Wilko Johnson

So there I was, in Room 207 of the Holiday Inn Express in Stoke this morning, wondering what to wear for our next batch of gigs. I had clothes all over the place and was trying them on, like you do when no one’s looking and you can kid yourself that you’re some sort of rock star whose adoring public cares about such things and indeed is desperate to find out what look they’ll all be salivating over next… time for some suitable music methinks. 

‘Started out, feeling good…’ 

There’s no better record than ‘Walking On The Edge’ by Wilko Johnson is there? Well, I don’t think that there is. Oh hello, the phone’s ringing…

You know what they said to me.  

Wilko Johnson has died. 

I first became aware of Dr. Feelgood when I saw pictures of them in the music press. They looked to me like they could be a gang of villains in The Sweeney, which to us just-about-teenaged lads was as good as it got. Articles on them always seemed to use words like ‘menacing’, ‘brooding’ and ‘fearsome’, particularly when they described their guitarist who frankly looked and sounded as mad as hell. What on Earth was their music like?

I found out when I stumbled into our front room sometime in February 1975 to watch a teatime pop music programme called The Geordie Scene. This was an interesting show as it featured bands playing live rather than miming, and this week I was very excited as it featured the afore-mentioned Dr. Feelgood. This should be good. 

Thirty seconds into their performance I was screaming at my mum to come in from the back kitchen. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. They were astonishing. She seemed to like them or at least not hate them, which if nothing else boded well for an album as a birthday present… by the end of the show I’d seen the future, and it involved my new mates from Essex. At bloomin’ last. 

Or did it? At school the next day I couldn’t stop raving about them, but I was all but alone. No, said most of my chums, they were awful. They couldn’t play. The singer couldn’t sing. The guitarist looked like a nutter and the other two looked daft. I should like real music like Yes and Genesis, you know, like our older brothers and cousins do. 

I thought about it all day. Maybe I was wrong. Maybe they were right. Hmm. 

Then that night I heard ‘Roxette’ on The Nicky Horne Show on Capital Radio. It sounded magnificent. It still does. I was right and my chums were wrong. It was time for some new chums. Ones that liked Dr. Feelgood. 

So began my journey with Wilko Johnson. Since then I’ve seen him play countless times, searched out any recording that features him, played on the same bill on quite a few occasions and generally been inspired by his works and indeed by him personally more times than I’ll ever know. For me only Pete Townshend has played with more rock ‘n’ roll firepower, and even that’s a close run thing. His and indeed The Feelgoods’ influence on punk is well documented, and with his well-publicised battle with cancer making headlines a few years ago he seemed to finally get the greater recognition and respect that he’d always deserved. 

My journey with Wilko Johnson isn’t over yet, and hopefully nor is yours. The Canvey Assassin, The Telecaster Master, the man who I’ve seen play guitar more times than any one else - thanks for doing it all Wilko. It wouldn’t, indeed couldn’t, have been the same without you. 

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to play ‘Roxette’. Again. Cheers Wilko!

'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! 

The Stranglers / Ruts D.C. U.K. Tour January / February 2022

Well after much rescheduling, uncertainty and general doubt it looks like it's actually going to happen - The Stranglers / Ruts D.C. tour starts on Tuesday. Oh yes it does!

The links above will take you to the band's Facebook pages which will perhaps be the best paces to monitor proceedings as they happen, and I will be attempting to update my page as often as possible as the tour progresses.

Usually I would put something along the lines of 'if you see any of us come and say hello' but I have a feeling that doesn't apply this time - nevertheless it should be a great tour. See you down the front!

That Was The Year That Wasn't (Slight Return)

It has been exactly one year since my last blog posting.

So what, if anything, has changed?

Well...

Omicron. No, I'm not too good at the Greek Alphabet either - aside from the odd distant memory from Physics lessons sometime last Century it's not something I've used a lot, although I feel as though it's getting more useful all the time. As I type this I am in the grip of the latest Coronavirus variant - I've been asleep for much of the last few days and when I have been awake I've felt as though I've been in the ring with Mike Tyson in his prime, although thankfully things seem to be improving now. Christmas? Who needs it eh? Still vaccinations seem to be getting more popular these days, although we all know someone who hasn't had one because they don't like the idea of it or that think it's all a conspiracy - I've had two of 'em and and a booster and I still caught it, so it does make you wonder... that said, the general consensus seems to be that if you catch it after being vaccinated it does lessen the effect of the virus, which given how I've felt for the last few days is an interesting thought. 

And the British Government continues to make every mistake imaginable and still somehow remain in power. Surely we deserve better than this? I saw Labour MP David Lammy talking on TV not so long ago - the interviewer made a typically flippant remark about a comment he made criticising the international embarrassment that is our current, worst ever Prime Minister and Lammy snapped back with the words 'THIS USED TO BE A SERIOUS COUNTRY - DO YOU REALISE WHAT PEOPLE THINK OF US NOW?' 

Now there's a question. 

Enough of such philosophical ramblings - I had my 60th birthday this year. 60! How on Earth did that happen?!? The Slogans were supposed to be playing on the day but our drummer man was pinged (remember the pingdemic? It seems a lifetime ago doesn't it?) so the gig didn't happen - instead I spent the evening in the hallowed surroundings of The Dolphin in Uxbridge, mostly in the garden, occasionally somewhere near the bar and had a splendid if rather difficult to remember time. I wonder where we'll all be in July this year? I wonder if we'll be anywhere, if you know what I mean?

And you thought that I'd stopped the philosophical ramblings...

Talking of The Slogans - we managed to play a few shows this year including one particularly memorable one at The Uxbridge Christmas Market earlier this month. Yes that's right, an outdoor show in December. And yes, it was as cold as you would think it would be, yes the power went on and off as you would expect it to and yes, it was really good fun. We've also had more than a few gigs cancelled, which seems to be a familiar tale for most bands these days. I've also been depping in The Good Old Boys as guitarist Simon hasn't been well - again we've played a few shows, had a few cancelled... see what I mean? One can only wonder when or indeed how this situation will change. 

I mentioned in the last missive that I had recorded some guitar parts at home using GarageBand for an Alvin Gibbs & The Disobedient Servants single; this was due out early this year but somewhat inevitably got caught in a Brexit-induced vinyl pressing backlog and so didn't actually emerge until the Summer. Has anything actually improved as a result of Britain leaving the EU? No, I didn't think so either... nevertheless, 'State Of Grace' is available here from Time & Matter Records even as we speak. We only managed to play one show this year (at The HRH Punk Festival in Sheffield back in October since you were wondering) but it was a great gig at an excellent event - there are plans to return to both the studio and the stage next year, and hopefully we will. 

Vinyl copies of the 'ElectrAcoustiC' album by Ruts D.C. were also delayed thanks to the afore-mentioned backlog, eventually being delivered nearly a year after the CD became available. The Sunday before Christmas I played an afternoon show at The Cavern in Raynes Park with The Good Old Boys then made my way up to The 229 Club in Great Portland Street where Theatre Of Hate were playing; there I met Dave and Segs backstage (the things I write here eh? Well, the things I used to write here... I really must do this more often mustn't I?) and signed over 300 albums, all of which had either been pre-ordered or were purchased in the next couple of days. A genuinely exciting day - it would be good to have more like that... mind you, I suppose that might have caught Coronavirus then... ooh!

So - what next? 

Well in a time that could politely be described as 'uncertain' one thing that even I could never have predicted is actually going to happen - nearly 30 years after we first broke up there is to be an official album release by The Price, something that we didn't manage to achieve during our original existence. Even typing it here feels weird... but, incredibly, it's true. 'No Justice?' is out early next year on Cadiz Music - to quote the soon-to-appear press release it contains 19 tracks recorded between 1988 and 1993, and even though I say so myself it sounds bloomin' great. More news to follow on the band's Facebook page via the link above, my Facebook page and no doubt some other places too... maybe even here...

Theoretically Ruts D.C. are supporting The Stranglers in January and February - this is the third attempt at The Final Full U.K. Tour, and with further restrictions looming as I type this it's difficult to say whether it will take place this time either. We have German shows planned for later in the year, along with various others in the pipeline, and we'd also like to make a new album - but who knows what will happen? It's interesting isn't it - we've never really known what will happen in life, but these days it almost feels as though we did. If I put something like 'we're touring with The Stranglers' here then the chances were very good that we that we would indeed tour with The Stranglers. Those days seem a very long time ago now don't they?

Hmm. Even I thought that I'd stopped the philosophical ramblings... mind you, it's been good to be back blogging, even if I am running on paracetamol and, well, not much else at the moment.

See you all in 2022!

That Was The Year That Wasn't

What follows was written quickly. Rather like this year it's a bit disjointed but, rather like this year, it is what it is.

————

‘For a minute there, I lost myself...’

Well. You know that things are getting weird when you find yourself quoting a line from a Radiohead song.

We're in the middle of the Christmas holiday, nearing the end of the strangest of years. Pretty much everyone I've talked to on the phone in the last few days is bored. Lost. Desperate.

When will this all end? Indeed, where will this all end? I've been asking myself that a fair bit lately. Maybe you have too? 

I miss people. I never really thought that I would, but I do. At least I think that I do. I've always spent a lot of time on own - not particularly through choice, it's just how things have worked out. I've never had lots of friends, I've not got much to say for myself, women get bored with me - often when they discover that I don't think about very much other than guitars - and I often find social situations with lots of people difficult to cope with.

Ah - but hang on a minute? I've got friends. I talk to people when I'm out and about, occasionally about things other than guitars. Every once in a while some of them are women. And aren't gigs 'social situations with lots of people'?

 

Gigs. I remember them. Maybe you do too? They were great weren't they? Well, I thought that they were. I wonder if they will ever happen like we used to know them again. 

Sometimes in the last few months I've wondered if I would ever play another gig. That's not a good thing to find yourself thinking. Having said that The Slogans have managed to play three shows since we last spoke - a Sunday afternoon 'sit-down-three-piece-without-the drums' show in The Dolphin in Uxbridge way back in August (I really must update this blog more often mustn't I? More about that in a minute...) and then a whopping two gigs in October, and on successive Fridays at that. We played another sit down show at The Horns in Watford on the 16th, then Dylan made a triumphant return behind the kit the 23rd at The Cavern in Raynes Park. All were highly enjoyable, although I'd be lying if I didn't say that the third show beat the the other two in the fun stakes. Mind you I realised that I wasn't anywhere near match fit at the Cavern show as I was sweating by the second song and not playing particularly well. I got going in the end (I wouldn't have mentioned it here if I hadn't!) and we were due to make a return visit to the venue in December - but, of course, we didn’t. 

It now feels as though Ruts D.C. have postponed more gigs than we've ever played - we haven't of course, but that’s what it feels like. Incredibly we’ve released two - count ‘em, two! - albums this year (since you were wondering- the live ‘40 Years Of The Crack’ recorded on our 2019 UK tour, and ‘ElectrAcoustiC’ which features reworked old songs; both are available on our website) and have somehow played two - count ‘em, two! - gigs. Both of these were sit down shows at The New Cross Inn earlier this month (the 14th and 15th December) and while both were ostensibly acoustic I used an electric guitar for a fair bit of the evening. We were supposed to play three shows, but as we were getting our gear together for the first gig we heard that London was going into Tier 3 of Coronavirus restrictions on the morning of our third show. Much incredulity followed, followed by much swearing... the shows went well, and then we all went home. That was that for this year.

And I even went to some - well, three - gigs. I saw Steve Simpson with his new band The Waders a couple of times at The Cavern (both shows were excellent) and witnessed the mighty Menace at The Holroyd Arms in Guildford. The bands were standing, the audience were seated and I don't mind admitting that I was almost euphoric at times. I really like music. That hasn't changed.

But at least I managed to play some shows. There are many increasingly despondent musicians that haven't played at all this year. Do you remember that ridiculously offensive 'Fatima' advert? Vile wasn't it? Leaving aside the fact that there were some excellent parodies out in no time at all it seemed to me that it was yet another example of how this increasingly appalling government have absolutely no idea whatsoever how to handle the situation. I for one have long been fed up with ghastly toffs telling us what we should think and do - now an endless procession of faceless ministers appear on television instead, none of whom take any responsibility for the current chaos. Tens of thousands of people have died, hundreds of thousands have lost their jobs, physical and mental health problems are increasing at a frightening rate and this gang of goons will all get peerages and houses big enough to be seen from outer space. It would be funny if it wasn't so sad. The tiers of a clown indeed.

In an attempt to make some sort of sense of things and indeed to put my time to good use I decided to try to learn a few things on the computer. Among other things I've had a go at making DVDs (you want a gig bootlegging from YouTube? I'm your man!) and perhaps more constructively I've been finding my way around Garageband. This as you may know is a recording app, and after much brow-furrowing I used it to contribute guitars to 'World Of Sunlight' by Pete 'Joyless' Jones back in the summer - since then I've recorded my parts for a new Alvin Gibbs & The Disobedient Servants single (our 'History' EP was also released back in June - under normal circumstances this would have been a really good year for me in terms of record releases!) and quite a few new song ideas. I still get a bit stuck here and there, but I'm quite pleased with progress so far. Lots of people are recording at home these days - so does this mean the end of recording studios? Will they be yet another casualty of 2020? Let's hope not - the three days Ruts D.C. spent at Perry Vale Studios with Pat Collier recording 'ElectrAcoustiC' were highlights of my year. Admittedly highlights have been few and far between this year, but you know what I mean I think. And surely I could have written more blog posts? Well I could - if there was anything to write about. You'd soon get tired of me ranting on and on about how evil The Tories are over and over again - I'm certainly getting fed up with thinking about it.

So - what now? There's a vaccine or two around, and talk of 'getting back to normal' sometime soon - but will we? Will the world we knew ever return? It's quite a thought isn't it? I'm optimistic that it will - most of the time. Pubs are closing at a depressing rate, often as a result of governmental incompetence which has resulted in the rules changing so often, and I fear that many venues will go the same way. I wonder if people are losing the habit of going out - then again a lot of folk sound as though they would go to the opening of an envelope if it got them out of the house. 

Well - that was 2020. Let's see what 2021 has to offer. It will be better.

It will be better - won't it?

Lucky Seven

Mine is on the left,
theirs is on the right.

I have just - just! - returned from Regent 7 Guitars. This is a new company set up by luthier Mike Hobbs and Surrey Spray supremo Dave Francis with the intention of producing handmade instruments based on classic designs. I was contacted by Dave a few weeks ago (I used to teach him guitar back in the 1990s, he's now loads better than me!) who explained the idea of the company and, remembering that I have a 1963 Fender Stratocaster that was once owned by Paul Fox, asked if I would be interested in taking it over to their Ewell workshop with a view to them taking some measurements and producing a copy of said guitar. I thought about it for, ooh, at least half a second before saying yes... as you might expect for a self-confessed nerd like myself it's been a very interesting few hours. They're looking to launch the company at The London International Guitar Show at Kempton Park Racecourse on Sunday 25th October (hopefully!) and to this end have been industriously producing instruments to wow the assembled multitude with. From what my opinion is worth I think that they have every chance of success - the guitars look and feel great, and with pick-ups being supplied by Monty's Guitars they sound great too. In these uncertain times it's difficult to do anything creative let alone start a musical instrument company from scratch but hopefully things will go well for Mike and Dave - and you never know, I might even get a guitar or two myself...  

I'm at the table, Segs is in the mirror.

In other news the Ruts D.C. '40 Years Of The Crack' live album is finally available. Fank gawd for that! I spent rather a long time in Segs's front room signing 500 double vinyl albums and 500 double CDs - which was no hardship at all. You live your entire life to do things like that! Well, I do anyway... so many people had shown great faith in the band by pre-ordering them that I don't mind admitting that it was something of a relief when they finally arrived. They're currently available from the band's online shop but they're selling fast so if you'd like one then I wouldn't hang around if I were you... and if you've got a minute, have a look at the band's new website here - it's had something of a facelift during lockdown so see what you think.

It should have been The Rebellion Festival in Blackpool last weekend, but of course it wasn't - instead an online version of the festival took place on their Facebook page which you can catch up with here if you missed it when it went out live. It's well worth a look as there's loads of good stuff on it - but here's something that you won't see there. It's a short-but-sweet clip of T.V. Smith And Friends roaring through The Adverts classic 'Gary Gilmore's Eyes' at last year's festival - joining Mr. Smith are Pascal Briggs on bass, Jennie and Mandy from The Crows on vocals, Attila The Stockbroker on violin, Jamie Oliver on drums and your humble narrator on what Jimi Hendrix memorably referred to as The Public Saxophone. You can see here on Pascal's Facebook page - even though I say so myself we made a rather good job of it, especially as it was unrehearsed. 

Hopefully we'll do something like this again at next year's festival. 

Hopefully we'll all be out gigging before then. 

Hopefully.

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...