Originally a pub rock band called Rockslide who released a
single called 'Roller Coaster' which got nowhere. Sniffing the punk wind of change in '76
however, they emerged as one of the most exciting bands from Manchester's punk
scene. While Slaughter & The Dogs
erred on the Glam side and The Buzzcocks delivered pop with a buzz saw, The
Drones, who could obviously play, took the energy of punk to heart and
delivered it on vinyl in a series of taut, amphetamine driven toons. With a mixture of originals like Persecution
Complex, Lookalikes and Corgi Crap and covers such as Search & Destroy
& My Generation they blitzed Manchester venues like Pips, Rafters and The Electric
Circus. Their first single Temptations Of A White Collar Worker was classic
punk containing the excellent Lookalikes. The single sold over 10,000 copies on
their own label OHM’s records.
Signing to Valer records the future looked rosy. The
'Bone Idol / Just Wanna Be Myself' AA side single was a classic and shifted over
20,000 copies. Supporting bands like The Stranglers (even joining them for
encores of Go Buddy Go) followed with some good press in the music weeklies
like Sounds and features in Fanzines such as Shy Talk and Summer Salt increased
their profile. While recording demos for
their Bone Idol single they also recorded a number of pisstakes of Clash songs
which Strummer found amusing on hearing bless him. A John Peel session showed
them able to mix it with the big boys and this was confirmed as they were one
of the few punk bands to make it to an album releasing Further Temptations with
its famous punkette sleeve. That said, an album was perhaps a step too far
with the band not having strong enough material. The album at the Press launch
was given out with free dog collars though less salubrious tales of the event
tell of the band going thru the model featured on the cover as it were!
Then Valer went bust and like for so many '77 bands, time
caught up with The Drones. Trying to move on they drafted in a keyboards player
and sexy dancing girls. The result was described in a Sounds review of 25.2.78
as "The whole thing was a pathetic failure...Back to rock cabaret... a
subtle change in the musical policy would have been far better than a change in
stage act...It breaks my heart to write all this." Without the anger and
energy of punk as an impetus they settled into inertia.
www.punk77.co.uk