The Drones. A 1976-79 era Manchester original Punk Rock act:

Originally a pub rock called Rockslide who released a single called 'Roller Coaster' which got nowhere. Sniffing the punk wind of change in'76 however, they emerged as one of the most exciting bands from Manchester's punk scene. While Slaughter & The Dogs erred on the Glam side and The Buzzcocks delivered pop with a buzzsaw, The Drones, who could obviously play, took the energy of punk to heart and delivered it on vinyl in a series of taut, amphetamine driven toons. With a mixture of originals like Persecution Complex, Lookalikes and Corgi Crap and covers such as Search & Destroy & My Generation they blitzed venues like Pips, Rafters and The Electric Circus.

Their first single Temptations Of A White Collar Worker was classic punk containing the excellent Lookalikes. The single sold over 10,000 copies on their own label OHM's records.

Signing to Valer records the future looked rosy. The 'Bone Idol / Just Wanna Be Myself' single was the classic and shifted over 20,000 copies. Supporting bands like The Stranglers (even joining them for encores of Go Buddy Go) followed with some good press in the music weeklies like Sounds and features in Fanzines such as Shy Talk and Summer Salt increased their profile. While recording demos for their Bone Idol single they also recorded a number of pisstakes of Clash songs which Strummer found amusing on hearing bless him.

The line up was:

M J Drone (lead vocals & rhythm guitar)

Gus "Gangrene" Callender (lead guitar and vocals)

Pete Perfect (drums)

Steve "Whisper" Cundall (bass).

Recordings:

Temptations of a White Collar Worker (OHMS)

Further Temptations (Anagram Records) (Album)

Short Circuit - Live at the Electric Circus [comp]

Bone Idol (Valer)

Can't See (fabulous records)(featuring Ellis of the Vibrators on guitar).

Will you Stand in front of bullets? (Idle Records) A new 6 track EP recorded & released in 2018 with the new Drones line up:-

Steve "Wispa" Cundall - bass & vocals

Brian "Mad Muffet" Grantham - drums

Al Crosby - lead guitar & vocals