The Drones – In session for John Peel – Dec. 13, 1977 – BBC Radio 1 –
Continuing our exploration of Punk on its 40th anniversary since inception. Tonight it’s The Drones, a band long considered to be at Ground Zero of the Punk movement. Originally formed as a Pub-rock band in 1975, The Drones failed to make much impact and quickly reinvented themselves as a Punk Band, and their reputations soared from there.
Making their debut in 1976 with Generation X as support, The Drones took their Manchester audience by storm and quickly became a band to watch. They relocated to London and became one of the first bands to play at the now-legendary Roxy club. They played support to The Vibrators in 1977 and toured with X-Ray Spex around the same time.
This session, recorded on December 13, 1977 was their first (and presumed only) session for John Peel and came around the time of the release of their debut ep Temptations Of A White-Collar Worker, which the press regaled as “classic dole-queue Punk”. Their session for Peel was recorded at the BBC’s Maida Vale studios and their debut album Further Temptations was released later on that month – and again, regaled by the press as “Classic Punk”.
But as was the case with many bands during this period, they weren’t destined to last, and The Drones called it quits in 1982. However, they reunited in 1999 to record their follow-up album Sorted and to finally tour the U.S.
To get an idea of what the excitement was all about during the formative years of this band, it’s a good idea to crank this one up and get ready to celebrate the weekend. Here is that debut session from The Drones, recorded at the BBC’s Maida Vale Studios for John Peel on December 13, 1977.
More evidence a movement was afoot and was not about to stop.
