Nottingham punk band circa 1980 – 1983

Previously known as the “Dead Presley’s”

Verbal Warning are a Nottingham band first active from late 1979 as the Dead Presley’s through to their finish at the end of 1983 as Verbal Warning. They reformed in 2005 and are still playing live, flying the punk flag high. They are also still writing and recording their own songs.
Visit their website.
See Verbal Warning The Movie on YouTube.

The history of Verbal Warning.

Line ups of the Dead Presley’s and the 1980’s Verbal Warning:

*1 (Dead Presley’s)

Paul Tomlinson: Guitar
Colin Cave: Bass
Dave Smith: Vocals
Phil: Drums

*2 (Verbal Warning)

Paul Tomlinson: Guitar
Colin Cave: Bass
Dave Smith: Vocals
Wayne Birch: Drums

*3 (Verbal Warning, classic line up)

Paul Tomlinson: Guitar
Colin Cave: Bass
Dave Smith: Vocals
Paul Clark (aka Adolf): Drums
and briefly before he left:
Wayne Birch: Vocals

Paul Tomlinson was born in the mid fifties and was schooled in the sixties and seventies rock and pop groups and fashions of the time. “My parents were not much help, they wouldn’t even buy me a guitar, a passing fad and I’d soon get bored with it they said but I was grateful for a second bite of the cherry when punk came along”.

The following band photos and main bio are from their website.

Verbal Warning’s early eighties incarnation built themselves an uncompromising reputation in the Nottingham area and played with some of the big bands of the day. Chumbawumba,, Conflict Napalm Death, and The Subhumans all shared bills with the original Warning.

The first gig as the tastefully named Dead Presleys was at Nottingham’s legendary Ad Lib Club on 7th December 1980. After it was discovered the local Teddy Boy community didn’t share the bands sense of humour, the name was changed to Verbal Warning.

A gig at the-then Trent Polytechnic on 14th May 1981, ended in a hasty exit after Singer Dave Smith was thought to have suggested he was glad IRA hunger striker Bobby Sands was dead, infuriating a large Irish contingent in the audience.

The “classic” line-up of Paul on guitar, Adolf on drums, Colin on bass and Dave on vocals then evolved.

As Paul remembers “the picture of us sitting down was before a gig at the Foresters on Huntingdon St, I think, could be wrong, Left to Right as you look at it, Dave Smith, vocals, me, guitar, Colin Cave, bass and Paul Clark (AKA Adolf), drums. we were supporting the Sic Boy Federation, always remember Hendrix walking around in fish net tights with some bog paper sticking out of his arse”.

A gig at Beeston Community Centre on 11th July 1981 saw them on a bill with one “Potential Difference” whose vocalist John Lomas is now the front man for the modern-day Verbal Warning.

On 22nd January 1983, Warning appeared with Conflict and Omega Tribe at Nottingham’s Union Club but were forced to leave the venue quickly after plugs were pulled on them during their set and threats made when the band suggested to a hostile audience that Conflict and Crass were ‘only rock and roll bands’.

But it wasn’t to last much longer and after a handful of gigs, and more personnel changes a show with Lost Cherries at Nottingham’s long demolished Narrowboat proved to be the catalyst for a prolonged sabbatical.

Demos that the band recorded between 1980 and 1983 were released by Retro Records and can be heard here.

Listen to the Union gig.