   eddie and the hot rods are a pub rock band from essex founded in 1975. they are best known for their 1977 uk top ten hit "do anything you wanna do", released under the name the rods. they originally split up in 1981, but have reformed several times since, with singer barrie masters the only constant member. ==history== ===formation=== the band was formed in canvey island during 1975 by guitarist dave higgs (who had previously played in the fix with lee brilleaux), with drummer steve nicol, bassist rob steel, and singer barrie masters.buckley before rising to semi-stardom in 1977, the hot rods underwent several changes in personnel: one of the first members to leave the band was eddie himself, a dummy that featured prominently in the hot rods' early gigs and was discarded as the joke had worn thin.larkin, colin (1998) the virgin encyclopedia of indie & new wave, virgin books, isbn 0-7535-0231-3, p. 146erlewine otherwise, the band consisted of barrie masters on vocals, pete wall and dave higgs on guitar, rob steel on bass and steve nicol on drums.strong ed hollis (brother of talk talk's mark hollis) became their manager.ankeny, jason "mark hollis biography", allmusic, retrieved 30 december 2010 in may 1975, after building a live reputation, they secured a saturday-night residency at the kensington in london.gimarc, p. 18 this was followed in october by a joint residency with the 101ers at the nashville, playing alternate headline sets.gimarc, p. 21 in november, after positive press reviews of their live shows, they were signed by island records.gimarc, p. 23 ===commercial success=== by 1976, lew lewis (harmonica) and [[paul 
English_New_Wave_musical_groups English_punk_rock_groups Island_Records_artists Music_in_Essex Pub_rock_musical_groups