The Nips Source: ZigZag Date: Issue #93, April 1979 Author: Alan Anger Copywrite: © ZigZag 1979 Photos: by Andy Calvert. Once upon a time an Irish woman arrived on these shores from Tipperary (it's a long way) and gave birth to a baby boy. And this baby boy was named Shane. Little did this poor woman know that this tiny baby would turn into the "Face of 76". Shane, of course, was known and loved to millions as the punk who had his ear bitten off (so the press said at the time - his ears look okay to me) and then as the punk who started a fanzine called 'Bondage' (which was designed with a few pictures and safety pins). His most famous role was when we starred on the front cover of Snouds and was proclaimed, 'The Face of 76'. But that was all so long ago. Nowadays, Shane can be seen treading the boards with his R&B flavoured band known affectionately as The Nips. The band was formed by Shane (vocalist) and Shanne Bradley (bassist) towards the latter days of The Roxy club. Shanne had been taught by The Damned's Captain Sensible and was in a band called 'The Launderettes'. Shane went along and tried to join, but apart from Shanne, the rest weren't enthusiastic about allowing him to. Shanne quit the Launderettes and the pair went about the business of getting their own band together. Several auditions and jam sessions were held in a squat in North London. Zigzag's own Adrian Thrills can be heard on an early tape singing along to 'Anarchy', 'Steppin Stone' and 'No Fun'. Adrian failed the audition (Copies available soon! -Ed). Eventually a band was formed with a guitarist that Shanne knew called Roger and a drummer called 'Arcane'. They played the Roxy a couple of times on audition night, but Arcane didn't last very long before he was replaced by a drummer called 'Gerry' - who was previously in the Tools. This band played about twenty gigs under the name 'The Nipple Erectors'. Though the band tried hard to hold onto the name, it was inevitable that it would eventually have to go, mainly due to not being able to get gigs. The band however did bring out their first 45 under the banner of the Nipple Erectors. 'King of the bop' was released on the Soho Records label formed by the people at 'Rocks Off' Records in Soho Market. Unfortunately for the band at the time, there was an explosion of rockabilly bands being hyped up and since Shane had begun to frequent these gigs, the band began to get labelled 'Punkabilly'. When punk had begun to take a slide and various dregs were being washed up on the shore, Shane took an uncalculated move in the opposite direction, seeing rockabilly and more important, rock'n'roll bands, as a more exciting prospect. He admits that he could never be a real ted, but working down at Rocks Off stall every Saturday helped him to hear all the old rockers in the element. Shane: "People who think the world began when David Bowie cut his hair are just idiots. There are some great old rock'n'roll records around. Bowie, if anything destroyed a lot of my favourites like Lou Reed and Iggy. What a cunt he made out of Iggy!" After the single was released, Roger left to pursue his new career - selling postcards in the National Gallery. Gerry left as well. He joined the Pretenders for a while, but is once again group hunting (some of these musicians just can't stay still for five minutes). Shane and Shanne discovered a new guitarist who had virtually the same kind of background as them. His name is Larry Hinrichs and he was an ardent fan of the Damned when Vanian had failed to turn up. He'd also played around with a few fun groups such as The Profettes. The Nips played a few more gigs around London with different drummers helping out. Mark Harrison (of the Bernie Torme Band) played with them when they supported the Damned at the Hope & Anchor recently and Phil Rowlands (of Eater) helped out on one or two occasions as well. Mark is himself a multi-musician and taught Larry to play the guitar in the first place. A new single was recorded and subsequently released called 'All the time in the world'. Once again it was produced by Soho Records resident producer Stan Brennan. Whether Stan will be producing the forthcoming album (which will defintiely be on Soho Records) is a point under discussion at the moment. Shane is quite happy to carry on using Stan, whilst Shanne feels that Stan is over-producing them and would like a more rough edged sound on their records. The entire band agree on the fact that Stan and Soho Records do more for the band than any normal company would. Stan arranges quite a few of the bands gigs and helped out in arranging their recent couple of dates in Belfast, which were a huge success. The Nips are the first to admit that one of their prioritite right now is to get themselves an agency. They haven't played too many gigs outside London and feel that their training period is well and truly over. Even with help from The Damned, The Jam (Paul Weller must be the best PR man a band can have these days) and especially Soho Records, the band can't get enough gigs. Larry is quick to point out that the band still have to grovel to get certain gigs. One thing they do have now is a permanent fourth member in new drummer: Grinny. The music of The Nips has changed considerably. Never has a band gone through such a quick metamorphosis before. They began as the punk influenced 'Nipple Erectors' and emerged as a mixture of punk and rockabilly. They are now a good time R&B band. If you could imagine The Lew Lewis Band playing with the feel of The Damned, then you'd know what I mean. It isn't really that surprising to see Shane getting into R&B and playing harmonica. Before the punk explosion he was a regular visitor (like myself) to the Hope & Anchor and was to be seen regularly checking out The Bishops, Feelgoods, etc. He says that his favourite bands at the moment are The Inmates and The Bishops (still). He calls what is known as new music complete shit, and isn't interested in being different. Like Nick Lowe, he admits that he steals all his ideas from his idols. Larry, on the other hand, still admits that he prefers to see Damned or the Jam, even though his guitar work is more apt to have an R&B feel to it. Larry, like Shane is totally disillusioned with his former idols. He admits to liking the Damned because they are the one punk band that summed up an era. Shane and Shanne both agree. Larry is against the whole idea of people ending up believing their own publicity and states Rotten as an obvious case. Larry: "If Rotten acts pissed off all the time then he must be a pretty miserable cunt". Shane: "If anyone thinks that everything is boring it's their own fucking fault. I love life. I find it exciting. If you want to kill yourself, then go ahead. I don't give a fuck". This brought us onto the subject of the downfall of punk. Shane: "Nobody knew what the fuck was going on in those days. I got into the turgid debasement of punk rock in its bad days. I was snorting sulphate, spending money on drinks which were over expensive and missing the bands I was supposed to be watching. It was a load of crap in the end. The only bands I ever really liked were the original four; The Pistols, Clash, Jam and especially, The Damned. They summed up the true punk attitude. The only ones I've seen since that I like are The Members and Sham 69". The Nips are due to bring out another 45 soon - their third - called 'Gabrielle'. Seeing as all the Nips numbers are their own I asked Shane who writes all the lyrics. It seems he does, however Shanne is quick to step in and point out that she and Larry have written some songs but Shane refuses to sing them. Shane: "I don't agree with a lot of what she writes about, so why should I sing her lyrics? I write about healthy teenage subjects such as sex and violence and getting pissed. When I was excited in the punk days, I wrote about being bored. Now that I am bored I write about being excited. It's a rock'n'roll fantasy". Alan Anger