Formed: Birkenhead, Wirral, Merseyside, England, UK
Horrible looking, horrible sounding band who released one of the first new wave singles to come out of Merseyside. Boss Man, however, is definitely not what I'd call proper punk: despite the effort to play fast and simple and keep things short, the music is more precisely punky R'n'B and singer Sweet William sounds like he'd be happier in Judas Priest or something.
The lineup on the first single was:
Sweet William - vocals
Keith "Kid" Steele RN Keith Wilson - guitar
Roddie Rodent -guitar
Al Sation - bass
Paul Pleasant (RN Paul Codman) - Premier drums
School Teacher, their second single, come on nice red vinyl, but is full of soloing and misogynistic hard rock cliches.
Sweet William - vocals
Roddie Rodent - guitars, vocals, piano
Paul Plums - drums. This is Paul Pleasant with a new improved name
Al - bass, backing vocals
Though they played the Roxy (supporting The Police) they were never allowed to play at Eric's, allegedly because they were a) not arty wankers and b) very working class indeed. They gave themselves punky pseudonyms like Al Sation (bass) and Roddie Rodent (guitar) but didn't make much effort to look the part, a characteristically Northern trait. Okay, three of them - including dog-collar sporting skinhead Sweet William - made a fist of being "punk" looking, but one of them was a long-haired Ian Hunter/Larry Wallis rocker type type and one of them had a well-groomed moustache/beard thing happening. Apparently very wild on stage, they were tipped for greatness by Joe Strummer and got good write-ups in the press, but come Summer 1978 they were no more.
Post-Mutants, Keith "Kid" Steele (guitar), Rodent and Paul Pleasant formed The Geisha Girls. Roddie Rodent was also in Bugs, Mother's Ruin, Attempted Moustache, Afraid Of Mice, Windows, Munchies and others.
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DISCOGRAPHY
Singles & Albums
Boss Man (7", 1977)
School Teacher (7", 1978)
Various Artists
Killed By Death #24 ?? LP 1999 (no label): School Teacher
Live To Ride Norway LP 2009 (Heavy Metal): Hard Times
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Links
Why Control Bombsite Fanzine - Has a vintage Mutants fanzine article
