Magic And Loss

Some of these blog pieces more-or-less write themselves, some take a bit of coaxing and some take a lot of work. A lot of work, as in a 'why am I doing this to myself?' - style lot of work. This one is quite hard to write because of the subject matter, which is strange as there should be a lot of positive things to say about friendship, kindred spirits, feeling part of a team... they're all good things, but you don't get something for nothing do you?

I was on my way home on Thursday night when my phone made the slightly annoying car horn - type noise that it makes when I receive a text message. I should change the sound, but I never seem to get around to it. Or something. Anyway I took the phone out of my pocket and read the message. Then I read the message again. And again. It was telling me that Tom Edwards had died. But he can't have. He's only young. And he's Tom, he can't have... 
I first meet Tom a couple of years of years ago, but he's one of those people that it's hard to remember a time that you didn't know them, if you know what I mean. I played the 'I Need A Dodge' gig at Koko with him in 2015, went to the Marshall factory with him, saw him play with Adam Ant, played the riff to 'Day Tripper' on his guitar in Abbey Road Studios... I still don't really know what to say about it all, other than that he was a fabulous musician and a lovely man. I'll miss him - and I know that I won't be the only one.

Harlow is perhaps not the most obvious place to provoke any real emotion, or so you might have thought - but if you'd have been there on Saturday night then you'd have known that 'emotion' was most definitely on the agenda, as after several false alarms The Square finally closed it's doors for the very last time. I first played there with The Price in 1986, and just over 30 years later I played three songs at the last ever gig there. But what a last ever gig it was my friends... 
First band on The Orphans feature Oliver son-of-Simon-from-The-Newtown-Neurotics Lomond on guitar (to be pedantic, on my guitar for most of their set as he broke a string on his) and roared through a breathless half hour set (guitar, drums and vocals - not a bass guitar in sight!) to the approval of the rapidly arriving audience. After saying a quick hello to Steve Lamacq - if I remember rightly he was involved in getting The Price our first gig at the venue - in the downstairs bar it was back upstairs to catch local heroes The Newtown Neurotics who bought the proverbial house down. To be fair they were on safe hometown ground but their excellent performance didn't rest on any laurels, with frontman / songwriter Steve Drewett in fine form throughout. And what can I say about Eddie And The Hot Rods that I haven't already said in these hallowed pages? They've always been one of my favourite bands, and this show was as good as any I have ever seen them play. But it was different, very different - from my point of view at least.
Back in December I went to see The John Otway Big Band at The Borderline; I'd have gone along anyway as they're always well worth seeing but I went up to meet Hot Rods guitar hero Richard Holgarth (who also plays for Otway and was the sound man at The Square when The Price used to play there) to discuss the possible purchase of a Gibson SG guitar that he was considering selling. During the evening the subject of the Square's imminent closure came up, and he invited me up to the gig. At some point I said something like 'I'd love to play at that' - at which point he suggested that I play with Eddie And The Hot Rods. I thought about his offer for, ooh, two or three milliseconds before saying yes...
As I fought my way through the sold out crowd towards the stage I reflected on the situation - no rehearsal, not even a run through at the soundcheck, although I did have a chance to try my guitar through the amplifier that I was borrowing for the occasion. We only decided which songs I was going to play with them in the pub opposite around 3 hours ago. I eventually got to the stage as Hot Rods singer Barrie introduced me  - I never thought that would ever happen I can tell you - and I picked up my guitar. 'Are you ok?' said Richard cheerily as I tried a couple of chords - yes I was ok, and I was even more ok when 'Hard Driving Man' started. And there I was, little old me playing with Eddie and his Hot Rods. If you'd have told me that I was going to do that 40 years ago... 'Gloria' was next before we were joined by Jim Jones (he was DJ-ing after the gig) for 'Born To Be Wild' - and all too soon it was over. The gig, my time in The Hot Rods, one of the great independent venues, everything. There were more than a few tears, with more than a few of them coming from me. It had  been a lousy few days. You don't know what you've got until it's gone do you?

Oh and in case you're wondering, I bought the SG. Of course I did. Well, something good had to come out of it all didn't it?    

Yeah I know this isn't very well written and is all a bit garbled - as I say, sometimes this is quite hard to write... sad times...

Rudie can't fail

I finished my last posting with the words 'strange days indeed', a phrase I often use when things get, for want of a better word, 'strange'. I've found myself using it a lot lately. It's unashamedly stolen from 'Nobody Told Me' by John Lennon (so far I've stopped short of saying 'most peculiar mama' but I guess that's just a matter of time) and was used last time to make a vaguely Fab Four-related attempt at referring to the frankly astonishing news that I was to visit Abbey Road Studios on Sunday afternoon. So what was a herbert like me doing on such hallowed turf? Simple - Dave Ruffy and Tom Edwards were participating in a recording session there, and the chance to drop in and see them was just too good to miss. As I came out of St. John's Wood tube station I became all too aware of the number of people intently looking at maps or mobile phones - I rounded the corner into Abbey

Hello from Studio 2!

Road itself to see 20 or so people either side of that zebra crossing (you know the one!) taking photos of each other and causing traffic chaos in the process; as I walked up the steps to the front door I thought of some of the people who would have walked up those same steps on their way to work. I buzzed the entry phone, mumbled something about visiting Studio 2 and opened the door into the reception area where the cheery but weary face of a security man invited me to sign the visitor's book. Next to it a handwritten envelope read 'F.A.O. PAUL McCARTNEY c/o ABBEY ROAD STUDIOS'. Here we go then... down the corridor, past the stairs, first door on the right - as I went to knock on said door Tom opened it and greeted me with a hug, I thought he'd been watching me on CCTV but no, he'd just been going out to get something. I walked into the control room to see Dave picking up his phone to see if I'd texted him to let him know that I'd arrived - I was supposed to but had forgotten. Nervous? Maybe... suddenly I'm walking down the stairs into what has to be the most famous recording studio in the World. And there it is, just like it is in all the photographs. Oo-er! 

I was only there for about 30 minutes - I didn't want to outstay my welcome, and anyway I had a gig to go to. But it was a great - make that great - 30 minutes. I can very easily get hopelessly over-romantic about things like this, and let's face it, I normally do - but that was a half an hour that a Beatles Bore such as myself will never forget. But there's been a few things lately that I'll never forget, not least Wednesday night's show at Koko. It was I suppose everything that we hoped that it would be, although it wasn't without it's problems. Last minute letdowns by various people (not mentioning any names...) meant some eleventh hour changes to proceedings, one of which resulted in me sitting in dressing room 4 with no lesser figure than Charlie Harper running through the arrangement of 'Tommy Gun' - now there's something that I never thought I'd do. Mind you I never thought I'd play 'Kick Out The Jams' with MC5 guitar hero Wayne Kramer but as this footage shows that really happened too. Everybody involved was on top form, with the short opening set from The Crunch getting things off to a splendid start before Chris Salewicz read a passage from his acclaimed Joe Strummer biography 'Redemption Song' then introduced the documentary film 'I Need A Dodge! Joe Strummer On The Run' - sadly I missed most of this as I was getting ready for the gig but the bits that I did see were very interesting, making it a must-buy when it comes out on DVD from Cadiz Music later this year. As the credits rolled we took our places ready to start playing as soon as the screen was raised - as we began 'London Calling' with Mr. Kramer joining Dave, Tim, Tom and myself in the band and Paul from The Urban Voodoo Machine tackling the vocals head on it became clear that we were in for a memorable night. Everybody - Chris Bailey from The Saints, Tymon Dogg, Segs from Ruts D.C., Tara from The Duel and the afore-mentioned U.K. Subs legend Charlie Harper - gave their all, and by the time Wayne Kramer re-appeared for 'Jail Guitar Doors' excitement was at fever pitch. He sang well, sounded great - the loudest guitarist that I've ever stood on stage with! - and the two MC5 classics 'Looking At You' and 'Kick Out The Jams' bought a truly monumental evening to a unforgettable close. It really was an extraordinary thing to be part of - great stuff all round.

Two night's after (ahem!) blowing the roof off Koko I played at The Black Horse in Eastcote with Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks. With Dave the drummer gigging elsewhere Rudi joined us for the first time (thereby giving me the chance to use the name of a Clash song as the hopefully all-encompassing title of this posting - I don't just throw this stuff together you know!) and made a great job of things. I often get asked how I play a (relatively) big gig one day and a small one the next - the truth is that when shows are as enjoyable as this one it doesn't matter if you're playing to a few people in a small pub or hundreds or even thousands in a bigger venue. It's all about the music, and if the music is good then the night is good too. And talking of good nights...

He's back!

Ruts D.C. played at Koko back in October 2013 - the headline act that night was a certain Wilko Johnson, who at that stage of the game was, as the saying goes, living on borrowed time. He'd been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at the start of the year and given just a few months to live, but against all the odds was still playing live. Now a year-and-a-half later he's back in more ways than one, having had treatment for what was previously thought to have been an inoperable condition. I like many thought that the show we played with him would be his last, but having just seen the great man on Thursday night at The Albert Hall I can confirm that he's playing better than ever - with the familiar figures of Norman Watt-Roy on bass and Dylan Howe on drums he stormed through a 30 minute set that got an audience reaction that many headline bands would have been proud of. He was supporting The Who, meaning that I got to see probably my two favourite guitarists ever on the same evening. I'd already seen The 'Orrible 'Oo at The O2 Arena on Sunday and Monday (that's where I was going after visiting Abbey Road Studios) playing two shows rescheduled from before Christmas, and while none of the shows were bad I think the R.A.H. gig just beat the other two in the 'best gig of the three' stakes. But not by much - it was great to hear 'Slip Kid' on Sunday, and the Monday show included a particularly good 'Eminence Front' among the usual highlights. 50 years on from their first record release they sound better than ever - you've got to love 'em haven't you? 

So there you have it, a memorable week in mad-guitar-land. And this week is looking pretty good too, with Ruts D.C.playing in Paris on Friday followed by two London shows the next night for your humble narrator - The London Sewage Company support The Men They Couldn't Hang at The Shepherd's Bush Empire (oh yes!) early in the evening while Neck play The Water Rats in King's Cross later in the day. Happy Easter y'all!

Hey Ho, Let's Go!

And so it goes on - much of the last week was spent at The Music Complex in Deptford rehearsing for this coming Wednesday's Joe Strummer film show at Koko. Songs were learned then discarded, re-learned then re-discarded (does that last word exist? Answers on a postcard please, usual address...) and we're still not sure who's singing which song. It looks like it'll be an early start on Wednesday then... but the band is sounding good - joining myself and fellow Ruts D.C. member Dave Ruffy (that's how I got the job!) are Tim Slade on bass (he plays for Gary Numan among others) and Tom Edwards on guitar (he works with Adam Ant - I'm really do feel like a junior partner here!) and even though I say so myself we've made a good job of things. It goes without saying that I'm looking forward to Wednesday - but I've said it anyway!

I was supposed to be playing at a wedding last night but it got cancelled (our show that is, not the wedding. Well I don't think that got cancelled!) so rather than do my already-depped-out Big Al gig (I don't like that thing where band members 'take back' a gig because they become available - do you?) I went to see The Ramonas at The 100 Club. Support came from the always-worth-seeing Louise Distras who appeared with a band rather than as her usual solo self. For me her voice worked better in this format - it's sometimes a bit too much for me over just an acoustic guitar, but she sounded great here. Afterwards she told me that she's hoping to concentrate more on group shows rather than solo, so let's hope hope that it works out for her. And The Ramonas were great too - a 28 song set (I wasn't counting, Chloe Ramona said it at the end, honest!) that featured many of the best Ramones songs played at a suitably breakneck pace to a healthily-sized crowd, all of whom loved ever minute of it. A splendid evening.

Today is the 30th anniversary of the first Price show. 30 years! Doesn't time fly when you're having fun eh? Actually it flies whether you're having fun or not... we were hoping to play a show this weekend - sadly that fell through but hopefully we'll be performing somewhere soon. And what better way for me to celebrate this (ahem!) momentous occasion than by going to see The Who? So that's what I'm doing, as they're playing at The O2 Arena tonight - but first I'm off to Abbey Road Studios. Yes, that Abbey Road Studios. Strange days indeed...

Welcome to the house of fun

And the 'it's a busy week' theme continues, as rehearsals begin tomorrow for the Joe Strummer night at Koko next week. We've got a lot of work to do, compounded by the fact that we're not sure which songs we're going to be playing yet as we're still not sure who will be guesting with the band. I'm sure it'll all be ok in the end. Well, it'll have to be if you think about it!

On Thursday evening Ruts D.C. found themselves in Committee Room 15 at The House Of Commons. Now there's something that I never thought that I'd ever type... we were attending a launch event for 'Blacklisted', a book about blacklisting in the construction industry. You can find out more about the book here where you can also see a short film about it, the soundtrack of which is 'It Was Cold' by Ruts D.C.- let's hope the book gets the attention it deserves.

In the midst of learning umpteen Clash and Neck songs I also found time to attend two gigs, the first of which was on Friday evening at Tropic At Ruislip where Classic Clapton played a tribute show to (you've guessed it!) Eric Clapton. Some less-likely material featured next to the expected classics, and while it was often a bit laid back for my not-particularly laid back tastes they certainly made a very good job of things. And last night it was back to The 100 Club to see The Mick Ralphs Blues Band. Support came from Du Bellows who are managed by noted rock journalist Pete Makowski - I remember reading his work in 'Sounds' magazine all those years ago, and he's been in Balcony Shirts recently ordering among other things this t-shirt for his very famous mate... Du Bellows are an intriguing bunch, with a excellent young lady vocalist and many-an unlikely influence on display. The Mick Ralphs Blues Band played a great set of blues old and new, and I finally got to meet the man himself after depping for him several times over the past few years in The Repertoire Dogs. A splendid evening.

Right - there's just time to run through a few Neck songs just one more time before leaving for tonight's gig at The World's End in Camden Town. Busy busy busy... well as I said last time, I wanted to play the guitar didn't I?

'Third verse, different from the first...'

It was a busy week last week. It looks like being a busy week this week. It's definitely going to be a busy week next week. Oh well - I wanted to play the guitar didn't I?

Thursday's Neck rehearsal went well despite a few technical hitches here and there - I was pleased with my recall of the seemingly countless number of songs (actually about 30) that I'd been playing along with for the previous few days, and while we didn't get time to run through everything I feel ok about the upcoming shows (The World's End in Camden Town this coming Sunday 15th and The 12 Bar Club in Holloway on Tuesday 17th, with more possibly being added) although I intend to be playing through the songs as much as I can over the next few days.

And then there's the Cadiz Music-promoted Joe Strummer film night at Koko - as the accompanying poster shows guests are being announced with more names to be added to the already impressive list. I'll be playing with Ruts D.C. and in the house band - I'm slightly concerned that we don't know which songs the guest singers are wanting to play yet (!) but hopefully that'll all get ironed out in the next few days. Rehearsals are due next week - it's exciting but I don't mind admitting that it's a bit daunting too.

As for the wedding gig on March 21st - well I haven't really had time to have a go at the projected songs for that one yet. I'd better find time this week though hadn't I? And as for The Price - who knows?!?

I did find time to visit Tropic At Ruislip on Friday to see Roadhouse, and I'mm gald that I did as they were very good. Support came from the previously-unknown-to-me Red Butler, who went down well enough with the audience and promoter to be offered a return gig immediately. They certainly did what they did very well, and although it was impossible not to say that they were a good band it was all a bit, for want of a better term, 'tutored' for my tastes. Blues without the blues, if you know what I mean. And on Saturday night Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks played at The Wishing Well in Watford - with Dave away gigging elsewhere Andy from Back To Zero (whatever happened to them eh?) depped on drums for two highly enjoyable sets. What with everything else that's going on it looks like my next shows with the band won't be until April, but as previously discussed there's plenty to keep me out of mischief in the meantime.

Right - Balcony Shirts tomorrow then a couple of days going through all these songs. Well, that's the plan anyway...

'Second verse, same as the first...'

Well much of my time since we last spoke has been spent attempting to learn some songs. Neck songs. Clash songs. Price songs. Other songs. Lots of songs. I wonder if I can remember any of them?

There's a Neck rehearsal on Thursday night in anticipation of a St. Patrick's Day show at The 12 Bar Club ; rehearsals for the Joe Strummer film gig have been scheduled for the week after next so I've got a bit more time with them, although perhaps predictably the set list is changing a lot at the moment as guest singers confirm and cancel accordingly. I'm sure it'll all be ok in the end... and then there's the prospect of a Price gig almost exactly 30 years since our first one - more news as and when I have it, but if it doesn't happen then there's a good chance of us playing at some time in the next few months so I thought I'd better have a look at some of our songs too. And I'm playing at a wedding in 3 weeks time - I received the proposed song list earlier this week, which among quite a few numbers that I've played before also includes (gulp!) some songs from this century. Oo-er! Whatever next?!?

Anyway having had no gigs of my own this week (not necessarily a bad thing for once!) I made it along to The 100 Club two nights running to catch some more punk rock. The latest Human Punk club night saw a rare London appearance from the legends that are Sham 69 - I don't mind admitting that I was never their biggest fan but listened to 30-odd years on it must be said that their best material has weathered well. With original members Jimmy Pursey, Dave Parsons and Dave Tregguna all present and correct their set mostly consisted of early material and was lapped up by the sold out crowd. For me it was great to hear Dave Parsons sounding so good, although I felt that his partner-in-crime Mr. Pursey looked rather vulnerable at times. The next night The Sex Pistols Experience played a suitably barnstorming show, ably supported by Lizzie And The Banshees. Rather like Sham 69 my knowledge of the Siouxsie And the Banshees catalogue is more-or-less limited to their singles, but I thought they made a very good job of what is often some very difficult material. The SPE gave a raucous performance, with Nathan's uncanny portrayal of Uncle Johnny as impressive as ever and the rest of the band matching him blow for (biggest) blow. And once again the show was sold out, which is a good thing to see in these troubled times.

Music Scene Investigation on Sunday evening was good fun as always, although I did have more than a little trouble with song number 3 as you can see if you watch the show here. And I met up with Ian from MSI at The Angel in Hayes last night where he runs a first-Monday-of-the-month jam night - I hadn't intended to play but ended up on bass for a few songs. And why not?

Right - back to The Clash. I mean Neck. I mean The Price. Er... oh well, one of them anyway. Or all of them. Or something.

From Bristol to Brixton and beyond

It was around half past eight yesterday evening and I was walking towards Brixton Underground Station. As I rummaged in my pocket for my Oyster Card I thought to myself 'hmmm - I've just left Segs with one of the biggest dope smugglers the World has ever seen, someone who used to work for The Kray Twins, and that mad bloke out of The Happy Mondays. What could possibly go wrong?...' 

This frankly astonishing thought came at the end of a splendid three days for Ruts D. C., beginning with a set at VegFest in Bristol on Saturday night. The show went well until about halfway through our set when, as the old saying goes, the heavens opened - I must admit that I didn't realise how heavily it was raining until I saw one of the sound men turning over various plug boards (including, rather worryingly, the one that my effect pedals were plugged into) over, presumably in an attempt to lessen the chance of water getting into them. I have feeling things were possibly a little more dangerous that I thought at the time... before us Goldblade had played a typically boisterous set with John Robb as crazy as ever out front; after us Peter Hook And The Light took the place by storm with a brilliant show that particularly impressed Segs, to such an extent that he even attempted to shake Hooky's hand from in the photographers pit mid-song. John Robb also appeared alongside us the next night at Strummercamp in Cheadle Hulme, this time as lead singer and bass player in The Membranes. I think I last saw them around 30 years ago, and I'm pleased to say that nothing much has changed in the interim period with them sounding every bit as spiky as I remember them sounding first time around. Our show began with a burst of P.A. system feedback that was so severe that we had to stop our first song so that it could be sorted out. From there on in however it was a great gig - we'd decided to play 'Generations' (a song that Segs wrote with Joe Strummer and Rat Scabies) and since Seamus Beaghen was going to be there (he was on later with Lee Thompson and used to play with us) we hoped that he would join us for that and a few other songs, but sadly he was delayed and couldn't make it which was a real shame - still it was great to see him again. We'd also added the old Ruts track 'S.U.S.' to the set all weekend which was great to play and went down really well so hopefully that'll stay in the show for the next batch of shows. We went down well enough that we could have played an encore but with things running late we thought it was better that we didn't and so made way for Lee Thompson's Ska Orchestra who finished off proceedings in fine style. And we made it to Jamm in Brixton yesterday afternoon (while he was queueing in a motorway service station toilet Segs was stopped by someone with the words 'this is a strange place to meet a bass legend'. I suppose it was if you think about it!) in time to make a 'surprise' appearance (well it certainly was a surprise to us as we didn't know that we were definitely appearing until two days before!) at the 'Best In Brixton' charity event. After checking in it was time for a drink - we arrived back from The Crown And Anchor (well, we had a set list to write!) just as Howard Marks was presenting extracts from his 'Scholar, Smuggler, Prisoner, Scribe' one man show, and from what I saw I wish I'd seen the whole thing. As we were about to go onstage a chap came up to me and asked 'are these The Ruts who did 'Babylon's Burning' and all that?' I told him that, yes, some of them are... Tenor Fly joined us for 'Mighty Soldier', 'S.U.S.' seemed even more powerful than on the previous two evenings (I really hope that it stays in the set!) and the final adrenalin rush of 'Society' bought the proverbial house down. A great show, after which I met the afore-mentioned Mr. Marks, Freddie Foreman (or 'Brown Bread Fred' as he was known back in the day. Oo-er!) and Bez, who was DJ-ing later in the evening. Sometimes I can hardly believe what I type here.

Incidentally, in case you were wondering - Segs is fine, although he didn't get to bed until gone 9 o'clock this morning. I don't suppose that I would have either...

Fight for your right to party

Another busy few days then...

On Thursday work continued on the Back To Zero album. Not for us a multi-million pound budget in a huge expensive recording studio; oh no - myself and Squirrel overdubbed our guitar and bass parts in his kitchen as Sam sat at the kitchen table manning his computer. Isn't technology amazing? We've now recorded all the backing tracks and even though I say so myself it's sounding really good and I for one can't wait to hear the end result.

That evening I found myself at The 12 Bar Club with John King, Pete 'Manic Esso' Haynes and his mate Laurent. After a suitably entertaining evening myself and Esso left in good time (we've both missed our last train home after similar evenings at said watering hole) only to be thwarted by problems on The Metropolitan Line. We sat on the (stationary) train for what felt like ages listening to 'we're being held at a red signal' / 'a train up ahead has broken down' / 'there are trains backed up along the track' - type announcements - still it gave us even more time to put the world to rights...

I spent part of a rather bleary Friday running through some songs for the weekend's Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks gigs - somewhat worryingly I found myself with more than a few 'how does the middle bit go?' moments when I played the songs - maybe it was because I was tired or maybe I wasn't quite on the ball? Either way I fell asleep mid-afternoon - not something that I like to do, but sometimes you just have to don't you? Well it had been a long day on Thursday and I was aware that the next couple of days were going to be very busy; also my back was still playing up a bit. Not good!

I'd not been to The Chippenham Hotel in Maida Hill before - according to it's website Joe Strummer's pre-Clash band The 101ers used to play there regularly, and I must say that looking at it on Friday evening you didn't need to use much imagination to see that it could well have been quite a thriving venue back in the day. It's still a pretty good place now, and although there could have been more people in attendance those who were there were an enthusiastic bunch with a fair amount of dancing and general jollity all round. A good gig, made even better by the fact that we were rebooked for January 25th at the end of the evening. Excellent!

There were a lot more people at The Dolphin in Uxbridge the next night - when we arrived the party was in full swing, with plenty of young people looking as though they'd been there for quite a while... I wouldn't say that the atmosphere could have been called hostile but I definitely got the feeling that things weren't quite right. Then again our first set was well received, and I began to think that I was worried about nothing - but three songs into our second set I saw a couple of likely lads squaring up to each other at the bar just a few feet to my right. There were a couple of young ladies trying to separate them and maybe it was all going to be ok - but no, the shouty guy on the left won't let it go, I started to think that maybe I should say to Al that we should stop playing as sometimes these things get worse if people can't hear themselves - but then again if we stop it draws attention to the situation which could accelerate things... suddenly Noel the guv'nor stepped in and removed the shouty guy from the premises in no uncertain terms. It takes a lot of guts to do something like that in my opinion (like all six foot tall men I'm a complete wimp!) and Noel did it in seconds. He definitely knows how to run a pub! Thankfully the rest of our show proceeded without incident, and if anything the band played even better than they did the night before. Good!

It was an early start for your humble narrator on Sunday - after three late nights in a row (and Saturday in the shop) I was feeling rather bleary, and with a 10am kick off to contend with things were only ever going to get blearier. When Back To Zero arrived at Mushroom Studios there seemed to be some confusion as to whether we were booked in or not, but thankfully room 2 was available so we set to work preparing for this coming Saturday's show at The Railway Hotel in Southend. Over the next four hours we worked up a set of BTZ songs and an eclectic selection of cover versions, and by the end of the session pronounced ourselves pleased with our efforts. An amusing moment occurred when Barrie Masters of local heroes Eddie and The Hot Rods suddenly appeared in the room with us - he'd been told that Squirrel was there and as he hadn't seen him to talk to for many years he'd called in to say hello. Good job we hadn't been playing one of his band's songs eh?!?

And last night it was up to Madame JoJo's in Soho for the last of the Monday punk and reggae nights - myself and Esso got stranded in The Ship for rather longer than we thought we would meaning that The Duel were already on stage when we arrived. They were sounding good and there were plenty of people in the club - these nights seem to have been a success, which can only be a good thing for live music in my not-so-humble opinion. We left as Segs was getting going with his DJ set - well after Thursday night we were taking no chances...

Clash city rockers

'Wild punk rockers smash up theatre'
- now that's a headline!

Now here's a sight that's absolutely guaranteed to have sad men like me blubbing like a girly in seconds - yes it's three electric guitars, but not any old three electric guitars. Oh no. On the left a 1959 Les Paul Junior owned by Mick Jones, in the middle Joe Strummer's iconic 'Ignore Alien Orders' Telecaster (click here for the story of the instrument) and on the right Paul Simonon's Fender bass, all of which are currently to be found in The Clash pop-up shop at 75 Berwick Street. The exhibition marks the release on the 'Sound System' box set which contains pretty much everything that the band released during it's lifetime as well as outtakes, unreleased songs and video material; also on display are record covers, handwritten setlists, the famous 'London Calling' smashed bass (I would have taken a picture but I couldn't get near it!) and lots more besides. It's only there until next Sunday and it's well worth a visit. Mind you, I would say that wouldn't I? And I wonder what happened to Topper Headon's drumkit? 

Well it's Sunday evening and I'm already home from gigging - this has been happening a fair bit lately but I'm still not used to it! But it was a cracking gig this, er, afternoon at The Horns in Watford where I was depping in The Good Old Boys. With Hud away elsewhere Chris Hunt stepped in on drums - I played a few shows with him many years ago with Dave Finnegan's Commitments, and although I've send him play occasionally since then I'd all but forgotten what an incredibly powerful drummer he is. Teaming him with bass hero Nick Simper made for an absolutely extraordinary rhythm section, and with band stalwarts Alan Barratt on vocals and Pete Parks on guitar on top form throughout it was a thoroughly enjoyable show to be part of. It's good when that happens - and it was a good show on Saturday night too when Big Al Reed and the Blistering Buicks made a return visit to The Admiral Nelson in Twickenham. My good friend Pete has been depping for the band while I've been away with Ruts D.C. - he joined us for a few numbers at this show and sounded as though he'd really got hold of the material, as indeed did the rest of the band which is going from strength to strength. There are plenty of gigs coming in too - I wonder how many I'll play and how many I'll be asking Pete to do?
The answer to that question depends largely on what happens next with Ruts D.C. - and on the evidence of Friday's show at Sub89 in Reading that could well turn out to be a fascinating question. First things first though - what an absolutely superb venue Sub 89 is, with a good sized stage, great sound system and very helpful staff. Everything ran smoothly from the word go, the band played a hour-and-a-bit long set to an increasingly appreciative audience, and talking to people afterwards everyone seemed to think that we'd given a great show. And without wishing to sound too big headed - we had! You know when you play a good one, and this was definitely a good one  - our driver Marc hadn't seen us for a few months and told me that he was amazed at how the band had progressed in the interim period. We're off to Germany for 4 shows this week then up to Scotland next weekend before we start looking forward to the Damned tour in November and December, and with things already being planned for next year the future for the band is looking very interesting indeed. Well, let's hope so anyway.

In the meantime I'm off to bed - it's bloomin' tiring this gigging lark you know, even when you are home early...

Stop press! On Monday the always-worth-a-read Retro Man blog published a review of our Reading show which you can find here - and as I say, the rest of the blog is well worth checking out too.

Who needs a setlist anyway?

As the current burst of Ruts D.C. activity comes to an end (shame! - although there are things in the pipeline for later this year...) it's time for my first corporate show for some time, and it's also my first show with Utter Madness since the New Year's Eve-before-last's extravaganza in Cardiff. This one took place on Wednesday night at The Metropole Hotel in Birmingham which is part of The N.E.C. complex; this gave me chance to boyishly (some might say 'childishly') tell anyone that would listen that I was 'playing at The N.E.C.' - well, I was, sort of... anyway according to my wristband (they wouldn't let me into the gig without it) we were playing at the 'Security & Fire Installer Live Party!' which I think you'll agree is an interesting idea for a social gathering. Also on the bill were Joe Stilgoe (his Dad is Richard Stilgoe) The RPJ Band (a.k.a. The Rick Parfitt Junior Band - the lead singer's Dad is, you've guessed it, Rick Parfitt from Status Quo) and The It Girls (sorry, I don't know if any of their Dads are famous - maybe I should have asked?) and we were due to play an hour set in the middle of the evening. Almost immediately

The ever-diminishing
Utter Madness setlist,
and a pint of lager.

that was cut to 50 minutes, and by the time we went on at a quarter to nine we were only obliged to play a 40 minute show. Given that we hadn't played together for nearly a year-and-a-half that was probably not a bad thing; add in the fact that surrogate Suggs Tony hurt his back during our 4th song and it becomes something of a blessing. We managed to run through a few songs in the soundcheck - you've guessed it, they were all left out as the set got cut down - which helped us all get back into it, although sadly Jon the bass was absent due to work commitments. (He arrived at 7pm just as food was being served - good timing!) Overall our set went well enough, although as so often happens at these events most people in the hall hardly took a blind bit of notice of us. Oh well. And from what I saw of the other acts on the bill more-or-less the same fate befell them, although that said The It Girls somewhat inevitably got a bit more attention, at least for the first few minutes of their first appearance; I rather suspect that most of the observers lost interest when they realised that they were dancers and not strippers. It was that kind of evening.

It was a very different kind of evening on Friday when Ruts D.C. played at The Globe in Cardiff. As I got into the bus to leave Segs told me that Molara had a bad throat and so wasn't doing this show and was very unlikely to be with us the next night - we spent a fair bit of the journey talking through the set and working out what changes we might be obliged to make. The main sticking discussion concerned 'Jah War' - she sings the song in the set (and she does a very fine job as this clip shows) and after wondering which one of us might be up to the job (I rather wildly said that I'd have a go - fortunately I don't think anybody took me too seriously!) we decided to drop the song and replace it with 'Generations', a song that Segs recorded with Joe Strummer and Rat Scabies for a benefit album and one that we played as an encore at last weekend's Camden show. We also elected to drop the second section of 'One Step' which has evolved into 'Warning' which again Molara sings (and this clip once again shows how well she sings it - not much chance of me getting near to that!) Other than that there weren't too many changes to make other than for your humble narrator to join in on the choruses a bit more than usual...
We arrived at the venue getting on for an hour late - not an ideal situation but unavoidable due to heavy traffic. There were three other bands on the bill so we soundchecked as quickly as we could to give them time to set up. A good sized crowd was expected and the venue was filling up by the time The Phucks (nice name!?!) took to the stage. They were an agreeably noisy bunch that didn't take themselves too seriously, whereas Anonamus Iconaclass were an altogether subtler proposition who reminded me a bit of early Dire Straits (i.e. when they were good... no really they were... well, quite good anyway!) Main support band The Sporadics began their set by describing themselves as delivering 'a bit of ska, a bit of punk, a bit of politics' which turned out to be a very accurate description. They were also very good.
!0.45pm and it's our turn. The place is packed and anticipation is high - I'd met Ziggy and John of Death Or Glory Promotions (they put on our Newport and Bristol shows back in March) before the show, both of whom had said that a lot of people were looking forward to seeing us. They weren't wrong as the place went crazy from the first song. It was interesting how Molara's absence seemed to change the dynamic of the band - it all felt a lot rockier, even a bit more 'laddish' than it normally does. That said we played well, and  although we certainly missed her vocals on many occasions the show caused an extraordinary reaction from the audience, with stage diving, crowd surfing and more - I could have done without getting covered in beer by an over-exuberant chap down the front but to be honest the show was so enjoyable that it didn't really bother me too much. As I say, a very different show to the one on Wednesday.
After the show it was back to the hotel where the bar was still open and the mood was good, right up until the moment that Mark the driver said something like 'see you at nine in the morning' - any chance of oversleeping was removed when the smoke alarm went off before 8 o'clock; I was sharing the room was Seamus and we assumed that only the one in our room went off but it seems that it happened to everybody else too. Lack of traffic meant we got to The Bearded Theory Festival in Derbyshire around 40 minutes ahead of our projected 1pm arrival time - we had to get there early to get passes and wristbands - which I guess is better than getting there 40 minutes late, although I must admit I could have done with the extra sleep. (I must have been drifting in and out of consciousness when I heard Segs suggest that there should be a Goth catering company called Dark Satanic Meals...) In no time at all food passes are being handed out (vegetarian lasagne - oh yes!) and Citizen Fish are taking to the stage - I'd like to have seen more of their set but missed most of it as we were loading our equipment in but what I did see was very good indeed. Meanwhile we're allocated

Segs contemplates his options -
'Mints? Cashew nuts? Tortillas
and Salsa dip? Or the fridge
full of beer that's not in the picture?'

our dressing room (maybe that should be 'dressing portacabin') where the rider provided much amusement - there may not have been much food but there certainly was a large amount of alcohol... we were playing a 45 minutes set, and since we'd played for an hour-and-a-half the night before we were able to leave out the 'Molara songs' and still have more than enough material for the show. I must say that I felt that our set went by in no time; it included an unusual version of 'Staring At The Rude Boys' which completely omitted the second verse and guitar solo - when I asked him afterwards Segs said that he'd simply forgotten to sing it! Overall it was a good show, not quite as euphoric as the night before but one that still had the audience calling for an encore that lack of time sadly didn't allow. Still it was a good show to finish this run of gigs with - we now haven't got anything booked until The Rebellion Festival in August although hopefully something will come in before then. 

And yesterday evening I went to the open mic / jam session at The Crown and Treaty in Uxbridge where I played bass on 'Suffragette City' and 'Garageland' with old mates Grant and Steve, than went on to The Crown in Cowley for their acoustic session. It's strange - not long ago I'd never attended such gatherings but now I find them quite enjoyable. That said they do have more than a few odd moments - I really must write a blog piece about them sometime...

Distant relatives

I have just - just! - returned from playing four shows with Ruts D.C. :-

Not a bad evening's
entertainment!

After a suitably long 'it's-Friday-afternoon-traffic' journey with new face Mark behind the steering wheel we arrived at The Brudenell Rooms in Leeds around 5pm. We're on with T.V. Smith (who I hadn't seen since our duo gig at The 12 Bar Club before Christmas - we're playing our first show of this year at The New Cross Inn this coming Saturday - and who has been on tour in Europe with The U.K. Subs for the last few weeks) and Louise Distras (who was also on The 12 Bar Club show and who has also been on tour in Europe) so there's a fine evening in prospect. We're set up and soundchecked in good time - I'm putting my guitar away and talking to T.V. and Louise when I sneeze, sneeze again, then look down to see blood at my feet. Time for a nosebleed then... Louise helpfully fetches a handful of tissues and I spend T.V.'s soundcheck sitting on the stage trying to stop the blood flow. Dramatic eh? Actually it was pretty horrible, at one point literally streaming out. Urgh! Meanwhile the rest of the band went to check in at our hotel while the nosebleed eventually stopped and I watch Louise's soundcheck before setting up our merchandise stall. Chris the promoter opened the doors at 7 o'clock and people began arriving straight away - T.V. Smith mega-fan T.J. says hello and fellow Wilko Johnson obsessive Alan turns up with his two sons and presents me with a DVD of Wilko in Japan in 1992 and a 1995 tour programme (top man!) while the wonderfully-named Paul Newman asks me if The Price will be playing anywhere this year. I wonder if we will?
Just before 8 o'clock I bump into Louise who says 'I hope I don't break any strings' as she's making her way towards the stage; she doesn't but she does play an excellent set as does T.V. Smith. Then again, he usually does. By the time we went on the place was all but sold out, there's people dancing from the off and the show goes brilliantly. After encoring with 'In A Rut' and 'H-Eyes' we return to the dressing room but the audience is still going crazy and we somehow find ourselves back on stage - but we've played everything that we know, so what shall we do?
We'd had a rehearsal on Thursday evening during which we tightened up a few songs and began looking at other material that could possibly find it's way into the show. One of the songs that we tried was 'Generations' a song Segs recorded with Joe Strummer and Rat Scabies under the somewhat unlikely name of Electric Doghouse. We all agreed that it was definitely one to bear in mind for the future - unbeknownst to us the future was only one day away... it could be argued that in these days of YouTube it's not a good idea to play a song that you don't know, but we did it anyway! How did it sound? Like this...
After the show Mark and myself do a roaring trade on the merchandise stall and Dave and Segs signed old albums and singles, not-quite-so-old CDs, posed for photographs and made a lot of people very happy. I was even asked to do a couple of photos myself!
My first sight of Bewley's Hotel (I didn't go there earlier, remember?) included a couple of likely lads with their trousers around their ankles outside the main entrance. Friday night in Leeds then... Seamus and myself decide that we want to see what's going on so get a couple of drinks amid sights and sounds of great drunkenness and jollity from stag parties, hen parties and parties generally. A couple of chairs away from us a chap slides off his seat onto the floor a bit like a cartoon character might, he's out cold and his friends can't wake him up - suddenly the atmosphere changes and the hotel staff summon two paramedics and a voice over the tannoy asks us all to move out from the bar into the entrance hall. A few minutes later two of his friends are helping the now-just about-upright man towards the lift - 'we've never had a night like this!' says the barman cheerily as we hand him our glasses and chaos resumes all around us. Later we take the lift to the 4th floor where we're sharing room 441 - as the doors open there's a large upturned plant pot in front of us with flowers and soil everywhere. Why do people do things like that?

The next day begins in a leisurely manner that's very welcome after the previous day and evening. After breakfast we check out at midday and by 2 o'clock we're arriving at The Sporting Lodge Hotel in Middlesbrough. After checking in (Seamus and myself get room 122) it's time for some food - I get an excellent arrabiatta pasta which I just about finish before my nose starts bleeding again. Urgh!
It's only a short drive to The Georgian Theatre in Stockton-on-Tees and we're loading our gear in not long after 5 o'clock. Steve the promoter has got a couple of lads to help us carry our equipment (hurrah!) and we've got Green Dragon Studios to use as a dressing room. Soundcheck is a bit more involved than on the previous evening with the drum sound posing a few problems for our soundman Nick but he eventually gets everything sounding great. 
Support comes from The Clashed who I met last summer when The Flying Squad played with them; they've still got Joe and Mick the wrong way around (as you can see here) and they still do a good job of recreating the sound and the fury of The Clash, which is much appreciated by the rapidly-arriving crowd. The show has sold out in advance which usually bodes well for things but in this case it felt as though it all took a while to get going - we start with three reggae-based songs which I don't think was quite what the audience was expecting. There was a chap standing right at the very front wearing a white Ruts logo t-shirt who didn't look too happy until our fourth song 'Backbiter' when he suddenly bursts into life, as did many of the people around him. It was definitely harder work than the previously evening although as you can see if you watch the show here it all came good in the end. 
As I'm putting my guitar away a chap comes over, he's says that he really enjoyed the show but wondered if he seen me supporting The Ruts in Middlesbrough back in the day, wearing glasses and playing rock 'n' roll songs. He looks disappointed when I tell him that it wasn't me but was a chap called Auntie Pus (who incidentally has just written this blog piece on last week's Bristol show. Thanks Julian!)

I always wanted to be
 a tourist attraction!

It's a 5-ish hour drive to the next show so we set out at 11 o'clock on Sunday morning. 'Snow capped peaks to our right' says Dave as we pass through some spectacular scenery on our way to Dundee. We stop at a motorway service station where we see a poster for the gig in the tourist information display - excellent!
We arrived at The Reading Rooms just after 5pm. (Again! It's always 5pm!) Promoter Jim is a massive fan of the band and was present at a legendary Dundee gig back in 1979 when Segs and Malcolm let him and his friends in through a back window. There are only a few tickets left and he's hopeful that the gig will be a sellout which makes the already good mood in the band even better. The P.A. is superb and the sound is absolutely excellent - Dave and myself jam on 'Lust For Life' for no other reason than 'we just started playing it'.
I'm behind the merchandise table again as Jock Hart arrives, he's a big fan of the band (as you can tell from this review that he wrote of the evening) and it's good to see him again. Business is brisk and I sadly spend much of the support set by The Spitfires presiding over a merchandising frenzy although I managed to see their last few songs including a version of 'Career Opportunities' and I thought that they sounded great. A difficult band to follow, but follow them we do with a storming performance, one of the best that we have yet played. Afterwards we sell umpteen CDs, run out of Ruts logo t-shirts and meet people who say that it was the best show that they've ever seen by anybody ever. A successful evening's work.

It was another early start yesterday as our last show of what Dave called our 'tourette' was at Eric's in Liverpool. I thought breakfast finished at 10.30 but it actually stopped half an hour earlier meaning that I ate a bowl of muesli standing up looking out over The River Tay as clearing up went on all around me. 
I spent a fair amount of the journey to Liverpool drifting in and out of consciousness - the last few days were catching up with me! We stopped at Lockerbie Service Station for food and fuel (Nick pronounced his burger as 'a mistake') and found our way to Liverpool in good time (can you guess what time we arrived?!?) with Mark reversing into Mathew Street from North John Street with great aplomb. It's a long load-in as we have to walk our equipment past The Cavern and down a seriously steep flight of stairs into the club. As we're setting up I say hello support band Biteback's guitarist Richie who also plays in The Crows, he says how much he's looking forward to the evening and I tell him he's not the only one...
After soundchecking I went upstairs to call my cousin Steve (my phone wouldn't work in the club) who lives over the water in Birkenhead and who is coming to see us play. Or is he? He's got no money, not even enough for the train fare to Liverpool but he's waiting for his next door neighbour to come in as he's going to lend him the cash. When I ask him how much he needs his answer of £6 seems barely believable. I think about how often we all squander money (well, I certainly do!) but if you've got nothing then even a small sum of money seems like a fortune. I tell him I'll call him back in a while to see how he's getting on - in the meantime we walk through the city to The Holiday Inn opposite Lime Street Station. We're checking in as Molara meets a couple of friends who are coming along to the show. Hmm... he looks familiar... she introduces me to 'Jamie' and I realise that it's Jamie Reid - I mumble something about how much I like his work to which he smiles and says that he's really looking forward to seeing the show. Excellent.
As I walk back towards Eric's I call Steve - it's not going well, his mate still hasn't arrived and time is getting on, I tell him to get a cab over to the top of Mathew Street where I'll meet him and pay for it and his return fare home but he gets upset saying that he doesn't want charity, I tell him that it's not charity it's family and that he can pay me back sometime if he wants to and then I'm getting upset too... by now I've walked past the turning to the venue and along Duke Street towards the Ferry landing stage and I'm looking out across The River Mersey and can see the lights of Birkenhead over the water, he's only over there but he might as well be on another planet, neither of us knows what to do but he says he'll call me back if his mate turns up. I stand on the landing stage looking across the river - me and my brother Terry grew up with Steve and his late brother Gary, they were more like our older brothers than our cousins and as I stand there I can remember a thousand things that we've done together. I feel helpless; I also feel very alone. Bugger. I walk back up the hill, past The Liverpool pub near James Street Station where Steve's train would come in, past a bus queue, back up Duke Street, feeling like I didn't know anything anymore... then as I turn into North John Street my phone suddenly rings - it's Steve's girlfriend Lizzie who says that his mate's come home and lent him some money and he's getting ready to come out to the gig and will be with me in a half hour or so. Amazing! Steve comes on the phone sounding like he's won the lottery and saying that everything's ok and he'll see me soon. Thank God for that... by the time I get to the club I'm in a much better frame of mind, as I'm about to go downstairs a chap asks me what time the band are on, as I tell him 9.30 he spots my Bored Teenager badge that T.V. Smith gave me on Friday night and we're all smiles as we both agree how great his latest album is. What a difference a few minutes can make eh? As I turn towards the club I see Phil from Louder Than War who apparently was standing there all the time. I really did have other things on my mind didn't I?
8.30 and Biteback take to the stage. It's their first show as a four piece, the young lady on rhythm guitar looks a bit reticent at first but things soon get going. They play 'English Civil War' (it was definitely a weekend for Clash cover versions!) which fits in well among their own material and they go down better and better as their show progresses. Then I spot a familiar figure in the doorway - it's Steve. I don't remember the last time that I was so pleased to see someone.

'And I... wanna be...
anarchy...'

9.30 and we're on - the place isn't full but there's definitely enough people in to make it work (the show was slotted in at the last minute and as Ethan at the club put it, 'it's a Monday night and the day after St. Patrick's Day') but what they lack in numbers they more than made up for in enthusiasm. The show is a bit looser than the others with lots of storytelling from Segs and Dave coming out to the front of the stage to thank everyone for coming and to introduce the band. Overall it's a great show to end this run of gigs with, and in the dressing room Steve tells me that he really enjoyed it which means everything to me. Then Jamie Reid came over and asked me if I'd like him to sign my guitar - I'd half-jokingly said it to Molara earlier and she'd arranged it with him, meaning that I might well have the only Jamie Reid signature model Les Paul in existence. Strange but true. Then it's time for Steve to catch his train home, we blather at each other like kids, share a hug and then he's gone. I'm so glad that he made it along.
With everything packed away it's time to go back to the hotel - or is it? Phil asks me if I fancy a drink so we adjourn to The Grapes for an hour or so. As a young man plays guitar and sings over backing tracks in the other bar and Beatle - hunting tourists take endless photos of the walls he asks about the last few days - I say that I must have shaken 100 hands and heard the words 'I've waited over 30 years for this night' almost as many times. You don't know how lucky you are sometimes do you?

This morning I was in the hotel shower, thinking about how great the shows and the last few days had been, what the music means to me and to the audience, the mixture of emotions that the previous night had bought out in me - as I rinsed the soap off my face I opened my eyes to see blood on my hands. Another nosebleed. Back to the real world. You don't get something for nothing do you?