Dead Reckoning (UK rock band)

Dead Reckoning were a rock band who originated from Cardiff, Wales in 1979 and became well known in the Welsh live music scene, playing in many venues across South Wales and the West of England into the mid 1980's. The venues ranged from pubs, village halls, rugby clubs, and in clubs on US Airbases, to larger, mid-sized venues, which might have more than one stage and could handle audiences of up to 1,000 people. Dead Reckoning had a booking agent who managed to book the band into a gig circuit that also included up-and-coming acts, some of whom later became world famous names. The band had several distinct line-ups that included several musicians who were well known in the local music community and who later went on to play with other UK bands. Dead Reckoning also often shared the bill with other Welsh bands or jammed together. The Cardiff Music History Facebook page has several entries relating to Dead Reckoning concerts and studio recordings.

Early Days

The band was formed by guitarists Chris Wright and Vince Hancock, who had been teenage friends, along with Mark Portsmouth on drums, and eventually recruited vocalist Paul Burnett and Nick McCormack on bass. They began writing their own songs and gigging around Cardiff and the valleys of South Wales. A few tracks were recorded on 4-track tape in order to get bookings. Chris and Vince had been influenced by some friends, guitarist Dave Bell and vocalist Jon Deverill (with whom Chris had studied in technical college), and who both later joined Persian Risk. Jon Deverill was headhunted by Tygers of Pan Tang, while Chris Wright, who had known guitarist Phil Campbell (later the guitarist for Motorhead) since school days, was once also invited to join Persian Risk as second guitarist alongside Phil, but stayed with Dead Reckoning.

First Gigs

Dead Reckoning initially played small clubs, and pubs all over the South Wales circuit developing a small but loyal following. Paul and Nick departed for a heavier band, StormQueen in 1982 and after trying one other singer and bassist, eventually Chris Ellis joined on vocals along with Leigh Matthews on bass and Lynise Esprit on keyboards, filling out the sound. Lynise had previously played with another Cardiff band Tok-io Rose, along with Carl Sentance, who later also joined Persian Risk to replace Jon Deverill. In 1983, one song "A Taste for Freedom", appeared on a Cardiff Bands Compilation album and appearances on local Red Dragon Radio and BBC Radio Wales ensued.

Larger Venues

Dead Reckoning moved up to the mid size club circuit, many times playing the venues frequented by young and upcoming bands such as Iron Maiden, Marillion, U2, Dumpy’s Rusty Nuts, Simple Minds and many other now well known or world famous bands. Venues such as Newbridge Memo (Memorial Hall) and the Tonypandy Naval Club were well known by rock music fans and concerts were usually very well attended. They gigged at Cardiff’s infamous Bogey's. Smileys and Moon Club before the area was redeveloped, and held the Thursday night residency at Cardiff underground club (literally) the Lion’s Den. This enabled them to hone their set, which consisted of 80% self-penned titles and 20% covers, mainly in the melodic to hard rock vein. Some venues that Dead Reckoning played, like the New Ocean Club, were on the circuit for established bands such as Uriah Heep, R.E.M, Siouxsie and the Banshees and Wishbone Ash. Dead Reckoning's following was growing and they could quite easily attract a sizeable audience to their concerts, so were invited back time after time.

Band Changes

In 1984 drummer Mark Portsmouth left Cardiff and was replaced by Lynise Esprit’s older brother Dave Esprit who the band had met years earlier rehearsing in the same hall as Jon Deverill, Dave Bell, Pete Morgan, Les Foster and Bob Winter for a Cardiff band named Aurora. Dead Reckoning continued to gig regularly and recorded several demo tapes, but for Welsh bands in the 1980’s recording contracts were difficult to find, and after two years with little success, in 1985 Chris Ellis was headhunted by another Welsh band named Monro, who following a showcase gig at London’s famous Marquee Club, signed a recording contract, recorded an album and released a single "Some Girls"), and so Chris Ellis left the band. He later bid as Christopher Ellis in 1991 for the UK's entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest with a song he penned called Straight to Your Heart.

Gigs Tailing Off - Recording and TV Appearance

Chris Wright was starting to become focused on design work for Cheetah, and the band became defunct for a year or so. Chris Wright and Lynise Esprit continued to write and along with blues vocalist Kim Ryan with whom they collaborated for the signature song for a Welsh film about the SAS, Silent Heroes, were given the chance of slot on the BBC Wales TV music show Juice which aired from 1986-1987, and was co-presented by Magenta Devine. They recorded two Dead Reckoning songs, "Holding On" and "Heart’s Missing You" at the BBC Stacey Road Studios and the three, now renamed as ManEscape for the TV show, along with Vince Hancock and Mark Portsmouth taped the songs in front of a live studio audience.

Legacy

As a band, Dead Reckoning had been part of the South Wales music scene for many years and had a consistent following, always being invited back at each venue. Several of the band members and other associated musicians had played with notable Welsh bands or had joined others after playing for Dead Reckoning, with varying levels of success. So Dead Reckoning were there at what was the start of the New Wave of British heavy metal in the 1980's and played a part in this which was significant for the members who moved on to other, sometimes more successful, ventures. Dead Reckoning's track 'A Taste For Freedom' that was included on a compilation 12" vinyl record recorded at Studio 2 in Cardiff, which also included several other well known Cardiff bands from the time (Mad Dog, Tok-io Rose), has recently resurfaced and is included in the Cardiff Musical History Facebook and YouTube pages. Many fans of the band were happy to find photos and song tracks that were played in their concerts. Lynise Esprit, Dave Esprit and Leigh Matthews remained in the Cardiff area and have continued to play and record with many other bands such as Jenovese for whom Leigh played bass. Lynise has written and produced songs with a wide range of musicians and vocalists as a studio owner and for some years has taught music technology in a local college.

Other Areas of Influence

Chris Wright's initial reason to become interested in electronics stemmed from needing guitar effects pedals in his early teens to support his guitar passion, but having no money at the time, he started to learn electronics to be able to build his own pedals. This music and 'electronics for music' passion continued and part of the reason that Dead Reckoning ceased as a working band was that his focus moved from songwriting, recording and gigging, to developing electronic musical instruments for Cheetah, which at the time was the UK's only MI (Music Industry) manufacturer competing with Japanese and American companies such as Roland, Yamaha and Oberheim, with a range of MIDI controller keyboards, analogue synthesizers, samplers, drum machines and sequencers. This then directly resulted in Soundscape Digital Technology being formed in Cardiff, and releasing their first product which was a revolutionary multitrack digital recording and editing system targeted for music recording, and was affordable enough to be used by musicians in home studios, but with multiple units could be a 32 or 64 track digital system for professional studios.

Famous bands such as Radiohead and many others made some seminal recordings using Soundscape systems, and the knowledge of instruments and recording/mixing processes that went into the design of Cheetah instruments and into the Soundscape Recorder/Editor systems had been gathered through the years of playing and recording with Dead Reckoning, so there was also a direct influence on the UK's position in the global MI market. While Cheetah closed in the early 1990's, Cheetah products have been highly sought after ever since and a few years ago in 2016, the record company for Aphex Twin (Richard James) contacted Chris Wright for permission to use Cheetah's name and imagery for his Cheetah EP. Wright had acquired Cheetah's rights when he and Nick Owen purchased Cheetah assets in 1993. Thus Dead Reckoning ended up having more influence on music and recording in general, than was normal for a local Cardiff rock band.

Discography

• A Taste for Freedom (Wright, Burnett) - Compilation of Cardiff Bands
• Holding On (Wright, Esprit) - BBC Wales "Juice"
• Heart's Missing You (Ellis, Esprit, Wright) - BBC Wales "Juice"

Videos

BBC Wales 'Juice'

Radio Shows

• Red Dragon Radio - The Rock Show
• BBC Radio Wales

TV Shows

• Juice", BBC Wales music show presented by Magenta Devine

References

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