If you haven't already, you can hear part of the story of ERICS CLUB here.... The last gig at ERICS was THE PSYCHEDELIC FURS supported by Pete Wylie’s WAH! HEAT. On this night, the club was raided & subsequently closed, never to re-open, the victim of the zealous policing trying to combat an increase in club violence in the city & the insurmountable accumulation of debts. Although, I believe that the given reason for the raid that night was drugs. I never did get to ERICS, but many of the bands borne from the club, such as WAH! HEAT, ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN & THE TEARDROP EXPLODES I would witness at the London Lyceum’s big nights out throughout 1980. 
Wylie prophetically shouts “This is the last song you will ever hear by a Liverpool group in ERICS!” & he was right. He recorded the set & sent a copy to PEEL who later aired these tracks as a tribute. Thanks to Ken Garner’s book THE PEEL SESSIONS, I can advise that PEEL aired these songs on 8th April 1980, (I hadn’t scribbled it on the cassette) when it was obvious ERICS would not be re-opening.
- mp3: "Sleep"
- mp3: "Other boys"
7 comments:
Great post and great blog, man.
Nice site with interesting detail. I was unaware that Pete Wylie had recorded the last few songs at Eric's.
As Eric's regulars during 77, we wrote a local fanzine named Bombsite that captured some points that paint a picture of the youth scene in Liverpool during the period. Many of our gig reviews were from Eric's club. More Eric's stories at
http://whycontrol1977.blogspot.com/
Wow, great. I remember Peel playing this at the time but have never seen it up anywhere else.
Steve W
I remember Peel playing these tracks...
I was lucky enough to attend 2 Eric's gigs - both matinees - The Undertones supported by The Squares + The Skids with The Scars.
My first & second gigs ever. Wonderful times.
I was the drummer in Wah Heat (Rob Jones) on the fatal last night of Erics. By the midnight the undercover police had infiltrated the club, the house lights went up and the body searches began. Wah Heats next gig in Liverpool was at Lincolns Inn just round the corner from Erics....if you want more let me know ro_wy_jo@msn.com
I tracked down Rob and their is an interview and a 2008 Written Word poem about the evening at
http://whycontrol1977.blogspot.com/2008/11/bombsite-fanzine-2008-rob-jones-of.html
Thanks Martin
I was a regular at Erics and seen bands such as Ultravox, Clash, Stranglers, Lurkers, Bunnymen and more. The atmosphere was unique and could never be rivalled. Great days indeed
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