Where the CBGBs scene in the US has always
been feted for being the main inspiration for Punk, the young John Lydon
was possibly more influenced in his outlook by a source much closer to
home. By a band that looked “like a bus queue” and made up initially of
an arts lecturer and his students. A band that bemused the Pub Rock
circuit with occasional Alma Cogan covers. Its not the most promising
start when compared to Iggy and the Stooges, but I believe that Punk in
the UK benefited mightily from the example, approach and presence of Ian
Dury and his first band., which began in 1971 just as his hero Gene
Vincent was nearing the end.
The band came together with Ian
assuming the role of leader and vocalist and a revolving line up the
most regular participants being Keith Lucas (in 1976 to become Nick
Cash who still fronts 999 to this day), volatile Davey Payne on sax,
crippled drummer David Rohoman, eccentric pianist Rod Melvin and
pint sized Charlie Sinclair on bass (renowned artist Humphrey Ocean
also had a couple of spell as their bassist). They presented a
bizarre spectacle for gig goers expecting a line up of long haired
glam boys or road hardened rockers, being presented with the dapper
Dury with a razor blade earring (in 1974!) and the contrasting band,
sometimes resembling something between gangsters and dossers.
Kilburn and the High Roads
were, well, different. Even in the Pub Rock circles in which they moved
they stood out from the crowd. One of the reasons for this is whereas
most Pub Rock acts looked back to the 60s to recall the simpler times of
R’n’B mixed with the Country Rock sound, it seemed that the Kilburns had
no truck at all with the 60s at all. Even a band like Ducks Deluxe who
were considerably more in tune with what was to come in the future
cribbed some of their stuff from the Velvets and MC5, archetypal 60s
acts even if not in the mainstream.
The Kilburns though harked back to the primal rock and roll surge of the
50s (very important as that was also a source of inspiration for Punk a
few years down the line) and mixed that up with Jazz, Reggae and
everything else they could lay their hands on, but always with Ian‘s
lyrics put a large stamp of their London environment like no-one had
done since Ray Davies. Dury took it a step further into the step though.
The one rule the band had was that no song would be followed by another
that sounded in any way similar and this chaotic methodology coupled
with the fact they couldn‘t play very well at the beginning meant that
their live act became the talk of the London Pub circuit to the extent
that the Who had the band support them on the “Quadraphenia“ tour in
1973.
Dury took a theatrical
approach to his tales of London low life and during a song that
never made it to vinyl, the psychotic “I Made Mary Cry” would
produce a gleaming bread knife from his coat. He would prop himself
have up with the mike stand, an act necessary to the childhood polio
that had wasted him on one side, but though essential it was a neat
pose and the intense figure he cut would have an effect on a regular
front row punter at Kilburn gigs, a skinny kid from Finsbury Park by
the name of John Lydon.
Also another link to the Sex Pistols in particular should be noted.
Rotten compares the band to “Music Hall” in “The Filth And The Fury”
and there can be not much doubt that this aspect of the band was in
the shadow of Ian Dury’s early work.
Tasty geezers! Nice tache too!
Dial 999!
Indeed its been said that Cook
and Jones were pleased that Chris Thomas was to produce them not
because of his work with Roxy Music, but his production of the
“Rough Kids” single. Also it should be noted that Kilburn and the
High Roads are one a very few contemporary groups that featured on
the “likes” side of the famous Sex t-shirt “One Day You’re Going To
Wake Up”. Also Tommy Roberts, who ran the Mr Freedom store and was
friends with Malcolm McLaren, became the band’s manager and kitted
them out from “Let It Rock”.
“Rough Kids” was a
terrific record though and truly precursor of many a Punk single years
later. The atmosphere that cuts in with Dury walloping a dustbin lid,
the build up to the final screaming ending, just a touch less backing
vocals and a bit more guitar and it would have been absolutely perfect
for 1977, let alone 1974.
That single apart (which in my opinion is the best example available of
the band, the flip “Billy Bentley“ foreshadows “New Boots And Panties“),
the one thing that truly defined the Kilburns is that they just couldn’t
get what they had live down on vinyl. Some recording session for Raft
weren’t released until as a cash in to Dury’s fame in 1978 and the
“Handsome” LP has most of the rough edges that were their trademark
ironed out. Lucas’ departure was speeded up allegedly by the way his
guitar was far down in the mix.
Though “Handsome” has
it’s moments (“Father“ is excellent and “Upminster Kid“ hit’s the
spot), it also has a couple of songs where Ian doesn’t even sing and
the Kilburns who made a positive advantage of their anarchic
approach, seemed tamed by the studio. They spilt soon after the
record was released.
The revamped band were forced off the road soon after an attempted
comeback in 1975 as Ian Dury and the Kilburns, because of Ian’s
health problems. But this would not be that negative in the long run
as Chas Jankel joined this late version of the band and was to
become Dury’s writing partner for the hugely successful “New Boots
And Panties” and “Do It Yourself” LPs, which were two of the most
popular records in the UK in the late 70s and helped to keep Stiff
records afloat too.
