T.V. VAMPIRE  (March 1978/January 1979)

T. V. Vampire formed in March 1978, although the founding members played together on and off since 1975 as a nameless trio, covering various kind of songs - even a couple of King Crimson instrumental numbers ('Red' and 'Larks' Tongues In Aspic') -, plus a couple of pseudo-goth original instrumentals. After breaking up in February 1977, the trio re-formed in March 1978, influenced by the then-fading english punk scene. Hurried by the other two members to find a name for the band, Glezos comes up with T.V. Vampire. The name stuck. After a couple of months spent rehearsing punk covers, the trio asks Tonito (a punk fan they met in a record shop) to join in as singer. The band plays their one and only gig in June 1978, at an open air festival in Monluè, Milan, in front of a speechless audience of about fifty. The band performs a set of punk standards, including the Damned's Neat Neat Neat and Born To Kill, The Clash' Clash City Rockers and Generation X's Wild Youth, plus a couple of Ramones ditties (Blitzkrieg Bop and Commando). An anecdote from the gig sets the tone of the whole thing. Complaining about the band's loud and murky sound, a punter screams: "Stop it! You' ve got to balance the mix, this sounds like shit!" . Tonito looks down at him and replies: "Sorry mate, but we ARE shit". In September 1978, after an aborted plan to expand the band to a quintet via the inclusion of a keyboard player, the band asks Tonito to leave and Glezos takes over as lead singer, and Danny joins in on bass. Heavily influenced by Adam & the Ants' gigs in Milan (October 16 & 17, 1978), the band start rehearsing songs from the Ants repertoire, learning them via bootleg tapes. They also lay down versions of the New York Dolls' Frankenstein and Shirley Bassey's Goldfinger (from the James Bond movie), plus tentative original songs taped during rehearsals at Danny's basement flat. T.V. Vampire are among the bands to play at 'Sabatok Folle' (Mad Saturday) Festival at Palazzina Liberty in Milan on December 9th, 1978, but something goes wrong. Minutes before going on stage a fight erupts in the audience, halting the proceedings and bringing the festival to an abrupt end. In January 1979 Danny leaves the band and Bite takes over on bass, just as the band is about to change its name (see The Girls and The Gags).