'It's A Long Way Back To Germany...' (AKA 'Oh Manchester, so much to answer for...')

 The following was written in June 2022 at the times and in the places indicated. Usual rules apply. 

Ruts DC and Die Artze backstage at Parkbühne Wühlheide Berlin on 07/06/22
L-R Segs, Farin, Dave, Bela, Leigh, Rod

Tuesday 7th at 9.48 am in Room 305 Ibis Hotel in Kurfuerstendamn Berlin

Life is funny stuff sometimes isn't it?  

I'm sure I've written that here before. Oh well.

It's been an extraordinary, some might say ridiculous couple of years hasn't it? Last time we were in Germany it was December 2019 - we played at Huxley's in Berlin with The Stranglers, and it was a wonderful evening. As we stood in the dressing room saying our various goodbyes I shook hands with Dave Greenfield and said something like 'see you back in Blighty then'. He laughed that wonderfully mad laugh of his, then said more-or-less the same thing to me.

Of course, it never happened.

However since then it feels as though a million things have happened, one of which became all too clear when we (Ruts D.C.) entered passport control at Brandenberg Airport. I went to walk through the EU channel as I have so many times before, then abruptly realised that I couldn't. As I stood in the 'All Other Passports' queue I felt a strange sense of sadness, even bleakness. Little Englanders who never leave Little England had done this and more to me and millions of others. The bastards.

The young man behind the glass was friendly enough, which was something of a relief as I had by now convinced myself that he (a) was carrying a gun and (b) hated me and everyone else from the afore-mentioned Kleines England. He asked how long I was planning to stay in Germany and I mumbled something about playing some shows, before surprising us both by blurting out that 'I didn't want to leave Europe, this is ridiculous...' 

He smiled, then almost apologetically said 'no English person who comes through here did' before stamping my passport and wishing me a good stay.

We're in Germany to play two shows with Die Artze. No, I hadn't heard of them either, but they are massive. MASSIVE. The first show is tonight, open air, 20,000 capacity and sold out. Apparently Thursday's show in Dresden is bigger. Excellent.

Last night Mutti and his wife Monica took us to what I suspect is the only Italian restaurant I'll go to that has a wall signed by Charlie Harper, CJ Ramone and other punk rock luminaries. By the time I had gamely battled my way through mountains of pasta and pizza it had been signed by us too. Of course it had. It's probably the only Italian restaurant wall that I will ever sign, although I suppose you never know. We then repaired to the bar opposite our hotel for, well, ages. Of course we did. 

We leave for the venue at 11 am. That's early isn't it? Time to get ready then.

Wednesday 8th at 10.16 am in the same hotel room

Well.. What a day that was. I'll have to think about this one...

10.57 am

I've thought about it, and I'm still not sure what to write here. Oh well - let's see what comes out shall we?

Our day began with a hotel breakfast - it was one of those 'ooh look, we're back in Germany' moments with what seemed like tons of cold meat and cheese everywhere. In a rather sad attempt to eat healthily after the previous evening's excesses I opted for muesli, fruit salad and yogurt. Well, it's worth a try isn't it?

At precisely 11 o'clock Mutti arrived in the bus - within minutes we were on our way to collect his assistant Andrü from Coretex Records where he also works before making our way through the city to Parkbühne Wuhlheide, the scene of the evening's festivities. After collecting our passes and leaving our guitars and gear in our dressing room - actually a tent, but you know what I mean I think - we went out front to have a look at the venue.

It's big. Ooh it's big. This really could be one to remember.

We had been asked to arrive at the venue at midday which we duly did although we all wondered if this was rather early - in the event we waited for around 3 hours before anything of any real importance took place. This was a little annoying in some ways although it did give us chance to sample the backstage catering (oh gawd - more food!) and to catch up with Berlin photographer Raven who has come along to capture the event on our behalf. He first photographed The Ruts in 1980 so has a lot of history with Dave and Segs - he took quite a few shots of us including some in a nearby wood - possibly an unlikely location? - so it'll be interesting to see how they turn out.

The Die Artze soundcheck started at 3.15 - with the doors opening at 4 o'clock it was somewhat inevitable that we would be setting up and soundchecking with people coming into the venue, and this indeed turned out to be the case. Aside for a few problems with Segs's bass set up - it turned out to be a malfunctioning speaker cabinet - sound check went well and we returned to our dressing room in an optimistic mood.

Around 20 minutes before our showtime of 6.15 we met Die Artze for the first time - they were great, really nice people and big Ruts and Ruts D.C. fans. After a few photos of us all together guitarist Farin and bassist Rod said that they would like to introduce our show - drummer Bela stood next to me in the wings, told me that they had just said that their main influences were Bob Marley and The Ruts as a big cheer went up. As we walked out onto the stage I got my first view of the crowd - it was quite a sight.

We started with Something That I Said, then straight into Kill the Pain - Segs said that he had recorded the next song with Die Toten Hosen before we swung into Staring At The Rude Boys. There was just about time for a swig of water before Born Innocent had the crowd clapping along with their hands above their heads, and Jah War saw much dancing and (yes!) singing along. From there it was an easy way home - In A Rut and Babylon's Burning felt great, and Psychic Attack ended to a reaction that many-a headline band would have been proud of. Our 30 minute set was over far too quickly, but it was a great - make that GREAT - gig.

After all our gear was packed away it was time for yet more food (as my nan used to say when I ate too much - 'you'll be as big as a house you will!') before I went out into the venue to watch a bit of the Die Artze show. And very good they were too! Mutti then suggested that it would be good idea to leave before the end to avoid getting caught in the post-gig traffic - this was a bit of a shame as we'd been invited for a drink with the band afterwards but we all agreed that it was probably a good idea. This somewhat inevitably meant that we ended up in the bar opposite the hotel again - with Germany leading England 1-0 the atmosphere was 'interesting' to say the least, and when England equalised from a controversial penalty it became more interesting still... our friend Oliver arrived to general jollity (he promoted our show in Hong Kong a few years ago) and we eventually got back to our hotel at around 2.15 am. A splendid evening. I think.

Today is a day off - Dave and myself are thinking of going to the Technical Museum, and The Rumjacks are on at SO36 tonight so let's see what happens. Sleep, the way I'm feeling at the moment...

Thursday 9th at 9.24 am in the same hotel room

Sometime around 11 am yesterday my phone went ping. A few seconds later it went ping again. And again. The messages were all asking if I/we were ok. I replied that we were, although I had no idea why they were all asking.

The terrorist incident that they knew about had happened a short distance from our hotel. Thankfully we were all blissfully unaware of it. But it makes you think doesn't it...

Dave and myself had intended to have a day out and about in Berlin, including a visit to the nearby KaDeWe superstore (a) out of curiosity and (b) to see if he could pick up a replacement Leki walking stick as he had mislaid his one the previous day. We were going to go out around 10 o'clock but upon discovering that the shop didn't open until 11 Dave scheduled a phone interview about the upcoming Kirsty MacColl boxset (he drummed for her for many years) for 11.15 which meant that we didn't leave the hotel until nearly midday. They didn't have any sticks at the superstore so after a few seconds on Google we took a taxi across town to a suitable shop - traffic was heavy and there more than a few diversions but we got there in the end. We then perhaps rather wildly decided to walk back to our hotel - 'twas further than we thought but it was interesting to be walking rather than be in a vehicle. I stopped to take photos here and there along the way, including one of a rather splendid-looking church - as I looked closer I saw the police tape cordoning off the surrounding area. It was the site of the terrorist incident, and it was a few hundred yards from our hotel.

Supposing we had gone out earlier? Went for a walk and turned left instead of right? Went to look at a local church someone had recommended as 'interesting'?

Incidentally after we'd realised all of this we obviously decided to go to the bar opposite - Dave's walking stick was hanging on the wall outside. Of course it was. 

Friday 9th at 10.01 am in the same hotel room

Another great gig, this time in a football stadium. A football stadium. Who'd have thought it eh?

We left for Dresden at a quarter to eleven yesterday morning - just under three hours later we arrived in the city. Mutti did his usual excellent tourist guide announcements ('and on our left...') which are always interesting - he pointed out the Rudolf Harbig Stadium where Dynamo Dresden play on our right, then turned the van towards it... I've been lucky enough to play some classic venues over the years, but a football stadium had up until this point eluded me. Excellent!

The first person we saw was Rod from Die Artze, who said how much he had enjoyed our show and that he was disappointed that we had not been around for a drink after their show. He then rather sheepishly asked if we would sign a copy of our '40 Years Of The Crack' CD for him and said that Segs was one of his heroes. Amazing. 

Once again we set up and sound checked as the audience were arriving - it had been sunny at the Berlin show but it was a greyer day here, they seemed unperturbed by the possibility of rain as they applauded our 'one two one two'-ing into the microphones. After sound check I bumped into Farin who also said that he'd enjoyed our show, and asked how I got my guitar sound. I often feel a bit awkward when people ask things like this - as an undisputed nerd I usually start rather nervously then bore them to death with details, but he seemed to be really interested. What a nice chap.

Our show began at 6.05 pm - once again Farin and Rod introduced us, and once again our 30 minutes went by far too quickly. Another unforgettable show.

Drangsal were on at 7.10 - I watched a couple of songs then went to the catering tent. I will indeed be as big as a house at this rate... and yes, you've guessed it, we were back at the bar opposite our hotel by 11.20. Of course we were.

Today we rehearse 'The Crack' for North West Calling tomorrow night. Rehearsing in Berlin? No, I never thought I'd ever type that either - but as the past few days have shown, anything is possible. 

Saturday 11th at 9.47 am in Room 440 at Gatwick Travelodge

When we got here at whatever-time-it-was last night - around 1.10 am I think - the last words I expected to hear were 'the bar's open'. 

Oh God.

Anyway - if you ever find yourself in Berlin looking for a place that your band can rehearse at I can heartily recommend The Noisy Rooms. And not just for the name, excellent though that it - it's clean and tidy, all the gear works (including the air conditioning - oh yes!) and yes, you've guessed it, you can get a beer there. It took a bit of finding - it's round the back somewhere, if you know what I mean - but it was well worth the effort. With a performance of 'The Crack' due the next day we thought that we should run through the songs that we rarely play, indeed in some cases hadn't played for around three years - Dope For Guns, Savage Circle, Criminal Mind, Out Of Order and Human Punk all went well. After that we went with Mutti for a quick farewell drink at the bar opposite the hotel - of course we did! - before a taxi took us back to Brandenburg Airport. We'd only arrived there 4 days earlier, but so much had gone on since then it seemed like ages ago... a near-empty flight got us back to Gatwick Airport around 11.40 and, well, you know the rest. Or you can guess it if you don't...

We leave here at 11 am. Again. Time to get ready then. 

Sunday 12th at 11.41 am on the road home

Do you Like Ed Sheehan? How about The Killers?

I don't know much about either of them to be honest. Ed's the little red-headed fella isn't he? Elton John's mate, owns a loop pedal or two, bafflingly popular  - that's him isn't it? And The Killers had that song about your boyfriend looking like your girlfriend or something didn't they? And that one that all cover bands play but that's too difficult for me, mister something-or-other? Bafflingly popular again. Anyway they both played in Manchester last night, somebody reckoned that there were something like an extra 400,000 people in the city over the course of the weekend - great for the local economy, but not too good if you needed to get a hotel...

We stayed in, of all places, Stoke. 

It worked out well - a nice hotel, Rubber Soul Records nearby, we were only an hour from The Ritz... that said after our gig we ended up in a traffic jam long enough to be seen from the moon and didn't get back to Stoke until after 2 am so I suppose that it wasn't all good news. Oh and when I unpacked my very sweaty gig shirt I realised that I'd left my waistcoat and tie (both worn in a desperate attempt to smarten myself up, and because I decided that no one else at the festival would be wearing either) at the venue. Bugger!

Our show was good if a little fraught in places. Maybe we'd been a bit spoilt by the previous few days but to begin with everything seemed a bit too much like hard work. Opening with Babylon's Burning is tough at the best of times - it's bloomin' hard to play! - but ending it to muted applause is tougher. It was then that I realised that much of the audience, many of whom had been watching bands since midday, were either (a) getting jaded, (b) nearly asleep or (c) catatonically drunk. Not all of them though, and things got going in the end, with The Outcasts joining us on group backing vocals for In A Rut (much merriment around my microphone) and H-Eyes bringing things to a suitably raucous end. A great show - eventually. We do it all again at North East Calling in September, but there's a lot going on before then, not least finishing our new album, playing The Rebellion Festival and more. And I'm tired now, very tired as it happens so it'll be time for a snooze soon - it was indeed a long back to Germany, but I wouldn't have missed it for the world.

Forwards! 

Still burning

Malcolm Owen died 40 years ago today. 40 years! Where on Earth has that time gone eh? 

As someone who is lucky enough to play the music of The Ruts on a regular basis I know, both from speaking to countless people and from the reaction that music still receives, just how much it still means to people - and I know that music will live on forever.

To reflect this Episode 9 of Ruts TV was a something of a Malcolm special, although it also featured Paul Fox heavily too. Dave and Segs reminisce about them alongside footage of The Ruts, Henry Rollins talking about the influence they had on the punk bands in America and more - if you missed it when it went out live last Friday you can see it and all the previous shows here. That's the end of series 1 - Ruts TV will return in the not-too-distant future, albeit in a slightly different way, but there'll be more news as and when we have it.

With Britain attempting to claw it's way out of lockdown Ruts D.C. are looking at yet more cancelled shows (bah!) and are still waiting for copies of our '40 Years Of The Crack' live album. This is all but inevitable due to backlogs at printers, pressing plants etc but we'll hopefully have the first batch soon - at which point Dave, Segs and myself will have to sign 500 albums and 500 CDs. Quite how we're going to do that in these days of social distancing remains to be seen, but I'm sure we'll find a way. It can be ordered along with all other band merchandise including face masks - yes that's right, face masks as demonstrated by Dave and Segs here in possibly the most bizarre advert ever! - via the band's online shop.

Talking of record releases the new Alvin Gibbs & The Disobedient Servants EP 'History' is available now from Time & Matter Records - it's currently available as a 500 copy limited edition 2 x 7" single numbered set (how cool is that?!) which I'm told is selling well, so if you'd like one it might be good to move quickly. You can also order it via the T&M link above, and why not get volume one of Alvin's autobiography 'Diminished Responsibility : My Life As A UK Sub And Other Stories' while you're at it?

Retro Man is an excellent blog that's well worth following - Steve's always-enthusiastic writing covers all manner of bands from the obscure and oblique to the mainstream and more, and I was delighted to be asked to contribute to his series of Lockdown Lowdown podcasts. He asked some interesting questions as well as inviting me to choose some music, and you can hear the result here - cheers Steve!

And life in lockdown has produced a very unexpected - from my point of view anyway - collaboration with ex - Public Image Ltd and Department S bass player Pete Jones; a few weeks ago (gawd knows how many weeks exactly, time doesn't seem to matter anymore does it?) he sent me a backing track with a 'see what you can do with this' directive. In a situation such as this I tend to default to either (a) backwards guitar, (b) slide guitar or (c) a bizarre combination of the two; in this case option (a) seemed to be the best bet, along with a riff that might sound just a little bit like a rather obscure Deep Purple track. I'll leave you to find out which one - it was an accident, honest! 
One of the things I've been attempting to do lately is to learn how to use GarageBand, the free recording thingy (that's a rarely used technical term!) that comes on a Mac computer; I've been doing reasonably well, but hadn't encountered how to record backwards guitar - at which point I discovered Pete Johns, an Australian chap with a mind-boggling command of said recording medium. After a wee while - ok, quite a long while - on his website and YouTube channel I was ready - the resulting track 'World In Sunlight' can be heard here, and incredibly will be available as a download next Friday 24th July. That's my birthday, and I'm bound to say that having new music released on that particular day is one of the best presents I'll ever get, particularly in these uncertain times.

Oh and Liverpool have won the Premier League. I was beginning to wonder if I'd ever get to see that happen again - well done lads, I never doubted you for a minute... well, not that often anyway... 

'Most peculiar mama...'

I've worn glasses for almost as long as I can remember. I've worn them in public for a little bit less time than that - I've never considered myself to be particularly vain person, but as a terminally shy adolescent who already feared that the chances of any young lady being even vaguely interested in talking to him were, to coin a phrase, less than zero I rather foolishly decided that the addition of a piece of scaffolding to my acne-ridden features was unlikely to improve matters. Ironically when I started going to watch bands (or maybe specifically to watch the guitarists in bands) I realised that wearing a pair of specs would greatly enhance my enjoyment of the performance. I also realised that it stopped me squinting and/or gawping aimlessly every time I tried to look at anything that was more than a couple of feet away from me, which, oddly enough, meant that I became a little more attractive to young ladies. Good news all round then - although it must be said that the words 'a little' are quite significant in that last sentence.
So - why am I telling you this? Well every so often I realise that my eyes have changed - you tend to assume that they've got worse, but I believe that this isn't always the case, especially as you get older - and when this happens I generally make an appointment to have my eyes tested by an optician. This usually results in them relieving me of several hundred pounds, followed by me spending a couple of years wondering if my new glasses really are better than my old ones. Then the whole process is repeated. Simple eh? 
But what I don't do is test my eyes by jumping in the car and driving 30 miles. And then driving back again. You'd have to be a complete clown to even consider doing that now wouldn't you? Especially if you'd previously driven over 250 miles anyway?
I've never met Dominic Cummings, and, at the risk of stating the obvious, I can't imagine that I ever will. I'm sure suits us both just fine. Have you heard the term 'don't judge a book by it's cover'? Of course you have. Well, just for a laugh, have a look at a picture or even better some film of Mr. Cummings - how do you think he looks? Interesting isn't it? As I'm in what passes for a good mood in my little life I'll be polite and say that he looks to me to be an odious little creep, which you might argue makes him ideally suited to be the Chief Advisor to Boris Johnson. You remember Boris Johnson don't you? You don't see much of him these days, but he's that lying toff who, bafflingly, is currently The Prime Minister of Great Britain. Now, leaving aside the fact that anywhere that has someone who would struggle to get a job on a television game show in charge of it shouldn't really use the word 'Great' in it's name, the most obvious course of action here would be for the Prime Minister to get a new Chief Advisor - after all, in these times of Coronavirus lockdown it's probably a good idea to have someone who can be trusted to stay on the right side of the law of the land giving you a helping hand. But no - apparently a much better idea is to make a rare appearance to defend said advisor's action, and then let said advisor sit in your back garden defending himself and his aforementioned actions. That's much better isn't it?
Hmm... is it me or have I missed something here? Rather like Mr. C appears to have missed the bit in The Highway Code where it says that you shouldn't drive a motor car if you haven't got good enough eyesight - after all, as he himself put it, 'I believe that in all the circumstances I behaved reasonably and legally'? Or maybe he just wanted to contribute to his infamous 'herd immunity' directive by driving up and down the county spreading the virus far and wide - after all, it's at best unlikely that he didn't at least have to stop for petrol on the way... meanwhile as the vast majority us play by the rules domestic abuse and mental health problems rise as countless people have lost work and in many cases watched their businesses go to the brink of collapse, while others can't go to funerals for family members and loved ones. And this pillock thinks that what he's done here is justifiable? 

Enough of such nonsense - let's get back to the music. Ruts D.C. contributed a song - 'Kill The Pain' in case you were wondering - to the 'Vive Le Rockdown' online festival last weekend. Organised by Vive Le Rock magazine and raising funds for The Music Venues Trust it was a rip-roaring two-and-a-half hour roller coaster ride (I should write this stuff for a living shouldn't I?!?) with a splendid rendition of the Tom Petty classic 'Learning To Fly' by The Cockney Rejects probably the best track for me. You can watch the whole thing on the VLR Facebook page here if you like - we're 10 minutes from the end...

The '40 Years Of The Crack' album cover.
Pretty cool huh?

Ruts TV has gone from strength to strength since last we spoke - the show now goes out on the band's Facebook page (here!) every other Friday at 8 pm (although it's available to watch after that if you can't make it then) and it's featured all manner of interesting items over the last few weeks. Well I think that it has, and judging by the amount of positive comments I'm pleased to say that many people seem to agree with me. Mind you, it didn't exactly go according to plan last night, when Episode 6 was blocked by Facebook as Universal Music objected to the promotional video for 'Something That I Said' by The Ruts being featured. Bah! 
Our live album from last year's '40 Years Of The Crack' tour is out next month - if only we could play some shows to promote it - and there's also a new band t-shirt which makes a contribution to both The Music Venues Trust and The NHS available to order here if you fancy treating yourself.

Of course we've also all received the very sad news that Dave Greenfield of The Stranglers has died. We've toured with the band several times over the last few years, and while I can't pretend to have known Dave well I've always found him to be friendly and cheerful whenever we've spoken. He leaves behind a enormous body of work - it's very difficult to be a distinctive-sounding keyboard player, but Dave certainly was that and a whole lot more. He'll be greatly missed by the band's millions of fans worldwide, and by everyone who knew him personally and could call him a friend.

And sadly The Rebellion Festival has joined the 'postponed-until-next-year' list - I don't mind admitting that I had thought that it might have happened as scheduled in August but have to agree that they've made the correct decision. And we should have been on tour in America this week - that's been rescheduled for next May. Hopefully.

In these increasingly crazy days it's perhaps tempting to look back to simpler times... in the Eighties and Nineties I played in a band called The Price. Don't worry if you haven't heard if them, you're not alone.... our fifth member/roadie/referee Eastberg (it would take to long to explain the name!) is currently attempting to compile a gig list (if you came to a show and you know the date, or even better have a ticket or poster advertising it then all contributions are most welcome!) and is also running a band Facebook page, which has recently featured photos from our East German tour in May 1990 among other delights. If you'd like to see these pictures and much more besides then click here - and was it really 30 years ago? Yes, incredibly, it was. Three decades! Amazing.

Time is funny stuff isn't it? Well, it certainly is at the moment...

'Strange days indeed...'

So then.

‘We never bothered to scream,
when your mask went on...’

Coronavirus. 
Pandemic.
Lockdown. 
Self isolation. 
Social distancing. 

How is it all going for you?

I was on the phone to a musician mate of mine the other day who during the course of our conversation said something that has come back to me more than a few times lately - 'the thing is Leigh, people like you and me are probably a bit more used to self isolation than most people are'.

He's not wrong.

I think that a lot of people are finding out some, shall we say, 'interesting' things about themselves at the moment - from the vacuous airhead whining of useless 'celebrities' stranded in their mansions with only a swimming pool or two to amuse them, to the pub bore (remember pubs?!?) who doesn't complain quite so loudly about the lady that lives opposite who 'shouldn't even be in this country' as he's realised that nurses do a little bit more than just leave for work at irregular hours, the times they are a-changing. Indeed, the times they have a-changed. Will they ever change back again? Who knows - apparently a significant percentage of the country actually prefer the current lifestyle to what up until this point in proceedings has been considered to be 'normal'. As I say, times have changed.

Obviously these are not good times to be a musician that relies primarily on live performance for income. Ruts D.C. 'should' be out on our first acoustic tour as I type this - it's been rescheduled for August as discussed in the last blog post, which I have a horrible feeling may be proved to be a rather optimistic piece of planning. Attempts to move this year's Punk Rock Bowling Festival to the Autumn have sadly proved impossible so it'll be happening next May, as will our projected visit to the USA. We're touring Britain with The Stranglers in October and November before a series of European shows, and there are other gigs coming in - well, that's the plan anyway. Will any of it happen? No one knows.  

But we've not been idle. Our live album '40 Years Of The Crack' is due for release in June, and to this end a promotional film aired on the band's Facebook page a couple of Fridays ago. It was followed by a live Q and A session with Segs, all of which constituted the (ahem!) 'launch' of Ruts TV - the plan is for this to feature band footage (much of it previously unseen) alongside items recorded by us during lockdown. An ambitious idea in many ways - and if ever there was a time where plans change then this is it - but to this end I've been attempting to get to grips with Garageband (I've messed around with it in the past but didn't learn it 'properly, if you know what I mean) with a view to recording items for broadcast, and also to send new song ideas over to Dave and Segs and indeed to receive ideas from them. In the meantime episode 2 of Ruts TV featured previously unseen interview and live footage from The Fleece in Bristol a few years ago, while tomorrow night's show will feature The Ruts on the Belgian television show 'Follies' in 1980. Excellent!

And Alvin Gibbs and The Disobedient Servants have some new music due for release - the 'History' EP (actually 2 x 7" singles - how cool is that?!?) was recorded last year and features four new songs including one written and sung by your humble narrator. Yes, that's right - sung. I'm not sure how this happened either... if I could re-record every note of it then I would but, hey, that's just me being self-critical. Hopefully. Available from Time and Matter Records now!

Right - time to get on with... er, something or other... well, you know what it's like at the moment...

Wrecking Crewe, Crewe Cut, We Are The Road Crewe etc etc

Ruts D.C. return to show business this week (fank gawd!) with what we hope will be an annual event - Kirk Brandon has been doing Westworld weekenders for a few years now, they feature his various bands with guest artists (we played it one year) and are excellent gatherings so we thought it was high time we did one too. We'll be playing both electric and acoustic sets, and the Saturday night show will feature the Ruts classic debut album 'The Crack' in it's entirety for the first time since our '40 Years Of The Crack' tour and indeed for the last time this year. Joining us at Langtry's in Crewe will be the afore-mentioned Mr. Brandon along with Auntie Pus, Tara Rez, Dealing With Damage and Criminal Mind - if you're going I'll see you there, and we'll see you at the bar!

Do Anything You Wanna Do

'The Crack' by The Ruts was released 40 years ago on September 28th 1979.

I bought it then - my copy still has the 'Pay No More Than £3.99' sticker on the cover - and I absolutely loved it. I still do. It is, in my not-so-humble opinion one of the greatest records of all time, and that means a lot around these here parts - I spent so many hours listening to it, and so many more hours playing along with it in an attempt to decipher the wondrous electric guitar playing of the mighty Paul Fox. Although I couldn't have known it then it wouldn't be that long before I myself would be able to ask him how to play the songs; even more unlikely is the fact that these days I find myself playing the songs on stage with original Ruts Dave and Segs. It's a funny old life sometimes isn't it? You never know what fate has in store for you... 

...for example, who would have predicted a Ruts D.C. Weekender in Crewe, during which we will play 'The Crack', an acoustic set and more? Well certainly not me, but I wouldn't have predicted a European Tour with The Stranglers and a just-before-Christmas show at The Brixton Academy with The Alabama 3 either - as I say, you never know what fate has in store for you... and there's more - we have a live album recorded on the last tour coming out in December, and gigs a-plenty are already coming in for next year - great stuff all round. 

And who would have predicted that your humble narrator would be asked to appear on noted website Everyone Loves Guitar? Segs was on last month - you can hear him here if you'd like to, and very interesting it is too - and I'm recording my appearance tomorrow. I've been sent some sample questions and they're very in depth - I was expecting things like 'what gauge plectrum do you use?', not 'what is your happiest childhood memory?'. This should be interesting - I'm really looking forward to it!

But as if to prove that you don't get something for nothing in life, October 2nd saw the

death of Eddie And the Hot Rods singer Barrie Masters. I can't pretend to have known him well, but every time I did speak to him he was always friendly and enthusiastic, which is more than you can say about many people that you meet. And The Hot Rods have always had a very special place in my musical mind... I saw them play at Brunel University in Uxbridge way back in 1977 (probably 19th October) supported by No Dice - this was the first vaguely 'punk' gig I attended and it remains one of the most exciting evenings I've ever been part of. Everything about it was brilliant - No Dice were excellent (I've got an old single by them but I really must search out some of their stuff one day) and The Hot Rods were absolutely phenomenal. They looked great, sounded greater and, maybe most importantly from my point of view, they might as well have had a bloody great sign saying YOU COULD DO THIS LEIGH above their heads. I was a cripplingly shy, very-young-for-my-age 16 year old, and although it took me a long time I can say without being pretentious (for once!) that I wouldn't be playing the guitar today if it wasn't for that show. I saw them play again on many occasions - this amazing clip of them playing 'The Beginning Of The End' on The Old Grey Whistle Test shows just how great they could be as a live band - and then, incredibly, was lucky enough to appear on stage with the last line up of the band a couple of times, the last of which was at The Islington Academy in April this year - I played 'I Might Be Lying' and Ignore Them' (the A and B side of my favourite Rods record in case you were wondering) and joined a cast of thousands for the last song 'Gloria'. After the song had finished and everyone made their way off stage I somehow found myself with Barrie in the middle of the stage - he looked exhausted but he'd made it through an epic show. I lifted his right arm aloft, as you do with a champion who had just won the toughest fight of their life, and the place went mad. A fantastic, unforgettable moment. 

I owe Barrie and people like him more than I'll ever be able to put into words. 

I think of it every time I play. 

Weekend warriors

What follows was indeed written when it says that it was written - it appears here unedited except for a bit of tidying up here and there, especially the bits where I couldn't read my handwriting...

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Hello from the 11.36 train from Glasgow to London. It's Sunday 7th July and I've got a headache. And I feel like going back to sleep. I won't though - not for a while anyway - as I'm going to write up my memories of the last two weekends of Ruts D.C. gigs for the blog page that I keep saying that I must get around to writing more for, but never actually do... here we go then - stop me if you've heard this one before...

Friday 28th June, Greenwich 

Hot in every sense of the word, both physically and emotionally. Like an idiot I decided to wear a jacket for the first couple of songs - when I tried to take it off I discovered that it had stuck to me. Ah well. I knew I'd be a fashion victim in the end. And nothing had prepared me for (a) seeing a t-shirt with my face on it (Dave and Segs are on it too, but I think you know what I mean) and (b) people not only buying it but wearing it too. 

The show itself was to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the 'Babylon's Burning' single being released - since we were unable to ascertain a definite date for this we chose one that it had been in the singles chart on four decades earlier. Any excuse eh? The Pelton Arms in Greenwich is a splendid pub, and it was suitably packed for our show which we streamed live on the band's Facebook page (ooh - for a minute there I sounded almost like I knew what I was talking about didn't I? Anyway here is the footage if you'd like to see it) and which went fantastically well. People travelled far and wide to see us, which was a very humbling experience from our point of view. We really must do an acoustic album one day mustn't we?

Saturday 29th June, Glasgow

Rain of near-biblical proportions held off right until the moment that we got out of our taxi from the train station and discovered that we were at the wrong entrance to the park. Bugger! As the world-weary security guard put it, 'welcome to Glasgow boys'. You have to love somewhere that they leave a traffic cone on the head of a statue over the weekend as 'there's no point in taking it off until Monday, they just put it back up there if we do' though don't you? Still the Kelvingrove Bandstand is a remarkable venue, and it was great to see the familiar faces of the Stranglers road crew as we arrived for our soundcheck. At showtime the rain had stopped, the sun was shining and all was right with the world - until Segs sang the words 'thunder and lightning' in 'Jah War' and the proverbial heavens opened. Poncey English people (like me!) ran for cover while every Scots person just carried on watching - as one chap put it to me afterwards, 'I was more worried about my beer getting watered down'. A great gig, and The Stranglers were pretty good too. Mind you, they usually are.

Homeward bound we changed trains at Crewe where we spotted a rainbow t-shirt-wearing  Cliff Richard boarding our London train. Within seconds we were all texting each other with unrepeatable variations of his hit single song titles. Well, we couldn't say them out loud…

Friday 5th July, Caerphilly

Well I'm lucky enough to do some pretty amazing things with an electric guitar in my

hand, and playing at Caerphilly Castle is definitely among them. Possibly the most stunning venue I've ever been lucky enough to play in, our dressing room was up a seemingly endless stone spiral staircase - the word 'room' doesn't do it justice, it was a stone hall with, among other things, a tapestry of a hanging on one of the walls. And if that wasn't enough, The Tommy Cooper Walk Of Fame was across the road. Earlier we had a meal in the Volare Italian restaurant, where in addition to the magnificent food we were given complimentary limoncellos (being the heathen that I am I'd not had one before. I guess I need to get out more?) while fans came in off the street to ask for photographs with us. Our gig was even better than the previous week's show, with plenty of Ruts t-shirts in the crowd and smiling faces all round. Afterwards I went up onto the viewing area above the right hand side of the stage, where the unexpected excitement of audience members waving caused me to give what might best be described as a rather peculiar impression of The Pope. They went completely mad when Dave and Segs appeared. The Stranglers were excellent once again, but as I said last time, they usually are.

Saturday 6th July, Dunoon

After the C.C. show we drove to The Britannia Hotel in Bromsgrove in an attempt to break the near-astronomical distance that we had to travel to the next gig. On arrival sometime around 2 a.m. we were sternly informed that breakfast didn't start until 8 a.m. - when we arrived at the allotted time it looked as though it had been open for ages and was packed out. First world problems eh? A few hours of fitful sleep in the bus followed (aided and abetted by Mott The Hoople and The Tom Robinson Band on the headphones) before we eventually arrived at the ferry port to Dunoon. Our journey across was enlivened no end by Segs's tales of his adventures sailing in the area, and when we arrived in Dunoon it was impossible not the think of The Wicker Man. Well, it was impossible for me not to think of it anyway. As we drove to The Queens Hall for our show as part of The Punk On The Peninsula Festival the picturesque tranquillity of the surrounding area contrasted with the assorted multi-coloured mohawks and punky t-shirts - when we arrived Fire Exit sounded good, Ian the promotor has provided a large bag of haggis-flavoured crisps (not for me thank you!) and Jennie from Rebellion and her pal Jo were cheery and friendly to all concerned. We played to an audience which sounded as though they'd been drinking all day or indeed all weekend - either that or they liked us (no one left as far as I could see) but they couldn't be bothered clapping. They treated The Cockney Rejects in much the same way, which I would imagine is something that their doctors wouldn't necessarily recommend - we missed the end of their set as we had to leave to catch the 10 o'clock ferry. This was a shame as we also just missed T.V. Smith who was arriving for his show the next morning, but it was still light and the bay and surrounding area looked absolutely amazing. From there it was back to Glasgow for much merriment and a bottle of red wine (or two) in Dave's room with Reservoir Dogs on in the background. At least that goes some way towards explaining this morning's headache.

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So there you have it - four great shows. And we're looking forward to more next week when we play both electric and acoustic shows at The Rebellion Festival in Blackpool where I'll also be appearing with Alvin Gibbs and The Disobedient Servants among others. I will be attempting regular posts from the festival on my Facebook page, and if you're going I'll see y'all there...

Work, rest and play

As the '40 Years Of The Crack' tour gets ever nearer Ruts D.C. have been rehearsing. And rehearsing. And rehearsing. Well - failure is not an option; this can't be good, it has to be great, and it can't be great, it has to be brilliant... without wishing to sound too complacent, it's all going well although there's still a lot of work to do. But do it we will!

After one such rehearsal Dave, Segs and myself found ourselves in the hallowed confines of The Little Crown in Deptford drinking Guinness (which is excellent there, and well worth trying if you find yourself in the area!) and signing posters (like you do - well, like we do these days, there's a tour coming up you know!) when Sinead the barmaid (first name terms and everything!) asked if we'd play a show there one day. Well said Dave, we could maybe do an acoustic show - at which point someone (me!) suggested that we play there to mark the 40th anniversary of the first Ruts single 'In A Rut'. We could invite some friends, stream it live on the band's Facebook page, it'd be great... and so at 7 pm on Friday 11th January 2019 we did indeed play an acoustic show at The Little Crown in Deptford to mark the 40th anniversary of the release of 'In A Rut'. We invited some friends (including Ali McMordie of Stiff Little Fingers and MC Spee from Dreadzone - celebrity mates ahoy!) streamed it live on Facebook and it was great. I'd tell you more but details are necessarily sketchy.. well, remember how I good I said that their Guinness is... 

Besides rehearsing and drinking I managed to get along to a couple of shows from this year's Resolution Festival at The 100 Club - The Vibrators give a boisterous performance while The U.K. Subs played their first album 'Another Kind Of Blues' to the riotous approval of all concerned. And I've played my first gig of the year last night with Punky Reggae Party, at The Bread And Roses in Clapham where the heat inside contrasted with the cold outside and a fine time was had by all. I'm at The Cavern in Raynes Park with them on Saturday 2nd February, after which all roads lead to the Ruts D.C. tour, if they don't already. Not a bad start to the year then.

And in case you missed it, you can see the Deptford performance from soundcheck to gig and beyond here. Enjoy!

'Hey hey hey - we're all riding on the ghost train...'

Ruts D.C. in Aarhus, Denmark, Friday 14th September 2018

Well - so much for me getting back into blogging eh? Maybe I should just try for a monthly bulletin? 

In my defence your honour I have been updating my Facebook page regularly, which I suppose is for want of a better word 'easier' than writing extended pieces here. I think it's the immediacy of being able to put something up more-or-less as it happens that's so appealing, whereas it takes a fair bit more work to get things onto here. 

So - since last we spoke... 

Ruts D.C. played three shows in Germany and visited Denmark for the first time - a splendid if rather tiring 4 days. The good news is that in time honoured tradition I took the usual scribbly notes, the bad news is that I can't find them. Bugger! Oh well... there are enough other scribbly notes that need to be written up here before those!
As we're playing the '40 Years Of The Crack' tour in February we're obliged to go underground from now until then, although I'm pleased to say that we're appearing at The Inkmas Tattoo Festival in France on November 18th. Hopefully a few other shows will come in too... that said we've got plenty to do between now and the tour - there are 5 songs on 'The Crack' that we've never played live, and in addition to learning them we've got to put a show together. There are talks of back projections and stage sets - maybe we'll use them, maybe we won't. It's the music that's important - well, I think that it is anyway. And that magnificent music will be available again on vinyl very soon - Dave, Segs and myself spent a day in the hallowed confines of Abbey Road Studios last month with noted mastering engineer Geoff Pesche cutting a new vinyl master of the album. Well I didn't do much, other than stumble around thinking about The Beatles - who incidentally were working on the song 'Piggies' from the soon-to-be reissued 'White Album' 50 years to the day earlier on September 19th 1968. The things I know eh?

So then - Hallowe'en. I'm obviously far too miserable to have anything to do with it under normal circumstances, but these are far from normal circumstances... today sees the release of the new single by Alvin Gibbs & The Disobedient Servants - the appropriately-titled 'Ghost Train'. Alvin is of course the bass player in The U.K. Subs who's also previously played with Iggy Pop and Cheap 'n' Nasty among many others - here he's joined by Subs sticksman Jamie Oliver and Godfathers guitar hero Steve Crittall, alongside guest guitarists Brian James (yes that's right, the chap that wrote 'New Rose') on the B-side 'Clumsy Fingers' and, incredibly, your humble narrator on the A-side. How on Earth did that happen? Anyway I might be a bit biased here but I think that it's a great record - you can hear and indeed buy a copy here. See what you think - there are only 300 vinyl copies so I wouldn't hang about if I were you...

And talking of tattoo festivals (now there's something that I never thought that I'd ever type!) Neck played The London Tattoo Convention last month, supporting the excellent King Kurt. 'Twas a roaringly good event with some frankly astonishing sights - let's see what we see next month... and I may well have a bit more time to play with them and indeed a few other people now, as my time with Big Al and The Blistering Buicks has come to an end. I'll miss playing with the lads, but when you've gotta go, you've gotta go. And you never know, it might leave me with a bit more time for blogging. 

Well, as I say, you never know.