The Drones (English band)

The Drones
Origin Manchester, England
Genres Punk rock
Years active 1975–1982
1999
Labels O.H.M.S., Valer
Past members M.J. Drone
Gus Gangrene
Steve ‘Whisper’ Cundall
Pete Purfect

The Drones are a punk rock band from Manchester, England. For a period of time, the band were in their early days produced and managed by Paul Morley.[1]

One critic wrote: "Bonafide DIY three-chord wonders, the Drones were there at punk’s inception."[2]

Career

Formed in Manchester in 1975, the band started out as a pub rock outfit called Rockslide and released a single called "Roller Coaster". When this failed to make an impact, they reinvented themselves as a punk rock band.

In 1976, The Drones made their debut at the Houldsworth Hall, Manchester with Generation X as support.

Most bands in the thriving Manchester punk scene stayed in the city, but The Drones relocated to London. They became one of the pioneering punk bands that performed in the first few months of the now-legendary Roxy Club. They supported The Vibrators in January 1977, headlined in February, and supported X-Ray Spex and Chelsea in March.[3] Later that year they supported The Stranglers on tour. The band appeared on two influential early punk compilation albums Streets and Short Circuit: Live at the Electric Circus.[4]

The band's debut EP, Temptations Of A White Collar Worker (1977), was described by one reviewer as "classic dole-queue punk." [5] In October 1977, the Drones’ second single, "Bone Idol", was released. In December 1977, they recorded a session at Maida Vale 4 studio for John Peel at BBC Radio 1. The track listing was "Be My Baby", "The Change", "Clique", and "Movement".[6] That same month they released their debut album, Further Temptations, which has come to be regarded as a punk classic.[7][8]

Fans would have to wait until May 1999 for the follow-up album, Sorted. The band reformed and toured to promote the record; including concert dates in the United States.

In 2001 "Bone Idol" was included in Mojo magazine’s list of the best punk rock singles of all time.[9]

Lead singer and guitarist M.J. Drone (aka Michael Howells) died on 10 January 2013.[10]

In 2015, The Drones re-formed with original members Steve 'Wispa' Cundall, Gary 'Gus' Callendar and new members Martin Smith [drums] and Glenn Jones [guitar].

In 2016, the new Drones line up will be playing festival and other dates and recording a live album as well as new material.

Discography

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Appearances on various artist compilations (Selective)

Listing of those various artist compilation albums mentioned in the text of the main article:

Singles

See also

References

  1. ↑ Band biography at Allmusic
  2. ↑ Strong, M.C. (2003) The Great Indie Discography, Canongate, Edinburgh, ISBN 1-84195-335-0, p. 58
  3. ↑ Thompson, Dave (2000). Punk. Ontario: Collector’s Guide Publication. pp. 61–62. ISBN 1-896522-27-0.
  4. ↑ Johnny Forgotten (January 2004). "Punk Rock Compilation classics". trakMARX (issue13). Retrieved 2007-11-30.
  5. ↑ Steve Gardner (1996) "Hiljaiset Levyt: 100 Best Punk singles";
  6. ↑ "John Peel Sessions on BBC Radio 1". Retrieved 2007-12-01.;
  7. ↑ Joynson, V. (2001). Up Yours! A Guide to UK Punk, New Wave & Early Post Punk. Borderline Productions, Wolverhampton. p. 129. ISBN 978-1-899855-13-1. the typical enthusiasm of many of the early punk bands.
  8. ↑ Gardner, Steve (1996). "Hiljaiset Levyt: 100 Best Punk LP's". a great punk record... it's got the same kind of chugging rhythm section that made The Vibrators so great, and the songs are real catchy Ramones-type tunes with a real hot guitar sound.
  9. ↑ Mojo (October 2001) - 100 Punk Scorchers , Issue 95, London
  10. ↑ Robb, John (16 January 2013). "MJ Drone, singer from The Drones RIP". Louder than War. Retrieved 18 January 2013.

The Drones at AllMusic

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