Singer Jimmy Pursey formed the band in 1975
Punk band Sham 69 have split up after a bitter fall-out between singer Jimmy Pursey and guitarist Dave Parsons.
Pursey said Parsons had left the group, while Parsons said he and drummer Ian Whitewood had sacked the singer.
Both are now laying claim to the Sham 69 name. Pursey said: "He [Parsons] has walked out of the band. I am Sham 69."
But Parsons and Whitewood said: "Sham 69 have left Jimmy Pursey." Sham 69 recorded 1970s punk hits including If the Kids are United and Hurry Up
Harry.
Pursey compared his former bandmates' behaviour to "mutiny on the bounty".
Asked how the split came about, he replied: "I don't know, you'll have to ask him [Parsons]. I can't know what's going through his mind when wanting
to leave the band."
Sham 69 enjoyed five top 20 singles in the late 1970s
Parsons and Whitewood said they sacked Pursey because he showed little interest in playing live.
Pursey denied that, saying he only turned down revival gigs that were booked for the sake of money.
"I can turn down a nostalgia gig, which is like a Doctor Who convention, where it's just bringing a load of old punk rockers together to celebrate
nostalgia," he told the BBC News website.
"I don't want to do that and I've never wanted to do that. I play for today."
The split had "been on the cards for a while", according to Mike Harris, spokesman for the other band members.
'Held back'
"The reasons behind it are that Jimmy seems to show no great desire to play live and is constantly pulling out of gigs at the last moment," he said.
"It was him personally that was causing a lot of the problems within the band and between the band and promoters and media.
"The rest of the band want to get out there and kick ass on stage. At the moment, they're just being held back all the time."
Parsons and Whitewood have found a new bassist and will start auditioning singers shortly with the intention of carrying on as Sham 69.
Pursey formed the band in 1975 and Parsons joined two years later, with the pair going on to write the band's biggest hits together.
The group first split in 1980 but Pursey and Parsons reformed Sham 69 seven years later.
They returned to the UK top 10 last June with their World Cup anthem Hurry Up England, an updated version of Hurry Up Harry.newbreedbrian - 1-27-2007 at 01:37 AM
what a joke. the last i heard of them was some electronica album they put out a few years back now. A)sham is, was and always will be Jimmy Pursey
B)give it up, like they should of back then. they were a great band, no doubt, but all they're doing is ruining their reputation. As far as the split,
who cares. And besides, they've played more farewell gigs than just about any band in history, and way before 1980 or whatever bullshit date they came
up with. One of the first real punk bands for sure.gavin - 1-27-2007 at 12:13 PM
WHAT HAVE WE GOT..........FUCK ALLupyerbum - 1-27-2007 at 01:13 PM
I didn't know they were even still together.tireironsaint - 1-27-2007 at 09:42 PM
Jeeze, kicking Pursey out of Sham makes about as much sense as when The Pogues fired Shane.Discipline - 1-27-2007 at 10:15 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by tireironsaint
Jeeze, kicking Pursey out of Sham makes about as much sense as when The Pogues fired Shane.
It does come off as quite stupid.random - 1-28-2007 at 03:07 AM
Oh please, this is a publicity stunt. Seeing as how nobody on this board even knew they were together, it's unlikely they could make much money off
of performing unless they pulled some shit like this.
Sham did some cool shit a long time ago, but this is a is fucking joke, and they haven't done anything noteworthy since before I was born a
quarter-century ago.Dave - 1-28-2007 at 09:43 AM
Quote:
Originally posted by upyerbum
I didn't know they were even still together.
