Shake Appeal

The band took their name from a Stooges song off the album Raw Power. Their primary influences were the Stooges and the MC5.^[1] The first song the band learned to play was "Search and Destroy".

The original line-up was Graham Franklin (vocals), Jimmy Hartridge (guitar) (both previously in The Roadrunners), Adam Franklin (guitar) and Paddy Pulzer (drums) (both previously in Splatter Babies). Original bass player Paul Wilson left, and was replaced by Richard Mason, who was in turn replaced by Adi Vines.^[2][3]

Throughout 1986, the band played in Oxford, Brighton, and London. They played one show at a squat in Hackney called the Blue House, with an early incarnation of My Bloody Valentine, who at the time closed their set with a version of the Stooges' "Shake Appeal".

After the departure of Wilson in 1986, the band recorded a four-song demo EP featuring the songs "Amphetamine", "Freedom", "Gimme Fever", and "Train Train" with Franklin on bass. The demo was reviewed in Underground magazine, who described the band as sounding "like MC5 with their shirts on fire", calling it "loud, obnoxious, and perfect for the late '80s".^[4] In 1988, they released a new version of "Gimme Fever" (featuring Vines on bass) on NoTown Records; the Black Flag-influenced "Mexico City SOS" was on the b-side.^[5]

Later in 1988, the band recorded a new version of "Amphetamine", and an MC5-inspired tune called "Rollercoaster". "Rollercoaster" was featured on The Jericho Collection, a compilation album featuring Oxford bands; "Amphetamine" was on a bonus 7" included with the album.^[6] The band was voted "Best Band in Oxford" by readers of local music magazine, Local Support.