Dorchester and Weymouth’s earliest punk scene
Dorchester and Weymouth’s earliest punk bands date back to 1977 – ‘79 when The Dead Popstars and Velvet Underpants stalked the Earth. Details and memories are sketchy now, although The Velvet Underpants are known to have played at least one gig at Hardye’s School in 1978/9 with teacher Pete Green guesting on vocals for a version of ”I Shot The Sheriff”! There’s a history waiting to be told but gaps in knowledge need to be filled.Other bands from the ‘77-’83 era, include the Nerve Agents, Jap, Scum Youth (maybe?), Chaotic Disorder, Manic, Shock To The System, and Screaming Disorder. Weymouth based Admass (later Madmass) were perhaps the best known at the end of this era, having a track (“Garry Bushell” a scathing attack on Sound’s Mr Oi) included on the nationally distributed “Raw War” compilation cassette album put out by Xcentric Noise Tapes around 1982.

Pre Shock To The System
Back to Hardye’s School…………Alex, Dave and John A. (surname withheld for his own sake….) thrashed around in the very early ‘80s on acoustic guitars in the music rooms of Dorchester’s now demolished Hardye’s School, naming themselves The Smelly Fingers. Success was probably doomed from that point….The most notable (and possibly only….) memorable trivia was the song (sic) “Bids”, the lyrics of which reflect a 14 year old’s intentionally raw take on media distorted punk rock shock – “See a bid in the street, kick her head with your feet…bids, bids, bids” etc. (“Bid” is UK slang for an old woman…). The “establishment” was clearly safe for a little while…Around this time, Alex joined real band Chaotic Disorder as drummer, with his brother Dom on guitar and Andrew Spooner on vocals. Bassist unknown. They played a number of gigs including one in Puddletown with longer standing local band Jap, later dropping the “Disorder” to be known simply as Chaotic, before splitting some time in 1982.