The roots of this band can be traced back to a gang of school kids from the Twinbrook area of West Belfast, who dreamt of becoming ‘Rock Stars’ like their childhood heroes such as Marc Bolan and David Bowie. When Punk began it’s rise from the ashes of the Glam movement in ’76 / ’77, the whole look, energy and aggressive sound of this new musical revolution was readily accepted by these kids.

This determination (plus the availability of cheap guitars) led Joe Donnelly, John Cullen, John Sands, Raymond Maguire and Jim Maguire to form a band in early to mid 1978. After toying with a few band names they finally settled for Blitz. They appeared on stage under the Blitz moniker in mid ‘78 as part of a variety show (with the local Bishop in attendance!) in the local school hall. Joe Donnelly – “We butchered a couple of Sex Pistols songs (‘Anarchy’ and ‘God Save The Queen’) then smashed up a guitar knocking a lump out of the newly laid stage floor and smashing a light with the schools own microphone which I had also broken .We had a few local punks in the audience who threw stuff at us on the stage, I’m sure the majority of the audience would have gladly joined in if they had anything handy to throw at us and it was a fucking great laugh. We were trailed off the stage to deafening silence leaving the audience thinking what the hell have I just watched.” Blitz disbanded shortly after this gig. Joe Donnelly – “It went nowhere fast and fell apart; it was only a bit of fun and a laugh after all.

Inspired by local punk acts such as Rudi and Stiff Little Fingers, Donnelly, Cullen and assorted workmates decided to have another go and quickly formed a new band The Producers (taking the name from the title of a Mel Brookes film). Aged between 16 – 18 years old the line up consisted of Henry (Sav) Savage (vocals), Joe Donnelly (bass), John Cullen (drums), Brendan (Specky) McGarrigle (guitar) and Tom (TC) Condon (guitar). Joe Donnelly – “We practiced in a couple of halls around the Beechmount area and got a set of punk / new wave covers together (Ramones, Clash, Cars!! etc) , but after a number of rehearsals , a cancelled gig and the live debut at the  parochial hall in Twinbrook  27 . 10. 78 things started to unwind.”

Gigs were few and far between, and after a last minute cancellation as support to Baraka at the Clubhouse Bar in early ’79, Joe Donnelly quit the band. The Producers continued for a short time using a number of stand-in musicians.

John Cullen recalls a Producers gig in Mica Drive Community Centre, March ’79 “Until moving house recently I still had the poster advertising the gig. Written in felt marker…Appearing tonight…The Producers!  Admission 25p. I remember taking the poster from the wall of the entrance hall as a souvenir that we could look back on when we were famous…yeah, even at that stage, after about six weeks practice, I was convinced we'd be good enough to get a break. The gig itself was chaos. We had begged and borrowed dodgy equipment from anyone who we knew that owned anything, there wasn't an awful lot of room on the stage and the sound was atrocious, and nothing was helped by the thick cloud of talcum powder in the air. (Our first ‘fan’, Rhonda, thought it would be great if the drums and cymbals were covered in talc!). Teenage kids jumpin’ up and down, the younger ones runnin’ around playing tag and some of the older ones actually quite impressed at seeing a live band.”

Their set consisted of a punked up rendition of Smokie’s Living Next Door To Alice and covers of The Boomtown Rats Neon Heart and Complete Control by The Clash. There were even original compositions such as It’s All Been Said Before and Hole In The Head in their set too. Brendy McGarrigle eventually split too. He went on to play guitar in several other bands and is still performing in bar bands today. The line-up was stabilised when Dee Moore was drafted in on bass and the band name was changed slightly to the Ex Producers. This more stable line-up of Sav (vocals), John Cullen (drums), Dee Moore (bass) and TC (guitar) recorded four tracks for a Downtown Radio session in October 1979, the tracks being Loyalty / Newer Wave ’79 / P-Check and Hole In The Head, two of which two appear on the Shellshock Rockers CD on Spit Records (Gob 2). They were also filmed performing their classic punk anthem Newer Wave ’79 live at the Harp Bar for a slot on the Belfast edition of the BBC youth programme Something Else, which was subsequently broadcast on 19th January, 1980. (This clip can be viewed below).