Coventry Music Museum Curator Pete Chambers BEM writes for the Observer.
The XCerts
ALPHABETICALLY speaking, the XCerts are at the far end of the pecking order, chronologically however they stood at the vanguard of the born-again Coventry music scene of the 80s.
Two Tone of course set the scene and had instilled a feeling of possibilities in local musician’s minds. After all the Specials had done it, who’s next to crack the chart?
The XCerts had actually formed in 1978, a year or so before the Specials charted, and at that point both bands were just good local groups, pushing their wares for a chance of success.
The band were three guys (Dave Pepper, Gray Summers and Kev ‘Zero’ Summers). No great image, just good honest guitar-based music, with some great two-part vocal harmonies, a rarity in those days. A few years ago I asked Gray how it all come together for them?
He said: “We started life as the Monitors.
“We got together and rehearsed regularly in the basement of Frames Travel Agents in Broadgate.
“After we won the battle of the bands at Warwick Uni, we changed our name to the XCerts. We won a day in Horizon Studios as the prize.”
Gray added: “We played the surrounding areas prime spots of the time, plus London gigs.
“We supported the Specials, The Selecter and worked our socks off really, gig wise. New songs came all the time.
“Early comparisons with the Jam and Beatles type sound slowly filtered away as we brought in a harder more exploratory edge to the music over the coming year.
“The 2-Tone movement had everyone enthralled and the punk/post punk bands like The Flys, The Targets, The End, Squad and loads more etc meant gigs were happening all the time.
“When Kev left, Dave and myself were in limbo.
“Pep and I tried a few drummers but it didn’t work somehow.
“It was then that Jerome Heisler, Adrian Black and John Hewitt joined us and we became Team 23.
“We took Kevin Rowlands advice about bringing in a brass section and Dave Pepper found this a move in the direction he hadn’t anticipated.
“He left to play the music he felt was more true to himself.”
Dave went on to be the major player in the local 80s music scene, with Team 23, XCerts (mark II) ‘I’, Courtiers Of Fashion, Ramrods, Major 5 and Blitz Krieg Zone 2020.
Kev tragically died at just 20 in a car accident.
I’ll leave the final words to Dave Pepper: “I too felt like a Brother in the Xcerts because we were so close.
“Kev’s sudden death, in a car accident screwed me up for a long time.
“I’m surprised we never achieved more. I think we were all began losing faith, then, as I remember, we just drifted apart.”
Dean Macdonald – Torn
Frontman of the Session releases his fourth solo single entitled ‘Torn’ from his forthcoming album. and once again it’s a tour de force.
Those strong vocals shining through on an ocean of relentless swirling strings, it’s a crying shame Dean’s compositions are not sitting alongside all the current greats – he’s a master songwriter, let’s hope that this single is the breakthrough song.
