The time is early 1979. After the demise of the original Reliants, things moved on. The Armchair and Vince Watts stayed together and met up with Hofner Violin Bass playing, Afghan coat wearing Barry Douce. Practising in the cellar of the Douce family home a small set of songs were gathered together. John Higgins was again recruited as drummer.

During this time, experimentation began in the pleasures of exotic substances and the Armchair began to rattle with his excessive level of pill consumption. The delights of The Tavern in the Town had been discovered and things were generally fun, fun, fun. For some unknown reason it was decided that a second vocalist would be a good idea and the band recruited one Graham Mason, a gig was organised at St. John's Guildhall for May 1979.

During the morning of the gig, a slight problem arose. Vince and Barry on their way to the last practice session, decided they wanted some sweeties out of a tuppenny sweet machine on a street corner. When the offending machine refused to deliver Vince's gobstopper, he decided to teach it a lesson and punched it, in the process severely damaging his hand. He couldn't play his guitar!

Adverts had been placed in the local press. 'PUNKS' bring this advert for half-price admission' - 75p - what a bargain! So inevitably the place was full, mainly with our new found friends The Tamworth Rockers from the Tavern, a fine bunch of chaps who could be rather boisterous at times - the second Guildhall Massacre was to ensue!! Mick Green was on the door, so those who didn't get in for half-price got in for free. Rikky Patrick (Rikk Quay) was again the DJ and Rikk and the Armchair had erected an enormous stage to parade the talents that were to be, The Reliants #2.

The place was packed. Rikk got the audience going. The band played their set, Graham Mason remaining strangely silent and they ended on a droning 'This is Rock 'n' Roll', which went on and on and on. This gave Vince the ideal opportunity to show off his famed Jimi Hendrix impression. His freshly purchased can of lighter fluid in hand, the on-loan Les Paul copy was set alight. The guitar smashed with some difficulty, but the neck stuck in the ceiling quite easily. The toilet ripped out and sitting in the middle of the dance floor was something of a shock and the mountain of bent chairs in the corner, raised an eyebrow or two.

The local Police were called - the entire force arriving - only to be met by a deserted hall with a few bemused punks lurking around. The Armchair went home, depressed and he and Vince were to go their separate ways - temporarily. The Reliants were no more, and St. John's Guildhall was surprisingly no longer used as a concert venue.

Discover the next incarnation of the Armchair with The Ornaments and the first appearance of The D.H.S.S.

Read the lyrics, hear the songs of The Reliants#2 here >