Vic Godard (born Victor John Napper) is an English singer-songwriter formerly of the punk group

Subway Sect Subway Sect were one of the first British punk bands. Although their commercial success was limited by the small amount of recorded material they released, they have been credited as highly influential on the Postcard Records scene and the indi ...

. He is now also a solo performer, while continuing to appear with various incarnations of

Biography

Born Victor John Napper in

Mortlake Mortlake is a suburban district of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames on the south bank of the River Thames between Kew and Barnes. Historically it was part of Surrey and until 1965 was in the Municipal Borough of Barnes. For many centu ...

, Surrey, Godard was raised in nearby

Barnes, London Barnes () is a district in south London, part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England. It takes up the extreme north-east of the borough, and as such is the closest part of the borough to central London. It is centred west sou ...

.Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 75-6 In 1976, Godard formed Subway Sect with three other fans of the

Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols were an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they were one of the most groundbreaking acts in the history of popular music. They were responsible for ...

at the suggestion of Sex Pistols manager

Malcolm McLaren Malcolm Robert Andrew McLaren (22 January 1946 – 8 April 2010) was an English impresario, visual artist, singer, songwriter, musician, clothes designer and boutique owner, notable for combining these activities in an inventive and provoc ...

, who wanted another band for the line-up of the 100 Club Punk Festival. Despite their inexperience, Subway Sect made a successful debut at the festival and were taken on by Clash manager

Bernie Rhodes Bernard Rhodes is a designer, band manager, studio owner, record producer and songwriter who was integral to the development of the punk rock scene in the United Kingdom from the middle 1970s. He is most associated with two of the UK's best kn ...

. They appeared with

The Clash The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the wa ...

on the White Riot Tour in 1977 and released their debut single, "Nobody's Scared"/"Don't Split It", in March 1978. While recording their debut album at Gooseberry Studios, Rhodes suddenly fired the entire band except for Godard. Two tracks from the album's recording sessions, "Ambition"/"Different Story", were released by

Rough Trade Records Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London, England. It was formed in 1976 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove. Having successfully promoted and sold records by punk rock and early post-pun ...

; the single was a major hit on the alternative charts. Godard re-formed Subway Sect in 1980 with new musicians and signed to

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 wit ...

sublabel Oddball, releasing the album ''What's The Matter Boy?'' Following a summer tour with

Buzzcocks Buzzcocks are an English punk rock band formed in Bolton, England in 1976 by singer-songwriter-guitarist Pete Shelley and singer-songwriter Howard Devoto. They are regarded as a seminal influence on the Manchester music scene, the independen ...

, Subway Sect disbanded again. Guitarist Johnny Britten formed a

rockabilly Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music. It dates back to the early 1950s in the United States, especially the Southern United States, South. As a genre it blends the sound of Western music (North America), Western music ...

band with

Chris Bostock Chris Bostock is an English musician, songwriter and music producer, known for his work with JoBoxers, Subway Sect, Dave Stewart and the Spiritual Cowboys, The Style Council, Spear of Destiny, The X-Certs and The Stingrays. Bostock has a ...

Sean McLusky Sean McLusky is a British music promoter, nightclub impresario and film producer. Early life The early 1980s saw Sean McLusky as a professional musician, first as a member of Switch, with his brother Graham and friends then original indie b ...

, Rob Marche and DC Collard, but was soon forced to leave the group, at which point Godard stepped in to take his place. They recorded the album ''Songs For Sale'' in 1981, but were disappointed with the results and disbanded soon after; members of the band, without Godard, went on to form

JoBoxers JoBoxers are a British new wave group formed in 1982, when former Subway Sect members Rob Marche (guitarist), Dave Collard (keyboardist), Chris Bostock (bassist), and Sean McLusky (drummer), teamed up with England-based American singer Dig Wa ...

. Godard also recorded an LP at

Olympic Studios Olympic Studios was a renowned British independent commercial recording studio based in Barnes, London. It is best known for its recordings of many artists throughout the late 1960s to the first decade of the 21st century, including Jimi Hendr ...

, called ''T.R.O.U.B.L.E.'', with a group of London

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

musicians known as Working Week, which was eventually released two years later by

. In the mid-1980s, Godard retired from music and became a postman. In 1990, Godard wrote the song "Johnny Thunders", a tribute inspired by reading an obituary of the New York Dolls guitarist. It was recorded at the home of Paul Baker, a fellow postman. Godard also recorded ten other tracks and the recordings, with

Paul Cook Paul Thomas Cook (born 20 July 1956) is an English drummer and member of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols. He was also called "Cookie" by his friends on the punk music scene. Early life and career Cook was raised in Hammersmith and atte ...

on drums, eventually became the album ''The End of the Surrey People''. Produced by

Edwyn Collins Edwyn Stephen Collins (born 23 August 1959) is a Scottish musician, producer and record label owner from Edinburgh, Scotland. Collins was the lead singer for the 1980s post-punk band Orange Juice, which he co-founded. After the group split in ...

, it was released on the

Postcard Records Postcard Records is a British, Glasgow-based, independent record label founded by Alan Horne in 1979, as a vehicle for releases by Orange Juice and Josef K. The label's motto was "The Sound of Young Scotland", a parody/tribute to the Motown mot ...

label. Collins' group

Orange Juice Orange juice is a liquid extract of the orange (fruit), orange tree fruit, produced by squeezing or reaming oranges. It comes in several different varieties, including blood orange, navel oranges, valencia orange, clementine, and tangerine. A ...

had made the Subway Sect song "Holiday Hymn" a feature of their set in the early 1980s. Later in the 1990s, Godard formed the band The Long Decline with Kenny Wisdom and Mark Perry. The band released an album on the Overground label before disbanding in 1998, but re-formed in 2000 with Godard, Wisdom, Lee McFadden, and Mina Sassoon, among others. Godard contributed guitar and some songwriting, but not lead vocals, In 1998, Godard released the album ''Long Term side-Effect'' on Tugboat Records. A 2002 album recorded by Godard, ''Sansend'', was released under the name Subway Sect, rather than his own. Godard's label Motion Records released ''Singles Anthology'' in 2005, compiling all the A-sides and B-sides from Godard's career. In 2007, as Subway Sect, Godard recorded the songs that had been intended for the debut LP back in 1978, and released them as ''1978 Now''. The line-up includes original drummer Mark Laff as well as original bass player Paul Myers on some tracks. Godard has also contributed to tracks by The Bitter Springs, who acted as his backing band (as Subway Sect) for nine years.McFadden, Lee (2006)
IN PROFILE: The Bitter Springs
", '' The Morning Star'', 7 January 2006 In 2009 Godard recorded ''We Come As Aliens'' for Overground records (with a vinyl edition on GNU Inc) with Subway Sect, as well as an EP with Trainspotting author

Irvine Welsh Irvine Welsh (born 27 September 1958) is a Scottish novelist, playwright and short story writer. His 1993 novel '' Trainspotting'' was made into a film of the same name. He has also written plays and screenplays, and directed several short fil ...

called ''Blackpool''. 2012 saw Godard & Subway Sect touring the UK & Europe extensively, while also recording ''1979 Now'' with Edwyn Collins. 2013 included a collaborative tour with the Sexual Objects (featuring Davy Henderson of

The Fire Engines The Fire Engines were a post-punk band from Edinburgh, Scotland. The Fire Engines were an influence on many bands that followed, including Franz Ferdinand and The Rapture, with Meat Whiplash and The Candyskins both taking their names from Fire ...

) and two BBC sessions with

Marc Riley Marc Riley (born 10 July 1961 in Manchester) is an English radio DJ, alternative rock critic, musician, and former music businessman. He currently presents on BBC Radio 6 Music. Formerly a member of the Fall, he co-owned a record label, In-Ta ...

. He released the 7" only single "Caught in Midstream" / "(You Bring Out) The Demon in Me". 2014 began with the release of ''30 Odd Years'' a 45 track box-set on Godard's own GNU Inc records. Godard remains a busy and creative artist, but no more popular (or better) than he was 40 years ago.

Discography

with Subway Sect

Vic Godard and Subway Sect

Albums

*''What's the Matter Boy?'' (1980), Oddball/MCA *''Songs For Sale'' (1982), London *''We Come As Aliens'' (2010), Overground *''1979 Now!'' (2014), Gnu ;Compilations: *''A Retrospective (1977–81)'' (1985), Rough Trade *''Twenty Odd Years – The Story of...'' (1999), Motion *''Singles Anthology'' (2005), Motion *''Live in Stereo'' (2009), GNU Inc *''Peel Sessions'' (2011), GNU Inc *''Live + Rare Vol 2'' (2012) GNU Inc *''30 Odd Years'' (2014), GNU Inc

Singles

*"Split Up the Money" (1980), Oddball/MCA *"Stop That Girl" (1981), Rough Trade *"Stamp of a Vamp" (1981), Club Left *"Hey Now (I'm in Love)" (1982), London *"Johnny Thunders" (1992), Rough Trade *"Won't Turn Back" (1993), Postcard *"No Love Now" (1996), Garcia s 'Spirit of the Sect'*"Place We Used to Love" (1999), Creeping Bent *"Caught in Midstream" (2013), AED

Vic Godard

Albums

*''T.R.O.U.B.L.E.'' (1986), Rough Trade *''End of the Surrey People'' (1993), Postcard *''Long Term side-Effect'' (1998), Tugboat *''In T.R.O.U.B.L.E. Again'' (2002), Tugboat

Singles

*"Holiday Hymn" (1985), El *"Blackpool" (2010), GNU Inc s 'Vic Godard & Irvine Welsh'*"Better Not Turn On", download (2012) ith Georgio Valentino*"Vic to Vic" (2013), Famelic ith Mates Mates

References

External links

Vic Godard and The Subway Sect Official Homepage. New live dates, bio, video, audio, News and ongoing archive

* ttp://www.vicgodard.co.uk/sniffin_glue_int.html Original Subway Sect interview in Sniffin Glue
30 Odd Years Boxset – Vic Godard

2014 interview
{{DEFAULTSORT:Godard, Vic Year of birth missing (living people) Living people English punk rock singers English male singers Singers from London Subway Sect members