About ~ MARK
MARK HALFORD.....LEAD GUITARIST WITH 'LAST GANG IN TOWN.'
It all started on 13th September in 1976 at Quaintways in Chester, actually it didn't but read on...
So here I am, born in Leicester in 1958, see 'the City' on my dads shoulders with rattle and scalf. Followed them ever since through good, bad and worse (usually the latter two)...
Move to Winsford, Cheshire in late 60's, attend local grammar school where one day I have to go back to the art-room to clear up all the clay that me and my mate 'Chind' had been flicking about in lesson, as you do when you're 11. The 6th formers had a 'dansette' and were playing Hendrix, the most exciting music we'd ever heard. The perfect soundtrack to the games of 'Japs and English' and 'Best Man Dead' we played. Angry, Loud, Fast and Aggressive...
Zeppelin, Sabbath, purple, all became the staple diet of early teens, but something's missing.....
Alice Cooper...School's Out... the perfect soundtrack for the young rebel of '72....two fingers up to everyone... definitely not cool to be into Alice amongst the 'ever so clever' types into Yes, Genesis and all that 'prog-rock' crap. I'm an outcast, keep it Angry, Loud, Fast and Aggressive...
Develop a taste for the 'division 2' stuff, you know, the 'also-rans' of heavy rock. Groundhogs, Budgie, Pat Travers Band, Strife etc ... must be the influence of supporting a second division team but boy those bands were Angry, Loud, Fast and Aggressive.
Saw them all play at Quaintways from about '73 onwards, I was a regular and then 13th September 1976... The Sex Pistols... Angry, Loud, Fast and Aggressive and er...shite.
So NO, seeing the Pistols did not change my life, but read on...
Off to college, Nottingham, by now I'm really into Dr Feelgood, the pub rock scene and the early proto-punk stuff... Stranglers, Eddie & The Hotrods, Doctors Of Madness (Quaintways again...) 'cos it was Angry, Loud, Fast and Aggressive...
Witness most of the early punk bands, you name 'em I saw 'em. Good, bad and bandwagon jumpers. Roadied for some to top up my grant. The only band to blow me away were a bunch of old geezers called the Pirates...Fuckin' Hell!!! they were Hard, Angry, Loud, Fast and Aggressive.....
'78, back to Winsford. Get a job, get a bike on the road legally and get the guitar slot with 2 old pro's in an R&B band playing Feelgood/Pirates rock'n'roll...tought me a lot...like I wasn't gonna be the next Clapton, Page or Hendrix...what I could do though was play Angry, Loud, Fast and Aggressive...
'79, Punk finally reaches Winsford. We get real bands, The Fall, Chelsea, Medium Medium. A scene starts to happen, the 'youthie', local bands, and I step into the guitar slot in my brother Adams band and 'The Cause' is born...Angry, Loud. Fast and Aggressive...
What a band, a buzz, a whirlwind, a storm, gathering a following, a manager, gigs, recording, our own label, it's all going great, then NICK has kidney failure ... get a new singer??? ... never. So we let it slip through our fingers, we'd never abandon our mate...'The Cause' meant too much to us all... loyalty, attitude and not selling out. It was Angry, Loud, Fast and Aggressive...and gone.
'80, fast forward, start a studio, PA hire, 8 track, 16 track, it's my job now.
'87, disillusioned, pack it all in, don't even own a guitar now, work in a factory.
'92, workmate brings in a Les Paul copy from a boot-sale. ''Can anyone tune it, play it'' I sort it, am bitten again, I only know one way to play...
'98, get in a band with some guys from night school, play blues and 60's covers...not angry, loud, fast or aggressive but what the hell...punk's long gone eh!!! Anarchy...This is New Labour, even the Pistols have reformed for the money...
'06, Slow forward, loosing the will to live by now... playing the local Crewe/Nantwich circuit, try to introduce punk/new wave stuff...fall out ...call it a day.
Am desperate to play Angry, Loud, Fast and Aggressive ..... Then, out of the blue, a phone call from a guy in Runcorn ...''seen your add on internet...wanna be in a punk band?''
Gaz, you just saved my life.....
So that's me then, seeing the Pistols in '76 wasn't life changing, just part of the journey. 'LAST GANG IN TOWN' will be my last band... I can't better this... I'm home... ANGRY, LOUD, FAST and AGGRESSIVE.....
