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The Platinum Needles from Market Drayton a sleepy dead end town in Shropshire formed in December 1979. Gary Sewell on lead guitar, Shane Henderson on vocals, Stuart Muir on bass, Donald Eley on guitar and Nicky Blase on drums. After playing a number of low key gigs around the Shropshire, Staffordshire and Cheshire area Nicky, Donald and Stuart left to form a rival band and Shaun Evans joined on drums and Jamie Yale took over bass duties. By June 1980 the band had started to gather a large local following and recruited Kevin Ruscoe to roadie and help manage whilst local social worker Chris Ashley took charge of transport. In July of that year Jamie left to join the Army and Stuart Muir re-joined the group. After another tour taking in gigs in Crewe, Stoke, Market Drayton and Shrewsbury the band went into the studio to record two tracks for the Stoke Musicians Collective LP "Cry Havoc". Three tracks were recorded Telford, Organised Disruption and Violence the first two making it onto the album when it was eventually released in February '81. |
An early picture of the band (left to right) Gary Sewell, Shane Henderson, Stuart Muir & Donald Eley |
The Cry Havoc Album Cover |
Stuart left
in December 1980 to join his parents in the Far East if he hadn't he would
probably have ended up inside? Kevin Yale (Jaime's brother) replaced Stuart
on bass just in time for the bands biggest gig so far. With the release
of the "Cry Havoc" album the SMC organised a gig at Hanley's
Victoria Hall on 20th February 1981 (Slade were there on the 19th and
The Stranglers on the 22nd). Prior to the Vic' Hall gig the band played
a warm up gig at Tiffany's night club in Newcastle, this was filmed for
the BBC TV programme "Somethin' else". On the 12th Feb. "Cry
Havoc" was released and John Peel played the Platinum Needles track
"Telford" on his Radio One show that night. The Victoria Hall
gig proved to be a storming success for the band despite their being another
eight bands on the bill only the Needles were mentioned in the press where
the Sounds headline read "Slade bring the house down but the Platinum
Needles Demolish it. |
In March 1981 Shaun decided he was no longer
a punk and left the band to become a head banger! Kev Yale moved to keyboards
and Conrad Tracy joined on bass with Rocko taking over on the drum stool.
The new line up rehearsed for the next two months writing a completely
new set which was more Killing Joke than Sex Pistol influenced. The new
line up made its debut at the Burslem Carnival on the 2nd May.
Stoke on Trent became the centre of the bands activities for the next
four months, playing numerous gigs around the area including the infamous
Vine gig on the 3rd July when after the band had played a riot
broke out. This was to be the last ever gig at the Vine it was closed
down shortly after. |
The Line up from April 1981 (left to right) Gary Sewell, Conrad Tracy, Shane Henderson, Kevin Yale & Rocko |
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The band went into the studio again
in September 1980 to record what was hoped would be their first single
Movie Star. Rocko decided not to turn up so Gary doubled up on Drums.
Rob Wardell was brought in shortly after to replace the AWOL Rocko.
In November the band played at the Lanchester Poly in Coventry at the
regional final of the NAYC Opportunity Rocks competition they took the
place by storm and were selected for the grand final. December 12th 1981 the Opportunity Rocks final at the Dominion Theatre, Tottenham Court
Road, London. Introduced by Peter Powell (who turned out not to be the
prat we expected) these were the best four bands under the age of 21 in
the UK? This gig saw the introduction of Quey as backing vocalist. The
band played a 30 minute set consisting of - MAYBE, SITUATIONS, HOSTAGE(Bondage),
MONOTONE, MOVIE STAR, GIMME THE PUSH & I WANT TO WORK. Despite sound
problems the band worked the crowd of just over 1500 into a frenzy. Sheffield
metal group Stormchild won but this was probably more to do with the fact
that the judge was Alan "fluff" Freeman. The Platinum Needles
were 2nd. |
The Dominion gig should have been a platform for the band but the promised single and UK Subs support tour came to nothing and the band played their last gig in March 1982. Following the break up of the Needles only Gary continued to play and has over the last 20 years played in various local bands including amongst others Pleasure Runs Wild without making the impact his obvious talent deserves. His last group BLADE were probably his most successful since the Needles. Gary now performs as The Riffmaster Terminator and more information can be found on the Riffmaster web site. Kevin Ruscoe Feb. 1999 (Revised Feb. 2001 & Nov 2005)
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Gary Sewell AKA The Riffmaster Terminator |
Click on the Headline to read the full story. |
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