Defiant Pose

Defiant Pose are probably the best known of the original Paisley punk bands. The band formed in
1979 as a 5-piece and continued playing with a number of lineup changes until 1987. They
recorded one track for the Ha-Ha Funny Polis EP called 'Fight' and released the double A sided
single 'Someone Else's War / 'After The Bang'. Live, they never failed to entertain and consistently
played to a full house. Their set was mostly original material although they included a blistering
version of Gimme Your Heart by the Subs, Shout by Lulu, and, if I remember correctly, a 30
second song called Medicine Ball!

Defiant Pose started as a five-piece punky mod band playing mostly Undertones and ATV covers
along with a couple of their own songs. The band members were Chad (vocals), Alan (guitar),
John (guitar), Crawfy (bass), and Callum (drums). They rehearsed in an attic above the George
Bar in Paisley town centre that was also being used as a squat by a guy called "Big Mal". Joe,
who was still playing in the Fegs, started jamming and rehearsing with Defiant Pose, and
recorded 'Fight' with them on the 'Ha Ha Funny Polis EP'. Within a short time (less than a year
after forming) the Fegs split and Joe joined Defiant Pose full-time. Just prior to the split, both
bands did several gigs together where Joe played in both. Defiant Pose had a manager, Nicky
Gentile, which was unusual then for a young band. Nicky was well intentioned, but didn't have
experience in managing a band; however, he invested some money and bought the band some
much-needed equipment. Nicky then promptly sacked both original guitarists (Alan and John)
and singer Chad, resulting in a three-piece line-up of Joe on vocals and guitar, Crawfy on bass,
and Callum Reid on drums.

This was probably the most successful line-up of Defiant Pose in terms of media
attention and gigs. The band signed to Regular Music, the biggest agency in
Scotland at the time, and played many gigs including some great support slots with
the Chords, Exploited, Angelic Upstarts, Killing Joke, and the 4 be 2s to name a
few. They were widely featured in Sounds and the NME and released 'Someone
Else's War' / 'After The Bang, which was regularly played by John Peel. Everything
was going well when, suddenly, in 1980, Crawfy decided to leave the band resulting
in Defiant Pose splitting.

Around 1982/3 Joe decided to reform Defiant Pose. He asked Chad, the original singer to return
along with Callum on drums and a new bass player, Davy. Joe had written quite a few new
songs by this time so the band rehearsed consistently for several months to get them right.
Then, as with Crawfy, Callum left saying he was no longer into the music Defiant Pose were
playing. Blair (Preacher) joined and his solid drumming style fitted the band perfectly. He played
his first gig without any rehearsals and based his drumming on what he remembered from the
previous gigs he'd been to (not an easy thing to do)! The band recorded a ten-song demo of new
material at the Arches Studio in Glasgow but were disappointed with the final product -
something that still annoys Joe to this day. They continued playing local gigs in and around
Paisley until they split again.

Around 1986, Defiant Pose reformed again with Joe (guitar), Chad (vocals), Eadie (drums), Neil
McInnes (guitar) and Alan Gregor (Bob's brother) (bass). However, not long after reforming, it
was felt the band had lost all direction and they decided to call it a day. The last Defiant Pose
gig took place at Paris Nightclub, Paisley in 1987. There is a video in existence of this
performance. Joe admits to feeling bitter about how it turned out but realistically admits that
you don't always get what you want out of life. In his own words "What the fuck, I'm still doing
what I like doing - playing my guitar and having a rant at anybody in earshot".

A year or two later in the mid-80s, Joe and Preacher, along with Graeme
Wilmington (guitar) of Close Lobsters and Bob Gregor (bass), formed a short-lived
band called The Uprising. As Joe was still the main songwriter, the material was
much in the same vein as Defiant Pose. However, this was only a side project as
the other members were also playing in other bands at the time.

Rumour has it that Joe is currently rehearsing with a new band and that they are in the
process of recording an album. Will they be called Defiant Pose, will they include any of
the older material? At the moment I'm not sure. Watch this space!