The Disrupters

        The Disrupters were heavily influenced by the early punk bands such as The Clash, The Ramones, Generation X, The Lurkers, Johnny Moped, The Damned, and several others. Vocalist Bangkok Steve immediately wanted to start a band after becoming inspired by those bands and was eventually invited to rehearse with Gibbon who took up guitar, and Dave Howard on bass. Kevin Wymer was added on drums, after they stole a drum set from The Aborts. It was now late 1980 in Norwich, and the Disrupters were born.

     Their early gigs were chaotic, and at one gig Steve had dog feces thrown all over him, but this didn't stop him from finishing their set. Afterwards, they went to a UK Subs gig, and the train they took back to Norwich got filled with punks, and in the end violence broke out and the train ended up trashed. When the train got to it's destination, the police had already arrived and took everyone in. Dave ratted out Steve, which led to him getting replaced by Tim Perkins who had never played a bass before in his life.

     Around this time, The band recorded the song 'Napalm' in Kevin rooms, and it was sent to Crass which they included in the first Bullshit Detector album. Crass's 'Feeding of the Five Thousand' was noted as a really big influence on the band. During the Summer of 1981, The Disrupters entered Whitehouse Studio and recorded the 'Young Offender' single which was released on their own Radical Change Records label. Unfortunately, Gibbon left/was kicked out(every member has his own story) of the band and was replaced by a better guitarist named Paul Greener.

     In 1982, the band entered Spaceward Studios in Cambridge to record their 'Shelters for the Rich' single. After the single, Tim decided to quit the band and the scene, and was replaced on bass by Steve Hough. Prem Nick was also recruited for their spoken word tracks/poetry. This became the classic Disrupters line-up that remained from 1983 until their split. The band then quickly entered Flying Pig Studios to begin work on their debut L.P.

     Their 'Unrehearsed Wrongs' L.P. was released in 1983 and is considered the band's favorite album. All their 80's releases were released on their own label, and they also helped other bands release records such as Icon A.D., Self Abuse and Revulsion. The band noted that they had developed a close relationship and toured the most with Revulsion.The band continued to play several gigs, help bands, and they took part in several hunt sabotages and demonstrations, often appearing in court to defend themselves against arrest.

     Another single titled 'Bomb Heaven' had been released in 1983, and another L.P. titled 'Playing with Fire' was released in 1984. However, the band felt that that material was lacking compared to their 'Unrehearsed Wrongs' L.P. Several gigs followed with bands such as Conflict, Subhumans, Chelsea and the Instigators. The band often had to hide behind supermarkets around five in the morning, and rob as much as they could by hand from their vegetable deliveries. Steve also went through several cases of bronchitis from their damp living conditions.

     In 1985, The band recorded and released their 'Alive in the Electric Chair' 12" E.P from Raven Recording Studios(other tracks were recorded at the Flying Pig). Around the same year, a benefit L.P. was recorded for the Norwich Hunt Saboteurs titled 'Words Worth Shouting'. Soon enough, the disillusionment began to kick in as they saw all these 'punk rules' coming up and fanzine editors that seemed like interrogators to them.For example, one fanzine argued to them why only part of them were vegetarians. A couple of tracks were recorded in 1986, but the band began to slowly becoming inactive.

     In 1988, the band began to reorganize, and made their 'Anarchy, Peace and Chips' D.V.D. which was filmed by Derek Williams. This would become the last thing the band would release. In late December of 1988, they played their last gig at the Jacquard in Norwich where their vocalist had just gotten a job there as a bartender. Afterwards, vocalist Steve felt that the band had run it's course and left the band, and hoped that the rest of the band would continue on without him, but all the other members agreed to his reason and decided to give in too which led to the demise of the Disrupters. Nick continued to write and perform poetry with Blyth Power, Kevin joined a punk/metal band named Saigon Kiss, Alex joined Paranoia and Steve joined a Ramones cover band. Recently, the band has reformed, played several gigs and even released a new album titled 'Generation Retard'.

I know I have seen lyrics for this band somewhere before, but I cannot remember where I saw them. Unfortunately, I have none at the moment, but if you do post them in the comments!


Soon to come Downloads:

Young Offender 1981 Radical Change
Shelters for the Rich 1982 Radical Change
Unrehearsed Wrongs L.P. 1983 Radical Change
Bomb Heaven 1983 1983 Radical Change
Live Unknown 1983
Playing with Fire L.P. 1984
Anarchy,Peace and Chips 1988 No label
Generation Retard 2011 Overground(They just released this, so I will not be uploading it)