Shanne
Bradley (born 1957, London, England) is a punk musician, songwriter,
and artist. She founded the punk band The Nipple Erectors (The Nips) in
1976 playing bass guitar and co-founded The Men They Couldn't Hang in
1984. Bradley was also known as Shanne Skratch and briefly as Shanne
Hasler.
Initially consisting of vocalis-songwriter Shane MacGowan (known at the time as 'Shane O'Hooligan'), bassist-songwriter and punk artist Shanne Bradley, guitarist-artist Roger Towndrow and drummer Arcane Vendetta; The Nipple Erectors performed their first gig at The Roxy Club in Covent Garden, London in 1977. Inspired by The Stooges, the band incorporated elements of rockabilly and '60s garage rock into their music. Following the release of their first single, "King of the Bop"/"Nervous Wreck", in June 1978, on Soho Records, the band renamed themselves The Nips and released the song "All The Time in the World"/"Private Eye" with Phil Rowland of Eater on drums.
By May 1979, the band's line up had changed to include Gavin "Fritz" Douglas, on guitar. The Powerpop anthem, "Gabrielle" was released in November 1979, first on Soho Records, and then reissued on Chiswick Records. with John ("Grinny") Grinton on drums. By the time of its release, Grinny had been replaced by Roger Travis Williams. Gavin Douglas' guitar playing on this record marked a change in the band's sound to a more melodic style.
In 1980, The Nips recorded a demo for Polydor Records at their studio in Bond Street. It was produced by Paul Weller.
There were four songs recorded for this session, including "Happy Song"
"Nobody to Love", "Ghost Town" and "Love To Make You Cry". The Line up
for this recording was, Shane MacGowan-vocals, Shanne Bradley-bass,
Gavin Douglas-guitar and Mark Harrison-drums.
"Happy Song"/"Nobody to Love" was released as a single in October 1981,
on Test Pressing Records. The Nips announced to the press that they
were quitting after a last gig at London's Covent Garden Rock Garden on
10 March 1980. MacGowan and Bradley did reform the band later that year,
albeit briefly. The line up included James Fearnley on guitar and Jon Moss on drums.
During 1981, Bradley took the band in another direction away from the traditional rock band format to incorporate Greek, Cretan and Irish Roots/Folk music. The popular Irish folk and America folk song "Poor Paddy Works on the Railway" had previously formed part of their early live set with Guitarist Roger Towndrow. This line up included Macgowan and Bradley plus John Hasler on standup snare drum and Scots/Irish Folk Fiddler David Rattray. Later that year Bradley decided to take a break from music.
In 1984 Shanne Bradley co-founded The Men They Couldn't Hang to play "The Alternative Country and Western Festival" on March 1984 at The Electric Ballroom in Camden alongside the legendary Pogues and the Boot Hill Foot-Tappers. She played with them till 1987.
