A brief history of The Defendants
The success of good friends Jerry Dammers and The Specials appears to have emphasised lack of fame and fortune and had a negative effect on the spirit of the Trowbridge/McManus Defendants songwriting core (Headmaster was written and sung by the original drummer Dick Burrows). While things did recover with the arrival of Mig on drums and the band became musically more competent the fun that was central to the good old bad old chaotic days never really returned. I put this down to a combination of taking a serious approach to getting a record deal, and rel-locating to London left them without the loyal fan base that they enjoyed in and around Leamington Spa... and not having me there to ensure that sparkling live sound - of course ;-)
Anyone who has ever worked with bands will recount tales of how many fabulous bands never make it big while so many less than inspiring acts enjoy success. Many of these can be found on releases from Messthetics. As fate would have it, Garry stepped in on bass for Jerry's In the Studio album and found himself on the cover of the NME. Funny old world.