I had a ghastly and unsatisfying meal on November the first 2011, completely lacking in any nutrients. I had to eat my own hat! Why you ask? Because the Beach Boys SMiLE was finally released! This monstrous meisterwerk, much beloved by scholars of the arcane for over four decades finally gets the full treatment it deserves…… I think! For me, since the first bootleg cassette I had of it in the early Eighties, it’s been a major musical obsession. I decided to count all of the bootleg cds I have of it…….they number some 17, that’s not including Brian Wilson’s version, which I personally thought was wonderful, tho’ the 2011 version has a good deal more fairy dust sprinkled on it. Or the numerous internet versions, (such as Purple Chick’s excellent “reconstruction”) which must number almost 20. And I heard a couple of tracks on the net recently, AV’s of familiar bootlegged tracks, in pristine sound, stereo I might add, completely unheard by me before. [Read more →]

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After my Mother died in 1986, my Pa sold the family home and moved in with a lady friend. I was lucky enough to get a flat close by, so it was easy to keep an eye on him, and we shared a lot of quality time together. I loved my Father dearly, he was my hero and my best friend. [Read more →]

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Since 2001, with guidance from my dear friend Mr Lovely, I’ve been studying philosophy, and meditating daily. The Mad Princess asked me exactly what I get out of meditation, so I figured it was time to take stock.

One of the biggest benefits I get from meditation is the ability to silence the “chattering monkey”. I believe as Nick Fisher(dear friend and Bible scholar) does, that the brain is the interface between the soul and the body. And our ego, the emotional part of us, constantly witters away, so much so that many people tell me they simply can’t sleep, with their thoughts continually raging. If you try and analyze what the monkey says, it’s mostly related to the ego. Some philosophies call the ego the “Big Lizard”, the remnant of more primitive times, when we were hunter/gatherers. It was necessary to be on our guard, and to be fearful and careful, with all the numerous dangers in pre civilisation. Hence I suppose why most people are still fearful about many things. Old habits die hard.

But if we really analyse our fears, we find 99% of them are unjustified, based in either the past or the future, neither of which actually exist, except in our minds. It’s as if we project a negative past onto a negative future, we believe that because something bad has happened in the past, it’s bound to happen again. Rational fear is of course still jolly useful i.e. if someone’s chasing you with an axe, run! But otherwise, almost all the fears we have never come to anything, and it would seem to me they’re the ego’s way of punishing us, for not complying with the wishes of the “Big Lizard”.

So to recap, the first benefit I felt from meditation was being able to slow my thoughts down, and let go of a great deal of fear, to be able to rationalise far better than I ever had done. Next, I’d say that meditation has increased my awareness. I am more aware than ever of the fact that my emotions and fears shape my world. And once I realise the world is my own projection, shaped by my thoughts and feelings, I can be free of it. A while ago I did a demo of the Morris Albert song “Feelings”. As Mr Lovely reminds me, my feelings are “nothing more than feelings” as the song says, neurotransmitters firing, thoughts in my mind. And through meditation and training the mind, you can choose whether you validate these feelings, or not. And most of the time, especially bad feelings, I can just let them go, negating their effect. I am reminded by “A course in Miracles” written down by Helen Schucman, but puported to be her hearing an inner voice, possibly Christ, that “Nothing real can be threatened. Nothing unreal exists. Herein lies the peace of God”.  Our soul is real, the ego’s hypnosis isn’t. As the Hindus say, Maya(a Sanskrit word meaning “not that”) is not the illusion of creation but the ignorance that makes one see the illusion as real.

Once you have an awareness of your fear and emotions, you can begin to understand others better, and become more compassionate. Because every other poor soul is experiencing what we are, fears about money, our work, our home and our relationships. People needlessly and continually beat themselves up, just because of their thoughts. It’s one of life’s great tragedies, people seem to be unable to step out from under the big black cloud of fear. Through meditation, and stilling the “chattering monkey”, you really can retrain your mind, and let go of negative and useless thoughts. But it’s not a quick fix, and requires discipline and daily input.

As my regular readers know, my Grandmother was a renowned Psychic, and as I’ve said before I believe she was a Theosophist. Broadly, Theosophy attempts to reconcile humanity’s scientific, philosophical, and religious disciplines and practices into a unified world view. As Mr Lovely says, “anythingarianism”! So from an early age I’ve been open to lots of different religious and spiritual ideas. Certainly my Mother was a Christian, and read the Bible, and gave me her copy in the late 1970′s. I read it for a while, and thoroughly enjoyed it, and recently started reading the New Testament again. The copy Nick sent me has the words of Jesus in bold red letters, which I find uplifting and righteous, and they make excellent sense.

I’ve certainly always liked to believe in Reincarnation. And pretty much all faiths prescribe to some sort of afterlife. As I’ve previously said, my Grandma would go into a trance like state and mutter incomprehensibly. When she came round, I asked her what was up. She’d say she was just speaking to friends on the other side.

As Warren Zevon said “I’ll see you in the next life, wake me up for meals!” Of course being older and more cynical, I’m not completely convinced of Heaven, Nirvana, Samadi, or whatever your choice of label might be. And if I do reincarnate, do I really have to come back to this planet, as beautiful as it is? Because it seems the norm is war, turmoil and hate, at least as far as our leaders are concerned. I think the average joe on the street is decent and hard working, and have a reasonable idea of what’s right and wrong. They have a lot to teach our Prime Ministers and Presidents.

The problem I have with certain spiritual doctrines is that they are like a secret club, where only the enlightened(or the rich) are allowed admission. And for me, that’s one of the big plus points about Christianity, all are welcome, all are forgiven. Of course Christianity must not be confused with Churchianity. And let’s get this very straight, any one that promotes violence, war or theft is not Christian. So that pretty much rubs out our world leaders! Buddhism I feel is the most accessible Eastern philosophy, and I particularly like their concept of “mindfulness”, to live in the present. Because surely if we dwell too much on the past or the future we simply aren’t living our lives to the fullest.

I think Scientology has some excellent precepts too, for example the concept of Engrams, a “recording” of a past painful event not normally accessible to the conscious mind, but something that affects most people daily. Unfortunately unless you have the cash for the numerous books and courses, it doesn’t seem to be a very welcoming church. But that doesn’t stop me from thinking L.Ron Hubbard was some sort of genius. I’ve also studied the Kabbala, and have several of the tapes from Madonna’s Guru, Phillip Berg, courtesy of Mr Lovely. It’s a fascinating philosophy, to summarise it: a religious philosophical system claiming an insight into divine nature, based on the Hebrew Bible. But you’ve got to have a very good memory to practise this faith, because there’s so many names, of Angels and Arch Angels, and the like. And of course Mr Berg would like just a wee bit of your wage……

I know the benefits of Meditation. I have faith in something bigger than Mankind. And I have faith in Mankind too. I believe that the Ten Commandments are the best moral rules by which we should all be bound. I don’t dig hate and war, but I groove on Peace and Love.

“Every Man, and every Woman, is a Star”

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What exciting times we live in! Sadly not culturally, because I don’t think music or the arts has been at such a low ebb creatively in living memory, tho’ some will argue different, but please, don’t! I’m talking about what’s happening on the planet, with our political climate shifting daily and our perception of what’s happening getting bigger and bigger, thanks to the Internet. It’s a time of extremes.  Because of the occupation of Wall street and similar demonstrations, people are beginning  to wake up to what’s really happening financially with our planet, and are starting to realise 99% of what politicians say is spin. I saw a recent documentary on Lee Perry, who was asked what he thought of the political climate in England. He said he didn’t like our “crime minister”! I believe the “limited financial resources” cliche most of the World’s politicians drone on about is rubbish. If there is “limited financial resources” it’s because the banks and politicians have stolen it all, i.e. 90% of the wealth in this country is owned by 10% of the population, a good percentage of which are in government. If these people weren’t so greedy, there’d be ample to go round, and many times over. Let’s get this straight, no one believes the politicians any more, it’s game over chaps I’m afraid. The system is rotten and corrupt, and no amount of spin will change that. Trust simply cannot be repaired. I’m not sure of the way forward, but perhaps it means dismantling our current system, and rebuilding one that isn’t based on financial rewards and perks, with many “jobs for the boys”.

I was listening to the brilliant Strawbs album, “Grave New World” recently, specifically the track “New World”. There’s a video to accompany it on Youtube, which I’ll post at the end of the article. It’s a wonderfully moving piece, with much footage of man’s inhumanity to man, ghastly. But what really shocked me, was some footage I haven’t seen before, of starving children in Africa. I’m afraid I’ve been as guilty as the next person in just turning a blind eye to famine. But I don’t believe us poor folk are to blame for that particular atrocity. I’d like these MP’s with their floating duck houses and plasma tellys to watch this video, then tell me how they feel about the system. And don’t trot out the usual bullshit about governments in Africa stealing the resources. If we can go into Lybia, help over throw Gaddafi, and build new army bases in that country and set up a system of “democracy”, then don’t tell me you can’t administer aid properly and fairly, without all the usually cited difficulties. And when the government says there’s a 17 billion pound wasted food mountain every year, you’ve got to ask, how obscene is that? Rather than give it away to the poor, they’d have it rot. That amount of food would feed the starving peoples of Africa and elsewhere easily, with some left over! Hang your heads in shame you wicked people!

If you really look into world finances, and the very interesting(and privately owned)Federal reserve, it’s not hard to figure these people(and their banking buddies)already have a New World order, which is concerned only with the financial domination of the planet, a “globalisation” of their political system of greed. Whether the massive down turn in the world’s economy is part of their plan or a minor set back I’m not sure.

Despite assurances to the contrary from Mr Cameron, the rich still continue to get rich, more so than they’ve ever done before, and the poor just stay poor. And not only do we stay poor, but the food companies keep thinking up more ingenious ways of ripping us off. For instance, have you noticed recently, your favourite coffee/biscuit/butter/whatever has shrunk just a little, yet the price has risen quite considerably? And hey, we’re paying a hundred pounds per year more for our utilities than we were in June, whilst all the major energy providers post record profits, even tho’ the cost of energy production has dropped, and gas prices crashed in 2009 and haven’t recovered any where near their previous high. So c’mon Dave, are you going to tell ya mates to calm down and come down, or what? I doubt it.

As a great philosopher once said, “when you ain’t got nothing, you ain’t got nothing to lose”. But when you’ve got pots of money, well as Stanley Unwin said trembly trembly. Because surely the poo has not hit the fan anywhere near as hard as it will do soon. The Euro looks terminally sick, and the Dollar has a bad dose of something.

And thus Gaddafi was overthrown. Well, great that’s another formerly US sponsored dictator out of the way. They’re amazing the American government, but don’t ever fall in love with them, cos one day they want you, the next day they hate ya! Of course Gaddafi should have felt the full weight of international law, for all the atrocities he committed. But am I the only one thinking that shooting him in the head, in the street, was barbaric? Again I’ll say, this despot should have been tried in a proper court of law for all the dreadful horrors he committed, but is it really Christian(and the last time I looked both Cameron and Obama were purportedly Christian, right?)to summarily execute him in the road? The tabloids scream “that’s for Lockerbie” but we all know they’re criminals and liars, and is his death really going to make the relatives of the victims of Lockerbie happier? I doubt that.

Or are we now applying Sharia law, an eye for an eye, etc.? Perhaps we should cut a few MP’s hands off, that’ll teach ‘em! You’ll notice I’ve used the term Christian, but just like Muslim, it’s a much abused term nowadays. Certainly the Christians are very involved in exposing a lot of what’s happening covertly in America, and jolly well done to them I say. And many Christians believe we are in “End days”, the period of much tribulation, prior to the second coming. Indeed Buddhists and Muslims and many other faiths also believe in Armageddon too. With the state of play in world politics, who can blame them for believing the Bible prophesies are being fulfilled?

So where, you ask, does Lady Ga Ga fit in to all of this? Well I heard a duet she recorded, probably quite recently, with Tony Bennett, “The Lady is a tramp”. Tony’s voice still sounds as good as it ever did, his phrasing immaculate. But Lady Ga Ga’s voice sounds like so much vocal histrionics, and for me completely wrecked the track. A bit like putting a Techno beat on “Bridge over troubled water” by Simon and Garfunkel, or splashing coloured paint, Pollock style, over the ceiling of the Systine chapel, both of which concepts would appeal to few(but maybe to some!) In our current cultural vacuum, plagiarism is deemed original, and the Emperor’s new (meat)clothes just fine and dandy.

She is the ultimate “cult of personality,” along with X factor “celebrities”, and fits perfectly in to our vacuous media controlled world, which worships mediocrity and the bland. She doesn’t have to think creatively, her stylists do it for her. And despite her claims to the opposite, she is indeed meat, and processed meat at that! I suppose nobody mentioned the Beatles “Butcher cover”, or the cover to the  Undertones greatest hits double album “All wrapped up” to Ms G? Now c’mon Ga Ga, be a good little robot and be nice and outrageous, so those little middle class white tearaways can feel dangerous and hip! Don’t worry about the content, it’s only chewing gum for the ears! I loved what Bowie’s press office said in response to rumours he was going to work with her, “David has not worked with her and has no plans to do so, it’s a hoax”. Thanks Dave, sanity in the maelstrom.

But the real link between globalisation and Lady Ga Ga is simple, one word: hypnosis.

But I still have faith in human nature, we’re such crazy impulsive beings, well as the man said, “anything could happen in the next half hour!” There’s a lot of people out there who don’t worship money, but worship love and truth. I pray that ultimately we’ll be the last ones standing. And hey, how pleased am I the anti greed protesters are wearing Guy Fawkes masks? Finally here’s a lyric that Nick sent me, a great song we loved as kids, and still relevant!

Frank Zappa – I’m the slime

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhEwjCoGru8

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When the digital switch over thingy happened recently I decided that would be the end of it for me. Aside from the unashamed tripe dished up daily, the one eyed beasty called television is responsible for more hypnosis and bulls**t than most people realise, and I for one am happy to lay it to rest. Of course the tv licensing people will no doubt brand me a liar, but hey, that’s their problem!

What it has done is make me reach into my huge archive of video tapes. My initial delve was towards all the wonderful Zombie movies I avidly collected in the 80′s, mostly Lucio Fulci but the entire George Romero back catalogue. Those 1970′s Italian Horror movies really float my boat, because they’re so incredibly dark and atmospheric, and the vibe of all the Zombie/Cannibal movies is desperate and Apocalyptic, and I’ve had a hundred dreams where I’m the Ian McCulloch figure, the dude who leads the good folk away from the bad!

But what did I nonchalantly stumble over in my rifling’s?A whole evenings worth of Glam Rock! Yee-har! A fabulous Glam top ten presented by my favourite DJ’s, Tony Blackburn and Alan “Fluff” Freeman. It was probably the very awful “Never too young to Rock’n'Roll” movie that followed it that got me thinking about the common threads in Glam Rock. The biggest influence is 50′s Rock’n'Roll, like most popular music post Elvis, and certainly Doo Wop is an influence too, with all the “bop shewaddy” backing vocals of Mud, Wizzard, Showadywaddy and the Rubettes. But there’s another looming prescence which may have alluded all but the most obsessive……Phil Spector.

Showaddywaddy, and Mud, who weren’t really Glam, all wore regulation Teddy Boy drape coats, and brothel creepers, aside from Mud’s very girly looking guitarist Rob Davis, now a songwriter of some renown, having written “Can’t get you out of my head” for Kylie. And Les Gray undoubtedly sang like an Elvis pastiche, tho’ their hairstyles would’ve certainly got them kicked out of the Silver era club, our local Rock’n'Roll joint in Maldon.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               All of Glam’s key players referenced 50′s Rock’n'Roll in some way or another. Bill Legend told me Bolan’s hero was Eddie Cochran. He also said Bolan told him he received a telegram from Elvis, wishing him luck on his first tour of America, tho’ Bill thought that was pure fantasy on Marc’s behalf. Bill also told me David Bowie(via Tony Visconti)asked him to drum on the “Diamond Dogs” tour, which he declined!

The sound came from somewhere else tho’. Of course it’s obvious that Roy Wood, a totally under rated English pop genius, replicated Spector’s “Wall of Sound” almost as obsessively as Brian Wilson did. And a damn fine clone it was too. But compare “Angel Face” by the Glitter band and “Instant Karma” by the Plastic Ono band and I think you’ll get my drift. An often used effect in Glam is the Sun style slap back echo. And what does Spector do with Lennon’s vocal on “Instant Karma”? It’s said that John hated the sound of his voice, and urged Spector to cover it in Elvis echo. And I know from personal experience, slap back echo does wonders for one’s voice, an instant double track, with every breath sounding full and dramatic. And it’s not just the vocals, on both Lennon’s and the Glitter band’s singles, there’s slap echo on the drums and hand claps, both an essential part of the sound.

Something I really love about the Glitter band is their tuneless thug/football hooligan/terrace style Heys! and along with the neo tribal/Burundi drums, saturated with Spector style echo, guarantee to get the pulse racing. Plus they have 2 drummers just like the Wrecking crew. The Glitter band’s vocals aren’t quite as intense as Lennon’s, but the compression on the drums and bass give it a similar density to “Karma”. And with “Power to the people” there’s even Saxophone to thicken up the sound, just like the Glitter band. Mott the Hoople used wailing 50′s style sax to good effect on their singles “All the way from Memphis” and “Honaloochie boogie”, courtesy of Andy Mackay from Roxy Music.

Perhaps it’s a sound very much of it’s time, the early 1970′s, but a good degree of the Glam rock that followed Lennon’s solo singles certainly have Spector nuances.

So we’ve got the dense, compressed drums, with added echo(just like “Instant Karma”)on the Glitter band/Rubettes/Suzi Quatro/Slade and the Sweet 45′s, with a driving, heavy bass. As Alan Williams once said to me, all great Rock’n'Roll has the drums upfront, and certainly Glam is no exception. The guitar sounds reflected 1970′s heavy Rock, the Marshall amp/Les Paul archetype brought on by the Who, followed by Free and numerous other Blues Rock ensembles. Then we have the Sun/Elvis slap back echo on the lead vocal, and listening to “Mama weer all crazee now” even the very venerable Sir Noddy of Nodsworth Holder has that close slapback on his voice. And of course, special reverence must be given to Slade, who along with the Glitter band influenced several generations of musicians, and continue to do so today.

I pretty much hated Glam all together in it’s time. I loved Bowie, Roxy Music, the New York Dolls and the Stooges, and thought mainstream British Glam Rock was the pits. But when I heard “Fox on the run” by the Sweet on a de-tuned radio when it was released, I realised they rocked pretty hard, especially their B sides, where they were given free reign. Sweet were the sub Heavy Metal archetype, and perhaps we have them to blame for “Hair Metal”, bless ‘em! And if you watch the Sweet on TOTP, doesn’t Mr Priest look like our favourite Droog, Alex? I have “Turn it down” as the ring tone on my phone, set to maximum volume. It always goes down well at the checkout in Netto……

Over the years I’ve become very fond of the genre, especially Slade(Noddy is a national treasure!)the Sweet and the Glitter band. I suppose I forgave Bolan post Tyrannosaurus Rex, because “20th Century Boy” and “Solid Gold Easy Action” rocked fabulously. Oh yeah and Bill Legend played in my band, the Surf Rats. Not that you’d know that if you checked any of the numerous websites pertaining to Mr Fyfield, I’m not sure why because he played with the Surf Rats longer than he did T.Rex. God bless Bill.

Through Bill Legend I also got to meet Len Tucky, the ex Mr Quatro. I found Len to be a man of few words, and if I could accurately described his demeanour it would be stoic, tho’ I’m told he’s extremely deaf after many years of his lugs being battered by Marshall amplification. Another Glam player I met a few years ago was Vic Faulkner from Hello. Vic was a pro player from his early teens. His success with Hello means a nice yearly royalty cheque, just in time for Christmas. A more affable fellow you’d be hard pressed to meet, Vic is a fabulous bass player, an excellent guitarist, with a voice to match, and still playing.

Ian Linge, the Surf Rats rhythm guitarist was a major Glam fan in the day. He said when a new single was released in those times, people would actually queue outside the most popular record shop in Maldon, Ma Cater’s, in their droves to buy it. And of course sales in those days were phenomenal, you really did have to sell millions to get into the charts. The popularity of Glam Rock in the 1970′s was akin to Beatlemania in the 1960′s, and certainly all the girls at my school adored Bolan, the Sweet and Slade, along with their contemporaries the Osmonds and the Partridge family, tho’ the Mad Princess tells me you had to like either Donny or David and that there was fierce rivalry in opposing camps! I tried to capitalise on this by having my long hair styled like David Cassidy’s, and this did indeed bring some successes with the fairer sex, along with a wee bit of eyeliner, blusher and glitter applied to the barnet! As Steve Preist from the Sweet once said, “sure, we’re Gay, now where’s yer girlfriend?”

Of course Roxy music weren’t part of the mainstream pack, and didn’t fit the Glam archetype. I have to thank Miss Peyton for turning me on to their wonderfulness. In 1972 via Veronica’s Dansette I was given an incredible Rock’n'Roll baptism, most importantly the Stooges and Roxy Music. Roxy’s style and music totally suited Veronica and Hilary’s mentality, a mix of Biba chic, Greebo fashions and 1950′s Kitsch, with a dash of Rock’n'Roll, courtesy of their Mum Cath, a major Elvis fan. Roxy had a Sci-fi edge too, more glamorous than Ziggy’s alien. Their spaceship would have been made from chrome, and fashioned with the sleakness of a 1950′s Cadillac. When I heard “Virginia Plain” in the Summer of ’72 it blew me away, their Velvet Underground rhythms, the like Hawkwind-but-weirder synths, and Ferry’s neo crooner /Elvis vocals added up to a startling and unique sound. And when I heard their first album it took me to a very strange place indeed. Very melancholic and icy, with great Pop sensibilities. And can I perhaps be the first to say their sound was certainly Prog-ish on the first two albums?

At this point, with the exception of Slade(see “How does it feel?”)it has to be said, that unlike popular music in the 60′s and early 70′s, Glam was amazingly devoid of the Beatles influence.

Another band that didn’t fit in the Glam mainstream were Mott the Hoople. I emailed John “Mojo” Mills at Shindig magazine recently, mostly in an attempt to blag a job with what I consider to be England’s finest music magazine. He asked me about ideas for future articles, and I told him something that I’ve been milling over for a while is a career overview of Mott the Hoople. Great he says, I’m making a documentary film about them! Pah! Beaten to the punch! They fascinate me as a band, they went through so many phases and styles, from Folk, to Dylan, to Blues rock and Prog, and Bowie, and beyond, but were always Mott the Hoople. And perhaps to some extent, they channelled 1950′s Rock’n'Roll more than any of the other players, certainly on “Mott” and “The Hoople” albums. I’ll try and summarise them: Dylan listening only to Sun era Elvis and Chuck Berry, with an altruistic philosophy, fronting a band who rocked hard, copped the Stones’ best swagger, inventing the sort of sloppiness that made the New York Dolls brilliant, and had Mick Ralphs as their Ronno. A Glam Rolling Stones if you will. And lest we forget, when Mott went toes up, Mick Ralphs positively shone in Bad Company, at least for their first two albums. I can still feel the excitement when Will bought “Brain Capers”, wondering what stoned idea made them attach a Lone Ranger mask to the cover……

I love the story Bowie tells of Mott rejecting “Drive in Saturday” as the follow up to “Dudes”. He was convinced it would be a hit for them, and when they told him they weren’t interested, he did what any star of his calibre would do……he shaved off his eye brows.

I guess it also had to be said, can any one imagine any of today’s humourless Rock’n'Rollers wearing the ridiculous costumes of the Glam era? And I think the 1970′s were much happier times, when people were less uptight and game for a laugh. And that reflects on classic comedy too, whether it be Monty Python’s or Morcambe and Wise, or Spike Milligan, inherant English silliness, much loved and sadly missed.

“Are you ready Steve……?”

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This piece was written on Tuesday the 9th of August 2011

Before I begin this piece, I’d just like to say, I abhor violence in anyway, shape or form, and the criminal opportunists and children who rioted in our cities these past few days should feel the full measure of the law.

But I have to laugh when I hear the media call these people criminals, which of course they are, but hey? Isn’t hacking into a murdered person’s phone criminal? Isn’t the false hope they gave to the loved ones of this person absolutely and utterly abmonable, beyond reprehensible, criminally evil? Just to sell more newspapers, to make them more money. Again, not to make light or in anyway excuse the rioting, but the media make these idiots look like Pick’n'Mix shoplifters!

And I also laugh again when I hear our “politicians” talk about the rioters being criminals, because to my mind, there are no bigger criminals in this country than the ruling classes. They are totally and utterly corrupt, completely rotten to the core. They don’t have to go out and loot a Plasma telly, they just stick it on their expenses and hope no one’s watching. These “politicians” have got to realise, we don’t believe a word they say, and as Truman said about Nixon, we know when they’re lying, it’s when their lips move! They have screwed billions and billions of pounds out of this country, with their dear friends and colleagues, the bankers, and continue to do so, yet tell us they’ve cleaned up their act. They are singularly responsible for the massive lowering of the moral tone in this country, as I’ve said before, your average brainwashed consumer thinks well, the politicians can get away with murder and seem to have no conscience, we’ll have some of that!

The politicians can’t ever fix the damage they’ve done to their reputation, the expenses scandal has confirmed politics is one big “Old boy’s club” where the gravy train is ridden daily, nay hourly. And no worries if you’re disgraced or sacked, you’ll get a nice fat pension and one of your buddies will give your a job as an advisor with a huge salary to boot. And if anyone still thinks that any of these “people” give a damn about us, well I’m afraid you’re sorely mistaken. They have one God, one goal, and that’s money, nothing more. They’ve raped and wrecked our society, and expect us to foot the bill!

These “politicians” approve the brainwashing of the masses via tv and the media in general, programming them to desire the newest car, the newest appliance or gadget, to perpetuate the consumer society. Trouble is, the goodies keep getting more and more costly. These fools who looted probably saw it as their only chance to get their hands on the big prizes, hypnotised in their desire to consume, without any thought for the consequences. And if their motivation was political, why not riot in Parliament, three quarters of the country would be rooting for them!

And of course we couldn’t use water cannons to break up the rioters? In a week where Amnesty and other human rights organisations refused to engage with the government about their policy on torture, because they think the debate will have no credibility, what, we can torture people, but heaven forbid we use a water cannon! Yeah, right……

And who gave our children the power over adults? Probably the same politically correct persons who are angry about the self same kids trashing our cities. These kids have no respect for themselves or others. And heaven forbid we attempt to discipline them. When I see toddlers out on my street after 6 pm I have to wonder what the hell are their parents thinking? Not from the hysterical “the streets are alive with Paedophiles” bullshit the media spout to sell papers, but from a love/respect standpoint. Do these people know where their kids are? Judging by recent events the answer must be no.

I do believe we can make this beautiful country honest and decent again, and I do sincerely believe the majority of people in this country have a well balanced set of morals, and do know right from wrong. Such a pity we can’t depend in any way, shape or form on our government, or the media to show us the way……

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The Mad Princess and I watched Coldplay at Glastonbury courtesy of the BBC on Saturday night a couple of weeks ago. I can’t say I’m a huge fan, tho’ some of their tracks, “Speed of sound” for one, I certainly like. Their light show projected on the Pyramid,  specifically for the encore, was Psychedelically awesome, but sorry Honey, Chris Martin smells of pretension to me, and I ain’t talking about the latest Kate Moss fragrance. But no matter, generally a jolly good show. And judging by the audience(mostly twenty something gals according to the Beeb’s cameramen)the mood was high.

It got me thinking about the festivals I’d been to, tho’ I’m afraid I’ve only camped at one, and that was Reading 1973. Bob Mardon(yup, he of Chelmsford Punk festival infamy, bless him!)Sally Butcher, my then current girlfriend and I took the train to Reading from Chelmsford, and a very pleasant journey it was too. We were excited at seeing Genesis on a big stage, where we knew their elaborate theatrics would look amazing.

There were other delights that day that stick in my memory. The first being John Martin, ably assisted by Danny Thompson. It was a wash of his beautiful guitar through a ton of echo, and his stoned scat singing, along with Danny’s staggering upright bass attempting to underpin the proceedings. On a warm Summer’s day  it was heaven. Then something of an aural assault, Jon Hiseman’s Tempest, who at the time had the very brilliant Ollie Halshall on guitar. Ollie riffed very aggressively, but very Psychedelically too, and I was mightily impressed. On top of that Jon’s drumming was all double kick drum and heavy, it rocked and Bob being a drummer at the time loved it.

When Genesis came on later that night, Gabriel was wearing the Magog mask we first witnessed at the Rainbow in February of that year. I seem to remember him atop some sort of oblisk or platform which looked like an extension of the mask. Tall and scary! After several “McCartney Woodbines”(de rigueur at 70′s festivals)our young minds were well and truly blown. The next time I recall seeing Genesis(altho’ I saw them numerous times with Gabriel) was at the premier of “The Lamb lies down on Broadway” at Empire pool Wembley, in April 1975, an all together different affair……

The other festival that really sticks in my head was V August 2007. Mostly because of the Stooges, with the guitar God Ron Ashton. Ron came on, looking every inch the Christian militia man/weekend soldier/geek who shopped at the A&N, and wah wah’d, wailed and hammered his guitar like a man truly possessed with the spirit of Rock’n'Roll, which of course he was. If there was one guitarist in this age that you just had to see live, it was Ron Ashton, no contest. Bone crunching was a cliche made for Ron’s guitar chords, mega raunch and feed back-full, geetar Nirvana/Apocalypse!

I’ve seen the Ig so many times the site of him on stage is a familiar joy, a bit like how I used to feel about the Ramones. You never know how fragile beauty can be til suddenly it’s gone. God bless the Stooges, God bless Ron Ashton RIP……

Grahame Coxon was also at V that year. We caught most of his set, which was superb, very Punk rock and Johnny Ramone rama lama. It’s said that he stole “Revolver” from thee Light Brigade(a song we stole from Pegboy, who stole it from Mission of Burma)from seeing us in Colchester, but perhaps that’s Rock’n'Roll myth?

I also had the misfortune to attend Donington in 1994. As is the modern archetype the weather was pretty rancid, but it was the audience that really did my head in. Sure there were a few Glammy Hair Metal types, with their Rock chick girlfriends, very FLA 1990. But the majority appeared to be beer buffoons, and from the moment the gates opened around midday, the mob proceeded to try and drink their weight in ale from huge plastic containers, usually designated for Dc10 or Helicopter fuel. Of course the arena is huge, with some 70,000 in attendence, so a visit to the loo is a major excursion. No probs say the beer buffoons, we’ll pee in the plastic container……and when they’re full we’ll just hurl them into the audience. How utterly charming. Still, Aerosmith were pretty amazing, plus they did an obscure Page era Yardbirds track in the soundcheck, “Think about it”, the b side of the Yardbirds last single “Goodnight sweet Josephine”.

Lest we forget, music festivals weren’t always the corporate, hard sell affairs they are today. As MP’s son said a while back, so when did attending a festival become a fashion statement? Another excuse for Topshop to sell another frock from their Glastonbury collection? I got thrown out of the tent Iggy played in at V for smoking a cigarette(Rock’n'Roll huh?). I’d love to have seen these company bruisers handle an army of Freaks tripping on Oswold’s finest! Everyone knows about the spirit of Woodstock, and that was to kick off counter culture events globally. The point was Peace and Love, not Carling Black label(surely the modern equivalent of Watney’s?) and L’Oreal. Alcohol was very low key back then, nowadays it’s probably the main drug at festivals, no doubt followed by Cocaine.

But by the middle of the 70′s, the booze flowed more freely at festivals, specifically beer, and of course one could take one’s own alcohol into the gig in those times. I can remember a few showers of beer cans at Reading, which providing they were empty posed only a minor inconvenience, but an unpleasant one none the less!

This brings to mind a tale of two of my friends who went to Knebworth in 1979 to see Led Zeppelin. The usual beer can assault broke the otherwise peaceful and friendly scenario. Suddenly through the hail a can hit one of the friends on the side of the head, resulting in a nasty gash to the cranium. But the fellow’s despair turned to joy, as he realised he’d been struck on the head by an unopened can, a Party Seven! Manna from Heaven!!!

For the uninitiated, a Party Seven was seven pints of Watney’s bitter in a can, tho’ I believe Charringtons did a superior ale in the same sized tin. Trust me. That’s all you needed to party in the 70′s, seven pints of Watney’s and a Macca Woodbine. And of course these were the days before ring pulls, so your can of choice had to be opened with a special device, a can opener! How confusing! Altho’ any pointy implement would suffice, at which point the disgusting brew inside would erupt like a miniature alcoholic geyser! See all the fun missed not having lived through the 70′s?

My regular readers will know I’ve been reading James Wentworth Day of late. For a romantic writer, the fellow did have some rather fascist notions. Will’s Pa John couldn’t stand the chap, but thought his ideas on fortifying the home were excellent, tho’ didn’t go far enough. Day suggested razor wire, Will’s Pa said it should be rusty!!!

Anyways, James writes about a festival planned for Tolleshunt D’arcy in the early 70′s, in “A Garland of Hops”. He barely contains his outrage, describing Pop festivals as “the modern plague”, and that not long before Weely had been “crucified, horrified and polluted” by similar. Steady on old chap! Him and the villagers devised all sorts of methods to keep the “hooligans” at bay, including 12 bore shotguns, a gallows(!!!)bombs and bulls. Needless to say, the festival never took place, and the “Pop loonies” were put well and truly in their place, within 24 hours of the event being announced!

With the possible exception of the Stooges, there’s little to attract me to festivals nowadays. I suppose I can say I attended a handful of festivals/gigs in the early 70′s that still had the 60′s/Hippy vibe, and had I have gone to the free festivals i.e. Stonehenge and Windsor, as many of my friends did, that would have continued. But Punk was coming, and I had my own gig to do.

At some point in the early 70′s through mutual friends, we met a chap a few years older than us who we called “Donny Luftwaffe”, who was the Hippy archetype. He was dressed in dirty white cheese cloth(a material common in Freak garb in the early 70′s)and had a Daevid Allen beard and barnet. He was at Glastonbury in 1970, and actually saw Bowie there. The way he described the festival was like a beautiful, shimmering Acid dream, full of sex, love, pot and Rock’n'Roll, with Aliens in silver spaceships hovering above, keeping an eye on the Flower children below.

Try telling that to the kids of today……

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I’m listening to Eric Carmen singing ” All by Myself”. Eric is the lead singer in the Raspberries, a band associated with the Powerpop genre. So what exactly is Powerpop? Pete Townsend coined the phrase to explain the Who’s(and the Small Faces and the Beach Boys) sound, but I wonder what he really meant? I suppose “All by Myself” is a power ballad, with it’s bombastic instrumentation and arrangement, coupled with the sweetest of vocals and melody, not to mention the Beatlesque orchestration. It could be “Overnight Sensation” part two, if you squint hard enough! And the re-formed Raspberries have indeed covered “All by myself”.

Powerpop is usually guitar orientated, with lots of harmony vocals and killer riffs, but what actually constitutes Powerpop?

There’s certainly always a 60′s Pop element in it, and the Beatles influence is usually present, and sometimes a classic Powerpop song will sound like an unreleased Beatles song. For instance, “Yes it’s true” by the Flamin’ Groovies, or “No presents for me” by Pandemonium. In a lot of Powerpop the guitars tend to be raunchy and distorted, the “Power” bit that Mr Townsend talked about. I think that Powerpop is a magic mixture of guitar sounds, vocal harmonies and the all important melodic song, with the appropriate choppy nuances. For instance, the Iveys “Tube Train”, which essentially sounds like an unreleased Who song circa “Sell Out” era. It’s a very aggressive sounding track, clashing distorted Who-esque guitars and drums, with a sweet vocal line. So I think that’s another clue, a kicking guitar track, with an almost too sweet vocal and hook, a distinct contrast between backing track and vocal, one angry, one sweet, emotionally opposite in a lot of instances. The Who’s influence can be heard on a good deal of Powerpop. And I think that their album “Sell Out” is a bench mark.

Another bench mark, and a major favourite of mine since 1976 when I borrowed “Radio City” from my mate Matthew West, is Big Star. And I think their influence on modern Powerpop can’t be overstated. Again, sweet melodies, Byrdsian harmonies, fabulous, melancholic songs, the wet, reverbed drums, in fact pretty much everything is drenched in reverb. Above all, Alex Chilton’s never replicated, metallic, jangling, crystalline, out-of-phase guitar sound, as unique a sound as Townsend’s or Mcguinn’s.

Also, the Chris Bell solo album, “I am the Cosmos” is exceptional. Chris was the founder member of Big Star, and the main writer, and co-writer with Alex Chilton, on their first album, No. 1 Record. Again, the Beatle influence is there, and especially on the title track, which was mixed at Air studios, and engineered by Geoff Emerick, a long time Beatles associate and engineer. If you love Big Star, you really need to listen to “Cosmos”, though I suppose the title track is the most indispensable on the album. “Cosmos” wasn’t available for years, until the good folk at Ryko put it out in 1992. Though I was lucky enough to get a copy of the single on the Car label, around ’79 I believe. I read a review by Bryan Price, which said apparently Chris Stamey(from the Db’s) put Car records together.

“Cosmos” has the melancholic vibe of “Back of a car” or “What’s goin’ ahn” (from “Radio City, both co-written with Chilton, prior to Bell’s departure from the band), with a wall of Chilton-esque guitars, some sounding Leslied, an effect well loved by Abbey Road era Beatles. A Leslie is a revolving speaker cabinet, and the earliest ones were utilised in Hammond organs. The sound is a phased, whooshing effect, and has become a standard Powerpop sound, from Badfinger to the Move, to Cheap Trick and the Flamin’ Groovies. “Cosmos” also has the classic Big Star reverbed drums and almost distant, lower register bass guitar. Apparently Chilton did have limited input on the album,and his backing vocals on “You and Your Sister” (the b-side of the “Cosmos” single) are simply beautiful.

Another major influence on Powerpop has to be the Byrds. Certainly their gorgeous three part harmonies have been emulated many times. The Groovies, the Raspberries, Big Star, and the Posies, have all used the Byrds style harmonies as standard, as have many others. Also Roger Mcguinn’s twelve string Rickenbacker jangle, a la “Mr Tambourine Man” is another Powerpop benchmark. Roger said he’d started playing the Ricky as a direct result of seeing George Harrison playing one in “A Hard Day’s Night”.  Roger started out as a folk musician, (as did Gene Clark and David Crosby) and this influence, along with the Beatles and other British invasion bands, led to the Byrds being tagged “Folk Rock”. But everyone who wanted to play guitar oriented Powerpop wanted a 12 string Rickenbacker. Eric Carmen once said that his ultimate aim was to get on stage with Wally Bryson(who of course joined the Raspberries), from The Choir, another fab Cleveland Powerpop band, and play “Tambourine Man” on their 12 string Rickenbackers!!! Its massively full sound and harmonics are a common thread in Powerpop, and here we go back to Mr Townsend with “I Can’t Explain”. It’s like a Rock’n’Roll evolution, a passing of the Rickenbacker baton, from the Who, to the Beatles, to the Byrds,on to the Searchers (though John Mcnally initially used a Burns double six, an English built electric 12 string) to the Choir, then Powder, on to the Raspberries, the Flamin’ Groovies to the Plimsouls, and onto the Smithereens and early REM.

The Smithereens certainly deserve a major plug, because I think that after the flurry of excellent Powerpop  in the 70′s, they were the first guitar band to drag it back into the mainstream in the 80′s. They had all the credentials, the Beatle-esque songs, the 6 and 12 string Rickenbackers, the three part harmonies, the tight, agressive Who-like backing, the pop riffs and the sweet melodies. I saw them several times in the USA. At Summers on the Beach, in Fort Lauderdale, in  the summer of 1988, they lifted the roof with a killer encore of the Who’s “The Seeker”. They also did “Iron Man” by Black Sabbath, not sure why……

And post Smithereens a band that first caught my attention in Sweden in 1993 were the Posies. Their first album “Frosting on the beater” contained all the vital ingredients, with my favourite tracks coming over like a Big Star homage. Fab Chilton-esque guitars, layered, Big Star/Byrds harmonies. And of course their two key members, Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow were an essential part of the modern version of Big Star, and on “In Space”  proved themselves not only a worthy foil for Alex Chilton, but songwriters of similar calibre. Also, and it’s not unusual for the genre, they have quite a Psyche edge to their sound, backward guitars, phasing etc.

As you may have read in my article about the Ramones, I adore and consider the Flamin’ Groovies top notch Powerpop. This year Cyril reunited with original Groovies vocalist Roy Loney, and played la Beat Bespoke in London at Easter. Of course us hardcore fans would be happier to see the Chris Wilson fronted Groovies reform. Chris joined the band(rather drunkenly apparently!)for several songs in the encore at Easter. And on Chris’ website, he’s talking about him and Cyril(and George Alexander, the Groovies original bass player)re uniting soon. Oh, I hope so!

Perhaps not a familiar name to many Powerpop fans are Powder. I bought a comp of theirs called Biff Bang Powder, probably 3 years ago, put together by a man I consider to have immaculate taste, Alec Paulo ( who played bass in Magic Christian, Cyril Jordan’s last Powerpop excursion), on Distortion records. Though the band went through numerous incarnations, (and also a stint as Sonny and Cher’s backing band) it’s the first few tracks on the cd, the early demos from 1967, are essential to any avid Powerpop fan. They sound like more unreleased gems from the Who’s “Sell Out”. Fabulous songs, sweeter than sweet vocals and harmonies, sledgehammer bass, drums, and what sounds like a Stratocaster running through a Marshall or Sun amp. Slashing guitar, contrasted with melodic quiet picking, very Pete Townsend. And totally unmissable.

I have to give a mention to another mega fave of mine, the Pursuit of Happiness. Think I must have heard them on college radio in the US, in 1989 initially. They are from Canada, again pretty songs and  harmonies, with really brutal, sometimes almost heavy metal guitars. And their original line up, and the one that most frequently unites, featured a female lead guitarist and backing vocalist (Kris Abbot and Lesley Stanwyck). They’re the intelligent end of Powepop, but still rock hard, check “Love Junk” as a primer. Beautiful psyche edged, melancholic pop.

Well, I’m not sure any of my meanderings have helped to define the Powerpop genre. Perhaps I’ve succeeded in defining some of it’s nuances? As a further guide, I’d like to list, in no particular order, ten of my favourite Powerpop gems: Enjoy, and as the man called Cyril once said to me, ROCK OUT!!

Just a Smile – Pilot (Great tune, great 12 string guitar sound)
Do I love you– the Powder (Orgasmic Who-like thrash, brilliant vocals and harmonies, quiet/tender then loud/rocking)
Couldn’t I just tell you – Todd Rundgren (Why didn’t you do more like this, Dude?
World of you - Aerovons (great powered up fabs)
Top of the Pops – the Smithereens (Kick ass rawk, great vox and tune)
Tube train – the Ivys (More kicking Sell Out-isms, essential)
Promises– Jumbo (English soft rock, a great tune, fab layered jangling guitars, tres obscure)
Don’t change your mind – The Choir (great 12 string Ricky courtesy of Wally Bryson, covered by the Accidents along with “I’d rather you leave me”, hip kids or what???)
Looking for girls – The Pursuit of happiness (Kick ass  rockin’ Powerpop)
Big brown eyes – the db’s (Fabulous, sunny Big Star jangle)

“Ya right Tel?”

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I have nerve deafness. I inherited it from my Father, who inherited it from his Mother, who inherited it from one of her parents. I have Tinnitus in both ears(a whistling in my right ear, a hissing in the left), and a type of adult glue ear which necessitates a visit to the ENT department at my local hospital every three months. I began to realise I was deaf at the age of 11, when I couldn’t understand completely what my excellent form teacher Mr Williamson was saying. So as not to appear an idiot I would pretend to understand, and as a result when questioned further I would either evade the issue or invent an answer sometimes to hysterically funny results. I can recall my class mates laughing heartily at some of my responses, I greeted their reaction with a mixture of delight(at being the centre of attention)and dreadful embarrassment. Amazingly I passed my 11 plus and was deemed bright enough to go to Grammar school, much to my great chagrin, because all the kids I went to primary school with called me “Swot” and “snob”, and felt it their duty to give me abuse, some physical.

I unconsciously developed the ability to lip read over the early part of my adult life, and despite nagging from both family and close friends I chose to ignore my deafness, fearful of  a proper diagnosis. It wasn’t until the late 90′s when my then girlfriend coerced me into seeing an Audiologist, via a recommendation from my Doctor. I went to the ENT at my local hospital, and my hearing test was conducted inside a wood and glass booth. You’re given what looks like a pair of lightweight headphones, with an extra arm which sits on the front of your skull, to test bone conduction. I sat there for a while, with a “panic button” type device in my hand, which I was told to press when I heard a sound. I waited and waited but couldn’t hear anything. Then various tones came through which I was able to hear. The upshot being I was diagnosed with moderate hearing loss. The Doctor said he’d expect a person of eighty to experience my type of deafness! So what is “moderate” hearing loss? And who decided it was “moderate”? Not a deaf person I bet! Moderately good? Or moderately bad? I suppose the best definition I can find for moderate is “not extreme”.

I tried hearing aids, but it’s so odd being able to hear things that I never had before, like the rustling of my clothes, my foot steps, children playing on the field a way from my house. It changes one’s perceptions dramatically. I simply couldn’t get used to the additional noise, and walking down the street wearing both aids was a nightmare. My balance felt altered, and all the noise and extra sounds disconcerted me so much I couldn’t use them.

Nowadays all of my friends and family understand how deaf I am and are very considerate, tho’ still take the pee from time to time. And I’m no longer afraid to appear stupid by saying “I’m sorry I didn’t hear that”. I don’t feel disabled and realise I’m very lucky compared to some poor souls, but of course my hearing loss has been a serious impediment at times. I realise now my college studies just couldn’t happen, because at Art school the classes were pretty big, in shiny, glassy rooms that clacked and clicked but weren’t conducive to hearing a hapless, struggling and possibly quite pissed lecturer.

It’s remarkable, when you’re deaf people have no qualms about calling you “deafy” or “deaf bastard” or some such. But you never hear them say “you blind bastard” to a blind person or “you disabled bastard”! to the disabled. It’s like being deaf isn’t so much a physical problem but a mental one. As my Pa used to say “I’m deaf, not daft!”, because that’s how a lot of people react to deafness,  it’s something they can’t see so they assume it’s in your head. It’s like deafness is an invisible disability. It’s as if you’re not actually deaf, you’re just being arrogant and can’t be bothered to respond. Or you’re just stupid……

We are the invisible cripples, us deaf folk. I asked a work colleague if she thought deaf people were disabled and she said no. And when I visited the Audiologist recently, I asked her if she thought I was “disabled”, and she said she thought the question was “difficult”. I would say to any body who has doubts, wrap a pillow round your head, so it covers your ears, gaffer tape it in place, then go about your normal day. Then tell me deafness isn’t a disability……

EPILOGUE:

Well I had another hearing test recently with a very nice(and not unattractive!) Audiologist called Barbara. Incidentally if there’s any NHS bods reading this, please let it be known the fitting of hearing aids in a non sound proof room, with every single surface being reflective, is a total no no, a bit like open heart surgery on a rubbish tip. And whoa! be aware, Broomfield hospital is really big and scary. Huge, like MIA or Heathrow, Jumbo jets could easily park in the foyer. It’s “Land of the Giants”! But anyway the upshot of the visit was I now have two very small hearing aids, with tiny earpieces.

Barbara explained that the volume and eq of the aids is totally matched by the computer with your hearing loss. And I’ve got to say, they’re great! I’m still getting used to hearing a ton of top end, but generally they’re fab. Only trouble is, whether I copped it at Broomfield I don’t know, but I have a raging infection, which has just about closed my right ear…….

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We recorded the album at Stage one studios , in Forest gate, in London. I remember the shop front above the studio had a grand piano sitting in it. The studio was in the basement, and we had to hump our gear down several flights of stairs. From the 2nd til the 9th of June 1980 we diligently played take after take, for the benefit of an engineer known only as “Pete”, an snooty Coke head, with little empathy to our cause. He thought himself an “engineer/producer”, and we were the lowly junior band, even tho’ by that point we’d played hundreds of gigs, and seen the best and the worst side of every conceivable type of audience. I’m not sure if it was designed to rake every last penny from the Plastic Fantastic coffers, but he made us play up to 27 takes of certain songs, which completely destroyed any spontaneity our playing may have had, and tempers got frayed. June was hot that year, it was arduous work, but because we were committed and highly motivated we took it on the chin and did our best. And as the studio cost £50 an hour, a lot of money for those times, we were keen to get on, and bang the album down.

We all felt somewhat overwhelmed by the studio, and the situation we found ourselves in. We were making an album, we had a record deal! We felt we’d almost got there, almost made it, and this was our big chance and we were happy to comply with whatever the money people asked. Henry did his level best, as always, to make us as comfortable as possible in a rather restricting environment. It simply wasn’t right, we knew our sound, we knew our songs, and yet Pete, who was a poor communicator at best(especially to a deaf person like myself!)was calling the shots. I felt like I was intruding in his studio!

After the ordeal of the backing tracks, things got lighter and the overdubs came easy. Mark and Paul were just brilliant, virtually every take they did was faultless, and Nick did a sterling  job on his backing vocals and bass. We had another musician on the album, Martin “Oats” Wheatley. Oats was a bud from Colchester institute, and lived in Belle Vue road, near East station, a derelict housing project,whose electricity had been reconnected by a Christian charity. The street was basically falling down, but was squatted in. Martin played lead guitar in the Gremlins, a Surf/Punk band I mentioned in my Pirates piece. We’d jammed with the Gremlins when we were still a 3 piece, playing stuff like “I can hear the grass grow” by the Move and regularly got fried with them via “hot knives”! Colin Murray lived across the street, as did the lovely Rachel Wrigley. I was close to Martin, I loved his musical tastes, his Buddhist attitude and his sublime sense of humour. He was a brilliant musician, and excelled on pretty much any instrument you could mention, especially guitar, piano and sax. Also Tony Beech lived in Oats’  house, the prime mover in the Rest, now a member of  http://www.thepewkeband.co.uk/ . We thought Tony was a bit old, but he had a phenomenal record collection, lots of great 60′s singles, including some prime Yardbirds. Oats liked to play his cranky Peter Sellers 1o inch records on Tony’s system, hysterically funny when you’ve just been sucking on a cardboard tube over a gas ring! And the Accidents were front row for the Gremlins Pirates support slot at Woods, Thursday the 29th of June, 1978. I loved them, finally a local Surf band, way before the Surf Rats tho’ more akin to the Barracudas in their style. And they skateboarded onto the stage!

Oat’s sublime sax playing turned mine and Paul’s Punky Ska chop “Puss in boots”  into a pre Dexy’s soul stomp, his three part overdubs sounded incredible, tho’ there was a touch of the “Bilks” in his solo! And on the Will/Paul penned “Peking”, Oats’ sax gave the eastern flavour we needed, and for once Pete did a great job with the FX. Oats’ piano playing on “It’s Nature” was heavenly, a rolling, languid piece. And it’s his Lennon-esque harmonica playing on “She’s leaving here tonight”, giving it that Sixties R’n'B rave up feel at the end.

Mark did his best to emulate Alex Chilton’s “Radio city” jangle and sheen(with his obligatory Hendrix references, i.e. Trigger Happy). I tried to channel Paul Jones, John Leyton and Elvis Costello, and when we weren’t busy being the Beatles, we dreamt of being as cool as the Flamin’ Groovies.  It was held together with a wing and a prayer, but we made it through all the bullshit. And amazingly, 31 years later it still still holds up, catchy and Beatle-eque, funny and charming.

After we’d finished the album, we continued to gig, tho’ perhaps not as intensely as before. We did showcases, colleges, and amongst other name London venues the then obligatory Rock Garden in Covent Garden. After a gig there with Switzerland’s answer to the Slits, Lilliput, in October that year, the priceless Fender 2×12″ speaker cabinet that I used was stolen. I was gutted, as was Jed, the owner. And amazingly that’s been the only time in my whole life I’ve had a piece of equipment taken from a gig.

We played Ronnie Scott’s upstairs, which was a gas, and also in Soho, Gossip’s, in Dean street, where we gigged on and off in regular intervals across 1980(and then with the Gene Tryp in the mid Eighties, when it was re named “Alice in Wonderland” by Doctor and the Medics). I can’t recall which date it was, perhaps the first, but as we pulled up at the back of Gossip’s, in a street with a terrace of three story Victorian houses, a very odd sight met our eyes. In the bay window on the ground floor of the house next door stood a very dark skinned woman, dressed in leather fetish wear, holding and provocatively playing with a big leather bullwhip! It was obviously something we’d never seen before, a brothel. I remember getting out of the van rather sheepishly, hoping we wouldn’t attract the good lady’s attention! At the start of the evening at most of the gigs there, the audience mainly comprised of streetwalkers, who were friendly, funny types, several of whom were absolutely gorgeous.

Then in the early Autumn Jackie magazine(the 1970′s equivalent of Seventeen)offered us a feature, with us as the cover stars. There was also talk of me getting work with their sister magazine, Photo love, a kindof romantic cartoon comic, except there weren’t cartoons, but photos with captions, very surreal! But hey, some people will do anything for money……plus I figured we’d garner a heck of a teenybopper following. Sadly no one can remember, but the photographer for the sessions was either Grahame Douglas’s brother(he of Eddie and the Hot Rods infamy)or a close relative, an up and coming Rock’n'Roll snapper at the time.

I don’t recall when, tho’ I believe it was in the Autumn of 1980, Plastic Fantastic, the company who financed the album, went bust. To say we were deflated and disappointed would be a massive understatement. We’d worked so hard for four years, in various incarnations, and we did believe in each other . Trouble was, aside from our brilliant and wonderful fans, the music industry obviously didn’t. And I suppose that was the point where we fragmented further. Mark and I wanted to soldier on, Paul and Nick wanted a fresh start. To quote Henry from the Detour sleeve notes “the final date the Accidents ever played was at the Top Alex, in Southend, on the 28th of November 1980. It was a piss poor gig and we got £30 between the 5 of us. On a freezing cold night, pouring with rain, we wearily packed the gear away, and altho’ no one said it, we all knew it was the end. The dream had been shattered.”

Mark and I limped along with another version of the band, but the magic had gone, and although we played several excellent gigs, it simply didn’t happen. I was asked to front the Flying Heroes in the Autumn of 1981, that began another musical adventure for me. But wait, what’s that monster noise on the event horizon……?

http://terenceruffle.co.uk/20090120-terence-solo-blog-the-gene-tryp

And as a special treat for all you Hot dogging Accidents fans out there, he’s an alternative version of “Kiss me on the Apocalips” album……

http://www.4shared.com/file/BYDOe3GO/The_Accidents_-_Kiss_me_on_the.html

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