Thursday, August 30, 2007

Mercenary Skank - No More Dancing 12"


This one is for Nuzz at Nuzz Prowling Wolf. I know he requested some Mercenary Skank months ago and finally I got around ripping this one.
This post is a bit different than the last ones as Mercenary Skank is more of a punk band but of the melodic kind. Mercenary Skank were formed in the early 80's in Rhyl, Wales but moved to London. They were inspired by The Clash, Stiff Little Fingers and The Ruts. Here's the rest of what I found on the band on Link2Wales:
Orig line-up; Tudor Parry (gtr/voc), Mark Jordan (gtr), Graham Bevins (bass) (later of Mal de Mer, PSST) and Chris Turner (drums) (later of Frightened By Strangers). When the band moved to London Chris and Tudor split to be replaced by Andrew Tunnicliffe (guitar)- (see also Grids, Vicious Circle), Scratch (vocals) who worked at Kavern Records, Mike Crees (drums), Mark Perkins (sax) (also played in Open Channel D and Mystery Girls). Rel - No More Dancing 12" EP (No More Dancing/The Pull and The Push/Down Among The Deadmen/Dancing Dub)-Criminal Damage Records - CRI12-122. - Work Of Giants 12" EP (Somewhere/Endurance Highway/Willy Tears/Dub) - Backs Records(Norwich)-Storm 1. A CD of the above and another 6-10 tracks may be in the offing. Also billed on the CND benefit festival at the Queens in Rhyl 21.2.1981. Band moved to London to seek fame and fortune and very nearly did it. Managed by Caroline Reed who also managed the Stone Roses who supported Mercenary Skank in 1984. Andrew Tunnicliffe went on to play in Hammersmith based Ironic High Style in mid-80s. Neale Parry (ex Shop and brother of Iwan of Pinhead Recs) the band’s roadie/photographer/artwork designer who moved to London with them in the early 80's still lives in Surrey.

Here's the band's first release. The 'Work Of Giants' 12" is much harder to find.

No More Dancing 12" (Criminal Damage-CRI 12-122-1984)
1. No More Dancing
2. Dancing Dub
3. Pull & The Push
4. Deadmen


No More Dancing

17 comments:

Nuzz Prowlin' Wolf said...

Cheers Curious Guy. I have the work of giants 12" and i'm also getting a usb record deck next week so I shall rip that one and post it,saw 'em live once, great band, cheers for the info.

Highlander said...

Haven't heard this before curious guy but always wanted to. Thanks as ever.

lo spettro di se stesso said...

Nice record! Thanks!

Tudor said...

Hi,
I started the band with Mark Jordan a hundred years ago. It was a crazy time. We used to support Seventeen (who became the Alarm), Their success moving to London was the motivation for members of the band to split N Wales (good plan) I Quit (or was kicked out.. can't remember.. either is plausible). Of all the periods in my life that one was the one where I felt most alive. It was crazy and wonderful and silly (not at the time) and so creative and idealistic. I would love to know if the song "No More Dancing", had to do with the fact that we used to goad the audience into dancing (I think because it looked so silly playing to a room full of wall flowers). Mark Jordan was a fantastic guy and I am so sorry that we lost touch. I wish hime well.
Tudor Parry Toronto Canada

Curious Guy said...

Hello Tudor,
thanks for leaving a comment. Hope all goes well in Canada.

Damien Bacon said...

well,well..it's funny how this cyberlark works.Only thee other day I was going thru some old tea chests and I came aross some Mercenary Skank stuff.
This is a greatsingle but I have an earlier demo version which is blistering-like The Skids on amphet! Also found some t-shirts and a video of them playing with the Stone Roses at some toilet in North London.
My sister went out with the singer
for a while and says he had some very weird sexual practises ! Last she heard he'd had a sex change and was running an artists colony in Cornwall.Still That's Life Esher eh !
Damien Bacon.Camden Towyn.

Damien Bacon said...

well,well..it's funny how this cyberlark works.Only thee other day I was going thru some old tea chests and I came aross some Mercenary Skank stuff.
This is a greatsingle but I have an earlier demo version which is blistering-like The Skids on amphet! Also found some t-shirts and a video of them playing with the Stone Roses at some toilet in North London.
My sister went out with the singer
for a while and says he had some very weird sexual practises ! Last she heard he'd had a sex change and was running an artists colony in Cornwall.Still That's Life Esher eh !
Damien Bacon.Camden Towyn.

Spizzle said...

Hi,

Great to hear No More Dancing again.

I think I used to know Tudor Parry really well at school and then later Mike Crees.

Known back then in Prestatyn as Dozy. Thanks for posting Phoenix

Spizzle said...

Hi,

Great to hear No More Dancing again.

I think I used to know Tudor Parry really well at school and then later Mike Crees.

Known back then in Prestatyn as Dozy. Thanks for posting Phoenix

Anonymous said...

Hi,
I'm the original bassist for Mercenary Skank (I still dust off the tapes from time to time for a good nostalgia trip).

How strange this cyber stuff is indeed... The company I now run is called phoenix and a friend of mine did a search for phoenix and bevins and turned up this page. How bizarre!

Tudor, it would be great if you could get in touch. I may have a valid contact number for Mark too. I saw him a few years back... it was really good to catch up.

I also recall that you left the band Tudor, wish you hadn't because I preferred your vocals. Scratch was a good frontman but couldn't sing very well.

Last I heard of Scratch was that he was restoring antique furniture in Devon. Don't know about sex change though. Could it be a confusion with a guy that moved to London with us called Mike Lewis - he got into cross-dressing from what I hear.

Enough rambling of mine. I have a number of mp3's of some demos and the no more dancing ep so if anyone would like them then get in touch.

Curious Guy said...

Hello Graham, thanks for the comment. Much appreciated. Always interested in more stuff. Also check Nuzz Prowling Wolf blog (see link in sidebar) for the Work Of Giants 12". Nuzz is a big fan.
I hope that Tudor visits here again so he can check your comment. But better leave an email address (replace @ by (at) and . by (dot) to avoid spamming).
All the best,
CG.

Skank MLL said...

I used to work for Mark as a french polisher in bovey tracy, about a decade ago now that was. I remember him saying he was in this band, he was always a bit upset about "leaving all that to be a french F*uckin polisher" lol

Funnily enough my nick name was skank at that time so when he said "just dont make the same mistake as me" .. it kinda always stuck with me lol .. I was in a band while learning to sing but lost heart a bit in it all so maybe I ended up following in his footsteps after all .. Im gonna give a band another bash tho in the future I think.

Marks surname wasnt jordan though, so he must of changed it?? I wouldnt mind hearing some stuff with him singing actually, did he write lyrics too??

cheers, Mark.

Anonymous said...

Hi Skank MML,
Scratch's name was Mark Downing I believe. Mark Jordan was the rhythm guitarist

Anonymous said...

Hello,
Came across this when doing a google search on the teacher Mr. Tudor Parry. Unfortunately, he passed away on Jan 21/11. Terribly sad.

AllModCons said...

Hello Curious Guy - if possible, could you please re-up the MERCENARY SKANK? thanks a ton!

Curious Guy said...

New link. Enjoy!

AllModCons said...

thank you!