Reset

Enter (in 1982), my friend Pat Fanning who (literally) took on Helen’s bass. Some things changed rapidly – we scrapped most of the songs, and the name became Reset. With Pat’s driving bass underpinning the sound, the old and new material became much more lively and upfront.

First gigs

After months of rehearsal, we played our first gig at ‘The Rock Garden’ in London’s Covent Garden area in January 1983. The band we were supporting pulled out at the last minute, so we did it alone which was really scary, but luckily we had a good turnout, and as we shared the £40 between the two of us afterwards, we thought we’d arrived.

This feeling was compounded when our second gig was reviewed in the ‘Melody Maker’ but they were probably really there to see Billy Bragg who went on before us.

At last, a drummer (or two)

Shortly after this we recruited a drummer – Ray Dhundee – who injected a bit of humanity into the percussion area. The three of us played a few gigs in West London and then we recorded our first demo at an 8-track studio in Camden.

Soon after this, Ray left to go travelling and we were drummerless again. But luckily some friends introduced us to Jay Smith and he joined shortly afterwards. Around this time we played some support slots for The Legendary Luton Kippers (later the Faith Brothers) including one at the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith.

But eventually Pat and I had our disagreements and he left the band.

His place was briefly taken by our friend Pat’s Richard who’d been playing with us a bit but that lineup was shortlived – playing only one gig at Dingwalls in Camden and then Richard too left the band. Jay and I tried unsuccessfully to find another suitable bass player but it felt like we were flogging a dead horse and Reset was laid to rest in early Autumn 1984.

Follow this link to go to the next page – and read about The Aviators.

Reset Gallery