The Humans according to Steve Baker…
The Humans I feel, was an attempt to put together a band that were serious, rather than desperate. By this time (1978), there were other credible bands such as The Purges with former Aggravators Glen on guitar and Nick on drums, and a guy called Frank Famous on vocals, who along with me, shared a love for Iggy Pop.
Now a proper punk scene appeared to be emerging and bands such as The Jellytots – who I still think to this day had a truly original sound – were joined by Ian Doeser & The Posers (another former Aggravator), as Swindon tried to claim its place on the musical map.
XTC by this time were working on a second album and people began to take the Punk/New Wave thing seriously.
The Humans began to rehearse in bass player Jim’s house near the train station, and later in the back room of drummer Mick’s house off Manchester Road. We managed to get dates further afield than Swindon (Bristol, Reading, Oxford etc) and continued to make a stab at success.
I feel we retained some of the innocence of The Aggravators, but also earnestly tried to improve our songwriting. I can’t recall exactly why we disbanded – but in my case it was more to do with frustration than wanting to stop. However, I still believe we wrote some bloody good songs and look back on The Humans with a great fondness.
Influences: Everything we had listened to (the list is endless).
