2007 AD was a much simpler time - if you wanted an energy drink, you bought a Lucozade; Jimmy Savile was still a national treasure (two examples are enough to get the point across).

That year was also probably the peak of DEADLY LONG LEGS short life span. The group were playing literally handfuls of gigs and were working their way towards recording their cocksure debut, 'Back To The Rock We Crawled From'.

A couple of those gigs were captured for posterity, live to a mono cassette dictaphone placed on the stage (probably by a dedicated uber-fan, maybe).

The first of these recorded performances took place at 'Kelly's', Leamington Spa, at a rare moment in DEADLY LONG LEGS “career” - the band were a four -piece rather than the three-pronged assault we've come to know and love.

A month or two prior, drummer Ed Daley had decided to pack the band in - his other group (Genius Shrimp) were hitting the mega time, and school exams were on the horizon - so with an amicable departure DEADLY LONG LEGS had a drummer stool to fill. In steps James Mattock, a young stud with a talent that had already been tapped in a number of outfits. He was a fan of the Deadly Beat and jumped at the chance of tub thumping for the band. James' enthusiasm and earth trembling pound was a serious kick up the arse - sheer magic - and an honest to God shot in the arm for the group (not a placebo).

But wait! Ed wants back in!! Like a piece of steel drawn to a strong magnet (he's the piece of steel, DEADLY LONG LEGS is the strong magnet) he's had second thoughts and, although he doesn't want to shove James from the drum plinth, he does want to bash a tambourine roughly in time with the music. "Come back in, old chum! We've missed you, you silly tit."

So here we are, at 'Kelly's' - a pub known for serving the hard stuff to underage kids (shows there could often be very energetic, with pissed teenagers letting their hair down before bed time).

DEADLY LONG LEGS were still pretty green at this stage. Officially the group had been in existence for around six months but most of that time was spent doing F-all. James had joined just a couple of months before the 'Kelly's' show and really had the bit between his teeth, learnt all the songs, and was hitting them where it hurts. Bosh! The tambourine was a real crowd pleaser, too, especially with the teenage alchies. They bloody lapped it up. But the band were loose. Songs progressively got faster and sloppier the further down the set list they went. The main reason for the this was joie d'vivre, but also the other main reason was singer and guitarist John Cavities' wrists. They were so puny that ten minutes of non-stop strumming left them as limp as a piece spaghetti cooked way past al dente. Towards the end of the set Cavities could hardly hold the strings down and form chords, over compensating by playing quicker and keeping the fingers and wrists moving before they locked up.

Still, “Like it or lump it!” as the band would say to audience members looking for a refund. And while 99.9% of people lumped it, the ramshackle performance was what made DEADLY LONG LEGS who they were/are.

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