Menace

Menace surfaced in late 1976 and quickly became a fixture on the live circuit through the opening months of 1977, despite seldom being counted among the earliest punk acts. The lineup of Morgan Webster on vocals, Steve Tannett on guitar, Charley Casey on bass, and Noel Martin on drums cultivated a blunt, uncompromising stance that anticipated Sham 69’s later alignment with skinhead audiences. Their debut single, “Screwed Up,” issued on Miles Copeland’s IRS label in August 1977, captured that attitude in concise form. John Cale oversaw sessions for a second single, “I Need Nuthin’,” yet the recording was shelved once the band signed with Small Wonder.

“G.L.C.” arrived in 1978, followed in 1979 by the Final Vinyl EP and “Last Year’s Youth,” releases that closed the band’s initial chapter precisely as Oi! began to claim them. Nearly twenty years later Casey and Martin revived the project as the Collection, adding vocalist John Lacey and guitarist Andrew Teedie. All material was new except the staple “G.L.C.,” yet the track’s warm reception from crowds who failed to recognize the members persuaded them to restore the Menace name. The group’s formal return took place at Holidays in the Sun in 1997.

The EPs “Society Still Insane” and “C&A” appeared in 2000, trailed by the concert recording Live in Bermondsey and the studio album Crisis. Their second album, Rogues Gallery, surfaced in 2004 with vocalist Oddy and guitarist Uncle Albert.