A to Z of N. Ireland Punk Bands

GRIP

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Grip was formed in Portstewart in July 1978 by guitarist Geoffrey "Craigie" Craig, who recruited Pete Kerr (Drums), Jonathan "Bunt" Davies (Bass) and Clive "Nibs" Niblock on vocals. Craig's original intention was for the band to play rock, but the bands main influences at the time were The Ramones, The Damned, The Stranglers and The Dead Kennedy's, so very quickly their sound was steered in the direction of punk. To reinforce this change of direction, the band took their name from the Stranglers debut single “(Get A) Grip (On Yourself). The band was fortunate enough to be given free rehearsal space at the local Youth Club and regularly played during breaks in the Youth Club Discos, which got them used to playing in a live situation. Their set comprised of some choice covers, such as "Its A Long Way Back" by The Ramones and "Smash It Up" by The Damned and original compositions such as "No Good Girl", "Saturday My Arse" and "Anchor Wankers". The latter song was a clear unabashed reference to the patrons of the local pub "The Anchor Bar" frequented by both lecturers and students from the New University of Ulster in Coleraine. This song eventually went some way to contributing to the band’s demise. Another popular song in their set was their take on the Skids "TV Stars" which irreverently included the names of all the local shop-keepers in place of the original lyrics. It’s believed in some quarters that this was a deliberate device to build up the band’s disrespectful notoriety.

GRIP made their “proper” live debut at Spuds as part of a German Youth Exchange Programme in November 1979. Regular support slots to bands playing in Spuds followed, which often entailed opening for rock bands, whose audience didn't approve of punk rock. This, more often than not, led to heated and sometimes hilarious exchanges between the rock fans at the venue and Grip’s front man "Nibs". Things eventually came to a head in early 1980 when the band was confronted by a group of kaftan clad students who hadn't taken too kindly to constantly being referred to as "Anchor Wankers". Soon after the show a review appeared in the local student press ridiculing the band’s musicianship and ethos. Grip had been scheduled to play Spuds shortly after this press release but the message trickled through the grapevine to the band that they had been banned from Spuds and other student venues, the reason cited being that the band were "Nazi's"! Grips’s front man Niblock did often wear German army surplus jackets and the band played a cover of The Ramones track "It’s A Long Way Back’ which of course famously had a reference to Germany in the chorus". Both facts seemed to have been taken as some form of twisted justification for this ridiculous statement which the band strenuously denied.

This effectively curtailed the bands ability to play live, eventually forcing the band members to go their amicable separate ways in early 1980. Craig and Niblock went on to form the rock band Road Crew whilst Kerr and Davies joined forces with the Tapster brothers to form the punk band The Ficks and later Decontrol.