A brief history of the band

Shaggy got married in 2003, and his wife's father played drums in a few bands. She suggested that he should get the band back together, as "the kit was going to waste" So he started putting the feelers out. Simon Thorpe was interested, and the two of them started jamming together, trying to remember how to play the songs. They managed a couple of practices with various drummers, but nothing really came off. Shaggy started putting adverts out for a singer and drummer, which paid off. Mark Maslen from Calne, and Ben Smith from RAF Lyneham volunteered their services. At this point, Simon had lost interest, so an ad for a guitarist soon followed. Eventually, Norman Smee (real name Dave Stewart) was found. In 2006, the band was finally back together.

2006 got off to a good start, regularly practising at Marlborough Cricket Club on a weekday evening. "Oh Dear Dickie" was written in these few months. The first gig of the new line up was set for Shaggy's 40th birthday party in December, but Norman got a new job in September, and couldn't find the time to practice. The December relaunch was postponed. Mark contacted and old band mate, Richard Park (AKA Ab Normal), and he promptly joined.

2007 It was decided that the first gig was now going to be a 20th anniversary gig, which was to be held at Marlborough Town Football Club. This took place on February 17th, with a band called Counterfeit supporting. Rich had learnt the 12 songs very quickly, but we had written a song at practice the day before, which would turn out to be "Thorn in my Side" This was added to the set. We managed to pull off a successful reunion gig, which was also our first paid gig. Later on that year "Tunnel Vision" was written. We started to develop a distinctive sound with Rich's guitar riffs. We also played two more gigs that year, both at Marlborough Town Football Club. We also started to practice over at RAF Lyneham on a Monday evening. The album "Beware The Rat" was recorded in Pat D'Arcy's Home studio in Chippenham. 10 songs over a weekend.

2008 saw "FoD" and "T W A T" written. The title FoD was taken from a poster on the wall of the tea bar at RAF Lyneham. It was either Rich or Mark that asked what FoD actually was, but the song doesn't actually refer to FoD at all. Oh, It stands for "Foreign Object Debris" by the way, an aviation term. We played nine gigs in 2008, taking in places like Newbury, Chippenham and Midsommer Norton. That was our biggest gigging year up to that point.

2009 on the other hand proved to be poor. We played two gigs before Ben suffered a painful shoulder injury, and this was to halt the band for two years. Rich left to join Nobodys Heroes, which had been a dream of his for years. Shaggy went off to do a covers band project at Marlborough Town Football Club called The MCB (Members Covers Band) while waiting for news on Ben's shoulder. The band was put on hold for 2 years.