Garth Smith (born Garth Davies, 10 December 1955), sometimes credited as Garth, is an English musician, known as the original bassist of the

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

-formed

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band

Buzzcocks Buzzcocks are an English punk rock band that singer-songwriter-guitarist Pete Shelley and singer-songwriter Howard Devoto formed in Manchester in 1976. During their career, the band combined elements of punk rock, power pop, and pop punk. The ...

. Smith played with Buzzcocks during their first concert in April 1976, and re-joined in March 1977 after the departure of original lead vocalist

Howard Devoto Howard Devoto (born Howard Andrew Trafford, 15 March 1952) is an English singer and songwriter, who began his career as the frontman for punk rock band Buzzcocks, but then left to form Magazine, an early post-punk band. After Magazine, he went ...

. Smith played on the " Orgasm Addict" single before being fired in October 1977. He has since played in some other bands.

Biography

Garth was born in the Lancashire town of Tyldesley on Saturday 10 December 1955. He was named after the village of Garth in mid Wales, near to the town of Builth Wells where his mother was born and raised. Smith was the original bassist of the band, playing in their first show in the Bolton Institute of Technology, where the other founders of the band, guitarist

Pete Shelley Pete Shelley (born Peter Campbell McNeish; 17 April 1955 – 6 December 2018) was an English singer, songwriter and guitarist. He formed early Punk rock, punk band Buzzcocks with Howard Devoto in 1976, and became the lead singer and guitarist ...

and vocalist

, were students, on 1 April 1976. He rejoined the band after Devoto left and Shelley took the lead vocalist role, around March 1977, when the band played

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again. The band recorded and released some material with him, such as '' The Roxy London WC2'' (June 1977), a various artists

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of bands who played live at The Roxy; Buzzcocks live at the Roxy album recorded in April 1977, and plays on "Time's Up" on " Short Circuit: Live at the Electric Circus" the album that featured the first

Joy Division Joy Division were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Salford in 1976. The group consisted of vocalist, guitarist and lyricist Ian Curtis, guitarist and keyboardist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris (musici ...

live recording. He also took part in the first

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s, did the White Riot Tour and recorded both songs on the " Orgasm Addict" single. On 8 October 1977, he was expelled from the band, due to his alcoholism after Buzzcocks had performed at Mr. George's in Coventry. He moved to New York City, and by 1980 he joined Dirty Looks. During the late 1980s, Smith played bass for the

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-based band Temper Temper, fronted by David Aldred. Smith played bass on their debut album, ''History of England''. In 1988, he sent a condolence card to Pete Shelley's mother, Margaret, on the death of Pete's father, John, whom Garth thought to be a great man. Between the late 1980s and the 2010s, little of his whereabouts are known. By the late 2010s, Garth was playing bass in a Tyldesley-based band, Young Once, with Tony Wragg and Pete "Hoddy" Hodkinson. He is also a member of the Lancashire supergroup Moondogs, comprising lead vocalist Steve Roden, drummer Chris Webster of Crayven, Tony Wragg, Chris Ratcliffe of the Covertones, and "musician without portfolio" on sax, keyboards, guitar and vocals. Garth plays double bass with this 1950s good-time band. As of 2017, he supports

Tyldesley Tyldesley () is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan in Greater Manchester, England. Within the boundaries of the Historic counties of England, historic county of Lancashire, it is north of Chat Moss near the foothills of the Wes ...

Rugby Union Club and Wigan Athletic F.C.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Garth 1955 births Living people Buzzcocks members English bass guitarists English male guitarists British male bass guitarists People from Tyldesley