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Not so much bent as having leanings.  THE BENDY MONSTERS.  Chris Wainwright's legs. The Bendy Monsters - full frontal history

How it all began

  1. From the ashes of the The Muzzle Club and Tripwire, the embryonic "Bendy Monsters" are born. They have their first rehearsal on 10th January 1992. Band members include Pat Hancock (ex Muzzle Club, Tripwire) on Vocals, Dom Bradshaw (ex Muzzle Club drummer) on Guitar, Andy Fjord (ex Tripwire) on Keys and Jim Herring (ex Muzzle Club) on Bass.

  2. 28th January 1992 - Pat, Dom & Andy, with help from Joe & Adrian (surnames unknown) knock together the first real Bendies song, "The Bendy Theme" (other songs used by the Bendies at this stage, such as Sex With The Vicar and Cyrille Maganaky Stole my girl were in fact "Muzzle Club" songs!), at Red Tape rehearsal rooms.

  3. Kieran "Bez" Beresford (ex Muzzle Club) joins on Drums.

  4. 31st January 1992; an important date for the band as Chris Wainwright joins on bass. Jim Herring leaves due to work commitments.

  5. 27th February 1992; the Bendies play their first gig, supporting The Protectors at the Hallamshire Hotel, Sheffield.

  6. After two gigs, Bez leaves the band by mutual consent and is replaced by a drum machine!

  7. 10th\11th April 1992; The Bendy Monsters record their first studio efforts, entitled "All Aboard with The Bendy Monsters".

  8. The Bendies have played The Leadmill, Sheffield on four occasions; Headlining in 1992 (Pig 64 supporting), supporting Captain Sensible in 1993, with CusCus in 1993 and finally with Chicken Legs Weaver and Goal in 1996.

  9. The Bendies have played five outdoor gigs; Tudor Square in 1993, Devonshire Green in 1995, Tudor Square in 1995, Devonshire Green in 1996 and the Don Valley Bowl in 1998.

  10. The Bendies have played outside of Sheffield on eleven occasion; four times in Worksop, four in Doncaster and once in Leeds, Chesterfield and Dronfield.

  11. The last gig at the National Centre for Popular Music was the fifty first gig.

  12. The most popular day for Bendies gigs is Saturday (13 gigs), while the least popular is Wednesday (3 gigs).
With thanks to Andy Fjord for the above fascinating facts, and Dom for go-betweening.

Bendy Evolution

The Muzzle Club #1

are formed by five mates, mostly ex school friends...
Pat Hancock (vocals)
Johnny Hanson (guitar)
Dom Bradshaw (guitar)
Jim Herring (bass)
Andy Birch (drums, well one drum, a snare!)

Before any gigs are played, it is discovered that Andy cannot in fact play a steady rhythm on the drum and is promptly asked to stand down... Dom is the only person in the band who can and reluctantly becomes the band's drummer...

The Muzzle Club #2

Pat Hancock (vocals)
Johnny Hanson (guitar)
Jim Herring (bass)
Dom Bradshaw (drums)

The #2 line up is very steady and the band play many gigs, mainly in Sheffield, as well as a few "away" gigs in Stockport and York. Dom Bradshaw leaves the band for personal reasons and is replaced by Kieran "Bez" Beresford on drums...

The Muzzle Club #3

Pat Hancock (vocals)
Johnny Hanson (guitar)
Jim Herring (bass)
"Bez" (drums)

After a couple of gigs, Johnny follows Dom and leaves for personal reasons. He is replaced by Rob Wade, formerly of D.I.M.

The Muzzle Club #4

Pat Hancock (vocals)
Rob Wade (guitar)
Jim Herring (bass)
"Bez" (drums)
Muzzle Club #4 play a small number of gigs. The end is nigh and the band split. Pat meets up with old schoolfriend Andy Fjord and forms "Tripwire" along with Rob Wade.

Tripwire

Pat Hancock (vocals)
Andy Fjord (keys)
Rob Wade (guitar)

Tripwire play a number of live gigs and make a couple of demo recordings. After initial enthusiasm, the interest in the band starts to wane and Rob announces that he is leaving the band. The band split...
Andy and Pat soldier on, with a view to forming a new band. Joe (surname unknown) on guitar and Adrian (surname unknown) on bass are drafted in to form the, as yet, unnamed band, but do not immediately gel with Pat and Andy's style. Pat suggests to Andy that they should go "back to basics" and start enjoying themselves! Pat approaches ex Muzzle Club members Dom and Jim to form a new band with himself and Andy and the Bendy Monsters are born!

The Bendy Monsters #1

Pat Hancock (vocals)
Andy Fjord (keys)
Dom Bradshaw (guitar)
Jim Herring (bass)

Adrian and Joe both helped early on but were never classed as members of the band. Bez (ex Muzzle Club) joins the band on drums...

The Bendy Monsters #2

Pat Hancock (vocals)
Andy Fjord (keys)
Dom Bradshaw (guitar)
Jim Herring (bass)
"Bez" (drums)

Before any gigs are played, Jim is replaced by Chris Wainwright (ex This Mighty Fire) due to Jim's work commitments.

The Bendy Monsters #3

Pat Hancock (vocals)
Andy Fjord (keys)
Dom Bradshaw (guitar)
Chris Wainwright (bass)
"Bez" (drums)

The Bendies play a couple of gigs. Bez leaves the band by mutual consent and is replaced by the infamous drum machine!

The Bendy Monsters #4

Pat Hancock (vocals)
Andy Fjord (keys)
Dom Bradshaw (guitar)
Chris Wainwright (bass)

This is by far the most famous of Bendies line-ups. After numerous gigs, Tracey Plant (ex Blammo) is invited to join the band.

The Bendy Monsters #5

Pat Hancock (vocals)
Andy Fjord (keys)
Dom Bradshaw (guitar)
Chris Wainwright (bass)
Tracey Plant (guitar)

The #5 Bendies play a number of gigs with Tracey fitting in smoothly. Unfortunately, Tracey had to leave, like Jim, due to work commitments. The band is now back to the #4 version.

The Bendy Monsters #6

Pat Hancock (vocals)
Andy Fjord (keys)
Dom Bradshaw (guitar)
Chris Wainwright (bass)

After over seven years together, the Bendies are still going strong, even if live performances are a rarity. Expect to see them live again in the year 2000!
What happened to the others?