Page 238 - Redditch People

Redditch People

Life and Times of Chris Shend

The Cravats are a punk rock band originally from Redditch, England, founded in 1977 by
Robin Dallaway (vocals, guitar) and The Shend (real name Chris Harz) (bass, vocals).
Current members are The Shend (vocals), Paul Simmons (guitar,) Richard London
(saxophone), Joe Davin (bass) and Malcom Rees (drums).

The Cravats were thrown together in 1977, the day after Robin Dallaway & The Shend had
seen The Stranglers in Birmingham. Once back home in Redditch, with only a pair of
bongo's and acoustic guitar, the boys got drunk and started work on The Cravats. After
recruiting Martin Seys to play guitar, and Ethos Yapp to oblige on the drums the band took
their set of songs into the studio to record a demo tape. This line up didn't last too long
losing Martin Seys along the way, but gaining a sax player by the name of Richard London,
they could now leg it down to Outlaw Studios in Birmingham to embark on what would
eventually turn out to be their first single 'Gordon'. The band didn't have a clue what to
do once inside the studio so an in-house engineer took charge. When he handed them the
finished tape they didn't know to what to do with it. In July of 1978 armed with the results
of the 6 hours in the studio, the band managed to borrow £400 from The Shend's Mum
and got a thousand 7" singles pressed up of.

The first single from the Cravats was the self-financed "Gordon", released in 1978. On 31
July 1979 they recorded their first session for the John Peel show on BBC Radio 1. Soon
after they received a recording contract with Small Wonder Records. Three further Peel

Sessions followed on 6 October
1980, 18 August 1981 and 15
November 1982.The band had a
rest in 1982, with Dallaway and
The Shend forming The Very
Things, as well as DCL
Lococmotive and The Babymen

Local Press coverage The Cravats original members The
Shend and Svor Naan put together
a 'live ensemble' for the Rebellion
Punk Festival in August 2009/2010
The Cravats live ensemble have
continued to play live with gigs in
Dublin, London and a further
appearance at Rebellion in August
2011. They will also be performing
at the Incubate Festival in Tilburg,
the Netherlands in September and
are special guests of Steve
Ignorant (Crass) at the final 'Last
Supper' show on November 19 at
the Shepherd's Bush Empire in
London.

A CD reissue of their first LP, 'The Cravats In Toytown' was released in 2012. It is
accompanied by an additional CD featuring a complete remoulding of the original 'In
Toytown' 8 track masters by Penny Rimbaud (Crass).

Page: 238 © RLHS 2015