Vice Squad
Encyclopedia
Vice Squad is a punk band formed in 1978 in Bristol, England. The band formed from two other local punk bands, The Contingent and TV Brakes. Songwriter
and vocalist Beki Bondage
(born Rebecca Louise Bond) was a founding member and is currently with the band, although there was a period of time when the band had a different vocalist. She is often cited as being the first punk pin-up featured on the front cover of a number of influential music tabloids such as Melody Maker
, NME
, and Smash Hits
.
. Members of the band were involved in setting up the Riot City
label with Simon Edwards, the label becoming one of the major punk labels of the era. The band took some time to make further impact, only playing six gigs in 1980, but 1981's debut single "Last Rockers" was well-received, selling over 20,000 copies and spending almost forty weeks in the UK Indie Chart
, reaching number 7. The follow-up, "Resurrection", reached number 4, and the band undertook a tour supporting UK Subs
. The singles received airplay and support from BBC Radio 1
DJ
John Peel
, and they would go on to record two sessions for his show, in 1981 and 1982.
In 1981 the band signed with major label EMI
(their Zonophone subsidiary), prompting criticism from many within the DIY punk scene. Their debut album, No Cause For Concern, was released in late 1981, reaching number 32 in the UK Album Chart. A second album followed in 1982, and the band embarked on a tour of the United States
and Canada
. On returning from the US, Bondage announced that she was leaving the band. She went on to front Ligotage and later Beki and the Bombshells, and without her, Vice Squad were dropped by EMI. The band carried on, however, replacing Bondage with a new singer called Lia (who was previously known as Jools and had been the singer for local band Affairs of the Heart). The new line-up, also including the band's manager Mark "Sooty" Byrne on second guitar, signed with Anagram Records, and recorded a session for David Jensen
's BBC radio show. Indie hits continued with singles such as "Black Sheep" and "You'll Never Know", but sales began to dwindle, and the band split up in 1985. Dave Bateman died in 2007.
and Napster
. The gritty punk style was eventually realized in 2009 when Vice Squad released the "London Underground" album which was co-produced by Bond and Rooney. Released on their own "Last Rockers Label" London Underground has received rave reviews on website "Studs And Punks" and songs such as "Punx United", "Old Skool" and "Sniffing Glue" form a major part of the bands live show.
2009 also saw Vice Squad's return to America on an 18 date tour of the western states promoting London Underground with American drummer Nick Manning and support from The Lower Class Brats
Track Listing:
A Side: Resurrection / We're Still Dying / Coward / Young Blood.
B Side: The Times They Are A Changing / 1981 / Change The Record / Saturday Night Special / Sell Out.
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
and vocalist Beki Bondage
Beki Bondage
Beki Bondage is a musician in the punk band, Vice Squad and was one of its founder members in 1978.She featured on the front cover of a number of influential music tabloids such as Melody Maker, NME, Smash Hits and Sounds.In 1983, she left Vice Squad to form the band Ligotage with Steve Roberts of...
(born Rebecca Louise Bond) was a founding member and is currently with the band, although there was a period of time when the band had a different vocalist. She is often cited as being the first punk pin-up featured on the front cover of a number of influential music tabloids such as Melody Maker
Melody Maker
Melody Maker, published in the United Kingdom, was, according to its publisher IPC Media, the world's oldest weekly music newspaper. It was founded in 1926 as a magazine targeted at musicians; in 2000 it was merged into "long-standing rival" New Musical Express.-1950s–1960s:Originally the Melody...
, NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
, and Smash Hits
Smash Hits
Smash Hits was a pop music based magazine, aimed at teenagers and young adults and originally published in the United Kingdom by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006 and was issued fortnightly for most of that time...
.
Original band
Vice Squad formed in 1978 with an initial line-up of Beki Bondage (vocals), Dave Bateman (guitar), Mark Hambly (bass), and Shane Baldwin (drums), and played their first gig at Bristol University's Anson Rooms on 12 April 1979. Bateman and Baldwin had previously been members of the TV Brakes. The first release by the band was the track "Nothing", which was included on the 1979 compilation Avon CallingAvon Calling
Avon Calling is an album of tracks featuring bands from Bristol, UK, on local record label Heartbeat Records, and was originally released in 1979...
. Members of the band were involved in setting up the Riot City
Riot City Records
Riot City was a British record label based in Bristol, active between 1980 and 1988, and run by Heartbeat Records boss Simon Edwards along with Dave Bateman and Shane Baldwin from the band Vice Squad...
label with Simon Edwards, the label becoming one of the major punk labels of the era. The band took some time to make further impact, only playing six gigs in 1980, but 1981's debut single "Last Rockers" was well-received, selling over 20,000 copies and spending almost forty weeks in the UK Indie Chart
UK Indie Chart
The UK Independent Chart or Indie Chart is a chart of the best-selling independent record releases in the UK.- History :In the wake of punk, small record labels began to spring up, as an outlet for artists that were unwilling to sign contracts with major record companies, or were not considered...
, reaching number 7. The follow-up, "Resurrection", reached number 4, and the band undertook a tour supporting UK Subs
UK Subs
The U.K. Subs are an English punk rock band, among the earliest in the first wave of British punk. Formed in 1976, the mainstay of the band has been vocalist Charlie Harper, originally a singer in Britain's R&B scene. They were also one of the first street punk bands.-Career:The U.K...
. The singles received airplay and support from BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
DJ
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
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...
, and they would go on to record two sessions for his show, in 1981 and 1982.
In 1981 the band signed with major label EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
(their Zonophone subsidiary), prompting criticism from many within the DIY punk scene. Their debut album, No Cause For Concern, was released in late 1981, reaching number 32 in the UK Album Chart. A second album followed in 1982, and the band embarked on a tour of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. On returning from the US, Bondage announced that she was leaving the band. She went on to front Ligotage and later Beki and the Bombshells, and without her, Vice Squad were dropped by EMI. The band carried on, however, replacing Bondage with a new singer called Lia (who was previously known as Jools and had been the singer for local band Affairs of the Heart). The new line-up, also including the band's manager Mark "Sooty" Byrne on second guitar, signed with Anagram Records, and recorded a session for David Jensen
David Jensen
David "Kid" Jensen , is a Danish Canadian-born, British radio DJ.-Early career:Born in a Danish family residing Victoria, British Columbia, Jensen began his career in his home country at the age of sixteen playing jazz and classical music. He then joined Radio Luxembourg at the age of eighteen in...
's BBC radio show. Indie hits continued with singles such as "Black Sheep" and "You'll Never Know", but sales began to dwindle, and the band split up in 1985. Dave Bateman died in 2007.
New band
Bondage formed a new version of Vice Squad in 1997, along with former members of The Bombshells, after being persuaded to perform the old material at the Holidays In The Sun festival. The line-up was initially Bondage on vocals, Paul Rooney (guitar), 'Stilton' (bass), and 'Pumpy' (drums). The rhythm section was replaced by Michael Giaquinto (bass) and Tony Piper (drums) in late 1999/early 2000. This new line-up has recorded several albums and they continue to tour Europe and the United States. In 2006, they released the album Defiant, produced by guitarist Rooney.New Album
2008 was spent recording the album, "Fairground For The Demented" which was shelved as the band decided the finished collection of songs did not represent the 'Old School' punk sound that the band wanted to achieve. This collection of songs is currently released in digital form with retailers such as iTunesITunes
iTunes is a media player computer program, used for playing, downloading, and organizing digital music and video files on desktop computers. It can also manage contents on iPod, iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad....
and Napster
Napster
Napster is an online music store and a Best Buy company. It was originally founded as a pioneering peer-to-peer file sharing Internet service that emphasized sharing audio files that were typically digitally encoded music as MP3 format files...
. The gritty punk style was eventually realized in 2009 when Vice Squad released the "London Underground" album which was co-produced by Bond and Rooney. Released on their own "Last Rockers Label" London Underground has received rave reviews on website "Studs And Punks" and songs such as "Punx United", "Old Skool" and "Sniffing Glue" form a major part of the bands live show.
2009 also saw Vice Squad's return to America on an 18 date tour of the western states promoting London Underground with American drummer Nick Manning and support from The Lower Class Brats
Singles
- "Last Rockers" (1980) Riot CityRiot City RecordsRiot City was a British record label based in Bristol, active between 1980 and 1988, and run by Heartbeat Records boss Simon Edwards along with Dave Bateman and Shane Baldwin from the band Vice Squad...
(UK Indie #7) - "Resurrection" (1981) Riot City (UK Indie #4)
- Special Edition Tour EP (1982) Riot City (UK Indie #21)
- "Out of Reach" (1982) EMIEMIThe EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
/ZonophoneZonophoneZonophone, early on also rendered as Zon-O-Phone was a record label founded in 1899 in Camden, New Jersey by Frank Seaman. The Zonophone name was not that of the company, but was applied to the records and machines sold by Seaman from 1899-1900 to 1903...
(UK #68) - Stand Strong (1982) EMI/Zonophone
- State of the Nation (1982) Riot City
- "Black Sheep" (1983) Anagram (UK Indie #13)
- "You'll Never Know" (1984) Anagram
- "Teenage Rampage" (1985) Anagram (UK Indie #44)
- Lavender Hill Mob (2000) Combat Rock
- Santa Claws Is Coming to Town (2009) Last Rockers
- "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" (2010) Last Rockers
- "London Lowlife" EP (2011) Last Rockers - limited edition 4 track CD single (tracks: Drama Queen / Plain Jane / Jimmy Jaguar / Dead Doll)
Studio albums
- No Cause for ConcernNo Cause for ConcernNo Cause for Concern is the first studio album by Vice Squad. It was originally released in 1981 by Zonophone, a division of EMI. Although it wasn't released by Riot City Records the band decided to use the Riot City name as it was a label they founded...
(1981) ZonophoneZonophoneZonophone, early on also rendered as Zon-O-Phone was a record label founded in 1899 in Camden, New Jersey by Frank Seaman. The Zonophone name was not that of the company, but was applied to the records and machines sold by Seaman from 1899-1900 to 1903...
(UK #32) - Stand Strong Stand ProudStand Strong Stand ProudStand Strong Stand Proud is the second studio album by Vice Squad. It is the final album to feature the band's original lineup. It was originally released in 1982 by Zonophone, a division of EMI. Although it wasn't released by Riot City Records the band decided to use the Riot City name as it was a...
(1982) Zonophone (UK #47) - Shot AwayShot AwayShot Away is an album by English punk band, Vice Squad. It was released in 1984 by Anagram Records and was re-released by Anagram on CD with bonus tracks in 1994...
(1985) Anagram - Get a LifeGet a Life (Vice Squad album)Get a Life is an album by British punk band Vice Squad. It was released in 1999 by High Speed Records.-Track listing:# Get a Life# You Can't Buy Back the Dead# Princess Parandia# The Great Fire of London# Westend Stars# Maid to Measure# Allergy...
(1999) Rhythm Vicar - ResurrectionResurrection (Vice Squad album)Resurrection is an album by British punk band Vice Squad, released in 1999. It features both new and previously recorded material since Vice Squad reformed in 1998.-Track listing:# "Out of Reach" - 1:56...
(1999) Rhythm Vicar - Lo-Fi Life (2000) Sudden Death
- Rich and Famous (2003) EMI
- Defiant (2006) SOSSOS RecordsSOS Records is a California-based punk-rock record label.- Bands :*4 Past Midnight*Abrasive Wheels*The Adicts*The Agitators*Bad Manners*Bang Sugar Bang*Blitz*Broken Bones*Conflict*DBD*The Diffs*Drongos for Europe*Exploited*Final Conflict...
- Unreleased 2008 (2009) Last Rockers
- London Underground (2009) Last Rockers
Live albums
- Live in Sheffield (1981) Chaos Tapes Cat: Live003 - cassette only release - limited edition of 3000
Track Listing:
A Side: Resurrection / We're Still Dying / Coward / Young Blood.
B Side: The Times They Are A Changing / 1981 / Change The Record / Saturday Night Special / Sell Out.
- Live and Loud!! (1988) Link
Compilation albums
- Last Rockers - The Singles (1992) Abstract
- The Punk Singles Collection (1995) Anagram
- The BBC Sessions (1997) Anagram
- The Rarities (1999) Captain Oi!Captain Oi! RecordsCaptain Oi! is a punk rock and Oi! record label based in High Wycombe, England. The company has released over 300 albums by many notable punk and Oi! bands of the late 1970s and 1980s. The label was set up by Mark Brennan, former bassist of The Business, who had previously co-run Link Records and...
- The Very Best Of (2000) Anagram
- Bang to Rights: The Essential Vice Squad Collection (2001) EMI
- The Riot City Years (2004) Step-1
- Fuck Authority (2007) Anarchy
External links
- Official Site
- [ Allmusic.com entry]
- Punk77 - Interviews, history and media
- http://www.discogs.com/Vice-Squad-Live-in-Sheffield-1981/release/1872420