The Roxy
Encyclopedia
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.
, with whom he formed a company called Chaguaramas Recording Productions, probably after Chaguaramas Bay in Trinidad.
The Roxy was started by Andrew Czezowski, Susan Carrington and Barry Jones. 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.
In December 1976, Czekowski, Carrington and Jones organised three gigs at the Roxy. They financed the venture with borrowed money (Jones, a musician, pawned his guitar to stock the bars, and hire sound equipment, etc.). The first show, on 14 December, was Generation X
, a band Czekowski managed. The second on the following night was The Heartbreakers
. The third, on 21 December, featured Siouxsie and the Banshees and Generation X. However, it was The Clash
and the Heartbreakers that headlined the official gala opening on January 1, 1977.
Don Letts
was the resident DJ at the club and he was instrumental in encouraging punk rockers to embrace reggae
.
In 1977 Harvest Records
released an album Live at the Roxy WC2
, 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. Since the late 1980s, a number of previously unreleased recordings of Roxy gigs from the late 1970s have been released as live albums including the Buzzcocks (Trojan, 1989), The Adverts (Receiver, 1990), X-Ray Spex (Receiver, 1991), and The Boys (Receiver, 1999).
The anarcho-punk band Crass
featured the Roxy as the subject of one of their most well known tracks, Banned from the Roxy.
The doors of the club were shut for the last time in April 1978. Today the site is the flagship store for the swimwear brand Speedo.
DJ Letts recorded many of the band performances in 1977 at the Roxy, some of which were released in 1992 as The Punk Rock Movie
.
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
's Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
, known for hosting the flowering British punk music scene in its infancy.
Brief history
The premises had formerly been used as a warehouse to serve the Covent Garden wholesale vegetable market. In 1970 they were converted to a late-night bar called the Chaguaramas Club. At that time it was owned by record producer Tony Ashfield, who had several hits with 70s reggae star John HoltJohn Holt
-People:* John Holt , English author* John Holt , trader and businessman* John Holt , West Indian cricketer* John Holt , American teacher and author...
, with whom he formed a company called Chaguaramas Recording Productions, probably after Chaguaramas Bay in Trinidad.
The Roxy was started by Andrew Czezowski, Susan Carrington and Barry Jones. 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
The Cavern Club
The Cavern Club is a rock and roll club in Liverpool, England. Opened on Wednesday 16 January 1957, the club had their first performance by The Beatles on 9 February 1961, and where Brian Epstein first saw The Beatles performing on 9 November 1961....
in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
where The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
had performed early on in their career.
In December 1976, Czekowski, Carrington and Jones organised three gigs at the Roxy. They financed the venture with borrowed money (Jones, a musician, pawned his guitar to stock the bars, and hire sound equipment, etc.). The first show, on 14 December, was Generation X
Generation X (band)
Generation X was a British punk rock band, formed on 21 November 1976 by Billy Idol, Tony James and John Towe.-History:...
, a band Czekowski managed. The second on the following night was The Heartbreakers
The Heartbreakers
Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, also known as The Heartbreakers, were an American rock & roll band formed in New York in May 1975. The band was part of the first wave of punk rock.-History:...
. The third, on 21 December, featured Siouxsie and the Banshees and Generation X. However, it was The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
and the Heartbreakers that headlined the official gala opening on January 1, 1977.
Don Letts
Don Letts
Don Letts is a British film director and musician. He is credited as the man who through his DJing at clubs like The Roxy brought together punk and reggae music.-Biography:...
was the resident DJ at the club and he was instrumental in encouraging punk rockers to embrace reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
.
In 1977 Harvest Records
Harvest Records
-References:* Harvest Records collectors guide ISBN 978-5-9622-0021-7...
released an album Live at the Roxy WC2
Live at the Roxy WC2
The Roxy London WC2 is a live album of recordings taken from various punk bands that played the Roxy club in Covent Garden, London between January and April 1977.-Overview:...
, 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. Since the late 1980s, a number of previously unreleased recordings of Roxy gigs from the late 1970s have been released as live albums including the Buzzcocks (Trojan, 1989), The Adverts (Receiver, 1990), X-Ray Spex (Receiver, 1991), and The Boys (Receiver, 1999).
The anarcho-punk 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...
featured the Roxy as the subject of one of their most well known tracks, Banned from the Roxy.
The doors of the club were shut for the last time in April 1978. Today the site is the flagship store for the swimwear brand Speedo.
DJ Letts recorded many of the band performances in 1977 at the Roxy, some of which were released in 1992 as The Punk Rock Movie
The Punk Rock Movie
The Punk Rock Movie was assembled from Super 8 camera footage shot by Don Letts, the disc jockey at The Roxy club during the early days of the UK punk rock movement, principally during the 100 days in 1977 in which punk acts were featured at The Roxy club in London.-History:Roxy club disc jockey...
.
Bands that played at The Roxy in its first 100 Days
Aside from five bands mentioned above in connection with the December 1976 gigs and the gala opening, other bands that appeared there in the first four months of the club's life (January 1977 to April) included:- The AdvertsThe AdvertsThe 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...
- The BoysThe Boys (UK Band)The Boys are an English punk rock band formed in London in 1976.Members of the band had previously played in other groups, such as London SS and Hollywood Brats. After recording four studio albums and eight singles, as well as recording Christmas themed music under the name The Yobs, they disbanded...
- BuzzcocksBuzzcocksBuzzcocks are an English punk rock band formed in Bolton in 1976, led by singer–songwriter–guitarist Pete Shelley.They are regarded as an important influence on the Manchester music scene, the independent record label movement, punk rock, power pop, pop punk and indie rock. They achieved commercial...
- ChelseaChelsea (band)Chelsea are an English punk rock band, formed in London in 1976.Three of the four original band members went on to help found Generation X. More than two decades after its release, "Right to Work", Chelsea's debut single, was included in Mojo magazine's list of the best punk rock singles of all...
- The CortinasThe Cortinas (punk band)The Cortinas were a 1970s Bristol-based punk rock band. Guitarist Nick Sheppard went on to play with The Clash. In 2001, the band’s debut single, "Fascist Dictator" , was included in a leading British music magazine’s list of the best punk-rock singles of all-time.-Biography:Named after a car, the...
- Wayne County & the Electric ChairsWayne County & the Electric ChairsWayne County & the Electric Chairs were part of the first wave of punk bands from the 1970s. The band is headed by Georgia transgendered woman, Wayne County, who later changed her name to Jayne County.-Career:...
- The Damned
- The DronesThe Drones (British band)The Drones were a punk rock band from Manchester, England. For a period of time, the band were produced and managed by Paul Morley.One critic wrote: "Bonafide DIY three-chord wonders, the Drones were there at punk’s inception."-Career:...
- EaterEaterEater were an early British punk band from London who took their name from a Marc Bolan lyric. In 2001, the band’s second single, "Thinking of the USA" , was included in a leading British music magazine’s list of the best punk-rock singles of all-time...
- The JamThe JamThe Jam were an English punk rock/New Wave/mod revival band active during the late 1970s and early 1980s. They were formed in Woking, Surrey. While they shared the "angry young men" outlook and fast tempos of their punk rock contemporaries, The Jam wore smartly tailored suits rather than ripped...
- The LurkersThe LurkersThe Lurkers were a late 1970s English punk rock group from Uxbridge, West London, notable for being the first group ever on Beggars Banquet Records.-Career:...
- Johnny MopedJohnny MopedJohnny Moped were a mid 1970s English punk rock group from south London, who once had Chrissie Hynde and Captain Sensible within their ranks.-Biography:...
- The Only OnesThe Only OnesThe Only Ones are an English rock band. They were initially active in the late 1970s and were associated with punk rock, yet straddled the musical territory in between punk, power pop and hard rock, with noticeable influences from psychedelia...
- The Cutaway
- PenetrationPenetration (band)Penetration is a punk rock band from County Durham, England formed in 1976. They re-formed in 2001 with several new members.Their debut single, "Don’t Dictate", is now acknowledged as a classic punk rock single and their debut album, Moving Targets , is still widely admired-Biography:The lead...
- The PoliceThe PoliceThe Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For the vast majority of their history, the band consisted of Sting , Andy Summers and Stewart Copeland...
- The RejectsThe HomosexualsThe Homosexuals are a punk band formed in 1978. They were born out of the ashes of The Rejects.- History :The Rejects were formed at Goldsmith's College in South London in 1976, when Bruno Wizard recruited a young songwriter named Ian Kane to help express his disquiet with the modern world and...
- Sham 69Sham 69Sham 69 is an English punk band that formed in Hersham in 1976.Although not as commercially successful as many of their contemporaries, albeit with a greater number of chart entries, Sham 69 has been a huge musical and lyrical influence on the Oi! and streetpunk genres. The band allegedly derived...
- Siouxsie & The BansheesSiouxsie & the BansheesSiouxsie and the Banshees were a British rock band formed in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bassist Steven Severin. Initially associated with the English punk rock scene, the band rapidly evolved to create "a form of post-punk discord full of daring rhythmic and sonic experimentation"...
- Slaughter & The DogsSlaughter & The DogsSlaughter & The Dogs is an English punk rock band that formed in the late 1970s in Manchester, England. They were one of the first UK punk bands to sign for a major label, Decca Records.-Career:...
- The Transmitters
- The Violators
- The SlitsThe SlitsThe Slits were a British punk rock band. The quartet was formed in 1976 by members of the bands The Flowers of Romance and The Castrators. The members were Ari Up , who died of cancer in October 2010, and Palmolive , with Viv Albertine and Tessa Pollitt replacing founding members, Kate Korus and...
- The StranglersThe StranglersThe Stranglers are an English punk/rock music group.Scoring some 23 UK top 40 singles and 17 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are the longest-surviving and most "continuously successful" band to have originated in the UK punk scene of the mid to late 1970s...
- The VibratorsThe Vibrators- Early career:The Vibrators were founded by Ian 'Knox' Carnochan, bassist Pat Collier, guitarist John Ellis, and drummer John 'Eddie' Edwards. They first came to public notice at the 100 Club when they backed Chris Spedding in 1976. On Spedding's recommendation, Mickie Most signed them to his...
- Cherry VanillaCherry VanillaCherry Vanilla is an American singer-songwriter, publicist, and actress. After working as an actress in Andy Warhol's Pork, she worked as a publicist for David Bowie, before finding fame as a rock singer. She subsequently became a publicist for Vangelis.-Career:Kathleen Dorritie was born in...
- WireWire (band)Wire are an English rock band, formed in London in October 1976 by Colin Newman , Graham Lewis , Bruce Gilbert , and Robert Gotobed...
- X-Ray SpexX-Ray SpexX-Ray Spex were an English punk band from London that formed in 1976.During their first incarnation , X-Ray Spex were “deliberate underachievers” and only managed to release five singles and one album...
- XTCXTCXTC were a New Wave band from Swindon, England, active between 1976 and 2005. The band enjoyed some chart success, including the UK and Canadian hits "Making Plans for Nigel" and "Senses Working Overtime" , but are perhaps even better known for their long-standing critical success.- Early years:...