Bone Orchard emerged from Brighton, Sussex, as one of the minor outfits within Britain’s early-1980s gothic punk circuit. Like many peers, the group specialized in dark, introspective rock songs laced with morbid imagery and a deliberately unglamorous stance. Frontwoman Chrissie McGee guided the lineup that also featured guitarists Troy Tyro and Mark Horse, bassist Paul Henrickson, and drummer Mike Finch, the last of whom gave way to Tim—one of five drummers who passed through the ranks. In addition to releasing two albums and scattered singles, the band earned rare airplay from BBC disc jockey John Peel. Tracks aired during their July 1983 session, among them ‘Shall I Carry The Budgie Woman?’, pointed to lyrical invention that reached beyond the genre’s usual preoccupation with tombs and specters. The five-piece had already played its inaugural London show the preceding April; later that autumn Jungle Records issued the five-track Stuffed To The Gills. An appearance at the 1983 Futurama Festival followed, by which time the musicians were actively attempting to shed their gothic associations. Their name, however, together with the inclusion of chugging rhythmic sections and occasional high-velocity rockabilly nods, kept the earlier tag intact. The subsequent album Jack attested to real instrumental command, yet the group dissolved once the gothic scene’s vogue subsided.
