Vietnamese Babies
- Hope And Anchor, with Squad and another as yet unidentified band, probably 1979
- Radford Community Centre, with Product and others
The Vietnamese Babies where/could be a solid RnBish band.
The Vietnamese Babies where/could be a solid RnBish band.
Brilliant site… can’t wait to relive more of my teenage years.
Similar issues with memory that you mention elsewhere. Can fill some details in here; the unknown bands guitarist is Dave Woodcock (school and Tech together) the lead singer was his girl but can’t remember her name. She was dead cute and I believe she had a slight disability with her right arm (you can only see the left hand). Dave’s brother was the guitarist in Viet babies and they are both seen in photo 27 with Dave in the foreground. Cheers ; )-
Great stuff, any idea on bands name? Anyway, many thanks for that,
Mark
Well – that lead singer was me! Whose girl was I ?! What a shock to see those photos… made me smile.
Lets have some more… wasn’t my band name Homicide? Or was that another one before that? Along with Ian Marchant- me thinks?
Oct 2011
hi
band name – you might be right
http://sites.google.com/site/bandsfromcoventry/coventry-bands-a-to-z/coventry-bands-h/homicide
is cutting from fanzine Alternative Sounds which has your name on it…
Mark
Mmmm.. wasn’t Bev (queen of Cov Punk ref Pete C.) Homicide vocalist; see other photo file. Think this may be your one before that? Sorry about the “girl” business should have read “girlfriend”. Still sure about the Dave Woodcock and his brother thing. Still cute. Cheers Andy G.
hi
Homicide had a least 2 vocalists along the way and there should be more Homicide shots going up over the next few months with Ray on vocals, maybe someone from the band will shed some light on this…
Mark
I was the bass player in the Vietnamese Babies ( I never realised I had such a gorgeous back of the head – half a dozen shots though I do get a full frontal on no.16 ! ) . Jud Woodcock was our guitarist – brother of Dave . I never thought we were anymore R&B than Squad and many other bands , it was just the fact that we had heard some music recorded before 1977 that seemed to confuse some people . Like Fiona I found it a real shock to see these photos after all these years , although I can’t remember a thing about it – not unusual for a VB gig ! Great site , look forward to seeing more .
hi
thanks for getting in touch, I’ll have to update the captions with some of this info, should be one or two other VB shots at some point, although these are the best I have of the band
Mark
Fiona dear girl
how the devil are you ?
Hey Fiona, not sure of your band but it was not Homicide. You were of course dating Ian the lead guitarist. The Homicide vocalists were Kid Kermit, Toby the Jehovah witness, Ratty and then Bev. I had the great task of telling Bev she was not going to sing on the LP. Ian wanted you to sing on it but he ended up doing up
Meff
Keith dear boy
I’m fine- how bout you?
Older and wiser!
older but none wiser. living in a, lovely village by the sea. could be worse!
I’m pretty sure that the 2nd lot of photos are from the Radford Community Centre in Jubilee Crescent . I can remember this one as it ended in a mass brawl ! It was a Sunday afternoon and we ( The VBs ) let a whole bunch of other bands use our gear , and there was a lot of jamming going on – I reckon that’s Danny from Squad in pic 18 so I bet we’re playing Louie Louie because we usually did . I think the photographer must have left early because local idiots Criminal Class turned up acting like their usual sweet selves , played and deliberately damaged our gear to which we took great exception . We proceeded to exact physical retribution upon them and just about everybody present contributed to the action . The whole thing spread into the surrounding streets until the old bill turned up . Ah happy days .
hi
thanks for that – I was sure it was somewhere near Jubilee Crescent – don’t remember Criminal Class being there so could well be like you say
Mark
My favourite gig was the dope and wanker, it wasn’t without it’s notoriety, sad to see it demolished now. One of the pictures shows the vietnamese babies drummer paul who was in my opinion a goodun. there were many “goodun’s” in the crew in the pictures, how about this:
One of the last nights in the dope some of the specials turned up for a VBs gig, and diverted some major violent bollocks. Good Guys! 28 years later I find one of the specials playing in a blues band.The VBs didn’t split up so much as fall apart with life’s priorities. Vocalist Kieth did nearly die after an electrical fault in a studio sent 240v through his body. Wherever you are Kieth I still love you man. VBs bass and guitar (col & jud) continued Jud still musical as I know Col is too. But the dope days were special. Love the photos.
It is with deep sadness that I inform you of the death of Keith Bailey , vocalist with the V.Babies . Keith and I met at Woodlands School and formed our first band in 1976, followed by the Vietnamese (later V.) Babies in 1977. Keith was a unique character who always seemed to make things better when he was around and I was privileged to be his friend for over 40 years . He was the best friend I ever had and I loved him like a brother . Rest in peace my old mate .
Keith Bailey 21-1-59 to 20-2-15
I came upon this site while feeling nostalgic for the old days, and was delighted to find a V. Babies section. I was at school with Keith Bailey and Colin Wardle, fun guys , and I was with them at the legendary Pistols /Clash gig at the Lanch in 1976, and helped shift their equipment to their first rehearsals not long after. The first line up with Col on guitar was a raw raucous thing that should have gone on but the drummer and bassist left and in came Paul James on drums who I also knew from school and Col switched to bass to accommodate a new guitarist who I always found hard work (and he still might be judging from his incoherent ramblings above!).Saw them loads of times, they played everywhere but they always seemed to have gigs at the hope and anchor (I have a live tape of them from there) . I don’t really get the description of them as R&B ish, they just seemed to know all sorts of music, Keith and Col were enormous music fans (for example Keith loved the Velvet Underground, Col the Stooges) and after all every other Squad song was a Chuck Berry 12 bar! They were very young too, in these 1979 photos they would have been the same age as me 18-19, so it was sad to hear of Keith’s death, he was such a great guy. Ah it all seems so long ago now….
Steve was our roadie in the early days (he had use of a works van) who wanted to join on bass but Jud came in on guitar and I switched to bass. Went off in a sulk and hardly saw him again. He always blamed Jud but as he says, it all seems so long ago now. Hope that you’re keeping well Steve, time to let it go mate!