The Fits were a punk rock band from

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

, Lancashire, England, who were active between 1979 and 1985, having several hits on the

UK Indie Chart The UK Independent Singles Chart and UK Independent Albums Chart are charts of the best-selling independent singles and albums, respectively, in the United Kingdom. Originally published in January 1980, and widely known as the indie chart, the rele ...

. They reformed in 2011.

History

The Fits formed in Blackpool in October 1979, with an initial line-up of Mick Crudge (vocals), Andy Baron (bass guitar), Kev Halliday (drums), and "Big" Bill Hughes (guitar). They played their first gig only four days after forming, supporting Section 25 at Bispham Community Centre in Bispham. After four gigs, Big Bill was replaced by Steve Withers.The band's first release was a tape on "Beat The System" in 1980 called "You Named Us Tape" which was really a rehearsal recording with an interview with Bill Gumpy tagged on the end. The band's first single, "You Said We'd Never Make It" was recorded in June 1980. Local second-hand record shop owner Barry Lights sold it in his shop, and when the initial run of 1,500 had sold out, reissued it on his ''Beat The System'' label, the single eventually reaching number 2 in the

Sounds In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

Punk Chart. Increasing exposure saw the band supporting more established punk bands such as the

UK Subs U.K. Subs are an English punk rock band, among the earliest in the first wave of British punk. Formed in 1976, the mainstay of the band has been vocalist Charlie Harper, originally a singer in Britain's R&B scene. They were also one of the f ...

around the UK, and they were signed by the Rondelet label in November 1981. Rondelet issued their second single, "Think For Yourself" on New Year's Day 1982. In March 1982, the band entered the studio to record their album ''You're Nothing, You're Nowhere''. The band were not happy with the album, and Halliday and Baron left the band shortly afterwards, to be replaced by Tez McDonald of

One Way System One Way System are an English punk rock band formed in the Fleetwood area of Lancashire, England, in 1979. Career One Way System's initial line-up consisted of Craig Halliday (guitar), Gavin Whyte (vocals), Bob Grant(drums) and Gaz Buckley ( ...

and Ricky McGuire of

Chaotic Youth Chaotic was originally a Danish trading card game. It expanded to an online game in America which then became a television program based on the game. The program was able to be seen on 4Kids TV (Fox affiliates, nationwide), Jetix, The CW4Kid ...

. The new line-up had immediate success with the ''Last Laugh EP'', which entered the UK Indie Chart in December 1982 and peaked at number 44. McGuire left the band in February 1983 (he would later join UK Subs and

The Men They Couldn't Hang The Men They Couldn't Hang (TMTCH) are a British folk punk group. The original group consisted of Stefan Cush (vocals, guitar), Paul Simmonds (guitar, bouzouki, mandolin, keyboards), Philip "Swill" Odgers (vocals, guitar, tin whistle, melodica ...

), his eventual replacement being Gaz Ivin. The band struggled to capitalise on the success of their last EP, not helped by McDonald's drug problem, but their career was kickstarted when John Robb suggested that they might find a suitable home at

Crass Crass were an English art collective and punk rock band formed in Epping, Essex in 1977, who promoted anarchism as a political ideology, a lifestylism, way of life, and a resistance movement. Crass popularised the anarcho-punk movement of the ...

'/ John Loder's

Corpus Christi Records Corpus Christi Records is a British independent record label started by some of the members of Crass and their recording engineer and business partner John Loder, to release records by artists who did not perhaps fit in with some of the stric ...

. After travelling to meet

, the label took them on and released the ''Tears of a Nation EP'', which spent eight weeks in the indie chart, peaking at number 15. The success of the EP led Crudge and Withers to relocate to London. McDonald remained in

Fleetwood Fleetwood is a coastal town in the Borough of Wyre in Lancashire, England, at the northwest corner of the Fylde. It had a population of 25,939 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census. Fleetwood acquired its modern character in the 1830 ...

with his family, and did not travel to all of the band's gigs, with Ogs from

Peter and the Test Tube Babies Peter and the Test Tube Babies are an English punk rock band, formed in the small town of Peacehaven, England in 1978, by Derek "Strangefish" Greening and Peter Bywaters. Due to their humorous tongue-in-cheek lyrics, they have been considered ...

standing in. A split EP, ''Pressed for Cash'' was issued on the Babies' Trapper label, and the band would play several times on the same bill as PTTB. Trapper released two more singles, "Action" and "Fact or Fiction", both of which were indie hits, but the violence that was common at punk gigs at the time affected the band, and they split up in November 1985. Crudge, Withers, and Ivin as well as Broderick went on to play in Pure Pressure, before all three moved abroad. In 1995, Captain Oi! records released a 27-track retrospective, ''The Fits Punk Collection'', and this was followed in 1997 by the ''Too Many Rules'' collection on the Italian ''Get Back'' label. In December 2011, they announced that they were re-forming for a one-off gig at the Rebellion Festival in their hometown of Blackpool with a line-up of members through the years including Mick Crudge, Dave Broderick recently and over time a session drummer with various named bands, Ricky McGuire and new member Kerry Waite. Kerry Waite left in 2013 and has been replaced by Swedish guitarist and singer Calle Engelmarc (of

The Members The Members are a British punk band that originated in Camberley, Surrey, England. In the UK, they are best known for their single "The Sound of the Suburbs", reaching No. 12 in 1979, and in Australia, "Radio" which reached No. 5 in 1982. Car ...

Nigel Bennett Nigel Bennett (born 19 November 1949) is a British-Canadian actor, director, and writer who has been based in Canada since 1986. He is best known for playing the vampire patriarch Lucien LaCroix in the TV series ''Forever Knight'', for which h ...

Band, 96 Decibels, Feral Ghost and Nicolette Street & The Revs). The band released a 'comeback' record, ''Offerings at the Altar'' in 2015.

Discography

Chart placings shown are from the

Albums

*''You're Nothing, You're Nowhere'' (1982), Rondelet *''The Fits Punk Collection'' (1995),

Captain Oi! Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

*''Too Many Rules'' (1997), Get Back (Italy) *''Offerings at the Altar'' (2015), PunkeramaThe Fits Illustrated Discography
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Singles/EPs

*"You Said We'd Never Make It" (1981), Beat the System *"Think for Yourself" (1982), Rondelet *''The Last Laugh EP'' (1982), Rondelet (#44) *"Tears of a Nation" (1983), Corpus Christi (#15) - containing "Tears of a Nation", "Bravado" and "Breaking Point" *''Pressed for Cash'' (1984), Trapper (split EP with Peter and the Test Tube Babies) *"Action" (1984), Trapper (#12) *"Fact or Fiction" (1985), Trapper (#21) *''Lead On EP'' (2013) *"Son of a Gun" (2013) *"The Visitor" (2014)

Tapes

*"You Named Us Tape" (1980), Beat the System

Compilation appearances

*''Bravado'' (2005) "The Ugly Truth About Blackpool" (CD by Just Say No to Government Music) *''Beat the System: The Punk Singles Collection'' (CD on Cherry Red Records) *''The Only Alternative'' (1982) (LP on Rondelet Records)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fits, The English punk rock groups Musical groups from Lancashire