DEFENDANTS

 

DEFENDANTS

BAND INDEX

The Defendants were a four (sometimes three) piece combo consisting of:-

Garry McManus : bass, vocals

Rich Trowbridge a.k.a. Rich T Bizkid: lead guitar, vocals

Dave Bartram : keyboard, rhythm guitar, vocals

Dick Burrows a.k.a. R J Teecha: drums, vocals

Victor a.k.a. Lord Scott: drums

Miguel D'Olivares : drums, vocals



Songs - Headmaster / Such a Spiv

The Defendants' one and only vinyl release. Recording and production on 4 track by John Rivers at his original Woodbine Studios in Woodbine Street, Leamington Spa, 1978.

Headmaster - (Burrows, The Defendants) Dick vocals & drums, Rich lead guitar (Stratocaster), Dave rhythm guitar (Telecaster), Garry bass

Such A Spiv - (Bartram, The Defendants) Dave vocals, rhythm guitar (Telecaster) & keyboard, Rich lead guitar (Stratocaster), Dick drums, Garry bass

Previously Unreleased Recordings - again on the same link as above.

Woodbine Studios with Johnny Rivers Oct '78

Recorded on the old 4 track system in Woodbine Street

Pleasure Turns To Pain - (McManus, The Defendants) Garry vocals & bass, Dave rhythm guitar & Vox Continental, Rich lead guitar, Dick drums

Sous La Plage - (Bartram, The Defendants) Dave vocals, rhythm guitar & Vox Continental, Garry vocals & bass, Rich lead guitar, Dick drums

Impatient Outpatient - (Burrows, The Defendants) Dick vocals & drums, Dave rhythm guitar & Vox Continental, Rich lead guitar, Garry bass

Live Entertainment - (Trowbridge, The Defendants) Rich vocals & lead guitar, Dave rhythm guitar & Vox Continental, Dick drums, Garry bass

EMI studios 27:9:79

Possibly a 16 track recording with Rob Townsend (Family: The Blues Band etc.) on drums

Violent World

Space Age

Highbury Hill

There are some live tracks from John Peel and Boogie House in Norwich also on the site

"Like so many bands The Defendants had several drummers over the years. Dick was
the original drummer and wrote and sang one track only, the single Headmaster, although he did supply backing vocals at times. Frustrated by the lack of a record deal he threw in the towel in March 1979.

The band's next drummer was Victor who was previously drumming with The Homosexuals as Oscar B. Montague playing on their John Peel single of the week 'Soft South Africans'. When the band decided to re-locate from Leamington Spa (a.k.a. Lemming Town, a.k.a. Twin Peaks) to the big city Victor simply evaporated. At the time none of us knew what happened to him. Thanks to the magic of The Web I can now reveal that he is still drumming while facilitating junk/re-cycled percussion workshops in schools and the wider community.

Dave Bartram was never a fan of London and so he decided to abandon ship leaving the band as just the core songwriting duo of Rich and Garry. After a depressingly long wait they were joined on drums by Mig, who was remarkably same as drummers go and blessed with a Latin sense of rhythm. At last The Defendants could gig again as a three piece.

The early 80's saw the three piece defendants play gigs and pursue record deals with demo tapes made in Johnnie Rivers' new Woodbine Studio in Leamington as well as various London Studios (Island, EMI, Pathway) and various producers notably Paul Riley, Dave Jordan and even Jerry Dammers stepped up to the desk to create an amusing re-mix of The Good, the Bad and the Plain Ridiculous.

After The Defendants finally disintegrated around 1982 Garry went on to play with several bands including The Rent Boys, Toucan and 3 Amazing Cats. He was perhaps best known for stepping in to play with The Specials when their original bass player Horace left during recording of their In The Studio album in 1984. (The Defendants had been friends with The Specials since they began as The Automatics). This led to television appearances on The Tube and TOTP and a photo on the front page of the NME. Garry sadly died in February 1999.

While Rich was an incredibly skilled and amusingly entertaining guitar player, he seems to have given up the music business when The Defendants folded. Last I heard he was selling cars in Germany - although that was a long time ago.

Stop Press!! Rich has contacted me (20080803) so expect many updates soon, including his current musical output - hurrah!.

Dave Bartram was rumoured to have returned to his past occupation as a market trader. (Although there are also rumours that he may have become a schoolteacher)

Dick Burrows left the band when they moved from the midlands to London in 1980/81. Last I heard he was a successful peripatetic music teacher in the midlands."

from Alternative Sounds c 1979