Ack Ack

Ack Ack were originally formed as 'Dirty Mark and the Stains' in 1977 by Mark Williams (vocals), Mick Foley (guitar) and Lawrence "?" (bass) who were all school friends from the Twickenham/Isleworth area of W. London. They were joined by Alan Spencer on lead guitar and Stuart Russell on drums. Stuart was a work colleague of Marks older brother and was a few years older than the rest of the band himself, it was he that introduced the Northern Soul and Reggae aspect to the group. Soon the name 'Dirty Mark and the Stains' was dropped and Ack Ack was born.

Ack Ack were originally formed as 'Dirty Mark and the Stains' in 1977 by Mark Williams (vocals), Mick Foley (guitar) and Lawrence "?" (bass) who were all school friends from the Twickenham/Isleworth area of W. London. They were joined by Alan Spencer on lead guitar and Stuart Russell on drums. Stuart was a work colleague of Marks older brother and was a few years older than the rest of the band himself, it was he that introduced the Northern Soul and Reggae aspect to the group.

Soon the name 'Dirty Mark and the Stains' was dropped and Ack Ack was born. At this time they were simply a 'garage band' and had not performed any gigs. As the bands skills improved it became clear that Lawrence was falling behind the rest of the members so in 1978 Steve Jaymes-Wright was drafted in on bass guitar. Shortly afterwards the band played it's first gig at Chessington Rugby Club.

Thanks to a quite aggressive poster campaign by the band the gig was very well attended and this was the beginning of Ack Ack's strong local fan base. Alan Spencer left the band shortly after as he was more contemporary rock influenced and not comfortable with the punk scene. He was replaced by Johnny Fuller, formerly of 'Adrenaline' & 'The Cane'. The band now had it's final line-up of: Mark Williams - Vocals Mick Foley - Guitar Johnny Fuller - Lead guitar Steve Jaymes-Wright - Bass Stuart Russell - Drums The band continued to build up its local fan base by playing local venues such as The Grove in Kingston and The Winning Post in Twickenham plus many of the local colleges. At this time the band was being managed by Mark's older brother Tony. In early 1979 the band recorded a five track demo tape at Spaceward Studios in Cambridge.

Copies of the demo were used to secure gigs at some of the more prestigious venues around London such as The Pegasus in Stoke Newington and The Starlight Club in Hampstead. It was also passed on to former Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera guitarist Paul Brett. Brett became the band's manager later that year. Many gigs, both local and in or around London, followed both as main act or support act to more established bands such as The Adverts and The Specials. In 1980 work began on recording the band's debut album 'Trouser Tricks'.

It was recorded over a six day period at TW Music Studio's, a small studio on the Fulham Palace Road near Hammersmith, W. London. Steve Jaymes-Wright 2007 Band website http://ackack.co.uk User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL..