The Mau Maus were formed by school friends Chris, Lev, Podge and Bunny around 1979, Infuenced by american Hardcore bands such as The Germs, Middle Class,and DOA also by more melodic bands such as the Dickies, Ramones, Pistols, the Clash, Chelsea and the Jam. Practicing at a local hall in Renishaw on the outskirts of Sheffield they honed in there sound to the more harsher harcore following mixing power, speed and the odd tune. After playing gigs a their local youth clubs, they ventured out into the Big city with gigs a various back street boozers such as the Hallamshire hotel and the George IV, making a slight improvement to their sound, the band started getting a loyal following, and at one of these gigs they were stumbled on by Local music impersario!! Marcus Featherby, who had latched on to the up and coming second wave of punk by promoting major punk acts at the Marples in the city center of Sheffield. The first support the Maus Maus got on was at the said venue as guests to The Angelic Upstarts, more gigs followed up and down the country and the band started getting some decent press. In 1982 the band released their first 7" vinyl, Society's Rejects featuring 8 no compromise tracks which were the back bone of their live show, a track from this EP "The Kill" also featured on an anti-war LP called wargasm which also featured, Captain Sensible, Angelic Upstarts, Infa Riot and many more. again this gave the band great exposure abd led to the band playing the Legendary 100 club in London with The Upstarts and Charlie Harpers Urban Dogs (a punk super group featuring the UK Subs front man).
That same year the Mau Maus returned to the studio to record their second single, which was also released on Marcus's PAX records, this time the session was produced by Lee Wilson (lead vocalist with Infa riot), the resulting 4 tracks was much more of a solid sounding affair, 3 of which featured on a single called "No concern". Their friendship with Lee Wilson gave them more exposure while playing gigs with the infa riot and an Infamous gig at the Leadmill Sheffield Supporting Dead Kennedy's with the cult figure of Jello Biafia dancing "like a gud un" to the band before his band hit the stage.
1983 saw them record their "Facts of War" EP, again showing how the band had matured, it reached No 6 in the punk charts. Label mates at the time The Exploited invited the band on their "lets start a war" Tour in 1983, but on the last date of the tour, Bunny was taken seriously ill, this obviously knocked the band backwards and for a while things were looking very grim indeed, even though it wasn't the same, the band continued to rehearse with Geg (from a local punk band) filling in and also doing a benifit gig for Bunny with Glyn Warrington from the Angelic Upstarts playing Bass. After a while things became much better with Bunny's health and even though he was out of action for a while, it allowed the band to continue with Alf on bass which resulted in a successful tour of Germany with the Varukas. Also saw the release of a Live Album called "live at the marples" which reached No 3 in the independant.
1984 was a very tough year for the band, what with Bunny getting over his illness, two members of the band Lev and Podge found themselves embroiled in the Miners strike and Chris was on the dole. They also found themselves without a record label, not to be out done the band went into the studio and recorded the "tear down the walls" EP with Alf on bass and an album called "Fear No Evil" produced by Simon Hinkler (mission guitarist) This was a more melodic affair but still had their trade mark harsh vocals by Chris and cutting lyrics brought on by the miners strike. The band did a UK tour with the English Dogs and also Headlined The Leadmill in their home town of Sheffield, but things where changing, the music of that era was getting more poppy and more and more bands were having to change their style to accomodate this. The Mau Maus recuited a second guitarist Richard Hall and recorded, which turned out to be their last record, "Nowhere to Run "EP which also welcomed back Bunny on bass and the band did a tour to promote this. Things were getting harder and harder for Chris who dosen't mind admitting that he was stuggling with the new direction of the band and also the fact that Chris had started a new job and was finding getting time off was impossible. Chris left the band with the best wishes of his band mates which allowed the band to search for a new vocalist, but obviously things were never the same and the band eventually split.
Even though the band have had their ups and downs, they all remain firm friends to this day and enjoy a beer together on regular occasions.
Chris always says "We made no Money, proberly got ripped off, but we toured Europe and the UK playing some great gigs and had a great time" ENOUGH SAID!!!!
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Mau maus live in Bradford
A fraternal greeting to the southern parts, thanks for accept us among your friends, we are grateful for your support, we hope you like our music, good luck, much success in everything you do. We parted with a kiss and a hug from the heart, friendly and energetic
Just stopping by to say hi and give you some news. The new album 'Welcome To Murraysville' from Phil Murray and the Boys From Bury is now available worldwide from CD Baby and directly from the merchandise page of the official website. You can also get the album from Apple iTunes, MSN Music, Rhapsody, Napster, Amazon and many more.
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