Michael Baxter | NECRO - six songs from a practice session - January 1983 - PLUS - Necro's 'War Is Over' fanzine 1983 @mickeypenguin | Uploaded July 2024 | Updated October 2024, 5 minutes ago.
Steve and I were looking for a guitarist and bassist. Rob Baxter came along with a bass guitar and a top record collection no doubt some pilfered from elder brother Mickey (at some point much later in the 1980’s to be known as ‘Penguin’). Simon was a friend from another band who joined on guitar.
Although Simon was a good friend, he didn’t really get what we wanted to do and after a disastrous gig at the Triad Club in Bishops Stortford, noted for all four of us travelling in Rob and Mickey’s dad’s car with a guitar amp across our collective legs, a confrontation with skinhead Nazis and sadly missing out on a trick as Steve and Simon from the Newtown Neurotics along with Colin from Flux were in the audience to witness our band Necro’s performance. I very much doubt that performance impressed them.
Simon left and we were on the search for another guitarist. We rehearsed with a heavy metal freak called Martyn, but those rehearsals were thankfully short lived. So, the solution came from within the band itself. Rob was learning the guitar and Steve the bass, so it made sense to follow our noses and become a three piece. Rehearsals were torturous for my mum and dads’ neighbours, but we battled on and the sound took on a rawer quality. The cassettes of these rehearsals sounded okay, and we had a couple of gigs to aim for. Rob developed a nice trebly sound to his guitar, which was exciting and angular, and Steve could hold a simple bassline down as he shouted along.
Gig number one as a three piece was at the Rye Road youth centre in Hoddesdon in February 1983, it had been a snowy, cold, wet winter and a thick layer of slush lay on the roads as the minibus we were using with mates piled in, pulled up outside the youth club. Myself and Steve not really knowing the Hoddesdon scene that well, chatted to the other bands and got to know each other. Rob and his brother Mickey lived just around the corner to the Rye Road youth centre in this unglamorous town on the Essex / Hertfordshire border.
Hoddesdon at that time had a large skinhead population. Necro played, we were quite good, there was a bit of aggro from some Hoddesdon skinheads and then the Malteser incident happened! What was a single Malteser wittily sent flying at the band by someone in the audience, which I thought was hilarious, soon turned into Necro being ‘maltesered’ while on the stage! Necro unwillingly now etched forever in Hoddesdon punk gig folklore! Some of the skinheads threw lighted match boxes (full of a complete set of now ignited matches) at Rob’s head several times throughout the general heckling, but that was good natured (I think) as Rob and Mickey vaguely knew those skinheads. Necro performed at the Rye Road youth centre in April 1983, a performance which went without incident.
During May, the next gig was to be at the Hartham Common Peace Festival in Hertford.
Myself, Steve, and other friends had been instrumental in organising the festival. A friendly lorry driver had been persuaded to park his lorry there to form the stage, it was true DIY and we had bagged Flux Of Pink Indians to headline. Necro and Strontium were also to to be performing on the day, in what was planned as a celebratory afternoon in aid of CND, but in true fashion things did not go according to plan.
During the event it became clear that the tight stage time plan for the festival had gone and the time slots allocated to the support bands had just slipped away. D & V showed up with Flux of Pink Indians and took the stage unannounced to perform a set! Flux of Pink Indians argued with the NF on stage (lasting about ten minutes) and for these reasons, among some smaller organisational timing hiccups, I had to explain to the people in the crowd, and to the members of the bands, that ‘our bands’ could not perform due to time restrictions. Our disgruntled bands all walked around with guitars and drumsticks looking lost.
Flux of Pink Indians then played a glorious set with the steps up to the ‘stage’ being guarded by a single police officer! The P.A system during Flux Of Pink Indians set was so loud that a wedding in a nearby church had to be stopped as they could not hear what was being said. One of the elders of the festival organisers did mention to me that he had not been told that this would happen. Truth was, no-one knew.
After the Hartham Peace Festival disappointment, Steve who I had a feeling had been thinking of moving on, decided to leave the band. I was quite upset. Steve had become my closest mate and the band had been a platform for that friendship. But I knew that he had had enough of it and wanted to concentrate on other things in his life. Although I had formed a good friendship with Rob, and we both tried to continue for a short while, Necro was not going to work without the main lyricist and vocalist, so the band just drifted to an end. I did feel a little bit guilty about the band finishing just as Rob had started to stamp his mark on it though.
Steve and I were looking for a guitarist and bassist. Rob Baxter came along with a bass guitar and a top record collection no doubt some pilfered from elder brother Mickey (at some point much later in the 1980’s to be known as ‘Penguin’). Simon was a friend from another band who joined on guitar.
Although Simon was a good friend, he didn’t really get what we wanted to do and after a disastrous gig at the Triad Club in Bishops Stortford, noted for all four of us travelling in Rob and Mickey’s dad’s car with a guitar amp across our collective legs, a confrontation with skinhead Nazis and sadly missing out on a trick as Steve and Simon from the Newtown Neurotics along with Colin from Flux were in the audience to witness our band Necro’s performance. I very much doubt that performance impressed them.
Simon left and we were on the search for another guitarist. We rehearsed with a heavy metal freak called Martyn, but those rehearsals were thankfully short lived. So, the solution came from within the band itself. Rob was learning the guitar and Steve the bass, so it made sense to follow our noses and become a three piece. Rehearsals were torturous for my mum and dads’ neighbours, but we battled on and the sound took on a rawer quality. The cassettes of these rehearsals sounded okay, and we had a couple of gigs to aim for. Rob developed a nice trebly sound to his guitar, which was exciting and angular, and Steve could hold a simple bassline down as he shouted along.
Gig number one as a three piece was at the Rye Road youth centre in Hoddesdon in February 1983, it had been a snowy, cold, wet winter and a thick layer of slush lay on the roads as the minibus we were using with mates piled in, pulled up outside the youth club. Myself and Steve not really knowing the Hoddesdon scene that well, chatted to the other bands and got to know each other. Rob and his brother Mickey lived just around the corner to the Rye Road youth centre in this unglamorous town on the Essex / Hertfordshire border.
Hoddesdon at that time had a large skinhead population. Necro played, we were quite good, there was a bit of aggro from some Hoddesdon skinheads and then the Malteser incident happened! What was a single Malteser wittily sent flying at the band by someone in the audience, which I thought was hilarious, soon turned into Necro being ‘maltesered’ while on the stage! Necro unwillingly now etched forever in Hoddesdon punk gig folklore! Some of the skinheads threw lighted match boxes (full of a complete set of now ignited matches) at Rob’s head several times throughout the general heckling, but that was good natured (I think) as Rob and Mickey vaguely knew those skinheads. Necro performed at the Rye Road youth centre in April 1983, a performance which went without incident.
During May, the next gig was to be at the Hartham Common Peace Festival in Hertford.
Myself, Steve, and other friends had been instrumental in organising the festival. A friendly lorry driver had been persuaded to park his lorry there to form the stage, it was true DIY and we had bagged Flux Of Pink Indians to headline. Necro and Strontium were also to to be performing on the day, in what was planned as a celebratory afternoon in aid of CND, but in true fashion things did not go according to plan.
During the event it became clear that the tight stage time plan for the festival had gone and the time slots allocated to the support bands had just slipped away. D & V showed up with Flux of Pink Indians and took the stage unannounced to perform a set! Flux of Pink Indians argued with the NF on stage (lasting about ten minutes) and for these reasons, among some smaller organisational timing hiccups, I had to explain to the people in the crowd, and to the members of the bands, that ‘our bands’ could not perform due to time restrictions. Our disgruntled bands all walked around with guitars and drumsticks looking lost.
Flux of Pink Indians then played a glorious set with the steps up to the ‘stage’ being guarded by a single police officer! The P.A system during Flux Of Pink Indians set was so loud that a wedding in a nearby church had to be stopped as they could not hear what was being said. One of the elders of the festival organisers did mention to me that he had not been told that this would happen. Truth was, no-one knew.
After the Hartham Peace Festival disappointment, Steve who I had a feeling had been thinking of moving on, decided to leave the band. I was quite upset. Steve had become my closest mate and the band had been a platform for that friendship. But I knew that he had had enough of it and wanted to concentrate on other things in his life. Although I had formed a good friendship with Rob, and we both tried to continue for a short while, Necro was not going to work without the main lyricist and vocalist, so the band just drifted to an end. I did feel a little bit guilty about the band finishing just as Rob had started to stamp his mark on it though.
