Ha! Ha! Funny Polis

'I went down to London with Tommy and Wully in a car with box
loads of the Ha! Ha! Funny Polis EP to Rough Trade. We got
stopped and searched by the Special Branch in an underground
car park, I think the IRA were busy at the time. They opened up all
the boxes and I thought our tea was out, but then they let us go. I
don't know what they were looking for, maybe they didn't know what
'Polis' meant. Ha! Ha!

Arriving at Rough trade, the Spizz single 'Where's Captain Kirk?'
had just been released that morning as well - strangely, that was
the name of the top cop in Paisley whom our record was dedicated
to. Good old Rough Trade, they took every single copy, agreed to
distribute them, AND paid us in cash'!

'The recording session at Sirocco Studios, Kilmarnock was done
on an all day Saturday session with most bands just having a run
through then a couple of takes and the odd overdub. But as you
can imagine with 20 or so young restless musos hanging around
all day, a few ended up pretty zonked waiting on their turn. The
guys running the place must have been demented with all of us,
plus entourage, stuffed into one or two rooms, getting pished'.

Ha! Ha! Funny Polis is 45 rpm four track ep released on the Groucho Marxist
record label (Communique 2) in February, 1980. The four bands on the ep are
from Paisley.

Recorded at Sirocco Studios, Kilmarnock

Produced by the bands with a little help from Willie, Tommy and the
Engineers at Sirocco Studios, Kilmarnock

Tracks:

The Fegs - Mill Street Law & Order (McGlynn)
X-S Discharge - Lifted (P. Doherty/C. Doherty)
Defiant Pose - Fight (Crawford)
Urban Enemies - Who Do You Hate? (Urban Enemies)

'The funniest part was watching X-S Discharge recording 'Lifted',
as they were completely out of it and couldn't stop laughing.
Their run through was the version used as it wasthe funniest
take, albeit unintentionally. We were in the control room laughing
at Paddy who in turn was pissing himself at us laughing at him'.

'The Defiant Pose track 'Fight' has also got a whopper of a
mistake or two that were kept, Chad coming in at the wrong
time on the second or third line, and me whacking my knuckles
on the edge of the guitar where a chord is supposed to be.
There's a big blank space somewhere if you listen. Urban
Enemies came in and did things note perfect, and showed us all
up on their turn'.

'The only gigs I can remember all bands playing together were
Easterhouse, the F Club in Leeds, Ferguslie Community Centre,
and possibly the bandstand on the Clydeside, although I can't be
certain of the last one'.

'There was no direct transport link to Kilmarnock from Paisley
then either, so, some cadged a lift, while many others had to go
bus to Glasgow, then Paisley. A bit of a trek it seemed them
days, but cheap recording facilities were few and far between'.