Talk:The Boys
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Matt Dangerfield: guitar/vocals Duncan 'Kid' Reid: bass/vocals Casino Steel: organ/piano/vocals Honest John Plain: guitar/vocals Jack Black: drums
Casino Steel had been in the influential Hollywood Brats who formed in London in 1972 around the songwriting partnership of Steel (keyboards) and Andrew Matheson (vocals). Similar in style and looks to the New York Dolls they were born out of disgust and aimed to shock. They were originally called The Queen until they had an altercation at the Marquee with Freddie Mercury’s Queen who subsequently had a hit single, forcing them to change their name to the Hollywood Brats.
Legendary UK punk band London SS boasted a line-up which included Dangerfield, Steel, Mick Jones and Tony James and others. At one session Honest John Plain joined them on drums and another drummer, Geir Waade, came up with the name – with the SS standing for Social Security rather than the German secret police.
On leaving the London SS the Boys were soon formed, and played their first gig at the Hope and Anchor Pub in Islington in September 1976. Mick Jones, Billy Idol, Tony James and Gene October were all present, further gigs followed and on 16 January 1977 The Boys signed a five-year deal with NEMS and became the first UK punk band to sign an album deal (The Damned had a one-single deal with Stiff and the Sex Pistols had been sacked by EMI).
Their first single “I Don’t Care” c/w “Soda Pressing” was released on 9 April. To coincide with the release of their first single The Boys embarked on a national tour supporting ex Velvet Underground legend John Cale.
On 9 September an album, The Boys, followed.
Their second single, “First Time”, was released on 30 July 1977 to great critical acclaim achieving “Single Of The Week” in Sounds. It received considerable airplay on John Peel’s radio programme and he was so impressed by The Boys that he invited them to record a live session for his show, broadcast on 8 August.
“First Time” had climbed to No.77 in the UK charts but then on 16 August 1977 the rock’n’roll world was shook by the news of Elvis Presley’s death. This had dire consequences for The Boys as NEMS were distributed by RCA who switched all their efforts and resources into keeping up the huge posthumous demand for Elvis’ records. The Boys saw both their debut self titled album (which peaked at No.50) and “First Time” quickly slip out of the charts as no one could buy them! Despite the setbacks The Boys began to build on their growing UK fan base with a substantial following in Europe where their Beatles influenced power-punk songs and energetic live performances were going down a storm.
Every Christmas The Boys rearranged the “B” and the “Y” and became The Yobs releasing a Christmas offering.
On 10 February 1978 they released arguably their and their second album “Alternative Chartbusters” followed a month later on 17 March.
After several false starts, an album that was never released, and a strike to release themselves from NEMS The Boys released “To Hell With The Boys” on 27 November 1979, complete with a free 16-page music booklet with the first 5,000 copies. It was preceded a week earlier by “Kamikaze”, Plain’s first vocal outing. The Boys appeared live on the Old Grey Whistle Test on 8 January 1980 before securing a support slot on the Ramones national UK tour.
The “Terminal Love” single followed on 7 February mid tour.
A cover of the old Stones song “You’d Better Move On” became their next single before Steel left the band and returned to Norway to have considerable success with Gary Holton of “Auf Wiedersen Pet” fame.
On 17 October 1980 The Boys released their penultimate single “Weekend” which became a Peter Powell Radio 1 record of the week, with the video even being shown on “Noel Edmonds Multi Coloured Swapshop”. Despite some radio airplay the single once again failed to chart. On 30 January 1981 their final album “Boys Only” and final single “Let It Rain” were both released.
The Boys now do occasional live shows and have seen their various albums and singles released as CD’s and covered by bands
