13th Chime formed in 1980 in the small London over-spill town of Haverhill in Suffolk. Born out of the British Punk scene: Vocalist Mick Hand, guitarist Gary O’Connor and drummer Ricki Cook were previously in The Antix while bass player Terry Taylor, played with the hard hitting three piece The Wynd-ups. The band released three independent singles: Coffin Maker, Cursed and Fire, and disbanded circa 1983.
After discovering the three independently produced 7” singles by the 13th Chime, Caleb Bertron of Sacred Bones Records, made it his mission to track the band down and released whatever material they had, on his Brooklyn based record label.
This sparked a renewed interest in the band, which inspired vocalist Mick Hand to form a new lineup that went on to tour Europe, the US …and remarkably an evening in St Petersburg, Russia.