[1] Jackdaw with Crowbar's original line-up was Timothy Ellis, Fergus Durrant, Dave Tibbats and Dan Morrison, with Adam Sindall, Steve Law and Fran Juckes making Super 8mm films which were always present in their live performances.
[1][2][3] This line-up released the band's first three records, Monarchy, Mayhem and Fishpaste, Sink Sank Sunk and Hot Air.
Jackdaw received air play on BBC Radio 6 in Stuart Maconie's Freak Zone and Don Letts' show.
The band's musical style was described by the musician and writer John Robb as a combination of "spiky and dark guitar-driven blues and guitar-punk disco-filth".
[1] Discussing the first EP, Monarchy, Mayhem, and Fishpaste, the writer John Corbett described the music as "a song sung through a bull horn ("Crow"), an accordion reggae-dub ("Fourth World"), a two-step featuring slide guitar reminiscent of Zoot Horn Rollo in Captain Beefheart's Magic Band ("The Night Albania Fell on Alabama").