|
 Nuts
whole Hazelnuts…
HAZEL O’CONNOR was Hugh’s squeeze back
in 1980. Many of us fans of a certain age fondly recall her
entertaining outfit supporting the mighty MiB on many occasions.
Hazel was a bit or a sort, wasn’t she? I bet you also made sure
you were quick to take up position in the front row, to ogle
those shiny black Lycra legs, past the stripey black and white
bib, peroxide bleached bob, to gawp at Miss O’Connor’s…
robotics. Personally, I may not have known the difference
between backing bands, Fundamentals or Megahype, but then, I
never knew if Hazel was Hazel or her Breaking Glass character,
Kate. To Hazel’s credit though, she released the single,
‘Hanging Around’ - something The Stranglers never managed!
Hazel O'
Connor HERE
Spitting image...
TRAWLING THROUGH the memory banks can
sometimes bring a lump to your throat. For one particular
guitarist, most of these lumps in throats ended up on the the
band. Riff Raff guitarist Wiggy supported The Stranglers
alongside the upcoming Barking Bard Billy Bragg. In 1978, they
played Peterborough’s Wirinna Stadium - and got more than just a
warm reception:
“I’ve never had to scrape so much
gob of my guitar! It was obviously a sign of appreciation!”
Wiggy says. We say: no thanks, Northants!
Riff Raff
HERE
It’s not just phlegm that flew through
the air at some early Stranglers gigs…
"If you throw one more tin can..."
Mirth Control...
FUNNY YOU SHOULD say that, but
incredibly, these humorous dudes all told their gags at gigs for
The Stranglers: Harry Enfield, Jim Tavare, Robin Williams,
Stephen Frost, and Keith Allen – dad of pop chanteuse Lilly
Allen!
But there was only one truly
‘alternative’ comedian that needs mentioning here – Johnny
Rubbish - a rubbish act, for sure. Also known as John Gatward, a
Stranglers fan who got to know Hugh Cornwell, who in turn,
became his manager.
Johnny’s stand-up routine at Battersea
was conducted from a dustbin, carried on by able assistants in
the shape of a couple of Finchley Boys. He wailed ‘Mud On My
Tyre’ - a joke on ‘Mull Of Kintyre’ and ‘Living In NW3 4JR’ – a
posh Hampstead postcode parody of the Pistols’ ‘Anarchy In The
UK’. The cringe-o-meter soared to 11 as the irony went over the
heads of the audience, and it wasn’t long before a shower of
beer-flavoured missiles also went overhead towards our man of
the mirth. But when you say to the crowd: “If you throw one more
tin can, I’m walking off.” there really is only one way to go.
Exit, stage left.
Johnny returns in 1997 at The
Stranglers’ Royal Albert Hall concert, where he might well have
been canned off again – had any of us been able to get a drink
at the bar in the first place. These days, Essex-based John
‘refuses’ to ‘dig’ up his old act having ‘disposed’ of his old
funny business: he ‘cannily’ imports toys instead.
Johnny Rubbish
info
HERE
Thanks to Alan Hillier for this
Rubbish pic
|
Strangled
UPDATE
A very
big thank you goes to former sound man Max Sillars who
emailed us with his recollections of working with Johnny
Rubbish – as well as Stranglers’ support band, The
Edge.…
|
Hi, I
was a sound engineer thru the late 70's for
a hire company called RMS. I was used to
spit, blood, chaos and sometimes out and out
danger on a nightly basis. However, despite
all that, the worst night in my years of
punk and reggae sound engineering was with
Johnny Rubbish, having foolishly accepted to
do a 'tour' with him on his own, as a stand
up comedian in 1979.
At the first gig at the Windsor Castle pub
he came onstage and immediately announced
over the PA that 'he needed a crap' - and
walked back through the crowd to the toilet.
Initially the audience of hard-arsed punks
thought this was part of a carefully crafted
act. After ten minutes the crowd began to
realise something was amiss, and got angry.
After 15 minutes they realised they'd been
ripped right off and Johnny wasn't coming
back. Fighting broke out - with only me left
to explain what was going on. I was lucky to
get out with the gear and without serious
injury.
RMS was known for taking on tough acts like
Sham 69 and Chelsea, and sticking with them
though gigs that definitely 'raised health &
safety concerns'. But the Johnny Rubbish
'tour' stands out as the one act through all
those years that the boss - Frankie
Blackwell - thankfully didn't allow to
continue on the grounds of safety to his
crew.
PS. I don’t have that Edge set list from
Battersea, but I do have one from a night at
the Nashville where The Stranglers were in
the crowd. I could scan it and send it if it
would be of interest.
Max |
|
|
Anarchy in London N20
Two ex-Damned plus one future
Culture Club.
Bassist Glyn Havard reminisces - on The Edge.
WOODY SUBURBAN TOTTERIDGE sits
comfortably up the road to Finchley at the northwest
edge of Greater London. Sprawling mansions belonging to
pop stars and footballers litter the leafy lanes. Stars
such as Cliff Richard, Hank Marvin, Frankie Vaughan and
pop producer Mickey Most all hang out in London, N.20 in
the late ‘70’s. One imposing home lay derelict and
forlorn – but a secret existed behind the huge oak
doors. For this was the hide-out of a little-known
post-punk band called The Edge. Bass guitarist and
singer Glyn Havard remembers:
“This enormous ten-bedroom mansion was a squat. It had
oak panels, tennis courts out the back, the lot. A load
of dropouts lived there too - mostly bikers.”
Keyboard player Gavin Povey contacts Glyn, who he knew
from the Cliff Davis Band. He tells him about the new
group he’s getting together with two former members of
an unrecorded Damned. Glyn goes to the audition and gets
the gig.
“I was in Canada with another band when I got word from
Gavin. He said about Lu and Jon from The Damned and I
thought – wow! They did have a bass player, a Canadian
chap, but he’d left. And my work permit was up and
things weren’t working out anyway. So I came back and
found the squat in Totteridge. There in the front room
was Lu Edmonds on guitar and Jon Moss on drums, plus
Gavin on keyboards. They plugged in and blew me away.
They sounded fantastic – I couldn’t wait to join.”
 Lu and Jon are recently liberated from an unrecorded
Damned line-up - sacked when Brian James rejects their
songs co-written with the Captain. The pair make an
instant impact on Glyn:
“Lu was brilliant. He had this great ear for melody and
was really inventive. I couldn’t wait to work with him.
But right from that very first day, me and Jon Moss
never hit it off. He just didn’t like me, and he was
cocky. I stormed off up the café and they came up and
talked me into coming back. After that he was always
trying to get me kicked out of the band. Strange. But he
was also the funniest guy I ever met. His sense of
humour was wicked… it was just a pity he was just so
manipulative, man.”
“Hugh had tickets to see Abba…”
 |
With the nascent Edge
underway, Glyn cuts off his hair the following
day, in keeping with the image of a 1978
post-punk New Wave act. Their beef-edged sound
forge muscular melody with a healthy smattering
of The Damned and The Stranglers. Ensuing gigs
in the capital are well-received and cement
their reputation as one of the best new up and
coming bands. At the Nashville, they break the
attendance record, formerly held by another
four-piece – The Stranglers. But if they were to
continue, they would need a record deal - and
money - to survive on. They also need a demo,
and it is Johnny Rubbish who comes to the
rescue.
After booking the band into a studio in Swiss
Cottage, tapes are sent out. But it’s no
coincidence fellow Battersea act Johnny Rubbish
takes a shine to The Edge: he once attended the
same school as Jon Moss, and both shared the
privilege of coming from well-heeled north
London families. One day at the squat, the squat
receives a visit from a well-known musician.
“Johnny came down with Hugh Cornwell and we all
sat in the garden drinking tea. Hugh had this
ghetto blasterhe’s brought along – one of those
huge radio cassette players – and stuck on this
tape of Spirit. I was quite surprised because
Spirit are so un-Stranglers. He also said he had
tickets to see Abba – that blew my mind too! I
mean - Abba..?!”
Hugh’s flatmate, lawyer Nick Pedgrift, joins
Johnny to manage The Edge, and on 16th September
1978, they appear onstage at Battersea
supporting The Stranglers.
“Battersea was fantastic – it was our biggest
gig. We seemed to go down well. I can remember
the tank firing off these explosions during the
set – and also the Army recruitment stand as
well! At one point, Concorde flew right over our
heads –you couldn’t have planned it better! And
the strippers… [LOL] they were gorgeous too,
weren’t they?” |
In the absence of Battersea’s set list, The Edge
probably played most of this lot: Costa Brava, American
Excess, Wallflowers, Downhill, Macho Man, I’m Cold,
Hanging Man, Winning Streak, The Edge Theme, and The
End. ‘Macho Man’ was a song Glyn wrote about from the
days in the squat.
“I looked at these bikers there – thinking: what are
they gonna be like when they’re 60? I mean drugs, bikes,
it’s a young man’s game, man. Not when you’re old and
grey. It just made me wonder what are they gonna do
then? That’s what Macho Man’s about – not JJ as some
people think!”
Debut album, ‘Square One’ comes out as British music is
fast changing – and The Edge get left behind in the
rush. An offer to back folkster Ewan MacColl’s daughter,
newcomer Kirsty, brings more success, and soon another
invitation arrives from Akron, USA. Singer Jane Eyre
needs a backing band, and The Edge change their name to
The Belvederes.
|
“We were getting more money from being session players.
In the end, I had enough. I left the band – and we went
out separate ways.”
Fame was slipping away, and times were changing for
Glyn. Back in Ebbw Vale as a talented nine-year-old, he
made his first guitar from a plank of wood and some
elastic bands. Then, in his teens, he was stirred by the
sight of Paul McCartney on the telly:
“I bought the same bass – the Hofner fiddle. He was the
first bassist who could play and sing at the same time,”
London was an attraction, and he relocates in the
mid-1960’s, touring with fading one-hit wonders Unit
Four Plus Two and Chicory Tip. He also fronts
avant-garde rock outfit Jade Warrior, and later on, the
Yachts. In 1980, it is time to return to his roots, and
to look after his ailing mother. Nowadays, Glyn has
traded rock music for stonemasonry, but memories of his
heady post-punk time leave the charming, cheerful
musician with nothing but warm recollections interrupted
only with laughter.
“The Edge were fucking great, man. Even though Jon was a
total shit - I’d still like to…[LOL] meet up with him!
And Gavin, of course, who I lost touch with. He went on
to join Lew Lewis Reformer, got married and that’s all I
know. I tried to get hold of him a while back but
nothing came of it. The last I heard of Lu was he went
on to play for Spizz, and also The Mekons, Public Image
and Billy Bragg. He was doing up his pad in Stockwell,
south London – in between travelling around the globe in
search of new music. He’d go to deserts and stuff, with
his portable DAT player– and record the throat warblers
from Azerbaijan! But that’s Lu!”
Glyn's own blog
HERE
The Edge mentioned
HERE
The Edge set list, possibly from the
Nashville in 1979 courtesy of Max Sillars.
|
 |
|
Hi
Gary, attached is the Edge set list from -
I'm pretty sure - a Nashville gig on 17th
Feb 1979.
Looking back through my diary of '79 I've
started to put the Edge dates in a list. Out
of this list, I recall two gigs that didn't
make it to the end of the set.
The 20th Jan date is where the Edge
supported the UK Subs at ULU. Usually at
gigs I'd have been within 50 yards of the
stage mixing the sound, and would often
abandon the desk to try to avoid a stage
invasion escalating. It wasn't so much the
trouble we cared about - but that after most
stage invasions it was quite usual to find a
couple of canon plugs hanging limply from
the mike stands with the Shure SM 58s gone,
so being on stage very quickly was essential
to prevent loss of the whole nights
earnings. But aside from the money, a loyal
crew - even wimps like me - could hardly
stand by as musicians fought off crowds
who'd imbibed antisocial levels of
amphetamine and alcohol.
However on the 20th Jan the desk was sited
right up on the balcony at the ULU - in
heavy crowds a good 10 mins from the stage.
8 numbers into the set a mob of anti-Semitic
types swept up on to the stage like a wave,
trashing everything in their path. I watched
helplessly – not that my contribution would
have made any difference - as Jon Moss was
held upside down by two skinheads while a
third kicked shit out of him. I had to have
it explained to me quite a few times as why
he'd taken the brunt of it, and others had
got off more lightly. I couldn't understand
how a crowd of NF supporters in the crowd
listening to a band play could know Jon was
Jewish - but they did.
The other Edge gig of 1979 that never made
it to the final number was the 17th March
Windsor Castle. We'd all seen people get
electric shocks when playing guitar and
touching the mike with their mouth, and
usually it was nothing more than a whack.
But as Lu Edmonds stepped to the mike half
way through the set that night he got a full
mains belt that had him frozen to the stand
for a full 30 seconds before he collapsed. I
can remember looking up at half interested
punters supping pints, as I wondered if any
of them would notice if a got the exact
ratio of cardiac massage to mouth to mouth
respiration wrong. As it happened Lu was
still breathing, it was his brain that was
now in another place. He had a thousand yard
stare for quite a while, and in my view he
was never quite the same person again.
Still, having had a one to one with God on a
mountain top is bound to change you. That
and the realisation of how close you came to
being dead on the floor of the Windsor
Castle. Through the summer of '79 there were
fewer and fewer Edge gigs, and I notice from
my diary that by the 9th & 10th of October
I'm doing the sound for Jane Aire & The
Belvederes, so I guess it was all over by
then.
Please give my regards to Glyn when you see
him, and do tell him to get in touch. I'd
really like to meet up with him.
All the best,
Max |
Will do, Max. many thanks for
your emails and set list.
Meanwhile, it looks like we have stuck oil...
He plays Battersea in 1978 - asks ‘Where’s Captain
Kirk?’ in 1979… and releases the second best England
World Cup song in 2006.
Let’s get Spizzical!
FRIDAY EVENING – fresh from a five-a-side weekly
workout, wee Spizz puzzles the surrounding suits in the
packed boozer off Borough High Street. He ignites with
zeal, recalling Battersea’s infamous stripper-thon:
“Me and Pete couldn’t believe it. I mean, there’s us
two fit and hand… well, hot-blooded young men… and
surrounded by all these strippers! It would have been
even more amazing if we’d known about it! You see, we
came on and did our slot and had to leave right away to
get to Aylesbury supporting the Banshees – it makes Phil
Collins look silly – I mean, we had a car, not Concorde!
So we didn’t know anything about the strippers until
afterwards. We were gutted when we found out - gutted!”
Effervescent Spizz is a Punk rock survivor. At 47, he
still oozes energy, which is no coincidence as he still
fronts the modern day line-up of Spizzenergi - with
newbies Si on guitar, Matt on bass, and Jeff who has
drummed for the London Cowboys. I caught them recently
in London, and they were as tight as the proverbial
bird’s rear.
 Timeless spikey classics like ‘Soldier, Soldier’, ‘6,000
Crazy’ and the ubiquitous ‘Where’s Captain Kirk?’
entertain the Luminaire’s mixed bag of curious youth and
middle-aged onlookers - no doubt recalling the days
Spizz was the prettiest, best known alternative
luminary. Clowning in the stagier songs, witty and
self-effacing in-between, he works the crowd with his
hilarious tuneless guitar intro lead to ‘Spock’s
Missing’ – and a bulging mystery bum bag falls from his
waistline halfway through. He peels off a bright red
oriental silk shirt to reveal a black sequined cabaret
shirt – “£30 off Ebay. 10 quid for the shirt - 20 quid
postage and packing…” Spizz likes props: “I felt I had
to have other things to entertain and keep the
audiences’ attention, I never thought I was good enough
just on my own.” Onstage in his hey-day, he once
showered the crowd with a bag of polystyrene packaging:
“That’s because they were in the shape of the letter ‘S’
… for Spizz!”
Spizz is a shameless self-publicist, calling BBC Radio
London’s football phone-in last year to vote for the
best England 2006 World Cup song – exposing his own song
on-air. ‘We’re The England’ CD Is promptly handed to the
station’s Marylebone Road HQ by a dutiful Spizz.
Entering the song race late – he still achieves a very
creditable second spot after winners Sham 69. A better
result than the England team, in fact! One thing’s for
sure, Spizz should have, most definitely, been a
contender. Back in 1992, Michael Stipe’s REM sought
clearance to record their version of ‘Where’s Captain
Kirk?’
 “I thought I was going to be ‘quids in’ - I agreed. REM
then went and released it as a giveaway single that
Christmas to 6,000 members of their fan club.”
The comical lyrics based around Star Trek came to Spizz
while sat on the bus after a rehearsal. Keyboard player
Mark Coalfield’s riff had infiltrated Spizz’s head,
although Mark’s music and original words were obscure:
“It was called ‘Nobody’s Who’ then, but all of a sudden
the first two verses just came at me on the bus. I got
off, ran into the house and wrote verse three and that
was Captain Kirk. Amazing.”
‘Captain Kirk’ comes out late 1979, and spends most of
the following year in the nascent Alternative Chart -
two months at Number 1. A refusal by Star Trek actor
William Shatner to appear in a photo opportunity at the
London premier of ‘Star Trek: The Motion Picture’ fails
to deter sales.
“I’ve always loved sci-fi and Star Trek – right from a
kid. It’s only now I know it’s basically just Bonanza -
with the cowboys and Indians dressed up in silver space
suits. Captain Kirk sold stacks – but they weren’t
bought from the right shops. Rough Trade wouldn’t go
along with the BPI rules on publishing – it would have
cost them a lot of money. So we never got the exposure
and weren’t fully recognised. Quite simply we didn’t get
into Top 40 and didn’t get to go on Top of the Pops. I
mean, the Arctic Monkeys got to Number 1 with sales of
50,000 - we had that in advanced sales for the next
single, ‘No Room’.”
Renaming the band marks more band
re-shuffles – and
Spizz has more line-ups than a Cuban firing squad!
 |
Like the Queen’s
Trooping of the Colour, the changing of the
band’s name is an annual institution for Spizz -
once known as Kenny Spiers from Solihull.
“I was Spizz 77, that’s because a friend
pronounced Spiers as Speez - then Spizzoil the
following year, Spizzenergi, Athletico Spizz
80... Spizzoil was always my favourite. It looks
good, and it’s symmetrical, and the intials are
Esso. I watched a documentary on huge oil rigs
and thought ‘Spizzoil - that’s it!’ Spizzenergi
is the energy from the oil. Of course, a large
energy company now use the same logo. With the
publicity we were starting to get people where
asking what’s next year’s name then? A lot of
people would have been scared to change their
name at that point, what with Captain Kirk doing
so well. Athletico Spizz 80 came about as our
tribute to the Moscow Olympics, because there
was a fear it was gonna be boycotted because of
the invasion of Afghanistan, so we were getting
ready to field our own team, and that’s what
Athletico Spizz 80 sounds like. I did once try
and get in the Guinness Book of Records for the
most name changes for a band - but they said we
were too specialised.”
IT ALL STARTS in August 1977: Spizz watches the
bands perform at Barbarella’s Punk all-dayer,
and the stage beckons:
“I knew one of the guitarists so I asked if I
could borrow his guitar and blag a gig straight
after. So I got up and the crowd thought I was
part of their set. I just started singing away
in front of a thousand people, totally
improvised and spontaneous. I was terrible, but
the reaction I got was out of this world –
although the promoter wasn’t all that impressed:
he switched off the power and threw me off the
stage.”
Hooked, and minus a microphone, Spizz
immediately invents a chant – ‘I’ve Been
Switched Off’. The crowd join in, and the song
appears as a future live set favourite. “Very
Dada – that’s what punk is all about. I was
terrible, but people liked me being really bad.
They still do!”
After spells at Art college, on the dole and in
a factory, Spizz pines for that Barbarella buzz.
On his way to the station, Pete O’Dowd, an old
school mate, offers a lift.
“Pete had a guitar and a car - very important,
as I didn’t. I had this gig lined up in London
at the Vortex supporting the Heartbreakers and
Penetration, and he had the wheels. We got paid
£25. So from hi-jacking a gig for nothing to
getting paid for a proper gig within months, I
thought to myself: ‘This is amazing’! I mean, we
weren’t good, but we were cheap!” |
Symbolic of the new North Sea oil resource, Spizz 77
change to Spizz Oil, and Pete becomes Pete Petrol. As
Spizz demonstrates other Spizzoil tunes, like ‘Platform
3’, I learn of ‘oil graded’ lyrics - a refinery
wasted on both teenage brain and ageing stylus back
then. “The ‘gushy, gushy, gushing’ bit is the oil rig
itself,” he reveals, “but it’s also about the men
who work there - works on two levels, huh?”
Promoter Dave Woods secures a support slot for the
Banshees at Camden’s Music Machine - “For £25.”
The first John Peel session follows, plus a Banshees UK
tour. On 16th September 1978, Spizzoil appear at
Battersea - “£25.” wearing their customary ‘OIL’
T-shirts. – and miss out on the strippers after beating
a hasty exit to support the Banshees at Aylesbury Friars
- “£50!”. Many of us who witness Spizz in those
days recall the high octane wall of sound and wailing
vocals, but also the excruciating noise of his kazoo.
“Oh yes - it can still make dogs ears prick up. At
one gig I burst my ear drums with it. They were bleeding
- I thought it was both exciting and scary at the same
time!”
The call of the capital beckons, and the pair move in
with promoter Dave’s secretary – and Banshees’ bassist
Steve Severin along with Skids’ singer Richard Jobson
downstairs. “A punk rock Young Ones…”
Signed to fledglings Rough Trade in 1978, the minimalist
duo release two EP’s; ‘6,000 Crazy’ – (“murder one,
searching for, murder one, third degree…”) and ‘Cold
City:4’ – the titular track that conjures up the
soulless solitude of being alone in the city like no
other song can. By 1979, bassist, keyboardist and
drummer are added to become Spizzenergi. In March, they
lay down the formidable disco pastiche, ‘Soldier,
Soldier’, a cover of Roxy Music’s ‘Virginia Plain’ and
‘Where’s Captain Kirk?’ NME Single of the Week,
‘Soldier, Soldier’ fares well in the charts but ‘Captain
Kirk?’ gets the rave reviews, and Melody Maker declare
it their Single of the Week. ‘No Room’ follows ‘Kirk’ to
the top of the Indie charts in 1980, backed by ‘Spock’s
Missing’. The cracks already appear in Spizz and Pete’s
relationship.
“We had an argument. Basically, I shagged his bird.
Well, we were shagging the same bird, so he left. Then
he came back, but our bass player said he was no good,
so I let him sack him. But then he came back in the
’90’s, and he got my missus to do a print job for him.
He then moved to New Zealand without paying up, so he
was sacked.. again!”
Following a brief tour of Europe, Athletico Spizz 80
return on the Spring bank holiday weekend to lay down
their debut album, ‘Do A Runner’, which is released by
A&M and enters the Top 20. While typically angular, it
fails to contain singular success: up until now, Spizz
released a grand total of fifteen tracks over six
singles. That August, Athletico sell out a record five
nights at the Marquee – plus one booze-free Saturday
afternoon matinee for the kiddies. By 1981, change is in
the air, and a new guitarist enters the Starship Spizz:
“By 1980, we had gone through seven guitarists and
four drummers! I hadn’t met Lu Edmonds until the
audition… (they were both at Battersea). With Lu on
board, our manager at the time said we were gonna be as
big as The Beatles, and we must become The Spizzles.
Sadly, we weren’t. I remember when he heard rap music
for the first time, he said that would never last.
Clearly a man with vision - anyway, we sacked him too!”
|
“… as big as the Beatles.”
With the release of second LP ‘Spikey Dream
Flowers’, the band tour Germany and US and
subsequently split. Spizz hobbles on in the
guise of Spizzenergi 2, Spizzorwell, Spizz’s Big
Business, Spizzsexual and Spizzvision. In 1990,
Pete Petrol returns to revive a techno version
of Spizz Oil. In 1996 Spizzenergi play
Blackpool’s Punk Festival, Holidays In The Sun,
and the line-up sticks. Meanwhile, in Covent
Garden’s sunny Piazza in 1999, Spizz appears
clutching a fistful of fliers for an upcoming
100 Club gig. In the adjacent Dr. Marten shop,
The Stranglers perform a handful of their hits.
“I thought they sounded alright, but I didn’t
envy Paul at all, taking over from Hugh.
Although he certainly puts the work in - now JJ…
he’s still a bit ‘scary’ isn’t he?”
|
|
Name More Heroes!
Spizz’s busy multi-monikered
almanac
1977
- SPIZZ 77
1978 - SPIZZOIL
1979 - SPIZZENERGI
1980 - ATHLETICO SPIZZ 80
1981 - THE SPIZZLES
1982 - SPIZZENERGI 2
1983 - SPIZZORWELL
1984 - SPIZZ & THE ASTRONAUGHTIES
1985 - SPIZZ’S BIG BUSINESS
1986 - SPIZZSEXUAL
1987 - SPIZZ
1988 - SPIZZORBIT
1989 - SPIZZIVISION
1990 - SPIZZOIL
1991 - SPIZZENERGI… |
|
|
 These
days, Spizz’s live outings are few and far between, happily
spending time trading on Ebay. Although recently he performs
some of old ‘hits’ onstage at a Punk poster exhibition at Filthy
MacNasty’s in London. Pete Petrol, on the other hand, enjoys a
different life on the other side of the world.
“Pete’s big in Microsoft nowadays. We patched up our
disagreement on the Internet in 2004. He came over to see his
mum as she was ill. So I lined up a gig at Filthy’s and a radio
interview at Resonance FM as well - and then I got in touch with
him. We did it – the first gig in fourteen years - it was great.
I’m hoping we can do something this year, being something of an
anniversary for us. I’ve emailed him… several times, but who
knows?”
Who knows indeed. But now it’s Friday night – and chucking out
time in the boozer. Our unsteady steps take us along Southwark’s
cobbled yard towards our separate ways. I’m left with aching
jaws courtesy of Spizz’s uniquely surreal humour. He strikes me
as someone who has come to terms with life outside the fast
lane; a happy, self-effacing, down to earth chap who went on a
trajectory – and missed going intergalactic in the post-punk
fallout. Fuck knows why. Surely he must be bitter of events
keeping him out of the Top 40 and off Top Of The Pops? - an
injustice I find hard to swallow tonight. Maybe he was too ahead
of his time? Something he recommends new artists should avoid at
all costs. “It just doesn’t pay…” Our beery meet winds up
in Borough High Street as he recalls bumping into his idol,
David Bowie - and Madonna too, ending with the idiom: “…and
never meet your heroes. It always ends in tears.”
 I’m
convinced I’ve met mine. Back on the Underground, I’m filled
with satisfaction, and sadness. Cult status will be next on
Spizz’s agenda. That and penning the next Olympic Games theme
tune. I’m back home, lifting the dusty turntable lid and placing
the stylus onto my cult 45 - Spizz’s finest moment - a truly
fantastic platter everyone should know, not just Punk and New
Wave aficionados - or Trekkies, for that matter. As the words to
‘Captain Kirk’ dissolve into the late night ether, Spizz’s
long-forgotten helium-filled message fills the run-out:
“Where the fuck is he? Frankly Scottie, I find this whole
episode quite irrational.”
Totally.
Spizzenergi
HERE
Spizz TV
HERE
Spizz Photos
HERE
Photo credits: The Luminaire, Kilburn, 28th
February 2007 © Gary Kent. Others: Jeanette Beckman, Andy Maslin
& Spizz
|
Betroth and divine
The
Skids are covered by U2 & Green Day. Richard Jobson
talks about the upcoming reunion – and gigs with The
Stranglers.
SANDWICHED BETWEEN The Edge and Peter Gabriel,
overshadowed by headliners The Stranglers, a young
unknown Scottish band nervously take up positions on an
alfresco stage in a south London park.
This is Battersea Park, Saturday 16th September, 1978…
The Skids unleash their upbeat
power pop, commandeering the attention of the crowd, not
just by Stuart Adamson’s catchy chords and the sound of
his intricate riffs (that U2’s guitarist Edge will go on
to embrace throughout their huge career), but also by
front man Richard Jobson’s bobbing, weaving, Kung-Fu
kicking dance style – while mangling the vernacular out
from each vowel into incoherent submission. I never
envisaged the impact this four-piece would have, but
right away I’m buying each of their ensuing ten hit
singles and four albums. Naturally, it was a sad day in
1981 when they spilt - but an even sadder day was to
come later twenty years on.
It’s December 2001 when film writer Richard Jobson
emerges from a Soho cinema screening. He’s on his way to
write a review when he switches on his mobile phone to
find a massive fifty missed messages:
“I knew something seriously bad had happened.”
Guitarist Stuart Adamson is dead - discovered in a
Honolulu hotel room. It is a tragic end for a talented
musician found enormous success in his post-Skids,
stadium rockers Big Country. But unknown to fans, the
apparent suicide coincides with an upcoming drink-drive
indictment; Stuart secretly battled with the booze.
“All these texts and voicemails were from friends,
journalists and ex-band members” Richard reveals. “I
started to listen to them, and I couldn’t believe it. It
hit me hard. Me and Stuart lost touch and we sort of
went off in separate directions, separate paths. But
you’ve got to remember as kids, we were very tuned in to
each other. It was a very sad moment.”
|
|
The following year, memorial concerts
featuring Stuart’s son, Callum on guitar go ahead, and are
hugely popular with Skids and Big Country fans alike. For
Richard, it’s a homecoming - fronting the band that gave us the
anthemic ‘Into The Valley’ and of course, ‘The Saints Are
Coming’ - the song U2 and Green Day released to raise funds for
the victims of Hurricane Katrina. U2’s guitarist Edge is a known
fan of the band, playing Adamson’s guitar solo note perfect,
testimony to Adamson’s influence. Richard is smitten:
”I really liked the U2/Green Day version of The Saints. I’m a
fan of U2 myself. Edge kindly invited me down to the studio when
they were making it, to glean my approval I suppose. The Skids
were long forgotten in many people’s eyes, but the new recording
has since brought about a rejuvenation….”
Now making movies instead of reviewing other peoples, I called
Jobbo’s mobile as he’s getting ready for the British Film
Institute screening of his latest cinematic work – ‘A Woman In
Winter’ and Q&A session – busy times amid promotion for two new
retrospective Skids albums. ‘The Saints Are Coming’ - a 21-track
‘Best Of’ and ‘Masquerade, Masquerade’ the 1980 Hammersmith
Odeon gig with some Glasgow Apollo snippets from 1979. But he is
still affable and eager to talk, despite a false start:
“Sorry, I’m on the other line. Can you call back in five
minutes…? Sorry Gary, I’m still on that call, can you give me
two minutes…? I’m still on the other line, sorry. Can you give
me five minutes? Before finally getting clearance: “Sorry about
that, I was on the phone to my brother. Okay, where do we
start?”
 THE
SKIDS story starts three miles northwest of Edinburgh in a town
called Dunfermline. Exactly thirty years ago, rough diamond
Jobbo joins Stuart and his bass playing school pal, Bill
Simpson. Drummer Tam Kellichan comes from an advertisement and
the fearsome quartet are born, making their mark on the British
punk scene with ‘Charles’, their three-track EP. Radio One’s
John Peel is the first to champion them, with an ensuing session
and Virgin pick them up for an incredible eight album record
deal. Early gigs are supporting the big boys of the Punk scene.
“Playing with The Stranglers was amazing for us. They were on
top form, and there we were opening each night for them.
Amazing. Three nights sold out gigs at Glasgow Apollo, these
gigs were seminal, and there was violence tool, especially with
the Apollo bouncers. But they were great nights, and this is
where we first forged our strong friendship with The Stranglers,
with Hugh and JJ, and their fans.”
‘Sweet Suburbia’ debuts in September 1978, but not even the
white vinyl Virgin gimmickry can stop it from floundering in the
charts. A support slot for The Stranglers at Battersea Park
comes up, and the band jump at it.
“Having the
strippers onstage… can you imagine anyone
doing that now? The
furore it would cause –
it was bad enough then!”
“Battersea was the first time we
played outdoors, in a festival situation. It was also the
largest audience we had played to in London. I think the gig
went pretty well for us – we got a good response from the crowd
that day. I remember there were a lot of bikers there, and the
Finchley Boys too - how can anyone forget the strippers? They
were really quite beautiful – not what you would expect from
seedy strip clubs or anything. I mean I was only 16 or 17 at the
time, we were just boys, and The Stranglers were men, but the
strippers they had on were really were classy. But it all fitted
in nicely with the sexual thing they had going on, didn’t it?
Can you imagine anyone doing that now? The furore it would cause
– it was bad enough then!”
The band play fervently, avoiding needless pretence and pose.
Tunes were like rocket-fuelled attacks, thanks to Stuart’s
choppy riffs and fuzztone chords, and no foot goes untapped, no
terrace chant unsung. With Bill and Tam holding down the
backline, The Skids were well and truly on the stellar ascent.
Incendiary songs played in their set were: Charles, Open
Sound, Reasons, Of One Skin, Contusion, Night And Day, Sweet
Suburbia and The Saints Are Coming.
Second single, ‘The Saints Are Coming’ from their four-track EP
falls short of the Top 30, but it’s enough to get on Top of the
Pops. With his gap tooth, Jobbo looks every inch the thug for
his BBC appearance. Swaggering and swaying, high-kicking kung fu
more sparring partner on speed than martial arts expert.
Highland Flinging for the New Wave, belting out his prosaic. I
have to say, Jobbo’s lyrics were quite often impenetrable,
unless in possession of a lyric sheet. And then breakthrough
hit, ‘Into The Valley’ comes along February 1979, storming the
Top 20. Rarely has a hit merged such obtuse imagery with an
anthem to end all anthems: The perfect antidote for Punk
detractors.
Album ‘Scared To Dance’ enters the Top 20. Without a duff track,
it’s crafted and crammed with twisting riffs. Emotion and
passion, with vainglorious Boys’ Own battles. But even during
the recording sessions, Stuart felt the need to escape during
tense moments, and his walk-outs meant that guitar overdubs were
done in his absence.
Next single, ‘Masquerade’ reinforces braggadocio in the shape of
a Top 20 hit when drummer Tam leaves. Former Rich Kid Rusty Egan
joins, with yet another solid Top 20 release, ‘Working For The
Yankee Dollar’. ‘Charade’ and ‘Animation’ follow in the lead up
to the second album. Originally named ‘War Stories’, ‘Days In
Europa’ comes out with an eye catching design that stirs up
accusations of racism. The depiction of a bronzed 1938 Olympic
Games winner receiving a crown of laurels and red Gothic script
conjures pro-Nazi iconoclasm and Aryan sympathies. Despite being
40 years too late for Hitler leanings, Jobbo answers his critics
with honesty: “They say I’m pro-Nazi which is ridiculous. I
mean, I’m sharing a flat with Magazine’s coloured bassist…”
 But
Virgin’s bottle goes, and bowing to pressure, they redo the
artwork in meaningless Art- Deco. An equally needles remix is
commissioned too – and it’s the final straw for bassist Bill
Simpson when he is omitted from the consultation process. Rusty
vacates the drum stool as well, partnering Steve Strange with
club nights and Visage, which features among others, Jobbo’s
coloured flatmate, Stuart’s pal Michael Baillie fills in for
Rusty – and former Slik bassist, Russell Webb, for Bill. Third
album ‘The Absolute Game’ is bolstered by high-profile promotion
and fares well, despite all three singles missing the Top 30.
Jobbo inadvertently becomes fashion victim, cross-dressing
Lawrence of Arabia with the Great Gatsby. In April 1980, he
stands in for incarcerated Hugh Cornwell at the Rainbow. ‘Bring
On The Nubiles’, ‘No More Heroes’ and ‘Five Minutes’ are mauled
accordingly, and Jobbo parades the biggest blond quiff- coiffeur
in town.
“Of course - I’ll never forget that gig… [LOL] I remember it
well! But it was great watching Joy Division supporting, and I
met Ian Curtiss and we became friends. But I always have a huge
affection for The Stranglers, especially Hugh. JJ was the cool
iconic one, sometimes a bit stand-offish – even though he always
had a big smile for me when I met him. Hugh - I will always be
fond of, in fact I still see him and we are mates. He is someone
I would love to work with on one of my films. JJ was
good-looking - a bit scary at times, but he got the best looking
women didn’t he? I mean, they love all that animalistic quality.
So you had to stick around him just in case you got any of his
cast-offs!"
“JJ was
good-looking, a bit scary at times - you had to stick around him
just in case you got any of his cast-offs!”
Sadly during 1980, after three studio albums, the cracks already
appear in The Skids armament as powerful live performances
conceal the burgeoning chasm between Stuart and Jobbo:
“We weren’t talking to each other anymore by the time the tour
reached Hammersmith Odeon.”
Stuart leaves to form Big Country, reaching global audiences and
acclaim. Meanwhile, Jobbo withdraws into poetry and writing,
releasing a fourth and final album under then Skids moniker,
despite only involving bass player Russell and himself. A short
spell fronting art-rockers The Armoury Show and then as a
television presenter for late night ITV dating game, ’01 For
London.’ He hosts a National Film Theatre Q & A for the ‘Long
Good Friday’ DVD release, and he himself is the focus for ITV’s
‘Neighbours From Hell’. In 2003, he releases his own
hard-hitting flick-noir - ‘16 Years of Alcohol’ - featuring Ewan
Bremner. His latest is ‘A Woman In Winter’. Both are available
on DVD.
 “I’ve always loved films ever since I was a kid. Making them is
what I do best these days, cheap Punk ethic DIY films, that’s
me!”
Meanwhile Bill Simpson appears on BBC’s ‘Never Mind The
Buzzcocks’ identity parade while he works in an estate agency in
Dunfermline. In recent years, he took a trip to Tenerife in
search of his old pal, Tam Kellichan who runs a bar and plays
drums in the house band. But then disaster strikes in New
Orleans when Hurricane Katrina distorts and devastates the
environment leaving many homeless. As a fundraiser, September
2006 sees rock giants U2 and Green Day resurrect The Skids’
first single to a 70,000 strong crowd at New Orleans Superbowl,
and transmitted the world over. Even up until this yea, the mere
mention of reforming The Skids brought Jobbo out in a sweat. In
The Scotsman, he said:
“Oh come on, I’m 46. I was in The Skids when I was 16. I was a
real little punk then, quite fearless. Now I’m the opposite, and
a parent. And besides, I’ve got my views on bands who reform
after 20 years. It’s always naff.”
Out of the blue on 1st April, The Skids announce a concert as
part of T In The Park in Kinross this July with Mike Baillie
will on drums, Bill on bass, Jobbo and Bruce Watson, formerly of
Big Country fittingly in place of Stuart.
“It’s a goodbye celebration. Many people had forgotten The Skids
had existed. it’s gonna be a good way to say hello and wave
goodbye... draw a line after the U2/Green Day thing. They’ve
been rehearsing the set - but without me! I’ve been tied up
promoting A Woman In Winter which is out on Monday, But I will
be joining them in the next couple of weeks. I’m really looking
forward to the gig It should be a good day. And yes, it will be
a one-off – although there will be a couple of warm-up gigs… but
shhhhh! Keep thatto yourself!”
Summing up, Jobbo is excited as he recalls The Skids’ success
from three decades ago:
“We were just wide-eyed the whole time. I was just a kid from a
council estate. It was like the gates of the world had opened up
for us. It was a lot of fun, and intriguing too. And wondering
how we were gonna follow this up as well while dreaming of
actually making a living at this. Of course, Stuart did. He had
a very successful career, although I never thought of myself as
a singer. But having that Top 10 hit at such a young age was an
amazing and unforgettable experience.”
T In The Park
HERE
The Skids official website
HERE
The Skids unofficial website
HERE
Richard Jobson HERE
 Smiley
culture…
Steel Pulse also help out at the Rainbow’s sans Hugh gigs. But
Steve and Basil’s Handsworth revolutionaries also provide
support in the early days, in times when racist taunts are rife
among the gigging rednecks. Jet is compelled to appear onstage
during the Pulse set in Birmingham one night to tick off the
audience, edifying the band as friends. Even now, the band
recall “the professionalism and articulate musicianship of
The Stranglers that inspire them to be as accurate as possible,
making them the band they are today.”
Steel Pulse
HERE
 This
is the modern world…
Liverpool five-piece Modern Eon are a worthy support on 1981’s
Meninblack Tour, and I was impressed having witnessed their set
on their home turf at the grotty and grotesque Royal Court.
Emerging backstage wearing Eon badges with little flashing red
lights inside the ‘o’ bordered on posing to the extreme! But at
the Rainbow on the last night of the tour, they tried a
different tack of appearing totally in white, in direct contrast
to the MiB - inciting the Stranglers audience to shower them in
gob.
Eon’s
keyboard player Tim Lever later joins Pete Burns in Dead Or
Alive. Former Genesis singer Peter Gabriel took the stage at
Battersea in white and impressed us kids with grown-up hits such
as ‘Solsbury Hill’ and ‘Games Without Frontiers.’ But when he
tours the Far East in 1979, it’s guitarist John Ellis who gets
the gig.
Modern Eon
HERE
|
John
Ellis plays in JJ’s Euroband AND the support band!
|
 |
Johnny two gigs!
IT’S APRIL 1979. The
Euroman Cometh tour is underway, but poorly
attended. Album producer Alan Winstanley comes
down to record the Hemel Hempstead gig, asking
the venue’s sound man where to position the
ambient microphone for the audience noise.
Checking ticket sales reveals only ten have
sold. “Close to the front then, eh?”
Ex-Vibrator John Ellis is the guitarist - in
both Euroband and his own band, avant-garde
outfit, Rapid Eye Movement.
“I suppose we were very Art school. We played
experimental, theatrical rock music. We also had
three dancers from Hot Gossip: Penny, Dominique
and Kate. I remember Dominique had a great
costume. She was the wife of Daddy, one of the
Finchley Boys…”
Along with keyboardist Richard Attree, bassist
Alan Gruner John Mackie on drums, Rapid…
includes John’s school pal Daniel Kleinman.
“Daniel was previously in Bazooka Joe with
Adam Ant – but more well-known for directing the
ads for the James Bond films. We combined an
early drum machine - the Bentley Rhythm Ace -
along with real drums. I first came across that
idea from seeing Kingdom Come at the Roundhouse
– that’s Arthur Brown’s band. It was an amazing
gig. Must have been about 1969. Then of course,
in The Stranglers we recorded ‘Fire’ with Arthur
Brown in a west London studio with producer Alan
Parsons – a full circle, really – but it wasn’t
released. Rapid… didn’t have a record deal. We
didn’t really try, I suppose. Then other REM
came out by that time. But I released ‘Babies in
Jars’ as a solo single which is basically Rapid…
musicians. In fact, it’s a live recording of the
Hemel gig that Alan Winstanley recorded. I
talked him into recording us that night as
well.”
Playing in two bands each night must have been
quite exciting. Was it, John?
“Well, by the end I was losing interest. I
mean, JJ was being a real pain... On the last
night, I put him in the crowd. [LOL] I remember
Blood Donor were really good, though. They had
an amazing bass player (Ricki Le Gair) I went on
to do some work with.”
John Ellis
HERE |
|
Donor ask me…
Alongside Rapid… synth rock band Blood
Donor features future members of Squeeze, Hawkwind, Flying
Lizards and Toyah. With a cut-short Eurotour (pitiable ticket
sales are likely causes for the pulling of Drury Lane and
Hammersmith Odeon shows), the finale is at Gants Hill Odeon in
Ilford – and even that’s got no more than 100 people. Even with
the prospect of ushers and ices, it’s no blockbuster crowd. The
Glasgow gig is summed up by former JJ acquaintance, writer
Ronnie Gurr:
‘As good as they are, Blood Donor,
and to a certain extent, their fellow support band Rapid… and
Burnel’s band, all displayed elements of the current lead
towards structured mechanical chaos. The musicians seemed
wrapped up in a world of self important border-breaking, when in
fact, this indulgence was , for the most part, neither good nor
bad – it merely existed.’
Blood Donor
HERE
High hopes for Fashion…
 With
Hugh banged up, a wide spectrum of musical talent fill in at the
Rainbow gigs. Birmingham band Fashion feature Mulligan on bass,
Dik on keys, and one rather tall Luke Skywalker, the 6’9” front
man guitarist. Belting out eclectic reggae-tinged post-punk,
with Luke’s lofty frame gyrating in and out of the shaft of
white light and devilish shadow on the backdrop. Or is he just
dodging the bottles on the first night? Several songs into their
set, they walk off. The second night passes without incident.
Fashion
HERE
Joyous ode…
Cheshire’s Joy Division aren’t
smiling the night play the second Rainbow gig. In a dramatic
performance by singer Ian Curtis doing his signature spastic
dance, he collapses in an epileptic seizure. According to eye
witnesses, he had repeatedly asked for the strobe light to be
switched off - thought to be the trigger. In the final song,
Curtis collapses into the drum kit, and fits before being helped
off stage. A mere month on, the 23 year old is found hanging in
his Macclesfield kitchen by his wife. Joy Division were on the
eve of their first US Tour; Curtis had just watched Stroszek by
Werner Herzog – a film of someone moving to America who becomes
consumed by the experience and kills himself. New Order come
from the ashes, and Blue Monday is just around the corner. In
May this year, on the 27th anniversary of Curtis’ death, Depeche
Mode video maker Anton Corbijn premiers his new movie, ‘Control:
The Ian Curtis Film’ at Cannes.
The 1980 Rainbow set: Dead Souls,
Wilderness, Shadow Play, Heart And Soul, Decades, She’s Lost
Control and Atrocity Exhibition.
Joy Division
HERE
Joy Division
biopic
HERE
 Hugh
Cornwell’s in jail. But he catches an unknown band on the radio.
On his release, he invites them to join the Stranglers tour and
offers to produce the single. What to do? Nick Haeffner recalls
his days with The Tea Set
Strange
Brew
NICK HAEFFNER is a Senior Lecturer in Communications at London
Metropolitan University. But in 1978, he joins arty rock band
The Tea Set on guitar in 1978. The Hertfordshire-based band
comprises of Nick Egan on vocals, Cally on drums, Ron West on
bass and Mark Wilkins on keyboards. Two years on, they’re
supporting The Stranglers’ on their Who Wants The World UK tour.
“We didn’t see a lot of The Stranglers on tour. They usually
kept themselves to themselves. I was only twenty at the time,
and they were relatively old for a rock band, even back then! I
was also rather shy, so I wasn’t witness to any rock star bad
behaviour. But who knows what went on in their dressing room?!
They didn’t chat much really. I remember some of The Tea Set
played football with them in one of the venues. I’m not saying
they weren’t unfriendly or superior - they were quite matey,
really. We just rarely saw them. But The Stranglers’ crowds were
really enthusiastic on the whole, although the venues were so
big it was difficult to work up much atmosphere - especially as
a support band. There wasn’t any hostility from the fans
although it was obvious who they’d come to see! I remember one
gig very clearly: it was a benefit gig The Stranglers agreed to
do up in Corby. We were told that Corby had the highest
unemployment rate in the country, essentially it’s economy had
collapsed under Maggie Thatcher’s policies. I was expecting it
to be pretty rough but the crowd were amazing – we’d never had
such a warm welcome.”
Hugh offers to produce the bands’ next single, but it wasn’t all
rosey. Nick recalls a familiar quirk of Hugh’s circa 1980
recording methodology.
”We already had a single out which was the one Hugh heard on
the John Peel session when he was in prison. When he got out, he
told his publicist, Alan Edwards, to get in touch with us to ask
us if we’d like to have him as a producer. The band were quite
excited and agreed. We went into the legendary Wessex Studios
with Hugh for a day to record the single. He was very serious
and very methodical: he wanted each of the drums to be recorded
separately, and it took ages. I may have remembered this wrong,
but I think that Keep on Running was originally going to be the
B side but it took so long to do that we ran out of time and had
to use it as the A-side. In any case, I’d have to say that it
didn’t work out as well as either of us had hoped. Hugh was
still learning how to produce and hadn’t quite mastered it and
we weren’t really cut out for the approach he had. It felt a bit
clinical to me, especially having to do each drum separately.
Still, I’m glad we had the opportunity to work together and Hugh
was a decent guy. In other words, no big ego trips or other
nastiness.
Hugh was
very serious and methodical:
he wanted each
drum to be recorded separately
As fans on the WWW tour will testify, Nick’s band were very ‘of
the moment’, blending in angular melodies with jaunty rhythms.
To this day I recall one of their songs from their set, that
went: “I’m just going outside, I might be sometime…” and
Nick reminds me this is Left One Two. He also offers a freshly
unearthed version that remains unreleased until now.
“Our live sound was very raw, quite chaotic sometimes – punky
even, very exciting and a bit ramshackle. None of us were what
you would call real musicians at the time and sometimes things
would fall apart a bit but it didn’t seem to matter because the
energy and fun was more important – that’s the punk ethic for
you! Our biggest influence was Wire, who had a great sound on
their three albums. Parts of our unfinished, unreleased LP were
getting towards that kind of sound. However, the records tended
to be done with each person recording their part separately so
we lost a lot of energy and excitement of the live sound. But
The Stranglers’ connection led to us recording an album for EMI
with Steve James producing. He was a more experienced producer
but I still think that both Steve and Hugh wanted to turn the
band into something which we weren’t – neither the single or the
album sounded remotely like the band sounded live. This led to a
lot of tension in the band with arguments about our direction.
The album ran over budget and EMI weren’t interested in paying
for it to be finished which was a bit of a tragedy for us as
we’d worked really hard on it. I think we’d have made a better
album with a different producer. Still, I’m grateful to Hugh for
showing interest in us and for giving us some quite big breaks.”
The Tea Set succumbed to the strains of pressure and disbanded a
short while after. In 1986, Nick released his own album, The
Great Indoors. These days his talents are fine tuned to
lecturing film studies and cultural history, and recently
published a book on Hollywood film maker Alfred Hitchcock.
Left One Two
and Sawtooth – two
unreleased Tea Set tracks
Hitchcock book
HERE
Another Nick interview
HERE
 |
|
Headline add some colour
to the Rainbow in 1980
Don’t knock
the bald head!
IT’S JULY 1980 – and rammed
at the Rainbow. Spirited, devoted black leather
bomber jackets are rightly omnipresent and correct,
ready for The Stranglers’ first night of the ‘Who
Wants The World tour’. Nervy, expectant excitement
is in the air: It’s just ten days from their release
from French jail following the Nice University riot.
A swirl of dope flits across the front of the
audience. The house lights fade. Support band
Headline step onstage, unknown, unloved - and face
to face with the headliner’s audience; you can
almost hear a smart silver tie-pin drop in the quiet
hiatus.
Suited and booted, Headline come on from the left
side of the stage, strutting linear, like a black
version of Madness in Nutty Boy fashion. The thug to
my right is filliped into making an informal
greeting aimed at the band; “Wankers!” Myopic morons
at the front boo and whistle while Headline march,
march, march, chanting a deep baritone mantra:
‘Don’t knock the
bald head - Don’t knock the bald head!
Boongy boong boongy woongy! Don’t knock the bald
head!’
It’s an
unforgettable entrance. They hit centre stage, and
suddenly scram in all directions to grab guitars,
microphones and drumsticks. Acappella out, in comes
their schizoid mesh of pop-tinged Ska. Black suits,
black ties, white shirts, skanking natty dread –
five black baldheads and one white guy. Lean lead
singer Michael holds onto the mic stand as bassist
Winston bobs about, tugging at his black Music Man
bass, with Kevin skanking on guitar and synth-player
Richard leering at the mob, playing bubblegum synth
riffs, with knees-ups and Ska ‘chikka-chiks’
a-plenty. The crowd’s earlier coolness thoroughly
thaws as Rudi Don’t Fear and Highway Hassle fill the
theatre with infectious, insistent Ska - followed by
Bald Head Revolution, and a return to their single,
Don’t Knock The Bald Head.
The press had a field day. They liked them – but
with measured hatred. Lead singer Michael Riley was
singled out for shaving off his Rasta dreadlocks he
donned in his previous band, Steel Pulse amid
opportunistic bandwagon-jumping jibes. But there
must be more to his exit from Steel Pulse… was he
pushed?
Ska first hit British shores in the late 1960’s.
Known then as Blue Beat, after the record label, it
was earthy, contagious and uplifting to hear
spilling from sash windows with the waft of West
Indian cuisine bubbling away on the stove. I
sometimes went with my dad to Dalson’s run-down
tenements where he built, painted and decorated to
the specification of the black mommas of St. Mark’s
Rise: doors and frames primrose, brickwork reddy-brown,
with light grey pointing in between. ‘The
Israelites’ by Desmond Dekker – played continuously
– as the Mommas filed to church in their Sunday best
outfits. Dad did his dad-dance up on the scaffolding
to impress, and I tapped a trowel to the beat.
Job done, the warm West Indians came out to hand us
a stack of Blue Beat platters. I have still got that
old Desmond Dekker 45. Then suddenly I’m 17 and
looking up at Headline. Their fun and energy
infectiously spread throughout the front row and
beyond. In Roach’s Records I collect their Bald Head
single, and wonder what happened to them. I’m about
to find out.
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TWENTY SIX YEARS
on, I meet bass player Winston at
Churchill’s - of all places. It’s a crisp
sunny Sunday afternoon not far from the
seafront of Southend.
Today, Winston Blissett forms a jazzy
quartet doing wild funky and chaotic covers
such as Green Onions and cool version of No
Woman, No Cry. But his other job is
providing the bass end for ambient
trip-hoppers, Massive Attack.
His old Music Man bass is now a Ken West
five-string. The black two-tone outfit is
today, a Puma top and white trainers. The
crowd erupt at the finale, and I approach
Winston with my dog-eared copy of Bald head.
“I can’t believe anyone can remember
Headline – I really cant!
 Incredulity
continues as Winston admits to being part of
a great outfit that never got to crack the
big time.
“We were great, weren’t we? I loved
Headline. We actually started out as a funk
band called Raw Funk – massive around
southeast London - unknown everywhere else!
But we’d all had enough after two years of
it. Then one day, we’re in the car - 2-Tone
was out - all our parents were Jamaican-born
- so we said: we’ve all grown up on Ska -
why don’t we just form a Ska band? Within
the space of just two hours, we were Ska -
we shaved off our big Afros and Headline was
born.”
The band soon found some luck with the help
of promoter Keith Altham’s publicist,
Claudine. Her husband, musician Michael
Riley, was eager to help.
“Mike was helping out on the management
side, but he must have been getting itchy
feet after Steel Pulse. He had to leave,
though…. Anyway, he asked us if he could
join the band. We said yes. Our first gig
was at the Nashville.”
At first, summer support slots bring some
positive vibes from the music press, and
Headline’s profile was on the ascent, with
gigs with Buster Bloodvessel’s band. Some of
them are still fresh with Winston: "Some
of the Bad Manners gigs got a bit racial, I
suppose. The crowd could get a bit…
boisterous, but we just laughed it off at
the time.”
On the bill for The
Stranglers tour, Winston’s tells me about a
raucous night at Birmingham Odeon:
“We did our set, and then watched The
Stranglers do theirs. They came onstage –
and the whole place erupted. It was during
their set one guy in the audience heckled
throughout - then he started spitting –
right after Hugh told the crowd not to. So
Jean Jacques karate-kicked this guy, who
went flying back into the crowd. But the
thing was - Jean Jacques just carried on
playing, and then he turned to me, shaking
his head as if it to say - “God…” Anyway,
this guy who got kicked was there after the
gig bragging about being kicked in the guts
by Jean Jacques! I couldn’t believe it!”
“The place was jumping throughout The
Stranglers set. It was crazy. The vibe was
terrific. But then the PA started rocking
side to side – and we all held on to it to
stop it from falling on top of the audience.
Health and Safety was out of the window that
night! Meanwhile, there was this Stranglers
bouncer, a big guy… (Dino? – Ed.) who was
pulling bodies out from the front row.
They’d resuscitate them, and as soon as
they’d come to, jump back into the crowd
again! It was manic!”
 A
record deal with Virgin finally came
through, and in the company of the
illustrious owner of the record company
himself.
“It was amazing. We went along to Richard
Branson’s barge in Little Venice to sign
this contract. There was a buffet laid on
and everything. Branson was really into what
we were doing. I was really surprised. We
had a good laugh with him and his MD, Simon
Draper, and afterwards we got a lift home in
his Roller. I remember it must have been
Valentine’s Day because he had to deliver
some roses at a doorstep – but he wouldn’t
do it himself: he made Simon do it. It was
all very cloak and dagger, in a very posh,
trendy part of London. I’d love to know who
it was. Anyway, that’s how I know we got
signed on February 14th to Virgin Records –
signed by the man himself.”
 The
band recorded their debut album at
Roundhouse Studios in Camden. Along with the
magnificient Bald Head, they covered the
Folke’s Brothers’ classic, Oh Carolina, a
song Shaggy took to the top of the charts in
the early 1990’s. Like a few of the other
tracks, it suffered from attempting to cover
all bases, to be Ska, pop, and bordering
pap. This was a far cry from their spirited
performances on the stages of the capital.
Soon after the album hit the shops, Internal
squabbles fractured the friendship of the
south London posse:
“Headline was never about money, just the
excitement. We had an excellent buzz. It was
a fantastic band, even if I say it myself.
But then it went down the path seen so many
times, the usual rock ‘n’ roll story, where
the big time just goes to some people’s
heads. The band thought there was a
conspiracy… it was stupid, and neither Mike,
myself or Claudine liked that. In August
1980, me and Mike left. It was very sad
because the talent in the band was
phenomena. When we split, I felt so bad for
Richard Branson because I felt we’d let him
down in some way. It was upsetting.”
A slimmer Headline hobbled on, and released
their second single without Winston and
Michael who formed Bumble and the Beez. Then
Siouxsie picked up on the band.
“We were recording with a couple of
guitarists and a violinist. We were actually
in between drummers, and our demo didn’t
have a drum track. One day, Michael’s wife,
Claudine was in her office and Siouxsie
Sioux walked in. She could head the tape
playing in the background and asked who it
was. From there, she invited us to support
the Banshees at the Hammersmith Odeon – but
on one condition: that we don’t bring in a
drummer: she wanted it the way she first
heard us.. So that’s what we did, just with
Mike standing at the front singing, with a
bass drum at his feet, holding a cowbell,
and me on the bass.”
Still resident in Lewisham, I wondered what
happened to the others.
“I occasionally bump into the others, but
we don’t keep in touch. We have a bit of a
laugh about the old days. Although I do keep
in touch with Michael. He’s Senior lecturer
in music production at Westminster
University.”
But did you know Bad Manners covered Bald
Head ot too long ago?
“Never! I didn’t know that!”
Winston is once again incredulous.
Winstonblissett.com
HERE
Extra clippings kindly
supplied by Stuart Bolton
 The
Undertones' Michael Bradley
talks to Graeme Mullan
Teenage Kicks
It’s late Friday
afternoon in your typical Civil Service
office in Belfast. The clock’s hands tick
away slowly but suddenly I overhear a
conversation about music. Sadly, it’s about
Wishbone Ash, but I recognise a Derry
accent. I turn – it’s David Doherty, the
cousin of Mickey Bradley from The
Undertones. I jump up from my PC with rat
perched on top in my T-shirt emblazoned with
‘Rattus at the Roundhouse’ and join in the
chat. The topic of conversation soon turns
to The Stranglers. Next thing, we’re talking
about when The Undertones supported The
Stranglers – and I end up interviewing
Michael Bradley for Strangled.
The Undertones
formed in 1975 when the O'Neill brothers
(originally John and Vinny) hooked up with
schoolmates Mickey Bradley and Billy
Doherty, who in turn, brought in Feargal
Sharkey. Early songs were covers: Rolling
Stones, Dr. Feelgood and Eric Clapton, and
once Vinny left, younger brother Damian
joined and influences such as The Ramones,
Iggy Pop and The Buzzcocks crept in and
shaped their sound. Mickey Bradley recalls
the big-names coming to the University in
Coleraine in 1977:
“The punk scene
where we lived was just us. The Stranglers
were the first big band I'd seen apart from
Eddie & The Hot Rods the previous year in
Belfast. They started with No More Heroes
and I remember running to the front of the
stage – yes, it was loud!”
 Mickey
got into Grip and remembers fondly when he
saw Go Buddy Go on Top Of The Pops: “It
was great - but I could see this anti-women
reputation from reading the NME, so it
probably coloured my judgement early on.
Plus - those who looked down on punk would
make an exception for The Stranglers - They
could actually play their instruments - was
one quote, which meant some of us, as fans,
looked on them as the punk band for people
who didn't like punk. Completely unfair.
JJ’s bass was so bright and trebly, it was
more like a lead instrument - brilliant
riffs. Peaches was the best.”
The Undertones
developed their sound with new self-penned
songs. playing locally as well as in
support. Chester’s Arcadia in Portrush
brings back memories for Mickey:
“Supporting The
Stranglers in 1978 was one of the highlights
of the early Undertones. They were
absolutely brilliant to us, and we hadn't
even the record out at the time. They
delayed the doors opening so that we'd get a
decent sound check. We had a great show,
went down really well with what was almost a
home audience. But then The Stranglers came
on and they were brilliant. And of course,
best bit of the night was when JJ jumped
down off the stage and dealt with someone
who was spitting. Cool guy, absolutely.”
A four-track demo
rejected by English record companies gets
heard by Terri Hooley of Good Vibrations
Records and soon The Undertones are in the
studio laying down the tracks for their
debut EP - Teenage Kicks. John Peel becomes
the bands best known fan when he spins
Teenage Kicks twice on his Radio One show.
He also funds a Peel Session from his own
pocket. Sire Records sign them up and the
band play in London with label mates, The
Rezillos at the Marquee. 1978 sees The
Undertones’ breakthrough with the re-release
of Teenage Kicks, including the brilliant
True Confessions. Following up in run of
catchy singles are Get Over You, Jimmy,
Jimmy, Here Comes The Summer, You’ve Got My
Number and My Perfect Cousin in 1980.
Success comes and
surpasses all band expectations. But it
doesn’t stop feelings of homesickness
creeping in and leading to their demise.
Mickey recalls the time they played a
festival in France:
“It was 1983 and
we were about to break up for the first
time. The Stranglers were playing too – and
JJ came straight over to say hello and
talked about that Chester’s gig from five
years back. Then – a few years ago – we
played a punk type show in Morecambe with
The Stranglers topping the bill. Apparently,
in an interview, someone from The Undertones
said we blew them off the stage at
Chester’s. I don't know who said it but they
were wrong. So there’s JJ at Morecambe with
Damian O'Neil. I wasn’t there, but he
brought up the quote. I don't think he was
confrontational… but when JJ brings up
something like that, you don't want to mess
him around. Anyway, when I told the story on
the Radio Ulster show, I told everyone it
was Feargal. It was a joke.”
Michael Bradley
still plays bass with The Undertones and
tours. He presents a Thursday night punk
show for BBC Radio Ulster, midnight - 1am on
92-95 FM.
After
Midnight with Mickey
HERE
The
Undertones website
HERE
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