The Partisans formed in early 1978, with an original line-up of Phil Stanton (vocals), Rob "Spike" Harrington (guitar and vocals), Andy Lealand (guitar), Mark "Shark" Harris (drums), and Mark "Savage" Parsons (bass guitar). Parsons and Stanton left in 1979, with Spike moving to lead vocals, and Lealand's girlfriend Louise Wright joining on bass.Influenced by the likes of the Sex Pistols, The Clash, and The Ramones, the band started off covering punk rock hits and soon started to compose their own material. They were the second band signed to Chris Berry's No Future Records label, and their debut release, the double A-sided Police story/Killing machine was released September 28, 1981. It reached #5 on the UK Indie Chart, on the back of a tour with label-mates Blitz, and with strong support from Sounds writer Garry Bushell. The band split up in 1984. Dave Parsons later found chart success with Transvision Vamp and is now in Bush. Rob moved to Scandinavia. The latter two recorded one more session in late 1989 for Link Records under the name Agent Orange.In the late 1990s Lealand and Harrington reformed the band along with two of Lealand's Swedish friends, Magnus Neundorff and Mikael "Gustav" Gustavsson. The band signed to American label TKO who issued the "So Neat" single in 2001, followed by a new full-length CD in 2004 (Idiot Nation). Currently the band are writing and recording new material.