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Pain Relief
(c.’80-’83) Jerry Boothman (bass), Danny Boothman (guitar), Gary Ellis (drums) & Chris Turner (guitar).
Having previously appeared numerous times at The Cricketers, Westfield, on the 30 January ’81, supported by White Colours, Pain Relief played Woking College. Ellis was replaced by Doug McKeller on drums and after Jerry Boothman left Turner switched to bass and Danny Boothman moved to a Yamaha guitar synth. They then changed the band name to Paradise then Dark Paradise in ’83.
Danny Boothman also played in FFile and Dark Paradise off shoot ‘Arf Cut with McKeller and Turner. McKeller went on to join Mervyn Sprocket and the Crankshaft Assembly which later morphed into Salt Solution
Gallery:
Soundscene ’81 (Date TBC). Picture courtesy of Chris Turner 
Soundscene 29th Jan 1981. Picture courtesy of Chris Turner 
Soundscene ’81 (date TBC). Picture courtesy of Chris Turner. 
Pain Relief at The Cricketers, Westfield – sometime in early ’80’s. Picture courtesy of Chris Turner. 
Pain Relief at The Cricketers, Westfield – sometime in early ’80’s. Picture courtesy of Chris Turner. 
Pain Relief at The Cricketers, Westfield – sometime in early ’80’s. Picture courtesy of Chris Turner. 
Pain Relief at The Cricketers, Westfield – sometime in early ’80’s. Picture courtesy of Chris Turner. -
City
(c’80-81). Rich Carson (rhythm guitar / vocal), Graham “Mash” Murray (guitar), Julian Thorne (bass) & Pete “Will” Williams (drums).
Formed in January 1980 this 4-piece, of professional musicians, were out of Winston Churchill School and were a regular fixture at The Cricketers, Westfield. In late ’81 Thorne was dropped and replaced by Pete Mills. On 14 April ’83, the Wooden Bridge Rock Club welcomed Stray to The Wooden Bridge, Guildford, ably supported by City. A couple of months later the band played The Wooden Bridge again, but under a new moniker: The Click.
Carson owned a recording studio in Guildford; Murray had toured with Cliff Richard, appearing on the 25th anniversary album of Cliff and the Shadows in ’78, and toured Europe and the Middle East with a number of bands; Thorne had been playing on the Bristol circuit; and finally, Williams had been with 57 Beans as well as touring Europe and appearing on TV. The band played mostly covers with their own original tune thrown in.
Gallery:
City debut in Soundscene 29th January 1981 – a year after forming. Picture courtesy of Chris Turner 
Soundscene ’81 (Date TBC). Picture courtesy of Chris Turner. 
Advert for The Wooden Bridge Rock Club from Sounds 9 April ’83 issue. Image courtesy of Pete Cole -
Stereo Club, Woking
The Stereo Club was held in the dance hall, up the winding staircase, at the top of the Co-op in Woking; with Willy Watson and Ronnie Hughes the main doormen on club nights from ’64-’66. It may not have been a licensed venue, but it featured a lot of good beat and rhythm ’n’ blues bands and was known as a hardcore Mod hangout.
You could have seen the likes of Freddie & the Dreamers, The Troggs, Dave Dee Dozy Beaky Mick and Tich, and the Tremelos for no more than 5/-. Local bands such as The Late Edition also played there, and on the 7th Jan, 7th Feb, 3rd & 13th March ’64 Philip Goodhand-Tait and The Stormville Shakers appeared returning in ’65 on 26th Sept. Each club night featured live music and a disco. Local firemen of the time – station just across the road – were often called out to the club to administer first aid following a punch up.
During the day and Saturday morning’s the Alexander School of Dancing, run by Frank and Winnie Alexander, operated out of the club. Below the club the Hopwood brothers ran a roller disco. The Co-op closed around 1980.
Gallery:
The old Co-op (c’73) building, Woking were the Stereo Club was held upstairs and the Hopwood brothers ran a roller discos below. 
Up the winding stairs on the right to the top of the Co-op was The Stereo Club. Picture courtesy of Gillian Pugh via WOKING-OLD and NEW 
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Annual Leave
(c’81) Taff Evans (drums), Nick Hyde (guitar / vocals), Mike Gale (bass) and Andy Callan (keyboard).
Evans (ex-Ribs), Hyde (ex-Can’t Be Rad), Gale (ex-Brun Salef) and Callan covered the pop-rock-jazz-blues area of the music spectrum. Gale may be the same person as the vocalist in PSG. Evans went on to join Boogie Chillen.
Gallery:
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Basic Essentials
(c’79-’83) – Stewart Home (guitar), Sally Alderman (vocal), Andrea James (bass), and Dave King (drums / synth).
This four-piece were formed by Andrea James and managed by David Tiffen, who also wrote some lyrics. A pre-gigging incarnation included Steve ? (guitar) with King, who was the guitarist with The Sleep. Home was in White Colours prior (with a slight overlap) to Basic Essentials and The Molotovs. King worked as a recording engineer at Theatre Projects in Neal’s Yard, Covent Garden and the band were able to use the place at the weekends to rehearse and record for free. Debuting at The Cricketers, Westfield on 20 June 1980, they played mostly their own material, with the odd cover, which despite the pretty traditional band construct was rather “experimental”. We also know that they appeared at The Star, Guildford.
Arctic Explorer demo cassette from 1980 
The “11 To 13” demo cassette from 1981. Two cassette EPs: The five track “Artic Explorer” which sold for 75p from Bonepartes, Guildford and Recordscene, Woking; and “11 to 13” were produced and released on the bands own These Silences label, generating some record company interest, with Rough Trade records distributing the cassettes. “Artic Explorer” [TST1] came out in late ’80 and carried 5 tracks: “Arctic Explorer”, “Woking”, “Little Boy”, “The Voyeur” and “No One Is There”. It sold well locally and received some coverage in the weekly music press, leading to sales in Switzerland, France and Germany. The “11 to 13” [TST2] cassette EP had all new, but one less track: “Hat Boxes”, “Kerouac”, “Traveler”, and “House of Usher” and was released in shortly before Christmas ’81.
Promo pic Home left the band prior to the recording of their third cassette, with King taking on guitar and drums duties. But all was not well and the band dissolved while the cassette was in the works. Then, from the ashes of Basic Essentials, Somewhere In Europe formed in ’83.
Gallery:
Advert for Basic Essentials “Arctic Explorer” cassette EP from page 8 of the Bitch Bitch fanzine Issue No 1. Picture courtesy of John Hudson 
Basic Essentials get a mention in the Bitch Bitch fanzine Issue No 1 Pg3. Picture courtesy of John Hudson 
Cover image for Basic Essentials’ “Artic Explorer” cassette EP released in 1980 
Article from local paper (to be identified) on Basic Essentials’ cassette sales success… 
1981: Stewart Home on guitar with Basic Essentials at The Wooden Bridge , Guildford. 
Some ‘weirdery’ from guitarist Home in the 10th May ’84 Soundscene 
Jon Harlow stirs it up a bit for Basic Essentials. Soundscene 1981 (date TBC). Picture courtesy of Chris Turner. 
Basic Essentials at The Star, Guildford 1980. Picture courtesy of Fred Pipes 
Basic Essentials at The Star, Guildford 1980. Picture courtesy of Fred Pipes 
Basic Essentials at The Star, Guildford 1980. Picture courtesy of Fred Pipes 
Basic Essentials at The Star, Guildford 1980. Picture courtesy of Fred Pipes 
Basic Essentials at The Star, Guildford 1980. Picture courtesy of Fred Pipes Andrea James, Basic Essentials, Bonepartes, Covent Garden, Dave King, Dave Tiffen, David Tiffen, Guildford, Recordscene, Rough Trade, Sally Alderman, Somewhere in Europe, Stewart Home, The Cricketers, The Molotovs, The Sleep, The Star, Theatre Projects, These Silences, Westfield, White Colours, Woking -
White Colours
(c’80-’85) – Julian Jehu (vocals), Stewart Home (bass), Chris Searle (guitar), and Andy Clarke (drums).
Named after a novel by F. D. Reeve, in late ’80 this Byfleet / Weybridge area band debuted at The Wooden Bridge, Guildford. Appearances at The Cricketers, Westfield; Bunters, Guildford and a few times at Woking Sixth Form College followed, once supporting Hector’s Breakfast, before the year was out.
On 27 January ’81 the band were back at The Wooden Bridge for a set with Tel Aviv Quartet, followed by a support slot for Pain Relief at Woking College on 30 January. A demo was also recorded in ’81, carrying “13 O’Clock” and “Soldier” which was either reportedly recorded in the garage studio of Tel Aviv Quartet guitarist Dave King or at a studio in Covent Garden by Dave King, assisted by ‘Big’ John Preston (bass) who were both in The Sleep.
Home left and joined King in Basic Essentials during ’81. When the band finally parted ways, Searle and Clarke formed In Motion, with Dave Cheke from The Sleep and Paul Slydell (bass).
Gallery:
c’ 1981 
Soundscene in ’81 (exact date unknown at this point). Picture courtesy of Chris Turner Andy Clarke, Basic Essentials, Bunters, Byfleet, Chris Searle, Covent Garden, Dave Cheke, Dave King, F.D. Reeve, Guildford, Hector’s Breakfast, In Motion, John Preston, Julian Jehu, Pain Relief, Paul Slydell, Stewart Home, Tel Aviv Quartet, The Cricketers, The Sleep, Westfield, Weybridge, Woking, Woking College, Wooden Bridge -
Phone For Details
(’84) ? (?), ? (?), ? (?), ? (?), and ? (?)
This Guildford 5-piece competed at the Aldershot Rock Weekend, held at the West End Centre, Aldershot, on the evening of 24 March ’84 appearing with Capricorn, Boogie Chillun, Drama, and Trident. Phone for Details also supported The Click at The Royal, Guildford on 4 May ’84.
Gallery:
Caroline Wood reviews Phone For Details when they supported The Click at The Royal, 4 May ’84. Taken from Soundscene 10 May ’84. 
Rock Weekend at West End Centre. Clipping from Aldershot News, March ’84 -
XLR8
(’82-’83) – William de Kock (drums), Nigel Turner (bass / backing vocals), Dave Raphael (keyboard / harmonica) and Pete Alvis (guitar / lead vocals).
XLR8 at The Cricketers, Westfield. Picture courtesy of William de Kock Alvis, who’d previously been in The Fix, teamed up with fellow fellow Westfield residents de Kock and ex-Panther and Cutting Edge Raphael, and Turner from Old Woking to form XLR8, who rehearsed in Sutton Green. XLR8 played their first gig at The Cricketers, Westfield and were on the local circuit for about 2 yrs in the early 80’s, including The Cricks, almost as a residency.
A typical month for XLR8 went a bit like this: They played The Cricks on the 1 October ’82, supporting Precious Few – in which Raphael also played – and a week later they appeared at The Mariner, Frensham on 8 October; two days after which they were entertaining the punters at the Coach & Horses, Farnham. Peasmarsh Rock Club hosted the band in Guildford on 14 October before returning to The Cricks and The Mariner on 24 and 30 October respectively. The band ended up playing Peamarsh Rock Club monthly (11 November and December) and The Cricks on a similar schedule (18 November and 12 December), one of which saw them supporting Toulouse. They even ventured into the home turf of The Jam, to whom they were often compared, at the Youth Club, Sheerwater on 17 November.
Ten days into January ’83 saw the band at the Community Centre, Frimley and back at The Cricks on 24 Janaury. On 10 February ’83, The Cricks hosted the band again but they officially split in March / April that year the result of the double whammy of pubs preferring to book discos over live bands and the lack of live venues in the Woking area. Over the next few months pressure mounted, particularly from The Cricks regulars, to reform. Eventually they succumb to the pressure, which included the landlord of the Cricks itself, and agreed to get together and do one very last gig on 7 July ’83 – billing it as our final farewell.
7 July 1983, Farewell gig flyer. Picture courtesy of William de Kock It may have been billed as their final gig but we have a listing for the band playing at the Youth Club, Woking on 1 October ’83…? Turner and Raphael turn up a couple of years later in China Heart. Twelve years after the split the band reformed one more time for a gig supporting Sideways on 14 February ’95.
Tracks:
Gallery:
Picture courtesy of William de Kock 
Picture courtesy of William de Kock 
XLR8 at The Cricketers, Westfield. Picture courtesy of William de Kock 
XLR8 at The Cricketers, Westfield. Picture courtesy of William de Kock 
XLR8 at The Cricketers, Westfield. Picture courtesy of William de Kock 
XLR8 at The Cricketers, Westfield. Picture courtesy of William de Kock 
XLR8 at The Cricketers, Westfield. Picture courtesy of William de Kock 
XLR8 at The Cricketers, Westfield. Picture courtesy of William de Kock 
XLR8 at The Cricketers, Westfield. Picture courtesy of William de Kock 
XLR8 at The Cricketers, Westfield. Picture courtesy of William de Kock 
XLR8 at The Cricketers, Westfield. Picture courtesy of William de Kock 
XLR8 at The Cricketers, Westfield. Picture courtesy of William de Kock 
XLR8 at The Cricketers, Westfield. Picture courtesy of William de Kock 
XLR8 at The Cricketers, Westfield. Picture courtesy of William de Kock 
XLR8 at The Cricketers, Westfield. Picture courtesy of William de Kock 
XLR8 at The Cricketers, Westfield. Picture courtesy of William de Kock 
XLR8 at The Cricketers, Westfield. Picture courtesy of William de Kock 
XLR8 at The Cricketers, Westfield. Picture courtesy of William de Kock 
Turner threatens to send Jon Harlow a demo… Picture courtesy of William de Kock 
1983. Picture courtesy of William de Kock 
1995. Picture courtesy of William de Kock 
Picture courtesy of William de Kock 
Picture courtesy of William de Kock China Heart, Coach & Horses, Community Centre, Cutting Edge, Dave Raphael, Farnham, Frensham, Frimley, Guildford, Nigel Turner, Old Woking, Panther, Peasmarsh Rock Club, Pete Alvis, Precious Few, Sheerwater, Sideways, Sutton Green, The Cricketers, The Fix, The Jam, The Mariner, Toulouse, Westfield, William de Kock, XLR8, Youth Club -
Ob-Jay-Da
(’82-date) Tim Howe (bass / vocals), Dave Swan (drums) and Tanya “Tarn” Ockenden (guitar / vocals).
Official band picture from the official programme for “Gig For Africa” at Dorking Halls – 21 December 1985 In around ’81 Howe would often be found in the local studio, where he got make tea for The Cure and shared one of his early home recordings with Robert Smith. This interest in recording led to Howe setting up a 4-track home studio and advertising his services. In December ’82, 15 year old Ockenden recorded a few of the songs she had written at Howe’s home studio, to which he added some bass guitar: Ob-Jay-Da was born with the addition of Swan on drums.
Signed ‘Colours Of Your Room’ demo cassette from 1983. Source: Stuart Scarry This Dorking band released the ‘Colours Of Your Room’ demo cassette in ’83. While the track listing for this first demo in uncertain, we do know the band recorded Tim Rice & Andrew Lloyd Weber’s “Another Suitcase in Another Hall” from Evita and Men at Work’s “Plus Overkill”. The band were also playing live at the likes of Murray’s Wine Bar, Dorking and Westcott Village Hall. The band recorded video promos for “It’s so Strange” and “As If To Say” on 1 November ’83 using the multi-storey car park on Barrack Road, Aldershot, Farnham Castle and The Maltings, Farnham as locations. These were directed by Ian Lewis, who is possibly best know for the children’s TV series ‘Mona the Vampire’.
1 November ’83’s video promo ‘call sheet’. Source: Ob-Jay-Da ‘Colours Of Your Room’ was followed in ’84 by their ‘Over The Wall’ demo which carried eleven tracks: “Careless Situation / How The Mighty Are Fallen”, “Lost in Ideas”, “The Drum”, “Love in a Mist”, “Everything in Everybody”, “Over the Wall”, “Beautiful Morning”, “A Whirlpool”, “Lemon & Lime”, “Ozone” and “As If To Say”. Also in ’84 came the “This Is Now” demo.
Ob-Jay-Da demos. Source: Ob-Jay-Da If the tracks above sound familiar, the band entered Wickham Studios, Croydon in early ’85 and re-recorded the best tracks from these three demos. Twelve of those formed Ob-Jay-Da’s debut LP, “As If To Say”; which was released in ’85, shifting 1,500 copies, on the bands own Burning Ice Records [Melt 1] label. That same year they were also on the bill for the “Gig for Africa” at The Dorking Halls with the likes of Cardiacs, The Body Politic, Shoot! Dispute, and Great Garden.
The following year the band played Live-Aid Horsham, performing covers of T-Rex’s “Jeepster” and Billy Idol’s “White Wedding”. They also won the Star Discovery contest in ’86. By 1987 the band were playing regularly up in London; they also played at Woking Centre Halls to win Woking’s talent contest that year, which was judged by David Jason and others, with their performance of “Amoureuse”.
“Love Affair” was the trio’s first 7″ single, also released on Burning Ice Records [MELT 2]. This was backed by “Careless Situation” which had also been recorded in ’85 as part of the Wickham Studios sessions for ‘As If To Say”. Then in ’88 the band released their second LP, ‘Tales Of The Mystery Girl’ LP [MELT 3].
The bands second single hit the shelves in the spring of ’89 titled “Always Forever” [OJD 74], having secured distribution through EMI. Howe and Ockenden then took on a five week residency a hotel in St. Peter’s Port, Guernsey in June / July of ’89 – performing as a duo had become pretty common for the band by this point. Some time after their return “Ice”, a re-recording of the track included on the debut LP, was released as a single, backed by “Secrets” and “X” and distributed through EMI.
The band are still playing and releasing music today under the slightly different name of Objayda.
Gallery:
21 December 1985: The official “Gig For Africa” program has Bo-Jay-Da on the bill for at Dorking Halls. Source: Andrew Neil Brown 
21 December 1985: The official “Gig For Africa” program has Ob-Jay-Da on the bill for at Dorking Halls. Source: Andrew Neil Brown 
The official programme has Ob Jay Da on the bill for “Gig For Africa” at Dorking Halls – Dec 21st 1985 
The official poster has Ob Jay Da on the bill for “Gig For Africa” at Dorking Halls – Dec 21st 1985 
James Steen fills some column inches in the 29 October ’87 Soundscene… 
Ob Jay Da’s “As If To Say…” LP was released on Burning Ice Records [Melt 1] in ’85 
An early Ob-Jay-Da gig at a school 
Ob Jay Da (roughly centre) next to David Jason. Picture courtesy of Allan Broad 
Flyer from 1983 
Newsletter from 1989 Aldershot, Andrew Lloyd-Weber, Billy Idol, Burning Ice Records, Cardiacs, Centre Halls, Croydon, Dave Swan, David Jason, Dorking, EMI, Evita, Farnham, Farnham Castle, Gig for Africa, Great Garden, Guernsey, Horsham, Ian Lewis, Live-Aid, Men at Work, Mona the Vampire, Murray's Wine Bar, Ob-Jay-Da, Robert Smith, Shoot! Dispute, St. Peter's Port, Star Discovery, T-Rex, Tanya Ockenden, Tarn Ockenden, The Body Politic, The Cure, The Dorking Halls, The Maltings, Tim Howe, Tim Rice, Village hall, Westcott, Wickham Studios, Woking -
Collective Sound
(c’85-86) – Malcolm Randall (drums), Annie Noel (vocals), Andy Herbett (bass) and Ronnie Johnson (guitar) or John Etheridge (guitar).
Ex-Crosswinds and Spliff Riff bassist, Johnson had just finished touring with Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames in early ’85 and Etheridge fronted Soft Machine (from ’75-’78 and in ’84) and played with Stephen Grappeli; the result being that the two guitarist alternated appearances with Collective Sound. We know the band played The Talbot, Ripley on Valentines Day in ’85 and went on to take up a Thursday night residency there in mid ’85. This moved to Sunday’s later in the year, from which they took a break in February ’86, returning on 2 March.
Johnson released his debut solo album ‘Give Them Enough Rope’ in ’91 and worked with Van Morrison for many years, appearing on several of Morisson’s albums, including ‘Live in San Fransisco’. Johnson went on to perform with Bob Dylan, John Lee Hooker, Peter Green, and Leo Sayer, and now appears with his award winning modern jazz combo First Light, whilst maintaining a steady output of recording sessions and writing commissions when not touring.
Etheridge is currently back with Soft Machine, as he has been since 2004. Between ’89 and ’93, he was a member of Whatever; and between ’88-’94 spent time touring Germany with Dick Heckstall-Smith, recording two albums as the Dick Heckstall-Smith / John Etheridge Band. In ’88, he recorded an LP with Vic Juris; toured with Bireli Lagrene; and played in the Elton Dean/John Etheridge Quartet. He became a member of Nigel Kennedy’s live band in ’92, playing on Kafka (’96) and The Kennedy Experience – The Music of Jimi Hendrix (’98). In ’94 he toured with Andy Summers and released a duo LP with him. That same year Etheridge released his first solo album.
Gallery:
Soundscene late ’85 / early ’86 Andy Herbett, Andy Summers, Annie Noel, Bireli Lagrene, Bob Dylan, Collective Sound, Crosswinds, Dick Heckstall-Smith, Dick Heckstall-Smith / John Etheridge Band, Elton Dean/John Etheridge Quartet, First Light, Georgie Fame and The Blue Flames, John Etheridge, John Lee Hooker, Leo Sayer, Malcolm Randall, Nigel Kennedy, Peter Green, Ripley, Ronnie Johnson, Soft Machine, Spliff Riff, Stephen Grappeli, The Talbot, The Talbot Hotel, Van Morrison, Vic Juris, Whatever
Our Soundscene 
Human beings takes me back to 1981. Followed them all over the Surrey reading area for a year a great band and 3 good guys playing well written songs of the era. I wish john Tim and steve well what ever they are doing now. Should reform for a few shows just like Oasis but do the wooden bridge.
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