The Rezillos

The Rezillos Formed in Edinburgh in June 1976 wth an original line-up of Eugene
Reynolds (drums), Luke Warm (Jo Callis) (guitar, vocals), Hi-Fi Harris (guitar), and Dr.
D.K. Smythe (bass). The band name is taken from a comic book cafe called the
Revilo Cafe. The band lineup changed regularly between forming and the present day.
For a full history of the band between July 1976 and December 1978 check the family
tree from 'Kingdom Come' fanzine No.14, which is reproduced on the Punk77 website
- link below.

The Rezillos played their first gig in Edinburgh on November 5, 1976, by which time
Candy Floss, who later changed her name to Fay Fife, had joined on vocals. In June,
1977, they were spotted by Lenny Love, the Scottish rep for Island Records, who
started his own label Sensible Records. The first release on this label was the
Rezillos' debut single 'Can't Stand My Baby'/'I Wanna be Your Man', which had
apparently taken 2,000 advance orders and sold around 15,000 copies in the UK. In
November 1977, the band signed to Sire Records and released their first single on the
label ('(My Baby Does) Good Sculptures'/'Flying Saucer Attack') in December 1977
when they also toured the UK with the Ramones. They released 'Can't Stand The
Rezillos', their debut album, in July 1978 and were the first of the UK new wave bands
to record an album in the U.S.. They also released the single 'Top Of The
Pops'/'20,000 Rezillos Under The Sea' in the same month and appeared on Top Of
The Pops - although the single poked fun at the programme! The next realese was
'Destination Venus'/'Mystery Action' (neither track was on the album) in November
1978 and around this time they toured the U.K. with the Undertones as support.

It was on this tour, at the Glasgow Apollo on December 23, that the Rezillos split
with Fay and Eugene quitting and the remainder of the group wanting to continue in
some form. In March 1979, Fay and Eugene got back together with Hi-Fi Harris and
added two new backing singers, Jane and Trish; however, by April 1979, it was all
over for the band. Fay and Euguene went on to form the Revillos while the rest of
the band formed Shake. When Shake split, Jo Callis would go on to achieve
success with the Human League.

Thel album, 'Mission Accomplished', which was a live album of their last gig at the
Glasgow Apollo, was released in April 1979 with advance orders of over 15,000. In
August 1979, Sensible Records reissued their debut single 'I Can't Stand My
Baby'/'I Wanna Be Your Man'; however, around 4,000 copies were mis-pressed with
an early demo of '(My Baby Does) Good Sculptures' on the B-side.

In 1993, 'The (Almost) Complete Rezillos was released, which is a compilation
including tracks from 'Can't Stand The Rezillos' and Mission Accomplished'.

Silver Thread Hotel, Paisley

The Rezillos played at the Silver Thread Hotel, Paisley twice in 1977 on August 17
and either October 12 or October 26. The October ticket below has a printed date of
the 12th but is stamped the 26th and the bootleg I have states the date as the 26th.
The bootlegged gig was a cracker. This was a band on top form when they played a
set that built in intensity from start to finish. The sound was raw and powerful,
everything could be heard, and the playing was almost perfect. After Wooly Bully,
Eugene encouraged the crowd to move chairs away from the stage area and come
closer as it was 'A bit like playing on the other side of a dual carriageway'. However,
he also asked that the crowd 'Don't smash all the microphones and stuff'. After
Playing a great version of 'Head Kicked In', Fay said she was 'Disgusted how much it
cost to get in tonight. Sorry you had to pay for it'.

This gig was before the release of 'Top Of The Pops' and their appearance on the
programme and, before launching into the song, Fay said 'This next song's about a
very unpopular programme on television, a very unfashionable programme. In fact,
it's called Top Of The Pops'. To which Eugene replied 'It's about what happens to
people who go on it I think' and Fay answered 'OK, something like that'.

'I Can't stand My Baby' was probably the best song of the set in terms of power and
adrenaline - it rocked. " I Wanna Be Your Man' then started; however, a small fight
broke out during the intro that caused the band to stop and calm things down.
Eugene said 'No more punching anyone, we don't want that'. On restarting and
completing the song the band left the stage; however, the crowd's chorus of 'We want
more!' encouraged them to come back for an encore. When Fay walked back
on-stage she screamed 'Where's ma glasses!', obviously referring to a pair of glasses
she had left on stage and that had since disappeared! They completed a great
three-song encore and finished the set with Eugene saying 'Someone pinched her
glasses. If you see them, we'd appreciate them back'.