Eddie and the Hot Rods -

Eddie and the Hot Rods were an English pub-rock/punk band that released the 1976/77 Island albums Teenage Depression and Life on the Line, joined on the second by ex-Kursaal Flyers lead guitarist Graeme Douglas. “Eddie” was their mannequin mascot, not an actual member, despite the name of their manager Ed Hollis (older brother of Talk Talk frontman Mark Hollis). Drummer Steve Nicol later surfaced in One the Juggler with ex-Burlesque singer/saxist Ian Trimmer.

Members: Barrie Masters (vocals), Dave Higgs (guitar, 1975-81, 1992), Steve Nicol (drums), Rob Steel (bass, 1975), Pete Wall (guitar, 1975), Paul Gray (bass, 1976-80), Lew Lewis (harmonica, 1976), Graeme Douglas (guitar, 1976-80), Tex Axile (drums), Warren Kennedy (guitar, vocals, 1984-85), Tony Cranney (bass, 1984-85), Russell Struther (bass, vocals), Gary Loker (guitar), Simon Bowley (drums), Dipster [Ian Dean] (bass), Richard Holgarth (guitar), Chris Taylor (guitar)

Background

Eddie and the Hot Rods formed in 1975 in Southend-on-Sea when singer Barrie Masters, guitarist Dave Higgs, bassist Rob Steel, and drummer Steve Nicol recast their Rochford group Buckshee.

Masters and Nicol started Buckshee in 1973 with Steel and guitarist Pete Ward. The group rehearsed in Nicol’s garage and played school fetes and bingo halls around Rochford. Buckshee replaced Ward within months with Higgs, who answered an advertisement in the window of Chris Stevens Music Shop. Higgs previously played guitar in the Fix with future Dr. Feelgood singer Lee Brilleaux. The band used a mannequin named Eddie as an early stage prop.

Masters was born May 4, 1956, in Rochford and attended King Edmund School. Paul Gray was born Aug. 1, 1958, in Leigh-on-Sea and began playing bass at age thirteen after attending a Hawkwind concert. Gray joined the Hot Rods after answering a bassist advertisement in the Southend Evening Echo and replaced Steel before the first Island releases. The group also added harmonica player Lew Lewis to the lineup.

Dr. Feelgood helped the Hot Rods secure a May 1975 London booking at the Kensington, which led to a Saturday residency and regular work on the London pub circuit. The Hot Rods began an alternating Tuesday residency with the 101ers in October 1975 at the Nashville Rooms. Island A&R scout Howard Thompson saw the group on the circuit and approached the members with a contract offer in November. The band recruited Canvey Island DJ Ed Hollis as manager and signed with Island Records.

Early Singles

On Feb. 6, 1976, Island issued the debut Hot Rods single: “Writing on the Wall” (b/w “Cruisin’ (In the Lincoln)”), both co-written by Higgs and Hollis, who co-produced the with Vic Maile on Christmas Eve 1975 at Jackson’s Studios.

Eddie and the Hot Rods headlined the Marquee Club on Feb. 12, supported by the Sex Pistols, a six-month-old quartet with fewer than a dozen prior shows on the London college circuit. The Pistols set descended into confrontation with the audience and damage to the PA. Journalist Neil Spencer reviewed the Pistols set in the Feb. 21 issue of NME under the headline “Don’t Look Over Your Shoulder But the Sex Pistols Are Coming,” supplied by subeditor Ian MacDonald. Spencer closed the review with a quote from Pistols guitarist Steve Jones: “Actually we’re not into music. We’re into chaos.” The coverage gave the group its first substantial national music-press exposure and preceded the cancellation of further Hot Rods support dates.

Island followed in June 1976 with “Wooly Bully” (b/w “Horseplay (Weary of the Schmaltz)”). Andy Mackay produced the cover of the 1965 Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs single by Domingo “Sam” Samudio, while Hollis and Maile produced the Higgs–Hollis B-side. Lewis played harmonica on “Horseplay,” his final Hot Rods recording, and left after a dispute with management. Masters, Higgs, Gray, and Nicol continued as a quartet.

Discography: