SLAUGHTER & THE DOGS - Shocking

SLAUGHTER & THE DOGS Shocking cd 1991
Shocking / Angels of the Night / Cocaine Smile / Back on the Streets / Stop Playing With Mother Earth / That's Life / 1,000 Miles from You / All Through the Night / Me / Strange Fruits/ For U / Most of the Time / Me (Underground Mix).
Produced by W. Barrett, M.Rossi & P. McMahon
Slaughter & the Dogs: W. Barrett: lead & backing vocals, bass / M. Rossi: guitar,bass backing vocals / N. Kay: drums & percussion / Rudd: bass.
Formed in the mid 1970s against the bleak backdrop of Wythenshawe on the outskirts of Manchester, Slaughter and the Dogs found themselves quickly to be at the forefront of the punk revolution that exploded onto the music scene in 1976.
Founder members Vocalist Wayne Barrett and Guitarist, Mick Rossi were school friends who had struck up an immediate friendship. With one eye focused on their mutual musical influences of Iggy, Lou Reed, The New York Dolls and Bowie, and the other searching for something new to give themselves an identity, their song-writing savvy matched the sound of their heroes with the energy of what was to become punk. With the addition of Howard "Zip" Bates on Bass, and Brian "Mad Muffet" Grantham on Drums, Slaughter and the Dogs launched themselves on an unsuspecting public, rapidly building a large, loyal fan base in and around Manchester, while making a noise loud enough to turn the heads of the A&R men down in London. Renowned as a band that could really draw a crowd, they were invited to support the Sex Pistols at Manchester’s Lesser Free Trade Hall, a gig that is now the stuff of legend, and the subject of a recent TV documentary, "I Swear I Was There!" (Granada TV, 2001), filmed to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the concert, and of course Punk itself. This gig catapulted the band from the Labour Clubs of the North to venues around the country that were taking a chance on this new musical revolution. Along the way they turned the head of Tosh Ryan, and the resulting classic single, "Cranked Up Really High" was the first independent single to be released outside London. Q Magazine recently described the single as, "à raucous amphetamine rush of a terrace chant, comprising equal parts glam and punk." The record won them a deal with Decca, a residency at London’s Mecca of punk, The Roxy, and a part in Don Letts legendary "Punk Rock Movie". Two tracks, "Boston Babies" and "Runaway" were included on the brilliant compilation, "Live at the Roxy". Throughout 1977 the band would release a string of classic singles; "Where Have All The Boot Boys Gone"/ "You’re A Bore", "Dame To Blame"/ "Johnny T" and "Quick Joey Small"/ "Come On Back", the last of which featured Rossi's hero Mick Ronson on guitar. These singles, allied with a burgeoning reputation as a great live band, set the band up perfectly for what is now recognized as one of the great punk albums. "Do It Dog Style" was released on 13th June 1978, along with the bewildering news that the band had in fact split up! The news only served to heighten the mystique surrounding the band, elevating this brilliant debut to a cult status immediately upon release. A four track single, under the title of "The Slaughter and the Dogs EP" kept a public hungry for more material happy for a time, while Rossi, now minus the (as it was to turn out) temporarily departed Barrett, considered his next move.
The Studio Sweethearts released their only single, "I Believe" in May 1979, the line up featuring Rossi (Vocals/Guitar), "Zip" Bates (Bass), guitarist Billy Duffy (Nosebleeds, Theatre Of Hate, The Cult), and ex-Eater drummer, Phil Rowland. Curiously the single was released in Germany under the Slaughter and the Dogs banner.
It appeared that the last had been heard of the band until it was announced on 26th July 1979 that Slaughter and the Dogs had reformed. With original vocalist Wayne Barrett back in the fold, Rossi and Bates retained the services of Phil Rowland from the Studio Sweethearts (Duffy moved on to Southern Death Cult). They re-launched themselves with a hometown gig at Manchester’s The Factory (later issued as the album Live At The Factory). More gigs followed before the release the band’s 8th single "Your Ready Now". Three sold out nights at the Marquee followed, but this sudden surge in popularity was not enough to persuade Wayne Barrett to stay with the band, and he decided in early 1980 to pursue a career allowing him to concentrate on song-writing back in France.
While Rossi wanted produce and write song’s for other artist, thus bringing the curtain down on this stage of the bands history at that moment.
Both Barrett and Rossi kept busy schedules over the coming years, with Barrett performing and recording in France with great success with bands such as Scum.

Rossi went on to put together a number of different bands, featuring past members of the Sex Pistols, Gen-X and Chelsea, alongside session and production work with a wide variety of artists including ex-heavy Metal Kids vocalist, Gary Holton. A move to LA via Dublin, saw Rossi settle on the West Coast of the USA, and for a time it seemed future projects under the slaughter & The Dogs banner were at best unlikely. Then in late 1995 English promoter Darren Russell tracked Rossi and Barrett down to invite the band to headline the closing night of the first Holidays In The Sun festival in Blackpool, England. The band reconvened in Stockport at the Greenhouse Rehearsal Studios, only a couple of miles from where they first performed. The success of, and the reaction to, this one show was immense, and the band have been a must see at sell out punk festivals ever since. Alongside these appearances in the UK, the band (with a now settled line-up of Rossi, Barrett, J.P. Thollet on Bass, who work’s on many French rock band’s and the amazing drummer Noel Kay to who thrashes out as one of the most coolest drummer’s in the business ) The successful European and Japanese tours (The Japanese dates selling out weeks in advance), before coming back to Manchester to record a brand new album in the summer of 2001. Along side a blistering headline set to the thousands assembled for the 25th anniversary show in Morecambe, as part of the Holidays festival, the band recorded the excellent "Beware Of" album, before jetting off to San Francisco to play their first ever show in the United States. band of the Weekend was the overwhelming verdict on this sell out show; laying the foundations for a full-blown coast to coast US tour the following February. The sell out shows at San Francisco’s Justice League, and New York’s legendary CBGB’s were recorded for release for a live album .In the meantime, Slaughter & The Dogs fans will be delighted to hear that the band are taking in a European tour from the end of October into May of next year with shows across The U.K. Spain, France, Germany and Poland. The band, who are thrilled to be working on these future tours. Source
PS: It seems, according to the liner notes, that this album (featuring former members M.Rossi & W. Barrett) was recorded in 1991 but I found nothing about it, f someone knows more...