1982 • The Zap Club
In 1982, I set up the Zap Club as a one night a week club with Amanda Webb and Patricia Butler and with Ian Smith as compere and Roger Ely appearing on the first bill. I performed solo at the club and sometimes with Ian Smith and with Extremists in an Igloo, the Wild Wigglers and the equally snappily titled Screaming Sirens in search of Utopia.
![Opening number of the Extremists, Neil arriving through a film screening of a volcanic eruption at the Zap at the Royal Escape, 1982 image: Richard Paul Jones](https://i1.wp.com/www.neilbutler.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/NB-4-Opening-number.png?w=585)
Neil arriving through a film screening of a volcanic eruption
Zap at the Royal Escape
image: Richard Paul Jones
![Final Performance at the Zap at the Royal Escape, 1983](https://i1.wp.com/www.neilbutler.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/NB-6-Final-Zap.png?resize=740%2C555)
Neil laces the auditorium with theatrical flash and maroons and sets them all off. He is promptly banned from the venue
Zap at the Royal Escape
image: Richard Paul Jones
![](https://i2.wp.com/www.neilbutler.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/20200628_110732.jpeg?resize=740%2C987)
Steve Coleman drums, Gary Castle bass