The Jolt were a Scottish band formed in

Wishaw Wishaw ( sco, Wishae or Wisha ; gd, Camas Neachdain) is a large town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, on the edge of the Clyde Valley, south-east of Glasgow city centre. The Burgh of Wishaw was formed in 1855 within Lanarkshire. it form ...

, Scotland in September 1976.

History

At the time, Robbie Collins and Jim Doaks were clerks in the civil service and Iain Shedden was a music

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

for a local paper. They had known each other from their schooldays at Wishaw High School and had been thinking about forming a band since the beginning of 1975. They started out playing 1960s covers and then sped up their music, playing a mix of punk rock and

power pop Power pop (also typeset as powerpop) is a form of pop rock based on the early music of bands such as the Who, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and the Byrds. It typically incorporates melodic hooks, vocal harmonies, an energetic performance, and c ...

. The lineup was Collins on guitar and vocals, Doak on bass and vocals and Iain Shedden on drums. The band built up its following playing at the Crown Hotel,

. They enjoyed moderate success during the punk and early new wave era. They moved to

London, England London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major s ...

and signed to

Polydor Records Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

on a reported four-year deal worth £90,000, making them the first Scottish

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

/ new wave band to sign with a major label. The first single released was "All I Can Do" in September 1977, before releasing a cover of the Small Faces' "

Whatcha Gonna Do About It "Whatcha Gonna Do About It" is the debut single released by the English rock group Small Faces, released in the UK on 6 August 1965. The song peaked at number 14 in the UK Singles Chart, and stayed on chart for a total of 14 weeks. It reache ...

" in April the following year. However, they flopped, as did the band's sole eponymous album, released in July 1978. Soon after the album's release, the band recruited a second guitarist, Kevin Kay. They had opened for bands such as

The Jam The Jam were an English mod revival/ punk rock band formed in 1972 at Sheerwater Secondary School in Woking, Surrey. They released 18 consecutive Top 40 singles in the United Kingdom, from their debut in 1977 to their break-up in December 1 ...

, The Saints,

Generation X Generation X (or Gen X for short) is the Western demographic cohort following the baby boomers and preceding the millennials. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1960s as starting birth years and the late 1970s to early 1980s a ...

and

The Motors The Motors were a British pub rock band formed in London in 1977 by former Ducks Deluxe members Nick Garvey and Andy McMaster together with guitarist Rob Hendry (who was replaced in May 1977 by Bram Tchaikovsky) and drummer Ricky Slaughter. Th ...

Paul Weller Paul John Weller (born John William Weller; 25 May 1958) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Weller achieved fame with the punk rock/ new wave/mod revival band the Jam (1972–1982). He had further success with the blue-eyed soul mu ...

of The Jam became a big fan of the band, and the two bands often collaborated, with The Jolt opening for The Jam, and Weller even wrote a single for The Jolt, "See Saw", released in June 1979 on the EP ''Maybe Tonight''. However, The Jolt were seen as poor copy of The Jam, always in their shadow, and the band split soon afterwards. They were precursors to the

mod revival The mod revival was a subculture that started in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s and later spread to other countries (to a lesser degree). The mod revival's mainstream popularity was relatively short, although its influence lasted for de ...

, which ironically came to fruition around 1979.

Discography

Albums

* '' The Jolt'' (1978)

Extended plays

* ''Maybe Tonight'' (1979)

Singles

* "You're Cold!" / "All I Can Do" (1977) * "

" (1978) * "I Can't Wait" (1978)

References

External links

History of the Jolt
- from Punk 77

- from ModPopPunk Archives

- from Detour Records British mod revival groups Scottish punk rock groups Scottish new wave musical groups Musical groups established in 1976 Musical groups disestablished in 1979 1976 establishments in Scotland 1979 disestablishments in Scotland {{UK-band-stub