Disorder are an English
street punk band that formed in the
Bristol area of England in 1980, and has existed with varying line-ups. They are aligned with politically charged punk bands.[1]
Disorder were part of the "protest punk" movement, and were one of the bands that spearheaded the Bristol punk scene in the early 1980s.[2] The
BBC DJ
John Peel described their early singles as sounding like
Triumph Bonneville motorbikes.
History
Disorder formed in 1980 in Bristol.[3][4][5] The original line-up was Steve Curtis (vocals), Steve Allen (guitar), Nick Peters (bass guitar), and Virus (drums), although Steve Robinson soon replaced Peters, and this line-up recorded the first two
EPs by the band.[3]
A series of events led to line-up changes: Robinson (sometimes erroneously referred to as "Robertson") split up with girlfriend
Beki Bondage (of
Vice Squad) and began glue-sniffing[6] and moved to
Berlin. Virus got into trouble with the police over the ownership of his new drumkit, and Dean also left.[6] Boobs (Chris Neill) replaced him on vocals and when Steve Robinson left, Taf (Phil Lovering, formerly of
The X-Certs), took over bass guitar.[5][6] Drumming was taken over by Potsy (Richard Potts formerly the drummer with
Chaos UK). Taf would be the only constant member of the band in the following years, which saw an ever-changing line-up.[3]
The band's debut album, Under the Scalpel Blade, was released in 1984. The band relocated to
Norway in the mid-1980s, where they recorded a split album with
Kafka Prosess.[7]
The band became popular across Europe, the United States, and Japan.[8] Re-issues of the band's back-catalogue led to renewed interest, and the band issued a new album in 2005, Kamikaze, considered by
allmusic's Stewart Mason "as brash and invigorating as any of Disorder's earlier releases".[9]
The longest standing member of the band Taf (bassist/guitarist) normally assembles other musicians to record albums or go on tour. Steve Robinson died in March 2021 as a homeless person in Berlin, a few days before his 58th birthday.[10]
Chris (Boobs) Neill struggled with addiction for many years before moving to Spain where he now works as a psychologist. He is active in the music scene and participated in the opening and running of a squated[check spelling] music school in the deprived area of
Vallecas in Madrid. He now dedicates himself to playing in his new band The Self-Saboteurs.
In recent years[when?], the band have toured extensively in Europe.
^Whiteley, Sheila, Bennett, Andy, & Hawkins, Stan (2005) Music, Space and Place: Popular Music and Cultural Identity, Ashgate Publishing Ltd,
ISBN978-0-7546-5574-9