ACK ACK

Ack Ack were originally formed as 'Dirty Mark and the Stains' in 1977 by Mark Williams (vocals), Mick Foley (guitar) and Lawrence "?" (bass) who were all school friends from the Twickenham/Isleworth area of W. London. They were joined by Alan Spencer on lead guitar and Stuart Russell on drums. Stuart was a work colleague of Marks older brother and was a few years older than the rest of the band himself, it was he that introduced the Northern Soul and Reggae aspect to the group. Soon the name 'Dirty Mark and the Stains' was dropped and Ack Ack was born. At this time they were simply a 'garage band' and had not performed any gigs.

As the bands skills improved it became clear that Lawrence was falling behind the rest of the members so towards the end of 1977 I (Stevie J Wright) was drafted in on bass guitar after meeting the band members in The White Hart pub, Hampton Wick. A few weeks later the band played it's first gig at Chessington Rugby Club. Thanks to a quite aggressive poster campaign by the band (crammed into the back of a Transit van armed with several buckets of wallpaper paste) the gig was very well attended and this was the beginning of Ack Ack's strong local fan base.

Alan Spencer left the band shortly after as he was more contemporary rock influenced and not comfortable with the punk scene. He was replaced by Johnny Fuller, formerly of 'Adrenaline' & 'The Cane'.

The band continued to build up its local fan base by playing local venues such as The Grove in Kingston and The Winning Post in Twickenham plus many of the local colleges. At this time the band was being managed by Mark's older brother Tony.

In early 1979 the band recorded a five track demo tape at Spaceward Studios in Cambridge. Copies of the demo were used to secure gigs at some of the more prestigious venues around London such as The Pegasus in Stoke Newington and The Starlight Club in Hampstead. It was also passed on to former Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera and Strawbs guitarist Paul Brett. Brett became the band's manager later that year. Many gigs, both local and in or around London, followed both as main act or support act to more established bands such as The Adverts & The Outsiders.

In 1980 work was due to begin on recording the band's debut album 'Trouser Tricks' when Johnny Fuller made the shock decision to leave the band and travel to the U.S. Johnny's place was taken by Luke Combo and following a couple of weeks of rehearsals work was started on the album. It was recorded over a six day period at TW Music Studio, a small studio on the Fulham Palace Road near Hammersmith, W. London. Interest in the album was quite good at first with a few record companies, including a couple of the majors, showing interest. But as a recession had just kicked in, money was tight and it was felt that punk had run it's course by 1980 so unfortunately the album was never released. Stuart Russell was offered a chance of a good job in the advertising industry so he left the band to pursue his career there. As he was one of the bands major creative forces the damage done was irreparable. Ack Ack disbanded a few months later and the members went their separate ways, some never to play again.

I went on to join a band named '13 Problems' (after the book by Agatha Christie) until illness forced me to quit playing. We played quite a few gigs around London including Ronnie Scott's, but it was never quite the same buzz as playing in Ack Ack. That was about it for 20 something years or so until the day I bumped into Ruth Bonnet. Ruth had been a vocalist in 'The Dunneau', a band that regularly supported Ack Ack. To my amazement she still had a cassette recording of the album. As you can imagine, the quality wasn't perfect by any means but I managed to clean the tracks up and convert them into a digital format and apart from one or two drop outs they don't sound too bad! Why not download the album and give them a listen."

Stevie J Wright (bass player with Ack Ack) 2009