The Rezillos are a punk and new wave band formed in Edinburgh, in 1976. Although emerging at the same time as other bands in the punk rock movement, the Rezillos did not share the nihilism or social commentary of their contemporaries. Instead, the band took a more light-hearted approach in their songs; at the time, they preferred to describe themselves as “a new wave beat group”. Their songs are heavily influenced by 1950s rock and roll, 1960s English beat music and garage rock, early 1970s glam rock, with recurring lyrical themes of science fiction and B movies; their influences mirrored those of US bands the Cramps and the B-52s, who were starting out at the same time.
Each member took on stage names for the new band: Forbes had re-christened himself Eugene Reynolds after the name of somebody he met during his summer job, and the wraparound sunglasses that would become his trademark on stage were found on a beach. Harris became “Hi-Fi” Harris, Smythe became Dr D.K. Smythe, Donaldson called himself William Mysterious, and Paterson assumed the first name of Angel. After a short spell as “Candy Floss”, Hynd changed her name to Fay Fife, a joke relating to her birthplace (“from Fife”, spoken in her native Dunfermline accent). Callis and Jamieson used the punning names of Luke Warm and Gail Warning.
Having spent several months practising, the group’s debut live performance was at Teviot Row House, the students’ union building of the University of Edinburgh, on 5 November 1976, playing a set composed entirely of cover versions of 1950s and ’60s classics. The set included “I Like It” and “Somebody’s Gonna Get Their Head Kicked in Tonite”, which would both appear on the band’s debut album, and concluded with “I Wanna Be Your Man”, which later became the B-side of their debut single. The band were an instant hit and began to grow rapidly in popularity as they gigged constantly: Callis estimated that the Rezillos played around 200 gigs in 1977. Bootleg recordings exist of this stage of the band’s history.
The Rezillos’ biggest hit in their home country was the UK Top 20 single “Top of the Pops” in 1978, but they are best known outside the UK for their cover version of “Somebody’s Gonna Get Their Head Kicked In Tonight”, which was featured on the soundtrack to Jackass: The Movie in 2002. Since the Rezillos recorded it, the song has been covered by other punk bands, including Youth Brigade and Murphy’s Law.
.Released in July 1978, the Rezillos’ first studio album Can’t Stand the Rezillos is considered a classic album of the first wave of British punk, but the group split up four months after its release, following internal arguments about their future direction. After the Rezillos split, the band’s guitarist and principal songwriter, Jo Callis, briefly joined a couple of unsuccessful Edinburgh post-punk groups before being invited to join The Human League. He went on to co-write some of The Human League’s best known songs during their most successful period, including their biggest worldwide hit, “Don’t You Want Me”. The Rezillos’ vocalists, Eugene Reynolds and Fay Fife, formed ‘The Revillos’, a group with an ever-changing line-up that continued where the Rezillos left off. The Revillos split up in 1985, briefly reforming in 1994 for a tour of Japan, and again in 1996 for a UK tour. In 2001 the Rezillos reformed after being invited to play at Edinburgh’s Hogmanay celebrations, and have continued to play live ever since, as well as releasing new singles occasionally.
