The JunkYard Gods

The JunkYard Gods - the one hit wonders who passed through our lives faster than a speeding corvette.

Stig, Larry, Kevin and Fred ... Four lads who spent a lifetime becoming overnight sensations.

They burst onto the music scene like a supernova, with their smash hit "Illness and Fatigue" in the late 1980's and then vanished into obscurity faster than the speed of sound.

The JunkYard Gods

BIO

Formed in 1974 and originally called The Dog Brothers, the initial line-up featured the flamboyant Stig Sörenson on vocals, Larry Adamson on bass and Fred Fanning on drums with Fred's cousin Rodger Smeg on guitar.

Rodger and Stig continually clashed on and off stage and eventually Rodger was replaced by Larry's next-door neighbour Bert Newtown in early 1976. This coincided with a name change to The Dogmen.

Bert ran off with Fred's girlfriend in the summer of 1977 and was replaced by Trevor McCarthy, the brother-in-law of Tracey, who was the room-mate of Stig's Brother's first wife's younger sister's best friend.

All through this period the band continued to play live, having a regular gig at O'Malleys Wine Bar (which later became The Ramsgate Tavern) on Thursday nights, enabling them to build a steady following. They also recorded a number of demos, but failed to attract a record contract.

The direction of the band waned during the late 70's and early 80's. When Trevor left to take up a position with a prominent banking firm, Stig was so upset that he replaced him with a keyboard player and they experimented with the synthesiser music that was popular at the time.

In March 1986 Nathan Pendlegrast, Trevor's replacement, decided to leave to join an all-girl band after having a sex-change. Unlike most of his predecessors, Nathan (now called Sally) left on amiable terms with Stig and the others, and recommended Kevin Fosdyke, his Uncle's Boss's second cousin, as his/her replacement. It was around this time that Stig caught Fred and Larry in bed together. Stig's brother's marriage was in tatters and the 2 brothers spent a lot of time together while Fred and Larry took a holiday together. After a 3 month layoff, the rehearsals began with the new line-up.

With Kevin on lead guitar, Stig wanted to give the band a hard-edge and changed their name to "The Junkyard Dogs", but thanks to a dyslexic typographer they arrived at their first gig to see the posters proclaiming that "The JunkYard Gods" were headlining the bill at the "Ramsgoat Tavern" - a lawsuit ensued, but the name stuck. As luck would have it, Michael Harrison, a lackey from a small time recording label was at one of their early shows and, impressed by their energy, he arranged for his boss to hear their demo tape.

Rowan Oxbridge, the head of the record label hated the tape, but after Stig paid Sally, his brother's second wife, to sleep with Rowan, he came to see them perform and decided that he would let them use his studio for free every evening for a week, if he could use Stig's apartment to entertain Sally while they recorded.

The resultant session produced the college radio hit "Sleep Softly Rowan", which lead to the band getting a real producer in to record what turned out to be their one and only album "Illness and Fatigue". The album's title track was a worldwide hit which enabled The JunkYard Gods to tour all over Canada and the States, as well as England, Japan and even Australia.

After Stig's brother caught him in bed with his third wife, he had a nervous breakdown, which caused their record contract to be cancelled and eventually they disbanded.

Today they all hold down day jobs. Kevin delivers parcels by day and gives guitar lessons on Wednesday nights at the local Mechanic's Hall, Fred pumps gas and Larry sells haberdashery at Flanagan's department store. Stig spent many years in a sanatorium and now lives on a dairy farm in Wisconsin's cheese belt with the sister of his brother's fourth wife.