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Discography
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EP, Albums
and live recordings
1987 - Skitzo Mania LP/CD
1987 - Sick Sick Sick (12
inch and CD. Split with
Demented Are Go and
Coffin Nails)
1988 - Terminal Damage LP/CD
1995 - The Glove (4 song
7 inch EP)
1997 - Vertigo CD
Compilations
1988 - Zorch Factor 2 LP (Compilation)
1988 - Zorch Factor 3 LP
(Compilation)
1988 - Stomping At The
Klub Foot Vol 5 LP/CD (Compilation)
1994 - Rumble Party Vol 2
(Compilation)
1994 - Psychobilly
Sampler CD (Compilation)
1995 - Rumble Party Vol 3
LP (Compilation)
1996 - Psychobilly
Sampler Vol 2 CD (Compilation)
1996 - Rumble Party Vol 4
CD (Compilation)
Video
1987 - Go Skitzo
1988 - Terminal Damage
Live (Video of Birmingham
Fest. 1988)
1988 - Night Of The Long
Knives (Video compilation
of Birmingham Fest.)
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SKITZO
were formed in London,
England in early 1985.
Briefly known as "The
ELECTROS", Phil and
Rod Connor roped in a
couple of friends with
the idea of forming a
band. Whilst working a
stall in Peckham Market,
Phil found Mac and Tony
in a second hand shop,
songs were written, and
gigs arranged. Rod was
replaced on drums by
Steve Tomlinson, due to
an accident which left
Rod unable to play for a
long time. After Steve
had rehearsed the parts
for the songs, a demo was
recorded. After finding
management in the shape
of Owen Davies, they
played their first gigs,
building up a firm based
around Kent and South
London.Unfortunately,
Tony got into a bit of
trouble, and was in
prison for 6 months.
Undeterred by this
setback, tapes were sent
to and from the prison
for Tony to learn new
material, and they played
their next gig (Churchills,
Chatham) the same day he
was released. At this
point, it was decided to
change the name of the
band to SKITZO. Rod had
recovered by this point,
and played drums for the
support act. The next
day, they supported the
Meteors at the "Cricketers"
in London. After a while,
they were offered a gig
at the famous "Clarendon"
pub, home of the Klub
Foot. Then the Klub Foot.
Then another. Then
another. Their popularity
was on the increase. Roy
Williams from NERVOUS
RECORDS saw them, and was
so impressed, he offered
them a record deal on the
spot.SKITZO MANIA was
released on an
unsuspecting public in
1987, and sold very well.
They did their first gig
abroad, in Hamburg,
Germany, where the album
was apparently number one
seller in the local
independant record shops.
Shortly afterwards, Steve
left the band and was
replaced by "STRUT".
He brought a much heavier
sound to the group,
mostly because he had a
full drumkit (rather than
Steves "Stand up"
setup), and hit it HARD.
Many long nights were
spent in the basement of
Clockwells studio in
Peckham, getting the
sound just right. After
the album had been out
quite a while, SKITZO
were asked to be on the
bill at a "Stomping
At The Klub Foot"
recording. The guitarist
"Mac" was very
nervous, and got very
drunk before he went on.
The gig was an absolute
disaster, and a huge
argument broke out within
minutes of leaving the
stage. Things were sorted
out, but then Mac left
the band for personal
reasons. An audition was
held for a new guitarist,
and Pete got the job,
with only 3 days notice
before the next gig. He
had been following SKITZO
since the early days and
the band didn't even know
he played until he
grabbed a guitar at a
party one night and
played some SKITZO stuff.After
the already-booked shows
had been played, work
began on the second album
"TERMINAL DAMAGE".
TERMINAL DAMAGE was a
radical step foward from
the first LP
SKITZO was now comprised
of: Phil (vocals), Tony (Bass),
Strut (Drums) and Pete (Guitar).
Four musicians who could
really play hard, and had
some new ideas. A few of
the songs for "TERMINAL
DAMAGE" were already
written at that time, but
Phil and Pete spent
several long nights in
Phils kitchen, hammering
out new ideas. The band
wanted to take the sound
a step further and heavy
it up a bit. The new
lineup was perfect for
this, as Strut and Pete
were into Punk and
Hardcore as well as
Garage/Trash and
Rockabilly stuff, and
this was exactly what
they were looking for at
the time. A tour was
booked, and things went
really well for a year or
so, as they polished up
the live performances all
over Europe. Due to the
heavier nature of the
bands new sound (and
years of his famous
screaming in between
verses), Phil decided to
take a break from Skitzo
in the summer of 1989, as
he wanted to ease off on
his voice, and
concentrate on his
Rockabilly splinter
groups "The Gamma
Rays" and "Rabbit
Action" (featuring
John O'Malley from The
Nitros, Mickey "Batz"
Wigfall on Bass, and Paul
Moxon on drums).
SKITZO carried on with
Tony switching to vocals,
and a new bass player,
Justin. This added
Electric bass to the
bands sound, and
consequently made it even
heavier. By now, Skitzo
were sounding more a Punk
band than anything else.
They changed their name
to "SKITZOMANIAX"
to avoid confusion with
the traditional
psychobilly crowd. Tony
left the band in December
1989, leaving Pete
stranded on vocals for a
couple of shows. Strut
emigrated to Sweden in
the summer of 1990. Scott
was drafted in on drums,
and after a couple of
rehearsals with the new
lineup, the band decided
to call it a day at the
"Hemsby Weekender"
in October 1990. The band
weren't keen to play with
what was effectively a
"temporary"
lineup, but simply
couldn't pull out of the
festival due to the
number of people
attending.
During the demise of the
original band, it is
worthy of note that all
the members stayed
friends throughout.
Rumors abounded that
SKITZO were going to get
back together, but
nothing was planned.
However, pressure from
promoters both in England
and the rest of Europe
made the boys think long
and hard about doing a re-union
show, their main worry
being Phils already
strained voice. Phone
calls were made over
Christmas 1993, to try
and arrange a reunion gig
to satisfy the fans who
missed the old Skitzo.
Rod re-joined the band on
drums, and the musical
direction of the band
changed back to the mid
80s style of the 1st
album (after protestation
from Phil), and the first
"Real" Skitzo
show in 5 years was
played at the Big Rumble
festival in Yarmouth,
November 1994. 2 all-new
songs "Misery"
and "Deep River"
were released as part of
the "Rumble Party"
Souvenir LP.
Phil had by now decided
to carry on with the
vocal duties, on the
condition things were
toned down a little. and
it was mutually decided
to get Skitzo back
together again for a
while.They began to be re-discovered
by the old school
Psychobillies, and
discovered by a newer
crowd, and a 4 song, 7
inch EP called "The
Glove" was recorded
in August 1995. This is
considered by many to be
their best work, raw as
hell with loads of energy
and 4 killer songs! A
couple of European gigs,
and a Christmas show in
Leicester confirmed the
new-found popularity of
the band amongst fans,
old and new.
1996 saw the boys working
on songs for a new album,
titled "Vertigo".
Demo versions of the
songs had been recorded
at Mickey Wigfall's
luxurious 8 track
facility in Greenford,
and the band were now
itching to get into a
recording studio and
record these songs for
release on CD. The album
was underfunded and
consequently rushed, the
artwork got messed up,
the wrong disk of the
lyric insert was sent out
to the company, and the
band had 3 days to record
and mix the album at a
smelly 16 track studio in
Park Royal. Total budget
was about 450 pounds, I
think the boys did very
well under the
circumstances, but it has
been said that the demo
versions recorded were
better than the released
album :-)
Rumours of the bands
demise, various
reformations, deaths and
whatnot have circulated
ever since the release of
the Vertigo album. A few
shows were played in
support of "Vertigo",
including one of their
all time favourites, a
midnight appearance at
"Le Grand Duc"
in Apremont, France after
a hellish trip involving
missed ferries, floods
and roadworks. The night
was electric, the band
were absolutely on fire,
and the crowd went really
really mental. Proper
Skitzo!
SKITZO played their final
show at the "Flint
Cottage" in High
Wycombe in 1997, and have
no plans to reform.From
the band's official bio
on myspace.
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