PUNK band The Stranglers went back to their roots when they rocked up at The Star Inn, Guildford, on Thursday last week to unveil a PRS For Music plaque commemorating their first gig.

Fittingly for a band renowned for combining melody with dark aggression, they also publicly backed the pub’s campaign to continue as a live music venue, following a noise complaint which has threatened to put it out of business.

Founder member and drummer Jet Black (born Brian Duffy) still has vivid memories of noise complaints the group received when he rented a house for the fledgling band in Chiddingfold in around 1974/5 before they made it big and moved to London.

Jet told the Herald: “Chiddingfold played a big part in the formation of the band. I was a small businessman in Guildford. I had been planning a professional band for a few years and when I came to the point of putting it all together, I sold all my business assets and rented the Chiddingfold house in Coxcombe Lane for what turned out to be nearly a year.

“We did enjoy our time in the village by and large, but there was a certain sector of society who took strong exception to our presence. The next door neighbours Mr and Mrs Rubens objected to the sound of strumming acoustic guitars in the garden during the summer months and even organised a council petition to have us ejected from the house. This failed because most of the locals were appreciative of having an artistic community in their midst. We had spent nearly a year in Guildford writing and rehearsing, then Chiddingfold then out into the big wide world.”

* Catch The Stranglers at Guildford G Live on March 19 as part of their UK Back on the Tracks tour.