click the mugshots to see the full sleeve image
The Defendants were a four (sometimes three) piece combo consisting of:-
Garry McManus : bass, vocals
Rich Trowbridge a.k.a. Rich T Bizkid: lead guitar, vocals
Dave Bartram : keyboard, rhythm guitar, vocals
Dick Burrows a.k.a. R J Teecha: drums, vocals
Victor a.k.a. Lord Scott: drums
Miguel D'Olivares : drums, vocals
click the mugshots to see the full sleeve image
Like so many bands The Defendants had several drummers over the years. Dick was the original drummer and wrote and sang one track only, the single Headmaster, although he did supply backing vocals at times. Frustrated by the lack of a record deal he threw in the towel in March 1979.
The band's next drummer was Victor who was previously drumming with The Homosexuals as Oscar B. Montague playing on their John Peel single of the week 'Soft South Africans'. When the band decided to re-locate from Leamington Spa (a.k.a. Lemming Town, a.k.a. Twin Peaks) to the big city Victor simply evaporated. At the time none of us knew what happened to him. Thanks to the magic of The Web I can now reveal that he is still drumming while facilitating junk/re-cycled percussion workshops in schools and the wider community.
Dave Bartram, never a fan of that London, decided to jump ship leaving the band as just the core songwriting duo of Rich and Garry. After a depressingly long wait they were joined on drums by Mig, who was remarkably same as drummers go and blessed with a Latin sense of rhythm. At last The Defendants could gig again as a three piece.
The early 80's saw the three piece defendants play gigs and pursue record deals with demo tapes made in Johnnie Rivers' new Woodbine Studio in Leamington as well as various London Studios (Island, EMI, Pathway) and various producers notably Paul Riley, Dave Jordan and even Jerry Dammers stepped up to the desk to create an amusing re-mix of The Good, the Bad and the Plain Ridiculous.
After The Defendants finally disintegrated around 1982 Garry went on to play with several bands including The Rent Boys, Toucan and 3 Amazing Cats. He was perhaps best known for stepping in to play with The Specials when their original bass player Horace left during recording of their In The Studio album in 1984. (The Defendants had been friends with The Specials since they began as The Automatics). This led to television appearances on The Tube and TOTP and a photo on the front page of the NME. Garry sadly died in February 1999.
While Rich was an incredibly skilled and amusingly entertaining guitar player, he seems to have given up the music business when The Defendents folded.
Last I heard he was selling cars in Germany - although that was a long time ago.
Stop Press!! Rich has contacted me (20080803) so expect many updates soon, including his current musical output - hurrah!.
Dave Bartram was rumoured to have returned to his past occupation as a market trader. (Although there are also rumours that he may have become a schoolteacher)
Dick Burrows left the band when they moved from the midlands to London in 1980/81. Last I heard he was a successful peripatetic music teacher in the midlands.
If anyone knows what happened to Mig please let me know.
Stop Press!! Rich knows what Mig is up to and I am waiting for Mig to contact me.
Thanks go to many people who turned up at the gigs, cheered, supported, bought us a drink and generally helped The Defendants at various stages. Special thanks go to:-
Pete Gould
John Rivers
Jerry Dammers
Dave Jordan
Paul Riley
Ron Francois