Strate Jacket – Punk Bashing

Strate Jacket; THE first, and some might argue the best Southampton punk band. Formed early in 1977 by Gordon and Terry O’Brien, John Russell and Nick Petford.

Twenty-seven years after they formed in 2004, the Southern Daily Echo referred to the band as ‘the legendary Strate Jacket.’ The same newspaper in 1977 was less enthusiastic about the group. Persons unknown, spray painted STRATE JACKET in Bright red paint on the pristine white stone walled Echo office building one dark night, along with the front of Virgin Records and many other popular institutions in Southampton. The day after this “punk” marketing, everyone in the city knew the band’s name.

Ged Babey, Journalist and punk historian says “I wrote a piece for the Suspect Device punkzine, about Strate Jacket, I said “You won’t find anything about them in Jon Savages England’s Dreaming, or on any of the 1977 punk websites, because they came from Southampton – a city that has never been ‘cool’.

It is finally released! Detour Records off-shoot BIN LINER RECORDS have been working on releasing this since 2011. It’s been a rocky road, but as the Ramones said: Hey Ho Let’s Go! We got there in the end.

The BAND were mentioned recently and appeared briefly in a Chris Packham’s program about his Punk past; Nick the bass player had a short appearance in the program. Chris played one of their tracks Talikn’ ‘bout London, in the program; Chris was a BIG fan of the band and used to watch them play in the few pubs that would risk putting on a punk rock band. Taking inspiration from Strate Jacket, the most successful band at the time in the nascent Southampton punk scene, Chris started his own band called THE TITANIC SURVIVORS.

Strate Jacket, THE FIRST Punk Band to form in Southampton, played on the same bill as many of the punk icons of the day – The Clash, Generation X, The Subway Sect, The Killjoys, Sham 69. Sadly the original line-up featured on the album NEVER commercially released any of the recordings they made. The line-up changed in 1978 after two members of the band and roadies were made an example of by magistrates for a minor fracas outside a venue in Bournemouth before a support slot for Generation X. The band lost impetus and the group split. One member of the band (John Russell) had briefly been a member of the Subway Sect; from this the band connected to Bernie Rhodes, manager of The Clash, plus X-Ray Spex and Menace who all rehearsed in the legendary Rehearsal Rehearsals studio in Camden Town.

The O’Brien brothers enlisted a new rhythm section and went on to release a 7” single “You’re a Hit / Too Soon too Young (the latter first recorded by the original members, and featured on this album), on the Wessex Records label, in 1979.

Now, for the very first time on VINYL, as well as on CD that comes in the same package, hear the ORIGINAL band with the first FIVE tracks taken straight from the ORIGINAL master reel to reel tape. Other tracks have been taken from various cassettes; the B-SIDE of this release a recording of the original line-up at band rehearsal. Taped by roadie “Gumby”in a pub basement, This IS GRASS ROOTS PUNK ROCK!

This package comes with a 12″ vinyl LP, CD and a download code PLUS a fantastic 12″ x 12 eight page booklet.

FEATURES

Punk Bashing

Talkin’ About London

Boredom City

Out In The Street

Stop Press

Too Soon Too Young

Talkin’ About London (Version 2)

Cash-In Boys

I’ll Get Even One Day

City Life

Stop Press (Live Rehearsal)

City Life (Live Rehearsal)

Punk Bashing (Live Rehearsal)

I’ll Get Even One Day (Live Rehearsal)

Talkin About London (Version 3) (Live Rehearsal)

Stop Press (Version 2) (Live Rehearsal)

Punk Bashing (Version 2) (Live Rehearsal)

I’ll Get Even One Day (Version 2) (Live Rehearsal)

Cash-In Boys (Live Rehearsal)

Out In The Street (Live Rehearsal)

Boredom City (Live Rehearsal)o