Malice (UK band)

For the American metal band, see Malice (metal band).

Malice
Origin	Crawley, Sussex, England
Genres	Punk rock
Years active	January – December 1976
Website	TheCure.com
Past members
Martin Creasy Marc Ceccagno Robert Smith Porl Thompson Michael Dempsey Lol Tolhurst

Malice were a short-lived British punk rock band from Crawley, Sussex, who performed together between January and December 1976. Members of the group later formed Easy Cure in 1977, who in turn became The Cure in 1978.

History

January to April 1976

Marc Ceccagno, Robert Smith, Michael Dempsey, and two other classmates at St. Wilfrid's Comprehensive School, "Graham" and "Graham's brother" (full names not documented by the group), began rehearsals together at St. Edward's Church Hall, Crawley on January 23, 1976.^[1] They hired the hall every Thursday, initially playing cover versions of songs by David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix and Alex Harvey.^[2] According to Robert Smith, the band had been formed "because Marc Ceccagno wanted to be a guitar hero".^[3] Ceccagno, Smith and Dempsey had previously performed together while at Notre Dame Middle School in a short-lived band called The Obelisk, which gave one end-of-year performance for their classmates in April 1973.^[4]

Original line up

• Marc Ceccagno – lead guitar
• Robert Smith – guitar
• Michael Dempsey – bass guitar
• "Graham" (surname undocumented) – drums
• "Graham's brother" (name undocumented) – vocals

April to December 1976

In late April 1976, Graham and his brother left the group, and Lol Tolhurst (who had also performed with The Obelisk) convinced Michael Dempsey to teach him to play the drums.^[5]

Marc Ceccagno left to form another band called Amulet, and was replaced by Porl Thompson, who was dating Robert's sister Janet at the time; Porl and Janet worked at L & H Cloake – then the only record store in Crawley. (Ceccagno's band Amulet also featured an L & H Cloake employee, keyboard player Kevin Cohen.)

Martin Creasy, another former employee of L & H Cloake, was recruited as the band's vocalist. By this time the group had begun writing original material under the name of Malice. This lineup played all three of Malice's only documented live shows during December 1976.^[6]

Final line up

• Martin Creasy – vocals
• Porl Thompson – lead guitar
• Robert Smith – guitar
• Michael Dempsey – bass
• Laurence Tolhurst – drums

Concerts

• December 18, 1976 – Worth Abbey, Crawley (Malice played under a pseudonym, and devised an acoustic set for the performance)
• December 20, 1976 – St. Wilfrid's Comprehensive Catholic School Hall, Oakwood, Old Horsham Road, Crawley (Malice supported Marc Ceccagno's new band Amulet)
• December (date unrecorded), 1976 – Upjohn Pharmaceutical, Crawley

Malice to Easy Cure

In January 1977 following Martin Creasy's departure the band was renamed Easy Cure after a song written by drummer Laurence Tolhurst.

References

1. ^ Ten Imaginary Years, by L. Barbarian, Steve Sutherland and Robert Smith (1988) Zomba Books ISBN 0-946391-87-4
2. ^ The Cure, A History in Spiral Scratch Magazine by Rachel Doran, April 1992
3. ^ In Ten Imaginary Years
4. ^ Apter, Jeff. (2006). Never Enough: The Story of the Cure, pg 26. Omnibus Press. ISBN 1-84449-827-1
5. ^ Barbarian, Sutherland, Smith (1988)
6. ^ While Ten Imaginary Years makes reference to Porl Thompson dating Janet Smith, working at the local record store, and replacing Ceccagno on guitar - as well as the fleeting appearance of a vocalist named only as Martin; more detailed information on Martin Creasy's involvement in Malice, and regarding the musical activities of other staff at L & H Cloake has subsequently appeared in the press releases and internet biographies issued from members of the duo T-30 Control. Martin Creasy of Malice and Kevin Cohen of Amulet have also submitted further biographical information regarding Malice and Easy Cure (1976 - 1978) to the archival fansite www.cure-concerts.de (1976 concerts).