Rise From The Fall

It’s October 1976, and at the Nag’s Head in Northamptonshire steel-town Corby a fledgling rock group is about to take flight. They formed a year earlier, and are making their public debut at the pub’s regular jam session. They’re dreaming big, and the years that follow will take them all over the UK, and as far as the US and the middle east. But like so many such stories, despite their remarkable talent and passion, success will ultimately elude the group named Energy. By the end of the 80s, stymied by industry bullshit, they’ll reluctantly hang up their guitars and call it a day. The tunes that drove them this far will remain unheard until almost 50 years after their first rehearsals, when – having faced down serious illness and personal tragedy – Energy finally commit their songs to tape, delivering the album that makes good on decades of promise, and tells the life-affirming story of their rise and every hard-won wisdom they’ve learned along the way. Steve Fulton (vocals), Iain Wetherell (guitar), Mike Bosnic (bass) and Mark Stewart (drums). Inspirations include Rory Gallagher, Bad Company, Thin Lizzy and the first Montrose album – and when punk-rock arrives a year or so later, Energy will absorb the attitude and aggression of the Pistols and The Clash. They had day-jobs – Fulton was an apprentice at the steel-works – until 1981, when they went pro and signed a publishing deal with Nigel Gray, who’d produced key albums by The Police and Siouxsie & The Banshees, though Gray’s connections didn’t secure Energy the much-desired recording contract. Nevertheless, they continued to gig and to write, self-releasing a handful of singles and EPs (1980’s Energised, their debut four-track 7”, will set you back at least £70 nowadays). “After Nigel Gray, Chris Page joined us on drums and we went to America playing Whisky A Go Gos in Los Angeles and The Cat Club in New York,” says Fulton. Wetherell founded his Corby-based Premier Recording Studios and went on to produce and record bands like Capdown, Goober Patrol and The Varukers, while Fulton relocated to London, where he began a career as an actor. Fulton returned to Corby in the late 90s, and at least once a year he’d join Wetherell, Bosnic and with either Page or Stewart on drums for Energy reunion shows. And they continued to play and write songs on free weekends. The new songs were informed by the challenges the group had weathered – one, ‘And I’m Doing Alright’, was about the change in perspective Wetherell had experienced following his brain haemorrhage. “At his son, Jamie’s insistence, now on drums, Wetherell assembled the band and they recorded a whole album of Energy songs. “I wanted to have it on CD, for posterity,” Wetherell adds. This is high impact, anthemic and timeless rock, executed with grace and flair and powerful musicianship and singing. The songwriting is laser-guided and full of substance. Before the album’s completion, the band lost Mike Bosnic, who passed away in 2023 after a short illness. “I’d known Mike since we were six,” Wetherell says. “It was devastating to lose someone who’d been a mate for over five decades.” But the reactivated Energy had now reached unstoppable momentum, and following a period of mourning for their fallen brother, welcomed Dave Nash Walker on bass. Our friendship continually grows - we always find something new about each other that we didn't know before. And I think that's what great friendships are.”

Tracklist

Side One:
1 Rebel With A Cause
2 This Part Of Town Is A No Go
3 Fight For Your Freedom
4 We Dream The Dream

Side Two:
5 Trash
6 Too Good To Lose
7 Cry Of A Child
8 Rock Party
9 And I’m Doing Alright