The Rebels - Torn & Frayed - The Best Of The Rebels

"The Rebels were formed in 1977, in Sunderland, with an average age of 15. Over the next 3 years they played to packed

audiences in pubs, clubs, youth centres etc. throughout the Northeast of England.

The initial line-up was Tony Van Frater (vocals) who went on to form Red Alert, Gaz Stocker (guitar) now bass player with Red London, Keith 'Sticks' Warrington (drums) who later played with the Angelic Upstarts before joining the Cockney Rejects, and Tom Von Spencer on bass guitar.

Dean Scrafton soon replaced Tony on vocals and when drummer Billy Kish took over from Sticks in the summer of 1978 they recorded 2 songs at Impulse Studios, Wallsend. The single Suicide c/w Leaders of a Rebellion was released on Rigid Records

which received national airplay on the John Peel show. (...)

The band went into the studios again. They recorded several tracks at Metro Radio Studios in Gateshead (...). Towards the end of 1979 they recorded another demo at Guardian Studios in Durham, which was eventually released 15 years later as the "Digging up the Dom" EP [tracks 1-4].

Despite a lot of interest in the band, from the likes of Jimmy Pursey, they failed to get that elusive record deal and split up in early 1980.

However, due to the success of 'Digging up the Dom', Deano, Gaz and Jammy got together with Red London's drummer Matty

Forster in June 1995 to re-record some tracks for the album 'Misspent Youth' [tracks 5-14]. (...)

The lads were back again in February 1996 to record 8 songs for the 'Full Circle' mini album (...). At the end of October 1996 the band were back in 'Frankie (Stubbs)'s Place' to record the 4 track 'City of Fear' EP."

(taken from booklet)

1. Identity     

2. All Hate     

3. This Isn't Freedom     

4. Tell Me Why     

5.Gross Exaggeration     

6. Wasted Life     

7. He Sent Her Roses     

8. Red Alert     

9. Da Doo Ron Ron     

10. This Is The Truth     

11. Public Enemy     

12. I Wanna Be Me     

13. Blue Light District     

14. Pop Star     

15. Living A Lie     

16. How Do You Know     

17. Suicide     

18. My Life     

19. Cheap Morals     

20. Razors In The Night     

21. Down In Hollywood     

22. Cum On Feel The Noize     

23. City Of Fear     

24. You Were Gonna...     

25. Total Isolation     

26. Police Oppression     

27. Public Enemy (Live)     

28. This Is The Truth (Live)     

29. Steve's Sea Shanty (Live)     

30. Red Alert (Live)     

31. Tell Me Why (Live)     

32. Pretty Vacant (Live)