The Limps 1979

The Limps came out of Annan, a small working class town in the UK on the border between Scotland and England. Four punk fans just out of school in late-1976/early 1977 in a town of social housing and little to do but drink and listen to music from the emerging punk scene. We travelled widely to follow the big bands, wrote fanzines, and organized punk discos in the nearby biggest town - Carlisle and in venues on both sides of the border. Having done that for a year or so, they then set out to form their own punk band, The Limps, despite the fact that the band- Andy Septic, Chuck Abnormal, Dee Dee Tee, and Tam Limp- had only one member with a basic idea of how to play. Andy, the guitarist, had been playing in local Working Men’s Clubs, but the others were complete newcomers. Still , they were determined, so with a second-hand bass guitar and a set of Tupperware Tubs, they spent each Friday working up a set of tunes that sounded similar to the music that was going at the time. By early 1978, they felt confident enough to get a “third on the bill” slot in a Carlisle venue, “Diamond Lil’s, which – although did not go down too well, - improved the confidence of the band. A second gig followed at the most famous Carlisle punk club at the time, Mick’s Club, where the local music reviewer wrote these immortal words: “Anything punk or new wave might have weakened the impact potential of the Limps, the opening band from Annan. On reflection, even a Salvation Army band could have done that. The drummer played as though his hands and feet were tied together; the bassist as thought rigor mortis had set in. Guitarist Andy Septic appeared to have some idea of chords, but didn’t have a hope with the back up of a drummer who gleefully admitted later that, until a week before, the only practice he’d had was on Tupperware Tubs and biscuit tins. They played about six songs and repeated two of them…” Despite this rather rough start, the band went on to play a number of gigs with local bands across the Borders, including with established bands such as the Angelic Upstarts, the Scars, and the Rezillos. The band also set up their own record label, Matchbox Classics Records, and produced three discs during the period April 1979 to Autumn, which sold well at the time and were regularly praised by the DJ John Peel on his weekday shows on the BBC. These discs remain very much sought after to this day. The band folded in the autumn of 1980, when members moved from the Borders to take up jobs, education and other projects. 45 years on, a Hollywood movie asked if they could use one of the songs, “Someone I Can Talk To” in a forthcoming film. The movie, “Snack Shack”, is now on release in the USA and this success has given the band the opportunity to get together again after 40 years and to play some shows, one of which will take place in London in November this year.