'Oh no - don't say it's true...'

If I'm still alive on July 24th this year - and I really hope that I will be - I'll be 55 years old.

I can't remember President Kennedy's assassination; I remember Jimi Hendrix dying, and I've already written (here!) in these hallowed pages of the trouble I got in on the day John Lennon left the building. That was probably the biggest 'celebrity death' for me - Princess Diana's passing was a huge international event but I've never been a royalist, and I suppose Kurt Cobain's death was a big one for the generation below mine. My mum always used to say that something bad always happens around Christmas (I don't know why she used to say it, but she always did!) but 2015 had ended with Brad from The Specials and Lemmy dying so surely that was bad enough? So when I woke up on Monday morning to a text message that read 'I need hugs!' from my mate Dave I wasn't sure what to think; when a text then arrived from my friend Nicky that spoke of her feeling 'sick with sadness' I thought that I'd better check the TV news...

If you're my age (or indeed a few years older or younger than me) then David Bowie has, for want of a better term, always been there. Actually he's always been miles ahead of his many imitators and indeed all of the rest of us but you know what I mean I think. And he's still there now too isn't he? There has been so much said and written about him in the last week that I don't really feel as though I can add very much, other than to say that we were lucky, very lucky, to have been on Earth at the same time as he was. Musically my favourite part of his long and magnificent career remains those immortal recordings with The Spiders From Mars, but that's just me - fans everywhere will have a different memory of what a song means to them, of how they felt when they saw him and realised that they weren't alone anymore, or that it was ok to be different, or to feel like an outsider in a world that couldn't see them and didn't care anyway, or, or, or...

Who'll love Aladdin Sane?

By a twist of fate I found myself in Brixton (Bowie's birthplace) on Monday afternoon as myself and Segs were going to Jamm to work on the Ruts D.C. recordings that we began last month. As I walked up the stairs from the underground station it was impossible not to notice that there were rather more Bowie t-shirts around that there might normally be; across from the station a small crowd had gathered around the mural on the side of the Morleys department store, with people leaving flowers, pictures, messages and more - I'm not normally one for grieving over people that I'd never met but it was impossible not to be moved by the scenes. Meanwhile The Academy had 'DAVID BOWIE - FOREVER OUR HERO' in the place where it would normally advertise the evening's main attraction - and why not? Local boy makes good. Local boy makes very good indeed. About as good as it can get if you think about it. 
I like most people have been playing a fair bit of the great man's work in the last few days - I'd actually been listening to the Spiders stuff a fair bit lately anyway in an attempt to tune into Mick Ronson's guitar genius as one of the sources of inspiration for our recordings - and have been struck by just how bloody good Bowie was.

The Bowie Academy.

Well he was wasn't he? And it's easy to forget that - you don't accidentally get a 50+ year career at anything if you're not any good at it, or (as someone remarked to me while telling me that Bowie had been 'lucky' as he 'wasn't particularly talented'. Oh dear...) if all you do is rely on fashion, or gimmicks, or indeed anything other than making great music and giving brilliant performances. David Bowie did both of those things of course, but he also did so much more. I'm sure there'll be a backlash soon, where some jumped up two bit journalist or television presenter tries to make a name for themselves by starting a bit of controversy ('he wasn't that good', 'he stole all his best moves', 'he sacked all The Spiders' - you know the sort of thing) but that'll hardly matter - the last third of The 20th Century belonged to David Bowie, and there's a good chance that a fair bit of The 21st Century will be influenced by him and his work. And rightly so. It is unlikely that we will see his like again, but we should be thankful that we saw it at all. 

Somewhat inevitably the day at Jamm was tinged with sadness. Or was it? Greg the engineer said how proud he felt that Bowie had been from Brixton; I suspect he wasn't the only one in the area with that thought. Rob from The Alabama 3 was on hand, he said that we were there to make music and make music we would - his possibly rather controversial production methods (tins of Red Stripe, bottles of wine and, er, more besides...) coaxed some astonishing vocal performances out of Segs. Even though I say so myself the tracks are sounding great; there's a lot of work still to do and more tracks to record next month but I for one am very optimistic about how the album is shaping up.

After the session I walked back along Brixton Road to the tube station - there were hundreds of people at the mural singing, dancing and indeed crying, an amazing (and from my point of view absolutely unforgettable) outpouring of emotion. It really was quite a thing to see, but nothing less than the occasion deserved.

New boy band forms - 
see you on 'The X Factor'...

On Thursday evening Dave, Segs and myself had what I suppose could be thought of as a 'works outing' to see Henry Rollins at The Barbican. In addition to being a great fan of both The Ruts and Ruts D.C. he of course sang with the band at Paul Fox's last show - I first met him at a rehearsal for said show (you can read the story here if you'd like to) and have spoken to him several times since then, he's an absolutely extraordinary character who is completely unlike anyone else that I've ever met. His 150+ minute show saw him talk (and talk and talk and, er, talk...) about anything and everything that came to mind - although some parts were obviously scripted I spoke to people who had seen other shows on this tour which were apparently quite different in content. Incredible. He told me that he has to have a timer on stage with him otherwise he would 'go on all night'. I for one don't doubt that he could do exactly that.

Tropic At Ruislip hosted Who's Who on Friday evening - given my admiration (oh ok then, worship) for The Who it's always interesting to see a tribute band and Who's Who are probably the best that I've seen (not that I've seen that many!) They're more 'Live At Leeds' than Goldhawk Club, but they make a great job of honouring The Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Band In The World. And it was the first gig of 2016 for Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks last night, at The Dashwood Arms near High Wycombe. This was a new venue for the band and I must say that it's an excellent establishment with a good tradition of live music - with Terry elsewhere Dave did a great job on bass and the band began the year on high note.

This week there may well be more Ruts D.C. recording as well as another couple of Buicks gigs and probably more besides - but if you'll excuse me it's time to play 'The Jean Jenie' just one more time...

Everybody's carrying a gun

Well I don't mind admitting that I've not felt great today - possibly as a result of 4 late nights in a row, possibly as a result of what I've been doing during those late nights, more likely due to combination of both. I knew Friday, Saturday and Sunday were going to take their toll but after a very busy day in the shop yesterday I went down to RnR Studios in Uxbridge to catch the end of a Department S rehearsal. With Phil from Bug now installed on guitar and new drummer Alex getting to grips with the material they are preparing for some upcoming shows which depending on founder member Mike Herbage's availability may or may not feature your humble narrator on guitar; with this in mind we repaired to The Dolphin to discuss tactics - after spending several hours in there and The Queen's Head I fear we were still no nearer to working out where and when I may appear with them. Or maybe we were - it's a little tricky to remember...

Friday night The Upper Cut found themselves in the somewhat incongruous surroundings of Buckinghamshire Golf Club. We played there almost exactly a year to the day ago (once again on the evening of their St. George's Day event) and I received a call this week asking if we'd like to make a return appearance. There is of course only one answer to a question like that, and it isn't 'no'... as with last year we arrived to the general confusion of the staff, although after asking around in the bar we soon found the right people to talk to. One of the chaps who was there the previous year was on top form, telling us that he'd instructed the person who was paying us to adopt a generous approach to the evening. Well what he actually said was 'I've told 'im, don't be a c@nt, pay the boys wot vere facking werf', but I think you know what I mean. By the time we started playing at half past nine it was clear that with a few participants having been there for getting on for 12 hours a noisy night was in prospect, and a suitably raucous show ensued. Could it all happen again next year? We shall see!

Yes, it does look like
 a gun doesn't it?

The next day Ruts D.C. journeyed up to Bedford for a show supporting The Neville Staple Band at The Corn Exchange. With much of the journey spent singing copies of our new 'Jah War' single (now there's something that I never thought that I'd ever type. It's true though!) the mood was good, and the air of jollity continued for the rest of the day which saw opening act New Groove Formation getting things off to a suitably lively start. Our show took a few songs to get going, although by the time we got to the afore-mentioned 'Jah War' things were definitely moving in the right direction. Time constraints meant that we couldn't play an encore but we all pronounced ourselves pleased with proceedings. The evening ended with The Neville Staple Band mixing Specials songs with ska classics and playing an excellent set in process. A successful night's work.

And last night Wilko Johnson continued his remarkable renaissance with a blistering performance at The Shepherds Bush Empire. Support came from the always-worth-seeing Eight Rounds Rapid, whose splendid 30 minute set found favour among the rapidly-arriving audience, many of whom seemed to be recent converts to the cause judging by the number of Who t-shirts on display. As Wilko took to the stage to a hero's welcome it was clear that we were in for an evening to remember, and as always the great man delivered a storming show which bought the proverbial house down. As I say it was clear that some songs were better known by the audience than others, with material from 'Going Back Home' getting a big reaction and other songs seeming to pass some people by, but none of that seemed to bother the band who all played brilliantly. A top evening all round, not least because those splendid chaps from 8RR managed to get me into the after show party. That's another drink I owe you boys...

Casino Royale

Time is funny stuff isn't it? Well, it feels as though it is just at the moment - I was in Switzerland 4 hours ago...

It was 7 a.m. yesterday when myself and Matt blearily arrived at Heathrow Airport's Terminal One. When I got into his car 30 minutes earlier 'Blank Expression' by The Specials was playing on the CD player - both of us were singing it as we got off the courtesy bus from the long stay car park. It seemed an appropriate song for such an early hour, and for the faces of the rest of the Chicago Blues Brothers party (!) all of whom were on their way to Zurich for a corporate show. Mike's joining Matt in the hats 'n' glasses with Tracy and Pete on backing vocals, Dave and Richard are on trumpet and sax, Squirrel's on bass, Chris is in Ian's place on keyboards and with Marc busy elsewhere Dave Ruffy joins us on drums for the first time. I'd been over to his house a few days earlier where armed with a DVD of a theatre show we'd ran through a fair amount of material in preparation for the gig. Also working with us for the first time are Claire and Laura a.k.a. The Abba Sisters (can you guess what they do?!?) who with Pete and Mike are playing a show the following night in San Moritz and are also doing a short set with us.

After checking in and going through security there was time for breakfast (eggs, chips and beans - excellent!) before the epic walk to gate 33. I spent much of what I considered to be a reasonably uneventful flight engrossed in Guitar And Bass Magazine; as we got off the plane Pete remarked to me that he 'didn't enjoy the take-off or landing' - I hadn't really noticed anything untoward going on. Maybe that's what God made guitar magazines for... as we waited to go through passport control Pete messes about - Claire looked worried, 'don't do that or we'll get ...er...' she searched for the word '...er... apprehended...' adding 'all I could think of saying was yogurts'. Hmmm... after collecting our baggage we met up with Ronnie the promoter, and with Mr. Ruffy supplying a seemingly never-ending amount of jokes we arrived at The Best Western Hotel in Baden in good if somewhat bleary spirits. After Ronnie telling us how picturesque the village is I resolved to take a walk for a look around - I was however asleep within a few minutes of arriving in room 111.

We all met up in the lobby around 4.30 before walking - yes, walking! - over to the Grand Casino where we're playing at an event for 100 or so casino staff. The room is far too small for me to make full use of the Marshall JCM2000 half-stack that I've been provided with (it's actually pretty difficult to think of a less appropriate amp for the job in hand!) although I managed to get a reasonable clean sound at a level suitable for the show (i.e. with the volume on about 1 out of 10!) After a jam on 'Bring It On Home To Me' with Pete on vocals we ran through a few songs and checked endings for Dave's benefit - it sounded very loud and there were a few worried faces, interspersed with comments like 'it'll sound good when there's a few people in the room'... from there it was down to the restaurant for a bewildering amount of food, the atmosphere was good (helped by several bottles of wine!) and a good gig was in prospect.

After eating I sat down with Dave to talk through the show - we're playing an hour set with a 3 song interlude from The Abba Sisters. They're using backing tracks, and there is some debate as to whether we leave the stage while they're on, attempt to play along (and I mean ''attempt'' - Abba songs are notoriously tricky to play, and I for one didn't have a clue how they went!) or to simply mime along with them... it was decided that we should stay on stage and mime... or play along... or something...

10.30 and we're on, the audience are up for it from the first number and it's looking like being a great gig. There are a few odd moments in the songs, not least because it was hard to hear what was going on sometimes - Dave remarked to me afterwards that he had real trouble hearing what Squirrel and myself were playing which didn't make his job particularly easy. But it all went down well, although when the girls came on there was some confusion from the audience - that said they were nowhere near as confused as I was by the chords to 'Mamma Mia'! I'd just about got the hang of them and the song finished! 'Voulez-Vouz' and 'Dancing Queen' caused a near riot, and by the time we returned with the near-inevitable 'Mustang Sally' the place was going into meltdown, with some very adult dancing from a couple down the front (I'll leave you to think about that for a moment shall I?!?) as a raucous 'Gimme Some Loving' bought our set to a close. We encored with 'Sweet Home Chicago' to finish a great gig.

It could be argued that one of the most potentially perilous situations that a band can be put in after a gig involves a free bar in a casino which is walking distance from the hotel. With this in mind details of the next few hours are sketchy at best, although I remember Matt singing along with the Blues Brothers recording of 'Everybody Needs Somebody To Love' into the D.J.'s microphone...

I got back to my room about 3 a.m., and left my room to leave for the airport less than 2 1/2 hours later. Not good frankly. 'That's the quietest band bus I've ever been in' said Dave as we pulled up at the terminal, waking up half the group in the process. After negotiating the automatic check-in (successfully for once!) I deposited my guitar at the outsize baggage area (it was the same man in the pink vest as it always is! He must never go home!) and stumbled into the departure lounge where bloodshot eyes and general malaise betrayed the previous evening's festivities just a few hours earlier. I had to take my guitar effect pedal out of my hand luggage for inspection when we went through security but other than that everything went smoothly - we landed at Heathrow just after 8 a.m., under 24 hours since we left it. I feel tired now, and well I might. Still, no time to waste - I've got some Madness songs to learn for tomorrow night...