L-R: Pete,
Andi, Mark and Andy Cooper
The Psychopaths
- Live at Shrimpers - Poster
 |
...The
Story...
|
The
Psychopaths were one of the earlier punk bands from the Eastwood area of
Southend, existed between 1978 - 1979, and consisted of Andy Cooper on Vocals,
Mark Cooper on Guitar, Andi Schurer on Bass and Pete (Peat) Melling on Drums.
Known primarily as The Psychos, they managed to play a lot of local concerts
and made many people happy in the process. Speaking to Andi in 2005, he
said "The first two gigs were at Eastwood High School For Boys and
were attended by five hundred people." Other key gigs by the band included
the Rock Contest at Shrimpers in 1978, where a riot took place when they
lost!They went on to record an excellent demo at Rock Star Studios in 1979, consisting of the songs 'Drugs' and 'Fake', and which was produced by The Glitter Bands Bass Player. They split the studio time with The Deciballs who did 'Solitary' with John Dee on Drums and Blue from Speedball on Bass. Other Key Psycho's songs from the period but which weren't recorded unfortunately included 'Speed', 'Thalidomide', 'Daydream' and 'Pull My Hood'.
The Psychos continued to gig, at local venues such as Focus, The Esplanade and Scamps, and they helped out at a couple of benefits for local fanzine Strange Stories. For a period, the band had Tonight's old manager, and according to Andi "He set some gigs up with The Ruts and Adam and The Ants, but the band spilt when Peat was chucked out by the 'Mis-Manager'." A further line up change occurred, but Petes departure ultimately signaled the death knell for the band, and so he and Andi formed the Decibels in 1979.
Pete then played in The Convicted, and played with Andi again in 1984 in The Prey before undertaking a long stint in The Shakers with Steve Hooker. Andi and Mark Cooper would later play together again in 1980 in a band that existed for a short while called The Systems. Sadly, later on Andy Cooper died in a car crash outside local music shop 'Monkey Business' along the London Road. Mark Cooper gave up playing. Andi still plays and his most recent bands have included Biff Bang Pow and local punk band Retrospex.
Discography
'Southend Punk Volume One' - Features The Psychopaths song 'Drugs' - CD (Angels in Exile Records AIECD 004) - 2020