Last time out in the occasional series, I featured the one song I have by Nightmares In Wax, courtesy of it being on the compilation CD Indie Scene 80.
Today, I’m leaning on another CD from that particular family:-
mp3: The 101’ers – Keys To Your Heart
Originally released on Chiswick Records in 1976, it was included on Indie Scene 77.
I probably don’t need to tell the backstory, but maybe there’s some who don’t know. The 101’ers were a London pub band, formed in 1974, whose main form of music was rockabilly covers alongside a few originals. Keys To Your Heart was their debut single, but by the time it was released, they had spilt as their lead singer and main songwriter had left to join another band. His name was Joe Strummer and his new band were called The Clash.
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
I’m listening to a fair bit of Chiswick stuff at the moment. It’s like a scene that really captured lightning in a bottle but was obviously not going to last. All those bands like Drug Addix, The 101’ers, The Bishops and Johnny And The Self Abusers captured rather crisply (or digitally cleaned up very well). It would never last
I also have “Indie Scene ’77” and was surprised at how much I liked the 101’ers. I had always penciled in their album to investigate… one day! Which sadly, hasn’t happened yet.
That’s what Springsteen would’ve sounded like if he made his bones in a squat in London instead of under the Asbury Park boardwalk.
A great single, my battered 7″ version is from a re-release at the time of the 16 Tons tour by The Clash. Joe would later be playing this with his new band, seen on dvd in rehearsal and also in later years with Latino Rockabilly Was and The Mescaleros. There is a great extended version of Elgin Avenue Breakout by The 101ers which collects all their demos, a Radio London session and some live tracks.