Penetration is a punk rock band from County Durham, England formed in 1976. They re-formed in 2001 with several new members. Their debut single, "Don't Dictate", is now acknowledged as a classic punk rock single and their debut album, '' Moving Targets'' (1978), is still widely admired.

Formation (1976-78)

The band's lineup was lead singer

Pauline Murray Pauline Murray (born 8 March 1958) is best known as the lead vocalist of the punk rock band Penetration, originally formed in 1976. Early years Pauline Murray was born on 8 March 1958 in Waterhouses, County Durham, England, and her parents lat ...

Robert Blamire Robert Blamire (born c. 1959) is known primarily as bassist for the punk and new wave band Penetration. He founded the band along with singer Pauline Murray in 1976 after seeing a performance by The Sex Pistols. After the band split up, he and ...

(bass), Gary Smallman (drums) and Gary Chaplin (guitar). Chaplin left in March 1978 being replaced with Neale Floyd, with second guitarist Fred Purser joining in July. The band dissolved in late 1979. They reformed in 2001 with original members Murray, Blamire and Smallman, and Steve Wallace and

Paul Harvey Paul Harvey Aurandt (September 4, 1918 – February 28, 2009) was an American radio broadcaster for ABC News Radio. He broadcast ''News and Comment'' on mornings and mid-days on weekdays and at noon on Saturdays and also his famous '' The Rest ...

drafted in as new guitarists. Formed in

Ferryhill Ferryhill is a town in County Durham, England, with an estimated population in 2018 of 9,362. The town grew in the 1900s around the coal mining industry. The last mine officially closed in 1968. It is located between the towns of Bishop Aucklan ...

as The Points, under which name they played their first gig, at the Rock Garden pub in

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the are ...

in October 1976, they changed the band's name after a 1973 song by Iggy & The Stooges. Their second gig was supporting

The Stranglers The Stranglers are an English rock band who emerged via the punk rock scene. Scoring 23 UK top 40 singles and 19 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are one of the longest-surviving bands to have origina ...

at Newcastle City Hall. Significantly, the band also played at the club The Roxy during its first 100 days. On 9 April 1977, the band appeared on the same bill as

Generation X Generation X (or Gen X for short) is the Western demographic cohort following the baby boomers and preceding the millennials. Researchers and popular media use the mid-to-late 1960s as starting birth years and the late 1970s to early 1980s as ...

. They were also supported by

Joy Division Joy Division were an English rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist Ian Curtis, guitarist/keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. Sumner and Hook formed the band after attendi ...

(then named "Warsaw") in May 1977, who were performing their very first gig. Early in their career, the band also supported

The Vibrators The Vibrators are a British punk rock band that formed in 1976. Early career The Vibrators were founded by Ian ' Knox' Carnochan, bassist Pat Collier, guitarist John Ellis, and drummer John 'Eddie' Edwards. They first came to public notice ...

and toured with

Buzzcocks Buzzcocks are an English punk rock band formed in Bolton, England in 1976 by singer-songwriter-guitarist Pete Shelley and singer-songwriter Howard Devoto. They are regarded as a seminal influence on the Manchester music scene, the independen ...

. After the release of their second single, Penetration recorded the first of two sessions for

John Peel John Robert Parker Ravenscroft (30 August 1939 – 25 October 2004), known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey (DJ) and radio presenter. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly fr ...

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

in July 1978. Later that year, the band released their debut album. '' Moving Targets'' was number 6 in the ''

Sounds In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

'' Critics' albums of the year; and it made number 13 in the ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' critics' chart. In 1979, they toured Europe, the US and Britain but the grueling schedule began to take its toll. A disappointing reaction to ''Coming Up For Air'', the second album, was the final nail in the coffin of the original band. After the band split in October an official bootleg album called ''Race Against Time'' was released, which was a collection of early demos and live tracks. In 1980, Pauline Murray collaborated with

The Invisible Girls The Invisible Girls were a British rock band, formed in Salford, Greater Manchester in 1978, to provide a musical backdrop to the recorded output of Salford punk poet John Cooper Clarke. The band's nucleus was Joy Division and New Order produc ...

, which also included Robert Blamire, as well as other Manchester musicians such as

Vini Reilly Vincent Gerard "Vini" Reilly (born 4 August 1953) is an English musician and leader of the post-punk group the Durutti Column. He is known for his distinctively clean, fluid guitar style, which stood out from his punk-era contemporaries in its ...

, guitarist in

The Durutti Column The Durutti Column are an English post-punk band formed in 1978 in Manchester, England.Strong, Martin C. (1999) "The Great Alternative & Indie Discography", Canongate, The band is a project of guitarist and occasional pianist Vini Reilly who ...

, and Steve Hopkins. John Maher from Buzzcocks drummed for the band. Produced by

Martin Hannett James Martin Hannett (31 May 1948 – 18 April 1991), initially credited as Martin Zero, was an English record producer, musician and an original partner/director at Tony Wilson's Factory Records. Hannett produced music by artists including Joy ...

, the resulting album spawned the singles "Dream Sequence" and "Mr.X", with a further non-album single "Searching for Heaven" released in 1981. Murray also provided guest vocals for The Only Ones' 1980 track, "Fools". Former guitarist Gary Chaplin formed the short-lived new wave bands The Rhythm Clicks, which released the single "Short Time" in 1980, and Soul On Ice which released the singles "Underwater" and "Widescreen" in 1982 and 1983 respectively. Pauline Murray worked sporadically as a solo artist under the name 'Pauline Murray and The Storm' with Robert Blamire, Tim Johnston and Paul Harvey. Paul Harvey is also a Stuckist artist. Blamire also worked as a producer for various groups, including

Scars A scar (or scar tissue) is an area of fibrous tissue that replaces normal skin after an injury. Scars result from the biological process of wound repair in the skin, as well as in other organs, and tissues of the body. Thus, scarring is a nat ...

, whose sole LP (1981's '' Author! Author!'') he produced. In 2015, Penetration announced the release of a new album called ''Resolution'' in October. The current line-up of the band is Pauline Murray, Robert Blamire, John Maher (ex-Buzzcocks), Paul Harvey and Steve Wallace.

Discography

Albums

*'' Moving Targets'' (October 1978: Virgin) First 15,000 copies on luminous vinyl No. 22

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

*''Coming Up for Air'' (September 1979: Virgin) No. 36 UK *''Race Against Time'' (Official bootleg) (January 1980: Virgin / Clifdayn PEN 1) *''Resolution'' (October 2015: Polestar)

Compilation

*''Don't Dictate: The Best of Penetration'' (March 1995: CDOVD 450)

Singles

*"Don’t Dictate" / "Money Talks" (November 1977: VS 192) Re-released in 1983. *"Firing Squad" / "Never" (May 1978: VS 213) *"Life’s A Gamble" / "V.I.P." (September 1978: VS 226) *"Danger Signs" / "Stone Heroes (Live)" (April 1979: VS 257) Also released, with an additional track "Vision", as a 12 inch single. *"Come Into the Open" / "Lifeline" (August 1979: VS 268)

References

External links

*
Penetration
on www.punk77.co.uk {{DEFAULTSORT:Penetration English punk rock groups Musical groups established in 1976 People from Ferryhill Musical groups from County Durham