Heart of the industrial revolution, built on woollen textiles, the Colne Valley, west of Huddersfield, is a typical Pennine scene: Stone houses huddling around disused mills, clinging to steep hills on the edge of moors dotted with sheep. We boast the world's first Socialist M.P. Victor Grayson, who dissappeared mysteriously in 1920. There's a strong musical tradition here: Choirs, orchestras, brass bands... and we've had our own comprehensive since the '60's! Trouble is, educate the working classes and they start to get funny ideas about creativity and criticism. (Well, funny ideas, anyway)

Probably in most locations since the advent of rock 'n roll, local bands have done silly musical experiments on the side. For some reason, here in the Colne Valley in the mid 1980s these experiments acquired their own dynamic, and the phenomenon of the Colne Valley Doss Bands was born.

There were 3 main creative axes:

1 - The Bricks, who soon turned into the Genital Wart Factor, started releasing material under Santa(claustro)phobia recordings and spawned numerous obscure offshoots.

2 - The Pagans, who at about the same time (1985) started releasing stuff under Breadhead Conspiracy recordings.

3 - Giblets and Cheese, who, inspired by the other two, added their own silliness to the proceedings a couple of years later.

The creative kernals of each camp were Jon & Karl (GWF), John & Tom (Pagans) and Foggy & Hodgie (Gibs). Inevitably there has been crossover and collaboration, bearing more strange fruits.

There was a renaissance of activity in the mid '90's at which point we decided to release some compilations to showcase earlier classics, as well as work in progress. Hence the release of "Colne Valley Chaos" Volumes 1-5 (all C90's)

Later, Kipz compiled two shorter collections : "Chaos" Volumes 1+2 (C60's), focussing on the funny stuff (MORE GIBS FASTER!).

And now in the noughties we are embarking on a new onslaught of projects - beginning with the Colne Valley Chaos Christmas release in December 2006.

CHECK THE COMPILATIONS PAGE FOR FURTHER INFO & DOWNLOADS FOR ALL THE CVC COMPS