Ellery Bop - 1981-82

The post Eric’s time in Liverpool was also featured by a quite tough guitar act called Ellery Bop, “fronted by a macho rocker named Jamie [Farrell] and his quieter sidekick Kev. They were referred to (out of earshot) as ‘the Thug and the Drunk’. Jamie used to work as ‘security’ in Eric’s, where he was given to wading into any fracas. ‘I got paid for hitting people, basically. When Eric’s closed me whole world finished.’ Kev did not actually play, but supplied moral support and the financial proceeds of certain business dealings. Jamie once threatened to beat up Pete Wylie [Wah! Heat, Wah!], who talked him into taking up the guitar instead. But his own career in live performance was frustratingly brief: ‘There was always trouble. […] I hate playing live cos’ I’d get so worked up and nervous that if anyone was being funny I’d end up getting off and fighting them.’ […] Jamie stuck a close, if incongruous, friendship with Julian Cope, eventually signed to a London record company and recorded with Ian Broudie.” (Du Noyer 2004).

The band formed around 1981, and originally pivoted around Jamie Farrell on vocals and guitar (one of the first punks in town - then turned ted and rockabilly lover - who had been, if briefly, in the English Opium Eaters, with future FGTH’s Paul Rutherford in 1979), and Mark Perry (later Thunderboots, Steppin’ Razor, Western Promise) on drums.
In June 1981 the band released their first single, featuring a more energetic sound than contemporary bands (except maybe for the early Wah! Heat).


Hit the Moon (b/w One True Way)


In October of the same year they recorded their first Peel Session, with the aid of Ian Broudie (ex Big in Japan) on bass, performing their upcoming single and b-side. The single was only released in March 1982:


Ringing (b/w Fight and Desire)


In November of the same year a third single was released:


We Deny (b/w To Fall)


By this time the line-up became less stable, as the credits of their second Peel Session reveal, featuring Rob Jones (ex Wah! Heat) on drums and Tim Whittaker (ex Deaf School) on percussion, thus taking the place of Perry, and Steve ‘Johnno’ Johnson on bass (Wah!).


1981-1982