The Nosebleeds

The Nosebleeds

The Nosebleeds are a punk group from Manchester, England, active from 1976. They begin as Wild Ram and later use the names Ed Banger and the Nosebleeds and then The Nosebleeds. The line-up changes several times, and the group becomes known less for a recorded catalogue than for the later careers of its members.

Formation and early Manchester context

The band forms in Wythenshawe, Manchester, in 1976. Its name change comes from an incident at a Slaughter & The Dogs support slot for the Sex Pistols at Manchester’s Lesser Free Trade Hall in July 1976, when a remark about a “headbanger” and a “nosebleed” inspires the new title. The group is part of the early Manchester punk scene, which is also shaped by the Sex Pistols’ earlier June 1976 appearance at the same venue.

Line-up

At different points the group includes Ed Banger on vocals, Vini Reilly on guitar, Pete Crookes on bass and Phillip “Toby” Tolman on drums. Later, Steven Morrissey joins on vocals, and Billy Duffy replaces Reilly on guitar. Other members listed with the group include Morrissey, Ed Banger, Pete Crookes and Vini Reilly.

Recordings

The Nosebleeds do not release an album and issue just one single, “I Ain’t Been to No Music School” backed with “Fascist Pigs,” on Rabid Records. The single sells about 10,000 copies but does not lead to wider success. The group also plays the same two songs repeatedly at London’s Roxy, where the audience response leads to repeated encores. Morrissey writes songs for the band including “I Get Nervous” and “(I Think) I’m Ready for the Electric Chair.”

After the band

After the group folds, Ed Banger continues in several projects. He performs as Ed Banger and His Group Therapy with support slots for Penetration and The Fall, releases “Kinnel Tommy” on Rabid Records, issues a single as Eddi Fiction, sings for Slaughter & the Dogs on the album Bite Back and the singles “I’m the One” and “East Side of Town,” and later releases solo singles on Spiv Records and Cloud Nine Records. In 1991, under the name Sound of the Baskerville, he releases a compilation combining Nosebleeds, Slaughter & the Dogs and Ed Banger material with new recordings.

Legacy

The band becomes notable in rock history because of the later careers of its members, including Morrissey, later of The Smiths, Billy Duffy, later of Theatre of Hate and The Cult, and Vini Reilly, later of The Durutti Column. A 1977 documentary, The Rise And Fall Of The Nosebleeds – Punk Rediscovered, premieres in Salford in 2005.