Recently headlined Italian punk festival at The Musicdrome, Milan May 2008 with Simon Kinder on guitar, Matt Broughton on bass and Jeff Walker on drums. Currently Spizz presents for Cherry Red.TV on Sky channel 378 (Rockworld.TV).
History:
Mercurial punk survivor Spizz made his debut at the Birmingham, England club Barbarella's during an all-day music festival held August 27, 1977, performing an improvised set on a borrowed guitar; returning two months later by drummer Pete Petrol, he now billed the act as Spizz 77, the first of numerous name changes to follow in the years to come. Re-christened Spizz Oil, the duo earned their first significant notice in 1978 opening for Siouxsie and the Banshees, resulting in a John Peel session which itself led to an offer from Rough Trade to record an EP, 6000 Crazy. The record topped the UK indie charts, as did its follow-up, Cold City 4; however, Spizz and Petrol parted ways soon after, and with new bassist Jim Solar and keyboardist Mark Coalfield, Spizzenergi was launched in early 1979. Petrol then returned on guitar for the group's stint on the Rough Trade tour; after "Soldier, Soldier" was named Single of the Week in the NME, the follow-up, "Where's Captain Kirk?," earned the same honour in Melody Maker, topping the UK indie charts for eight consecutive weeks in 1980.After the next single "No Room" / "Spock's Missing" notched advance orders totalling over 50,000 copies (the same figure that got the Artic Monkeys to No.1), the group - now touting themselves as Athletico Spizz 80 - signed to A&M and released their much-anticipated full-length top 10 LP debut 'Do a Runner'. Despite endless line-up shuffles, a brief tour of the U.S. followed before the band returned home to record their second album 'Spikey Dream Flowers', credited to the Spizzles; however, the emergence of the New Romantic movement had altered the prevailing musical climate so severely that the record not only flopped, but after just two more singles, A&M cut the group loose altogether. As Spizzenergi: 2, they returned to Rough Trade for a pair of singles, "Mega City: 3" and "Jungle Fever," but despite the return of Pete Petrol the group suffered from management problems, and by 1983 Spizz had largely receded from the music scene to focus on painting, resurfacing only for a lone solo show billed as Spizzorwell. A year later, however, he organized a large-scale stage production dubbed The Last Future Show featuring a six-piece female backing group.By 1985, the show had evolved into a cult-favourite nightclub attraction, although no record deals were yet forthcoming. A year later, Spizz signed on with members of the band Friends of Gavin, touring under the name Spizzsexual; splitting with the group in 1987, he recorded a new rendition of "Where's Captain Kirk?" and toured Germany, followed by a new single, "Love Me Like a Rocket." 1989 saw the emergence of Spizzvision, while in 1990 Spizz and Pete Petrol reunited yet again, this time pursuing a techno-influenced direction under the revived Spizz Oil banner. When Petrol relocated to New Zealand, Spizz again returned to the Spizzenergi moniker, although a 1994 cover of John Lennon's "Merry Xmas (War Is Over)" appeared credited to Spizzmas. The original Spizzenergi line-up reunited in 1996 to appear at the Blackpool Holiday In The Sun punk festival, while 1997 saw Spizz's new members from 1991 and onetime band mates Jim Solar and Dave Scott enter the studio with producer Martyn Ware to record the Kraftwerk classic 'The Model'. This and many other Spizz classics can be found on The Very Best Of Spizz on Cherry Red Records.
John Peel Day
Its John Peel day, we need some Spizz. The tube is out of action, the bus from Kentish Town to Oxford Street is full of insanely shouring crack smokers, oh I need to give you more words. Fighting upstairs on the 138, we don't need this.... We get there just in time, eventful ride! Our first impression is always the right one, Spizz is bouncing. Today is John Peel day and the only event we can see that has anything what so ever to do with the spirit and energy of the man is Spizz Energi at the Metro - they told us they were determined to play somewhere tonight, the BBC wouldn't have them on the official thing, I suspect John Peel would have hated what the BBC Radio One people were up to anyway. Mnemonics, what on earth does that mean? its a way of remembering something. a mnemonic device, like if you use one thing to remember the meaning of another. New Order's sentiment over at the Queen Elizabeth Hall yesterday (they didn’t have the official John Peel gig on John Peel gig, Radio One couldn’t even get that bit sorted right), anyway New order’s sentiment was warm and heart felt, we heard that much from outside (we'd been thrown out by then for giving out free zines at a John Peel 'celebration'!). Tonight Spizz is bouncing; he's a riot of jerky new wave energy with his razor sharp band add more drive than ever. Spizz Energi (aka: Spizz 77, Spizz oil, Athletico Spizz 80, The Spizzles etc) is a genuine Peel legend. Wickedly edgy version of Roxy’s Virginia Plain tonight, toped by a rather fast version of The Model that has the crowd yelling for Autobahn - which he damn well goes and does by himself until the band pick up on the improvised vibe. Incidentally he really is called Spizz -- his surname is Spears -- courtesy of a Dutch friend from schooldays having an accent. "A short name with 'Z's in it: I'm up for that!” (I just stole that bit of information) He's got all the right moves, they put on a surprisingly good and extremely entertaining show, he performs the strange mantra chant "Clocks Are Big, Machines Are Heavier" as a piece of surreal audience participation. The whole vibe is completely down-to-earth where I suspect once, back in the day, a Spizz gig was quite a gloriously pretentious thing – it all ends with a riotous Captain Kirk of course. Yes indeed, if John Peel was anywhere tonight, I suspect he was here having great fun, what else could he do but go Warp factor two with the rest of us in Metro’s.... Nice one Spizz and band. Peel celebration done with style in one place at least.
