Look I know this feature is supposed to be all about bootleg tapes, but I never really did tapes.  I picked up the odd one or two over the years, but that format for me was always "one for the ladies", if you know what I mean.  I was and very much still continue to be a vinyl man, and as such my first foray into the realms of Boombox Bootlegs is all about the joys of collecting 12" slabs of plastic housed in cardboard sleeves that ultimately help to make the world a much better place.

The year was 1985, the place Castle Donington's annual 'Monsters of Rock' festival, and I'd just witnessed a parptastic (for that read "ordinary") opening set from UK pomp stalwarts Magnum, and a (way) cool if somewhat sound sabotaged debut appearance from US sleazemeisters Ratt. Suddenly I found myself wandering aimlessly around those stalls that used to be dotted around the racetrack periphery eagerly awaiting the arrival of new(ish) boys on the block Metallica.  The sense that "something special" was about to happen was pervading the site and you could almost feel the electricity building as I just happened to stumble across a vendor selling not quite so kosher LP's.  And there I found it lurking alongside the likes of Blackfoot, and Rainbow platters capturing their performance from previous years Monsters of Rock festivals, a virgin vinyl copy of Wrathchild's infamous 'Cock Shock Rock' bootleg.

Looking back, August 17^th 1985 was probably the day heavy metal music pretty much changed forever in the UK, and as Metallica ripped into their opening number 'Creeping Death' with all the youthful vigour and confidence you might expect from a band already on their way to conquering the world, the crowd in front of me opened up, (just like James Hetfield had suddenly acquired some sort of biblical powers), to reveal one of the most ferocious pits I ever had the pleasure of witnessing. And there was I, stood haplessly in the middle of this total and utter chaos wanting to go mental, but stuck rooted to the spot with the aforementioned freshly purchased Wrathchild LP welded under my arm.  I mean what else was I supposed to do? I'd just managed to get a bootleg LP of the demi gods of satin and sleaze from their infamous Camden Palace gig. Getting the shit kicked out of me to Metallica could wait...just for now.

Why was this bootleg quite so special, that I would sacrifice partaking in such a pivotal Metallica show? I hear you ask.  Well it was partly due to the fact that back in 1985 Wrathchild were truly on the cusp of being the next big thing on the glam scene, and although 'Cock Shock Rock' was nothing more than an audio transcription of the band's Camden Palace gig from the previous November it actually contained two tracks that were supposed to be a taster from their then unreleased second album, and as said gig had been broadcast live on European TV that made the quality of the transcription possibly one of the best your money could buy.  It was also partlky due to the fact that at the time it was an "essential purchase" for any fan of the band due to the fact that with the official video from that gig (the aptly named 'War Machine') was still a far off dream in the eyes of the band's record label, and I simply had to have everything the band had released, official or not.

My love affair with all things Wrathchild can probably be traced back to one afternoon in late 1983 when I wandered into the Our Price store in Windsor and came out holding a copy of the band's 'Stackheel Strutt' E.P, it was almost bought as one of those "I'll give it a try" type of purchases.   However that slab of coloured vinyl (which I still have and is fully signed by all the classic line up) and a mate's quickly purchased copy of the band's 'Mascara Massacre' demo tape was pretty much all we would listen to for the next few months.  Such was the band's instant appeal on a group of teenagers all keen to be the ones who discovered the next big thing on the glam metal scene first (we'd already done Motley Crue on US import long before the UK and after six months of 'Shout At The Devil' we needed something fresh). 

That was until Wrathchild finally unleashed, what is still in my eyes one of the best glam albums of all time, the stupendous 'Stakk Attakk'.  Suddenly the year of our lord 1984 became one the best ever, and even if my hometown community was being ripped apart by Margaret Thatcher and her government how could I ever feel depressed when I had songs like 'Sweet Surrender' and 'Too Wild Too Tame' to soundtrack my summer months? I must have spent hours looking at that cut and paste reverse sleeve of 'Stakk Attakk' wondering what it must be like witnessing the band live, and my mate's fan club newsletters only built on our expectations as tales of blazookas, battle cars and on the road debauchery filled our heads full of the crazy world of Wrathchild. And jeez did we want to be a part of it.

My actual first encounter with any of "the boyz" came just a month or so later during the 1984 'Monsters of Rock' festival, when I bumped into a fully glammed up Rocky Shades walking around the festival site.  Mr Shades in spite of wearing the most obscenely tight nut hugging shorts still had a very charming lady on his arm and was only too happy to sign the back of my official programme "Fuck Angus - Rocky Shades". Damn you Rocky Shades for being so fucking cool, so fucking cool in fact you'd almost matched Motley Crue's never to be repeated uber cool set from earlier in the day on the glam-o-meter.

And so it came to pass that on November 9^th 1984, I would finally come to lose my Wrathchild live cherry.  There I was mid Friday afternoon on yet another day bunked off work, decked out in my blue leather jacket with the 'Stackheel Strutt' cover art painted on the back, and squeezed into way too tight PVC trousers making my way via the short train journey from Ascot into London just in time for the band's tea time show at London's Camden Palace (and still going today as KOKO).  Remember this show was going out live all across Europe as a syndicated weekly TV series called 'Live From London' that was to feature the best that the UK rock scene had to offer (plus I seem to remember Wendy O Williams and Thor), but at rush hour at the start of the weekend how many of the loyal Wrath Army would be able to show up? Well to try and ensure a full house Wrathchild cunningly offered a free T Shirt or single to the first 100 people through the door, and you can see which one I got to the right.

The offer obviously worked as by the time I got there Camden Palace was already reassuringly full, and with the opulent balconies and boxes dotted around the place I opted instead to squeeze my way to the front as the only way to experience the Wrath gang was going to be up close, personal and very sweaty.  We didn't have to wait long either before the TV cameras sprang into life closely followed by billowing dry ice, a frenzy of home made pyro and the buzz saw guitar riff of 'Stakk Attakk' suddenly heralded the arrival of our four heroes. The stage resembled a war zone, and we the hapless audience were stuck right in the middle of it as 'Too Wild To Tame', 'Trash Queen' and 'Sweet Surrender' all quickly followed each hitting home like (na na na na) nukklear rokkets and each demanding that you stomp your hands and clap your feet, as Rocky would later be heard to paraphrase the legendary Noddy Holder.

In and age when it was still OK to admit you were 'Alrite With The Boys' Wrathchild's D.I.Y stage production and punk rock attitude was what set them apart from the countless number of other glam band's that littered that pages of Kerrang and Sounds week in week out.  But it also helped that they had some truly brilliant songs like 'Kick Down The Walls' in their set, and never mind how much pyro they could fire at you, you always went away singing the songs. (If you watch said song on the 'War Machine' video you can see me just in front of Lance brown trousering my PVC's as the firework onslaught reached new heights of stupidity for a band and venue of such size)

With the TV performance out of the way it was the two new tracks 'Blood On The Blade' and 'Give It All You Got' that were delivered as encores and in a little over an hour we were soon cast out into the cold November air ready for the Palace staff to clean up the utter devastation left behind ready for yet another New Romantic club night (the venue I seem to remember was at the time owned by Steve Strange).

So was I happy with my first encounter with the mighty Wrathchild? Well listening back to this LP now (with its cheap cover art and piss poor pressing quality), I cannot help but get all dewy eyed.  Mostly because just like that Motley Crue performance at Donington 1984 I mentioned earlier Wrathchild never really did top this Camden Palace gig even though I saw them again with their full show in July 1985 albeit in the much smaller Bogiez club in Cardiff.  By that time the band's career was starting to be publicly dismantled by their own record label and as a result gigs were few and far between, as legal wranglings took over whatever chances Rocky Shades, Lance Rocket, Eddie Starr and Marc Angel ever had of crossing the Atlantic and making it big.

I would go on to see Wrathchild twice more before they eventually spilt, firstly in April 1986 at Evesham Town Hall a night when Zoot made one of his first and best gig giggles happen and a story he has yet to capture for posterity, so I'll leave that one to him if he can remember it.  Then my final live encounter with the band was in April 1989 at Newport's Lazers nightclub and that was a night when I all but sadly had to admit to myself that the band's star had really gone out.

The Wrathchild legacy then and this fantastically tacky 'Cock Shock Rock' LP leaves me with not only some fantastic otherwise unreleased music ('Blood On The Blade' and 'Give It All You Got' never did make it to being recorded in a studio) but also some wonderful memories as I've hopefully relayed to you here. 

You know back in 1985 even though I was the one thinking I could take on the world, Lance, Rocky, Eddie and Marc were the ones who really should have doing it.