The Chefs - Forming The Chefs

Forming The Chefs

After the Smartees split in late 1978, Helen and Carl began to write songs together. Helen had done 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.’ Carl set this to music, giving them their first song, and a name for the band, the Chefs.

Carl and Helen went on to write ‘Boasting’, another list song, in which they sang alternate verses describing their favourite possessions: Helen’s pet goldfish and canvass shoes, and Carl's blue mini car, pair of pointed crepes and 10-inch Whirwind 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 Helen later recalled, ‘Our first gig lasted about five minutes, with between song chat.’.

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 St. When the photographer asked Helen her name, she told him, on the spur of the moment, that it was ‘McCookerybook’. The name stuck.

Soon after, Helen’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. Russ, a powerful dynamic drummer, brought a new tightness and professionalism to the band.

In 1980, Attrix paid for a Chefs E.P., which was recorded at Graphic Studios in London. It included 'Thrush', 'Boasting', 'Records and Tea' ('Records and tea are all life means to me') and Carl's love song 'Sweetie' ('I have to brush my teeth, 'cos you're so sweet'), a live favourite. The E.P. came in a yellow sleeve, designed by Helen. Yellow, the Chef’s favourite colour, was used for posters, t-shirts, stickers and badges. John Peel loved the E.P., and played it repeatedly on his late night Radio 1 show.