1977 – And All That

These recordings were originally meant to be for reference only with the expectation that ‘proper’ recordings would be made in due course. No multitrack tapes were kept and the only copy retained was a mono ‘on the spot’ ‘dry’ mix of the group as they performed live in the studio. These have now been revisited and digital technology used to separate some of the parts to create more of a stereo presentation. At the same time some additional vocal and instrumentation has been added, rhythm glitches corrected plus some augmentation from alternative versions added. This has been done by imagining that the group had spent another day in the studio using instrumentation available at the time in order to maintain their integrity as being 1977 punky recordings. This compilation comprises the songs written by Jimmy McKenna or as collaborations with Peter Scott. Peter Scott songs are not included because at present Peter does not wish for these to be made available.

DisGuise and their Road Crew – L-R  Alan Scully, Dave Emerson, Kevin Fletcher, Kevin Reay, Jimmy McKenna, Ian Pattison, Peter Scott

How it happened:

In May 1977 Jimmy and Peter perform a pub gig in Hartlepool borrowing drummer Crash Crallan from rival group White Spirit. Jimmy takes cassette of the gig into Rock On Records in London and plays it to Chiswick Record’s Ted Carroll. He offers to pay for a demo recording as soon as they can find a regular drummer.

‘Drummer wanted, must we willing to Die!’ is rejected as an advert by the Hartlepool Mail before they run with ‘Drummer wanted to ride the crest of the New Wave’ though this elicits responses from drummers thinking that they are auditioning to play on a cruise liner.

August 1977 – Alan Scully is finally prised away from fellow Hartlepool group The Time Flies with promises of fame, fortune and the purchase of a new cymbal. After hectic rehearsals the group travel to London for a five hour recording session at Pathway Studios (Sunday 4^th September).

• J – We rattled off six songs and when the Engineer Baz came to mix them down he asked us if we wanted anything on them. Not knowing what he meant we said no thanks, all he was asking was whether we wanted a little reverb or echo adding but we didn’t realise.
• J – We had a terrible habit of shooting ourselves in the foot – We played Middlesbrough Town Hall with AC/DC (23rd October 1977) and afterwards were invited backstage for a bit of socialising, but declined because we wanted to get home in time for Match of the Day. Also during the AC/DC set I was in the wings of the stage when their roadie came over to ask if I had a safety pin. Of course I had one in the lapel of my jacket and he used it to effect a running (mid song) repair to Angus Young’s school shorts.

Chiswick like what they hear and offer DisGuise a recording contract!

December 1977 recording session overseen by Chiswick’s Roger Armstrong.

Roger is actually checking out this studio and he and his engineer are finding their way around the equipment. It had an enormous recording room previously used by orchestras and The Wombles! Roger asks DisGuise to perform ‘live in the studio’ versions of their entire repertoire for reference. This therefore included a lot of new and little played songs/parts of songs. As the group were rattling them out there was little attention paid to the odd bit of tuning or rhythmic errors, performing as though it was a live performance.

From this recording session the songs ‘Hey Baby’, ‘Juvenile Delinquent’ and ‘Boy in Our Street’ are completed. The reference recordings are put to one side on the assumption that proper recordings will be made in due course.

• Boy in Our Street – Peter came up with the main theme and the end bit and Jimmy filled in the gaps. In an alternative Universe this was their big song, their ‘My Generation’ type anthem.  This is a different version to the one included on the Chiswick Records Compilation ‘Good Clean Fun’ were it is mistakenly named ‘Boy On Our Street’. Jimmy has also revisited the song on his album ‘Tortured Art’.
• Mean Mean Boy – This is from the September 1977 session at Pathway Studios. It was one of two songs that Jimmy came with after first hearing and being excited by the energy and aggression of The Ramones (although the tunes he came up with sound nothing like them!, this being closer to Dr Feelgood). The misogynistic protagonist holds a common point of view to the time. Status Quo had previously done a song called ‘Mean Mean Girl’ and Nazareth had ‘Bad Bad Boy’ (which also had the line ‘and I’m gonna steal your love’).
• Film of the Book – The Adventures of Tom Sawyer was one of Jimmy’s favourite childhood books and this song was inspired from the misunderstood Tom attending his own funeral. This version was so new the lyrics were incomplete and only on hearing it back did Jimmy’s Hartlepool accent ring our clearly in his pronunciation of film as Fillum! Jimmy has subsequently recorded three other distinct versions of the song, one on the DisGuise ‘Nudist Guys’ album, and two versions on the ‘Tortured Art’ album
• Waiting – in which Jimmy anticipates a successful career in music and feels a little frustrated that it is taking a long time to get under way! In live performance DisGuise often would play ‘Film of the Book’ and ‘Waiting’ consecutively.
• I Was Nearly – almost punk jazz! – Jimmy started this as a chirpy little folk type song in 1974, Peter changed the key and added the aggression.
• Get Off – from a beer mat of the same name – Elvis Presley had died August 1977 and Marc Bolan in September and it was also the anniversary of the death of Jimi Hendrix. DisGuise had a gig in a local club and decided to play a Bolan song and a Hendrix song, completely forgetting about Elvis. Unfortunately the club was frequented by a lot of Teddy Boys who quickly took exception to the DisGuise performance. A common practice at Social Club gigs was for song requests to be written on a beer mat and handed to the artist during their performance. The one handed to Jimmy said ‘play Get Off by Nobody Likes You’. The song was written in the van going home.
• I Want to Fly – another of Jimmy’s ‘wouldn’t it be good if I was a pop star’ songs. Another version of this can be found on the DisGuise ‘Nudist Guys’ album.
• I Knew a Man – Jimmy and Peter quickly became competitive in their songwriting, one week Jimmy came up with this little punky rant and a week later Peter had a super pop song called ‘I Knew Girl’. Another version of this can be found on the DisGuise ‘Nudist Guys’ album.
• If I Bothered  – Jimmy’s love letter to, and search for, the prospective fan. At this time Punk and New Wave was taking off all around the UK, with the exception of Hartlepool.
• I Want You – Another in the series of Jimmy as the rejected lover, this time trying to be macho on the rebound type thing.
• You’re Too Loud/This is Small Town. (Peter Scott/Jimmy McKenna) – DisGuise returned from a gig late one night to the 19a Lothian Road flat to discover their friends having a jam session. Outside the door Jimmy found himself singing the ‘you’re too loud, it’s because you’re not quiet’ refrain. Peter had a related rant on the theme of small town blues and these two were spliced together. This quickly became the string snapping song (a frequent occurrence) in which Peter’s creative restringing and re tuning noises would be incorporated into the early parts of ‘You’re Too Loud’. Another version of this can be found on the DisGuise ‘Historic Daze’ album.
• Another Miserable Song – and in 3 minutes 36 seconds DisGuise credibility of Punkiness is destroyed – This is one of a series of heartbreak songs Jimmy had come up with following a romantic disappointment and hence its title. The wobbly singing is real emotion.

In January 78 DisGuise tried some home recordings with Kevin Reay in his attic in Milton Road Hartlepool

• Runaway – DisGuise always enjoyed rattling of versions of songs they loved, and this is one of them.

Throughout 1978 DisGuise write a lot of songs, play gigs and assume that fame and fortune is imminent.

Chiswick however had also signed The Damned who were already well established and were soon having hits with them which consumed most of Roger Armstrong’s time, to the detriment of DisGuise. Come the end 1978 the ‘Hey Baby’ single is finally released (Record of the week in Record Mirror) but Chiswick make the decision to end the contract with DisGuise.

May 1979 DisGuise recorded three songs at Impulse Studios in Wallsend – here are two of them:

• She’s Got It – an updated retelling of the theme of ‘The Girl Can’t Help It’. A version of this was attempted at the December 1977 session. This is the May 1979 version (with John Miller on drums).
• (I Could Have) Danced All Night – On 22^nd October 1977 Jimmy went to see  Scottish punky popsters The Rezillos at Middlesbrough Rock Garden and on returning home came up with this love letter to the group. He also inserted a little homage to the Lowe and Lerner classic from ‘My Fair Lady’. A version of this was attempted at the December 1977 session. This is the May 1979 version (with John Miller on drums). Another version of this can be found on the DisGuise ‘Nudist Guys’ album.