THE SYPHLETIX

The band formed around August 1982 when I was approached by Moggy, Dave and Budgie at a Chelsea gig at the Zig Zag club. I thought they were going to beat me up as they had been eyeing me up for about ten minutes, but it turned out they wanted me to be their singer as they had seen me sing No Fun with Chelsea at Brixton Town Hall and The Marquee, but were embarrassed about actually asking!

We started rehearsing in September 1982 and quickly knocked up a set of about 10 songs which we debuted in an extremely dodgy pub full of skinheads in Gravesend supporting Brutal Attack. This was quickly followed by a gig at Skunx in November 1982, taped for posterity by the one and only Dave Fergusson.

Demos were recorded in October 1982, February 1983 and July 1983, the last of which was supposed to be our e.p. but, sadly we could not raise the funds to get it pressed up. More gigs followed, including supporting Conflict at the Brixton Ace (now The Fridge).

Budgie left in late 1983 to be replaced by Lisa and after intense rehearsals we were back gigging in January 1984 supporting the likes of The Subhumans and Hagar The Womb. A further demo was recorded in March 1984.

In November 1984 we booked 8 hours at Redchurch Recordings in Shoreditch intending to record our entire set for release as an album. However, the end result was nowhere near as good as we wanted and it remains unreleased (although maybe not for much longer!)

In early 1985 Budgie rejoined the band and Lisa departed. New songs were written, and a new rockier style was developing, but gigs were getting very hard to come by and the band split around May 1985.

Dave and Moggy joined Fifth Column and Dave eventually went on to join Chaos. I rehearsed, briefly, with The Pocket Rockets but nothing was to come of it.

Gerry
March 2007

Anyone interested can hear us at mf-enterprises.com or for copies of demos or live gigs contact gerryjford@aol.com
If anyone knows the whereabouts of Moggy, Budgie or Lisa please let me know or give them my e-mail address - Thanks!

THE SYPHLETIX LIVE

SKUNX 12/11/82
Gerry - Vocals
Moggy - Guitar
Budgie - Bass
Dave - Drums

1)Intro
2)Night Of Hate
3)Overdose
4)3 Million
5)Heroes
6)Religion
7)White Priest On Dope
8)I.D.Parade
9)Killer
10)(I’ll Have A) Packet Of 3 (John)

OLD AMBULANCE STATION 07/01/84
Gerry - Vocals
Moggy - Guitar
Lisa - Bass
Dave - Drums

1)Intro
2)Return Of The Ripper
3)Parasites
4)Soul Boy
5)A Generation On The Dole
6)Heroes
7)3 For A Quid
8)Night Of Hate
9)1984
10)Wasted Lives
11)No Publicity

GREEN MAN, STRATFORD 10/02/84
Gerry - Vocals
Moggy - Guitar
Lisa - Bass
Dave - Drums

1)Intro
2)No Publicity
3)Return Of The Ripper
4)Parasites
5)Heroes
6)A Generation On The Dole
7)Night Of Hate
8)You’re A Syphletic
9)Wasted Lives
10)1984
11)What’s On The Box?
12)Freemans



For copies of any of the above contact: gerryjford@aol.com
Many rehearsal recordings also available. If anyone knows of any more live recordings (I believe there are some) please let me know.