1)How did you arrive at the name Dole Q?
FC :
We started originally as the "The Murderers" then "The Anarchists" and were advised to soften the name by a lady who asked us to do a gig at Battersea Town Hall that was all about the dangers of the food additive Monosodium Glutamate. Our then lead singer Colin Ward was on the dole (Gerry & I were too young to sign - on as we only just hit 15) but we used to sometimes wait in line with Colin when he signed on in Brixton, as it was on the way to the studio where we rehearsed. We also had a song called " On The Dole " that we used to open with at the Roxy.
GL : I also remember Colin Ward when he left the band we had our first bit of publicity in Sounds where they reported that Colin had left the band to pursue a career in the Parachute regiment!
2) What are your memories of playing the Roxy club? What was the audience and atmosphere like ? Was it cliquey? How did they react to you there?
FC :
The Roxy was like "Fuckin Yeah" this is amazing. Gerry & I had been sneaking into the Marquee since the age of thirteen & our regular was "The Two Brewers" in Clapham High Street that put on some good local Reggae & Rock Bands - Girls School started there. But The Roxy was like
AAAAAAHHH an amazing place where almost anything went. It felt like we were in on something that was breaking new ground. The band were the same as the audience, I mean, there was not this "us & them" crap that we used to see at the Marquee. We would be drinking at the bar & talking to everyone, "mingling" before & after playing. Poly Styrene was a regular ( who ended up having a fling with Colin). Paul Hurding, her drummer from X-Ray Specs became a good mate.
The first gig, the first chord & WHOOOOSH, tons of gob flowing like missiles under the stage lights. We were quickly assured by the manager from the side of the stage that "it's a type of endearment, they really like you!"
So we gobbed back. After a few weeks we had built up a substantial following & started to headline. We became mates with Charlie Harper & UK Subs & supported them on a UK tour.
GL : The Roxy was like a little basement really with about 3 living rooms worth of space, we played there regularly for a while and I can only think that it must have been a similar atmosphere to the cavern in Liverpool. Everyone there felt that they were contributing to a whole new movement of music and for us, well we were just delighted to be a part of it. We made loads of friends from other bands : Spitfire Boys, Damned, Generation X to name a few.p
3) How would you describe Dole Q's sound and look then
FC :
Raw, innocent Punk with lots of violent undertones. The look was mainly stuff we made ourselves from secondhand clothes. Occasionally we might get something from " Pollacks" (a punk clothes shop in Brixton) but shops like Boy were too expensive or had a reputation as " Posers" gear.
GL : The sound itself I would describe as a kind of speeded up Status Quo with more raucous vocals at the top end. It was very, very high energy and I guess the sound levels were probably not very well balanced at the time, as with Frank on lead ( Stratocaster ) and me on rhythm ( Telecaster ) we were forever bemoaned by mixing engineers for playing TOO LOUD !.
4) Why did you change your name to The Skunks? Did you change your sound as well?
FC :
Susi, (Siouxsie & the banshees) had slagged our name off in an interview in NME. Also, Colin had left saying he was uncomfortable with the amount of success we were having and that he had originally only meant it to be a laugh. At the same time I had started experimenting by putting a white or silver stripe in my hair & had acquired a set of top hat & tails. I used to fill my hair with flour & shake this out on the opening number so from the
black & white theme came " The Skunks". It also rhymed with Punks & felt kind of fun. And the more confident we became the more we would have a laugh on stage & with the audience. Though sometimes it backfired on us. The sound did change. We were initially " over influenced " by The Sex Pistols and so were out to shock & swear a lot. This was becoming increasingly unacceptable, especially when we played outside of London. We were also a bit older & we had an older experienced bass player join us called Hugh Ashton (ex Danta & OZO). He would prove to be a big influence in refining the sound from Punk to New Wave. We started writing more melodic, structured songs. It wasn't just
verse, chorus, verse, chorus, middle eight, verse, chorus, end. We added a synth & learnt another chord !
GL : Yes Frank started to write some good songs, and we concentrated on orchestrating or structuring them. Hugh already had some songs from his previous life which we incorporated in to the set. Songs that stick out for me would be
Take it or Leave it - F.Cornelli : written to shout out against the school and other establishments and
Good from the Bad - F. Cornelli : Written I would say from the perspective of a naïve teenager who was trying to portray the feelings that as you got older you had to begin realizing the differences between right and wrong, this song had a strange Beatles feel to it (I think we actually discovered backing vocals and harmonies at this point) also we were influenced by the Beatles. I did the lead vocal and it was recorded on 4 track. Back Street Fighting - F . Cornelli was a song about anti violence ( we all hated the tension between Punks and (Soulheads / Rockers) at the time, again this was recorded on 4 track.
It'll Happen Soon - SMASH AND GRABBER :Hugh Ashton : Never released on vinyl but both tracks written by Hugh he did the vocal on the demo tapes, and I did the vocal on stage.
Heart Attack - Lovely intro and great high energy song all about doing everything for the present kind of My Generation influence - the beginning of dual lead guitar solos between myself and Frank.
Hope Street - G.Lambe - Really this was a pop song with a pretty well known guitar tab. Gerry was constantly hounded about writing songs that ( sounded like something someone had heard before but with catchy melodies and chorus's that kindda stuck in your head )
Lucy : - G .Lambe As above but was about the break up of a relationship between 2 individual teenagers and all of the trials, tribulations and reasons for it ( references to Brixton Market were local landmarks for the band at the time ), I think it described every relationship I had with girls at the time also. We later received letters of praise for this song from Pete Townshend and it was eventually released as single on EMI.
5) Was there camaraderie between bands or were they distant to each other? How did the bigger bands treat you?
FC :
There was generally more camaraderie from bands that were trying to get a break, a record deal or were on a small label. The bigger bands with the bigger labels & the bigger deals could sometimes be more " aloof" but overall it felt like we were all in something together, you know, part of the "In Crowd".
To be honest bands like the Police, Stranglers, XTC, Generation X were all only just becoming established so they had no idea at the time who was going to make it and who wasn't, so we were all in the same boat in a manner of speaking. I still remember going to parties and bumping in to people like Billy Idol others and everyone was just having fun and enjoying the moment.
6) How important was fashion to punk?
I would switch that round & say that punk was massively important to fashion. But ultimately fashion helped kill it by watering it down & going mass market.
7) As 77 turned into 78 what changes did you see happening in punk ie look, sound and audience.
Punk became New Wave & a lot of new wave was pop music. Bands like the Buzzcocks & The Rich Kids.
The audiences started to have a larger cross section of the community. Fashion designers, posh kids with private educations would become punks to piss their parents off. We would start to see some black & Asian kids. Some older ex: hippies became punks & so did some older anarchists & villains - was Ronnie Biggs a punk?
The music changed with bands like Tom Robinson, Glenn Matlock, and the emergence of bands like Ultravox putting more emphasis on melodies and watering the music to make it more Commercially acceptable. I think it had to change but slowly the original appeal and energy of Punk was lost in the requirement from Record Companies to derive revenue from selling the idea to the mass market. I mean don't forget in 1976 when the Pistols / Grundy thing happened the top 10 was all Eagles etc, so at least music had moved on.
8) How did you come to sign to Eel Pie? Nice bit of publicity from the Townsend link?
We were supporting Billy Idol's Generation X at the Vortex club. Townshend came down (as we found out later) to see us. He used to have a band code named " Pooh De Skunk " which he would use to play small venues.
He turned up with Keith Moon & Alex Harvey (The Sensational Alex Harvey).
The three of them were in the middle of the audience and in between one of the numbers one of them shouted out " You STINK!" I think it was moonie, anyway he got a torrent of abuse from the members of the band, but it was said and done in a
humorous way. We were I guess very much like a very early WHO open crash chords, lots of jumping around and sometimes smashing instruments .
After the gig they all came back stage to say how much they enjoyed it, Pete sat down next to me & I asked him " Who the fuck are you!" Pretending not to know who he was. He said: "I'm Pete". "Pete who?" He looked at me slightly bewildered. " Pete Townshend" " Do ya play in a band or something!" " Yeh"
Whats the name?"
" The Who " " Who the fuck is The Who?" I asked.
With this, Keith Moon started smashing the room up, with a little help from Alex Harvey. " Who's taking the fuckin piss out of the Who!? He started growling.
Pete calmed him down & he Moon started to hop around doing impersonations (with the aid of the leg of a smashed chair) of Long John Silver.
I have to say it was pretty good.
Pete than said, " No seriously, I thought you were really good tonight, I really enjoyed some of your guitar work. You remind me of a young Ritchie Blackmore.
I soon sobered up & asked him to take a look at a guitar I had recently bought from the guitarist in the band that went on to become Dexy's Midnight Runners.
It looked like a Rickenbacker , but had a few bodged repair jobs on the way,
I knew Pete had used Rickenbacker's a lot in the sixties. He took one glance at it & said : You can have one of mine if you like." Here's my number, give us a ring & pop round with a tape, I'd really like to take another listen when I'm sober.
He signed us after the first meeting at his Eel Pie office & the following week personally delivered a twelve string
Rickenbacker to our studios in Brixton SW2.
 |
Click
image to view larger image of Pete Townsends letter to
The Skunks. |
9) Did Townsend get actively involved? What did he make of punk? What did you make of him?
FC :
Pete was always very generous ( & so was Moon). He supported us with unlimited studio time & occasionally joined in on guitar & piano. He saw Punk as a very
similar to the Mod movement. It was something new, fresh & exciting.He liked the rebellious , anarchistic side, the energy & the anger. He said he started to smash guitars 'cos of his early inability to play properly & so likened this to many young Punk musicians at the time.
GL : agree with all of the above , Pete was / is a fantastic person he was always up front and honest with us and in a way ( I don't think we realized it at the time ) we probably sounded and looked a bit similar to the early WHO in that we really were high energy, and quite angry about things. He was very ,very generous and was always available for help and advice. Ill always remember
rehearsing at Twickenham Film studios on a set that had previously been used by Paul Mc Cartney and Wings the day before, and getting studio time and film time at The Boathouse Twickenham and Ramport Studios, Battersea all made available by Pete to us. He really is a one off and never ever had any Rock Star type
pretensions.
10) Was the single always viewed as a one off?
Yeh, the single was " the sprat to catch the mackerel". To help launch us onto a bigger label. I sensed Pete was doing it for vocational purposes. You know, he'd been struggling early on & was now a
mega rock superstar who was putting something back.
11) What was the reaction to you in
different parts of the country? How did the audience and reaction differ say from the Roxy and the Manchester Trade Hall. Do you think Punk was essentially a London thing?
Early on, it was very much a London thing. Manchester was full of young screaming girls that had turned up 'cos of Radio Piccadilly. It soon spread up north. We always got the wildest reception in Leeds & Liverpool.
We supported the Buzzcocks at Manchester Free Trade Hall, and it was really something as it was the biggest crowd that we had ever played to.
12) What was the gobbing violence like at gigs?
As I said earlier, at first most people took it as a sign of appreciation. I think Jean Jacques Burnel was the first to retaliate against it by knocking someone's teeth out. He turned up when we played Eric's Club in Liverpool with a bloody hand & told me he "lost it" while they were on stage at Liverpool University. He came to meet me 'cos we shared the same groupy ( & crabs) at the time. But we both saw the funny side.
But, yeh gobbing became aaaahhhh, fuck this, not again, You'd crash out & wake up next day still covered in the gob of fifty people.
13) Best moments/worst moments?
Best moment was the first night at the Roxy. Worst moment was turning up to cover for the Count Bishops at the Bedford Nite Spot.
We were given the gig at 2pm whilst in London, not realising that it was because Zak the lead guitarist had just killed himself in his newly restored Aston Martin. The Count Bishops were an out & out R&B band & the audience were full of local squaddies eating chicken in a basket that had paid good money to see & hear R&B.We were being heckled & booed from the start but made the mistake of insulting them back.
They took it personally when we sang a song called " The Manager Is A Cunt" an two thousand squaddies hurled bottles at the
stage. We scampered out without being paid when they stormed the stage & tried to lynch us !
14) Looking back what did punk achieve and what was the Skunk's and Dole Q's part in it?
I suppose we were young & naïve but we really did believe we could change the world. Punk gave lots of young kids a break. You no longer had to look like Donny Osmond, you no longer had to play like Van Der Graff Generator. It gave young kids the confidence to have a go & feel part of something real. We touched on it earlier about the affect it had on fashion. Even bands like Visage, Duran Duran, and Spandau Ballet were bands that developed from the punk scene.
We were in there & developed though 1976 to 1979, but honestly, what was our part in it? We were like a ripple in the ocean, although not always seen or noticed we are forever part of the sea.
And no, I didn't nick that from Eric Cantona !
Just for the record : SKUNKS changed their name to CRAZE when they signed to the EMI Subsidiary Cobra Records in 1978/79.
On Cobra they released 2 singles :
Motions ( Going Through The )
Lucy
They also released Motions in Australia where it made No 12 (
ust before the release of motions in the UK, Thorn took over EMI and the release was inexcusably stopped).
They recorded an album called SPARTANS this is still available in demo form and has never been released, the rights for the songs remain with EMI Publishing.
SPARTANS
The Circle
From Time to Time
Unhappy Girl
Stop Living in the past
Lucy
Motions
Heart Attack
The Good from the Bad
Other demos soon to be available :
SKUNKS : Good from the Bad, Take It or Leave It, Heart Attack, Itll Happen Soon, Lucy, Hope Street, Lonely Nights, Smash and Grabber.
Videos will be : Good From The Bad ( Filmed at the Boathouse,Richmond ), Motions ( made by the producer of the Kenny Everett Video Show ) and Arena showing the audition for the band in the film
Quadrophenia with Roger Daltrey, Franc Roddam and John Entwhistle and THE SKUNKs.
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