Excerpt from Women in Punk..

The Killjoys - Gil Weston (below) was the gorgeous bass player for this dog rough brummie band that also featured Kevin Rowland of pre-Dexies fame. She was going out with the guitarist. Kevin was going out with the other singer ( singer ?!!) Heather. They lived in a van. Drummer (single) drew the short straw and either slept on top or under it depending on the weather ! One single to their name they split in the late 70's and Gil resurfaced in Girlschool before ending up as a web page designer !! (Webmaster's note - Not true, according to Gil she never designed web pages!)

The Killjoys were among the first musical enterprises of Dexys Midnight Runners' leader Kevin Rowland (b. 17 August 1953, Wolverhampton, West Midlands, England). Having formerly played guitar and sang in the Birmingham, England band Lucy And The Lovers, Rowland recruited Gill Weston (bass), Mark Phillips (guitar), Heather Tonge (vocals) and Joe 45/Trevor (drums) as punk took hold in 1977. Their first single, "Johnny Won't Go To Heaven", was released on Raw Records in July of that year. No further records were issued, and in November Rowland formed Dexys Midnight Runners with Al Archer, who had also worked as part of the Killjoys and would later join the Bureau. Both sides of the "Johnny Won't Go To Heaven" single and various demo tracks were subsequently reissued on compilations documenting the notorious Raw Records. The best example being "Naive", issued by Damaged Goods Records in the early 90s, and featuring interviews and out-takes, where Rowland's unreconstructed "Brum" accent and the band's raucous playing sound quite unlike his subsequent incarnation. Weston also enjoyed success in a new project, as bass player for Girlschool during their most productive years.

Before Kevin Rowland discovered the joys of making menswear and even before he launched Dexys Midnight Runners he was the lead singer in this great punk band from the Midlands. Originally called Lucy & The Lovers and more jazz orientated, Kevin caught the first of a series of wind of changes and hitched a ride on punk with his girlfriend Heather on backing vocals and the gorgeous Gem on bass whom he exploited to the full even encouraging her wearing of sexually alluring clothing ! One single Johnny Won't Get To Heaven / Naive (Raw Records 1977).  Classic amphetamine punk. Another great  track At Night on the Raw Deal compilation album. One other known song - Recognition - floating around on an album 'Naive' on Damaged Goods released in 1991.

Gem / Gil was in fact short for Ghislaine! She formed Alternating with Bob Peach before going on to join Girlschool replacing Enid on Bass after being recommended to the band by Lemmy!

Sadly rumour has it that Heather died.

And lastly from his majesty Mr Rowland himself these words from Mojo October 2001. "There was no doubt in my mind that I was at least as passionate and angry and as from the street as any punk rock singer you could name. But it was wrong for me to try to be part of someone else's thing."

Lee Wood, Raw Records owner remembering The Killjoys. "There were eight people in the audience (including us), and on came The Killjoys. It soon became clear from the jeering that the other five people were Soul music lovers. Kevin Rowland gave as good as he got and for their entire set the band gave it everything they had. This impressed me most. We chatted afterwards and I agreed to meet them in London and watch them rehearse. A few days later, I met them near Euston. I found they came from Birmingham, but were staying in London. Five members were sleeping IN the van. The drummer slept either on top of, or underneath, depending on the weather."

They were supposed to be making tapes for an album but they split before anything happened and a muted deal with Bronze was scuppered by Mr Rowland. Around mid 77 they lost Heather and Joe 90 (on Kevin's insistence probably) and acquired a new drummer, Bob Peach, and  guitarist Keith Rimell (read his excellent interview above)  and became virtually a different band as Mr Rowland again sought to jump ship. If you get a chance check out the two John Peel radio sessions they did to hear the difference. Great footage of them performing 'Johnny' and 'At Night' on the Punk In London video. Forget Gaye Advert, Gem was a star on bass ! Bless them all.

Gem was the gorgeous bass player for this seminal Birmingham punk band that also featured Kevin Rowland of pre-Dexies fame. Gem was taught by her boyfriend in the band Mark Phillips and boy could she play. Good looking, energetic and proficient she made the boys look sad at playing and could have held her own in any band. She should definitely join that pantheon of great Punk bassists long with JJ Burnel, Paul Simenon and Sid Vicious. Kevin knew she was an exploitable asset in the group so wherever possible he"... wanted to make more of Gil's appearance on stage...he encouraged the wearing of a basque...fish net stockings and other sexually alluring clothing.." (Keith Rimell 2001). He even got her to sing a song in French while he played guitar though unknown to him Gem was taking the piss with the lyrics!

One single to their name they split in the late 70's.  And Gil formed a band Alternating with drummer Bob Peach before and. She then resurfaced in Girlschool, courtesy of Lemmy, around their Play Dirty period where she sang and played bass before quitting music for good and ending up as a web page designer!! [Webmaster's note - as mentioned before, she isn't a web page designer!!].