From the ashes of the thriving underground punk scene in Brighton in 1979, a band of songwriters called The Smartees emerged. They never made any records but after their demise one of the guitarists, Carl Evans, approached bass player Helen McCookerybook (Joby & the Hooligans) to ask her if she’d like to write some songs with him. He’d already set one of her poems, Food, to music, and they played their first gig with just three songs, Food, Sweetie and Boasting, each of which lasted just over two minutes. The Chefs original drummer, Rod Bloor, contributed the seeds of the song Records & Tea before returning to his native Manchester. Soon, augmented by James McCallum on additional guitar and Russell Greenwood (The Parrots) on drums, the songwriting duo started re...