A Brief History of the Polecats Part One

Formed in the late seventies, whilst still in school by  Boz and Tim, they were soon joined by Phil and original drummer Chris Hawkes.  Originally calling themselves the Cult Heroes, it was decided that this was too "punk" and Chris came up with the name "Polecats".  Their first recording session gave us, Rockabilly Guy, Chicken Shack, High-rise Rockabilly and Rockin' all Night. The first two tracks going on to become their first single on the newly formed Nervous Records.
However Chris soon left and was replaced by Neil Rooney, who they stole from the Rhythym Cats.
It was at about this time that Tim took over lead vocals and the Polecats sound began to form.
A record deal with Phonogram followed, leading to the release in early 1981 of the double A-side,"John I'm Only Dancing/Big Green Car" on their Mercury label.
This had some chart success, which was remarkable, considering the pitiful amount of radio airplay it got.
Next came the album, "Polecats are Go".  Considered by many to be one of the greatest rockabilly albums of all time.  Certainly it was a great influence on many of the rockabilly and psychobilly bands that followed in their wake.

The next single featured another two tracks from the album, a reworked version of "Rockabilly Guy" backed with "Don't Cry Baby" The third single that year, was "Jeepster/Marie Celeste".  Showing once again that they were not afraid of tackling songs outside the normal rockabilly remit.The 12" version also featured "Down the Line" and the wonderful "Hip Hip Baby
1982 saw the release of "Make a Circuit/Juvenile Delinquents From a Planet Near Mars"  This was a bit of a change of direction taking a blatant pop song and giving it the Polecats treatment. This was to be the last single release in the U.K.
Since then several albums have been released, more details in the Discography.
Shortly after this Neil left the band and nothing seems to be known about what he did afterwards.
1983 and with new drummer John Buck,  the Polecats toured with Jerry Lee Lewis. All did not go well, the audience at the Theatre Royal in Plymouth, consisted mainly of ageing teddy boys and country and western fans and their response was lukewarm, to say the least!  After five or six songs with little or no appreciation, Tim announced that if there wasn't a bit more audience participation then Boz would expose himself.  This did not go down at all well and eventually the fire safety curtain was dropped.
On their last tour of this part of their history, they recruited Alan Warner formerly lead guitarist with the Foundations, to fill out their live sound,to make it sound more like their records, as Tim found it hard to sing, play and jump around like a madman.  He was also the producer of the first Rockabilly Guy single and can be seen in the Make a circuit video.