Control Zone formed as a three piece in 1978 with Barry Sweeney (guitar and vocals), Mushy McGuigan (bass) and Aidy Connolly on drums. They were later joined by Tony McGartland (aka Ernie Badness) ex Straitjacket guitarist / vocalist after he had convinced the band that he was the man who could get them recognised! Ernie had been putting out his punk fanzine Plastic World since the summer of 1977. The fanzine eventually folded after approximately 5 issues. Ernie also produced another fanzine called Positive Reaction, with several guest writers based in cities around the UK contributing regularly with gig reviews and local news. Indeed Mr McGarland subsequently went on to become both a journalist and biographer of Buzzcocks, so perhaps his claim when joining the band had some substance! . Following the success of the book Tony relaunched The Buzzcocks own newsletter Secret Public and took it from issue 10 - 16 before handing the entire project over to fellow Buzzcocks fan John P. Lennon in Los Angeles.

Control Zone was named after the restricted parking areas in all town centres across N. Ireland which were implemented to try and prevent car bombs. These areas were identified by street signs. After the arrival of Ernie in the band, a number of original songs such as “All Alone”, “I Wish I Had You Back Again” and “She’s Kissing Him” were composed. The band went on to secure an appearance on BBC 2’s Grapevine community programme. They also made a memorable TV appearance in April 1981 on a BBC N. Ireland youth programme, ‘Bout You, in a special feature called Why Did You Do It In The First Place, which was a short piece on young and up and coming bands in the Omagh area.

They continued gigging regularly and supported bands such as Rudi, The Outcasts and The Moondogs whenever they came to town. They also won a local battle of the bands competition and recorded a four track demo tape. The tracks recorded were “Left Right March”, Johnny Johnny”, So Complete” and “Borstal”. These demos received some air play via Davy Sims evening show on Downtown radio. A further six songs were recorded for BBC N. Ireland with the unique brief to cut tracks that represented each of the six counties in N. Ireland. For example, “Lovely Derry On The Banks Of The Foyle” delivered in punk rock fashion. The band subsequently signed over the rights to all six recordings to the BBC in return for £175 which they swiftly converted into their first PA system.

In 1983 they contributed two belting tracks, Bloody Bouncers & Johnny Johnny, to the United Skins compilation album. The band had been sent a £275 advance by Mickey French of the Last Resort for recording costs. Three tracks were subsequently recorded but “Left Right March” was dropped, presumably because of the subject matter i.e. the H-Block campaign and the band weren’t consulted over the album artwork either. They shared the compilation album with artists such as Skrewdriver, Warrior, The Accused, Sedated and T.D.A. In the late 90’s a bootleg CD of the album emerged which listed Skrewdriver listed under a different name, Freedom Of Speech. At the time of the album’s original release the band were offered the opportunity to tour the UK with the other artists featured on the album but refused when they heard that Skrewdriver were among them. Disillusioned with the way things had turned out in respect of this release, the band fizzled out a short time later.

The final incarnation of Control Zone formed in late 1983. They were Paul Breslin (bass), Gerry Tracey (guitar, keyboards and vocals), Barry Sweeney (guitar and lead vocals) and Aidy Connolly (drums). The band spent months writing new material before entering the recording studio in July 1984 to record 4 songs “Silent Abuse”, “The Choice is Yours”, “Decree Absolute” and “Doomsday”.