It's the summer of 1974.
I'm sitting in a park shelter with my mates, drinking cider and listening to Genesis on a battered tape recorder. We also like Bowie, Roxy Music, Deep Purple, Man and Groundhogs. We are glam rock hippies waiting for the next music or fashion trend to appear.
It's 1975 - nothing changes. As the stadiums get bigger, our heroes shrink in stature.
Summer '76. A hot summer that seems to last forever. Punk lands like a rock in a pond. Born in London and Manchester, the ripples of change are heading west.
1977. Anarchy is released. Flares are 'taken in' or burned, hair is cut (a lot) and clothes are slashed (a bit). Anyone can form a band. Our record collections change overnight. We see The Clash at the Bristol Locarno. My ears ring for days and I can't stop smiling.
Over the next three years Bristol produces important bands - The Cortinas, The Pigs, Vice Squad as well as more avant-garde groups like Apartment and Gardez Darxx.
If Bristol is the Premier division then Weston-super-Mare operates somewhere down in the Conference. Bands like Red Alert, Children of Toil, Zambesian Lightbulbs, Faded Vision, The Cassettes and Negative Earth keep the flag flying in the face of local apathy. These bands, and others, fade and die.
March 1981. From the ashes of Negative Earth comes a band that is destined to inject new life into a quiet seaside resort and put Weston on the musical map.
The band is Noiz Boiz.
