Venom (15)

Consisting of David 'Snakey' Cooze on vocals, Glenn Evans on bass/vocals, Dai Monk on guitar and Sam Phillips on drums, the Venom played their first gig on 3rd may 1979 - the day Margaret Thatcher was voted in as Prime Minister. Formed from the remains of local punk heroes The Noise, the four-piece took their original inspiration from the old-school DIY ethic of bands such as The Clash and Slaughter And The Dogs. Monk and Phillips moved on in early 1980 and were replaced by Wayne Rowe and Steve 'Gagsy' Garland respectively. Following an incident at a football match the band took an enforced hiatus at Her Majesty's Pleasure. When they re-emerged, Snakey took to wearing a balaclava on stage and their style morphed towards the crowd pleasing chant-along style of Sham 69. The band recorded three self-funded sessions over their career, yielding such local punk classics as Saturday Afternoon Trouble, Barmy Army and their own irreverent take on Nancy Sinatra's 1966 hit - These Boots Were Made For Stomping. The results impressed Sounds journalist Garry Bushell enough to pen two articles about the band and subsequently include the track Where's Dock Green? on the Back On The Streets e.p. that accompanied the third Oi album Oi Oi Thats Yer Lot. Their association with the Oi movement attracted an ever-expanding fanbase of punks and skins that saw previously good humoured gigs often descend into violence. The band called it a day in summer 1982 following their final gig at Swansea's Townhill Tech.