Classic U.K. punk band Vice Squad has just released a newly remixed version of the song “Spitfire” along with a new video for the track.
Beki : ‘Spitfire’ was very much a joint writing effort between Paul and me.
He came up with the title and I wrote the verse and the lyrics and he then wrote the chorus and middle eight.
When we first recorded the demo at home using a drum machine I insisted that we use a double bass drum pattern (I LOVE double bass drum) and we tried to find samples of a Merlin engine for the ending and considered taking flying lessons and strapping Paul to the tail with a cassette player but it proved to be too expensive (and cold)!
I think we wrote the song and recorded the demo around 2006 and then recorded it in a commercial studio for the ‘Defiant’ album.
I remember the recording being a bit traumatic because our drummer was very nervous in the studio and took hours to record the track.
Paul smoked at the time and the ashtray was piled high with dog ends because he was getting very stressed trying to coax a performance from the drummer.
So that was ‘Spitfire’ MK 1, machine guns but no cannon.
In 2007 we recorded ‘Spitfire’ with a new drummer at Granary Studios in Wadhurst.
The new drummer, Kev, was a hardened tub thumper, boozer and road warrior, and as luck would have it a dab foot at double bass drum.
When we recorded ’Spitfire’ with Kev we got the added cannon with Griffon engine and it was great fun playing it live.
The studio was situated miles outside of London in the Kent countryside but that didn’t stop Kev from turning the recording sessions into a party.
He would arrive with a crate of cider and away we’d go, crashing at the tiny cottage he rented in the depths of Sussex or getting the last train back to London.
This version of ’Spitfire’ ended up on ‘Unreleased’, a very limited edition CD that we used to burn off at home and sell through our website.
Some of the booziest times of my life were with Kev, and that’s saying something considering that I kept company with Motorhead, Girlschool and an array of Punk bands, musicians and journos over the years.
Fast forward to 2023 and recording sessions for a new project and we decided to listen to ‘Unreleased’ and pick some songs to remix/re-record and ‘Spitfire’ along with a couple of other tracks stood out.
It was always one of my favourite songs to play live, especially with Kev, we would play Motorhead’s ‘Bomber’ first and then ‘Spitfire’.
Paul got stuck in and we metaphorically refuelled it.
During lockdown we recorded an acoustic version of Motörhead’s ‘Bomber’ for our ‘Vice-O-Lation’ project and I was eager to record an electric version of the song.
I thought it would work putting the two songs together on an EP, an extension of the Battle of Britain theme from our last album, and Paul suggested ‘Spitfire vs Bomber’ as the title and I thought it was a great idea.
As luck would have it a rather fitting track from ‘Unreleased’ called ‘Firepower’ was in line for a reworking so we decided to add that to the new EP.
For more on the band visit: https://www.vicesquad.co.uk/