Blitz (British band)

Blitz
Origin	New Mills, Derbyshire, England
Genres	Punk rock Oi! Street punk Post-punk (later)
Years active	1980–2007
Labels	No Future Records Blitz Records SOS Records
Past members	Carl Fisher Nidge Miller Charlie Howe Neil McLennan Shawn Attack Jeff the Fallman Paul Lilley Neil Hufferdine Steve Cast Wayne Thomas Bryan Scorch Matt Renicks

Blitz was a street punk/Oi! band from New Mills, Derbyshire, England.^[1][2][3] They had success in the United Kingdom indie charts in the early 1980s. With both punk and skinhead members, they were enthusiastically championed by Sounds magazine writer Garry Bushell, though guitarist Alan "Nidge" Miller would later go on to denounce Bushell.^[4] Although considered an influential Oi! band, the band members simply described themselves as a punk band. They signed to the record label No Future in 1981, and their first release was the 7" EP All Out Attack.

Several years after the original Blitz lineup split, guitarist Miller recruited new members including Paul Lilley on drums and performed concerts under the Blitz moniker. On 10 February 2007, Miller was struck by a car and died on impact after walking onto a freeway after a show in Austin, Texas.^[5] In 2011, bassist Neil "Mackie" McLennan moved to guitar and formed the band Epic Problem, based in New Mills. They have released a couple of EPs and an album.Epic Problem have videos on YouTube.

Partial discography

Chart placings shown from the UK Indie Chart.^[6]

Albums

• Voice of a Generation (1982), No. 2
• Second Empire Justice (1983), No. 5
• Blitzed - An All Out Attack (1988)
• The Killing Dream (1989)
• Best of Blitz (1993)
• Blitz Hits (1994)
• The Complete Blitz Singles Collection (1999)
• Warriors (1999)
• Voice of a Generation: The No Future Years (2000)
• Punk Singles & Rarities 1980-83 (2001)
• Never Surrender (Best Of) (2005)

EPs

• All Out Attack (1981), No. 3

Singles

• "Never Surrender" / "Razors in the Night" (1982), No. 2
• Warriors (1982), No. 2
• "New Age" / "Fatigue" (1983), No. 4
• "Solar" / "Husk" (1983)
• "Telecommunications" / "Teletron" (1983), No. 3

Music Videos

• "New Age" (1983)

Appearances on compilations

• Carry on Oi (1981)
• Punk And Disorderly: Someone's Gonna Die (1982)
• Seeds IV Punk (1987)
• The Crazy World of Punk (1996)
• Oi! Chartbusters vols. 1-2-3-4
• Oi! The Picture Disc vols. 1 & 2 (Link Records, 1987 and 1988)

Footnotes

1. www.garry-bushell.co.uk - Oi! – The Truth by Garry Bushell Archived 31 July 2008 at the Wayback Machine.
2. Blitz : Voice of a Generation - Listen, Review and Buy at ARTISTdirect
3. Blitz: Voice Of A Generation (Blitz fan site)
4. Art of the State interviews Nidge
5. MyFox Austin | Man Killed Crossing IH-35 in Buda
6. Lazell, Barry (1997). Indie Hits 1980-1999. Cherry Red Books. ISBN 0-9517206-9-4.

External links

• Blitz on Myspace
• "Blitz: The Voice of a Second Generation?" - interview
• "The Story of Oi!" - by Garry Bushell, on his "Features" page
• Punk & Oi in the UK - Blitz - interview