13th Chime - from origins to reunion
In the late 1970s the punk movement swept Britain and i just had to jump on board, the idea of wearing your clothes inside out appealed to me and that was it--Punk became my main focus in life. I did not know any punks until i met some guy's dressed as punks in my local town one of who turned out to be Gary O' Conner and the rest is history. All the local punks bonded together, although we were small in numbers we were big in character and imagination. Society couldn’t accept the movement and felt threatened by our individuality at first, and there was lots of negative attitude towards the punks and it became very dangerous and very violent. This only strengthened our resolve and brought us all closer together this was when we then decided to form a band and the Antix were born.
Mick Hand vocals, Gary O'Conner guitar, Rupert Woodstock bass, and Ricky Cook drums. We ranged from the age of 14 to 18, we only could play 2 to 3 chords and had no musical knowledge. (Politically Britain was in a bad place and there was lots of unrest towards the government and their polices of the time, this reflected in the youth of Britain and there was many sub-cultures established, many at odds with each other). I suppose that was our chance to voice our feelings through our music, there was very little opportunities and we came from a relatively poor background from a industrial town that many outsiders seemed to avoid. From the very beginning the band quickly gained a following and for some reason what ever we played worked.
Our first gig was a anarchistic affair to say the least. The smell of solvent abuse was in the atmosphere, there was punks from all over the region going crazy, someone hit and knocked the organiser out unconscious and he was laid out the stage while we were playing! It was a very memorable night and till this day one of my most favourite gigs. So that was it our first gig, a crazy beginning to our new venture. We were now established as a band, there was often violence and that seemed to become a regular occurrence for a lot of our gigs--not all but quite a few.
Our next gig was a sad affair as Ricky our drummer got stabbed in the stomach by skinheads just before the gig, he was 14 at the time and we had to get another stand in drummer--thankfully he survived but it was close and we nearly lost him. We continued to gig more and more and we quickly gained a following and started to make a name for ourselves, then another blow to the band Rupert our bass player died at a Dead kennedys gig from breathing difficulties, so sad. He was a great guy and very well respected in the punk scene. We decided to continue and to practice. 
I will never forget looking at Rupert's bass guitar in the corner of the studio, his spirit lives on in the band and always gets a mention. At this point that's when we went dark in our appearance and it reflected in our music. Although Coffin Maker, Cuts of love, and Cursed were tracks that started in their infancy as Antix tracks they were established when we changed our name to the 13th Chime. It was at this point when Terry Taylor joined us on bass, we started to get a more darker look, we got our name from the book '1984' by George Orwell: “When the clock struck the 13th chime” , at this time i was working as a coffin maker in a local factory and that's where we got the idea for the track.
We got ourselves a coffin and made it into a speaker cabinet and used to take it to gigs, the looks we used to get when we used to pull the coffin out of the van, (Laughs) it would be safe to say that we turned many heads…Later when we dropped the coffin from gigs, we used to put it in the middle of our living room and lay in it listening to music on headphones. I remember one time Ricky was lying in the coffin listing to music and some workmen came into the house, they walked into the room to find Ricky in the coffin, the look of horror on their faces (Laughs) Ricky just looked at them and smiled (Laughs).
We were a very artistic band and that was easy for all to see, we organised our own art work for the record sleeves, we took our appearance and stage backdrops seriously and was always looking for new ideas, and used to make costumes and masks for our performances on stage, these were great innovative times and we were meeting interesting people and musicians and having magical moments. Interest in the band was growing and the gigs were getting bigger and better and we were becoming established as a group and it helped in our character as a band. There was plenty of funny times and memorable moments, too many to mention but one that stands out was when we played the song Sally Ditch, me and Gary used to share a bottle of whisky on stage during the song, i drunk most of the bottle then fell off stage--climbed back on, and that was it! I can’t remember anything else for the whole night, so i don’t remember how we sounded,looked or whatever. I later looked at some photos taken at the gig and i looked like i was on another planet (Laughs). On another occasion we played to a full house and at the end of the first song there was a deathly silence from the audience, we looked at each other and laughed, then said out to the audience--”Silence Is Golden!”
Our next big break was being invited to record at IRS Records London, word on the street at the the time was that we were going places as a band and IRS Records wanted to sign us up to their label. We spent weeks recording our material with them, they then decided that we were too much of a risk for them to give us a contract, I’m not totally sure why, but i put it down to us being too wild and volatile so they didn't offer us a contract. (These recordings were later released as the 'Lost Album' by Sacred Bones Records in New York 2009.) This greatly affected the band and our direction, thinking back it was the beginning of the end for the Chime. Soon after we started losing direction and i started to become disillusioned and with great thought decided to leave, it was a very sad time for me personally and a very difficult decision to make.
I just had to leave the country and so i went to France, (I returned to England 10 years later.) 
I spent a lot of time in France and spent time roaming around with a travelling show playing music and dance, before heading towards the Middle East where i travelled and toured with a military band helping set up the equipment and the sound system and was always on the mic. Besides the Middle East I spent time in several European countries such as Greece, Spain and Holland. I also spent time in India, Thailand,and went to Australia for five years before returning to England.
Reforming the band was a strange affair, firstly it just happened after i contacted Rob Shaul our new guitarist to see if he would like a jam and we contacted Dave and John (formerly of Final Scream), and that was it, secondly what was also interesting was that when i contacted a local music studio to practice, i asked for an available day, they offered us Friday the 13th as a slot--it also turned out to be a full moon! So that was it we were back playing again, from the first note till the last note three hours later we sounded like we had never been away! Dave and John were in the Final Scream and had big connections with the Chime as well as Rob Shaul who played guitar for the Wyndups, Rob was involved with the Antix as well as the Chime, he played a big part in the band and was instrumental in helping us musically as well as technically in many ways he also mixed the Chime sound and helped in the overall progression and sound of the band from our very beginning in The Antix, Rob also played at the Chime's last gig in Cambridge in 1984, so its fitting that he is in the new 13th Chime.
Bringing the Chime back together just seemed to be a natural occurrence and it just happened without too much thought. Although we are older and wiser, our spirit and love for The Chime still remains! Although it's been 30 years since we were playing its like we have never been away, playing in St Petersburg will be such an honour for us and we are really excited to be able to play in a city with such a strong and distinguished arts scene, and we are looking forward to meeting and performing for our Russian fans.
Thank you for your interest and 13th Chime look forward to meeting you all,
Best Wishes
Mick Hand.