February: City & East London College
Line up: Mike Barson [piano] Chris Foreman [guitar] Lucinda [saxophone] John Hasler [drums] Gavin Rodgers [bass] Suggs [vocals]
Songs: Tequila/Poison Ivy/Feeling so Fine.

Following the departure of Lee [Mike criticised his sax-playing] The Invaders play their first paid gig in a proper venue. The sax-duties are taken over by Lucinda who is the sister of a school friend of Chris and soon to depart her musical career for University.

April 5th: Nightingale Pub Crouch End
Line up: Mike Barson [piano] Chris Foreman [guitar] Lee Thompson [saxophone] John Hasler [drums] Gavin Rodgers [bass] Suggs[vocals]

Lee is now a resident of Luton which has given him ample time to practise his sax playing. He is also rehearsing with a local outfit called Gilt Edge and makes a triumphant return to the Invaders line up. He is now showing much more commitment now as he has bought a WEM amplifier plus his girlfriend Debbie has bought him a mike stand for his sax which then gets left behind and the band have to return to get it. The show is very good but due to residents complaining about the noise is the only one they play there.


April 22nd: Gavin's House
Line up: Mike Barson [piano] Chris Foreman [guitar] Lee Thompson [saxophone] John Hasler [drums] Gavin Rodgers [bass] Suggs[vocals]

The boys get a gig in Gavin’s house as it's Gavin's Dad’s birthday. They are not allowed to bring their girlfriends which is a disappointment.

July 3rd: William Ellis School
Line up: Mike Barson [piano] Chris Foreman [guitar] Garry Dovey [drums] Mark Bedford [bass] John Hasler [vocals]
Songs: Giddy up a Ding Dong 

Suggs has been spending more time lately watching Chelsea FC than turning up for rehearsals. He eventually misses a Saturday rehearsal due to it conflicting with a Chelsea football match and Mike says he won't play with him in the band anymore. The next day Mike plays some keyboards with Gilt Edge at a rehearsal studio and John Hasler apparently does a stunning version of "House of the Rising Sun" which greatly impresses him.

Mike suggests he should be the vocalist from now on and Chris and Gavin reluctantly agree if only to keep the band going. This eventually is the cause of yet another departure from the Invaders ranks as Gavin Rodgers then leaves due to a particularly shambolic rehearsal at John Hasler's house one afternoon which featured the John Hasler version of the Animals' House of the Rising Sun and lots of mucking about with a WEM copycat echo machine which Chris had borrowed from Gilt Edge.

Gavin has become quite a serious musician and has bought a Gibson Bass and a Marshall amp. He has also contributed the music to a Hasler song called Sunshine Voice and he just walks out in frustration. The Invaders then play at an end of term school disco at William Ellis School with John Hasler on vocals.He has brought in a new rhythm section who are drummer Garry Dovey and bass player Mark Bedford and it's due to him that the band are playing as it is his school. His friend Daniel "Woody" Woodgate watches them. "Dreadful but brilliant-really rough" he recalls 6 years later in an 1984 interview with No. 1 magazine.

3 C'S Club
Line up: Mike Barson [piano] Chris Foreman [guitar] Garry Dovey [drums] Mark Bedford [bass] John Hasler [vocals]

The Invaders play at the 3 C's Club in Cumberland Square near Warren Street which Chris's brother in law Phil Payne had arranged as his band the now legendary Low Numbers supported.

Blind Alley shop Camden Lock
Line up: Mike Barson [piano] Chris Foreman [guitar] Gary Dovey [drums] Mark Bedford [bass] Suggs[vocals]

Mark arranged this gig at his workplace as it was his boss's birthday and a band was needed. Suggs has been eager to get back in the band and had even played drums during one rehearsal. He had also attended their two gigs that were played with John Hasler on vocals. John Hasler is on holiday in France so Chris rings Suggs and asks him if he would like to to stand in on vocals at the Blind Alley gig. He does.The set contains a song written by Mike Barson called New Song with Mike on lead vocals [it was later to be retitled My Girl]. Lee is in the audience shouting "where's the sax player?"

November 10th: Acklam Hall West London
Line up: Mike Barson [piano] Chris Foreman [guitar] Woody [drums] Mark Bedford [bass] Suggs [vocals]
Songs: Grey Day/Swan Lake/In The Middle Of The Night
Bill: The Invaders The Valves and The Tribesmen.

Garry Dovey has now left the band after a scuffle during a rehearsal with Lee during an abortive attempt to play the Kilburn and the Highroads classic Rough Kids. His replacement is Woody who is an old friend of Mark's and had also been slightly impressed at the William Ellis gig. Woody has had extensive rehearsals plus a haircut as his shoulder length hair was deemed unsuitable by his new bandmates. Because Suggs is now officially back in the band John Hasler has now become their manager. Clive Langer is at the gig with Glen Matlock from the Sex Pistols which impresses the band. Clive was in a band Called Deaf School who were followed by Mike, Chris, Lee, Carl and Simon Birdsall. He was also a friend of Ben Barson who is Mike's eldest brother. Clive offers to produce the band if they ever want to record anything which also impresses the band. After the show they get involved in a fight but manage to escape thanks to the sterling efforts in the aggro department of Carl plus Chalky and Toks. This was the first gig with the final six members that would become Madness. Plus of course the soon to be seventh Chas who remained in the audience on this occasion.

Middlesex Polytechnic
The band are pulled offstage as they are over running their time. Also Simon Birdsall's brother Jesse has demolished the toilets and the band are being blamed for this wanton act of vandalism. As each member is plucked one at a time unceremoniously by the hippyish Student Union stewards Chalky and Toks put them back onstage thus hindering their vain efforts.