In 1976 Shanne Bradley was the founder member and bass player with The Nipple Erectors along with singer Shane MacGowan. “I auditioned Shane in my bedsit, he was Iggy Pop rolling and writhing around the floor totally manic, I thought “Yes this is our man!” The Nipple Erectors first show was at The Roxy’s audition night, they went onto gig with bands from The Jam to Dexy’s Midnight Runners.
From Live Wire fanzine November 1977 – Alan Anger
“Musically, they weren’t nothing special, but they reminded me of Defiant when they started in the attitude they took. It was one of the most enjoyable gigs I’ve been to in a long time. Fuck the superstars and follow Defiant and the Nipple Erectors. These are are the real street level bands”.
Shanne tells Punk77.com about her first bass guitar, a toy that she had been given, and how she got her first bass lesson on a bus from Captain Sensible “Ray explained the “Bass-icks” so to speak and I enjoyed my first bass lesson – all The Damned bass lines – on the top deck of the tedious 68 bus journey back into London”.
Despite the somewhat unconventional start, Shanne quickly became a proficient player, and the band were soon gigging at venues like Camden’s Music Machine, the 101, and The Hope & Anchor. After 4 singles, a John Peel Session and recordings produced by Paul Weller, The Nipple Erectors, a band always plagued by an unstable line-up and a lack of industry support, even when they shortened their name to the more publicity friendly The Nips, eventually parted company in 1980. “We were just sick of each other and I hated the music” said Shanne.
After a break, Shanne formed the folk-punk band The Men They Couldn’t Hang with Stefan Cush and Philip “Swill” Ogders, releasing “The Green Fields of France” as their first single, which reached Number 1 on the Independent Charts and Number 3 on John Peel’s Festive 50 in 1984.
After their second album “How Green is the Valley” Shanne left the band and went onto to work with Wreckless Eric and The Chicken Family.
“I was Shanne Skratch for a short while in 1976 but usually Shanne Bradley! Also before the Nipple Erectors, a piece of little known history – I was in The Launderettes as Shanne Skratch with Ray Pist and Chaotic Bass ( Claudio Magnani).”