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PUNK CLUBS

The Roxy was a fashionable nightclub on Neal Street in London's Covent Garden, known for hosting the flowering British punk music scene in its infancy. It was started by promoter Andy Czezowski. The main entrance was on street level where you would walk into a small bar and seated area. Downstairs there was a small stage, bar and dance floor. The intimacy of the club had a feel to it similar to The Cavern Club in Liverpool where The Beatles had performed early on in their career. The Clash headlined the gala opening on January 1, 1977. Other bands that appeared there included Generation X, Sham 69, X-Ray Spex, London, The Adverts, Chelsea, Cherry Vanilla (with The Police as her backing band), Wire, The Boys, The Damned, Slaughter and the Dogs, The Buzzcocks, The Plague and the Stinky Toys. Don Letts was the resident DJ at the club. In 1977 EMI released an album Live at the Roxy featuring some of the regular acts who performed there that made the top 20 in the UK. A further live album was released in May 1978 of lesser known acts such as the UK Subs, Open Sore, Crabs and the Bears. Although back in the punk rock heyday of 1977 it was an important landmark London music venue, today it is just another Covent Garden shop selling swimwear.

Although never a seminal punk venue, the Marquee embraced the burgeoning punk rock movement of the late 1970s regularly promoting punk and new wave nights into the 1980s. Bands such as The Sex Pistols, Eddie and the Hot Rods, The Stranglers, Generation X, London, The Police, Buzzcocks and The Jam all trod the famous Wardour Street stage. [edit] The 1980s: New wave of British heavy metal and prog revival During the early to mid 1980s the Marquee became an important venue to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM). NWOBHM bands such as Angelwitch, Diamond Head, Witchfynde and Praying Mantis were regulars and Iron Maiden were filmed playing there for LWT documentary "20th Century Box" (introduced by a very young Danny Baker). The Marquee was also the central venue of the progressive rock revival of the early 1980s. It was here that the then unsigned Marillion began to gain a wider fan base and press interest playing frequent 2 night residencies to a sold out crowd. Other progressive rock acts of the time regularly playing the club included Pendragon, Solstice, Twelfth Night, IQ, Haze and Liaison (who were not strictly prog but seemed to become linked to the movement).

September 21, 1976, saw the 100 Club play host to the first 'International punk festival', an event which helped to push the then new punk rock movement from the underground into the cultural and musical mainstream. Bands which played at this event included the Sex Pistols, Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Clash, Buzzcocks and The Damned. Under the promotion of Ron Watts, the venue then became a regular venue for original punk bands like Angelic Upstarts, UK Subs, as well as, from 1981 onwards, hardcore punk bands such as The Varukers, Discharge, Charged GBH, Crass, Picture Frame Seduction, English Dogs, etc. The 100 Club is still going strong today, with decor unchanged since the 1970s, although punk bands no longer appear there regularly. Instead there is a busy programme often booked up many months in advance by promoters aware of the cachet of having a sold-out night at the venue. Occasionally, big-name touring bands will play "secret" or low-key unadvertised gigs there, relying on word of mouth to fill the 350-capacity space.

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