Johnny & The Self Abusers (Simple Minds) - Saints and Sinners (1977)
Jim Kerr at the time a budding singer and lyricist and his friend from the age of 8 Charlie Burchill teamed up with the band's founder John Milarky, they brought with them several of their school friends, Brian McGee on drums and Tony Donald on Bass and Alan MacNeil on guitar.
With punk verve they immediately changed their names (as most punk band members seemed to in the day). Milarky becoming 'Johnnie Plague', Kerr as 'Pripton Weird', MacNeil choosing 'Syd Syphilis' and Burchill as 'Charlie Argue'.
Their first gig was in a pub in Glasgow on Easter Monday 1977, a couple of weeks later they were supporting Generation X in Edinburgh.
Simple Minds went on to more synth based material and a bit of experimenting before they developed their 'stadium rock' gods sound which brought the world 'Don't You Forget About Me', 'Belfast Child' etc. Here they are with their first single from their 1979 album Life In A Day from the Old Grey Whistle Test from that year, to me they sound more than a little Roxy Music at this point in their careers.
Cuban Heels on the other hand adopted a slightly different approach
This is one of their songs, a cover from the old Petula Clarke number originally written by Tony Hatch and being a hit for Petula all the way back in 1964
The band were:
- John Milarky - Vocals
- Paul Armour - Bass
- Laurie Cuffe - Guitars
- David Duncan - Drums
They did record some Peel Sessions, were signed by Virgin Records and also supported bands such as The Stranglers, The Jam and Comsat Angels. They Notched up 5 singles and 1 album before calling it a day in 1981.
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