There are at least two bands called Maniacs (plus a bunch called The Maniacs, who must not be listed here). 1. Maniacs were a British punk band in 1977 and 1978, fronted by Alan Lee Shaw (guitar, vocals). Shaw and Rod Latter (drums) came at the end of 1976 from Cambridge to London and founded The Rings. Following a few live gigs and one 7-inch single ('I Wanna Be Free') the group parted ways. Alan Lee Shaw and Rod Latter found via an add in Melody Maker the new bass player Robert Crash and the Manicas were born. Their first concert was in France (Mont De Marsan Punk Festival) with The Clash, The Damned, and The Police on the same bill. In September 1977 the band recorded five songs, two of them made it to be released as the 7" single 'Chelsea '77 / Ain’t No Legend'. In January 1978 the band fell apart. 2. Maniacs are also a German hardcore punk band founded in Rotenburg , Germany. They were active from 1982 tot 1991. <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Maniacs">Read more on Last.fm</a>. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.