Ruts D.C. European Tour, November / December 2019

As Ruts D.C. ready themselves for a return to showbusiness here's a look back at last year's November / December European tour... 

The stage is set - Das Bet, Frankfurt, November 29th 2019

Friday 29th November, 10.30 am, Room 21 of the Goethe Hotel, Frankfurt

'She said... I know what it's like to be dead...' I like The Beatles. I really like The Beatles. I mean I really like The Beatles. Sometimes I don't listen to very much else, and this is definitely one of those times. And today I really really like 'Revolver'. I've got something I can laugh about. Good day, sunshine.
Actually it's quite a grey day outside, but at least it's not raining. It was raining last night when we arrived at Das Bett in Frankfurt to load our gear in for our gig there, and it was still raining when we left there 7 or so hours later. At least that didn't stop a very enthusiastic audience coming to the show, but more about that in a minute. 
We - Ruts D.C. - are on tour in Europe. 12 shows in 12 days, 7 of them supporting The Stranglers in some very impressive venues, the rest club shows with us headlining. It's good to be back on the road (maaan!) although the road is long, with many-a winding turn - well, it certainly was yesterday as we travelled the 360-odd miles from Paris to Frankfurt, and it's the best part of 500 miles from Stuttgart to Bologna tomorrow. A long and winding road indeed.

But enough of the increasingly awkward quotes from not-particularly cool songs - how did we get here?

'Made it Ma,
top of the World...'

On Thursday evening we - tour manager Liam, Duds the driver and Dave, Segs and myself - stayed in the St. Albans B & B in Dover; this set us up for the 8.45 am ferry to Calais and the subsequent drive to gay Paris where the rain did nothing to dampen our enthusiasm at seeing our name (literally) up in lights at The Olympia. It's impossible not to be aware of the heritage of the place - from Edith Piaf to Jimi Hendrix and from Jacques Brel to David Bowie via Iggy Pop and indeed The Beatles, they've all graced the stage. And what a fantastic venue it is, from the drive-in backstage area to the astonishing foyer it lived up to it's legend with ease. Our breathless 45 minute support set started with 'Something That I Said', ended with 'Psychic Attack' and went down well with all concerned, although nothing quite prepares you for a shirtless Jean-Jacques Burnel coming into the dressing room to ask how the show went. 'Great' replied Segs cheerily, 'everyone said that I have a better physique than you'. 'Well, they would' smiled JJ. A good start to the tour.

And last night, the first of our 'solo' shows - a 90 minute roar through most of 'The Crack', a fair bit of 'Music Must Destroy' and all points in between. Das Bett is a excellent club, the audience was up for it from the first song - great stuff all round. 

Right - it's Stuttgart tonight so it's time for a shower now - on the road again...    

Monday 2nd December, 12.07 pm, carriage 5 seat 33 on the 11.45 am train from Rome to Turin 

Well. You never know do you? It goes to show you never can tell.

So there we were, less than 10 minutes away from The Orion, looking forward to another gig with The Stranglers and bemoaning the fact that we were on the Rome ring road rather than passing by The Colosseum when a previously unheard and not-even-vaguely nice sound came from somewhere beneath the bus. It was a kind of grinding noise. And as if by magic we stopped moving, and didn't start again. Bugger. I'd just replied to a message from Jim the Stranglers's drummer asking where we were and if we were ok by saying something like 'see y'all in 10 minutes' - as I say, you never can tell can you? 

Mr.Spock,
backstage at Goldmarks. Weird 

There are no good places to break down are there? This one could have been worse, but not much - as vehicles careered past us (and, strangely, the odd pedestrian - what on Earth were they doing there?) Duds had a hi-vis vest on and a red warning triangle out in no time while Liam went into a not-inconsiderable amount of mobile phone action. To cut a long-ish story short-ish, a very nice chap called Maximilian made three journeys to get the band, Liam and all our gear to the venue while the ever-heroic Duds stayed with the broken bus - he and it eventually got towed to the venue around 10 pm. We just about got set up and soundchecked before the doors opened at half past seven; we roared through our set as Liam made phone calls, sent emails and generally worked his magic on what until that point was looking like a distinctly unmagical situation while we played our show. We ended up staying on the outskirts of Rome (still nowhere near Colosseum - bah!) and we're now on the afore-mentioned train while Duds and Liam are in a hired van hoping to get our gear and baggage to Turin in time for tonight's show. Crazy times - and it had all been going so well... a great night for us at Goldmarks in Stuttgart - where we played a slightly different set to the previous night as there were people attending both shows) and a splendid support show in Bologna (where it was great to catch up with Marz from The Valentines and his lady Angela) had set us up for a good night in Rome. We played well - perhaps very well given the circumstances - but it was a very fraught time. In a effort to clear my head and to have a break from the backstage wheeling and dealing I went out to watch some of The Stranglers's set where I met some people from Coventry who had come all the way over to Italy to see us and who didn't actually know that The Stranglers were playing. Amazing. As I say, you never can tell - let's see what tonight brings...


Wednesday 4th December, 11.10 am leaving for Cologne

It's misty. Oh. ok, it's foggy. Actually that's a point - when does mist become fog? For that matter when does fog become mist? Hmm...

So here we are in our 'new' van, and very nice it is too. I believe that it comes courtesy of The Rumjacks via our friend Mark Sabin who, when he saw various Facebook posts detailing our plight in Rome contacted various people on our behalf. What a splendid chap - I really must get him a drink next time I see him.

When last we spoke Dave, Segs and myself were on a train bound for Turin. I spent much of my journey hemmed into my window seat by a (presumably) Italian goddess asleep in the aisle seat next to me. I don't think that she looked at me once during the journey - actually thinking about it she probably looked at me once and then decided not to look at me again. Ah well.

After arriving in Turin we took a taxi to The Hotel Galant where we managed 30-odd minutes of relative calm before taking another taxi to The Teatro Della Concordia just after 6 o'clock - after grabbing a bite to eat the call came through that our gear would be arriving any minute. Sure enough as the clock struck seven times the indefatigable Duds and the ever-exuberant Liam arrived, giving us 30 minutes to get the gear in, set up and soundchecked before the doors opened. Once again all hands were on deck, once again we somehow got it all done. It's amazing what you can do when you have to isn't it?

Live at Lucerne - thanks Martin!

When we started our show at 8.15 there must have been, ooh, 30-odd people in a venue that must hold at least 20 times that amount; when we finished 45 minutes later there were probably a couple of hundred more. They saw a show that for the second night running could very easily have not happened at all but which once again turned out to be better than it perhaps had any right to be. And last night we played Sedal in Lucerne - Martin and his team made us all very welcome (he designs the most wonderful posters as you can see here) and we played a very good show to a very enthusiastic audience. I do wish that they wouldn't let people smoke in venues though - they did ask people to stop while we played and put the air conditioning on but I suppose we've all got used to playing in clearer rooms these days. Sadly our stage fans had to be left in Rome due to lack of space in the van so it was bloomin' hot on stage - hopefully we'll be able to buy some more today. First World Problems eh?

Tonight we're in Cologne with The Backyard Band - we played with them last year and I really liked them so I'm looking forward to seeing them again tonight. We then rejoin The Stranglers for gigs in Amsterdam and Hamburg before journeying North for our own show in Husum - no, I don't know it either - then finish the tour in Berlin on Sunday. This means that we're now over halfway through our '12-shows-in-12-days' stint - I feel tired but not exhausted, and given the madness that has befallen us on the way everyone is in high spirits and pretty good shape. Let's hope that things stay that way.

Friday 6th December, 10.43 am, on the Amsterdam ring road

'Headache? Tense nervous headache? Take Anadin.'

Do you remember that advert? It's funny what comes into your mind sometimes isn't it? Well, it's funny what comes into my mind... 

Stage passes for the tour.
I could probably get a
few bob for these couldn't I?

I've got a headache at the moment, although not necessarily of the tense, nervous kind. It may be at least in part attributable to drinking until 2 am in Dan Murphy's Irish Bar near the venue. Or maybe I've just got a headache. In which case nothing acts faster than Anadin. Or something. Still 'twas a great night last night - The Milkweg is a classic venue, and with the show a sellout it was full when we started at 8 o'clock and even fuller (is that good English? It's not is it?) when we finished 40 minutes later. It was absolutely packed for The Stranglers, or it certainly was for the last part of their set, when I found myself wedged against the bar at the back of the hall - not the worst place to find yourself, although it did get a bit pricey... back to our show where, to continue the 'First World Problems' theme, both Segs and myself had odd moments with plectrums. I dropped mine during our first song ('Something That I Said' - we've started all the Stranglers support shows with this song, a good choice I think) and only just managed to get one out of my back pocket in time for the guitar solo (as I say, first world problems...) whereas Segs somehow cut his thumb opening a can of beer near the end of our set - as often happens if you cut your hand it bled profusely, although as he put it, 'it helped my plectrum stay on my hand'. On seeing it after the show JJ just calmly asked him 'did you hit someone?' A fair question I suppose. or certainly a fair question if you're Jean-Jacques Burnel. As I say, a splendid evening all round - unlike the previous evening at Helios 37 in Cologne where my amplifier decided not to work. Well that's not strictly true - it was fine during our soundcheck, to such an extent that our new friend Chris the sound engineer complemented me on how good it sounded ('at last, someone who knows how to work an amplifier'. What a nice chap!) And it sounded great after the show, when I decided rather nervously to try some trouble-shooting and it worked with no problem whatsoever. It was during the gig that it didn't play the game - total silence is never a good start to a show. Fortunately we had a spare, but it took me a few songs to get going - overall not a bad gig, but our standards are high, and we felt that we'd dropped back a bit from the previous night in Lucerne. Still we were definitely back on form last night, and we're in Hamburg tonight which is usually a good one for us. Oh and before I forget, The Backyard Band were excellent. Check 'em out, you won't be disappointed!

Right - time for a sleep to get rid of this headache. Hopefully.

Sunday 8th December, 10.29 am, leaving Husum

The obligatory 'on the road' photo -
going from Italy into Switzerland

Well as I said earlier I hadn't heard of Husum before, but what a great place. We arrived early afternoon yesterday and so had a bit of time to look around, which of course involved the triumphant sighting of a Guinness sign (oh yes!) and a meal in an Italian restaurant (implausibly attractive waitresses!) before heading out of town to The Paulsen Hotel where I managed an afternoon nap - rock 'n'roll eh? We returned to The Speicher to set up around 6 pm - it's a great club with friendly people, which set the scene for a top evening. Perhaps surprisingly it took a while to get going; maybe there was a bit of a language barrier or possibly it was one of those venues that people go to whether the know the band who's playing or not - for example Segs saying that it was Malcolm Owen's birthday was met by almost total indifference and indeed silence. Still things picked up and with much dancing and merriment it was very much a case of 'all's well that ends well'. And there were more first world problems to contend with, this time for your humble narrator when my mobile phone went dead. As in 'dead' i.e. not working, black screen, the lot. It turned out that the battery went from around half charge to 0% in a few seconds - when you get these things they don't tell you that they don't actually work do they?

The previous night we supported The Stranglers at Fabrik in Hamburg - no delay in getting going there, as we left the stage to a reception that many headline bands would have been happy with. Great stuff - and talking of headline bands, The Stranglers were excellent, although as I have observed on a number of occasions in these hallowed pages, they usually are.

So - Berlin tonight, the last night of the tour. I really must work out how many miles we've travelled. I must also work out what on Earth I'm going to do with myself when all of this is over.

Tuesday 12th December, 10.49 am at home

It's always weird, coming home after a tour.

You feel tired... empty... or something.

I've just worked that we travelled over 3,500 miles in the buses which, leaving out the 600 mile flight home, means that we averaged over 250 miles a day. No wonder I feel a bit... something or other...

Great photo eh? Thanks Rikki!

But what a show to end on - Huxleys in Berlin used to be Neue Welt, which saw appearances from The Clash, Jimi Hendrix and (gulp!) Adolf Hitler among many others. And since Hendrix also played at The Paris Olympia it means that we began and ended the tour on a stage previously graced by The Experience. That's a nice thing to be able to type... 'twas a great gig to end on, with 'H-Eyes' making it's first and therefore only appearance on the tour - it was a requested by Rikki from The Stranglers road crew, who took some excellent pictures of us throughout the tour. The Stranglers were brilliant, Vom and Andi from Die Toten Hosen came along as did Mutti and Monica from Muttis Bookings, and quite a few of us ended up in The Franken Bar until the small hours drinking far too much - as I say, a great gig to end on. 

Hopefully there will be many more shows with The Stranglers - it's a great double bill that works so well on many levels for both the band and the audience -but in the meantime Ruts D.C. have got work to do. We've got a live album to put together and songs to write for a projected new release - but first I've got to do two weeks worth of washing. More First World Problems eh? When are we back on tour?!?

Ruts Dc, Husum, Germany, December 7th 2019

The Guns Of Brixton

Well it wasn't without the odd mad moment - breaking down on the Rome ring road will stay with me for a while! - but overall the Ruts D.C. European jaunt was a great, maybe even unqualified success. The shows with The Stranglers were uniformly excellent (as indeed were The Stranglers) and our solo shows all went well - highlights were many and varied, but playing The Paris Olympia was fabulous as was the last show of the tour in Huxley's in Berlin (incidentally both of these venues were once played by The Jimi Hendrix Experience - excellent!) where it was great to catch up with Mutti and Monica from Muttis Booking, Andi and Vom from Die Toten Hosen and many more. I made the usual scribbly notes as we went along which will hopefully see the light of day here at some time in the not-too-distant future, and reported as it all happened on Facebook - I'd be lying if I didn't say that 12 shows in 12 days was a long haul, but as we all admitted afterwards, we could all have carried on for more... probably... anyway no time to worry about that now as we finish 2019 with a show at The Brixton Academy this coming Saturday 21st December supporting The Alabama 3. The Woodentops are also on the bill (remember them? They were good!) and with The Alabama 3 playing the whole of their classic first album 'Exile On Coldharbour Lane' it promises to be a fine end to what overall has been a great year for the band. Oh yes!

Left to my own Devizes (sorry!)

Well it's been another one of those 'there's no time to do anything apart from what I'm doing at the moment' weeks; the last few days have seen Upper Cut gigs in Barnes and Colnbrook, a London Sewage Company show at The Dublin Castle in Camden Town, busy times in Balcony Shirts, The Damned, Johnny Moped and Rubella Ballet at The Roundhouse and more - I'll hopefully get the opportunity to write more about them at a later date, but before I leave for a Ruts D.C. gig at The Devizes Festival there's just time to say that I'll be making another one of my occasional appearances on Music Scene Investigation this Sunday at 9 pm reviewing three songs submitted by new artists. There's also an Al & co. gig this weekend, more days in the shop and probably some other things as well; in the meantime the Arte programme 'Tracks' has broadcast an article on Ruts D.C. (the interviews and live footage were recorded when we visited Paris in April) and our set from Strummercamp last month has appeared on YouTube - you can watch them by clicking here and here if you like. Maybe I'll get the chance to see them one day?

Now, I really must get on with changing my strings...

Neurotic outsider

Colin Dredd, bass player with The Newtown Neurotics, died last week. I saw The Neurotics (as they were also known) play many times and our group The Price shared the bill with them on quite a few occasions - their uncompromising left wing stance ensured that (a) they achieved virtually no mainstream recognition as the terror of the Thatcher years unfolded all around them and indeed us, and (b) people like me loved them. Colin (real surname Masters) was always friendly, approachable and ready to talk to anybody about anything - it always seemed to me that he simply adored everything about being in the band. He will be missed by everyone who knew him and - I'd like to think - remembered by everybody who ever met him.
And Mac Poole died after a long battle with cancer. He will it seems always be remembered as the man who turned down the job in Led Zeppelin, but he drummed with great distinction for many acts in the succeeding years. He depped with Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks several times, and I'll remember him as a great character with a rock 'n' roll story for every occasion. He was a heck of a drummer as well.

Ruts D.C. played two gigs over the weekend, the first of which saw us visit Italy for the first time. Arriving at Heathrow Airport Terminal 4 at the not-too-early (for once!) time of quarter to eight in the morning I met up with Dave and Segs, checked in and after a less-than-straightforward journey through security (shoes off, belts out of trousers, hand baggage unpacked) we launched ourselves enthusiastically at breakfast. We're playing at The Sottotetto Club in Bologna at an evening organised by Bologna City Rockers - I'd not played in Italy before so I'd been looking forward to this show for a while. Our first flight took us to Paris  - no, I'm not sure why we didn't / couldn't get a direct flight either - where we renegotiated security (shoes off etc) before flying to Bologna where we were met by the Bologna City Rockers team who took us to The Hotel Astor. After checking in an abortive attempt at finding a coffee shop followed (it seems that they close during the afternoon) after which we headed to the venue where things were ready for soundcheck. I had an excellent Marshall JCM 900 half stack (oh yes!) while Segs had a not-quite-so-excellent Ampeg set-up - it sounded bad from the word go so while Dave struggled with a faulty hi-hat clutch some anxious-sounding phone calls were made... eventually a gentleman arrived with another clutch, and after fiddling with the bass amp he announced that it was set in stereo mode, flicked a switch and everything sounded great. After soundchecking we walked over to a nearby bar where we were interviewed for the Bologna City Rockers radio show (or to be more accurate Dave and Segs were interviewed as the questions were about the original band) after which Lorenz took us to the La Perla restaurant where a frankly mind-boggling amount of food was provided - I'd been told that Bologna's nickname 'La Grassa' means 'the fat one' and refers to the local cuisine, and on this showing it wasn't hard to see how it got it's name. (Incidentally I can't find a website for the restaurant but it's highly recommended, if only because it serves a 'Metro Pizza' which we're told is 1 metre wide! Maybe next time!) By now it was nearly 10 o'clock but since we weren't due on until after midnight we decided to go back to our hotel for some much-needed rest. Well, it was certainly much-needed in my case.
Lorenz got us back to the venue for around 11.15 - there were people everywhere, and with the front part of the club resembling a record fair with vinyl, CD and t-shirt stalls all doing a roaring trade it was clear that this was going to be quite a night. Klaxon took to the stage just as we got to the dressing room, their set included a fine version of The Clash's 'Garageland' which is never a bad sign. We start with 'Something That I Said' and with the venue packed with people the sound has changed which prompts Segs to ask me to turn up as he can't hear what I'm playing. His mic stand collapses during 'Mighty Soldier' which causes much amusement, not least from him; by the middle of our set things are well on course for a great gig with people singing along with both the old Ruts songs and some lesser-known Ruts DC material. 'West One (Shine On Me)' triggers a mini stage invasion, 'Love In Vain' gets an almost football crowd - style singalong and the new song 'Secondhand Child' is greeted like an old friend. 'Staring At the Rude Boys', 'Babylon's Burning' and 'In A Rut' clearly are old friends to all concerned and the final encore of 'H-Eyes' finishes a great - make that GREAT - show. Afterwards there are numerous record covers for Dave and Segs to sign while a man who in my imagination resembles a Roman Centurion has tears in his eyes as he tells me that he'd 'waited 35 years for this show'. Amazing. 
Meanwhile the DJ is spinning old ska and rocksteady records (yes, records!) and no one is going home, we stay for a while before being reminded that we've got a plane to catch in a few hours...

My alarm goes off at 7am. Bugger. Three hours sleep didn't feel like nearly enough. Oh well. I have a shower then meet Dave at breakfast, there's no sign of Segs so Dave goes to knock on his door, he returns after no response so I suggest he calls his room from reception. Segs answers him with the news that he 'thought he'd heard some banging when he'd been in the shower'. Our taxi takes us to the airport where we attempt to pre-empt security by removing our shoes and belts first. It works - good. From there it's yesterday in reverse - there's time for a quick coffee at CDG before gate K53 takes us back to Heathrow where after a bit of 'how do we meet the bus?' shenanigans we hook up with Bob the soundman, Rhiannon the merch girl and James the new-to-us driver and set the controls for Cheadle Hulme where we're closing The Strummercamp Festival at Manchester Rugby Club. No, I'm not sure why we didn't fly to Manchester either... I guess ours is not to reason why sometimes?
We arrive in the Strummercamp backstage area just as Barnstormer are playing a, well, barnstorming set. Attila The Stockbroker dedicates a song to Colin from The Neurotics, they were old friends of course and he's got a picture of him taped to his mic stand which is a nice touch. Meanwhile we meet Phil and Mike from Bug who are lending us their guitar and bass amps for the gig, they played the day before and by all accounts got a great reception, to the extent that Phil has been stopped by people wanting to buy merch so many times that he's taken to walking around with a bag full of it! After finding out what time we need to be backstage to set up we take the only possible course of action under the circumstances and go to the bar, where it's clear that a lot of people are looking forward to our show. No pressure then... Dave and Segs go off to do another radio interview while I use my meal ticket to get a jacket potato - rock 'n' roll eh?
We return backstage in time to catch the last few songs by King Kurt who sound as great and indeed as mad as ever; the tent empties while we're setting up but fills up to capacity by the time 'S.T.I.S.' kicks things off once again. There's dancing from the word go and everybody is on top form - 'Secondhand Child' gets another good reception which as Dave says 'means a lot to us', and we encore with 'Brand New Cadillac' for Joe Strummer amid scenes of no little audience pandemonium. Afterwards the organisers go on stage to thank the audience for coming but it's us that should be thanking them - it was a real pleasure to be part of such a great festival.

These two gigs were bookended by two shows with Big Al and co., the first of which took place on Thursday at The Sunningdale Lounge in Sunningdale. I'd been rehearsing all day with Ruts D.C. so felt quite tired by the time I got to the venue but it turned out to be an enjoyable show with several new-to-the-act songs (they're old numbers, we didn't write any of them!) alongside the usual crowd pleasers. But if I was 'quite tired' on Thursday then I'm not sure what word describes my condition during Bank Holiday Monday's 5pm show at The North Star in Iver. Let's go for 'out on my feet' shall we? I got home less than an hour before I had to leave for the show - I played the gig, but I'm not sure how. I don't think that I played too well, and I was pretty wound up, especially when some fat drunken oaf kept on saying that he wanted to get up to sing 'Mustang Sally' with us... I think the contrast between successive shows sometimes gets the better of me, or something... perhaps I should call everyone to apologise... in fact I might do that now... hmmm...

'I've got dreams to remember...'

So - how do I describe the last few days? 

Well yesterday is reasonably straightforward to get to grips with - I got up, did my washing, caught up on phone calls and went to see a great gig by The Razors at The Feathers in Rickmansworth. Easy. It's the previous few days that's a bit trickier to put into words.
Here, in essence, is what happened -

Wednesday - rehearsed with Ruts D.C. during the day and The London Sewage Company in the evening.

Thursday - travelled to Paris with Ruts D.C., where we stayed in Montreuil in anticipation of playing a show there the following evening.

Friday - Ruts D.C. played said show at Cafe La Peche, part of which was filmed for inclusion in 'Tracks', a long-running Arte television show.

Saturday - travelled back to London where I played at The Shepherd's Bush Empire with The London Sewage Company and The Water Rats in King's Cross with Neck.

And that, in simple terms is what happened. But there was more, so much more to it all than that.

When you're a kid trying to learn to play the guitar, you dream a lot. Well I certainly did. I've realised that some musicians are more career-orientated from the word go when it comes to what they want out of playing music. Some want money, some want fame, some want sex, some want drugs, some want all of the above and more - and some of course get all of the above and more. I realise now that I was much more naive than that - maybe that's why I don't get very much of any of the above? On the other hand I get to do the things that I do - and that's alright. 

So what were my dreams about? Well as I say, I was pretty naive; I wanted to play music here, abroad, on television, in big venues, in bands that people had heard of - and I did all of those things in the last few days. Pretty good huh? Well I think it is - maybe one day I'll get some of the other things too? 

Blackpool Tower looks different
at this time of year...

The gigs themselves were great. Really great. Ruts D.C. last played a show way back in January at The 100 Club and rehearsals since then have mostly involved working on new material, so this week's get together was to revise our live show. And revise it we did - alongside the new song 'Secondhand Child' we also added a version of 'Brand New Cadillac' which Segs had sung at last month's Joe Strummer film gig; I'm not sure how long it'll stay in our set but it's certainly good fun to play and it made a good encore song. A film crew from the French and German television show 'Tracks' filmed part of our performance and an interview with Dave and Segs; they also filmed us at the Le Rond Point bar which has been our virtual home for the duration of our visit. We were staying next door at The Hotel de Belfort and had gone there shortly after our arrival on Thursday evening - Segs used to live in Paris and his astonishing command of the French language (or more specifically Parisian French, which I'm told is quite different) meant that we were accepted almost immediately, and indeed were in there until closing time. Despite our headaches we returned there the next day for lunch (which I missed as I decided to be a tourist and head for Place de la Concorde for some sightseeing) and for some food before the show. If I was to say that Segs was presented with a large bottle of red wine by Omar the owner as we were leaving for London on Saturday morning then you'll realise how well he was thought of in said establishment. The presence of the TV film crew also shows how well The Ruts and indeed Ruts D.C. are thought of in France - the 'Chorus' footage remains the best visual record of the original band playing live, and anticipation of our show was high. I don't think I'm being big headed when I say that we delivered the goods - you know when you've played a good show in the same way that you know when you've played a bad one, and this was definitely a good one. Our next gig is in Bedford on April 25th with The Neville Staple Band, and I'm looking forward to that being a good one too. Well you have to think like that don't you?

And then there was Saturday. After our Eurostar journey (isn't The Channel Tunnel an amazing thing?) I got something to eat before heading to Shepherd's Bush where I was playing at The Empire with The London Sewage Company supporting The Men They Couldn't Hang. The Empire. I've seen so many great gigs there over the years - The Who, The Sex Pistols, Iggy Pop... and then there are those OGWT gigs from back on the seventies that I used to watch in between dreams - Rory Gallagher, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Eric Clapton... I'd not played there before and it has always been a place that I hoped that I'd play at one

Your humble narrator on stage
at The Shepherds Bush Empire.
Or is it a dream?

day. Things like this have a habit of being something of an anti-climax, and I was all too aware that this could happen here - thankfully our breathless 30 minute set was all that I hoped that it would be. And it was impossible to look out from the stage and think of the other people who had stood where I was now standing. I get far too romantic about this stuff sometimes don't I? Or maybe I don't get romantic enough? I should perhaps had stayed there all evening, watched main support band Merry Hell and headliners TMTCH, had a few drinks, talked to anybody that wanted to talk - but no, I had work to do. Neck were headlining an Easter Rising Commemoration gig at The Water Rats at 10.30, and as I left The SBE just after nine I'd be lying if I didn't say that part of me wished I was staying - but the other part of me was looking forward to playing at another venue that had previously eluded me on my (ahem!) musical journey through the venues of the World. Two name London venues in the same night - well, why not? And the Neck show was great too - it's good when that happens. Then again The Metropolitan Line was closed so I had a long and circuitous journey home - I don't remember that being in any of the dreams... 

Yeah I know, this piece is all a bit garbled - you should see the stuff I've left out!!