Eddie and the Hot Rods are a pub rock band from Essex founded in 1975. They are best known for their 1977 UK top ten hit "Do Anything You Wanna Do", released under the shortened name Rods. The group broke up in 1985, but reformed in 1996. Singer Barrie Masters was the only constant member until his death in 2019. The band continued to tour, fronted by their former bassist, Ian 'Dipster' Dean.
History
Formation
The band was formed in Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, England, during 1975 by guitarist Dave Higgs (who had previously played in the Fix with Lee Brilleaux), with drummer Steve Nicol, bassist Rob Steele, and singer Barrie Masters (born in Rochford, Essex; 4 May 1956 – 2 October 2019).
Before rising to semi-stardom in 1977, the Hot Rods underwent several changes in personnel: one of the first members to leave the band was "Eddie" himself, which was a dummy that featured prominently in the Hot Rods' early gigs and was discarded as the joke had worn thin. Otherwise, the band consisted of Barrie Masters on vocals, Pete Wall and Dave Higgs on guitar, Rob Steele on bass and Steve Nicol on drums. Ed Hollis (brother of Talk Talk's Mark Hollis) became their manager.
In May 1975, after building a live reputation, they secured a Saturday-night residency at The Kensington in London. This was followed in October by a joint residency with the 101ers at The Nashville, playing alternate headline sets. In November, after positive press reviews of their live shows, they were signed by Island Records.
Commercial success
By 1976, Lew Lewis (harmonica) and Paul Gray (bass) had replaced Wall and Steele. The Pistols' support slot earned them their first music press review, in the NME, with no mention of the headlining Hot Rods at all. By way of revenge, the Hot Rods claimed in the next week's edition of the NME to have "sacked" the Pistols from an upcoming tour, which the NME pithily described as "what you get for mixin(g) with real punks." They first appeared in the UK Singles Chart the end of that year with the Live at the Marquee EP and the single "Teenage Depression", an energetic rock and roll song. In 1978 the band toured in Canada.
In early 1979, they released a further album with Douglas, entitled Thriller, recorded at Abbey Road Studio, which featured a fuller studio sound and used more studio effects. Due to disappointing sales, they found themselves dropped by Island in 1979, and in May that year were rumoured to be on the verge of splitting, with Gray touring with the Members and Masters and Nicol playing in the band Plus Support. They signed to EMI in August 1979, releasing a further album in 1981, Fish'n'Chips with new bass player T.C. (Tony Cranney), but disbanded in 1981. before the band split again in 1985. they were joined by Richard Holgarth (Otway) on guitar and shortly afterwards, Loker left the band.
In 2005, they recorded Better Late than Never in preparation for a 30th anniversary tour and then expanded to a five-piece band again with the addition of Chris Taylor in 2006 for the recording of the album Been There, Done That. This is the line-up that has since performed as Eddie and the Hot Rods.
Dave Higgs died in December 2013.
In early 2018, the band announced they would soon retire from headline tours. The band toured the UK in March 2019 opening for Stiff Little Fingers. Touring bass player for the March 2019 tour was Adam Smith of Newtown Neurotics.
A one-off celebration gig 'Done Everything We Wanna Do' took place at o2 Academy, Islington on 13 April 2019. which featured appearances from past members (Lew Lewis, Paul Gray, Steve Nicol, Graeme Douglas, Warren Kennedy, Chris Taylor, Tony Cranney), current members (Richard Holgarth, Simon Bowley, Dipster) and special guests Captain Sensible (The Damned), Leigh Heggarty (Ruts DC), Duncan Reid (The Boys), Dennis Greaves and Mark Feltham (Nine Below Zero) and JC Carroll (The Members) all joining frontman Barrie Masters.
Masters was found dead in his home on 1 October 2019, at the age of 63, having taken various intoxicants. A later inquest determined that his death was drug-related.
Having already announced that Barrie would be retiring at the end of the year due to health concerns and, after an enforced Covid pandemic break throughout 2020, the band decided to return to the stage in 2021 with long time bassist Ian 'Dipster' Dean taking over the vocal duties. Mic Stoner (Chords UK) replaced him on bass guitar and they undertook on a UK tour alongside Nine Below Zero.
Guardians of the Legacy
On 27 March 2022, they could be seen performing their new single "Guardians of the Legacy" on the Talking Pictures TV broadcast of The Heritage Chart Show with Mike Read. "Guardians of the Legacy" is the title track from an album issued on the anniversary of Masters' death in October 2022.
Musical style
The band's early repertoire consisted of covers of 1960s R&B songs and original songs inspired by the likes of Dr. Feelgood. Their 1977 tour of the US with the Ramones and Talking Heads was billed as a punk rock tour, and their 1977 concert in Windsor, Ontario, was billed as "Windsor's First Punk Rock Concert". They were overtaken by punk rock bands, however, and were soon considered to be outside the genre.
Discography
Studio albums
{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center;
|-
!Year
!Album
!UK Albums Chart
!Record label
|-
| 1976
|align=left| Teenage Depression
| 43
|rowspan="3"| Island Records
|-
| 1977
|align=left| Life on the Line
| 27
|-
| 1979
|align=left| Thriller
| 50
|-
| 1981
|align=left| Fish 'n' Chips
| —
|rowspan="1"| EMI Records
|-
| 1996
|align=left| Gasoline Days
| —
|rowspan="1"| Creative Man Records
|-
| 2005
|align=left| Better Late than Never
| —
|rowspan="2"| Voiceprint Records
|-
| 2006
|align=left| Been There, Done That...
| —
|-
| 2011
|align=left| 35 Years of Teenage Depression
| —
|-
| 2022
|align=left| Guardians of the Legacy
| —
|rowspan="2"|Outro Records (Vinyl)
Renaissance Records (CD)
|-
|}
Live albums
- One Story Town (1985), Waterfront
- BBC Radio 1 Live in Concert (1994), Windsong
- Live at the Paradiso (1998), Pub
- Get Your Rocks Off (2002), Jungle
- New York:Live (2009) Recorded live at Southpaw, Brooklyn.
Compilations and sessions
- Rods (1977) Promo (Live & Out-takes)
- Curse of the Hot Rods aka 1979 Freerange Studio – Covent Garden sessions (1992), Street Link
- Live and Rare (1993), Receiver
- Ties that Bind (1994), Dojo
- The End of the Beginning – the Best of Eddie & the Hot Rods (1994), Island
- Get Your Balls Off (1996), Skydog
- Doing Anything They Wanna Do... (1996), Anagram
- Take No Prisoners! The Best of British Punk (1998), Delta Music (UK)
- Do Anything You Wanna Do (2000), Spectrum
- The Singles Collection (2009), Captain Oi!
- Do Anything You Wanna Do: The Best Of (2012), Spectrum Music
EPs
- Live at the Marquee EP (1976), Island, IEP 2 – UK No. 43
:#"96 Tears"
:#"Get Out of Denver"
:#"Medley: Gloria – Satisfaction"
- At the Sound of Speed EP (1977), Island, IEP 5 – UK No. 56
:#"Hard Drivin' Man"
:#"Horseplay"
:#"Double Checkin' Woman"
:#"All I Need is Money"
:#"On the Run" (on 12-inch version only)
Singles
{| class="wikitable" style=text-align:center;
|-
!rowspan="2"|Year
!rowspan="2"|Title
!colspan="1"|Peak chart<br />positions
!rowspan="2"|Record Label
!rowspan="2"|B-side
!rowspan="2"|Album
|- style="font-size:smaller;"
!align=centre| UK
|-
|rowspan="3"| 1976
|align=left| "Writing on the Wall"
| —
|rowspan="10"| Island Records
| "Cruisin' (In the Lincoln)"
|rowspan="1"|
|-
|align=left| "Wooly Bully"
| —
| "Horseplay (Weary of the Schmaltz)"
|rowspan="1"|
|-
|align=left| "Teenage Depression"
| 35
| "Shake"
|rowspan="1"| Teenage Depression
|-
|rowspan="4"| 1977
|align=left| "I Might Be Lying"
| 44
| "Ignore Them (Always Crashing in the Same Bar)"
|rowspan="1"|
|-
|align=left| "Do Anything You Wanna Do"
| 9
| "Schoolgirl Love"
|rowspan="1"| Life on the Line
|-
|align=left| "Till the Night Is Gone (Let's Rock)"
| —
| "Flipside Rock"
|rowspan="1"|
|-
|align=left| "Quit This Town"
| 36
| "Distortion May Be Expected (laughbagindub)"
|rowspan="2"| Life on the Line
|-
|rowspan="1"| 1978
|align=left| "Life on the Line"
| 55
| "Do Anything You Wanna Do" (Live)
|-
|rowspan="2"| 1979
|align=left| "Media Messiahs"
| —
| "Horror Through Straightness"
|rowspan="2"| Thriller
|-
|align=left| "The Power and the Glory"
| —
| "Highlands One, Hopefuls Two"
|-
|rowspan="1"| 1980
|align=left| "Wide Eyed Kids"
| —
|rowspan="2"| EMI Records
| "Leave Us Alone"
|rowspan="2"| Fish 'n' Chips
|-
|rowspan="1"| 1981
|align=left| "Farther on Down the Road<br />(You Will Accompany Me)"
| —
| "Fish 'n' Chips Part 2"
|-
|rowspan="1"| 1985
|align=left| "Fought for You"
| —
|rowspan="1"| Waterfront Records
| "Hey, Tonight"
|rowspan="1"|
|-
|}
DVDs
- Do Anything You Wanna Do (1996), Cherry Red
- Live 2005 (2006), Plastic Head
- Introspective (2009), Voiceprint
Notes
References
- Buckley, Jonathan (2003) The Rough Guide to Rock, 3rd edn., Rough Guides, , pp. 328–9
- Erlewine, Stephen Thomas "Eddie & the Hot Rods Biography", Allmusic, retrieved 2010-12-30
- Gimarc, George (2005) Punk Diary: the Ultimate Trainspotter's Guide to Underground Rock 1970–1982, Backbeat Books,
- Strong, Martin C. (2003) The Great Indie Discography, Canongate, , pp. 61–2
Further reading
- Crancher, Steve (2008) Eddie and the Hot Rods: Do Anything You Wanna Do, Desert Island Books,