On June 21, 1977, listeners to John Peel’s radio show heard a song called “Pretty Vacant. ” It’s not a preview of the Sex Pistols’ upcoming single of the same name, which hits stores on July 2, but rather another song. The band that earned the name Chelsea, a British punk band whose first single, “Right to Work”, was released on June 3.
It’s weird. Punk enthusiasts and connoisseurs of the scene knew that “Pretty Vacant” was a staple of the Sex Pistols. Demos of the song were in circulation prior to the single’s release, as were live recordings. Chelsea’s choice of the name was equivalent to a psychedelic band hearing about “Strawberry Fields Forever” just before its release and marveling at the Beatles appropriating the name. Or, more recently, by stealing, let’s say “Bohemian Rhapsody. “
At least Chelsea didn’t debut their “Pretty Vacant”. If they had, the reaction would have been dismissive. This is a one-of-a-kind recording for Peel’s session. Today, his “Pretty Vacant” is heard on the four-CD folding box set The Step Forward Years 1977-1982. , whatever its peculiar title, this specific “Pretty Vacant” is a wonderful three-minute example of 1977 Brit-punk at its most reductive. “I’m pretty empty, yes, yes, I am” is the main vocal chorus.
The episode “Pretty Vacant” is typical of the missteps, intermittent progress, and general chaos inherent in Chelsea. The band, and still is, the vehicle of the man born John O’Hara, better known as Gene October. He and they contributed to the creation of British punk; basic for this. However, he and they never managed to take off in full force. However, The Step Forward Years brings together 87 tracks from albums and radio sessions, as well as demos and some concerts. More than enough to perceive what Chelsea was doing musically once they started recording.
In 1977, despite line-up changes, there were two fantastic singles, “Right to Work” and “High Rise Living”. The following year and until 1980 saw wonderful stability, four singles and, in 1979, a deyet album. This phase was incredibly similar to Clash in the sense of Give ’em Enough Rope, produced glorious singles and an asymmetrical but above all wonderful album. Then there was another split in 1980 and the invention in October of a new Chelsea: five singles, an album, all regime readings of punk-sounding tropes that leave little impression. This is the center of The Step Forward Years, around which demonstrations, live curtains and radio sessions are hung. Nothing here is unprecedented. What’s overlooked in his fairly and modestly annotated package (it’s just the music collected, avoiding context) is a sense of Chelsea’s underlying importance. Regardless of the merits of much of the music from 1977 to 1980, it’s more than just Brit-punk. band. It’s about the guy who has become Gene October.
John O’Hara was connected to Acme Attractions, a clothes stall in the King’s Road’s Antiquarius antiques market. He had been in porn films and mags, and was an extra in the films Aces High and The Omen. Acme was run by John Krivine and Steph Raynor. Jeanette Lee and Don Letts worked there. In time, it turned into the shop Boy. Acme complemented and counterparted Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood’s Sex/Seditionaries shop, further west down King’s Road. As well as Acme, Antiquarius also had a stall run by Marion Elliot, the future Poly Styrene. O’Hara knew exactly what was evolving along the King’s Road.
Chelsea was formed under the direction of Krivine. Al arrive through an advertisement in a music newspaper, the first bassist was Tony James, a friend of Mick Jones of The Clash; Both were part of the organization of the practice session only in late 1975/early 1976, London SS. Billy Broad, Brighton’s former band The Rockettes, was the guitarist for the new band. He was part of the Sex Pistols organization nicknamed “the Bromley Contingent” through Caroline Coon. Broad had tried to involve McLaren in the Rockettes. The drummer was John Towe. This band was part of the burgeoning punk scene.
Their first gig took place at the ICA on 18 October 1976, still under the name Chelsea LSD, on a bill featuring Krivine’s Throbbing Gristle. Her set combined chestnut tracks like “Around and Around,” “For Your Love,” “Gloria,” “Route 66,” “Rebel Rebel” and mid-’60s Stones songs with two originals, “Cathy McGowan” and “Walking in the. ” City. “After opting for Andrew Czezowski as his next manager, he did the books for Acme Attractions and the McLaren/Westwood store; subsidized the Stranglers in the role of Chelsea in the Nashville Rooms on November 21, 1976. Her performance ended with Gene October, taking on the role of O’Hara. That moment lingered on the side of the stage as guitarist Billy Idol, as Broad had become, sang “From the Heart. “That was it for this edition of Chelsea. Gene October had been ruled out. On stage, with his own band.
Idol, James and Towe soon discovered guitarist Bob Andrews and played their first gig as Generation X on December 14 at Covent Garden’s new punk club, The Roxy. “Cathy McGowan” now “Ready Steady Go”. Run by Czezowski and his wife Susan Carrington, The Roxy used a place October had discovered: he told Czezowski about what he then called Chaguramas. Once again, the month of October was reserved. He left without a group. What happened to Generation X belongs to the history of punk.
October has risen again. It features Carey Fortune (drums, former Stranglers roadie), Bob Jessie (bass) and Martin Stacey (guitar). They made their Roxy debut as the opening act for The Clash on January 1, 1977. Czezowski hired them under the name “The O’Haras,” after the genuine October call. Their fare was £15 and a drinks circular. The Clash received £100 or 50% of the buy-in, whichever was greater. By the time they took the stage, “The O’ Haras” had become the next version of Chelsea. His next exhibitions were at Hope and Anchor and Czezowski was no longer his trainer, The Roxy.
It seemed to be going well. In March and October, Chelsea announced the release of a single titled “Curfew” on Track Records, the label run by The Who’s management. It never happened. Siouxsie and the Banshees also had contact with Track and even recorded demos for the label. The punk band that eventually shaped Track was transplanted through New Yorkers The Heartbreakers, whose first single was released in May. some other difficulties in the future.
This scenario was aggravated by complaints from the music press about the month of October. In February, the National Rock Star reported that the Chelsea frontman “insists he’s only 22, though he’s clearly older. “The new wave say he’s a phony, that he’s interested in punk rock just because it’s fashionable. . . he’s a style and an actor, and being a Chelsea singer is just another role for him.
Role playing or not, the brisk, impactful “Right to Work” single was released in early June. It was on Step-Forward, the independent label run by Sniffin’ Glue’s Mark Perry under the watchful eye of the business-minded Miles Copeland. By the time it was out though, Chelsea had once again fallen apart. The Fortune, Jessie and Stacey band recorded the single, but its misleading sleeve pictured the next Chelsea: October, Fortune, Henry Badwoski (aka Henry Daze, bass) and James Stevenson (guitar). It was this line-up (pictured in the ad seen above right) which recorded the Peel session with “Pretty Vacant.” Chelsea had survived yet another smash-up.
After that, Badwoski left and a few other bassists came and went, one of whom was the superbly named Simon Vitesse. There was an appearance in Derek Jarman’s film Jubilee (the edition of “Right to Work” recorded for the The Step Forward Years soundtrack album is not included in The Step Forward Years; to be complete, it may also have been licensed). Then, as it seems, Badwoski returned. October announced a concert on October 6 at the Roxy, that there would be anything to do with Czezowski, it would be the last: Chelsea’s farewell show. Gene October left punk to form a powerpop band called Love and Kisses. Chelsea’s legacy was a simple query from Peel and being home to the now burgeoning Generation X.
Of course, this is not the case.
A new Chelsea, surely punk, played their first gig at the Marquee on December 21, 1977. The powerpop went out the window. A week earlier, Step-Forward released Chelsea’s second single, “High Rise Living. “It was usually not recorded by the band that can now be seen on stage, but was finished by the line-up of October, Badowski, Fortune and Stevenson. Presumably, with the good times just around the corner, “High Rise Living” was never planned for release, at least at first.
After this, with October and his new members including stalwart guitarist James Stevenson, a general level of stability into 1980 when there were yet more splits and October’s construction of an entirely new Chelsea which played its first show on 8 January 1981 at the Soho club Gossips.
The twists and turns and unexpected longevity of the Gene October-fronted band, which has called itself Chelsea, make it tricky to weed out what has meaning in this specific facet of British punk rock history. So, in this case, is the sheer volume of what is collected in The Step Forward Years 1977-1982. Along with all this, as the records continued to be released, the earlier gems were buried under an ever-growing pile of not-so-good stuff. Chelsea’s role in the early days of what was fermenting along King’s Road has also been buried.
This box doesn’t tell the whole story but, if one does their due diligence, it’s implicitly a piece of the puzzle that proves Chelsea and Gene October played a major role in the progression of what has become British punk.
@MrKieronTyler
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