'Where am I?' 'In the village...'

Have you ever seen 'The Prisoner'? Of course you have. You know the opening sequence where Patrick McGoohan / number 6 wakes up in what he thinks is his home but then looks out of the windows and discovers that he's somewhere that he doesn't recognise? Well I know how he feels...

As you may be aware Ruts D.C. are currently supporting The Damned on their U.K. tour. We've been travelling on two tour buses (us and the crew on one, The Damned and co. on the other) with 12 bunk beds on each. We generally leave the venue at 2 am and travel through the night - meaning that you wake up somewhere new each day. To begin with I found this rather disorientating, but it's amazing how quickly you adapt to it. Well, I've found that I've adapted quickly, to the extent that as I write this I'm wondering how I'm going to return to a 'normal' life. Mind you, I don't really have a normal life, so I think I'll stop wondering how I'm going to return to it... but a few people have asked me how this touring lark all works, so I thought I'd have a go at writing about it here. The day generally goes something like this :-

Wake up. That's a relief, as it means that we got there in one piece.

Clamber out of the bunk and attempt to find your clothes. They're exactly where you left them last night, but where was that? You could do with a bit more light sometimes; well I certainly could - either that or I need to get some glasses that I can actually see though instead of the ones that I've currently got.

Time for some breakfast. This generally involves stumbling into town (I've often teamed up with Captain Sensible's guitar tech Jon) and trying to find some food that you like the look of and, maybe more importantly, can afford. As a namby pamby poncey vegetarian this often means that I eat too many eggs (and we all know what that can cause now don't we children?) and / or beans on toast (and you know what that can cause too...) Hardly the end of the world, but you do find yourself wishing for something different sometimes. Still there's always the porridge at Yates's - which reminds me, have you ever noticed how many of the young ladies who work behind the bar in Yates's have tattoos on their hands? You haven't? Maybe it's just me.

With load-in due at one o'clock most afternoons you then (depending on what time you got up of course) have a choice. I generally try to have a look a round town (is there a guitar shop? There go the wages!) as it's nice to get an idea about where you are, and then see if the venue is open; there's no shower on the bus but there's usually one somewhere backstage. I generally try to have one as soon as I can - there are a lot of people in the buses, and most if not all of them will want to use it at some point. In the meantime you can read, go back to sleep, make phone calls, catch up on emails, try to write a song, have some more food, hurry up and wait...

The Damned soundcheck usually starts at 4pm. I tend to check my guitar and equipment around this time, and if necessary change the strings (perhaps it would be better to do that earlier in the day Leigh, it might stay in tune better during the show?) as well as checking that all the leads on my pedal board are plugged in and in good shape. Our soundcheck is at half past five so I've got a fair bit of time to check things over, which is good as you don't want things going wrong during the show. We've been going on between 7.45 and 8pm each night, so after the soundcheck is over there's time to get changed for the show (if you're getting changed for the show) and work a set out, unless we're using the same one as the previous show. I'm pleased to say that the gigs have been going really well for us, and after in-ear monitor problems somewhat scuppered their first show of the tour in Bristol The Damned have been on top form with their shows getting better and better. I've always been a big fan, and this tour has done nothing to change that. Nice chaps too.

After their set I generally find myself behind the merchandise stall; Dave, Segs and Molara have been joining me to sign stuff and talk to people, and sometimes Captain Sensible shows up too. Good fun. Meanwhile the crew (Martin, Jon, Alex and Todd) put the gear away and into the respective tour buses and trailer, then if there's a local hostelry open it's time for a drink or two. And why not?

2 am and the buses leave for the next venue. Time for some sleep before the theme from 'The Prisoner' plays again... 

And don't forget that Dave and Segs have been writing a daily tour diary for Louder Than War; it's also on the band's Facebook page which you can find here...

The boot is on the other foot

A record is always better than a CD isn't it?

So there we were, setting our gear up and getting ready to soundcheck, when a cardboard box with RUTS D.C. written on it in felt tip pen arrived. Was anyone expecting anything? No. We'd better have a look inside it then... ooh, it's a stack of Ruts bootleg albums and an accompanying letter to Segs and Dave that among other things suggests some rather creative accountancy... you can see one of the records and the letter in the above photograph - the album comes in four different vinyl colours (black, white, red and green - pretty punky huh?) and if you'd like one then they're available on the Ruts D.C. merchandise stall while stocks last. And once they're gone, they're gone, unless The Human Punk sends us some more... I must make sure that I get one for myself!

In the meantime we've just played three shows up in Scotland - Friday we were at Ivory Blacks in Glasgow, Saturday at The Windsor Hotel in Kirkcaldy and Sunday at The Moorings Bar in Aberdeen. It's been a great few days - the venues were excellent, the audiences were enthusiastic (to say the least!) and the band (with Seamus returning on keyboards alongside Molara, Dave, Segs and myself) all played well. You can't ask for much more than that can you? But since our driver Marc had to get home quickly today we had to make our way to Glasgow Airport after the Aberdeen show (we got there around 4am) then make our way back today - as I sit here typing this I'm almost beyond tired, which is why this posting is so short. I may write a longer piece on the last few days later in the week - if I can remember what happened... in the meantime it's back to basics for your humble narrator this week, as The Upper Cut visit one of their favourite haunts this Friday evening, when we'll be at The Dolphin in Uxbridge from 9pm. It feels as though we haven't played together in ages, so it'll be great to see the lads again. And there's a very exciting just-confirmed-a-few-minutes-ago Ruts D.C. support gig in London on the horizon - but more about that next time.

Ruts D.C. in Germany, September 2013

What follows was written at the date and time indicated...

Wednesday 18th September, 2.25pm

Welcome to room 304 of the Armony Hotel in Berlin. My - indeed our - journey has been relatively straightforward (for once!) I got a 6.30am cab to Heathrow Airport Terminal 1, met the rest of the Ruts D.C. touring party (Dave on drums, Segs on bass, Molara on vocals and Nick our soundman, keyboard wizard Seamus being busy elsewhere) in zone J where we checked in, put our bags and guitars where our bags and guitars were supposed to go and made our way through security to the departure lounge (I got stopped and had to empty my bag out - nothing too embarrassing in it thank Gawd!) where we had some breakfast before making our way to the aircraft. We took off a few minutes late and from my point of view the flight went by in no time thanks to a combination of catching up on sleep and reading the excellently nerdy 'Won't Get Fooled Again - The Who From Lifehouse To Quadrophenia' book. 

Mutti, Segs and Dave
attempt to ignore the film crew
as they arrive at
The Armony Hotel.

At Tegal Airport we were reunited with our luggage (my Les Paul is still in one piece - hurrah!) then met up with Mutti, our tour manager for our 4-gigs-in-4-days visit to Germany. Amusingly he's being filmed for a documentary being made about him - which means we were being filmed too. Excellent! He takes us the scenic route to our hotel, meaning that we get to see The Brandenberg Gate, Holocaust Memorial, Checkpoint Charlie and more while he supplies a very interesting and informative commentary.
Our hotel looks good, the venue SO36 is not too far away, everyone is in high spirits - this is going to be a good few days. 

Time for a drink!

Thursday 19th September, 12.50pm

We've not long left our hotel, travelling through some different parts of the city that we didn't see yesterday including some of the former East Berlin which I spent a bit of time in when The Price played there back in 1990. All good stuff - now we head for Hamburg.
Our first Seamus-less show went well (although I for one definitely missed his always-excellent playing) with 250+ people in attendance including Adrian and Gunta from England, New Rose Punk Rock Radio DJ Nolti (who plays The Price regularly on his show - top man!) and Max who tells me he saw me playing with T.V. Smith at The Rebellion Festival back in 2011. Mutti's assistant Katya manned the merchandise stall which gave me chance to, well, feel as though I had nothing to do as I'm normally behind the table myself. Still I was able to join Adrian and Gunta for a drink in The Franken Bar opposite the venue, and to catch a few songs by The Tips who are supporting us on all 4 shows. We played a good show although as I say the keyboards were definitely missed, especially on the reggae-based numbers; none of this seemed to bother the audience, who were well into it from the word go. Talking to people afterwards - and let me say now that when they apologised for having bad English it was infinitely better than my German will ever be - it was clear that many folk had waited a very long time for this gig to happen,  and that quite a few people were going to be at more than one or the tour dates which was great to hear.
Earlier in the evening while Dave and Segs had been busy with a radio interview (which you can hear here) I'd been walking from our hotel to the venue when I came across the Disorder Rebel Store. With a name like that I of course had to go in, and was just feeling tempted to buy a suitably rebellious t-shirt when the man behind the counter said a cheery hello. We got talking, and he asked me what I was doing in town. When I told him that I was playing at SO36 he said 'Ah, Ruts D.C.!' excitedly and produced a CD-R with the band's named scrawled on it in felt tip pen. When I joked that he should have bought a 'real' copy he laughed, shrugged and said 'I'm an anarchist!'

There's no answer to that is there?

Friday 20th September, 1.45pm

If like me you're a Beatles fan - ok, a Beatles obsessive... oh alright, a Beatles bore - then

Just ask for 'Mr Claus' -
everything he says is true!

visiting Hamburg for the first time can only bring to mind The Fab Four's legendary stints in the city. As we arrived at The Hotel Pacific Mutti told us that 'it's the one where all the groups stayed back in the '60s' and then went on to say that the old chap in the Rotthoff music shop next door has worked there for over 50 years and has lots of stories to tell...
My new friend 'Mr. Claus' (pronounced 'Klaus') smiled knowingly. I'd just asked him if The Beatles used to come into his shop. Yes, many times, also Bill Haley, Gene Vincent, Little Richard, Screaming Lord Sutch, Cream, The Spencer Davis Group - this list was endless. I asked him if Jimi Hendrix had ever paid him a visit - he hadn't but he did see him play at The Star Club. He recounted how Tony Sheridan had been a great friend, and how sad his death earlier this year had been - 'he told me many things, but never that he was ill'. He'd met him around the time that The Beat Brothers had been his backing band - I wonder whatever happened to them?
The venue is down on the waterside; to get there we drive along The Reeperbahn, and once again Mutti's running commentary is absolutely excellent. At The Hafelklang soundcheck goes well and there is food and drink a-plenty. We walk a few doors down to The Haifisch Bar for a drink (obviously!) before returning to find The Tips sounding good and the club filling up nicely. By the time we take to the stage there is a tangible atmosphere of expectation - we start as we mean to go on and play a powerful show to an increasingly animated audience. At one point a large bearded (and for want of a better term, 'confused') man asks to use a microphone - I was expecting a profound political statement but instead he says that he bought a Ruts t-shirt and now he's dropped it and if anyone finds it could they let him have it back. They do, and they do. 'It's like a branch of Alcoholics Anonymous' says Segs ruefully. Our show ends to what might best be described as pandemonium, and after encoring we retire to the dressing room where we realise that they're still cheering and don't sound as though they're going to stop. After a brief 'do we / don't we?' conversation we return to jam on 'Can't Take It Easy'. Thank you and goodnight.

Segs outside Rockhats -
right hook not pictured.

Back on The Reeperbahn the scariest thing that I see being bought is Dave's sausage (oo-er missus etc) although I must admit that I didn't look for too long. I thought about going for a drink with Mutti and Segs (who had refused to leave the van until he was taken to a bar!) but decided against it - when I saw him in the morning Segs told me that I 'missed the fight'... apparently they'd gone to The Jolly Roger, stronghold of the F.C. St. Pauli fans like Mutti where someone had asked him what team he followed. When he told them that he'd been born near Arsenal's ground they swung a punch at him. Not good frankly. Still we have just visited the 'Rockhats' shop, where Nick nearly bought a top hat (it would have looked great behind the mixing desk!) and Segs tried on a sou'wester, much to everyone's amusement. That's more like it. 

Saturday 21st September, 8.30am

...and we're already on the road. It's an epic journey from Bremen to Munich so it's an

The Tips rockin' The Lagerhaus.

early start. I've got an annoyingly runny nose although I don't feel as though I've got a cold, and I feel tired but not tired enough to get back to sleep just yet. It's a lovely sunny morning and although the mood in the van is subdued it's also very positive - and well it might be as it was another good show last night, maybe not quite as incendiary as the previous night in Hamburg but not far off it. The Lagerhaus (what a great name! - although disappointingly it means 'store house') is a excellent venue with a fine sound system and excellent stage, which always makes a band's job easier. There's a feeling of being at a particular standard which we mustn't fall below - that's a good feeling to have.
Some more thoughts on the Jolly Roger incident - the theory now is that Segs's attacker heard him tell the barmaid that his name was 'sex' and took offence. Well, it's a thought. In the meantime the man himself has just announced that he's lost two pairs of socks (that happens doesn't it?) and, rather more peculiarly, the lace from his right shoe. That takes a bit of doing don't you think?
So, today is a road day. I'm hungry as I haven't had any breakfast, but nor has anybody else. I'm sure we'll stop for something soon.

7.20pm

Well I managed to get a bit of sleep and also to read a bit more of my book - but that was around 7 hours on the road. Mutti drove the whole way - how he's still on his feet and working is beyond all of us. And I'm moaning about having a runny nose! Annoyingly it's still going strong - I've taken a hay fever tablet so maybe that'll help.
After a somewhat light-hearted soundcheck we were bought down to Earth by the news that only 17 advance tickets have been sold. Perhaps playing a gig when it's the first night of The Oktoberfest just down the road isn't a good idea? Still we're sounding good, and as The Tips are getting ready for their soundcheck myself and Segs meet our new friend Chris who wants to interview us for the German version of 'Guitarist' magazine. Now I must admit that I'm both amazed and amused by this; a guitar magazine wants to talk to me? Hilarious! At some point of our epic journey we had a less-than-serious 'what shall we say to him?' conversation - we came up with the concept of RHD or 'Right Hand Dynamics' as a soundbite if we needed one... in the event it was a very easy and enjoyable thing to do, right down to the 'what strings do you use?' moments (being a complete nerd I of course knew mine, but Segs had to get the packet from his bass case to find out what gauge his were!) and I must say that I could have sat there talking about guitars for a lot longer than I did. Mind you, I usually can. And yes, Segs not only talked about Right Hand Dynamics, but talked about them in a rather more serious manner than either of us were expecting.

Time for some food!

Sunday 22nd September, 11.30am

Well now we're at Stuttgart Airport getting ready to go home. What a great few days this has been. Mind you it didn't feel quite so great last night when we realised that we might be facing a audience of less than 20. After eating I got changed (more for something to do than anything else, if you know what I mean) I walked down into the hall to see how Katya was doing setting up the merchandise stall. There were already more than 17 people in the hall. Good. Things can only get better. 
By the time The Tips start their show at half past eight there are 50 or so in the audience; halfway through their set there are at least double that and people are still arriving. Hurrah!
Ruts D.C. showtime is 10 o'clock, and what a show it is. The audience is noisy, boisterous even, a few at the front engage Molara and Segs in conversation (well they shout cheerily at them in a manner that suggests that they may have spent some time at The Oktoberfest earlier!) and there is dancing and merriment from the word go. As the show progresses it's clear that it's going to be one to remember, and our set ends to chaotic scenes. When we return for an encore we even manage to get Mutti on stage with us, he looks embarrassed when Segs tells the audience how great he's been to us for the last few days - but it's true, he and Katya have both been brilliant. 'Dope For Guns' and 'In A Rut' nearly cause a riot, and we return for a breathless 'H-Eyes' to finish a terrific show.
After some suitably mad times on the merch after the show we pack our gear away and then load the van before setting out for Stuttgart where we're staying in anticipation of our flight home. Having already driven hundreds of miles during the day Mutti is still behind the wheel - the man's a marvel.
Sitting here now, thinking back over the last few days spent in Germany I have to say that it's been a wonderful thing to be part of. As stated above Mutti and Katya have worked tirelessly to make sure that things ran smoothly, and run smoothly they most certainly did. Indeed the only downside that I can think of (apart from Segs nearly getting into a scrap!) is that I've still got a runny nose. Maybe I have got a bit of a cold, although I still don't feel as though I have. Oh well.

Four lads who
shook the World.

With jaunts such as this there is often a moment that somehow stands out, that stays with you longer than others - you know the sort of thing. For me it occurred in the dressing room at the Berlin SO36 gig... Ruts D.C. played at the venue in 1981, and The Ruts had played in Berlin a year-and-a-bit earlier as part of a series of European dates. A fan had put together a display that included a blown-up photocopy of the 1981 concert ticket and four individual photos of the band taken at the earlier show, and had bought it up to the dressing room. And there they were looking out at us all, four young men ready to take on the World. Two of them were in the dressing room, the other two sadly were not. As I looked at the pictures I wondered how Segs and Dave felt - really felt - about them. Would it upset them, or would it cheer them that someone had thought so much of the band that they'd gone to so much trouble to produce such a splendid display?
A couple of minutes before the show I got my answer. We were just about to head for the stage when Dave produced some plastic cups. He poured a generous measure of Vodka into each of them and then handed one each to Mutti, Segs, Molara and myself. He looked at the photos, smiled and then raised his drink in the air. 

'To absent friends...' and then added 'and to new friends too'.

Enough said I think?

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...

Early morning cold taxi

Another busy few days in mad-guitar-land - good! I'd be lying if I didn't say that it's also been a rather tiring few days, but it's better than having nothing to do...

In the wake of the Vive Le Rock article and album review there were two Ruts D.C. shows late last week. Thursday night saw the band visit The Brook in Southampton. Support came from Miss Jewels who sounded good to me although I did spend much of their set behind the merchandise stall and so didn't hear as much as them as I might have liked. I do remember them playing 'Heat Wave' though which is never a bad song to hear. For our show I used a Marshall Vintage Modern combo courtesy of my great friend Paul Cope (there were amplifiers supplied at the next night's show so I'd decided to travel light) which sounded absolutely fabulous to such an extent that I'm going to keep my eye out for a second hand one should I ever make any money (there's not much point in keeping an eye out then!) There's a review of the show on the excellent Aural Sculptors blog which also includes some video clips from the gig - overall it was a boisterous performance that saw the first appearance in the set for 'Something That I Said' (oh yes!) and a great reaction from the audience. 

But if that was a boisterous performance then the next night's show at The Great British Alternative Music Festival at Butlins in Minehead took us to new heights of, er, boisterousness. (Is that a word?!?) We were on Centre Stage at 10 o'clock (which sadly meant that I missed Eddie And The Hot Rods who were on at Reds at the same time - bugger!) and played to what looked to me to be a capacity crowd of around 3,000. An extraordinary incident took place about halfway through our 60 minute set when a couple of girls decided to shout something (I'm still not sure what!) at Molara who reacted by putting them down in no uncertain terms. It seemed to spur the band on, and our set (which had already been going well) finished to scenes of audience hysteria that wouldn't have been out of place in 'A Hard Day's Night'. I went out to watch The Members (who featured the irrepressible Rat Scabies on drums) play after us and must have shaken hands with 100 people. Great stuff all round, only tempered by the fact that we had to leave at 7.30am on Saturday to get the van back to London in time for us to avoid paying for an entire weekend's hire...

I woke up just after 5pm. I'd got home sometime before midday, had a shower and then fell asleep. Rock 'n' roll eh? Still no time to worry about that now, as The Upper Cut are playing in Colnbrook at Ye Old George Inn and I've got to get my things (and indeed myself) together - except, er, we're not. I was just getting changed for the show when I received a text message from Terry the bass telling me that the gig was cancelled. I called him straight away - apparently someone who likes our band (don't laugh, there are a few of them around!) had called the venue for directions and no one there knew anything about the show. Bah! Oh well, at least we found out before we got there - that's fortunately only happened to me a couple of times and is rather depressing. The gig has already been rescheduled for Sunday 12th May (unusually we're on at 5pm) so it does look like a genuine mistake was made. Oh well!

Sunday saw the final Back To Zero rehearsal before this week's gigs - Sam, Andy, Squirrel and myself were joined by Craig on vocals (he's one of the singers from the first time around and is singing lead on three songs at Saturday's show) and Stuart on keyboards for a session at RnR Studios in Uxbridge. Things were sounding so good that we finished the session early - now that's something that doesn't happen very often! After dropping my gear back at home I made my way down to The Crown And Treaty for the latest open mic / jam night. Such was the general jollity of the occasion that I found myself at a similar gathering last night at The Three Wishes in Edgware. It's interesting - not that long ago I'd never attended such an event but I must admit that I've enjoyed the ones that I have been to. That said they almost always have the odd peculiar moment - but perhaps they're the best bits? Hmm... maybe more about that another time...

Start saving now!

My dear friends - it is with no little fanfare that I bring you the following news :-

'Rhythm Collision Volume 2' by Ruts D.C. is released by Sosumi Records on May 13th. The band will be playing at The Underworld in Camden on Friday 10th April with Dirty Revolution and Electric River (full details here) which serves as both a first headlining London show for the band since, oh I don't know, 1982 or 1983 (!) and as a launch gig for the album. To say I'm looking forward to it is to redefine the term 'looking forward to it'. And hilariously the album is now available to pre-order on Amazon as you can see if you click here - I never thought I'd ever see my name on there but, well, there it is. Excellent!

No time to kill

It's my 51st birthday today. Leaving aside the fact that it only seems like this time last week rather than this time last year that I had my 50th birthday this means that I'm now officially in my early fifties as opposed to, well, being 50. Again it doesn't seem that long ago that I would have considered that to be an impossible distance in the future; time flies as I said in the last posting, whether you're having fun or not.
I started my 51st year with an Upper Cut gig, and I'm pleased to say that I'm starting my 52nd year in the same way - we're at The Dolphin in Uxbridge this Friday, the same night as the opening ceremony of The London Olympics. I guess this means that everybody will be at home watching it on television (well, let's face it, no ordinary person can afford a ticket to be there in person can they?) and so there'll be no one at the gig. Bah! Oh well - we'll have a good time anyway!

The festival poster.

In the meantime the last gig of my 51st year (keep up at the back there!) was the first Ruts D.C. show of 2012, headlining the Thursday night of The Seasplash Festival at Fort Punta Christo in Pula, Croatia.
Sometime around 7.25 a.m. my Metropolitan Line train sat for just that little bit too long at Harrow On The Hill station. I exchanged a few nervous looks and bleary smiles with my fellow passengers until the tension was broken by a disembodied voice over the speakers telling us that the destination of the train had changed, and that it was now terminating at Harrow On The Hill. Relative disinterest immediately turned into panic followed by a near-stampede to get on to the train waiting on the adjacent platform - I soon realised that as I was carrying a bag, guitar and (for the first time on an excursion such as this) a pedalboard there was no way that I was going to get on board the already-congested train. Curses! Resigning myself to waiting for the next arrival I stumbled somewhat dejectedly back towards my original train, whereby I heard the driver saying something along the lines of 'well I don't know what that was all about but we're definitely going to Aldgate' and instigating another stampede in the process. I nearly got stuck in the doors, but even got my old seat back. An annoying little incident, which pales into insignificance compared to what happened next... 

The Adriatic Sea as seen
from Fort Punta Christo.

After getting a grown-up to help me to get my ticket for The Stansted Express (a rather optimistic name under the circumstances as we shall see...) I was directed to platform 2 at Liverpool Street station where said train was ready to leave. I always think it's good to be early getting to airports, and the 8.25 train should get me there with plenty of time to spare. Within a minute or so I was on my way - or was I? Looking around the carriage it was very quiet - where were all the people carrying baggage for their flights? And shouldn't this be a newer, more luxurious train? Hmm... after a couple of stops a chap got on and sat opposite me; I swallowed hard and asked the question - his reply of 'Enfield' was definitely not one that I wanted to hear... 
To cut a long story short (for once!) I eventually made it to Stansted Airport at 10.40 - the gate for our flight was closing at 11.05. Tour manager Pablo had left my tickets with in his words 'a very helpful lady' at the information desk in Area A, the Ryanair last minute check desk was suitably (and surprisingly) swift, the lady at the outsize baggage section took her time a bit under the circumstances and the £5 that I paid for priority security clearance proved to be well worth the money. When I got the gate 41 (they're always a long way off when you're late aren't they? Still at least I now hold the World land speed record...) I found everyone waiting to get on board, and then waited for 15 minutes before the queue started moving. What was all the fuss about eh?  

The view from the stage
during our soundcheck

After a thankfully uneventful flight we arrived at Trieste Airport (yes, I know that's in Italy, but this is Ryanair remember) where we met our driver Al and made the 2-and-a-bit hour journey from Italy to Croatia, passing through Slovenia on the way. I'd never been to any of the countries before, and so would have liked to have seen a bit more of them but found myself drifting in and out of consciousness as we travelled. Well, it had been an early start and a somewhat stressful morning so I guess that was to be expected, but what I did see was often spectacular, and the weather was absolutely splendid.

Seamus and the ill-fated
Hammond Organ

When we arrived at Fort Punta Christo another band was soundchecking so food and beer were both located (and were both excellent) before we set up our gear - I had a Fender Super Reverb combo which I'd not played through before, and I hope I get to play through one again as it sounded terrific. I was also rather relieved that my effect pedals all worked on 110 volts - I'd chosen the power adaptor as it specifically said that it worked on any voltage, but you never know do you? Seamus was well pleased (initially at least) with having a real Hammond Organ and Leslie speaker to use and Segs got a bass sound pretty much straight away; Dave had a bit of work to do before the drums were to his liking but everything looking good it was time for us to try a song... everything went horribly wrong immediately - the organ was flat by nearly a semitone. Attempts to rectify the situation (turning it off and on again - apparently there's not much else that you can do!) proved fruitless, the most likely cause seeming to be that we were running off a generator rather than mains electricity. Fortunately one of the other bands lent Seamus a keyboard and everything sounded good at last.

Here's where we stayed.
Nice isn't it?

There was just time to go to our (excellent) apartments to change and sample some locally distilled beverage courtesy of our very friendly hosts before getting back to the venue around half an hour before showtime. This was to be our first 'full' show following our 35 minute sets supporting The Alabama 3 last year - we played an hour-and-a-bit long set to an audience that increased in both size and appreciation as our show progressed. On the downside my guitar went off momentarily a few times before eventually going off completely - the pedalboard seemed to be the problem, which was cured by, you've guessed it, unplugging it and plugging it back in again. Then the vocal monitors stopped working. Bah! Despite the technical problems it was a great gig, and afterwards Pablo seemed particularly overwhelmed by our performance. Or maybe it was the free beer? 
With the next band starting their set in the background Segs, Dave and Molara gave a television interview; there's more alcohol and the promise of some Mexican food but Seamus and myself decide that it's been a long enough day and ask Al to drive us back to where we're staying. As we're getting into the van an enthusiastic young man stops us and says that we were amazing. It's good when that happens!


And we made the newspapers too -

I wonder what the headline says - any ideas?

Animal Now (and then)

As I mentioned in the post-before-last the first Ruts D.C. album 'Animal Now' is about to be re-issued - indeed the Plastic Head edition of the album marks it's first appearance on CD. I bought the album when it was first released in 1981, along with the 'Different View' / 'Formula Eyes' single that if I remember rightly pre-dated it by a couple of months; I loved them both then, and you won't be surprised to hear that I love them both now - except that these days I'm playing in the band which is currently getting ready to play some gigs that will include songs from the album. It seems that truth really is stranger than fiction sometimes... our two rehearsals on Wednesday and Thursday this week saw us running through songs from all parts of the band's recorded history, from early Ruts numbers to material that hasn't been released yet. Molara couldn't make last week's session but joined us (Segs on bass, Dave on drums, Seamus on keyboards and myself on guitar) on vocals and percussion for both of these - even though I say so myself the band sounded great, and to say that I'm looking forward to the upcoming shows redefines the word 'understatement'. In addition to me attempting to get used to some new-ish guitar effect pedals that I've bought to replace the ones that I lost back in November Segs bought along an old Boss CE-1 Chorus Ensemble that Paul Fox used with the band; it gave exactly - make that exactly - the guitar sound of the afore-mentioned album (which I suppose it would if you think about it!) although I don't think I'll use for the shows as it's mains-powered and as it hasn't been used for many years I think it needs checking over electrically! Still it was weird to be playing Paul's riffs through it - I'm still not sure how I feel about it several days later.


It was something of a rehearsal marathon for your humble narrator on Wednesday, when after the Ruts D.C. session I travelled across town from Deptford to Shepherds Bush to meet up with The Upper Cut at Bush Studios for a 'let's-learn-a-couple-of-new songs' evening. In the event the band was in an industrious mood, not only running through several songs new to us but also tightening up a few of our less-played songs with a view to bringing them back into the act. Everything we rehearsed was played at The Dolphin in Uxbridge on Friday evening at a show which started slowly (both Roger and myself agreed that we took a while to get going, possibly because the place was unusually empty when we started playing although it filled up later) but that ended with a suitably raucous display from both band and audience. I suppose that there can't be that many bands who include 'Sha-La-La-La Lee' and 'Black Night' as new numbers on a set that also features 'Monkey Man' and 'Hold Back The Night', but I for one am glad that we do. A good gig - we're back there on July 27th, which is perilously close to my birthday. Excellent!


In the meantime I'm typing this on a Saturday evening that feels like it should be a gig night, but isn't. Bah! Still there's a Cool Britannia rehearsal this week followed by two gigs next weekend - let's hope these don't get cancelled...

Ruts DC revisited

With no gigs this week (bah! Again!) I thought about doing a belated look back at 2011's high and lows but decided that (a) I'm still trying to forget that horrific Chicago Blues Brothers show at the end of November and screaming on about it here won't exactly help me drive it from my mind, and (b) Ruts D.C. have been confirmed as appearing at this year's Rebellion Festival in August, and that seems a much better thing to write about. So here's a look back at last year's Alabama 3 support shows with backstage passes, a setlist and a few pictures from the Forum gig taken by Abbie Jenkinson mostly from the photography pit in front of the stage. They're good aren't they?

The setlist managed to survive all 4 shows without getting lost / ripped / trodden on (delete as applicable) although it was only correct for the first two gigs (Manchester and Bristol) as 'London Dub' was dropped (it's on the forthcoming album) with 'In A Rut' coming into the set after 'Fools' for the Bournemouth and London shows.

The photos show Molara on vocals and percussion, Segs on bass, Dave Ruffy on drums, Seamus Beaghen on keyboards and your humble narrator (wearing Dave Ruffy's hat!) on the electric guitar. I still can't believe it sometimes but, yes, it's really me.

The splendid Aural Sculptures blog has a favourable revue of the Forum show (Adrian has also given a plug for these hallowed pages - top man!) although I'm pleased to say that I've not really seen or heard any bad reports from any of the gigs. Good!

Incidentally I'm also playing Rebellion 2012 with the mighty T.V. Smith; this is more good news as our show there was my next-favourite gig of the year, and it makes the festival something for me to really look forward too. So I'm really looking forward to it!

21st Century Ruts D.C.

Last night, Thursday 17th November 2011, I played with Ruts D.C. at The Ritz in Manchester.

How the hell did that happen?

I last saw Ruts D.C. in 1981 and 1982. It was the same show as it was New Year's Eve (clever eh?) at The Fulham Greyhound. It was an incredible evening. Details are a bit sketchy here and there (you know why...) but I'm pretty sure the support band were Auntie And The Men From Uncle (very strange but oddly compulsive, with Esso on drums) followed by Captain Sensible, Segs and Rat Scabies giving an impromptu performance of 'What Do You Give The Man Who's Got Everything?' from the Captain's solo single 'This Is Your Captain Speaking' before Ruts D.C. came on. They were amazing. Amazing. AMAZING. As good as any band I've ever seen. I've got a signed setlist somewhere. And that was almost exactly 30 years ago. Amazing.

I was a fan. I'm still a fan. But now I'm playing in the band. How the hell did that happen?

I asked myself that very question as I sat in Frank's Cafe in Uxbridge Station at 9 o'clock yesterday morning. The waitress had just bought me some beans on toast. I'd asked for brown bread, but she'd bought white. It didn't matter.

'When I'm up North I like to spend a couple of hours in a Little Chef - you know, extra beans, do a crossword or two, let my food go down and then get stuck into the Arctic Roll, you know what I mean'.

We're on the M40 - Seamus is less-than-seriously planning the next few hours while attempting to make sense on the passenger seat climate control, Dave is behind the wheel being highly amused by Seamus's comments and I'm sitting behind Dave reading the latest edition of Guitar and Bass magazine. Manchester is around 3 hours away; it's a lovely bright afternoon, we've got the soundtrack to 'Pulp Fiction' on the CD player and the mood is good - and why not?

So how the hell did that happen? How the hell am I playing for a band that I used to follow 30 years ago? Well for a start there was the rehearsal for the Paul Fox benefit show with Henry Rollins on vocals, when I discovered that all those hours playing along with 'The Crack' and 'Grin And Bear It' (and indeed 'Animal Now' and 'Rhythm Collision volume 1') meant that I could play the songs almost without thinking. I discovered I could do the same thing for the same reason with The Sex Pistols material when I depped with The Sex Pistols Experience and The Pistols. And The Commitments and Blues Brothers stuff wasn't hard either. Weird. Some people would call it wasted youth - but what do they know?

I used to talk to the band members at gigs. They were always friendly, always had a bit of time for the fans. I liked that. It stuck with me. I decided that if ever I was ever lucky enough to be in a band then I'd talk to anyone that ever wanted to talk to me. And I've been lucky enough to be in quite a few bands - I hope I've always been as friendly to people as Ruts D.C. (and indeed The Ruts) were to me.

Somewhere on the M6 Dave's car started playing up. A barrage of swearing from all concerned wouldn't make the dashboard light go off - 'they said that they'd fixed this' said Dave as we shuddered towards the hard shoulder, 'it's done this a few times, it might clear in a minute...' As he said that, it cleared. Good.

We arrived in Manchester just before 5 o'clock. We passed the Peace And Love Barbers (run by Mohammad Ali) and The Red Sea Coffee Shop; as we turned into Whitworth Street Dave gestured - 'The Hacienda - I remember it well'. After a bit of manoeuvring we parked on the double yellow lines outside the front doors of The Ritz to unload after which Dave went off to park the car as I ask Seamus if he'd played at the venue before - 'late '80s I think, with Iggy Pop'. I'd been watching The Stooges on DVD earlier - a good omen.

The Alabama 3 are soundchecking - a sample of Ray Winstone's voice booms out into the cavernous auditorium as I'm fixing the guitar strap in place. Segs is on bass, he makes a comment that it's 'time for the support band to have a go, after all we don't want any trouble from them now do we?' He smiles at me, a bit weakly, he looks as nervous as I fell i.e. a bit but not too bad.

We set up across the front of the stage. My amp is on the keyboard riser and I'm standing next to Steve the guitarist's pedalboard. London Transport still haven't found my pedalboard (and I fear they never will) so I've borrowed a Carbon Copy delay pedal from ex-Awaken guitarist Pete (thanks mate) and I've dug out a Bad Monkey overdrive pedal (which I have as a spare for the Tube Screamer that I use with the Blues Brothers shows) and a Micro Amp as a volume boost for solos. They sound good, but I really miss my old Boss Chorus pedal. If I don't get the board back, that's the one that I'm going to have to replace first.

I'm stage left (on the right as you look from the audience) with Molara in front of me - she suggests that I move a bit to the right so that people can see me, which I do. Segs is on my right, Dave is next to him and Seamus is way away from me on the other side of the drum kit. We're using loops on two tracks so Dave has his computer on a table to his left, after a bit of monitor adjustments it all sounds good. We also run through 'Babylon's Burning' with John Robb on vocals who's joining us for that number, it goes a bit wrong at the end with John saying that he was waiting for a guitar cue that's on the recording and Segs saying that I'm playing it just like the recording, we try to run through it again but there's no time as they're about to open the doors...

In the dressing room there are a few cans of coke and bottles of beer which go down well with all concerned. With Dave suggesting that we dress 'in suits, a bit gangster-ish' there are hats to try on, I settle on a flat cap which John describes as having 'an Andy Partridge look' - I thought he said Alan but cheer up when I realise he didn't.

Suddenly it's 7.30 and we're on stage - I'm sure they didn't used to go on that early when I used to watch them. It's a breathless 30-odd minute performance to a room that looked fairly full by the time we finished. We played well - there was a real 'first gig feel' about the show but it was still a great thing to be part of. Well it certainly was for me.

How did we sound? Click here to find out!

It would have been great to stick around, have a drink and a chat, see The Alabama 3 - but Dave had to get back so we had to leave promptly after the show. Shame. As we pulled away the touts were touting, the queue was queueing - oh well, there's always the Bristol show next week. I'll see them play then.

The dashboard light came on again on the way home but I must admit I'd dropped off to sleep at that point. During the course of our journey Dave and Seamus bought far too many pork pies (the sight of them scouring a service station for mustard was something to behold, particularly when they were advised to try W.H. Smith...) and I'd bought some chocolate that was on a special offer, then didn't eat any of it. Rock 'n' Roll eh? In the meantime an ecstatic Segs had roared his approval of the show to us all on the speakerphone and we all agreed that although our first show had indeed been a good one, the best is very definitely yet to come. And that's a really good feeling to have.

Well I'm still not sure how the hell it all happened. But I'm really glad that it has.