Clerks, The
Cold About Love
In 1976 The Clerks were a four-piece group of schoolfriends living amidst the burgeoning punk rock scene in Birmingham. In October '76 two members of the band saw the notorious Sex Pistols gig at Bogarts, a small club in the city, and later the likes of Blondie, Buzzcocks, The Clash and Ramones at Barbarella's. Like many others, the guys were inspired by what they were hearing and before too long The Clerks would be playing these clubs themselves. From the start they wrote their own three-minute songs with a 60's pop sensibility and included in the set a couple of covers of The Beatles, 'I'm Down' and the Stones 'Paint It Black'. The guys didn't consider themselves to be Punks or Mods although they did share some of the same influences. Indeed, The Clerks name was taken from a line in a Velvet Underground song, 'Sweet Jane'.