The Sears

Punk band from Wednesbury, West Midlands UK. Active from 1981 to 1985.

Formed early in 1981 (having been briefly named "The Wait) by school friends Dave Nicholls (Guitar), Nick Jardine (Bass), Clare "Corny" Taylor (Vocals) and Kevin Thickett (Drums).
They made their live debut May 11th 1981 at Wednesbury's Holyhead Youth Centre.

The band had difficulty in retaining an accomplished drummer. After 6 months, Thickett was replaced by Chris Boot who was himself replaced by Allan Higginson. Sears were briefly joined by a second (male) vocalist in response to an ad place in the weekly music newspaper "Sounds". "Gnasher" performed just one gig; at The Roebuck, Erdington, Birmingham UK on November 9th 1981.

Nicholls temporarily left the band in 1982 to be replaced by guitarist "Taffy". It was this line up that recorded the first demo (3 songs) in July 1982. With Nicholls back (initially in a line-up with two guitars until the inexperienced "Taffy" was persuaded to leave), they made their London debut at the Moonlight Club, West Hampsted on September 26th 1982.
The drummer saga continued when Higginson went AWOL to be replaced by James "Braddo" Bradley who in turn was replaced by Ian "Batesy" Bate.

The line up of "Corny" Taylor, Dave Nicholls, Nick Jardine and "Batesy" recorded their sole official release "If Only..." in June 1984. It was produced in collaboration with Dick Lucas and Bruce Treasure of Subhumans' for release on Bluurg Records. The band were disappointed with the recordings.

Unfortunately, Batesy became ill and left the band to be replaced on drums by Sean "Faz" O'Farrell but after a UK tour with Norway's Bannlyst in July 1985, The Sears decided to end. The final gig was at Sunderland Bunker, September 14th 1985.

Batesy succumbed to leukemia in May 1986. There was a one-off reunion at the Anchor, in Wednesbury on July 19th 1986 as a benefit for his widow.

In 2004/2005, Corny, Nick and Dave met and re-recorded the tracks from "If Only..." in Dave's home studio.