prag VEC were a post-punk

Post-punk

Post-punk is a rock music movement with its roots in the late 1970s, following on the heels of the initial punk rock explosion of the mid-1970s. The genre retains its roots in the punk movement but is more introverted, complex and experimental...

 band from London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, probably most famous for the song "Cigarettes" on their debut EP: We can sit about, talk about the kinds of fags we smoke and for the reference to them in the Half Man Half Biscuit

Half Man Half Biscuit

Half Man Half Biscuit, often "HMHB", are an English rock band from Birkenhead, Merseyside, active since the mid-1980s, known for satirical, sardonic, and sometimes surreal songs. The group comprises Nigel Blackwell , Neil Crossley , Ken Hancock , and Carl Henry...

 song "prag VEC at the Melkweg

Melkweg

The Melkweg is a popular music venue and cultural center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. It is located on the Lijnbaansgracht, near the Leidseplein, a prime nightlife center of Amsterdam. It is housed in a former warehouse and is divided into a number of spaces of varying sizes...

".

The band was formed in 1978 by ex-Derelicts

The Derelicts

The Derelicts were a London-based "Trotskyist R&B band" active from 1974–1976, well known on the London pub rock/squat rock circuit, consisting of Barbara Gogan, Richard Williams, Susan Gogan, and John Studholme, amongst others...

 members Susan Gogan and John Studholme, along with David Boyd and Nicholas Cash. They released two singles and an album on their own Spec Records and played concerts during 1978 and 1979 with Cabaret Voltaire

Cabaret Voltaire (band)

Cabaret Voltaire were a British music group from Sheffield, England.Initially composed of Stephen Mallinder, Richard H. Kirk and Chris Watson, the group was named after the Cabaret Voltaire, a nightclub in Zürich, Switzerland that was a centre for the early Dada movement.Their earliest performances...

, Scritti Politti

Scritti Politti

Scritti Politti are a British band, originally formed in 1977 in Leeds, Yorkshire, England. Although there have been various changes to the line-up, Cardiff-born singer-songwriter Green Gartside was the founding member of the band and the only member to have remained throughout the group's...

 among others.

During their short existence, they also recorded a total of 3 sessions for the John Peel

John Peel

John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...

 programme. The last of these showed them moving away from the guitar-based sound of the first EP towards use of EDP Wasp synthesizers. It featured strong new songs, especially Rural Erotic and Third Person. Unfortunately these received more desultory readings on the No Cowboys LP, a strangely-presented record in a polythene bag. This record purported to be a compilation by various bands.

The band split in 1981, with Cash joining Fad Gadget

Fad Gadget

Fad Gadget is the stage name of Francis John Tovey , a British avant-garde electronic musician and vocalist. He was a proponent of both New Wave and early Industrial music....

. Jim Thirlwell

J. G. Thirlwell

James George Thirlwell , aka Clint Ruin, aka Frank Want, aka Foetus, is an Australian vocalist, composer and record producer...

, who had contributed synth-noise to their album, went on to form Foetus

Foetus (band)

Foetus is the primary musical outlet of industrial music pioneer J. G. Thirlwell. Until 1995 the band underwent various name changes, all including the word foetus. Monikers adopted at different times include Foetus Under Glass, You've Got Foetus On Your Breath and Scraping Foetus Off The Wheel...

.. He played the Wasp, a battery-powered portable synthesizer with a built-in speaker.

John Studholme died in November 2005, after a long illness. Along with Gogan, Studholme had co-written many of the band's songs. Around the time of his death, he, Gogan and drummer Nick Cash had been working with Mute Records UK to put together a compilation / reissue of Prag Vec material, which has been long out of print.

Line up

• Susan Gogan - vocals, plus synthesizer on LP
• John Studholme - guitar, plus synthesizer on LP
• David Boyd - bass
• Nick Cash - drums

plus

• John Glyn - tenor sax on LP
• Art Moran - alto sax on LP
• Jim Thirlwell
  J. G. Thirlwell
  James George Thirlwell , aka Clint Ruin, aka Frank Want, aka Foetus, is an Australian vocalist, composer and record producer...
  
  - synthesizer and vocals on LP

Discography

• Wolf (1978 EP, UK, Spec Records, SP001)
• Expert (1979 single, UK, Spec Records, SP002)
• pragVEC (1979 LP, France, Celluloid, 1040)
• Spec Records Presents No Cowboys (1980 LP, UK, Spec Records, reSPECt 1)