The Nuclear
Socketts formed in King’s Lynn , Norfolk
in April, 1979 . At their first gig
later that year, John Peel was in the audience. He became an
immediate convert and would later give the band considerable airplay.
The band released two singles in 1981 , the
first of which was the ‘Honour Before
Glory’ EP , released in January.
It made No.1 in the King’s Lynn chart. It was
so successful that the band started their own label Subversive and released records by Reality , European Toys
and Section A .
In March,
1981 the band appeared as part of the John Peel Roadshow at Lowestoft College.
The gig was recorded and the track ‘Riot
Squad’ from the show was released as a flexi disc.
August saw the release of the ‘Play Loud’ 7” . It was a favourite of John Peel and he would often open the
show with it. In the same month the band recorded a John Peel session with ex-Mott The Hoople’s
Dale Griffin.
Both singles are highly sought after amongst 70s
punk collectors and killed-by-death fans.
A
third single was recorded at Trident Studios, London in March 1982. The A-side
was ‘900 Days’ b/w ‘I’m Alive’ , the former is a rewrite of
an any earlier composition ‘Bully Boys’, the latter an updated faster version
of ‘Pretender’s Zeal’ with a
different guitar solo. The band had run out of money and had hoped that a
bigger independent label would release it, but after several months and no
success the impetus had been lost and the band disbanded the following year.
‘The
Complete Singles’
compiles their two singles , their live flexi, the previously unreleased
third single and two studio demos, limited to just 300 hand-numbered copies on
orange vinyl.
Track
Listing:
Spy
In My Brain/ Potential Killers/ Pretender’s Zeal/ Play Loud/ Shadow On The Map/
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