Who (or what) The Hell is Spizz?

Sadly relegated to a footnote of UK Punk history is one Kenneth Spiers, aka Spizz. The singer/guitarist had some minor success with his rather quirky brand of Punk and New Wave, but not enough for him to be regarded as the innovator that he should be.

Before Billy Bragg took on the rabble solo from the stage, Spizz was up there doing it himself. With his blend of surreal, stream-of-consciousness ranting and oddball sci-fi stories, he was a true original. Where the Clash were known as political firebrands, Spizz was hardly as strident in his message, but his DIY approach to music was similar to the other punk groups that were his peers.

He should have been held in the same esteem as, say Wire or Gang of Four, or even the Buzzcocks, but he never made it that easy for himself. You see, he formed a band, initially with only himself, and then with others, but insisted on changing the name of the band annually, but always with the word "Spizz" in there somewhere.

To Wit:

Image source: www.spizzenergi.com

You get the picture, I'm sure. The original idea was to use as many band names as possible to establish a world record. He was denied that right in the late 1980s. But it would have made it difficult to maintain continuity of following when you change your name every 12 months. For the most part of late, he's reverted back to Spizzenergi as the full time name, as under that name he had the most success. Under this name he released classics like "Where's Captain Kirk?" and the social commentary of "Soldier Soldier". 

To my knowledge Spizz hasn't made a record for a good 10 years or more. There's plenty of compilations of his classic work in print and they're worth a spin or two. 

Here's a Five Piece pack by Spizz. If you like what you hear, there's heaps more on Spotify

ENJOY!!!