Further Temptations

Originally a pub rock band called Rockslide who released a single called 'Roller Coaster' which got nowhere. Sniffing the punk wind of change in '76 however, they emerged as one of the most exciting bands from Manchester's punk scene. While Slaughter & The Dogs erred on the Glam side and The Buzzcocks delivered pop with a buzz saw, The Drones, who could obviously play, took the energy of punk to heart and delivered it on vinyl in a series of taut, amphetamine driven toons. With a mixture of originals like Persecution Complex, Lookalikes and Corgi Crap and covers such as Search & Destroy & My Generation they blitzed Manchester venues like Pips, Rafters and The Electric Circus. Their first single Temptations Of A White Collar Worker was classic punk containing the excellent Lookalikes. The single sold over 10,000 copies on their own label OHM’s records.

Signing to Valer records the future looked rosy. The 'Bone Idol / Just Wanna Be Myself' AA side single was a classic and shifted over 20,000 copies. Supporting bands like The Stranglers (even joining them for encores of Go Buddy Go) followed with some good press in the music weeklies like Sounds and features in Fanzines such as Shy Talk and Summer Salt increased their profile. While recording demos for their Bone Idol single they also recorded a number of pisstakes of Clash songs which Strummer found amusing on hearing bless him. A John Peel session showed them able to mix it with the big boys and this was confirmed as they were one of the few punk bands to make it to an album releasing Further Temptations with its famous punkette sleeve. That said, an album was  perhaps a step too far with the band not having strong enough material. The album at the Press launch was given out with free dog collars though less salubrious tales of the event tell of the band going thru the model featured on the cover as it were!

Then Valer went bust and like for so many '77 bands, time caught up with The Drones. Trying to move on they drafted in a keyboards player and sexy dancing girls. The result was described in a Sounds review of 25.2.78 as "The whole thing was a pathetic failure...Back to rock cabaret... a subtle change in the musical policy would have been far better than a change in stage act...It breaks my heart to write all this." Without the anger and energy of punk as an impetus they settled into inertia. 

www.punk77.co.uk

Ripped from the 1977 original vinyl release to slightly muddled MP3 @ 320kbps

The Drones; Further Temptations

A1.  Persecution Complex

A2.  Bone Idol

A3.  Movement

A4.  Be My Baby

A5.  Corgi Crap

A6.  Sad So Sad

A7.  The Change

B1.  Lookalikes

B2.  The Underdog

B3.  No More Time

B4.  City Drones

B5.  Just Want To Be Myself

B6.  Lift Off The Bans

 

The Drones; Temptations Of A White Collar Worker 7''EP

A1.  Lookalikes

A2.  Corgi Crap

B1.  Hard On Me

B2.  You’ll Lose

The Drones; Just Want To Be Myself 7''

A.     Just Want To Be Myself

B.     Bone Idol

Both singles available by clicking here