Rosso - bass
Brains - lead guitar
Dung - drums
Pete - vocals
If "Business Controlled" was a solo project "Frenzy" was a group using the same material. It was my band (to myself) as I wrote nearly all the material and had a majority say in how it ran. We used to practise in the "big room" at my parents house and for the years, just after leaving school, it was the thing that occupied my mind, I put a lot of energy into it: writing songs, looking for gigs, rehearsing etc. it all came to nothing except I got a lot of experience and a few gigs. I played in Frenzy the same time I was playing in Porcaline Dolls, the latter starting out due to the frustration of cancelled rehearsals of Frenzy due to others members working, girlfriend trouble, moving away, school etc.
There were different line ups with people coming and going but the core members were me and Dung. I found Dung from an advertisement in "The Pink Panther" record shop in The Globe Lane (where the Sands shopping centre now stands. I read an advertisement "Drummer wanting to start a band, influences The Clash, Stranglers, Pistols etc." Drummers were like gold in them days there was not too many around.
I had already put an advertisement in the same shop to meet other musicians and I had a reply from Philip Bailey who lived at the "Metal Bridge Inn" just outside of Carlisle, he had a friend called "Jaws" who was going to play guitar, but went off to fight in the Falklands Conflict in April. I had met them at Philip's home, but we did not play musch music but talked a lot. Philip played bass and had a small practice amp. Philip introduced me to Gill and Lynn who we later asked to come on stage and dance…but nothing happened about that.
Phil and I went to see Dung on Hebden Avenue, at Morton. He took us into his bedroom and played along to the Clash’s 1st album. I did not really care what he played or if he could play (he could) I wanted/needed a drummer and as far as I was concerned he was in. Philip disappeared after that, he did not continue with any more rehearsals, but I visited Dung regularly and for the next few years collaborated a lot on music. (I kept Philip’s amp for years, it was 9 watt amp and the speaker had seen better days but it gave off a quiet but great distortion so I kept it for this reason, I later did a gig with it at St. Annes with Nightmares, it was too quiet as the P.A. did not work too well).
Dung introduced me to new people. Carlisle was divided up into “un-walled ghettos”, where different areas of the city did not mix with other areas, Raffles did not mix with Harraby or Currock for example, there was often fights at football matches or in the center of town between different area groups (D.R.A. Denton Holm Republican Army). I was never involved with it all, but you had to be careful where you strayed. I lived just outside of Raffles in Clift Street near to the infirmary, then we moved out of Carlisle, towards Wigton/Thursby so I was out of the Carlisle scene. This caused other problems as if you were outside of Carlisle then you were fare game from any of the Carlisle groups. It was not only Carlisle, the West Coast was just as bad. If we did a gig in Workington there was likely to be trouble if they knew you were from Carlisle, lads from Crofton often got chased up if they visited Wigton for a disco…the whole county was tribal, territorial. A different accent would cause trouble.
I went to school at Trinity and it was a mixed bag of people from different areas of Carlisle, but mainly from Stanwix and Lowry Hill and St. Annes (across the river). Dung introduced me to his Morton school friends: P.H., Cumbo, Banksy, and from them I met others: Rosso, Lauty, Kate, Susan, Grebo and from them I met others…nearly all connected with music, most from that area of town. In time the people I mixed with the most were from Morton and not from Trinity School.
Dung and I rehearsed but we could not do much with 2 members so we sort others. Rosso was interested in playing bass guitar, he had a small scale bass with very thick strings, he joined and we rehearsed at “Crofton Hall”, not the mansion but a wooden hut. Pete was from Trinity School and I had been with him in junior school too he lived in Rickergate; he joined us on vocals. I considered myself a rhythm guitarist so we looked for a lead guitarist and Rosso’s friend called “Brains” came for the first practice in March 1982.
We played around Carlisle, at “Micks 1” and “Victorias” night club, also we played at a punk festival in Penrith on the 20th March 1982. I remember saying through the P.A. “is there any National Front cunts in the audience…?” while we launched ourselves in to Dung’s “War Criminals” at the same time a lot of Skin’s stood up and look aggressive, but one person started to dance to it. Pete left the stage after the 1st 3 songs as he was knackered and I took over singing. The sound must have been not so good as I wrote “drums good, bass too loud, lead guitarist too soft, me too soft and vocals not good, my guitar kept on falling off the strap, covered in sweat, we got a lift back and dad got stopped by the police for going through a red light!”. Pete left the band on the 4th April to move down to Warwickshire to look for work and he sold his guitar to Brains for 90 pounds, the rest of the members wanted Rosso’s friend, Lauty to sing.
The set list for a typical Frenzy gig was:
Pravda
Black Pigs
CND
Job Prospects
Fools or Heroes?
Britain for All
War Criminals (Dungs song)
Bristol
Life
Some cover songs included The Clash's "Tommy Gun"
I used a 60 watt, Laney Klipp amp, a valved amp with a built in fuzz/distortion box, it sounded lovely, heavy and sat nicely on my 4x4 speakers, it looked something like this:
1. Pravda (great)
2. Black Pigs (great)
3. CND (I needed help on the vocals)
4. Life (it was OK)
5. Fools or Heroes (getting knackered)
6. War Criminals (I forgot the words)
7. Bristol (too slow, a reggae song)
8. User (it was OK)
9. I.B.S. “Independent British State” (it was OK)
We jumped around the stage had a great time, Rosso broke a bass string (no easy feat as they were like cables), Dung was not used to the drum kit he borrowed, and Brains did not play much so I had to play lead guitar.
We also played at the TEC College, but I have no info about that.
I bought an “H&H” 200 watt speaker cabinet for 130 pounds on HP so I could get rid of the home made speakers from David (Porcelain Dolls).
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