HOT NEWS: At last another bunch of DisGuise related recordings, Not Bloody Likely comprises DisGuise era songs performed by DisGuise type people, in the DisGuise type manner, in the post DisGuise era. The songs where mostly written between 1976 and 1984 though one was written in 1969!
Hartlepool’s one and only new wave punky pop group. In an alternative 1977 Universe DisGuise would have been arrested a couple of times, mouthed off to the press and TV before making a couple of outstanding albums and noisily falling apart. However Jimmy McKenna, Peter Scott and Alan Scully were far too polite and considerate of their fellow human beings. There were three distinct line-ups: DisGuise Jan 77 – Dec 78 – Peter Scott, Jimmy McKenna, Alan Scully
Released one single in 1978 ‘Hey Baby’/’Juvenile Delinquent’ on Chiswick records. ‘Hey Baby‘ can now be found on ‘The Chiswick Story’ CD box set. The song ‘Boy in Our Street’ is also featured on the ‘Good Clean Fun’ Chiswick CD compilation. Both songs can be accessed via Ace Records (on CD albums or as individual mp3 downloads). ‘Juvenile Delinquent’ is available on Gary Crowley’s Punk and New Wave boxed set.
DisGuise Jan – May 79 – Peter Scott, Jimmy McKenna, John Miller: Recorded, performed and called it a day……….well actually it wasn’t that straightforward. John Miller’s explosive drumming had been noted when Disguise shared a stage with John’s group White Heat so when Alan left enquiries were made, John agreed to join, and further gigs were performed. This line up did one recording session, from which three songs were captured.
DisGuise 82-85 – Peter Scott, Jimmy McKenna, Mike Dixon, Paul Lynagh: Recorded, performed and finally imploded……….as recording facilities came more within reach both Jimmy and Peter made several attempts at recording their songs. Ostensibly these were in a solo capacity however, in the case of Jimmy’s songs he invariably would invite Peter to add his wild and abandoned guitar to the recordings. In the case of former DisGuise era songs these are now available as the Historic Daze album. Jimmy also involved other musicians in order to satisfy the aural demands of particular songs and this led to the brief formation (for one gig only) of the mk III line-up.
The Nudist Guys: DisGuise type people performing DisGuise type songs in a DisGuise type manner in the post DisGuise era. Both Peter and Jimmy have revisited their DisGuise era songs on an occasional basis and the first volume of these is now available. Other music featuring Jimmy McKenna can be found on Jimmy’s solo page
DisGuise Recording Sessions
September 1977 – at Pathway Studios for Chiswick Records, six live in the studio recordings were made and mixed over a six hour session.
December 1977 – at Regent Studios for Chiswick Records – 3 songs completed and subsequently released by Chiswick. Plus lots of live in the studio recordings (some of which are now on the 1977 And All That album)
January 1978 – at Kevin Reay’s attic – several songs recorded, one of which is on the 1977 And All That album.
1977-79 – Dave Emerson was on hand with his trusty stereo cassette recorder and so several gigs and rehearsals were captured this way, but obviously these had limited sound balance and quality.
April 1979 – Impulse Studios – three songs recorded two of which are the 1977 And All That album.
January 1981 – Impulse Studios – Peter and Jimmy with a drum machine recorded three songs.
This left a lot (a very lot) of songs not committed to tape.
After the demise of the DisGuise mkII line-up in July 1979, Peter and Jimmy began to work in solo capacities. They did keep in regular touch though and eventually agreed to attempt to record the complete DisGuise repertoire for posterity
1981 The Two Tape Recorder Sessions. Of course they did not have a budget to go into a professional studio. So with a little help from Dave Emerson a way was devised to record two instruments and a drum machine live on to a tape recorder, then record this over on to one channel of a stereo cassette record whilst recording vocals and other instrumentation live on to the other channel. So over a two week period they did versions of everything they could think of, including cover versions and even new song ideas. None of these recordings were of studio quality of course. Peter had obtained a Korg Mono Synthesizer which allowed the creation of sounds and sound effects, whilst the drum machine was thanks to Peter’s younger brother Kevin who was into making things and sent away for a build yourself drum box kit!
1982 The Weekend Portastudio Recordings – In early 1982 Jimmy borrowed a 4 Track Portastudio for a weekend and recorded several songs using with aid help of Peter’s Korg Synth and drum box, and Peter himself on guitar.
Fostex X-15 – 1982 In due course both Jimmy and Peter invested in the most basic model of 4 Track Portastudio which was a cassette which ran at normal speed but gave the luxury of recording and playing back four separate tracks.
Durham Street Studios – by late 1982 Studio facilities were becoming affordable. The recordings that mostly comprise the Historic Daze album are those made in Jimmy’s name at Durham Street Studios (DSS) of Hartlepool. Peter was always invited to participate and this led to the temporary formation of a DisGuise mkIII line-up with Paul Lynagh on drums and Michael Dixon on second guitar. Peter also made his own recordings at DSS but these have never been made available.
