A to Z of N. Ireland Punk Bands

The CO - ORDINATES

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The Co-Ordinates were Robin Benson (Bass & Vocals), Hugh ‘Chad’ Cairns (Rhythm Guitar), Stephen Clarke (Drums), Stephen ‘Mouse’ Mc Bride (Vocals)and Colin Pyper (Rhythm & Lead Guitar).

‘Music by the kids for kids’. That’s was what the music scene was about for people who rejected the pompous and often hated professionalism of popular bands at the time. These kids did not care, if they played a bum note, or, if a drumstick or two flew off in different directions at frequent intervals, or, as in one case, an amplifier overheated and went on fire. Unbeknown to them at the time they had the ‘X-Factor’ which so many kids nowadays can only dream of and aspire to. Formed in haste in bedrooms and garages around the Bangor area, these bands, fuelled by ‘Old English’ cider, cadged cigarettes, and later magic mushrooms (at that time the only drug available rather than of choice), had the courage and damn right brass neck to stand up in front of a crowd to take music to where it had never gone before and probably has never been since.

The Co-Ordinates were originally formed in late 1976 by Robin Benson (Bass), with early material mainly consisting of Status Quo cover versions . Thankfully the band split, due to personality clashes with their lead guitarist, and was then re-vamped in December 1979 by Benson (Bass & Vocals), and McBride (Vocals), with Benson introducing Colin Pyper, (an original ex-member) back into the band on Rhythm Guitar. The bands first official gig was in the Methodist Church Hall in Ballyholme, Bangor in April 1980 where the band supported 70% Proof and had stand in drummer Stephen Clarke (ex-Doubt, Dutch Courage) to play the bins and lids. Clarke later joined the band full time.Their standout gig though was at Expo ’80, a local music festival, where the band had to run the gauntlet of the established ‘We Hate Punks’ Heavy Metal gang and their biker entourage, with a few bottles hurled and a few fists flung. Later that year Hugh (Chad) Cairns, (ex-Doubt singer), was roped in to do the rhythm guitar duties, and was promptly kicked out of the band the following year, mainly because of Clarke’s opinion that he was a right pain in the arse.

A series of gigs came and went during 1980 and 1981, with the band securing a regular spot at the local Co-Operative (‘Market’) Hall , organising local gigs themselves, and supporting Belfast bands ‘Big Self’, ‘Dino & The Dolphins’ ,‘The Outcasts’ ‘Rudi’, and London band ‘The Gas’ in at this time.

Future rock gigs though were promptly banned by North Down Borough Council after the Co-Ordinates supported ‘The Outcasts ‘, at the Market Hall stating that…. ‘The decision was made because there had been so much trouble and vandalism at the concerts, culminating on Saturday night when considerable damage was caused and the police were called. Another reason for the closure was the amount of alcohol and underage drinking going on within the hall. The closure is for an indefinite period……’‘Extract from the North Down Spectator:’‘The police were called to ‘The Outcasts’ gig on Saturday after a report of an assault taking place in the hall. This was a good half hour before the gig started when there were few people in the hall. The police found nothing going on that was against the law – no fighting or drinking – and left, happy that there was nothing amiss.…’.
Make your own conclusions.

In May 1981, the band finally got to produce their 5-Track cassette, containing the tracks ‘ Prelude’ ‘Mercenary’ , ‘Disco’ ,‘Destruction Of Character (Part 1)’, and ‘We’re Only Monsters’ which sold in good numbers, and had a favourable response both locally and nationally. Four of these tracks feature on the Spit Records compilation CD Shellshock Rockers.

Things went pear shaped though for the band in the later stages of 1981. With Cairns out, and internal squabbling between band members, the band played their last gigs in October 1981 at BJ’s Night Club in Bangor (now a Christian Gospel Hall) supporting ‘Rudi’ and Newtownards band ‘Dogmatic Element’.

In November 1981 the band were set to record a single in ‘Downtown Radio Studios’ in Newtownards, but, in the lengthy recording and mixing process, the tape was eventually withdrawn by the band, due to arguments between the studio producers, band members themselves and their management. The band finally split in December 1981 in acrimonious circumstances.

Each band member went their separate ways with McBride joining Draw Funny Animal/DFA on vocals and worked on various solo projects before moving on to live and work in Dublin, Benson working with various punk combos before moving to live in England, and Pyper, Clarke and Cairns still hanging out in Bangor somewhere.
Unfortunately ‘The Co-Ordinates’ didn’t make the necessary steps to get out of Bangor and get more involved in the main Belfast Punk scene, or further afield for that matter, but they did create a few songs which were both hummable in a tuneful sort of way, and foot tapping in a beat-ty sort of way.
If you have any further information or photographs of this band, then please DO get in contact via spit77to82@aol.com