Naked

 
      Naked came about around the beginning of 1979, from a jam session the members had in the hall at the back of a pub in Crown, Sheerness High Street, Kent. The four were Kevin Nash on bass, Paul Morgan on drums, Tony White on vocals and Chris Counsell on guitar. Part of their inspiration was this new idea that you didn't have to be good at playing your instrument or singing to start a band. The name Naked has no real deep meaing, but it was short and easy to remember for the band(they never played Naked by the way). Early practicing sessions took place in halls and even a church hall.

     After three or four months of practicing, they played their gig at a bar called 'Hoppit' in Flushing, Holand on June 8, 1979. The gig was organized by their friend Ian, who worked on the Olau Line Channel Ferry and knew someone that worked at the bar. Later that month, they played their first gig in England at the Tam'o'Shanter in Chatham. The success of the two gigs inspired the band to record a demo around the end of the year. Over time they got their drummer Paul's brother to become their manager, and he bought a van and got the band to buy a P.A. so they could have a better chance to play at gigs,and to throw their own gigs so they could raise money for more recordings. 

     

     In 1980, they were joined by Alan Dann on rhythm guitar. They recorded a four track demo with him, but he left soon after. At one notable gig, Chris and Paul walked off stage because they had gotten frustrated from technical difficulties, but came back on stage after hearing that certain members of the audience would kill them if they didn't finish their set. The band often had to sleep or camp out in stranger's houses, in phone boxes, railway station benches and even freezing car parks at ferry terminals. After several more gigs, Kev and Paul decided that they were leaving because of their musical differences with the others and formed the band 'Shoot Straight'(Chris helped them out for a bit). 

     Chris and Tony wanted to keep going with Naked, so they somehow recruited Chris Midgely on bass and Kevin Arnold on drums. Together, they played their first big gig with the U.K. Subs at the Woodville Halls, Gravesend on October 20th, 1980. Micheal helped the band get that gig, and continued to help the band even though his brother had left, but eventually resigned  as manager. Fortunately, he let the band have his P.A. 

     In 1981, Naked recorded their ten song '1981' demo cassette. A copy was sent to Crass, and the song '1930's Prewar Germany' was added to the 'Bullshit Detector II' album. Several gigs followed in Holland, a gig supporting Conflict, and some more demos were also recorded. At this point, even people across the U.K. as far the United Stated of America as well as Australia had heard of Naked. A mini tour was followed in the U.K., including a gig with Anthrax(U.K. Anthrax) where nobody but the bands showed up because of bad advertisement. In 1983, Kevin left the band and was replaced by Carl Carrick on drums. 

     During 1983, the band developed a close relationship with the Subhumans and played several support gigs with them all over the country, which led to their first and last record titled 'One Step Forward Towards Reality', released in November of 1983 on Dick Lucas's Bluurg label. Several gigs followed, including one where their bassist was told he would be stabbed with a knife if they didn't play any faster. As time went by, the band become more and more political, but their vocalist Tony and drummer Carl left around 1987. Carl was replaced back by former drummer Kev, and vocalist Paula was recruited. They recorded their last three track demo and played their last gig in September that same year, before all the members felt that without Tony the band just wasn't the same, so all the members just stopped going to rehearsals and never returned.

(Guitarist Kev listed above has recently passed away due to a brain tumor)

"Frightened"

Drop the bomb, wot a masterful plan.

The ideas that your reckoning.

You see destruction is so bad.

It makes you scream, but you don't know

what's happening,

because you're frightened

Drop the bomb if you dare.

Dictatorship crap will get you nowhere.

The further down underground,

The furthermore hell bound.

Drop the bomb if you think

Hiroshima II will fill the link.

Don't understand, don't comprehend.

You do the wrong you cannot mend,

because you're frightened.

If anyone has any more lyrics, please post them in the comments!

Soon to come downloads:

Demo 1979

Demo 1980

1981 cassette 1981

One Step Forward 1983 Bluurg

Live 7/19/1983

Demo 1984