Inspired to make music their own music after a Stranglers show in Birmingham in 1977, the band soon entered the studio and recorded their first single Gordon. A £400 loan enabled them to press 1000 copies. A copy was given to John Peel and secured them their first session. Small Wonder liked the single so much that they picked up the remaining copies and booked the band into the studio with producer Bob Sargeant; the result was the Burning Bridges single followed soon by another single Precinct.

For one week in 1980 the band relocated to Torquay, recording the Cravats In Toytown album on a 8-track in a hotel basement. Released by Small Wonder in October that year the album gained healthy reviews and made it into the Top 20 in the independent charts.

For their next single Rub Me Out released May 1981, the band teamed up with Penny Rimbaud from Crass who managed to capture their darker side.

November 1981 saw the release of the band’s last collaboration with Small Wonder with the rockabilly influenced single Off The Beach.

With the collapse of Small Wonder the band were picked up by Glass who released the excellent Terminus single in May ’82. The single received rave reviews but no promotion and the band were again label-less.

Crass duly obliged with sister label Corpus Christi releasing the magnificent Colossal Tunes Out album in February ’83 and the Crass label released probably the band’s best single Rub Me Out which reached No.15 in the indie charts in July ’82.

One last swansong occurred with The Land Of The Giants 12″ on Reflex in 1986.

Various members departed to the Poison Girls, Pig Bros and to form the nucleus of The Very Things.

The album includes a new track ‘Seance’ a collaboration with Paul Hartnoll, his first official release since the demise of Orbital, proving there’s still life in The Cravats yet!