Drummer changes and Metal Box

The departure of Jim Walker made way for a series of new drummers. Auditions were later held at Rollerball Studios in Tooley Street , London Bridge . David Humphrey was their second drummer, who went on to record two tracks at Manor Studios in Oxford, “Swan Lake” and “Albatross”, for Metal Box . ” Death Disco ” (a.k.a. “Swan Lake”) was released as a single in 1979 and reached No. 20 in the charts. The majority of the drumming on the album was provided by Richard Dudanski (formerly of the 101ers ), PiL’s drummer from April to September 1979. He was replaced by Karl Burns (of the Fall ), who in turn was replaced by Martin Atkins . The recording and practice sessions were chaotic; Atkins said in 2001 that his audition was playing “Bad Baby” during a recording session–a take which was taped and released on Metal Box . Atkins was PiL’s drummer from 1979 to 1980 and 1982 to 1985.