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. [Read more →]
Sunday the 20th of March was a grand day for Bowie heads across the planet. The unreleased “Toy” album was leaked online. Sure, six of the tracks have been released officially, three as b sides of singles taken from his last album “Heathen”, [Read more →]
Andrew Branch interviewed me in February about the David Bowie/Ziggy gig I saw in 1973. He asked me how Hetro males were able to perceive Glam rock, which was essentially a very androgynous type of Rock’n'Roll. I told him, at school the more macho lads liked the Faces and Slade, thus avoiding being identified as part of a perhaps more open minded crowd. [Read more →]
When Nick Smith joined the band in 1979, the chemistry within it changed quite dramatically. Most of our Punk edges had been smoothed off by then, and we were now “New Wave”, adding Elvis Costello to our list of major influences, along with the Groovies, the Beatles and Big Star. [Read more →]
After the Gene Tryp imploded towards the middle of 1986 my world fell apart, but I guess like a long term romance that wasn’t going anywhere I knew it had to end. Suddenly to not be gigging with the intensity that the Tryp had been was a shock to the system. [Read more →]
As I get older, I tend to want less clutter in my life. There was a time when I would obsessively hang onto all sorts of rubbish in the hope that it would come in handy, someday! Perhaps it’s the sort of wisdom that comes with being 53. [Read more →]
I can’t accurately recall but I believe Paul told Will we no longer required his services as a bass player. I know Will held a grudge for many years about his sacking, and shortly thereafter moved to London.
A word about Will. We must have met when the Maldon Grammar school turned comprehensive, around 1969, although I can recall seeing Will in the loos at Grammar school, hanging out with the bad boys, and smoking cigarettes. [Read more →]
With Will and I being so close as teenagers, it was inevitable that we’d form a band. We’d been to many gigs together in the early 70′s. We’d seen Hawkwind, the Pink Fairies, Humble Pie, Wishbone Ash and many other great Freak bands at numerous venues like the Kursaal, the Roundhouse and both the Sundowns in Brixton and Edmonton. [Read more →]
I don’t remember where I first heard the Who. It was probably on one of the two big Pirate radio stations(London or Caroline)but I think it was on Ready Steady Go one Friday night in the Sixties that they really made my head explode. [Read more →]
Having been advised by my Mother’s Uncle, Harry Day, that he could earn good money as a laundryman at sea, my Father embarked on the biggest adventure of his life. In May 1950 he signed up to sail with the Orient line, now known as P&O. [Read more →]