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On this day, 18 October 1977, punk rockers Siouxsie and the Banshees played Cardiff’s Top Rank supporting The Heartbreakers with the Models also on the bill.
Formed in London in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bass guitarist Steven Severin. They have been widely influential, both over their contemporaries and with later acts.
Their first live appearance on television took place in November 1977 on Granada Television (based in Manchester), on Tony Wilson's TV show So It Goes. In that month they also recorded their first John Peel session for BBC radio, in which they premiered a new song, "Metal Postcard"; this introduced a "motorik austerity" in the drum patterns, along with "space in the sound" and "serrated guitars". The band described their music as "cold, machine-like and passionate at the same time". When they appeared on the cover of Sounds magazine, Vivien Goldman wrote: "they sound like a 21st century industrial plant".
Q magazine included John McKay's guitar playing on "Hong Kong Garden" in their list of "100 Greatest Guitar Tracks Ever", while Mojo rated guitarist John McGeoch in their list of "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" for his work on "Spellbound".
The Times cited the group as "one of the most audacious and uncompromising musical adventurers of the post-punk era".
Initially associated with the punk scene, the band rapidly evolved to create "a form of post-punk discord full of daring rhythmic and sonic experimentation".
Their debut album The Scream was released in 1978 to widespread critical acclaim.
SETLIST
Make Up to Break Up
Scrapheap
20th Century Boy
(T. Rex cover)
Carcass
Psychic
Bad Shape
Love in a Void
The Lord's Prayer
Encore:
Captain Scarlet
