Shock To The System (STTS) formed in July 1982 in Dorchester as a 3 piece. Alex Vann – drums, vocals; Dave Redfern – guitar, vocals; Alex Russell – bass. During these first few months they wrote the bands earliest songs including “Today And Life” and “Wrong System”.

Alex Russell soon left, unwilling to buy a bass, preferring to borrow the school’s. He was replaced by Andy Gouldson. The band then bought their own amps – some old Vox – and around this time incorporated “Army Song” into their set which had been an old number by Alex’s earlier band Chaotic Disorder. Alex and Dave had shared singing duties but neither were that keen, so around December ‘82 they recruited Bryan Brown who had sung for Weymouth band Manic. Paul Simmons who had left the recently defunct Screaming Disorder (another Dorchester punk band) also joined on guitar soon after. (Screaming Disorder included Paul Curran – others unknown – who later went on to record some solo material.) All 5 members were pupils at Hardye’s School.

Around this time they played their 1st out-of-town gig with Butcher and Confession Of Sin in Bournemouth. Crucially, this saw STTS join the developing gig network that was building between the Weymouth/Dorchester and Bournemouth scenes.

Dave and Alex soon acquired an old Vox disco PA (to go with the amps) that became the band’s dodgily wired (and occasionally smoking) backline along with Paul Simmons esteemed 80 watt amp. Practicing was frequently in Dave’s egg box-plastered and mattress-strewn basement or at school in the music block.

On Thursday 14th July 1983 they recorded 4 songs for a tape called “Last Breathe For Humanity” (sic), on the school’s 4-track recorder with the very un-punk Trev Lee of the RE department. Tracks were: – Total Blackout, Obnoxious Governing, Last Flight Of The Phoenix and Army Song.

Also on the tape were the songs Shock‘N’Roll (a punked up take on The Surfaris’ “Wipe Out”), and band originals Picture On The Wall, Banned Again, Religious Rejection, Obnoxious Governing, Gathering Of The Clans, Today And Life, Army Song, Last Flight Of The Phoenix, Wrong System, and Chinese Rocks (chords badly guessed from the Ramones’ version!).

These tracks were recorded at a gig at Capones in Bournemouth with Butcher, Self Abuse, Admass and Confession Of Sin (possibly the gig on 24th September 1983). Also, a bizarre version of the Bagpuss (kids TV) theme tune with some spoken word stuff. A few other tracks were recorded at practices including Tainted Love (Oh yes. Oh no… the Soft Cell-popularised soul weepy) – Alex augmented his drum kit with a particularly irritating synth-drum sound for this dismal number.

“MAKE HOMEBREW – BUT DO IT PROPERLY!”
“HOME TAPING IS KILLING MUSIC – AND IT’S CHEAP!”
(pearls of wisdom from cassette booklet.)

STTS played a number of local gigs, most memorably for those who were there, at a school mock election “event” at Hardye’s in 1983 where the assembled crowd of schoolboys threw chairs and tables around in a well-articulated display of comprehensive school anarchy.

Later that year, Bryan and Andy left the band to be replaced first by Paul Chambers from nearby Wareham on bass, then by school friends from the year above, Mark Hodder and Charlie Mason on vocals. Paul Chambers had been a regular face on the South Dorset gig scene and co-wrote the excellent Damaged fanzine with Andy Anderson (surely one of the few punks from Bovington army camp!), which ran to 4 or 5 issues. The band continued practicing as STTS but change was afoot.

Gigs
Gigs included the following but were possibly preceded by a few earlier ones : –

• STTS (+ ?) – a few gigs at Hardye’s School (probably lunchtime events in the music block) – ?/‘82
• STTS (+ ?) – Dorchester Youth Club – ?/’82
• STTS + Butcher + Confession Of Sin + 2 other unknown local bands – Brewers Arms, Poole – ?/‘82 – The band didn’t view this as a great success as Bryan didn’t turn up to the gig! It did enable them to start a friendship with Butcher though which saw them gig together subsequently on a fairly regular basis.
• STTS + Screaming Disorder @ Dorchester Boys Brigade Hall – 8th Jan 1983
• Butcher + STTS + Screaming Disorder @ Dorchester Boys Brigade Hall 15th April 1983 – toilets got smashed! This where the song “Banned Again” came from.
• Omega Tribe + STTS + other bands – 10th June ’83 – unauthorised beach party gig that was stopped by the police halfway through STTS’s set! – early to mid ’83, this took place on a stretch of beach just outside Weymouth on the way to Bowleaze Cove.
• STTS @ Hardye’s Boys School Drama Studio, Dorchester – 26th May 1983 – playing in “support” of the “Labour Party” in a school mock election designed to stimulate interest in politics! Memorably (for the “lucky few” who were there…) ended with chairs being thrown around and the “gig” being stopped.
• Manic, Genetic Malfunction, STTS, Admass, Mad Are Sane, Naked, Anthrax, A-Heads @ Wareham Parish Hall, Wareham, Dorset. – 26th August 1983 – see photos
• STTS, Confession Of Sin, Butcher, Self Abuse, (SA + STTS together for a cover of “Subway Sadist” by Chron Gen) @ Capones, Bournemouth – 24th September 1983.
• Self Abuse + Idiom Tribe + Admass + STTS @ Christchurch Regent Centre, Christchurch, Bournemouth – Friday 21st October 1983. This was probably the last gig as Shock To The System. Paul Chambers – “this was my 1st gig, Bryan’s last. Poster says Idiom Tribe, Self Abuse, Admass STTS but only us SA and a really sad Rockabilly band played, can’t remember why. As I said I never had a practice before this gig I played Religious Rejection wrong as I was given the wrong notes to play by Paul S.!”
• STTS + Lex Talionis (or Lex Talonus?) – This was another “gig” played at Hardye’s School somewhere between late ’82 and summer of ’83. It was a “lunchtime concert” in the music block supported by Lex Talonus, a rock band from the year above – Damien Lewis, Rod Deaves, Nick Churchill, Chris Churchill.]

Recordings

• “Last Breathe For Humanity” cassette 1983
• some very lo-fi practice tapes from the Cerne Abbas practices.

Line-ups
STTS #1 Alex Vann, Dave Redfern, Alex Russell
STTS #2 Alex Vann, Dave Redfern, Andy Gouldson
STTS #3 Alex Vann, Dave Redfern, Andy Gouldson, Brian Brown
STTS #4 Alex Vann, Dave Redfern, Andy Gouldson, Brian Brown, Paul Simmons
STTS #5 Alex Vann, Dave Redfern, Paul Chambers, Brian Brown, Paul Simmons
STTS #6 Alex Vann, Dave Redfern, Paul Chambers, Mark Hodder, Charlie Mason, Paul Simmons

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