10 out of 10

I bet you've often thought to yourself 'that miserable chancer who plays the guitar in Ruts D.C. - I wonder what his 10 favourite albums of all time are?' Well wonder no longer my friends, as those lovely lads and lasses at Louder Than War have given me the opportunity to tell just that to the whole wide World. Click here to discover the winners - including a 20-album sub's bench - and see what you think!

'Don't point your finger at the guitar man...'

And this week has indeed proved to be better than last week. Good!

I've spent much of it working in Balcony Shirts due to the shop being so busy; much time has been spent printing shirts for various Brunel University sports teams that are off on tour (for 'on tour' read 'drinking heavily'. Good on 'em!) this week in Europe. It's amazing what some people will walk around with written on their shirt... we also had an embroidery machine delivered this week which caused an uncommon, nay disproportionate amount of excitement in the shop. And why not?

I've also spent a fair bit of time caring for my (still!) ailing finger. In addition to having been prescribed antibiotics I was also have been obliged to soak it in salt water every day (which is apparently the best treatment for this sort of thing - it turns out that your nan was right all along!) and keep it covered the rest of the time. I've had to search out hypoallergenic plasters as I'm allergic to the usual ones but compared to the madness of a week ago it's all pretty straightforward. It's definitely getting better, to such an extent that I managed to play a gig with Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks last night, at the rather loftily-named Town And Country Club in Watford. The occasion was Bernie's 60th Birthday Party, and with Dave gigging elsewhere Bob Pearce returned on drums for the first time in ages. It's always good to see him, and he did a typically excellent job - although his comment 'sorry, I forgot that it was a shuffle!' after 'The Boys Are Back In Town' did follow a rather, erm, unusual performance of said song...

The band also played on Thursday night (in Sunningdale since you've asked) but I chose to miss that show, partly because of this exchange between the doctor who had just attended to my finger and your humble narrator last Monday afternoon - 

Doctor (cheerily) - 'So when's your next gig?
Y. H. N. (equally cheerily) - 'Thursday'
Doctor (still cheerily) - 'And when's the one after that?'
Y.H.N (still equally cheerily) - 'Saturday'
Doctor (nowhere near as cheerily, and with a rather serious expression whilst nodding her head) - 'Saturday...'

- and partly because there was a rather splendid evening in prospect at The Half Moon in Putney. Regular readers (assuming that I actually have any) will be aware of my interest in the much-maligned musical genre that is Punk Rock so an evening featuring a band made up of members who have all been involved in acts from said genre was not to be missed if at all possible. Class Of 76 feature Barrie Masters and Steve Nicol from Eddie And The Hot Rods on vocals and drums respectively, Nigel Bennett from The Members (and more recently The Vibrators) on guitar and former Tonight and Wilko Johnson (ok I know neither of these are exactly punk rock, but they get in under the wire!) bass player Russ Strutter and play a set that mostly consists of song from bands that they've been involved with. But more about them in a minute - support came from Headline Maniac who are three current members of The 'Ot Rods and whose excellent set went down so well with all concerned that when I attempted to buy their recently-released album I found that it had sold out. A good band, well worth looking out for in the future. It was Class Of 76's second gig, and as such they're still finding their feet with some of the material; that said versions of 'Dead Or Alive' and 'Chinese Rocks' by Johnny Thunders (Nicol played with him for a while) were suitably sleazy, and somewhat inevitably the Hot Rods and Members songs sounded about the best of all. Definitely a band that I'll be keeping an eye on, although I suppose that if someone like me didn't like them they really would be in trouble?

This week, Upper Cut and Big Al gigs, some time in the shop and no doubt more besides. Provided my hand keeps getting better of course...

Pictures at an exhibition

Bob Gruen is a name that is synonymous with rock music photography. Last Thursday evening I found myself at The Huntingdon Gallery in Shoreditch at an exhibition of said photos, and very good it was too. (Incidentally you may well be wondering how on Earth a herbert like myself got invited to a gathering such as this? Simple - Dave Ruffy was drumming in the band that played at the after show party. There is rarely mystery in life is there?) Myself and Segs (accompanied by Vivien of Holloway and her friends) arrived to find things in full swing and the walls adorned with some of the most iconic rock photos of them all. The man himself was in attendance (I managed a quick hello and got a nod in return) as were various other luminaries (including Martin Chambers and Jim Jones - oh yes!) and with a free bar the atmosphere was predictably jovial. Unsurprisingly people started to leave when the bar closed - most made their way around the corner to The Ace Hotel (although we found ourselves in the nearby Dragon Bar for a wee while) where Walter Lure led a band that also featured Neil from The Montecristos through a set of Johnny Thunders songs and rock 'n' roll standards. Their raucous rough-around-the-edges show (which featured a guest appearance by Marc Almond singing 'Brand New Cadillac') went down well with all concerned, after which I was obliged to leave at some speed to get a tube train home. As I made my way towards Liverpool Street Station I was accosted by a rough-looking chap asking for money 'to get some heroin, anything, even a few pence would help'. Such is life that I ran for it, albeit with 'Chinese Rocks' ringing in my ears. And did I really bump into Kate Moss on the stairs? Yes, incredibly, I did.

With no gig of my own on Friday night I found myself doing what I often do in this situation - going to watch another band play. And what better place to go than Tropic At Ruislip? It's always a good venue to support methinks, and it was excellent to see it so full when I arrived. ELO Again were the featured act, and I was intrigued to see how they would fare, as The Electric Light Orchestra material features some very complex arrangements. I'm pleased to say that they sounded very good indeed, and the sold out crowd loved them from the first song to the last. Personally I prefer the earlier songs ('Ma-Ma-Ma Belle' being a particular favourite) but there's no denying the excellence of Jeff Lynne's songwriting. And you forget just how many hits they had don't you? 

Two gigs from Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks this weekend, the first of which was at The Halfway House in Rickmansworth. I'd not played with the band for what felt like ages - it was actually less than a month, but as I say it seemed a lot longer - so I spent a bit of time revising the material, and I'm glad that I did as there are more than enough twists and turns in the songs to catch you out if you don't know them. It was a good gig although it's not the easiest place to play - there's not a lot of room, and you can't play too loud (never a good prospect!) but overall I think we didn't do a bad job, with the only downside being a drunk fella who kept wanting to try my hat on. Silly boy.
The next afternoon we returned to Ye Olde George in Colnbrook for a show that I for one thought was much better than the previous evening's effort - The Upper Cut are back there on Saturday 1st November which should hopefully also be a good night, as should this coming Saturday's 12 Bar Club gig by The London Sewage Company. Well, that should be good if last night's rehearsal is anything to go by... and then my friends, Ruts D.C. play in London - but more about that next time.

Jonesing for Jones

Post tour psychosis has all but worn off, so it's back to the real World - sort of...

'Twas an interesting evening on Wednesday, which began at The Islington in, er, Islington where Word In Your Ear presented a live show by Duncan Reid and The Big Heads and an interview with T.V. Smith. I remember The Word magazine being a good read so was interested to see how the evening would go - when I arrived T.V. was readying himself for his slot. He was interviewed by Alex Gold (who is also in DR and the BHs) and also read a couple of stories from 'Book Of The Year' his latest volume of tour diaries, and very entertaining it was too. After a short break Mr. Reid and co. took to the stage, and I must say that they were absolutely excellent. With two very good-looking young ladies on guitar and drums they blasted into their set with great energy and aplomb - such was their brilliance that I considered not leaving early to go to The 12 Bar Club, but in the end the lure of The Fallen Leaves proved too much. However I will be doing my best to catch Duncan Reid and The Big Heads again as soon as possible.
I arrived at The 12 Bar Club just as The Transients were finishing with 'Another Girl, Another Planet'; after catching up with club manager Mark (who of course is also the singer in The London Sewage Company - we're playing at the club on Saturday 18th October) it was time for The Fallen Leaves whose blazing performance might well be one of the best shows I've seen them play. A terrific night all round.

And it was a terrific night on Friday when The Upper Cut played at The Dolphin in Uxbridge. Sadly there haven't been too many shows for the band lately, which is a real shame as when we do get together it's pretty much always an enjoyable experience; with no time to rehearse we could have been a bit tighter here and there but that aside it was a fine gig with everyone on top form. Perhaps rehearsing would have ruined it?!?

Saturday night saw The Jim Jones Revue play their farewell show at The Forum in Kentish Town. I got there just as Walter Lure was taking to the stage with 'One Track Mind'. As the sole surviving member of Johnny Thunders and The Heartbreakers he waved the New York rock 'n' roll flag with great aplomb - and it was great to Darren from The Black Bombers up there on bass too. Next up was 'surprise guest' Nick Lowe who played a solo set on acoustic guitar - I've always been a big fan of Basher, and I'm pleased to say that he sounded as great as ever. An already excellent evening then took off into the stratosphere as The Jim Jones Revue gave an astonishing performance that served as both a masterclass in live rock rock 'n' roll and a fitting end to one of the great bands of the last few years. It's a shame that it's all over, but I for one will keeping an eye out for what the various members do next.
   
While The Jim Jones Revue were raising the roof in Kentish Town the first night of Polyfest II was happening at The Half Moon in Putney. Ruts D.C. headlined the second night on Sunday - we were due to play '3 or 4 songs' but in the end played 7, and a splendid time was had by all. With all proceeds going to The Teenage Cancer Trust it was I feel a fitting way to honour the memory of Poly Styrene - let's hope it happens every year.

And here is a review of the event courtesy of the excellent Elvis In The Clouds blog which pretty much sums up proceedings...

Last night the afore-mentioned London Sewage Company had a rehearsal in preparation for the afore-mentioned 12 Bar Club gig. With new songs to work on and old songs to revise everybody got on with the job in hand, and with another rehearsal booked for next Monday we should be in good shape for the show. In the meantime there are Big Al gigs to play and Ruts D.C. gigs to prepare for, so it's back to the real World - sort of... 

'You're only given one little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it.'

We've been an obituary - free zone here in Leigh's Mad World Of Guitars for a while, so...

Billy Rath, the bassist in Johnny Thunders and The Heartbreakers left us last Saturday - his place in rock 'n'roll history is assured thanks to him playing on the legendary 'L.A.M.F' album (the story of which is long and tortuous and has given rise to various different versions being released over the last 30-odd years; the amount of time people have been prepared to spend working on the album is perhaps the best testament to it's greatness - for example you can find two 'fan produced' versions of the record here and here...) and of course his participation in the band's live shows. His death leaves Walter Lure as the only surviving member of the classic Heartbreakers line-up - but 'L.A.M.F.' will be with us forever.

Richard Attenborough died yesterday - his performance as Pinkie in 'Brighton Rock' is rightly hailed as one of his best but I'm not sure that I've ever seen else that's as downright creepy as his portrayal of mass murderer John Christie in '10 Rillington Place'. And where would we be without 'The Great Escape'? Just because we've all seen it so many times, it doesn't mean that it's not a great film. I'm sure it'll be on again at Christmas...

And it seems ages since the sad news of Robin Williams committing suicide. If all he'd done was provide us with the quote that I've stolen to head this blog posting then his loss would be a sad one, but it's always a shame when someone loses their fight. Well, I think that it is anyway.

Meanwhile as I type this it's early on Bank Holiday Monday afternoon, and I should be getting ready to go to Ye Olde George in Colnbrook for a 5pm show with The Upper Cut - but I'm not. Our singer Terry has an ear infection (ouch!) and so had to pull out of the gig on Saturday morning - at which point the baton was passed to Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks, who were given the gig sometime on Saturday afternoon... until we were told yesterday that the show had been cancelled. Bugger! Oh well - I suppose that you don't miss what you never had? Still Saturday night's show at The Paddington Packet Boat in Cowley went well, with Andy from Back To Zero doing a fine job depping for Dave on drums; he returned for yesterday afternoon's show at Sally B's in Hoddesdon which ended with the club guv'nor taking to the microphone to say that we were the best band that had ever played there. Mind you he then said 'next week we've got a band that I've never heard of' before leaving the stage to general hilarity. I liked him... on the way home most of the band stopped off at The Feathers in Rickmansworth to catch the second set from The Razors, who among other luminaries feature Dave Ruffy on drums. Great was the drinking and cavorting from the assembled multitude, and rightly so as the band sounded great.

Right - since I've got an unexpected afternoon off it's time to finish filling in that tax return that's been annoying me for the last week or so. Oh hang on, I'm still waiting on those bank statements that I ordered last week. Bah! I wonder how easy it is to change bank these days?

One day it will please us to remember even this

What follows was written last night on the train home from the gig. I've thought about rewriting it as it's a bit disjointed (to say the least! Well the bar had been open...) but have decided to include it here with very little editing. It's nothing if not honest...

Now you know how I feel about this guitar playing lark don't you? Yeah, of course you do. But just in case you don't...

I have a lot of what I sometimes call 'are you sure Leigh?' moments. As in 'are you sure that you can do this Leigh?' moments. I've found that a lot of musicians are more insecure about their ability than they might first appear, or might look when they're up on a stage. I know that there are much better guitarists than me that never get out of their bedroom or a rehearsal room let alone make it to a stage or do some of the things that I find myself doing. And that's not false modesty or fishing for compliments, it's just true. I don't always feel very lucky, but I know that I'm always lucky to be able to play the guitar. 
So why am I telling you this. Well I'm not sure really. Maybe I'm telling myself it? Again.

I was talking to the lead singer of The Duel Tara Rez at The 100 Club when The U.K. Subs and T.V. Smith played there back in May. She mentioned that The Duel were due to be supporting Sylvain Sylvain of The New York Dolls at said venue on July 25th, and I resolved to attend the gig; among the other subjects that we then touched upon were the band's excellent version of 'Babylon's Burning' as played at the Fiddler's Elbow show also in May when Back To Zero also appeared - at which point, a plan of sorts loosely formed...

I arrived at The 100 Club just after quarter past six. Sylvain Sylvain and the band were soundchecking with a wonderfully raucous instrumental - as I said hello to members of The Duel and The Bears (the first band on) they played a few snippets and a few full songs, all sounding great. 'We'd better get off and give the other guys a chance' said the man himself (a lot of headline acts don't think like that!) as he took his guitar off, left the stage and walked over in my general direction. 
Now as I said earlier, you know how I feel about this guitar playing lark don't you? And you also know that I think that the New York Dolls are one of the greatest rock 'n' roll bands of all time. (Well if you didn't know that then I'm sure that you could have worked it out!) But you also know that I'm basically a very shy person. I try not to be, but I am. So I said to myself, go and say hello to him. Go on, you might not get a chance later on. Look, he's nodded at you, he seems to be alright. Say hello. What's the worst thing that could happen?

'Hello, my name's Leigh. That sounded great.'

He smiled and shook my hand.

Hey Leigh man, thank you.'

I said how good I thought that the guitar sounded - he told me that he's got an old pedal, bought in 1968, a combined fuzz / wha, quite unusual...
And there I was, little old me, talking to Sylvain Sylvain, the bloke out of The New York Dolls, about guitar effect pedals and how he gets his sound. Who'd have thought it eh? Little old me. I played along with his records all those years ago. I still do sometimes.
By now people wanted him - I said that I wouldn't keep him as he was busy but that it had been great to meet him.

'Great to meet you too Leigh' he said, remembering my name as he shook my hand. 

Back to work. Time is running out and there are two bands to soundcheck. The Duel are providing drums and a bass amp, The Bears have two guitarists and I thought I was using Lionel's Marshall set-up but Neil's got a Fender Blues Deluxe combo for me to use. I've got one of those myself. Good. The Duel play half a song without me and then we try 'Babylon's Burning', it all goes right until it all goes wrong - don't worry, it'll be alright on the night. But hang on - this is the night...

The Bears start their set at a quarter to eight. The club is already quite full, and they play a good set which goes down well with all concerned. No pressure then. I set up my guitar as quickly as I can; Tara tells me how nervous she's feeling and I say that it'll be great, probably sounding a bit glib as I realise that I'm feeling quite nervous too.

Andy, Pumpy and Tara from The Duel
attempt to ignore the poser in their midst. 

'What will you do when the money runs out?' The Duel sound terrific and the crowd loves them. And why not? When Tara says that they've got two songs left I realise that it's nearly my turn. The song ends. It's my turn. How does 'Babylon's Burning' go again?
Pumpy taps his sticks together four times and the intensity (in my head at least) leaps by approximately 1000% - 'and with anxiety'...
It ends. The crowd explodes. Goodnight. Tara smiles at Andy, Andy smiles at me - mission accomplished FAB.
I turn Neil's amp off and unplug my guitar. That felt good. I wonder if it sounded good too?
Over the next few minutes I got my answer. I shake hands with what feels like half of the audience. They loved it. And do you know, I loved it too.

9.35pm and London Town becomes New York City before our very eyes. 'OW!' cries our hero. 'Ow!' replies the audience with typically British restraint. 'Ouch!' says Sylvain in a manner that perhaps could best be described as 'beyond camp'. Hilarious.
What followed was a masterclass in out-and-out rock 'n' roll. With Jerome Alexandre on bass and Gary Powell on drums they played old songs, new songs and somewhere-in-between songs with a swagger and a style that all of us want but few of us will ever have. There were some great stories too, about selling jeans to Janis Joplin and how The New York Dolls got their name - that's really him up there on the stage. And it was really Glen Matlock and Clem Burke playing 'Personality Crisis' with him as an encore too. Wow.

After the show - more hands to shake, a hello to Mr. Burke, a few words with Mr. Matlock and probably some other things as well.

So now I'm on my way home trying to write it all down. How you ever tried to write while you're on a tube train? I doubt that I'll be able to read it in the morning. But that was a night to remember, a night never to forget. I told you that I was lucky didn't I?

Well as I say, it's a bit disjointed here and there - even the title doesn't really make sense in this context... many thanks to Big Andy for the photo - I had to use my Les Paul Junior didn't I? Well if it was good enough for Johnny Thunders then it's good enough for me!

Not a bad day revisited

Back in May last year I wrote a typically over-emotional piece in these hallowed pages relating to 3 gigs in Yorkshire with T.V Smith. In it I recalled a moment during 'Borderline' at The New Roscoe in Leeds when I felt that it might have been the best piece of music that I'd ever been involved in. I wasn't relating to my or T.V.'s performance - it was the song my friends, the song. You remember songs don't you? They were things that people used to write, back in the days when people who had something to say for themselves chose to use 3 or 4 minutes of pop music to express their feelings. These days I'm not really sure what people do, but that's more my problem than yours, or indeed theirs. But I remembered that moment last night, on the stage at The 12 Bar Club in Denmark Street, next to the afore-mentioned T.V. Smith, playing the afore-mentioned 'Borderline'; as we swung into the first chorus and T.V. sang 'on the borderline, why don't you get on my side?' that feeling returned. You don't get moments like that very often, and I'm sitting here struggling to find a way to describe it. Again I looked out from the stage - there was a small oriental lady at the front, Gaye Advert behind her to the right, some punky lads in the shadows, all eyes on T.V. with the song building and building, bringing all the outsiders like me... you... us... together - '... it's not just you, sometimes I feel it too... look your enemy right in the eye, and say ''stay away 'cause I keep my monsters tied''... on the borderline, where the rules do not apply... you'd better steer wide...

I closed my eyes and played. And played. And played. And suddenly, everything - everything - was alright.

I'd not played at The 12 Bar Club before and I'd love to play there again as it's a great little venue, although the word 'little' is very important in this sentence. There are tables that are bigger that the stage, front rooms that are bigger than the audience area and I'd imagine that one person with flu could very easily infect everybody in the building with one sneeze. It's murky, dank, seedy - in other words, it's fantastic. I travelled up on the tube with Esso; as we arrived '1-2-3' by The Professionals was playing in the bar and club manager Barnet was anticipating a good evening. Esso went to The Angel to meet up with John King just before T.V. arrived; soundcheck was straightforward enough with John the sound man getting everything right in no time. I bumped into Brian from Wunjo Guitars as I walked around the corner to the Nunu takeaway (falafel and salad - excellent!) who I'd not seen for a while - when I said I'd been in a few times and he'd not been there he said he'd been 'working on his golf'. Business must be good then... after catching up on a few phone calls I met Esso and John for a drink then went back to the venue to catch a few songs from gig organiser Brandy Row - anyone who plays a Johnny Thunders song is alright by me - and to get ready for the gig. We were due on at 10.15 but went on a bit later than that, and 'No Time To Be 21' kicked off a set that for me surpassed the 100 Club show earlier this year in pretty much every way. I've dribbled on about 'Borderline' already, but there were more than a few 'can this get any better? Yes it can!' moments for me; that said I also played a couple of absolute howlers during my solo in '21', forgot the extra beat of silence in the last chorus of 'Worn Once', messed up a chord change or two in 'Bored Teenagers' - well, you don't get something for nothing do you? Our set ends with 'One Chord Wonders' and general audience mayhem, we encore with 'Good Times Are Back' and 'Runaway Train Driver' before T.V. sets up shop at the front of the stage and does a roaring trade. Excellent!

It's a late bar and people are everywhere, it would have been great to stay for a drink but Esso and myself have got a last train to catch. Oh well, maybe next time. As we're leaving a chap called Martin stops me to say that he still has his old Price singles and that it was great to see me playing, was the band still going, when was I playing with T.V. again, while we were talking a couple come over to ask the same questions- for a few seconds I think about taking up Esso's idea of getting a cab home later, but times are hard and it would cost too much. Oh well, maybe next time. And once again another one of those amazing songs says it all - it's expensive being poor, these days more expensive than ever. And you don't get something for nothing do you? But for evenings like this, it's all worth it, every time. See you on the borderline sometime...

Coming In To Land at The 100 Club

Behold this photo of your humble narrator, taken in the dressing room at The 100 Club last night - as you can see, it's all glamour in the wild 'n' wacky world of showbusiness... my brother Terry took the picture 10 minutes or so after myself and T.V. Smith had finished soundchecking. I don't remember the last time I'd been so nervous before doing something as routine as that, but I suppose it's an indication of how important - maybe how over-important? - the evening was to me. Put simply, I've seen many brilliant shows at the venue, but had never played there myself; I was also aware that there were people coming down to see T.V. play songs from his new album 'Coming In To Land' which was available for the first time at the gig. This had to be - make that had to be - a good gig, and I'm pleased to say that it was...

Terry and myself arrived at the club around 6.40 p.m. to find Kid Vicious (Nigel) and Paul Crook (Dave) of The Sex Pistols Experience cheerily munching their way through some takeaway food. I hadn't seen them since I depped with them back in 2008 and it was good to catch up - while we were talking a text message arrived from T.V. to say that we'd been asked to go on last at 11 o'clock rather than last-but-one at 10 o'clock as the Experience were filming the show for DVD release and it would save them money if the film crew could go home early; co-incidentally I was talking to them about that very subject... I meet T.V. and we both say something like 'it's nice to be nice isn't it?' and so agree to move our slot to later in the evening. Meanwhile it's impossible not to notice how different the club looks when the lights are on and there's no one home, although that's the same for most venues... I'm introduced to Ray the soundman and with the stage clear we do the afore-mentioned soundcheck before Terry and myself head off down Oxford Street in search of some food. When we return we say hello to Vince who used to run Released Emotions Records back in the '80's and '90's and released a single and a mini-album by The Price all those years ago. Pretty soon it's time for the opening act of the evening Shag Nasty to take to the stage, they sound ok although I'm not sure I'd have attempted a cover version of 'Bodies' on a night such as this.

When they finish Terry, T.V. and myself walk down to Hanway Street when T'V. is meeting up with Gaye Advert and some of their friends at Bradley's Spanish bar; the road is very narrow and with people drinking outside on the pavement there are more than a few near-misses with uncompromising taxi drivers. When we return to the club L.A.M.F. UK are blasting their way through a set of Johnny Thunders songs, they're led by Mark who will transform himself into Steve Clones later in the evening, T.V. and myself agree that it all sounds a bit 'English' to have the Thunders swagger but the songs sound as great as ever.

An intro tape of patriotic music topped off with the unmistakable tones of Rotten and Vicious heralded the appearance of The Sex Pistols Experience - Johnny Rotter (Nathan) is uncannily like the real Rotten and although the crowd take a while to get going the atmosphere hots up as anthem after anthem roars out. The set finishes with 'God Save The Queen' and 'Anarchy In The U.K.' before Kid Vicious takes over - there are many like me that would argue that they should stick with the recordings made by the 'real' band but judging by the audience reaction the likes of 'My Way' and 'Something Else' certainly have their fans. Then it's announced that a 'legend' would be joining them on stage - T.V. fails to recognise Steve Dior who played with Sid in the post-Pistols bands but his version of 'Chinese Rocks' is arguably more convincing than the L.A.M.F. UK version earlier in the evening. Nathan appears to be ready to return but suddenly there's music over the P.A. and the show's over - which means it's our turn...

As we're setting up we both agree that it's been a long evening - some of the audience are leaving in search of their train home, although thankfully most stick around for our set. Those who are still there see a 13 song set that features 5 songs from the new album alongside 4 Adverts songs with the rest coming from T.V.'s solo career. From my point of view the nerves have all but gone although me until the end of the opening song 'No Time To Be 21' to get used to the sound - it's always different when there's an audience than when the venue's empty! - fortunately by the time we get into the new songs it's all more-or-less making sense to me. The new album is uniformly excellent, and despite the songs being unfamiliar to most of them the audience are appreciative, although you can feel the anticipation as the older songs grow ever nearer. Suddenly it's the 'Adverts Trilogy' ending of 'Gary Gilmore's Eyes', 'Bored Teenagers' and 'One Chord Wonders' and the crowd have got their reward for being good - our show ends with tumultuous applause and a shower of beer from the punks at the front. Clearly at £4 a pint they've all got enough money to literally throw it away.

Back in the bar it's just gone midnight and the bar's still open - Rikki from Red Flag 77 says hello with the somewhat insane news that when he first saw me earlier in the evening he'd thought I was Dave Ruffy! Strange but true... it being Record Store Day it was good to see the merchandise going well, and the evening ends with photo opportunities galore, most of which proved that I don't know how to work Gaye's or Nigel's cameras. But it had been a great evening, which ended for me with me back at home around 2 a.m. cleaning beer off my guitar- as I say, it's all glamour in the wild 'n' wacky world of showbusiness...

100 punks rule

No gigs for your humble narrator last weekend - bah! - but there's a potential classic coming up this Saturday, at The 100 Club with the mighty T.V. Smith. It's the first time I've ever gigged at the 100 Club - I've always wanted to play there, and what better night to be part of as The Sex Pistols Experience are headlining with Johnny Thunders tribute band L.A.M.F. UK and original punksters Shag Nasty also on the bill. It'll be my first gig of 2011 with T.V. Smith and I've just - just! - got back from rehearsing with him; we'll be playing several songs from his excellent new album 'Coming In To Land' alongside earlier solo songs and a few Adverts classics. It should be a great night, so come on down...

Talking of The Adverts an amazing bit of footage from Sussex University near Brighton back in 1977 has surfaced on YouTube - click here to see the band in all their glory roaring through 'New Church' and 'Bored Teenagers'. Great stuff - and here are The Damned, here are The Slits and here, here and here are The Clash at the same venue - how much more of this astonishing footage is hidden away somewhere? I said in the last posting that life is all questions sometime, but that is one question that I for one would love to get an answer to!