Saturday 11 September 2010

THE ALTERNATORS - NO ANSWERS - 1978

The Alternators formed in 1976 and had in their line-up ; Martin Geldart (bass) - Wayne Hutton (drums) - Colin Warnock (guitar/vocal) - Louis O'Neil (keyboards).
Their punk based material got them supporting bands such as The Ramones, Skids, The Stranglers...and on one infamous occasion when they were the support for The Rezillos at the Marryat Hall, an altercation took place between the 2 bands during rehearsals resulting in Colin Warnock decking Rezillos singer Fay Fyfe, and so needless to say, no home gig for the guys that night!!
The Alternators did come close to signing a major record deal in London, but it fell through, and shortly after that they split.
Incidentally, Billy MacKenzie once had a short spell singing in the band in their early days.
There does seem to be a slight Stranglers influence on the track below, with a touch of the Dave Greenfield keyboard sound, but it does have a chorus which was typical of the kind of punky records from that era.
You can see the poster for this single (released in January 1978) in the photo above, and it also completes the trio of records released on the Dundee NRG label, all of which are now up on Retro Dundee.
 

3 comments:

  1. Bill Halley meets the Ramones !!!! :) catchy wee tune tho.

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  2. Well, I remember me brother coming back from one of their gigs totally raving about it...which was bound to put me off.

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  3. Dundee had a great little punk scene around 77/78 and some great bands played in the town during that time. I loved every minute of it.

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