released May 12, 2017

CV recalled by guitarist Mike Slater:

In 1976 I was at North Staffs. Polytechnic, doing the first year of an electronic engineering degree and failing miserably. Poly was my introduction to live music, and I recall my first band of the then new punk genre was “The Boys” playing at the “Top of the World” venue in the town, I bought my first copy of “Sniffin’ Glue” fanzine at the gig, in it, I recall, a new band, called Generation X, were advertising for a guitarist. Later, in May 1977, I was lucky enough to see “The Damned” play at the Poly. This was an absolutely amazing gig, and I got to chat to (the later sacked) Brian James, their then guitarist, at the bar. During the gigs the monitors got pulled from the stage and passed round the audience, it was that wild. The gig was supposed to have taken place at the “Top of the World” but, due to the anti-punk backlash, had been re-arranged at the Poly at the last minute. That gig did it for me and I became a punk, producing my own fanzine called Channel 4.
Meanwhile a couple of my mates back home, Paul Richardson and Tim Aylett, had decided they wanted to form a punk band, Paul had written some lyrics, and Tim had a drum kit. As I had an old Woolworth’s guitar I was invited to join. None of us were particularly musical but we were undaunted. The three of us set about putting together some tunes and dressing a bit different. We called the band “The Exits”, not very imaginative but inspired by a sign in the Hare and Hounds pub in Pickwick. I think our first gig was at a street party, Jubilee day, 7th June 1977, Paul Street, Corsham. There was a howling gale blowing and our cobbled together amplification could be heard several streets away. The Pistols had just released “God save the Queen” and the fun was about to start.
Our later gigs at Corsham football club, (with a bassist from the biker community who could actually play), Yatton Keynell, Malmesbury, and Lacock, acquired us a local following and put us in touch with the punk community, including other bands in the area: Radiation Sickness, The Scoop (The Rules) from Chippenham, and Terminal 7 from Lacock. After our gig at the Football club we met a Chippenham guy called Dido, who later had a big garden party at his house at Sheldon Corner where we got to play and meet more of the Chippenham crowd. We acquired John Turner of Chippenham on bass. There was even our own punk DJ, Barry No-Sense Cleverly, who later went on to form the legendary local band Smegma.
Eventually the Exits had run their course, Paul had formed a new band, and after continuing for a few rehearsals with a Spanish waiter called Alfie on vocals we knocked it on the head. John was now at Manchester Uni, Tim was getting involved in management of bands, and, having flunked Poly and found gainful employment back home, I put together a new band with friends I’d gathered from our community. This was the primordial soup from which CV emerged.
All in all we didn’t last long, I’m not sure how many gigs we did, it was all a bit of a blur, I remember playing at Bath Academy of Art and Trinity in Bath, and on 5th February 1980 I hired a coach for the band and their fans to Torquay, where we played at the 400 club on the sea-front, supporting Toyah. At this point we had recently recorded the four tracks on the demo tape. We gave out a load of tapes to our fans on the bus, and I sent some out, to John Peel, and to some record labels. Heartbeat Records, run by Simon Edwards in Bristol, offered to put out our tracks on an EP, but by then the band was falling apart, and had to tell Heartbeat that the band would be unable to tour to promote the record.
Ian Cleverly, our drummer went on to have a successful chart single with the band King Trigger, and Andy “Rodent” Davis still plays with his band “Local Heroes” from Trowbridge. Sally went on to eventually run an equestrian carriage business.

Mike Slater. 2017.