Sand Creek Massacre
Part of the Colorado War, American Indian Wars
Massacre drawing by witness Howling Wolf
Date November 29, 1864 Location Colorado Territory Present-day Kiowa County, Colorado Result United States Army massacres Native Americans.
Belligerents
United States	Cheyenne Arapaho
Commanders and leaders
John M. Chivington	Black Kettle
Strength
700 [1]	60–200
Casualties and losses
24 killed, 52 wounded[2]	70–163 killed[2]
Native American losses include civilian casualties.

The Sand Creek Massacre (also known as the Chivington Massacre, the Battle of Sand Creek or the Massacre of Cheyenne Indians) was an atrocity in the Indian Wars of the United States that occurred on November 29, 1864, when a 700-man force of Colorado Territory militia attacked and destroyed a village of friendly Cheyenne and Arapaho encamped in southeastern Colorado Territory,^[3] killing and mutilating an estimated 70–163 Indians, about two-thirds of whom were women and children. The location has been designated a National Historic Site and is administered by the National Park Service.

Background [link]

By the terms of the 1851 Treaty of Fort Laramie between the United States and seven Indian nations, including the Cheyenne and Arapaho,^[4] the US recognized that the Cheyenne and Arapaho held a vast territory encompassing the lands between the North Platte River and Arkansas River and eastward from the Rocky Mountains to western Kansas. This area included present-day southeastern Wyoming, southwestern Nebraska, most of eastern Colorado, and the westernmost portions of Kansas.^[5]

In November 1858, however, the discovery of gold in the Rocky Mountains in Colorado,^[6] then part of the Kansas Territory,^[7] brought on the Pikes Peak Gold Rush. There was a flood of European-American migrants across Cheyenne and Arapaho lands. They competed for resources and some settlers tried to stay.^[6] Colorado territorial officials pressured federal authorities to redefine the extent of Indian lands in the territory,^[5] and in the fall of 1860, A.B. Greenwood, Commissioner of Indian Affairs, arrived at Bent's New Fort along the Arkansas River to negotiate a new treaty.^[6]

A delegation of Cheyenne, Kiowa, and Arapaho chiefs in Denver, Colorado on September 28, 1864. Black Kettle 2nd from left front row

On February 18, 1861, six chiefs of the Southern Cheyenne and four of the Arapaho signed the Treaty of Fort Wise with the United States,^[8] in which they ceded most of the lands designated to them by the Fort Laramie treaty.^[5] The Cheyenne chiefs included Black Kettle, White Antelope (Vó'kaa'e Ohvó'komaestse)^[9], Lean Bear, Little Wolf, and Tall Bear; the Arapaho chiefs included Little Raven, Storm, Shave-Head, Big Mouth, and Niwot, or Left Hand.^[8]

The new reserve, less than one-thirteenth the size of the 1851 reserve,^[5] was located in eastern Colorado^[7] between the Arkansas River and Sand Creek.^[5] Some bands of Cheyenne, including the Dog Soldiers, a militaristic band of Cheyenne and Lakota that had evolved beginning in the 1830s, were angry at the chiefs who had signed the treaty. They disavowed the treaty and refused to abide by its constraints.^[10] They continued to live and hunt in the bison-rich lands of eastern Colorado and western Kansas, becoming increasingly belligerent over the tide of white migration across their lands. Tensions were high particularly in the Smoky Hill River country of Kansas, along which whites had opened a new trail to the gold fields.^[11] Cheyenne who opposed the treaty said that it had been signed by a small minority of the chiefs without the consent or approval of the rest of the tribe; that the signatories had not understood what they signed; and that they had been bribed to sign by a large distribution of gifts. The whites, however, claimed that the treaty was a "solemn obligation". Officials took the position that Indians who refused to abide by it were hostile and planning a war.^[12]

The beginning of the American Civil War in 1861 led to the organization of military forces in Colorado Territory. In March 1862, the Coloradans defeated the Texas Confederate Army in the Battle of Glorieta Pass in New Mexico. Following the battle, the First Regiment of Colorado Volunteers returned to Colorado Territory and were mounted as a home guard under the command of Colonel John Chivington. Chivington and Colorado territorial governor John Evans adopted a hard line against Indians, whom white settlers accused of stealing livestock. Without any declaration of war, in April 1864 soldiers started attacking and destroying a number of Cheyenne camps, the largest of which included about 70 lodges, about 10% of the housing capacity of the entire Cheyenne nation.^[13] On May 16, 1864, a force under Lieutenant George S. Eayre crossed into Kansas and encountered Cheyenne in their summer buffalo-hunting camp at Big Bushes near the Smoky Hill River. Cheyenne chiefs Lean Bear and Star approached the soldiers to signal their peaceful intent, but were shot down by Eayre's troops.^[14] This incident touched off a war of retaliation by the Cheyenne in Kansas.^[13]

Damn any man who sympathizes with Indians! ... I have come to kill Indians, and believe it is right and honorable to use any means under God's heaven to kill Indians.

—- Col. John Milton Chivington, U.S. Army^[15]

As conflict between Indians and white settlers and soldiers in Colorado continued, many of the Cheyenne and Arapaho, including bands under Cheyenne chiefs Black Kettle and White Antelope, were resigned to negotiate peace. The chiefs had sought to maintain peace in spite of pressures from whites. They were told to camp near Fort Lyon on the eastern plains, and that their people would be regarded as friendly.

Attack [link]

U.S. Army Colonel John Chivington's portrait. Chivington was a Methodist preacher, freemason and an opponent to slavery.

Black Kettle, a chief of a group of around 800 mostly Northern Cheyenne, reported to Fort Lyon in an effort to establish peace. After having done so, he and his band, along with some Arapaho under Chief Niwot, camped out at nearby Sand Creek, less than 40 miles north. The Dog Soldiers, who had been responsible for many of the raids on whites, were not part of this encampment. Assured by the U.S. Government's promises of peace, most of the warriors were off hunting buffalo, leaving only around 60 men, and women and children in the village. Most of the men were too old or too young to hunt. Black Kettle flew an American flag over his lodge, since previously the officers had said this would show he was friendly and prevent attack by U.S. soldiers.^[16]

Setting out from Fort Lyon, Chivington and his 700 troops of the First Colorado Cavalry, Third Colorado Cavalry and a company of First New Mexico Volunteers marched to Black Kettle's campsite. On the night of November 28, soldiers and militia drank heavily and celebrated their anticipated victory.^[17] On the morning of November 29, 1864, Chivington ordered his troops to attack. Two officers, Captain Silas Soule and Lieutenant Joseph Cramer, commanding companies D and K, respectively, of the First Colorado Cavalry, refused to follow Chivington's order and told their men to hold fire.^[18] Other soldiers in Chivington's force, however, immediately attacked the village. Disregarding the American flag, and a white flag that was run up shortly after the soldiers commenced firing, Chivington's soldiers massacred many of its inhabitants.

I saw the bodies of those lying there cut all to pieces, worse mutilated than any I ever saw before; the women cut all to pieces ... With knives; scalped; their brains knocked out; children two or three months old; all ages lying there, from sucking infants up to warriors ... By whom were they mutilated? By the United States troops ...

—- John S. Smith, Congressional Testimony of Mr. John S. Smith, 1865^[19]

Fingers and ears were cut off the bodies for the jewelry they carried. The body of White Antelope, lying solitarily in the creek bed, was a prime target. Besides scalping him the soldiers cut off his nose, ears, and testicles-the last for a tobacco pouch ...

—- Stan Hoig^[20]

Jis to think of that dog Chivington and his dirty hounds, up thar at Sand Creek. His men shot down squaws, and blew the brains out of little innocent children. You call sich soldiers Christians, do ye? And Indians savages? What der yer 'spose our Heavenly Father, who made both them and us, thinks of these things? I tell you what, I don't like a hostile red skin any more than you do. And when they are hostile, I've fought 'em, hard as any man. But I never yet drew a bead on a squaw or papoose, and I despise the man who would.

—- Kit Carson^[21]

Some of the Indians cut horses from the camp's herd and fled up Sand Creek or to a nearby Cheyenne camp on the headwaters of the Smokey Hill River. Others, including trader George Bent, fled upstream and dug holes in the sand beneath the banks of the stream. They were pursued by the troops and fired on, but many survived.^[22] Cheyenne warrior Morning Star said that most the Indian dead were killed by cannon fire, especially those firing from the south bank of the river at the people retreating up the creek.^[23]

Although initial reports indicated 10 soldiers killed and 38 wounded, the final tally was 4 killed and 21 wounded in the 1st Colorado Cavalry and 20 killed or mortally wounded and 31 other wounded in the 3rd Colorado Cavalry; adding up to 24 killed and 52 wounded.^[2] Dee Brown wrote that some of Chivington's men were drunk and that many of the soldiers' casualties were due to friendly fire^[17] but neither of these claims are supported by Gregory F. Michno^[24] or Stan Hoig^[25] in their books devoted to the massacre. In testimony before a Congressional committee investigating the massacre, Chivington claimed that as many as 500–600 Indian warriors were killed.^[26] Historian Alan Brinkley wrote that 133 Indians were killed, 105 of whom were women and children.^[27] White eye-witness John S. Smith reported that 70–80 Indians were killed, including 20–30 warriors,^[2] which agrees with Brinkley's figure as to the number of men killed. George Bent, the son of the American William Bent and a Cheyenne mother, who was in the village when the attack came and was wounded by the soldiers, gave two different accounts of the Indian loss. On March 15, 1889, he wrote to Samuel F. Tappan that 137 people were killed: 28 men and 109 women and children.^[28] However, on April 30, 1913, when he was very old, he wrote that "about 53 men" and "110 women and children" were killed and many people wounded.^[29] Bent's first figures are in close accord with those of Brinkley and agree with Smith as to the number of men who were killed.

Before Chivington and his men left the area, they plundered the tipis and took the horses. After the smoke cleared, Chivington's men came back and killed many of the wounded. They also scalped many of the dead, regardless of whether they were women, children or infants. Chivington and his men dressed their weapons, hats and gear with scalps and other body parts, including human fetuses and male and female genitalia.^[30] They also publicly displayed these battle trophies in Denver's Apollo Theater and area saloons. Three Indians who remained in the village are known to have survived the massacre – George Bent's brother, Charlie Bent, and two Cheyenne women who were later turned over to William Bent.^[31]

Aftermath [link]

Mochi, a Southern Cheyenne in Black Kettles camp, became a warrior after her experiences at the Sand Creek massacre.

The Sand Creek Massacre resulted in a heavy loss of life, mostly among Cheyenne and Arapaho women and children. Hardest hit by the massacre were the Wutapai, Black Kettle's band. Perhaps half of the Hevhaitaniu were lost, including the chiefs Yellow Wolf and Big Man. The Oivimana led by War Bonnet, lost about half their number. There were heavy losses to the Hisiometanio (Ridge Men) under White Antelope. Chief One Eye was also killed, along with many of his band. The Suhtai clan and the Heviqxnipahis clan under chief Sand Hill experienced relatively few losses. The Dog Soldiers and the Masikota, who by that time had allied, were not present at Sand Creek.^[32] Of about ten lodges of Arapaho under Chief Left Hand, representing about fifty or sixty people, only a handful escaped with their lives.^[33]

After hiding all day above the camp, in holes dug beneath the bank of Sand Creek, the survivors there, many of whom were wounded, moved up the stream and spent the night on the prairie. Trips were made to the site of the camp but very few survivors were found there. After a cold night without shelter, the survivors set out toward the Cheyenne camp on the headwaters of the Smoky Hill River. They soon met up with other survivors who had escaped with part of the horse herd, some returning from the Smoky Hill camp where they had fled during the attack. They then proceeded to the camp, where they received assistance.^[34]

The massacre disrupted the traditional Cheyenne power structure, because of the deaths of eight members of the Council of Forty-Four. White Antelope, One Eye, Yellow Wolf, Big Man, Bear Man, War Bonnet, Spotted Crow, and Bear Robe were all killed, as were the headmen of some of the Cheyenne military societies.^[35] Among the chiefs killed were most of those who had advocated peace with white settlers and the U.S. government.^[36] The net effect of the murders and ensuing weakening of the peace faction exacerbated the social and political rift developing. The traditional council chiefs, mature men who sought consensus and looked to the future of their people, and their followers on the one hand, were opposed by the younger and more militaristic Dog Soldiers on the other.

Beginning in the 1830s, the Dog Soldiers had evolved from a Cheyenne military society of that name into a separate band of Cheyenne and Lakota warriors. They took as its territory the headwaters country of the Republican and Smoky Hill rivers in southern Nebraska, northern Kansas, and the northeast of Colorado Territory. By the 1860s, as conflict between Indians and encroaching whites intensified, the Dog Soldiers and military societies within other Cheyenne bands countered the influence of the traditional Council of Forty-Four chiefs. As mature men, they took a larger view and were more likely to favor peace with the whites.^[37] To the Dog Soldiers, the Sand Creek Massacre illustrated the folly of the peace chiefs' policy of accommodating the whites through treaties such as the first Treaty of Fort Laramie and the Treaty of Fort Wise.^[5] They believed their militant position toward the whites was justified by the massacre.^[37]

The events at Sand Creek dealt a fatal blow to the traditional Cheyenne clan system and the authority of its Council of Chiefs. It had already been weakened by the numerous deaths due to the 1849 cholera epidemic, which killed perhaps half the Southern Cheyenne population, especially the Masikota and Oktoguna bands,^[38] It was further weakened by the emergence of the separate Dog Soldiers band.^[39]

Retaliation [link]

After this event, many Cheyenne, including the great warrior Roman Nose, and Arapaho joined the Dog Soldiers. They sought revenge on settlers throughout the Platte valley, including an 1865 attack on what became Fort Caspar, Wyoming.

Following the massacre, the survivors joined the camps of the Cheyenne on the Smokey Hill and Republican rivers. There the war pipe was smoked and passed from camp to camp among the Sioux, Cheyenne and Arapaho warriors in the area. In January 1865, they planned and carried out an attack with 1,000 warriors on the stage station and fort, then called Camp Rankin, at present-day Julesburg, Colorado. They followed up with numerous raids along the South Platte both east and west of Julesburg, and a second raid on Julesburg in early February. The associated bands captured much loot and killed many whites, including women and children. The bulk of the Indians then moved north into Nebraska on their way to the Black Hills and the Powder River Country.^[40]

Black Kettle continued to want peace. He did not join in the second raid or in the journey north to the Powder River country. He left the camp and returned with 80 lodges to the Arkansas River to seek peace.^[41]

Official investigations [link]

Initially, the Sand Creek engagement was reported as a victory against a brave opponent. Within weeks, however, witnesses and survivors raised a controversy about possible massacre. Several investigations were conducted – two by the military, and one by the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War. The panel declared:^[42]

As to Colonel Chivington, your committee can hardly find fitting terms to describe his conduct. Wearing the uniform of the United States, which should be the emblem of justice and humanity; holding the important position of commander of a military district, and therefore having the honor of the government to that extent in his keeping, he deliberately planned and executed a foul and dastardly massacre which would have disgraced the verist [sic] savage among those who were the victims of his cruelty. Having full knowledge of their friendly character, having himself been instrumental to some extent in placing them in their position of fancied security, he took advantage of their in-apprehension and defenceless [sic] condition to gratify the worst passions that ever cursed the heart of man.

Whatever influence this may have had upon Colonel Chivington, the truth is that he surprised and murdered, in cold blood, the unsuspecting men, women, and children on Sand creek, who had every reason to believe they were under the protection of the United States authorities, and then returned to Denver and boasted of the brave deed he and the men under his command had performed.

In conclusion, your committee are of the opinion that for the purpose of vindicating the cause of justice and upholding the honor of the nation, prompt and energetic measures should be at once taken to remove from office those who have thus disgraced the government by whom they are employed, and to punish, as their crimes deserve, those who have been guilty of these brutal and cowardly acts.

Statements taken by Major Edward W. Wynkoop and his adjutant substantiated the later accounts of survivors. These statements were filed with his reports and can be found in the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, copies of which were submitted as evidence in the Joint Committee of the Conduct of the War and in separate hearings conducted by the military in Denver. Lieutenant James D. Cannon describes the mutilation of human genitalia by the soldiers, "men, women, and children's privates cut out. I heard one man say that he had cut a woman's private parts out and had them for exhibition on a stick. I heard of one instance of a child, a few months old, being thrown into the feed-box of a wagon, and after being carried some distance, left on the ground to perish; I also heard of numerous instances in which men had cut out the private parts of females and stretched them over their saddle-bows, and some of them over their hats".^[43]

During these investigations, numerous witnesses came forward with damning testimony, almost all of which was corroborated by other witnesses. One witness, Captain Silas Soule, was murdered in Denver just weeks after offering his testimony. However, despite the Joint Committee on the Conduct of the Wars' recommendation, no charges were brought against those who committed the massacre. The closest thing to a punishment Chivington suffered was the effective end of his political aspirations.

A monument installed on the Colorado State Capitol grounds in 1909 lists Sand Creek as one of the "battles and engagements" fought by Colorado troops in the American Civil War.

Sand Creek today [link]

Sand Creek, July 1985

The site, on Big Sandy Creek in Kiowa County, is now preserved by the National Park Service. The Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site was dedicated on April 28, 2007, almost 142 years after the massacre.^[44]

The Sand Creek Massacre Trail in Wyoming follows the paths of the Northern Arapaho and Cheyenne in the years after the massacre.^[45] It traces them to their supposed wintering on the Wind River Indian Reservation near Riverton in central Wyoming, where the Arapaho remain today. The trail passes through Cheyenne, Laramie, Casper, and Riverton en route to Ethete in Fremont County on the reservation. In recent years, Arapaho youth have taken to running the length of the trail as endurance tests to bring healing to their nation. Alexa Roberts, superintendent of the Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site, has said that the trail represents a living portion of the history of the two tribes.

Depiction in popular media [link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

The Sand Creek massacre has been featured in several movies, including Tomahawk (1951); The Guns of Fort Petticoat (1957); Soldier Blue (1970); Little Big Man (1970); Steven Spielberg's mini-series Into the West; Young Guns (1988); and Last of the Dogmen (1995).

The massacre has also been written about in literature, such as Centennial by James Michener; From Sand Creek (1981) by Simon Ortiz (Acoma Pueblo); James Bradley's Flyboys: A True Story of Courage (2003); and Lauren Small's Choke Creek (2009).

Songs about Sand Creek include Iron Maiden's "Run to the Hills" and Fabrizio De André's "Fiume Sand Creek" (Sand Creek River).

See also [link]

• Sand Creek Massacre National Historic Site
• Howling Wolf (Cheyenne)
• Battle of Julesburg

Footnotes [link]

References [link]

• Official Records of the War of the Rebellion.
• Berthrong, Donald J. (1963). The Southern Cheyennes. Civilization of the American Indian. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0-8061-1199-5. 
• Brown, Dee (1970). Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West. Owl Books. ISBN 978-0-8050-6669-2.
• Greene, Jerome A. (2004). Washita, The Southern Cheyenne and the U.S. Army. Campaigns and Commanders, vol. 3. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0-8061-3551-9.
• Hatch, Thom (2004). Black Kettle: The Cheyenne Chief Who Sought Peace but Found War. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-471-44592-0.
• Hoig, Stan (1977). The Sand Creek Massacre. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0-8061-1147-6.
• Hoig, Stan (1980). The Peace Chiefs of the Cheyennes. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0-8061-1573-3.
• Hyde, George E. (1968). Life of George Bent Written from His Letters. Ed. by Savoie Lottinville. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press. ISBN 978-0-8061-1577-1.
• Michno, Gregory F. (2004). Battle at Sand Creek. El Segundo, CA: Upton and Sons, Publishers. ISBN 978-0-912783-37-6. 
• Michno, Gregory F. (2003). Encyclopedia of Indian Wars: Western Battles and Skirmishes 1850–1890. Missoula, MT: Mountain Press Publishing Company. ISBN 978-0-87842-468-9.
• "Treaty of Fort Laramie with Sioux, Etc., 1851." 11 Stats. 749, Sept. 17, 1851. In Charles J. Kappler, compiler and editor, Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties — Vol. II: Treaties. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1904, pp. 594–596 . Through Oklahoma State University Library, Electronic Publishing Center.
• "Treaty with the Arapaho and Cheyenne, 1861" (Treaty of Fort Wise). 12 Stat. 1163, Feb. 15, 1861. Ratified Aug. 6, 1861; proclaimed Dec. 5, 1861. In Charles J. Kappler, compiler and editor, Indian Affairs: Laws and Treaties — Vol. II: Treaties. Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1904, pp. 807–811 . Through Oklahoma State University Library, Electronic Publishing Center.
• United States Army. (1867). Courts of Inquiry, Sand Creek Massacre. Report of the Secretary of War Communicating, In Compliance With a Resolution of the Senate of February 4, 1867, a Copy of the Evidence Taken at Denver and Fort Lyon, Colorado Territory, By a Military Commission, Ordered to Inquire into the Sand Creek Massacre, November, 1864. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. Senate Executive Document 26, 39th Congress, Second Session. Reproduced in Wynkoop, Christopher H. (2004-08-13). "Inquiry into the Sand Creek Massacre, November, 1864." The Wynkoop Family Research Library. Rootsweb.com: Freepages. Retrieved on 2007-04-29.
• United States Congress. (1867). Condition of the Indian Tribes. Report of the Joint Special Committee Appointed Under Joint Resolution of March 3, 1865, with an Appendix. (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office.
• United States Senate. (1865). "Massacre of the Cheyenne Indians". Report of the Joint Committee on The Conduct of the War. (3 vols.) Senate Report No. 142, 38th Congress, Second Session. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. pp. I–VI, 3–108
• West, Elliott (1998). The Contested Plains: Indians, Goldseekers, and the Rush to Colorado. University Press of Kansas. ISBN 978-0-7006-1029-7.
• Winger, Kevin (August 17, 2007). "Trail Helps Mark 1864 Massacre". Cheyenne Wyoming Tribune-Eagle.

External links [link]

• Who is the Savage?
• Finding The Site
• Sand Creek Massacre Historic Site
• Sand Creek Tours
• Historic Documents from PBS, especially look up testimony from John S. Smith to Congress
• Report of the United States Congress Joint Committee on the Conduct of the War, 1865 at University of Michigan Digital Library Production Service, University of Michigan
• Sand Creek Massacre Documentary Film Project
• Small collection of digitized primary materials on Sand Creek at Colorado College Special Collections
• National Park Service CWSAC Battle Summary
• 1st Annual Sand Creek Massacre Spiritual "For the People" Healing Run, 2011 video

Coordinates: 38°32′51.75″N 102°30′22.86″W / 38.5477083°N 102.50635°W / 38.5477083; -102.50635

Sand Creek may refer to a location in the United States:

Communities[link]

• Sand Creek, Wisconsin, a town
  • Sand Creek (community), Wisconsin, an unincorporated community within the town of Sand Creek
• Sand Creek Township (disambiguation)

Streams[link]

• Sand Creek (Denver, Colorado), a tributary of the South Platte River flowing through Aurora, Denver, and Commerce City, Colorado
• Sand Creek (Wyoming), a tributary of the Laramie River and a National Natural Landmark
• Big Sandy Creek (Colorado), site of the Sand Creek Massacre
  • Sand Creek massacre, in southeastern Colorado Territory in 1864
• Big Sandy Creek (Montana), also known as Sand Creek

Other uses[link]

• Sand Creek High School, a high school in Colorado Springs, Colorado

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (December 2010)

The Now are a late 1970s English punk rock group from Peterborough, England. Whilst never officially disbanding, they ceased recording and performing in 1979. In 2004, The Now recorded all of their original material and released as the Fuzztone Fizzadelic album in 2005 on the Damaged Goods record label.

Career[link]

The Now, Peterborough's first punk rock band, formed late in 1976. Founded by Mike McGuire and Steve Rolls. Mike and Steve were at the time performing with The Faderz, who had only existed for a few months, before they had hooked into the London Punk scene in 1976. Joe MacColl and Paul Wicks (aka The Dangerous Dip or occasionally The Mysterious Dip) were recruited immediately to form The Now. Early gigs were self organised affairs, notably at the Peterborough Marcus Garvey Club. A community club, mainly catering for the city's West Indian community. Such gigs were usually with local reggae artists such as The Legions, any punk band who would dare come out of London (or other major cities), such as 999, The Killjoys and Eater, as well as new local punk bands such as Heavy Manners. This was a great challenge for The Now since putting Punk Rock into an East Anglian provincial environment (where there already existed a time warp sensibility), caused a lot of friction at that time. During this time The Dangerous Dip was replaced on the bass guitar by Faz Farrow. The Now were managed by Allen Adams who later went on to form the band The Destructors and later Destructors 666.

The Now were far removed from what is traditionally known as 123 ‘Punk’ thrash. With intelligent songs, political lyrics and a real sense of small town frustration and anger The Now were unique. This was real urban punk rock, devoid of big city trends, tolerance and fashion. The Now played many gigs, and could often be found playing those early, then famous, London venues such as Roxy Club and The Vortex clubs in London.

The Now released two singles "Development Corporations" / "Why" on Ultimate Records in November 1977 and a deal with Lee Wood's Raw Records signed in mid 1978 produced two songs, "Into The 80's" and "9 'O' Clock" (actually recorded for Raw in late 1977) which were re-mixed and scheduled for March 23 release. This 7" single was delayed due to economic problems which would soon force the Cambridge based label to close down. When it eventually emerged on November 30, only 800 copies were pressed, with at least half of these being destroyed in a fire at Raw's warehouse. Both singles were, in the main, well received. The first single, "Development Corporations", reached number 4 in the Sounds alternative chart and number 2 in the Time Out chart in 1977.

Around this time, The Now, went their own ways through mutual consent. In 2002 there was a great deal of interest around the original singles, particularly in Europe. As a result, a German record company, Last Years Youth, duly re-released both singles, containing a couple of previously unreleased versions of the original songs. It was a logical progression (albeit unusual) to use this exposure as an opportunity to record and release a definitive version of all of the early songs written by The Now. Fuzztone Fizzadelic was recorded during 2004 by the four original members of The Now, representing their original set list, as performed in 1977. In true punk rock style The Now rehearsed for three hours and had two days in the studio for recording and mixing. 27 years between writing and recording must be some sort of record. Fuzztone Fizzadelic was released in 2005.

Mike McGuire and Steve Rolls went on to form 80's avant garde band Sudden Sway. Joe MacColl went on to join mod revivalists The Name. Faz Farrow went on to perform with numerous band as a journyman bass guitarist. Steve Rolls was asked to join The Destructors by Allen Adams in 2006.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Fuzztone Fizzadelic (Damaged Goods, August 2005)

Singles[link]

• "Development Corporations" / "Why?" (Ultimate Records, ULT401, 1977)
• "Development Corporations" / "Why?" (Ultimate Records, ULT401-A, 1977, Blue Vinyl)
• "9 O Clock" / "Into the 80's" (Raw Records, RAW31, 1978)
• "9 O Clock" / "Into the 80's" (Re-distributed under Last Years Youth Records (LAST 1, 2000) Limited Edition of 500
• "Development Corporations" / "Why" / "Development Corporations" (Live In The Studio Mix) (Last Years Youth, LAST 11, 2002) Limited Edition of 500
• "Into The 80's" / "9 O Clock" (Live In The Studio Mix) / "Into the 80's" (Live In The Studio Mix) (Last Years Youth, LAST 12, 2002) Limited Edition of 500

Compilations[link]

• Here Come The Now CD. Japanese Release (Wizard in Vinyl, June 2005) - Best of Compilation (includes Singles + Live Sessions) Limited Edition 1000. 500 in Red Vinyl
• Here Come The Now LP. German Release (Last Years Youth, June 2005) - Best of Compilation (includes '79 Recordings)
• Oh No! It's More From Raw CD (2003)
• Don't You Know It's ...Last years Youth! CD. Japanese Release(Wizzard In Vinyl, WIV039, 2005) contains Into The 80's. 9 O Clock and Development Corporations.

Reviews[link]

• 'A primitive but wonderful single from a criminally underrated D.I.Y. Punk band from Peterborough. This sounds like the Desperate Bicycles, and is a very simple, but effective protest song about a subject that should be dear to your hearts. And fuzztone fizzedelic guitar! You need more?' ^[1]
• 'It sounds like the rough first cassette of two really good songs from a Peterborough punk band. Usual '77 cynicism, plus (skeleton) Sex Pistols style melodic strength. I like it. Try and hear it".^[2]
• 'Amateur to the point of severe embarrassment' ^[3]
• 'Well-intentioned identipunk. For specialists only' ^[4]
• 'Even though the sound is strictly garage production level, the songs too long, and the sleeve packaging mateurish in the most boring way, this is worth checking out. 'Why?' has an intro reminiscent of an old Velvet Underground tune (you decide which one), then bursts into one of the most anguished, bewildered cries at life's futility I've ever heard' ^[5]

Further reading[link]

Paul Marko (2007) The Roxy London WC2 - A Punk History, with foreword by TV Smith of The Adverts, Punk77 Books, ISBN 978-0-9556583-0-3.

See also[link]

• List of musicians in the first wave of punk music

References[link]

External links[link]

• http://www.punk77.co.uk/groups/now.htm
• http://www.roxyclub77.co.uk/pages/book.htm

Geoffrey Zanelli or Geoff Zanelli (born September 28, 1974) is a composer working primarily in the medium of film music. His early career was notable for scoring additional music on roughly 30 film scores written by Hans Zimmer, Harry Gregson-Williams, John Powell, Klaus Badelt and Steve Jablonsky including several blockbuster films. He has since moved on to more solo work.

Aside from film and television scores, Zanelli has also worked with recording artists, writing string arrangements for the bands Mest, Story of the Year, and for Robbie Williams. He has also been credited as a guitarist/bassist/synthsist on the song "I'm Not Dead" from recording artist Pink.

Life and work[link]

Zanelli is from Westminster, California, and is a graduate of Berklee College of Music. Zanelli began his musical career as a guitar player and songwriter for numerous local acts in Southern California. While attending the prestigious Berklee College of Music on scholarship, Zanelli dual majored in Film Scoring and Music Production/Engineering. He was the recipient of both the Doug Timm Award in recognition of his film scoring work and the Music Production and Engineering Scholar Award.

In 1994, Hans Zimmer recognized Zanelli as a promising young talent and invited him to Los Angeles to join his group of film music talent. Zanelli quickly earned his reputation as a workhorse, becoming versed in many facets of music while working as an engineer on the début album from Goldfinger as well as Zimmer's Oscar Award-nominated score for The Preacher's Wife.

Zanelli's experience and desire to collaborate led him to work with British composer John Powell on his first Hollywood feature, Face/Off. Throughout the following years he built the foundation for his scoring career, composing with Powell, Hans Zimmer, Klaus Badelt, Harry Gregson-Williams and Steve Jablonsky on many feature films, including: Pirates Of The Caribbean 1, 2 and 3, the Golden Globe-nominated scores for The Last Samurai and Pearl Harbor.

The composing experience had Zanelli accrued prepared him for a kinetic start to his solo career. One of his earliest solo works, Steven Spielberg's miniseries Into The West, earned him an Emmy. Showcasing his versatility, in just over one year Zanelli scored the films Disturbia, Hitman, Outlander, Delgo, Ghost Town and Gamer, each with a unique approach. Harking back to his earlier days as a songwriter, he co-wrote the song "Don't Make Me Wait" for Disturbia. He currently writes at Hans Zimmer's Remote Control Productions.

Filmography (as principal composer)[link]

2012

• The Odd Life Of Timothy Green

2011

• Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides (composer: Spain theme)
• Rango (composer: Rattlesnake Jake theme, Mayor's theme, Holy Spigot theme)
• Beneath The Darkness
• Should've Been Romeo

2010

• The Pacific (miniseries) -- Emmy Award nominated score
• You May Not Kiss The Bride

2009

• Gamer

2008

• Ghost Town
• Outlander
• Delgo

2007

• Hitman
• Disturbia

2005

• Into the West (miniseries) -- Emmy Award winning score

2004

• House of D
• Secret Window

2001

• Feast

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Geoff Zanelli

• Geoff Zanelli's imdb.com entry
• Article about Zanelli's Emmy win for Into The West
• Soundtrack.net's coverage of the recording of Zanelli's score for Disturbia