The Ficks had a sprinkling of original material in their set, such as Posing Down Town and Valley of The Dead that were supplemented by covers such as Boston Babies by Slaughter & The Dogs. They were however limited to playing venues in the north coast Triangle area, mostly youth club gigs and also supported many visiting bands to Spuds in Portstewart and Chesters in Portrush, such as The Outcasts and Shock Treatment.

The Ficks were joined in the spring of 1981 by an additional drummer ; Alan Haslam. “Poko” Pete Kerr recalls the addition of another drummer “Alan and I drummed together for a while, not to replicate the Outcast two drummers, (although there is no doubt that the Outcasts co-drumming of Cowan and Falls had definitely influenced this) but more as a way of introducing Alan quickly into the band without the need for rehearsals, although the arrangement worked very well and was an interesting part of the bands development”.

“Poko” would however leave the band once Alan was totally up to speed with the band’s set, a move which also triggered a name change to Decontrol and saw “Poko” join Perfect Crime.