Northampton punks The Russians feature in Record Collector magazine

Northampton punk band The Russians feature in the current issue of Record Collector magazine.

The editor of the rare Records Price Guide, published by Record Collector, contacted lead singer Julie Woolmore (aka Julie Rebelowitchz) after he discovered the band's 1980 single was now worth more than £100.

It had been overlooked for the latest edition of the book but has now been added to the online database and will be in the next published edition.

His two-and-a-half-page interview with Julie is included in the December 2022 issue of the magazine, along with several pictures of the band taken around the town.

The Russians formed in early 1979 when Julie (AKA Reb) answered an advert placed in the Chronicle & Echo by bassist John Brassett and guitarist Jack Swann for a female singer for a punk band.

At the time, Reb was recovering from a serious accident which had left her in a coma at Northampton General Hospital, with amnesia and needing rehabilitation to learn to walk again.

They arranged to meet at The Fish pub in Northampton and then went to John's mum's pub, The Navigation at Cosgrove, for an audition.

Drummer John Lucibello joined a little later and like Reb the Russians were his first band.

In the interview she says, “In contrast to some of our punk idols, we wanted to offer something more uplifting to give people a break from all the heavy calls to political action and let them just have some fun.

“So as a really badly, not properly thought-out idea we decided to name ourselves after the most political thing going at the time as an ironic statement. It was the worst thing we could have done.”

Only 73 days after their first gig, they were in BBC Maida Vale Studio 4 recording a session for the legendary John Peel show.

Jack had quit two days earlier but disaster was averted as Russians' sound man Dusty Miller, an excellent guitarist, learned the songs in one day.

After the session was aired, offers of gigs across the country rained in.

In 1980, the single No Title b/w Anything She Wants was released.

It was heavily advertised and a custard pie fight was staged against Acme punk clothing shop as a publicity stunt.

It caused chaos on the Wellingborough Road and made the front page of the Chronicle & Echo. Unfortunately, industrial action at the distribution company stopped the record getting to the shops and caused a delay of about a year.

The band managed to get a small amount for family and friends by persuading an employee to smuggle some out under the noses of angry pickets at great risk to everyone.

As well as now being sought after, the A side was included on a compilation album released last year called Heroes Of the Night.

The head of New York based Reminder Records said it was the primary inspiration for the album. One of the Russians' self produced cassettes Sorry! has also previously sold on eBay for £144.

Reb is currently working on a solo project which she hopes to release soon.