Vehicle Derek

Vehicle Derek was a hardcore punk band formed in 1987 to play at the 1988 BGS Rock Night but that went on to become a regular fixture of the local punk music scene for the next few years. By the time the band broke up at end of 1990 they had played 32 gigs, including shows either headlining or as a support act in London, Nottingham, Huddersfield, Bradford and several times in Lincoln. The band briefly reformed in 2000 to record an album of their old songs and played a short run of seven shows across the country to support this released. The band formed in 1987 with the original line-up of Richard 'Del' Howes on vocals, Adam Warne on drums, Paul Woods on bass and Jason Etherington on guitar but this version of the band never performed live and Woods was soon replaced by James Davies on bass, although he and Etherington would often switch instruments during the set depending on who had written the next song. The band played several times at the Indian Queen, becoming part of the impressive punk scene that grew up in the town at the end of the 1980s, and made a reputation outside of the town that saw them asked to play a show in London in late 1989. The band also recorded a session for BBC Radio Lincolnshire that would become their first 'release' as the cassette-only 'Zob', with the radio session paired with a recording of a live show and some home recordings tacked on the end. That show would be the last with Davies who left that winter to form Big Chief Fail with older brother Christian Davies leaving Vehicle Derek to play one show as a trio with Howes on bass. In this interim period they also headed to Gems Studio in Frampton to record what would be their debut single, a split single with Norwich-based band Goober Patrol that would be the first release on the new Boss Tuneage label - a label that is still around today. Unhappy with the first recording they headed back in a week later with Andy Sandall playing bass to record three tracks that made it onto the single. Sandall would become the permanent bass player and the band toured across the UK with Goober Patrol throughout 1990 to support the released of the single. They also sold a compilations cassette at shows called 'Back to School with Vehicle Derek' that featured artwork made up of collages of pictures and text from old Bostonian magazines. The cassette featured recordings from various practices, alternate takes from the Radio Lincolnshire and single recording sessions, and a full live show from Lincoln. After the summer the pressures of members going off to university saw the band cease to play together, although they all stayed in touch and shared a couple of brief reformations in the late 90s to play two shows and record a song for a compilation CD celebrating the record label's 10th anniversary with a line-up of Howes, Etherington, Sandall and drummer Little John. In late 2000 the owner of the Boss Tuneage label asked the band members if they would get together to record the album they had been asked for by the label back in 1990. A line-up of Howes, Davies, Sandall and Warne went back into the studio and recorded their old songs for this release and undertook a short UK tour with several label mates to promote the album. The album was released in both Europe and Japan thanks to a reciprocal arrangement between labels. Several tracks got national airplay on both John Peel and Steve Lamacq's Radio 1 shows. Later in 2001 Vehicle Derek hung it up for good, with all four members continuing to make music in their own projects. Vehicle Derek was the only constant in the VDSM name, with the SM part changing on a gig-by-gig basis. Once the band got a bit more serious and started playing gigs outside Boston, and especially when it started making records, the name was pared down to just "Vehicle Derek" as it was easier for people putting on shows to use. By the end of their existence that had released one single, one album, an official 'bootleg' of a professionally recorded practice session and had appeared on several compilation CDs for various punk labels.