name of the band. Again deliberations were made long into the night but seemed unproductive until we reached the Newbury venue for the gig and saw on the flyer that we were now called The Walking Dead. A band fall-out quickly ensued; our drummer Dave had temporarily resumed his managerial authority without telling us. The name came from a dodgy Zombie film of the time. The upshot was that noone local and from Basingstoke turned up to the gig as they didn’t know who we were. In fact the support band Pink played to more people than us who left straight afterwards so we were left to perform to the sound engineer and one man and his dog.
Did you record many demos? where & when did you record them, and who with? and how do you regard those recordings now, with the benefit of many years of hindsight? did any of the songs see an official release anywhere?
The first demo was recorded early on when we were struggling to find a drummer and we did a live session of seven songs with the talented Roy Dodds at the Albert Haul studios in 1981. Amazingly, Roy managed to drum them straight off without any rehearsal and the session became known as the band’s ‘Dodgy Demo’.
The second demo was recorded at Matinee Studios in Reading in ’82, with Dave Parsons of Sham 69 producing. Our drummer Dave knew him from going to gigs and he kindly contributed some quality guitar and backing vocals to two of our songs - ‘No Rules’ and ‘Night Shift Blues’. We were really pleased with the outcome as Parsons had done a fine job and it was much better quality than our earlier live one. It was also great recording with one of our punk heroes who we’d all seen play live at the terrifying ‘Sham’s Last Stand’ at the Rainbow in the summer of ‘79. Basically a Nazi Skinhead riot fest.
The third demo ‘Nervous Breakdown’ was recorded at a studio in Basingstoke with Rab Fae Beith producing. We did four songs ‘Fallout’, ‘Protest and Survive’, ‘Member of Parliament’ and ‘Nowhere to Go’. We sounded more punk on this demo but perhaps the quality wasn’t as good as the second. But Rab was his irrepressible self and contributed a Marshall stack, Gibson Flying V and a thick Scottish accent to the backing vocals.
The last demo was recorded back at Matinee Studios again which we self-produced in ’83. We did three songs; ‘In the Night’, ‘Suffer in Silence’ and ‘No Reply’. This was probably the best demo of the lot as the quality was really good, the song writing had developed considerably and our musicianship had improved immeasurably. As a result it stands the test of time well too.
The closest we got to any official releases were having one of our songs included on a Cherry Red compilation that unfortunately fell through and an offer of an EP in New Zealand of all places. Sadly we couldn’t take up the offer as we couldn’t scrape together the airfare.
When & why did you change the name to Four Minds Crack? was there a change in style or approach at the same time?
We changed our name to Four Minds Crack after the fallout from The Walking Dead debacle. As we all liked ATV, their song lyrics on the single ‘Action Time Vision’ seemed fitting and struck a chord. It didn’t really matter that there were only three of us in the band. There wasn’t really a change in style with the new name as we played all our old songs, except for ‘I’m so Stiff’ which was an early comical warm up riff, so we were always trying to progress as musicians. We also recorded the last demo under the new moniker.
Did you have any concept of yourself back then as a ‘DIY’ band? and how important to the spirit of punk is the DIY approach? what other messages was it important to you as a band to impart?
We were constantly aware of the DIY ethic throughout the bands history. Punk was a DIY movement at its foundation. We were just passed on the do it yourself baton so to speak. We learnt to play by listening to records ourselves and going to gigs and everything, including promoting the band, was all self-taught. We had a healthy optimism and had a laugh so the beer glass was more often than not half full. We never took ourselves too seriously even when imparting some serious issues about nuclear war, Margaret Thatcher or fascism. More importantly we stayed largely true to ourselves and didn’t get starry eyed and crawl up our own proverbial.
When and why did FMC split up? where, when & with whom was your last gig?
We didn’t so much split as fade away. Gigs that we had lined up we started to not appear at, sometimes down to illness, sometimes down to apathy. Things were becoming stagnant and writers block ensued. We were due to support the Subhumans in Andover but for some reason we bottled out. A shame as their crowd was right up our street. Absence was becoming a habit and Punk around 82/83 was dying a death and many bands were splitting up. Some mates had long since cashed in their bondage trousers for a fitting outfit to a Spandau Ballet concert. Gary Numanitis had grown to such an extent that any visit to a music shop to buy some strings would end up trying to avoid all the synthesisers and techno drum machines. Guitar based rebellion rock was on its last legs and I suppose with it we started to go our separate ways. Full time work and earning some dosh started to interfere with our hectic rehearsal schedule and so regrettably we began to join the rat race.
Our last gig was one of our best at the 5-1-0 Centre along the Harrow Road in London. We headlined a CND gig which was a sell out playing all the songs from our set. Laurence on bass really nailed it, sounding like Norman Watt-Roy
of the Blockheads. The PA was thumping and we received a rapturous response, climaxing with a couple of encores.
What did the various band members go on to do after FMC, both musically and otherwise?
Al joined The Wall and after punk trained professionally as an actor and writer. He continued with his music throughout, touring/recording for heavy rock singer Caroline Alexander (produced by ‘Ace’ of Skunk Anansie). He also reformed with The Wall on UK tours and at the Rebellion Festivals in 2007 and 2016/17. He wrote a novel The Wrong Outfit and co-wrote a play Reality Chokes both about punk and since 2010 played in The Clones a punk covers band.
Laurence formed The Psychotropes after Four Minds Crack split who were a very experimental outfit with lots of sampling and unique sounds and brilliant lyrics and they released a long catalogue of songs, one of which Al had the honour of playing guitar on. Laurence continued to work in Basingstoke as a cinema projectionist and later a taxi driver.
Dave joined the UK Subs soon after the band split and appeared in many other bands, including the Angelic Upstarts, Bazooka Joe and an offshoot of The Sex Gang Children. He even teamed up with Al again in Caroline Alexander’s rock outfit to tour and record. Throughout this time and later on Dave worked as a builder/carpenter.
How would you like TMW/FMC to be remembered in the grand scheme of things? what do you think you contributed to the local (and wider?) punk scene that was uniquely yours?
To be remembered in whatever shape or form however small is a positive thing. We were young and impressionable and just wanted to get up on stage and have a go, like our predecessors. We always felt that we had been born just at the right time and punk rock was definitely the coolest motor to transport us from A to Z. We didn’t follow the punk stereotype, all mohicans and studded leather jackets, so in that respect we were unique and our music was impressive considering we learnt it fast from scratch and we had no previous musical experience to speak of apart from feeble attempts at grade two piano and the bassoon at school.
To what extent are you still involved in the underground punk scene to this day, and how do you think it differs from the scene as it was back when TMW/FMC were plying their wares?
We all continue to listen to punk music, though our impressive record collections are no more, having been sadly moved on for small change back in the 90’s. We still go to the occasional gigs and up until recently continued in the underground scene as mentioned above. But music and being in a band is so different now to how it was back in the 80’s. Now there’s not many places to play and rehearsing/recording costs an arm and a leg and there’s no dosh to be made from gigging or even selling merchandise. Everything is now talentless, craving immediacy. Youth culture is non-existent among the technologically obsessed. There’s no more rites of passage - attending that liberating but potentially violent gig for example. And noone earns their spurs anymore playing crappy venues the length and breadth of the UK. Tribute bands predominate and original punk bands with their original members are dwindling as time goes by apart from the legend Charlie Harper of the Subs. He’s now an octogenarian. But it won’t be long before bands will be requiring someone who can knock out a beat on a zimmer frame. Though I suppose they at least can say they’re keeping the good old punk fires burning.