I've been at it for 30 years. On Friday 9th December 1977, The Haircuts first took to the stage - and within minutes there was a full blown riot. The outcome is recorded on the 'Aylesbury Goes Flaccid' album. The riot meant that a number of us had to appear as witnesses at Reading Crown Court - a member of the audience had been hit over the head by a microphone stand and was rushed to hospital. We were all teenagers - and in retropsect it must have been a horrendously frightening thing to be a part of, but the boldness of youth held us all in good stead.
Do YOU remember Longwick?

The Disco Students has always been a rather asexual project. But, this photograph has caused some consternation and not a little fuss at DS HQ. The BBC could double the audience for their news programmes at a stroke.

I Should Have Known Better ( Part 55 ).
I went to see the Sex Pistols last night. It has always rankled that I missed seeing them when they played just up the road in High Wycombe - twice - in their early days. True, I was a callow youth, but I really should have been there. I was able to resist the Filthy Lucre tour in 1996, and the Queen's Golden Jubilee gig in 2002, however I was strangly drawn to attending the latest reunion.
Ouch, I loathed it. Johnny made all his moves, the manic eye swivelling and spiteful rhetoric. But Steve Jones and Glen Matlock did all in their powers to make it sound like a Foreigner concert. Lots and lots of heavy U.S. rock riffs and posturing.
Not pleasant.

Had a bit of a break from music - i've been working on my Timid Proud One project :

There is a new song on that site - "Culling Seals (I Cull Seals)".
I've had an email asking me if it's possible to get the original Disco Students back for a gig - however, I can't really see that happening.
I'm just about ready to record a new song "My Teenage Fiancee" -when completed, it'll be on the DS myspace site.



Here's a little something from the Timid Proud One.

Much activity at present. A couple of new songs are on the DS MySpace site - "Daddy, Don't Drink So Much " and "(I Never Noticed You Until Your Wore That) Fantastic Bra". There is a new downloadable album - "Would You Still Love Me If I Was Sectioned?" - that contains 10 tracks - available from Indiestore. There'll be another available very soon.

Received a copy of "Aylesbury Goes Flaccid" today - the compilation album released in 1978. My contribution was "Do You Remember L-L-Longwick?" by The Haircuts. At the time, The Haircuts were looked upon as snotty upstarts - we could hardly play our instruments and only just out of school-yet we represented the true spirit of punk. The majority of the groups on the album were crusty pub rockers who had been churning out Lyrnrd Skynrd covers since the mid 70's. The album is being promoted as a snapshot of the Aylesbury punk scene - but in reality only The Haircuts were a bona fida punk group. The other groups on the record had only just thrown away their cheese cloth shirts and burnt their loon pants - some hadn't even got round to that yet. Most had been going for years and simply changed their names to fly under the punk flag of convenience. I think The Haircuts track stands out as fresh and honest - it doesn't sound too bad at all considering it's nearly 30 years old. The sleevenotes are good too. However, the heavy smell of patchouli oil, the thud of cowboy boots and the rustle of denim from most of the groups does give the album a real pub rock feel. If you're looking for the sound of Aylesbury punk,play The Haircuts and the Vice Creems, who just about get away with it ,then give the rest a miss. It's really a case of buyer beware.

The DS are preparing to go into the studio to record the recent material.

Here's a review from Brainwashed.com


The Disco Students, "I Beg to Differ"
Written by Matthew Amundsen
Monday, 20 August 2007
This double-disc retrospective compiles this Aylesbury group's vinyl releases dating from 1978 onwards and includes recent material as well. Since there have been so many reissues and collections from this time period hitting the shelves over the last few years, I wasn't sure what to expect from yet another one by a band I hadn't heard of. I Beg to Differ turned out to be quite a pleasant surprise because it positively overflows with catchy material.


Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

While their beginnings are rooted are in the discordance and angularity of late '70s punk, the band never loses sight of melody. Their songwriting becomes more and more pop-oriented in a brief amount of time and culminates in some fantastic songs that could have been hits overseas with a little more luck and exposure. Their early songs are mainly concerned with rhythmic elements, but tracks like "Lake Superior" and "Sugarside" show their songwriting evolving to more fully encompass the rest of the instruments, including the voice. The second disc begins with the masterful "Love Will Blow Up In Your Face" and is followed by a string of great songs like "Letters of the Alphabet," "Tina Weymouth's Smile," and "She Loves Me Like a Brother." They also have a good sense of humor, as evidenced by the track "Mark, What's the Score?," in which they sample Mark E. Smith reading football scores, and the sarcastic "King of the Manchester Baggy Scene." Also included is a song by the band's pre-Disco Students incarnation The Haircuts entitled "Do You Remember L-L-Longwick?" It is clear evidence of their ability to create memorable pop songs early on. They have resumed activity in recent years, so hopefully more people will take advantage of the chance to experience this underrated group.

The Disco Students have entered the wonderful world of downloads. Material, new and old , can be found at : www.indiestore.com/discostudents



Finishing touches are being put to a new song "Daddy, Don't Drink So Much".

Aylesbury Goes Flaccid! - the compilation LP that pre Disco Students group The Haircuts were featured on is being released on CD next month. Fancy that.
Here's the pre release information:

Back in 1978, as Punk was hitting its commercial peak, budding young entrepreneur Chris France was promoting local bands & gigs in the AYLESBURY area. These bands all wanted record deals, and one day Chris worked out that if 14 groups all agreed to buy 30 albums containing their track and 13 others, it would more than pay for itself (by all accounts he had to turn down Marillion, as they wouldn’t guarantee their 30 units!). The portents looked promising: the album was favourably reviewed in Sounds and they were promised a review in NME. But when they went up to the NME offices with a couple of thugs hired from the Ugly Model Agency, and confronted Tony Parsons, they freaked, failed to see the funny side, and the LP was subsequently blackballed! (clearly, the Spirit of Punk was too much for the fearless NME!!). Anyway, journo Kris Needs was the singer in the Vice Creems; The Man Ezeke went on to present a Reggae show on Radio 1; Pete Trewavas (later bassist with Marillion) played with Redwood; one of The Anal Surgeons became a GP, Wild Willy Barrett went on to team up with John Otway; Robins’ guitarist Robin Boult joined Mud; post-Punk writer/poet/Disco Student Simon Cheetham had been in The Haircuts; and Chris France went on to form Music Of Life Records. Aylesbury Rocks!!!

www.sanctuaryrecords.co.uk

New songs are being written whilst the group rest. The DS will be playing live again in the Autumn. Meanwhile, I'm doing some solo stuff - my latest work can be viewed at:
www.youtube.com/profile?user=simoncheetham

BBC Radio Dorset have featured The Disco Students .

http://www.bbc.co.uk/dorset/content/articles/2007/05/03/uv_simon_cheetham_disco_students_profile.shtml

I was going to record more, but I forgot how to use the machine.

Two posts in one day - this Blog is on fire. Quiet at Lake Disco Student at the moment - all part of the plan. I'm working on two new songs "Celebrity Fall Fan" and " Daddy, Please Don't Drink So Much". The plan is to add them to the set for the Bull&Gate appearance - 30.6.07.
Then - a new Disco Students record.
Just received the new Patti Smith album "Twelve" - in which Patti covers , um, 12 songs. I've been a huge fan for over 30 years - but crikey, "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" ? I presume she knows whats she's doing.

A new review from Nude Magazine.

Disco Students: I Beg to Differ (Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Records)
The Disco students were formed in Aylesbury in 1978, and despite gaining airplay on the John Peel show, their single releases were sadly neglected and the band finally split up 1982. Now recently reformed, I Beg to Differ serves as an overview of the bands career both past and present, over the course of two discs. And it’s a gem, which ranges in scope from scratchy, edgy arty, lo-fi punk/ new wave, vaguely in the style of The Cure or Wire through to fragile early-Eighties pop stylings and experimental later recordings such as “Mark What’s the Score” which samples Mark E Smith reading the football results against a squelchy synth background. And with songs such as “Tina Weymouth’s Smile” and “King of the Manchester Baggy Scene” these pop outsiders also provide a witty and wry commentary on recent pop history.
Ian Lowey
www.nudemagazine.co.uk

I'm down in Bridport escaping the cold weather. The plan was to record a couple of new songs - but I've been diverted. A couple of years ago I started to paint - using the name The Timid Proud One. There has been a cold wind blowing - so I have been involved in indoor pursuits - and I've started work on a series of food paintings. Today I have nearly completed "Dorset English Breakfast". It's not finished - when it is I'll start to put a few up on here. Until then - here's the inspiration.

Busy times here in Bridport. Working on two new songs - a cover version - the first the DS have attempted - Madonna's "Vogue" - plus a new original composition " I Wanna Purdey Haircut".

A new song - a historic document of me going to see The Fall play at The Opera House in Bournemouth last September. All of this is true.


Thrown Out Of A Fall Gig.

Timeline : september 2006
location: bournemouth, dorset, england uk
exact location: the opera house, boscombe.
In a rundown part of town
where the shops are boarded up
the shopkeepers sleep with a revolver under the pillow
to save their businesses from being de-businessed overnight
it was here at
my advanced age
here at this time of life
I was thrown out of a fall gig

burly, surly security men
dressed in black like the idiot SS
sat on the stage staring at the paying public
of whom I was one that night
blocking the view of mark and his colleagues
I took exception to their ridiculous attitude
and filmed them with my nokia mobile phone
this alerted the leader of the idiot SS
who was a woman, a younger leaner version of myra hindley
she was on me in a second, soon joined by her colleagues

I was frog marched to a tiny office , the size of a small pisser,
a desk, a cheap filing cabinet and a secondhand answerphone
it flashed, some poor fucker had left a message- it would not be heard
in they came like a flock of fucking sheep
there were eight of us in there - seven of those cunts and me
"you are a little cunt" they told me
"fucking tell me something new , you cunt" I replied
this wasn’t going as they had expected
"you’re in deep trouble" some cunt told me
" go fucking fuck yourself" I said. I’ve always prided myself on my stance regarding authority

"this is a serious matter" said their leader, the myra hindley character
" you were filming me and my fellow fools- this is an offence under the recently made up ‘don’t fuck about with bouncers’ law
"we’re not bouncers" one piped up
" we go on courses and have certificates"
I sensed a weakness here
" crikey, do you have a certificate?"
"yes he replied" I could see his chest puffing out
" so why don’t you shove that certificate up your stinking arse, you cunt"
this wasn’t going as they had expected

I was thrown out of a fall gig, like rubbish into a back street alley
in boscombe, where holidaymakers go for a gentle day out
" you’re lucky" spat myra hindley
" yeah, I fucking know that"
I re-grouped and went round the front of the opera house,
I still had my ticket so attempted a re-entry
all was going well, until - guess who - yeah fucking myra hindley turned up
she’d pre-empted my tactic - and you have to give the lesbo control freak respect for that
"no way, fuck off you little cunt"
well, my wife was still in the opera house, unaware of my situation
I had to get news to the girl - she would not be pleased - she’s not over keen on the fall , believes mes stinks of old man’s piss- she drove me to see them as a favour

enter stage left johnny clarke - free from toil post support slot and ready for a few hours liberty in boscombe,
"what’s going on here" the punk poet inquired
"john, do you recall the disco students? - we shared a stage in aylesbury in 1980?"
" I do, I’ve only been to aylesbury once in my life, twas the night I met the disco students"
under the increasingly acidic view of myra hindley, jcc & I recalled our previous association.
"this man must be returned to the auditorium" shouted john cooper-clarke
" he is a disco student"
but this cut no mustard with the idiot SS
" he broke all the rules, used a nokia mobile phone to prove we’re a bunch of cunts"
john cooper-clarke looked me in the eye
" sorry mate, I don’t carry any weight around here" and he was gone
so I had to sit on a wall, awaiting the end of the fall
then explained to my wife, the unfairness of my life.
And to cap it all - she got a speeding ticket from them speed cameras that are all the rage.

We played the Dublin Castle date on Friday night. A success. A good sized crowd - and we gave it the lot. A right racket. A new set, John the bass's debut, the introduction of the synthesiser - everything could have gone wrong - but no. Really good reaction - and a great number of well-wishers after the performance passing on compliments. The DS are back on track. I'm off down to Bridport for a couple of days with my ever increasing array of recording equipment to rattle out a couple of new songs.

There are a couple of new songs on the MySpace site - "My Wasp Synthesiser" and "Sunk On A Stormy Sea". www.myspace.com/2006discostudents
Final rehearsals this week before our live date at The Dublin Castle. I've been loading up the sampler and putting the finishing touches to the synthesiser. We'll be playing around half an hour - mostly new material - a couple of older songs. I'd like to think we can record a mini album type release with this line-up - hopefully putting it out in the Summer.

We're getting nearer the Dublin Castle date - and we rehearsed the new material last night. It sounds good. A new addition is a synthesiser - played by me. Bit of work to do, but it does give us a stronger sound.Looking forward now to the new DS taking to the stage. Here's a picture of me rehearsing.

The Rough Trade compilation is out next week. The first review has appeared. By a priest. John Davies, a Liverpudlian man of God who likes his football and music has chipped in with a bit of William Blake :
'The tygers of wrath are wiser than the horses of instruction' - The Disco Students: The Rough Trade Song ("Never been on no Rough Trade compilation", these old punks angrily sing; last track on this Rough Trade compilation).
www.johndavies.org
Angry old punk, me?
Too right.

First rehearsal of the new era last night - new bass player John Catlett making his DS debut. We've got a set of new material - just one song, "Mark E. Smith's Dead", surviving from the past . It went well. On another subject, Matt from BBC Dorset has been in touch and has asked the Disco Students to contribute to an audio diary project that will be broadcast in the Spring.

Word has reached DS HQ that Aurora Radio of Warsaw, Poland are playing "The Black Girlfriend " EP.

A few weeks until the Rough Trade compilation is released - and the DS contribution "The Rough Trade Song" was played on The Counter Culture Show on Resonance FM last week. The new look DS begin rehearsals next week preparing for the two London shows in February & March.