Martin Smith, Glenn Jones and Liam Carr are the current members of V2.

Martin Smith & Glenn Jones

Martin and Glenn, friends since childhood, started playing in bands at the age of sixteen. From the early 1970s, they played in working men’s clubs and nightspots all over the North of England and North Wales.

In late 1977, with old schoolfriend Gus Gangrene — Gary Callendar — who had recently left The Drones, they embarked on a musical project which became Bitch, featuring London female vocalist and writer Charley Green, ex-Sick Things.

Despite interest from EMI following a series of successful gigs, including a support slot with The Clash, the band imploded during a lengthy support tour with Skrewdriver. This was many years before the politically extreme version of the band came about.

During the tour, Martin was asked to replace Skrewdriver drummer and future BBC presenter Mark Radcliffe, who was about to go back to university. It ended up that Glenn and Gus also joined for the duration of the tour.

At the same time, Martin, Glenn and Gus became the mainstay of legendary Jon The Postman’s latest band, The Psychedelic Rock & Roll Five Skinners. This included an appearance at the Deeply Vale Festival in front of 20,000 people and the recording of Jon The Postman’s second album at Cargo Studios.

Gus left Skrewdriver in late summer 1978, with Martin and Glenn continuing to gig with the band across the UK.

In the autumn of 1978, Skrewdriver were signed by TJM Records and recorded the Built Up Knocked Down EP. Ian Stuart, frontman and leader of the band, was convinced that a move to London was the only way to progress. Martin and Glenn declined, and that version of Skrewdriver split up in late 1978.

Martin was immediately snapped up by TJM labelmates V2 and spent 1979 touring and recording with them, including a UK tour with The Dickies.

Glenn, meanwhile, had joined a new venture: a band called 8.5, put together by Martin Jackson, who had recently parted company with top post-punk band Magazine. The new line-up also included Wispa from The Drones and Gus.

Despite landing a publishing and production deal, the usual “musical differences” kicked in and, after a few months, it was over. Glenn was then asked to join The Drones and spent the last few months of 1979 rehearsing and recording with them.

By 1980, Martin and Glenn had gone back to working in clubland — the working men’s and cabaret circuit — playing at least 200 gigs a year in the UK, with occasional trips to military bases in Germany. This continued for much of the decade while both were balancing band life with their respective careers.

Fast forward to 2015 and, after a spell of semi-retirement combined with sporadic periods of activity, they were both asked to play in a Drones line-up, along with Wispa and Gus, at original drummer Pete Howells’ 60th birthday party.

Pete had been diagnosed as terminally ill, so the evening was emotionally charged. Afterwards, Wispa, Gus, Glenn and Martin agreed — with Pete’s blessing — to tour as The Drones in 2016 for the 40th anniversary of the band.

The tour was a great success and included sell-out gigs at The Grand Theatre, Clitheroe and top Manchester venue The Deaf Institute, as well as a headline appearance at Morecambe Punk Festival.

The tour finished at a star-studded Deeply Vale Festival. After this appearance, Gus, Glenn and Martin left The Drones, while Wispa carried on fronting a new line-up, which currently includes Brian Grantham from Slaughter & The Dogs and Alan Crosby from The Nosebleeds.

Over the intervening years, Martin and Glenn went their separate ways: Martin playing in a Bolton-based rock band, where he met Liam, while Glenn was content to be “retired from the business”.

Then came the call from Stan in early 2023…

Liam Carr

Regular exposure from an early age to live Irish music in the Catholic clubs and pubs of Bolton equipped Liam with an impressive “pick up and play” ability, trusting his ears to make any instrument create a pleasing sound.

This all-round musical skill ultimately led to Liam studying performance and music at Arden Performing Arts College.

Here, he joined The Shaw Indy Band, and also Lazy Browns, who performed in and around Manchester, including at renowned venues such as Band on the Wall.

Later, Liam was to join the good and the great on Manchester’s open mic circuit of the time, turning in notable gigs at the likes of Joshua Brooks, King’s Head Salford and Dancehouse Theatre.

It was while playing with Martin in Bolton rock combo Audio Vandals that Liam answered the call to join V2, playing guitar, keyboards, bass and getting a tune out of anything else he could pick up.

Despite being the “baby” of the band, Liam has fitted into the V2 family perfectly while contributing new dimensions to the V2 sound.