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The Kirsty MacColl web site
FACT FILE
Before setting off as a solo artist, Kirsty was part of an R&B outfit called (in the spirit of the late 70s) the Drug Addix.
They gigged locally, played support slots and released one EP on the Chiswick label. This is their story.
Prior
to the start of her own solo recording career, Kirsty appeared - masquerading
as Mandy Doubt - on the E.P. The Drug Addix make
a record. This record now features in the Rare
Record Price Guide 2003 book, valued at £10. If you can
find it, it was on Chiswick Records SW39, originally released in June 1978
when Kirsty was only 18. Here's Kirsty in action with the band
at the Venue in London (photo: Terry Hurley).
Guitarist George Lloyd says they were a "good fun, no frills R&B band", they comprised under a cloak of pseudonym Art Nouveau (guitars and vocals), Sterling Silver (vocals), Alan Offa ( bass) and Ron Griffin (drums).
According to Record Collector in 1994, "The band recorded a four track demo which Chiswick promptly released as a single. It whipped up a mini controversy because, in Kirsty's words, it was "quite rude". One song, Gay boys in bondage, became a talking point for obvious reasons. It was meant to be a parody of the Lou Reed School of Seediness, a piece of camp corn that lent itself to stage dramatics." The band's mix of Sweet Jane type riffs and slide-guitar-propelled R&B fell between two audiences."
There are four tracks: Gay boys in bondage (also available on the compilation album The Chiswick Story), Addington Shuffle, Special Clinic and Glutton for punishment.
Kirsty seems most prominent on the Special Clinic track, though as she later said, "All I did on the record was backing vocals. You can barely hear me.. We weren't actually a punk band, but at the time punk was king and we called ourselves that just to get some gigs. Everyone expected an outrageous, Sex Pistols type of band but we weren't. We were all slide guitar and R&B. I was just the token boiler on backup vocals... Of course that annoyed me but you've got to start somewhere. If you can't really sing and you can't play anything, you can't argue about it."
The track Gay boys appeared on a Spanish release promo alongside Billy Bragg's Riff Raff and The Jook. The title was Rock'n'Roll Suburbano de Londres and featured Chicas de Romford by Riff Raff (featuring Kirsty's colleague and friend Billy Bragg), Lugar de Vejacion by the Jook and Gay Boys masquerading as Los Gay Estan Escalvizados.
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