Stan Stammers (born 19 May 1961, England) is an English musician best known as the bass player for the bands

Theatre of Hate Theatre of Hate are a British post-punk band formed in London, England, in 1980. Led by singer-songwriter and guitarist Kirk Brandon (formerly of The Pack), the original group also consisted of bassist Stan Stammers (formerly of The Straps ...

Spear of Destiny A spear is a polearm consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastened to t ...

and Plastic Eaters.

Early life

Stammers grew up in

Saffron Walden Saffron Walden is a market town and civil parish in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England, north of Bishop's Stortford, south of Cambridge and north of London. It retains a rural appearance and some buildings of the medieval period. Th ...

, Essex. He got into

punk music 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 ...

by going to see live bands at Cambridge Corn Exchange and other nearby venues. Stammers' first band was 'The Jump', based in Newport, a village close to Saffron Walden and from an early age his main influence for playing bass was

Slade Slade are a rock band formed in Wolverhampton, England in 1966. They rose to prominence during the glam rock era in the early 1970s, achieving 17 consecutive top 20 hits and six number ones on the UK Singles Chart. The '' British Hit Singl ...

's bass player Jimmy Lea, who he cites as an influence today, along with

Paul Simonon Paul Gustave Simonon (; born 15 December 1955) is an English musician and artist best known as the bassist for the Clash. More recent work includes his involvement in the supergroup the Good, the Bad & the Queen and playing on the Gorillaz alb ...

(

The Clash The Clash were an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1976. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they are considered one of the most influential acts in the original wave of British punk rock, with their music fusing elements ...

Bruce Foxton Bruce Douglas Foxton (born 1 September 1955) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. Foxton's music career spans more than 40 years. He came to prominence in the late 1970s as bassist and backing vocalist of mod revival band the Jam. ...

(

The Jam The Jam were an English rock band formed in 1972 in Woking, Surrey, consisting of Paul Weller, Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler. They released 18 consecutive top 40 singles in the United Kingdom, from their debut in 1977 to their break-up in ...

) and

Horace Panter Stephen Graham "Horace" Panter, (born 30 August 1953) also known professionally as Sir Horace Gentleman, is the bassist for the British 2 Tone ska band The Specials. Early life Panter was born in Croydon, Surrey and spent most of his formativ ...

(

The Specials The Specials, also known as the Special AKA, were an English 2 tone and ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry. After some early changes, the first stable lineup of the group consisted of Terry Hall and Neville Staple on vocals, J ...

Musical career

The first major band that Stammers joined was The Straps in 1979, followed by British post-punk band

in 1980, formed by both

Kirk Brandon Kirk Brandon (born 3 August 1956) is an English musician best known as the leader of the bands Theatre of Hate and Spear of Destiny. Musical career Brandon's music career started in 1978, in Clapham, south London, with the formation of punk g ...

and Stammers, and managed by Terry Razor. Before joining

Stan played for punk band the Epileptics and later The Straps, a band that featured

Jim Walker (drummer) Jim Walker (born 1955) is a Canadian musician who was a founding director as well as the original drummer for the UK music group Public Image Ltd. Early life and education James Donat Walker was born in Edmonton, Alberta. He first trained as ...

from Public Image Ltd.."PiL: The Public Image Is Rotten (Songs From the Heart) review – how John Lydon bulldozed pop"
''The Guardian'', Chal Ravens, 19 Jul 2018 Stammers turned down an offer to join

punk Punk or punks may refer to: Genres, subculture, and related aspects * Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres * Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...

band

UK Subs U.K. Subs are an English punk rock band, among the earliest in the first wave of British punk. Formed in 1976, the mainstay of the band has been vocalist Charlie Harper, originally a singer in Britain's R&B scene. One of the first hardcore pu ...

to be in

with

. During their two-year existence

released a number of singles and albums, most notably "Legion", the B-side to the first single "Original Sin", the ''

Westworld ''Westworld'' is an American science fiction dystopia media franchise that began with the Westworld (film), 1973 film ''Westworld'', written and directed by Michael Crichton. The film depicts a technologically advanced Wild West, Wild-West-th ...

'' album which was produced by Mick Jones of

, and the "Westworld" single which went to No. 40 in the UK charts, qualifying the band for an appearance on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

''. In January 1983 after the demise of Theatre of Hate, Brandon and Stammers started

. The band would have numerous line-up changes until Stammers left in 1986. From the onset, the band became well known for their live shows, and quickly captured a faithful following. In the early period that Stammers was with the band, they released a number of notable singles and albums. In March 1986, Stammers decided to leave the band to work on his own material and to start a new band. In mid-1986, Stammers formed Crazy Pink Revolvers. In January 1987, CPR recorded their first studio album ''First Down'', released by Chainsaw Records. In early 1987, CPR signed to ABC Records and recorded the ''Timeless Smile EP''. Early in 1988, the band recorded their second album ''At the Rivers Edge''. In January 1989, CPR recorded their second single, "Wednesday 19:45". The single which was taken from the album was written about the Kings Cross fire on the London Underground in 1988. In March 1989, Stammers decided to leave the band and in September 1989 left London with his American girlfriend to live in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, US. Stammers teamed up again with Kirk Brandon in 1990 for 4 years doing a number of tours and a couple of albums under the Spear of Destiny, Theatre of Hate, Elephant Daze and 10:51 banners. During this time, Stammers would also play with his own band Boy Boy Nova, as well as running a recording studio. In 1990, Spear of Destiny reformed for three nights at London's famous Marquee Club, and the following year went on a UK wide tour as Theatre of Hate. In 1992, Spear of Destiny recorded the album ''SOD's Law'' and did another UK tour. In early 1993, Kirk Brandon moved to Philadelphia where they toured off and on for over a year as Theatre of Hate, and for a few gigs as Elephant Daze. In mid-1994, the band recorded as Kirk Brandon's 10:51. An album, ''Stone in the Rain'' was released in the UK in 1995 and as Theatre of Hate, it was released under the title ''Retribution'' in the U.S. in 1996. The single "Children of the Damned" was also released. In December 1994, Stammers decided to leave the band. Plastic Eaters were formed in Philadelphia in early 1996. Stammers had approach James Atkin, the lead singer from EMF. The band played gigs around the US. In December 2008, Plastic Eaters released a version of the Slade hit "

Merry X-Mas Everybody "Merry Xmas Everybody" (stylised as "Merry Xmaƨ Everybody") is a song by the British rock band Slade, released as a non-album single in 1973. The song was written by lead vocalist Noddy Holder and bassist Jim Lea, and it was produced by Cha ...

" as a digital download release. As well as working with his band Theatre of Hate, rejoining in 2012 as a full-time member, Stammers also runs his own music production company, Plastic Eater Sound with his business partner Rob Daly. He also works as a

session musician A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a reco ...

for various artists, which includes both live and studio work. As of December 2017, Stammers had reformed Crazy Pink Revolvers as a side project alongside his work with Theatre of Hate, and as of May 2018, were to tour the United Kingdom.

References

Chart runs in the UK Singles Chart since 1952

Early life

Musical career

References

External links