The Members: Punk, Pop and JA

After the surprising chart success of the first wave of Brit punkers that eluded their American counter parts, a crop of new bands began recording after learning a few lessons from those older dudes. The popularity that the reggae tinged works from the Clash received wasn’t missed by these new folks and as a result, some of the groups worked to incorporate much the same approach. It obviously worked to various effect, but with the 2-Tone thing happening at the same time, the musical approach may have been burdensome to the nascent style. It wasn’t dead in the water, but bands like the Members aren’t really anything more than a footnote at this point.

Fronted by Nicky Tesco, the Members sported enough anguished punker enthusiasm to make a mark on the scene, but subsequent to its first single, that just didn’t happen. When the band was formed in ’77, it released the “Solitary Confinement” single the following year. Solely based upon the success of the disc – well, that and the fact that punk had become a marketable commodity – the Members got snatched up by Virgin Records. That label, who dealt a bit in the reggae music, might have seen the band as a potential match to its roster.

“Solitary Confinement” wasn’t JA related, but “Don’t Push” was. Included on the band’s first full length – the studio recorded Live at the Chelsea Nightclub (what?) – the song comes off as a lost track from the Clash, or maybe a demo of “Know Your Rights.” There was also more than a dash of punk in the band’s ska and the tempo here was ratcheted up pretty high, but there was still something more than enticing about it. And by contrast to a great many of the second wave punk bands, both of the guitarists in the Members were capable of shredding.

When the band wasn’t trying to work in those JA sounds it was revving up a combo of punk, pop and a bit of American roots music.“Frustrated Bagshot,” is somehow able to incorporate each as the track begins with a distant sounding acoustic guitar, launches into a punk tempo with its instrumentation stripped down enough to ape a sped up Elvis Costello before tossing in a slide guitar line. The song’s chorus is almost as disturbing as the veering musics, but in a pleasant way.

Despite the batch of enormously catchy tracks included on Live at the Chelsea, the band wasn’t able to capture the imagination of the UK – little lone the States. It seems odd that the Clash and Stiff Little Fingers were able to work roughly the same ground and become figure heads of a movement, whereas the Members have been relegated to having its first disc re-issued by some label called Vivid (who?). Just another reason to think that the record buying public – from any era – as nothing but a group of fickle sheep. This shoulda been a classic. And I guess it still is, but no one knows.