punk rock
Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...
band from
County Durham
County Durham, officially simply Durham, is a ceremonial county in North East England.UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. The county borders Northumberland and Tyne an ...
, 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.
Band history
The band's lineup was lead singer Pauline Murray, Robert Blamire (bass), Gary Smallman (drums) and Gary Chaplin (guitar). Chaplin left in March 1978 being replaced with Neale Floyd, with second guitarist Fred Purser (later of
NWOBHM
The new wave of British heavy metal (often abbreviated as NWOBHM) was a nationwide musical movement that began in England in the mid-1970s and achieved international attention by the early 1980s. Editor Alan Lewis coined the term for an arti ...
act
Tygers of Pan Tang
Tygers of Pan Tang are an English Heavy metal music, heavy metal band who are part of the new wave of British heavy metal movement. They formed in 1978 in Whitley Bay, England, and were active until 1987. The band reformed in 1999 and continue ...
) 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 o ...
drafted in as new guitarists.
Formed in
Ferryhill
Ferryhill is a towns in England, town and civil parish in County Durham (district), 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 clo ...
as The Points, under which name they played their first gig, at the Rock Garden pub in
Middlesbrough
Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...
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 music, rock band formed in 1974. Scoring 23 UK top 40 singles and 20 UK top 40 albums to date in a career spanning five decades, the Stranglers are one of the longest-surviving bands to have originated in the ...
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 (often shortened to Gen X) is the Demography, demographic Cohort (statistics), cohort following the Baby Boomers and preceding Millennials. Researchers and popular media often use the mid-1960s as its starting birth years and the ...
. They were also supported by
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 ...
(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 were a British punk rock band whose greatest success was in 1977–1978 with the albums ''Pure Mania'' and ''V2 (album), V2''. Their first Epic Records single "Baby Baby (The Vibrators song), Baby Baby" is considered a punk cla ...
and toured with
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 ...
.
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), better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from ...
at
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 Contemporary hit radio, current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including ...
in July 1978. Later that year, the band released their debut album. '' Moving Targets'' was number 6 in the '' Sounds'' 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, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...
'' 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, guitarist in The Durutti Column, and Steve Hopkins. John Maher from Buzzcocks drummed for the band. Produced by
Martin Hannett
James Martin Hannett (31 May 1948 – 18 April 1991) was an English record producer, musician and an original partner/director at Tony Wilson's Factory Records. Hannett produced music by artists including Joy Division, the Durutti Column, A Cert ...
, 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
Stuckism () is an international art movement founded in 1999 by Billy Childish and Charles Thomson (artist), Charles Thomson to promote Figurative art, figurative painting as opposed to conceptual art.Scars, 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 the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...
*''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)