Cockney Rebel

Paul Fox would have been 65 years old today. I miss him as both a fabulous musician and as a lovely bloke - here he is in 1979 with The Ruts in the promo video for 'Something That I Said'. Great stuff!

With the ever-improving finger ever-improving gigs are thankfully getting a bit easier to get through - Thursday with Big Al and co. at The Sunningdale Lounge and Friday's Upper Cut show at The Dolphin in Uxbridge were both much more enjoyable from my point of view than last week's pain-powered performances so hopefully things will continue to get even better this week. I was due to play with The Buicks in Northwood on Saturday night but I rather extravagantly decided to take the night off (if you ever hear me moaning about not having any money feel free to poke me in the eye!) to go to see The Cockney Rejects at The 100 Club. I went with my brother Terry who has long been a big fan of the band - he used to play 'Greatest Hits Vol. 1' and 'Vol. 2' so often when they first came out that I think I know them even better than he does… we met up with Cadiz Music supremo Richard England at The Ship in Wardour Street around 7.15 and made it down to the venue as Geoffrey Oi!Cott were roaring through their set - it was all a little bit one dimensional for me (or I guess to be precise a bit two dimensional, as their songs are mostly about Yorkshire and / or cricket) but they certainly went down well with all concerned, especially the comedy compere who at the end of their set asked them to repeat 'Robin Hood Was A Yorkshireman'; it transpired that that they hadn't played it at all. Oops! Next up were The Heavy Metal Kids who in their first incarnation were just a bit before my time; I'm very glad to have caught them this time around though - 'They should have been as big as AC/DC' bellowed Manic Esso as their set thundered to a close, and I'm bound to say that on this showing I'd have to agree with him. And what can I say about The Cockney Rejects that hasn't already been said? They hammered through an hour or so of classic punk rock, driving the assembled multitude into a veritable frenzy in the process. Terrific stuff - and after having been a fan of the band for over 30 years my little brother finally got to meet his heroes after the show. Excellent!

More Big Al gigs this weekend. Don't point your finger at the guitar man, as previously discussed…