Zoo

Dave Thompson writes: Zoo were the much improved evolution of Haughton Green band Dislodge. Early in 1981 I hatched a plan and put a suggestion to my close friend, guitarist Eric Mansell (formerly of Abdominal Pain). Since the departure of singer Steve Wright, bassist Phil Bentley had taken over lead vocal duties. I floated the idea of me becoming the new singer in Zoo. (I also planned to rewrite all the lyrics but kept that quiet at first.). After being invited to watch a rehearsal, I was in, and spent the next fortnight rewriting the lyrics for all their songs. After 18 frustrating months of trying to assemble a band I was suddenly fronting one that was ready to go. We did a couple of gigs and in February 1982 recorded a 3 song demo in Decibelle Studios, Manchester, of which "Europe" is featured . By then we'd started to write some new material, which I had a hand in from the outset. Our finest hour was a CND Benefit gig at Romeo & Juliets nightclub in Oldham on 18th March 1982. The gig was recorded through the PA and the rest of the Zoo material posted here comes from that gig. We did 1 more gig after which Ged and Eric told me they didn't want to do this anymore. I was disappointed. I knew Zoo would never fulfill all my musical aspirations but the new material showed promise and I felt there was still quite a bit of mileage left in it.