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Formed: London, England, UK

Band Bio / Lineups / Discography

PUNK'S NOT DEAD MAGAZINE: Widely dubbed 'East London’s answer to the Ramones', Erazerhead have recently proved they're more than just dumb copyists by releasing their excellent debut 'Ape Man' EP on Terry Razor's Test Pressings label. Formed out of the ashes of local heroes the Corvettes, the band have supported such luminaries as the Rejects, the Upstarts and The 4-skins at the Bridge House and have built up a strong local following. As guitarist Slim Jim explained, the band live for a time when a Ramonesy genre of bands is accepted just as much as a rock n’ roll genre or a punk genre.

Lee Drury, Punk Lives, 1982: Nowadays punk isn't as good as it was. Everyone goes too fast. They tend to scream and shout and so lose the potential of the song. We try to bring in more tunes, like it used to be.

Envision, if you will, the distance between the Ramones and The Lurkers. Not to denigrate the latter, the Lurkers pale in comparison, simply because the Ramones were so GODLIKE. Now, take that distance again and you have the gulf between The Lurkers and Erazerhead. And it is these two bands which Erazerhead most closely resembled, and this was by design. This made Erazerhead a breath of fresh air in the early '80s. While most the other UK punk bands were singing about riot torn cities, killing machines and razors in the night, Erazerhead focused on the stuff that really matters: apes, geeks, rock n roll zombies, werewolves, and the KGB. And this they did with a joyful, guileless glee on a series of tinny-sounding 45s which really made you wonder what they could have made of themselves had they ever bothered to employ a decent producer. However, they did not do this, which was why all of their music sounded rather thin, with a drum beat which ticked when it should have snapped and a guitar which sometimes jangled when it should have roared. In spite of all that, the weak production is perversely part of the band's charm. Too much production and what can you get? Still From The Heart, that's what!

The exception to this was their second LP, Take Me To Your Leader, which attempted a more mature approach, augmenting the low budget guitar attack with keyboards and saxophone, more thoughtful lyrics and expansive arrangements. It failed miserably, but at least it tried to forge new ground.

A click on the scans for The Singles will give you a detailed history of the band, but that won't tell you that Sid Vicious doppelganger Lee Drury previously played in The Corvettes with Steve Pear (The 4-Skins) and Jeff Wilmott (In Camera), and that Drury sang 'The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle' live with Paul Cook and Steve Jones at the Moonlight Club, with Tenpole Tudor as the backing band. It also doesn't mention that drummer Billy Trigger joined The Tall Boys before he became a roadie for PiL and tour manager for Primal Scream and Oasis. Drury latterly played in The Stand Ins and The October Revolution.

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Lineups

Lineup 1 (1980-1981)

Lee Drury (ex-The Corvettes) - vocals
Jim Berlin (aka Jim Slim aka Marc Berlin Roena) - guitar
Bernie Cairns - bass
Billy Trigger (aka Billy Wizz) - drums

Recorded: Nothing

Lineup 2 (1981-1984)

Lee Drury - vocals
Jim Berlin (aka Jim Slim aka Marc Berlin Roena) - guitar
Gary Walton (aka Gary Spanner) - bass
Billy Trigger (aka Billy Wizz) - drums

Recorded: Apeman 7", Shell Shock 7", Teenager In Love 7", The Rumble Of The East LP, Live At The Klub Foot 7", and Werewolf 7", as well as a Peel Session in June '82.