THE CHEFS...JOHN PEEL SESSION 1981..

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The Chefs were an English indiepop/punk band which formed in Brighton in 1979, relocating to London in 1981, and finally splitting up in 1982.[1] The band consisted of Helen McCookerybook (bass guitar and vocals), Carl Evans (guitar and vocals), James McCallum (Helen's brother; guitar) and Russell Greenwood (drums; died 25 June 1999).

Punk beginnings
In 1976, Helen McCallum moved from Wylam near Newcastle-upon-Tyne to Brighton to study fine art printmaking at Brighton Polytechnic. In 1977, she began to play bass in the punk band Joby and the Hooligans. The following year, Carl Evans, a 17-year-old guitarist from Haywards Heath, joined the band, and they changed their name to the Smartees. In the Smartees, McCallum wrote and sang "Thrush", a song about the sexually transmitted disease. Her second song, written with singer Tracy Preston, was "Let's Make Up", about cosmetics.

Formation

Chefs t-shirt and other ephemera, designed by Helen McCookerybook
After the Smartees split in late 1978, McCallum and Evans began to write songs together. McCallum had drawn an illustration of a dancing chef, called Ken Wood, with an accompanying rhyme, "Food". This was a list of favourite foods, with the refrain "Food we eat to keep us going/ Food we eat to make us strong/ In our bellies we are stowing/ Eating eating all day long." Evans set this to music, giving them their first song, and a name for the band, the Chefs.

Evans and McCallum went on to write "Boasting", another list song, in which they sang alternate verses describing their favourite possessions: McCallum’s pet goldfish and canvass shoes, and Evans' blue mini car, pair of pointed crepes and 10-inch Whirlwind record. A third song was made up of the simple lyric, "We’re the Chefs, how do you do? We have come to play for you." All three songs were under two minutes long and McCallum later recalled that their first gig "lasted about five minutes, with between song chat".

Russ Greenwood, drummer of the Chefs, April 1981
In 1979, the Chefs, with 'Muttley' on drums, contributed two songs, "Food", and Carl's "You Get Everywhere", to Vaultage 79, a compilation produced by Brighton's independent record label, Attrix. The local newspaper, the Evening Argus, organised a photo shoot with all the Attrix bands standing outside the record label's shop in Sydney Street. When the photographer asked McCallum her name, she told him, on the spur of the moment, that it was "McCookerybook". The name stuck.[3]

James McCallum, Chefs guitarist, setting off from his house for a band rehearsal in Brighton, May 1980
Soon after, McCallum's brother, James, joined on second guitar. He had recently finished a degree in philosophy at Sussex University, and had played guitar in the short lived punk band, Smeggy and the Cheesybits (Smeggy would go on to be lead singer in King Kurt). The line-up was completed in early 1980 with the arrival of Russ Greenwood, who had been drummer in the Parrots. Greenwood, a powerful dynamic drummer, brought a new tightness and professionalism to the band.

In 1980, Attrix paid for a Chefs EP, which was recorded at Graphic Studios in London. It included "Thrush", "Boasting", "Records and Tea" and Evans' love song "Sweetie", a live favourite. The whole EP was far from 'sweet' – it dealt with sex, personal hygiene and several associated items.[1] The EP came in a yellow sleeve, designed by McCallum. Yellow, the Chefs' favourite colour, was used for posters, t-shirts, stickers and badges. John Peel loved the EP, and played it repeatedly on his late night BBC Radio 1 show.