!Action Pact! - Suicide Bag (EP 1982)

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UK 7" 1982 (Fall Out - FALL 003)

Though active at the time of the hardcore movement, this bunch of Londoners opted for a more 77-ish sound instead, with female vocalist George Cheex's snotty shriek occasionally evoking comparisons with (the vastly superior) X-Ray Spex. Meanwhile, her male cohorts hid behind such pseudonyms as Dr Phibes and Joe Fungus and whacked out basic four-chord guitar noise at mid-speed.

Initially linked to Dead Man's Shadow (in addition to the split EP in 1981 they shared some band members) and Newtown Neurotics (Steve Drewitt guested on the Pact's version of 'Rockaway Beach'), they had enough character of their own to be of some interest, although perhaps not outside of punk circles. Let's face it, Cheex had a voice that was horrible (yet, somehow, utterly wonderful). As Trouser Press put it, she "sounds perennially outraged, terrified and amazed, all at once". Just about everything they recorded is excellent.

They formed in early 1981 as The Bad Samaritans, with Dead Man's Shadow singer John on vocals. When he was replaced by schoolgirl Cheex, !Action Pact! was born:

George Cheex - vocals
Wild Planet - guitar
Dr. Phibes - bass
Joe Fungus - drums (ex-Savage Upsurge)

They rose to national prominence via The Heaththrow Touchdown EP (split with DMS). The record was naive (both George and Joe were only 15 when they recorded it) but amusing, and it came out in October 1981, whereupon John Peel invited Action Pact! in for their first Peel Session, which was broadcast in February 1982, and featured five songs: 'People', 'Suicide Bag', 'Mindless Aggression', 'Losers' and 'Cowslick Blues'.

Signing to Fall Out, their first "proper" single in their own right featured their best known song, a scathing and somewhat preachy ode to the perils of glue sniffing. Suicide Bag EP was a Top Ten Indie hit in July 1982 that bothered the charts for nearly three months.

A1 Suicide Bag
A2 Stanwell
AA Blue Blood

Produced by Neil Brockbank at Hallmark Studios, London
Re-mixed and over-dubbed by Phil Langham