Formed: Croydon, England, UK
An easy way for pub rock musicians to get a record deal in 1977/1978 was to form a band with a punky name and make records with rude titles. Enter the Drug Addix, described by guitarist George Lloyd as "a good fun, no frills R&B band", and featuring an 18-year-old Kirsty MacColl on backing vocals. Their first EP, Make A Record, had been recorded as a demo and Chiswick didn't bother asking them to record it properly. Issued in June 1978, the most famous song on it was a Lou Reed Parody entitled 'Gay Boys In Bondage', which sounded like something Alberto Y Lost Trios Paranoias might have done. The rest of the EP was less distinctive, but despite some "outrageous" lyrics on 'Special Clinic', which addressed VD, just as slow and boring: pub rock with slide guitar.
Kirsty MacColl: All I did on the record was backing vocals. You can barely hear me. We weren't actually a punk band, but at the time punk was king and we called ourselves that just to get some gigs. Everyone expected an outrageous, Sex Pistols type of band but we weren't. We were all slide guitar and R&B. I was just the token boiler on backup vocals... Of course that annoyed me but you've got to start somewhere. If you can't really sing and you can't play anything, you can't argue about it. - from the Kirsty MacColl website (link below)
Jean Newlove (Kirty's mum): I went to pick her up when she did her first gig. I stood downstairs waiting and a man said to me: 'Cor, listen to those kids. I can't stand it, can you?' I didn't want to say, 'No, it's dreadful,' so I just weakly smiled."
In August 1978 the group, its name shortened to The Addix, supported The Viciuous White Kids at the Electric Ballroom. I thought MacColl had left the band before this show but it turns out I was wrong:
Rick Smith, via email: You say Kirsty had left the band by the time they supported the Vicious White Cats at the Electric Ballroom. This is wrong as I particularly remember the red dress Kirsty wore on stage at that show. Other memories include Lemmy with his lock knife and an extremely large bag of amphetamine sulphate, Nancy with her truly challenging vocals and Sid proudly showing Kirsty and I his Oedema-swollen leg and recounting how a bloke had died of a heroin overdose in his front room and lain there for a day before anyone realised he was dead.
Sometiem after this gig MacColl left the band and signed found a solo deal with Stiff Records. The Addix released the Too Blind To See It in June 1979. It came out on Zig Zag Records, which was bad news for The Addix because the label went bust immediately after. The single was another piece of new wave/pub rock. Hardly Earth-shattering but better than the debut.
Lineup 1:
Art Nouveau (real name George Lloyd) - guitars vocals
Sterling Silver (real name Rick Smith ) - vocals
Mandy Doubt (real name Kirsty MacColl) - vocals
Alan Offa (real name Alan Offer) - bass
Ron Griffin - drums
Lineup 2:
Ronnie Griffin - drums
Alan Offer - bass
George Lloyd - guitar
Rick Smith - vocals
DISCOGRAPHY
Singles / Albums
| Make A Record (7", as The Drug Addix, 1978) |
Too Blind To See It (7", as The Addix, 1979) |
Various Artists
Rock 'n Roll Suburbano De Londres Spain LP 1978 (Movieplay): Los Gay Estan Esclavizados / Addington Shuffle / Clinica Especial / Gloton Por Castigo
Rock 'n Roll Suburbano De Londres Spain 7" 1978 (Movieplay): Los Gay Estan Esclavizados
The Chiswick Story UK 2xCD 1992 (Chiswick): Gay Boys In Bondage
