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At the time of playing the Roxy club and Vortex what was the band line
up?
It was me on guitar, Phil Spalding on bass, who subsequently played with Toyah and then Ian Broudie's Original Mirrors before he became the UK's
most wanted bass session person and played with Mike Oldfield, Robbie
Williams, Seal, you name it, even Brittany spears! Old Phil is a lovely
guy and a great bass player....not as old as me, mind........ and much
more of a full on muso than I'll ever be! I just like the rough bits and
the chaos, And the great Mark Harrison on drums, subsequently with Shane
McGowan's Nipple Erectors (there's a picture of him on your site) and the
Dirty Strangers, currently an ex-pat living in the Gambia.
Had you been playing before in bands and how had you first become aware
of punk rock?
Like most of the first wave like Ratty and Joe Strummer and the
Stranglers I had indeed been around the block a few times, Even though I
was definitely second wave. I started gigging in 69 when I was 16 or 17, I
played with various bands in Ireland (where I was from) and a pub rock
band in London from about 75. The guy who managed that band got very into
punk in 76, when he started managing the Bernie Torme Band which was the
Spalding/Harrison punk line up. So he sort of talked us into it, I was
just a psychedelic rocker at the time, the other two were basically a pair
of jazz rockers, which I hated and despised. But I really loved "New Rose"
and then the pistols when I heard them, it sort of suited me.
Did you feel part of the scene? Did you go to gigs as a punter?
Frankly mate I've never felt part of any scene, wouldn't want to, I'm an
individual. Fuck 'em all if they want to be part of a herd. And to me
that was sort of what punk was about. Yes of course I went to gigs, I
remember going to the Saints, also the Damned and the Jam very early on.
Many others. The Jam were fantastic live, great gigs, I never much liked
their records though.
How would you describe the music you were playing then at the time of
mid 1977 at The Roxy and Vortex?
Noisy and lots of energy and fun. Plenty of other people called it crap!
As time dragged on into 78 and early 79 like most the other bands who
hadn't cracked it we sort of slid into power pop puke, thanks to record
company pressure etc. I have much more reservations about that than I ever
had about punk.
Had punk influenced your style in any way? I've seen
you play a couple of times and it was strat /Hendrixy based then?
Most definitely punk was and is a huge influence. The energy and the
simplicity and power was something that I was totally sold on. Still am.
Also with punk as a lyricist you could say anything, that was never true
in the "rawk" field. I've never been "rawkist" in my lyrics, except
as a piss take, I like the change punk made in that. So thats a great big
yes. And in fact in Gillan that's what made us different from the
whitesnakes etc, we played quite a few tracks with that punk energy. I'm
not sure Ian knew what was going on, though ......... the lyrics were
quite "rawk" .... whatever.
Bernie & Boomtown Rats
poster |
Another small example of the influence is that for about 8 of the past 15
years I've played with JJ Pierce on bass, who plays with the Anti Nowhere
League and the Business. At present I'm playing with John McCoy from Gillan, who also played in a punk band called Neo in 78, and the great
Robin Guy on drums, who also plays with the Business. I like punk players.
Well obviously my lack of style was always strat based, strats are what i
fookin play! Hendrixy? not really, Though we did do a song called "Don't
look back" which was sort of Hendrix meets the heartbreakers. Always went
down really well weirdly enough. |
Was it a matter of change style/sound to survive and a gig is a gig.
No, not at all, I liked it, still do. God help me I still even like Green
Day which my kids are into, very American, quite poppy, but they've really
held on to something of the spirit too. Good enough.
How did a more heavy rock sounding band and a more flashy guitar go
down in the club that was punk based and in essence anti skilled
musicians?
We had no problem in the skilled musicians department, believe me. We
weren't, we just thought we were because we knew 5 1/2 chords as opposed
to 2. We were a bit better than Eater or the Art Attacks, but nowhere near
as good as the Stranglers or the Damned or definitely not the godlike
Ramones. They were good!
You had two punk sounding tracks on the Live At The Vortex album
‘Streetfighter’ and ‘Living for Kicks’. How did you end up on this album?
Because we played lots of times at the Vortex and they asked us to be on
the album, they were under the misapprehension that we were going to be
successful I suppose. Really I guess they were trying to jump on the Roxy
album bandwagon. |
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What do you remember of the recording of this album? Rumour has it
wasn't actually live. Was it live?
Well yes, it was all recorded live on some mobile, then they had us go to
Morgan Studios in Wimbledon to clean it all up. I think we repaired
everything but the drums on what must have been a copy master, because
they still had the original. We thought it was wonderful, it was the best
studio with the most time we'd ever been in, it had lots of meters and
lights and a little boy with a piece of chalk who made marks on the tape
so he knew where he was and pressed play and rewind, and made cups of tea
and probably cleaned the chimneys with his tongue too. Bet he lost his job
when some clever clogs invented remote auto-locates. A lost age, back to
cleaning chimneys.
Then a few days later the Robin chappie who was organising it phoned up
and said our tracks sounded too good and not live enough, and would we
come back and mix the original live recorded take. So we did, which mainly
consisted in standing there and saying yes Robin, and that's what they
used. I can't speak for any of the other bands, but ours came out as it
was, live. Some other tracks sound better than ours, maybe that's why.
I
still have a copy of the studio one someplace. But I didn't really know
that, I always thought that since they used our live originals, they would
have used everybody's. maybe not.
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How did the album help your career?
I don't know if it did. I suppose it must have. It was great to be
on a record. Of course we never got any royalties Jet Records were
there that night and signed us shortly afterwards, and paid us 40
quid a week each for the next 18 months, I thought I had it made,
put us on lots of support tours, The Boys, Bethnal, Generation X, so
it was a great learning experience for yer live chops, and life in
general. Apart from that they just sat on us pretty much, they were
more into ELO. |
How did you get on with other punk bands and how did they view you?
Always got on good, it was a good time. Well almost always. I can remember
our relationship with the Boomtown Rats being a tad stressy, despite the
fact that we were both from Dublin. They were very ambitious and had none
of the "we're all in it together" mentality, but then they never really
were a punk band anyway. We toured with them quite a bit early on, and did
their early marquee gigs as support, when they had these very streetwise
spray paint posters. We got the supports by agreeing to go round London
sticking the posters up, and spraying walls. Phil Spalding our bass player
got arrested by an off duty policeman, we all just ran away. The Rats
never even left their house in leafy Chessington, very punk indeed. I
still hear from Derwood (Bob Andrews) from Gen X occasionally, Mark
Harrison (our drummer) and Jack Black of The Boys are pretty close, I hear
from Matt and John of The Boys occasionally and sometimes bump into the
original UK Subs, Charlie and Nick Garrett. And of course Rat.
What punk bands did you rate?
Pistols. early Ultravox, but only pre Midge Ure, they were great, god
damn that horrible record Vienna, the Jam live, Damned, The Clash at
times, some great things, but the fact that it was a sort of manufactured
punk Westlife always bothered me. And the Belfast pictures were sad,
embarrassing and not at all credible. Heartbreakers, Ramones, Iggy (though
only later) and the Stray Cats. Not sure they were all punk. Later, in 79
the UK Subs, and more recent Green Day. Not Blink 182. Why didn't you ask
about the ones I hated and why? |
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