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As a teenage Swell Maps fan in 77/78 this 7" single by The Cult Figures which came out in 1979 became my all-time favourite record! (well, almost...) The Swell Maps were the backing band and rocked out in a clattering style behind a couple of blokes from Birmingham... The Krautrock/experimental leanings of the Swell Maps went straight out the window on this record as this was a complete riot full of exhuberance and just bursting with pop energy! It's a tribute to a comic character 'Zip Nolan' from the LION comic who was an Amenican Highway Patrolman who served on the mean streets of Middle England! Every week there were clues in the drawings and the readers were invited to "Spot the clues with Zip Nolan." Classic! This record was so funny, they even stopped the record half way through to tell a joke!!! (leaving out the punchline...)

When the NoMen recorded this song I ruined it by telling a full joke... tsk, tsk, tsk... less is more! Anyway, we had great fun recording this track. The drums were stolen from a track from Chiswick Chartbusters Vol 2: I can't remember what track at the moment, (should have done some research before I wrote this! It wasn't Skrewdriver, that's for sure!)

Not content with doing the A side, we flipped the disk and also did PWT (play with toys) and the Zip dub version from the B side!.

Another reason I loved this record was the sleeve! Pink and blue and folding out into a giant size poster it was one of the real original sleeves of the DIY punk era! When the NoMen recorded their version of the songs they also did their own version of the sleeve for their CD copies! (that's 'Zip' on the NoMen's version!)

notes by Allan NoMan