The Professionals were formed in 1979 by guitarist Steve Jones and drummer Paul Cook, both formerly of the Sex Pistols. In the previous year, Johnny Rotten had left the Sex Pistols, and both Cook and Jones had sung lead for the late Sex Pistols recordings “Silly Thing” and “Lonely Boy”. For these recordings, Lightning Raiders bassist Andy Allan was employed as a session musician. After the Sex Pistols officially split and broke ties with manager Malcolm McLaren, this line-up was resurrected as the Professionals, and signed to Virgin Records, the same label as the Sex Pistols.
In July 1980, the Professionals released their first single, “Just Another Dream”,which also included a video promo. This was followed by a second single “1-2-3” in October, which reached No. 43 in the UK Singles Charts.
The Professionals were first managed by Dave Hill, who had managed Johnny Thunders and was managing the Pretenders.They recorded radio sessions for John Peel’s Radio 1, which aired on 10 November 1980, as means to promote the release of “Join the Professionals” that same month.
The group brought in producer Nigel Gray to help record their full-length album; the result was I Didn’t See It Coming, released in November 1981. The album was supported by UK and U.S. tour dates, and the release of a single for the song “The Magnificent”. But the band’s American tour was cut short when Cook, Myers, and McVeigh were injured in a car accident. The Professionals returned to America in the spring of 1982 after a hiatus for recovery, but Jones’ and Myers’ drug problems further hampered the band’s prospects.
This 3 disc set pretty much covers just about everything The Professionals recorded between 1979 and 1981, you get b sides, single mixes and some great demos stuff as well as the 2 classic records. This was a very overlooked band at the time and they sure where a fantastic punk band of note in the uk BUT by the time these guys got on the scene by 1979 the nwobhm was coming in hard and post punk and new wave where lighting up the charts so the huge punk explosion of 1977 was dying out already. what helped the professionals was of coarse having 2 ex members of the sex pistols running the show. This outfit only lasted a couple of years and they where gone almost as soon as they got started but this may have been one of the best post Sex Pistols bands out there at this time, they sure where a lot better then PIL!!!! [Edward J. McCarthy Jr.]
SURFADELIC 