Clap In Irons

Clap In Irons
'Pale Pale Legs' c/w 'Point At Some Flutes, Sandra'
Released February 12th 1975. KITSCH 'N' SYNCH KICKS 00294
Duffy Marchant (Vocals, Drums), Maynard "Wheels" Kent (Keyboards), Mazz Mansfield (Bass), Bernie Mumbles (Guitar), Bob Chard (Guitar)

Clap In Irons was the first and only Seventies pub rock band comprised entirely of people with disabilities. Confronting society's prejudices in the most courageous and direct way possible, the members of Clap In Irons wore their disabilities as badges of pride.

Maynard Kent had been playing pubs round Maidstone with a Farfisa organ strapped to the top of his wheelchair. "He played a lot of Mose Allison numbers", remembers his son, Truth. "He'd hare round the stage doing spins. Pints and customers went flying. It was wild".

While at Deptford Art School Kent teamed up with Duffy Marchant, a bearded sculpture student and drummer with no hands. “Duffy had two hooks - with a drumstick in each”, recalls Truth.

Mazz Mansfield was generally considered to be the best bass player in the area. Having contracted polio as a child, Mazz was only four foot five. His boyish good looks and blue jumper meant he was often mistaken for an old-fashioned charity money bank. Says Mazz: "Because of my intermittent narcolepsy I'd sometimes fall asleep at bus stops and the like. People would try to put coins into the top of my head".

Bernie Mumbles made up the first incarnation of Clap In Irons. Mumbles was a Welsh alcoholic. He was also blind and had a stammer. "It never held him back though", says Mazz. “He claimed seven different kinds of benefit and bought a Jag. He used to drive it around Greenwich. Never had an accident”.

With the nucleus of Clap In Irons in place, Kent and Marchant decided that an additional guitarist would help fill out their unique sound. "The only problem was we couldn't find any more disabled people in the area that could play well", admits Mansfield. "We tried out a bloke with toes for thumbs but the magic wasn't there".

The band decided to remain a four piece until, quite by accident, they stumbled across Bob Chard. "Bob was perfect. He had three arms. Me and the boys had gone up to the fairground on Grove Common and they had a sideshow called 'The Human Octopus'".

"It wasn't really an extra arm - it was a small fleshy protrusion", says Chard. "But it got me work at the circus and then in Clap In Irons. You've got to make things like that work for you, haven't you?"

With Chard on board the five piece, eleven-armed band hit the road. Their popularity on the pub rock circuit got them a record contract with Kitsch 'n' Zinc records. Their first single was 'Pale, Pale Legs', a love song which Maynard Kent had written about his immobile lower limbs.

"For a while we ruled the roost and packed out pubs everywhere", remembers Chard. "People saw beyond our supposed afflictions and constant inebriation and really dug our tunes".

An album 'Roomful of Raspberries' followed, but it marked the end of an era for the band. "’Roomful' sold fairly well and this meant that I could afford to fly to LA to have my third arm removed", admits Chard. "Unfortunately, the rest of the guys didn't think much of this. Maynard ran over my feet with his wheelchair. We never spoke again".