Top 10 Songs Chosen By Dave Ellesmere

  I've another top 10 for you today, this one is chosen by Dave Ellesmere, a veteran of the music business who's played drums in a multitude of bands down the years. Just to name a few, he's been a member of Discharge, Flux Of Pink Indians, Doctor And The Crippens, The Insane, Disgust, Brainless and many more. He's also worked at Manic Ears Records and Plastichead. If that wasn't enough he's also recorded an album as a guitarist for the Earache label and he's had a successful career as an electronic DJ and producer (this was a hit for him : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28W3V9cNcfA).
   He's currently releasing his own dance music and putting a new band together. Thanks to him for taking the time to compile this list.....


 1) Discharge - Realities Of War
(see below)

the first time i heard this i was on the mighty peel show it literally pinned me to the wall. immediately the next day i went on a hunt round wigan to find it and finally did in a small store in wigan arcade. by the time the third single came out i'd seen them twice and i had an enormous discharge mural on my wall. i never dreamed that would be playing on their next release. anyway real life changing moment and release for me

 2) Users - Sick Of You

this was the first punk record i heard. john peel had just played some long winded gentle giant (american folky stoner rock) tune of like 9-10 minutes long … and i remember when it finished his words were … And now for some of that punk rock stuff and then this dropped …. what a contrast short , loud noisy with tons of drive and energy totally blew me away …..



 3) Radiators From Space - Television Screen

ok so this was, while not amazing, was the first actual punk record i bought for myself cause it was the only one i could find in wigan at the time … later out of frustration for lack of good vinyl in wigan i started venturing out to manchester which where i discovered debbies underground market stall.



 4) Minor Threat - Minor Threat ep

a very young ian makay sent me this at the time of the insane along with the teen idols ep …. we wrote a few times and then lost touch but the speed of the songs on here was another mind blowing moment for me



 5) No Comment - Downsided ep

i bought this from phil vain - ENT (RIP) and again another huge leap forward in speed and intensity. I still listen to this once every 3-6 months and its one of the few 7 inch vinyls ive kept hold of



 6) Brainless - What She Sees

my last band in the uk together with wayne crippen and steve beatty from disgust. kind of hardcore pop with a lot of raw blues punk rawk songs. The lyrics on this are awesome and in typical wayne style. sadly before this was released id already left the uk. the other members went on to record the album ‘superpunktuesday’ but i wrote alot of the songs on it.



 7) Blondie - Hanging On The Telephone

this is here cause its maybe the best pop single ever. 2 mins 16 of songwriting perfection. i guess being 15 or 16 at the time Debbie Harry was my first MILF …oh no wait that was Suzi Quatro aged 12



 8) The Byrds - Eight Miles High

one of my favourite songs from the psychedelic sixties and one that stood the test of time ….. turn on tune in drop out



 9) Cabaret Voltaire - Extended Play ep

When i bought this record I was in a competition with barry the insane singer to see who could buy the weirdest sounding record … at first i was thinking what the hell is garbage but after 2-3 plays i was sucked into its hypnotic otherwordly groove. Still remain one of my favourites today and last year i finally saw them live.




10) Jeff Mills - Utopia

ok so right in the middle of Disgust days I was promotions manager at plastic head … We just opened a dance department and a box of 12 inches landed on my desk. This was the first one which came out the box and it changed everything for me … suddenly guitar bands seemed so dated and devoid of ideas … utopia was like nothing id ever heard from the first moment of its dark brooding build up i was transfixed. This was like music made by aliens in space …. i needed to know more and i took a headfirst dive into the world of techno. twenty years on and its swinging back the other way … i have my first new band in over 20 years … more details soon.



Thanks Dave, here's your number 1.............