The band came together in the summer of '76, initially Pete Stride on guitar, Pete Haynes on drums, Pete Edwards on vocals and Nigel Moore on bass. With so many 'Petes' something had to give, so Pete Haynes became Manic Esso, Pete Edwards became Plug and, after Howard Wall joined on vocals, he was instated as the roadie. However, Nigel left in May '77 to join another band so another 'Pete', Peter Arthur 'Arturo Bassick' Billingsly was recruited. It was with this line-up that the band really started to play the club and pub circuit and build a following. The original inspirations for the band was a cross between New York punk pioneers like the Ramones and Heartbreakers with the english rock elements of The Faces and Rolling Stones. In the aftermath of the punk explosion of 1976 there were dozens of new, young bands feeding off the energy and finding gigs in bars with a like minded audience. The music was ramshackle, but the nights were great fun and the beer intake was guaranteed to be high. So on 19 August 1977 The Lurkers earned a small place in record history when their single 'Shadow' was the very first release on the Beggars Banquet label. in those heady days, when demand for punk releases exceeded the supply, the single sold over 10,000 copies, more than enough to justify a follow-up. 'Freak Show' was a much more professional recording using the production team of the late Ed Hollis and Steve Lillywhite and was released on 5 November, again to very healthy sales. However, the times were changing rapidly. Even the second bloom of punk was now over and the increasing media focus diffused the ideals and drive of the original scene, broadening it to encompass any young band (and several dodgy older ones!) under the banner of 'New Wave'. The Lurkers continued to build up a live following, with the customary enthusiastic moshing down the front, but a new element of violence was creeping into the audience. While their early shows had been boisterous and good natured, as the year progressed punk shows began to attract a skinhead following of hardcore soccer fans, many with affiliations to the racist 'British Movement'. By the time the band released their next single, 'Just Thirteen', they were playing to crowds of up to 1500, and what should have been a prestigious and celebratory show headlining at London's Lyceum Ballroom turned sour after a series of fights broke out. To try and expand the audience beyond the confines of punk, the band flew to Muscle Shoals, USA in March to record their second album with producer Phillip Jarrell whose previous experience had been with 'Motown' acts. Unfortunately the liaison was fraught with personality clashes and not helped by the Lurkers, who did like a pint, discovering that Alabama was a dry state! Frequent 3 hour drives across the state line to replenish supplies were required to solve that particular problem. Again a single, 'Out In The Dark', presaged the release on the album, 'God's Lonely Men'. Far less frenetic than its predecessor, the album leant towards more traditional, hard rocking and highlighted Pete Stride's maturing songwriting. Following their 'Killer' UK tour the group were becoming disenchanted with the musical limitations of their live sound, so decided to add a second guitarist, harmony vocalist and drinking partner, 'Honest' John Plain who had been playing with The Boys. They recorded demos of some new songs and another single, 'New Guitar In Town', promoting the release with a return to the clubs, performing four shows at the Marquee. But at the end of the decade the scene had completely changed from three years earlier. Promoters were wary of booking The Lurkers because of the inevitable violence in the audience, punk had fragmented into the hardcore 'Oi' and more politicised factions, the spirit of '76 was long dead and the band had become an anachronism. Without a positive future, and heavily in debt to the record company, There is a postscript from this time. Pete Stride and John Plain formed a side project, The New Guitars, who recorded an album using a loose collaboration of musicians including drummer Jack Black (ex-Boys), Mick Talbot (ex- Merton Parkas and future Style Council) on keyboards, bassist Tony Bateman and Peter 'Plug' Edwards on vocals alongside guest appearances by Howard Wall. With a good-time, well lubricated, rockin' feel, it's the best indication of what the 'lost', last Lurkers album could have been. GREATEST HIT has been remastered and repackaged for it's debut North American release. The two original albums, FULHAM FALLOUT and GOD'S LONELY MEN are available in the UK, with a very generous helping of bonus tracks, on the Captain Oi! label
Greatest Hit? Well it was supposed to be a humourous title. And the 'Last Will and Testament' wasn't too accurate either, since The Lurkers are still around in one configuration or another, and have released more albums since they first disbanded in 1980 than they did in their glory days with Beggars Banquet. But legitimate hits or not, this CD has some of The Lurkers' best recordings, neatly summing up their first four years and the chaotic, transitional and inspirational times they were made in.
With the corporate record companies mostly ignoring this street music, it was left to small 'independent' labels to respond to the demand, selling the 7" records around the country through a network of receptive stores. The Lurkers had been rehearsing in the basement of one of these stores, Beggars Banquet, who had also been involved in concert promotion and were well aware of the groundswell of interest in the music. Initially Beggars tried to get the band a recording deal but, meeting a wall of disinterest, opted for the logical option of releasing a record themselves and distributing it through the independent underground.
GREATEST HIT - Last Will and Testament
- Love Story
The Lurkers also underwent further personnel changes when Arturo left to form the band Pinpoint. Initially ex-Saint Kym Bradshaw was recruited on bass, but he never gelled in the band and soon departed to be replaced by the return of Nigel Moore. Stabilised once more, they started recording their debut album. The single 'Ain't Got A Clue' was released in May '78 and actually reached number 45 in the UK charts! In the following month came the album, 'Fulham Fallout', 14 tracks of swaggering energy lavishly wrapped in the first punk gatefold sleeve. A further single, 'I Don't Need To Tell Her', was taken from the album and again scraped into the top 50.
The Lurkers lost direction and drifted apart. Various members have reformed versions of the band ever since, to both tour and record, but this CD is the legacy of the original group, the real Last Will and Testament.