This wasn’t The Members’ first release – Fear On The Streets introduced them on the Streets compilation – but it was their first single, released on Stiff Records in 1978.

It perfectly captures the loneliness of leaving home and living in London on your own for the first time – something I could identify with at the time. “And you know no one / So you don’t go out / you eat out of tins / And you watch television / Solitary confinement.”

The Members formed in Camberley, Surrey, where I lived, briefly, as a child, with charismatic vocalist Nicky Tesco joined by Gary Baker (guitar), Steve Morley (bass) and Steve Maycock (drums).

In the early days of punk they played regularly at venues like The Red Cow and The Nashville, introducing a reggae element to the music when JC Carroll joined the band.

It was first heard on this single, produced by Larry Wallis and recorded by Tesco and Carroll (guitar/vocals) supported by Nigel Bennett (guitar), Chris Payne (bass) and Adrian Lillywhite (drums).

After this they signed to Virgin, enjoying their biggest hit with The Sound Of The Suburbs – produced by their drummer’s brother Steve Lillywhite – and delving further into reggae for the follow-up, Offshore Banking Business.

The Members broke up after three albums, At The Chelsea Nightclub, 1980: The Choice Is Yours, and Going West.

Carroll went on to work on film soundtracks with Julien Temple and Lillywhite joined the band King, while Tesco appeared in Aki Kaurismäki’s wonderful film Leningrad Cowboys Go America.

In a case of life imitating art, the film’s fictional Russian rock band then toured as a real band and recorded one of his songs, Thru The Wire.

Tesco then worked as a journalist for the trade magazine Music Week but ill health prevented him joining a reunion of the original Members in 2008 – though he was well enough to record an update on Offshore Banking Business called International Financial Crisis in 2009.

He died in February 2022.