History
The Beginning
by Alex Eruptor
The first Eruptors gig took place in late summer 2002 at The Castle, Tooting Broadway, London. The initial booking was the result of a favourable review in Organart magazine of some early demos. At the time there was only Jeff and myself in the band, but I cannot remember if we actually told the promoter that! Based on having an actual gig we drafted in Gareth - both he and Jeff were in another band together at that time known as 'Neck' (who are still going strong after several line-up changes and are really good.....check 'em out).
We had three rehearsals before our first show, and by the end of the third session it was sounding tight enough but not over-rehearsed. Brimming with youthful enthusiasm and a solid belief in the powers of rock n roll and high voltage entertainment, we were ready to carve a new chapter in the Book of Rock!
The aim was to create the maximum impression. Drums were loud, amps were even louder, shapes were thrown and songs whizzed past at 100mph. The audience were treated to a short sharp set (around 8 songs in approximately 12 minutes, as I recall!) and despite the primitive and base qualities of our performance the the promoters and venue staff were suitably impressed, so much that we were invited back for our second ever gig a couple of months later. The Castle was a famous old venue which had hosted many great bands in its time including UK Subs and just a few months before, another up and coming rock band known as The Darkness had also made a good impression there.
by Alex Eruptor
The first Eruptors gig took place in late summer 2002 at The Castle, Tooting Broadway, London. The initial booking was the result of a favourable review in Organart magazine of some early demos. At the time there was only Jeff and myself in the band, but I cannot remember if we actually told the promoter that! Based on having an actual gig we drafted in Gareth - both he and Jeff were in another band together at that time known as 'Neck' (who are still going strong after several line-up changes and are really good.....check 'em out).
We had three rehearsals before our first show, and by the end of the third session it was sounding tight enough but not over-rehearsed. Brimming with youthful enthusiasm and a solid belief in the powers of rock n roll and high voltage entertainment, we were ready to carve a new chapter in the Book of Rock!
The aim was to create the maximum impression. Drums were loud, amps were even louder, shapes were thrown and songs whizzed past at 100mph. The audience were treated to a short sharp set (around 8 songs in approximately 12 minutes, as I recall!) and despite the primitive and base qualities of our performance the the promoters and venue staff were suitably impressed, so much that we were invited back for our second ever gig a couple of months later. The Castle was a famous old venue which had hosted many great bands in its time including UK Subs and just a few months before, another up and coming rock band known as The Darkness had also made a good impression there.
As the photos depict, the first show was played in front of two pieces of white cloth onto which the promoter beamed Russ Meyer films, a good back-drop for sleazy garage rock. Unfortunately the photos don't really show the movie and it looks as though we're playing in front of two bedsheets . Gary had a minimalist drum kit and wore a plastic Viking helmet for part of the show. The guitar and bass amps were borrowed from friends and other bands on the bill. As well as the basic backdrop and the brevity of the set lists, both shows were characterised by wailing feedback from my guitar. I remember jumping up in the air as I struck the final power chord but when I landed I slipped and ended up lying flat on my back in front of the drums, which got a good reaction from the audience but was not entirely deliberate! (The photo at the top of this article I think captures my landing!). It was lo-fi but highly entertaining rock n roll and impressed some of the muso and music biz types in the audience, who suggested to us that we'd do well if we were to get booked to play in central London on the more established new-band circuit. At the time there was a classic rock rock and garage punk revival with UK which, to those of us involved, knew had been coming to the boil since the late 1990s.
A few photos were taken by the audience and are included in the slideshow above. However, no recordings or video exist from that first show, but by the time we returned in November for our second ever gig the promoter had invested in a video camera and filmed the show in exchange for a small fee. The setlist was more or less identical to that of the first gig. An interesting coincidence was that the drummer from one of the other bands turned out to be who Jeff had just bought a motorbike from. Small world!
A few photos were taken by the audience and are included in the slideshow above. However, no recordings or video exist from that first show, but by the time we returned in November for our second ever gig the promoter had invested in a video camera and filmed the show in exchange for a small fee. The setlist was more or less identical to that of the first gig. An interesting coincidence was that the drummer from one of the other bands turned out to be who Jeff had just bought a motorbike from. Small world!
To be honest, we were taking it all one show at a time at this stage and there was no certainty that much more would come of it all. But spurred on by encouragement from the people we had played to so far, we decided to follow the advice and spread our wings a bit. Studio time was booked and a couple of songs ('12TREE4' and '1000% Rock, Baby!') were demoed at Red Church studio in Hackney. The Supersuckers had previously recorded their 'Whiskey River' single there a few years earlier, and I think that Cock Sparrer had recorded there too. We were also impressed that the owner/engineer Fred Baggs had in the 1970s frequented the same rehearsal studios as the prototype Iron Maiden. He made favourable comparisons of our music to both The Supersuckers and Iron Maiden, and encouraged us to be determined as Iron Maiden had been (quote: "They were there for years and they stuck with it, and then it really took off for them")
We also booked our third show, this time in London's West End. It was a basement club in Soho called Gossip's, on the corner of Dean Street and Meard Street. The club which has now sadly closed was very familiar to us as it was a regular haunt for us on Saturday nights because at that time it hosted Decadence, the 1980s/sleaze and classic rock club night frequented by many from the punk and hard rock scene at the time. It had a good heritage, having been well known in the 1980s for hosting similar rock nights and perhaps most famously where the 'Gang Bang Band' EP was recorded and also for hosting early comedy gigs by the likes of Vic Reeves. It was a genuine landmark venue and The Eruptors played our third ever show on the tiny dance floor there in February 2003.
Despite some serious delays on the public transport that night the show was well attended and although we were a bit sloppy in places, our short-sharp-shock approach did the business and each song was received well by the crowd. Being in Soho, quite a lot of our friends who were at that time working in the music industry were able to attend after work, so there was a good buzz about the gig. I remember making a weekend of it and the next night going to The Dirty Water club in North London with Jonesy (part-time guitar tech and lender of amps and guitars!) where the promoter had put us on the guest list for that night's show which was headlined by a great Swedish band called The Sewergrooves.
Come back soon for more from the archives!
