Coventry Music Articles by Pete Clemons: Urge (Part 1)

Urge (Part 1)

By Pete Clemons

To attempt to put together a potted history of Coventry band Urge I have plagiarised notes from a past John Shipley interview and those of Kevin Harrison which appeared to have long disappeared from the internet thus leaving little about this particular band. I also used appreciated input from Nigel Mulvey.

During 1978, and after splitting from a band in Brighton called 'Les Squares', guitarist John Shipley and vocalist David Wankling both returned to Coventry from Brighton, where they had spent the previous few years. After a period of resettlement they began the formation of a new band. And, along with the additional talents of John Westacott on bass, and Billy Little on drums they formed Urge. Kevin Harrison, on synth, organ, tapes joined The Urge slightly later during January 1979.

Kevin 'I get invited to do a support spot at a birthday party at the Rockhouse in Coventry, The Urge are playing, later they ask me to record a rehearsal session. After a few weeks I join them, I play guitar, electric piano and EMS synth and start to introduce some of my songs to the group. I employ Burroughs 'cut-up' techniques for some of the lyrics. We decide to dispense with the definitive and we are now just called Urge'.

Urge began as an imaginative and experimental band. Nothing like Coventry had seen or heard before. Combining both rhythm and noise. Their early performances were relative to the environment and atmosphere and how they were feeling at the time.

Urge have had their problems which was unusually due to a bad P.A. Or insufficient time to soundcheck. Other things which they felt were problematic was a lack of visual image and meaningful communication between band and audience. Due in part to their uniqueness they felt there was not really the audience out there to communicate with.

John Shipley, however, was not destined to remain in Urge for too long. He had noticed that people didn’t dance at their gigs even though the songs were, by and large, danceable. He was also very keen to create a more rhythmic groove with more visible audience participation.

Dramatically, during August 1979 and in the middle of a set at the Lanchester Polytechnic, John walked off the stage, never to return. Seeing the Coventry Automatics perform at Mr Georges nightclub only confirmed the direction he now wanted to take.

After John Shipley's departure, and during September 1979, Lynda Wulf joined the band on vocals. The whole feel of the band had now changed. Shortly after her arrival Urge were involved with U.K Subs and were invited to join them on their national tour.

The first Urge single, 'Revolving Boy/Revolve'. was recorded at Spaceward Studio, Cambridge on 1st November 1979 and released shortly after on the groups own label 'Consumer Disks'. Kevin and David created the sleeve and label design and with the sleeves being printed at the Lanchester Polytechnic.

By now David Wankling and Kevin Harrison were writing much of the bands material. David the words and Kevin the music and production. Urge finished 1979 on a high when they performed in front of a home crowd at Tiffany's where they supported The Beat and UB40.

During January 1980 they Urge were invited by The Specials to support them on their European tour. Urge subsequently played dates in Hanover; Hamburg; Cologne in Germany and Arnhem; Sittard; Waalwijk in Holland.

A new track, 'Nuclear Terrorist', was recorded at Woodbine Studios in Leamington during March 1980 and was included as a track on the compilation record 'Sent From Coventry'.

Mid 1980 was spent recording. Firstly a session that included tracks such as 'Revolving Loop', 'New Sex', 'Inkman' and 'Minutes to Go' were recorded at Woodbine Studio during June. Soon after and, on the strength of those demos, Urge signed up to Arista (Ariola) Records just weeks after Arista's A+R executive, Tarquin Gotch, had heard them.

In July, the band recorded 'Shadow Man' with Dennis Bovell at Surrey Sound who produced and engineered the song. And during late late July it was back to Woodbine Studio to record 'Teach Yourself Dutch' a song written by Urge, engineered by John Rivers and produced by Kevin.

August saw the recording of another new song, 'Bobby' written by Wankling/Harrison, engineered by Pete Buhlman and produced by Nigel Gray. Once again this was recorded at Surrey Sound. During the same session a new version of 'Revolving Boy' was also recorded.

It was back once more to Surrey Sound, for a third time, during the early part of October for the recordings of 'Sea Of Storms' and 'Megadeath'. Not long after this session John Westacott was replaced by Nigel Mulvey (ex-Squad).

During October 1980 Urge played in a bullring in Barcelona with The Specials. Nigel Mulvey confirmed that the Barcelona gig had only been his second or third with the band. But 'What an experience that was' for Nigel. There is a permanency of this new line up in the form of two tracks recorded at Woodbine Studios. These were 'Nowhere to Go' and 'Marching'.

February 1981 a second single was released on 'Consumer Disks' through Arista 'Bobby/Teach Yourself Dutch' (arist 382), followed by an appearance on BBC T.V 'Look Hear'. Look Hear was filmed at Pebble Mill in Birmingham and The Beat were recorded at the same time although the bands songs went to air on different days. Urge performed 'Revolving Boy', which is on YouTube and 'Bobby'.

During March 1981 Urge toured England supporting Selecter on their 'Celebrate the Bullitt' tour with new member Steve Teers - keyboards/trombone. During April 1981 Urge played Marquee Club in London's Wardour Street. However shortly afterwards the group split up 'due to difficulties with Arista and internal wrangles'.

Urge were resurrected between 1981 and 1982. This line-up utilised the songwriting abilities of Kevin and David. And after one abortive gig with Lynda Novak and bass player Dave Gedney along with a rhythm-box Urge added a real drummer in the shape of John Hill and a conga player.

After a few weeks John Hill replaced by Rick Medlock (ex-I) and Pete Jordan - on alto saxophone (ex-L'Homme de Terre) joined. This line-up best known for residency on Sundays at The Whitley Abbey. Coventry. Initial record company interest from CBS; Warner Bros and EMI amounted to nothing. And soon after Urge split once again.

Soon after Kevin Harrison released his solo L.P 'Inscrutably Obvious' for Cherry Red Records and a 12" single 'Fly/Inkman/Views of the Rhine' for Glass Records. 'Fly' featured Horace Panter - bass guitar, Rick Medlock - drums, Kevin - vocals and all other instruments and Lynda - backing vocals.

1983 saw a third Urge line up. The new version included Kevin Harrison - guitar, bass and keys, Kendell Smith – Vocals, Lynda Harrison – vocals and Rick Medlock – drums. This line-up recorded one session at Woodbine Studio during September 1983. Songs completed were 'Pressure Drop/Style & Fashion'. 'The chemistry had gone so Urge, once again, called it a day'.

Links to some of Kevin Harrison's earlier bands on the Hobo sites.

Whistler - Avant garde Jazz Rock band c 1970

Zoastra - Experimental elctronic band c 1974 / 5 (a bridge between Whistler and Urge)

Urge - more about Urge

Urge Reunion 2010

Kevin Harrison's YouTube channel