Special Duties
Encyclopedia
History
Special Duties was created in October 1977 by schoolfellows Steve Green (Aka Arrogant), Steve Norris (Aka Duty) and Nigel Baker. They were punkPunk subculture
The punk subculture includes a diverse array of ideologies, and forms of expression, including fashion, visual art, dance, literature, and film, which grew out of punk rock.-History:...
s at school, but the idea of forming their own band came when they saw The Adverts
The Adverts
The Adverts were an English punk band who formed in 1976 and broke up in late 1979. They were one of the first punk bands to enjoy chart success in the UK, and their line-up included Gaye Advert, whom The Virgin Encyclopedia of 70s Music called the "first female punk star".-Career:The band was...
in Colchester. The fact that the three schoolboys couldn't play and didn't own any instruments didn't discourage them. They decided to put Arrogant on vocals, Duty on guitar and Baker on Bass. The band was originally going to be named X-pelled, but they switched to Special Duties when a box of around 200 badges with "Special Duties" printed on them which had been stolen from a school in Colchester came into their possession, the band deciding that they could save money on getting badges made by simply changing their name to match the stolen ones. For their debut live show, the band spread the word through the underground punk grapevine that they would performing a free gig underneath the shopping precinct in Colchester. Hundreds of people turned up to see them play a fifteen-minute version of the only song they knew, "There'll Be No Tomorrow", performed in the Marks & Spencer
Marks & Spencer
Marks and Spencer plc is a British retailer headquartered in the City of Westminster, London, with over 700 stores in the United Kingdom and over 300 stores spread across more than 40 countries. It specialises in the selling of clothing and luxury food products...
loading bay. In 1980, Bart Povah joined the band and they recorded their first demo, which got them a record deal with Charnel House Records. The band moved to Rondelet Records soon after and recruited drummer Stuart Bray. Their second EP for the label, "Police State" spent two months in the indie chart
UK Indie Chart
The UK Independent Chart or Indie Chart is a chart of the best-selling independent record releases in the UK.- History :In the wake of punk, small record labels began to spring up, as an outlet for artists that were unwilling to sign contracts with major record companies, or were not considered...
, prompting Rondelet to get the band into the studio to record their debut album, 77 in 82.
In 1982 Arrogant decided to declare war on the anarcho-punk
Anarcho-punk
Anarcho-punk is punk rock that promotes anarchism. The term anarcho-punk is sometimes applied exclusively to bands that were part of the original anarcho-punk movement in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s and early 1980s...
band Crass
Crass
Crass are an English punk rock band that was formed in 1977, which promoted anarchism as a political ideology, way of living, and as a resistance movement. Crass popularised the seminal anarcho-punk movement of the punk subculture, and advocated direct action, animal rights, and environmentalism...
. Their debut LP was followed by their biggest selling single "Bullshit Crass", an attack on a band that they saw as destroying the traditional punk scene. It came with a Crass-style sleeve and the lead track began with chants of "Fight Crass, not punk", parodying one of Crass's songs. Green explained: "It was the fact that they said 'Punk was dead', and they played this really tuneless music. I saw them as almost a religious cult". However, after that, their music's leading distributors, Rough Trade
Rough Trade Records
Rough Trade Records is an independent record label based in London. It was formed in 1978 by Geoff Travis who had opened a record store off Ladbroke Grove...
and Small Wonder
Small Wonder
Small Wonder is an American science fiction sitcom that aired in first-run syndication from September 7, 1985 to May 20, 1989. The show chronicles the family of a robotics engineer who, after he secretly creates a robot modeled after a real human girl, tries to pass it off as their daughter...
, refused to stock their material. This censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
made life a burden for the band. In 1983 they released the single "Punk Rocker" which was not well distributed. In the same year, the group broke up.
Twelve years later, Captain Oi! Records
Captain Oi! Records
Captain Oi! is a punk rock and Oi! record label based in High Wycombe, England. The company has released over 300 albums by many notable punk and Oi! bands of the late 1970s and 1980s. The label was set up by Mark Brennan, former bassist of The Business, who had previously co-run Link Records and...
reissued 77 in 82, and encouraged by the response to it the band got back together, playing at 1995's Fuck Reading at the Brixton Academy. After that the group didn't split again and now they are still gigging and recording.
In 1997 the band released "Wembley Wembley! (Wembley here we come)" to commemorate Colchester United
Colchester United F.C.
Colchester United Football Club is an English football club based in Colchester. The club was formed in 1937, and briefly shared their old Layer Road home with now defunct side Colchester Town who had previously used the ground from 1910....
reaching the final of that year's AutoWindscreens Shield at Wembley. Also on the CD was a version of "Up the U's!
Up the U's
"Up the U's" is a football chant regularly sung by fans of the English League One football team Colchester United and is generally considered to be the club's anthem...
" a song written about the football club and still sung there today. The third track contained brief interviews with players, such as Garrett Caldwell, Joe Dunne and former club captain Karl Duguid
Karl Duguid
Karl Anthony Duguid is an English footballer who plays primarily as a midfielder for Colchester United.He began his career with Colchester United and made his senior debut in 1995. He helped the club win promotion to the Second Division in 1998, via the play-offs, and the Championship in 2006, by...
.
In July 1998, he band travelled to New York for a gig at CBGB's, releasing the performance on the Live at CBGB's 1998 album.
In 2007 the band re-recorded the "Up the U's!" with local band Koopa
Koopa (band)
Koopa are a pop punk band from Sible Hedingham, near Colchester, Essex, England. The band formed in 2000 by the brothers Stuart Cooper and Oliver "Ollie" Cooper , plus Joe Murphy...
with a song entitled "Stand Up For Col U" by Koopa and with the vocals of Colchester United players Jamie Cureton
Jamie Cureton
Jamie Cureton is an English professional footballer who currently plays for Leyton Orient.-Early years:Cureton began his professional career with Norwich City, before moving on to Bristol Rovers...
, Chris Iwelumo
Chris Iwelumo
Christopher Robert "Chris" Iwelumo is a Scottish footballer who plays for Watford as a striker.Iwelumo started his career with St Mirren before moving to Danish club Aarhus Fremad for two years. A move to Stoke City in 2000 saw him sent out on loan to several teams before a short-lived spell with...
, Wayne Brown
Wayne Brown
Wayne Larry Brown is an English professional football goalkeeper who currently plays for Oxford United.-Career:Born in Southampton, former bricklayer Brown made a switch from Bashley to Bristol City for £40,000 in December 1992. Between 1993 and 1996 he made only 24 appearance for the Robins due...
, Karl Duguid
Karl Duguid
Karl Anthony Duguid is an English footballer who plays primarily as a midfielder for Colchester United.He began his career with Colchester United and made his senior debut in 1995. He helped the club win promotion to the Second Division in 1998, via the play-offs, and the Championship in 2006, by...
, Kevin Watson
Kevin Watson
Kevin Edward Watson is a former professional footballer, turned coach and sports broadcaster. He can now regularly be seen as a touchline pundit for Sky Sports show Soccer Saturday.-Football career:...
, Pat Baldwin
Pat Baldwin
Patrick Michael "Pat" Baldwin a footballer, currently playing for Colchester United.-Career:The centre back, signed from Chelsea, won all of Colchester United's player of the year awards for the 2004–05 season including players' player of the year, young player of the year and the fans' player of...
, Kevin McLeod
Kevin McLeod
Kevin Andrew McLeod professional footballer, currently playing for Conference National side Braintree Town. His preferred position is as a left-sided midfielder....
and Dean Gerken
Dean Gerken
Dean Jeffrey Gerken is an English footballer who plays for Bristol City as a goalkeeper.-Colchester United:Gerken was born in Southend-on-Sea. He started his career at Southend United as a youngster before moving to Essex rivals Colchester United. As a teenager he attracted the attention of...
. The single was released to raise funds for the Teenage Cancer Trust.
Albums
- 77 in '82(1982) Rondelet (#15)
- 77 in '97(1997) Captain Oi!
- Live at CBGBs (1999) Special Duties
- The Punk Singles Collection (1999)
Singles/EPs
- "Violent Society" b/w "Colchester Council" (1980) Charnel House
- "Violent Society" b/w "It Ain't Our Fault"/"Colchester Council" (1981) Ronndelet
- "Police State EP"' (1982) Rondelet (#23)
- "Bullshit Crass" b/w "You're Doing Yourself No Good" (1982) Rondelet (#7)
- "Punk Rocker" b/w "Too Much Talking" (1983) Expulsion (#37)
- "Mutt" b/w "London Town" (1996) One Stop
- "Judge and Jury"/"Shadow" (1997) (splitSplit albumA split album is a music album which includes tracks by two or more separate artists. There have been singles and EPs released in the same nature, which can be referred to as split singles and split EPs respectively...
with Red Flag 77Red Flag 77Red Flag 77 are a punk rock band from Ipswich, England. Formed in 1990, Red Flag have compiled a healthy fanbase - The 'Flag Army' are fans from all over the UK and Europe where Red Flag have toured. The band recorded their first album, Punk not Dread, after playing just three gigs...
) - "Wembley! Wembley! b/w "Up the U's!Up the U's"Up the U's" is a football chant regularly sung by fans of the English League One football team Colchester United and is generally considered to be the club's anthem...
"/"Interview" (1997) Captain Colchester - "Split with Violent Society" (1998) Soap And Spikes
- "MRR Rules"/"Lost Cause or Not" (1998) (split with The CreedThe CreedThe Creed is the eighth album released by Christian vocal group Avalon, their fifth studio project. It is the first Avalon album to include Greg Long , who replaced Michael Passons after his unexpected departure in mid-2003...
) - "I Wish It Could Be '77 EP" (1999) Data
- "Up the U's!Up the U's"Up the U's" is a football chant regularly sung by fans of the English League One football team Colchester United and is generally considered to be the club's anthem...
" / "Stand Up For Col U" (2007) (Collaboration with KoopaKoopa (band)Koopa are a pop punk band from Sible Hedingham, near Colchester, Essex, England. The band formed in 2000 by the brothers Stuart Cooper and Oliver "Ollie" Cooper , plus Joe Murphy...
)