Paul Roberts
Having left the Stranglers recently, I caught up with Paul Roberts a few hours before he was due to go on stage this time as a solo artist.

Paul Roberts was born in London and initially played drums but even then he had his own slant on it

PR "I used to drum with my hands...rehearsal room managers were tight and wouldn't lend me their drum sticks" and before long the band he was playing with decided he was better up front then back playing the drums PR "one day in rehearsals because I was slightly blonder then the others and the guitarist had a bad throat they suggested I have a go at singing" the rest as they say is history.


1992 - Pic Jill Furmanovsky

 In 1990 Paul was approached by the Stranglers management office, Hugh Cornwall had recently left the Stranglers and they was looking for someone to take his place.

PR "Speaking to their Manager Colin Johnson he asked if I wanted to join". Even then Paul was keen to be accepted as a serious musician and instead of accepting immediately he wanted his music listened to before hand as he felt acceptance of his music by the band was more important then the prospect of joining the them.
Having met JJ and teaching his son to play football they went into rehearsals.

PR "if it hadn't of been any good it would of stopped there and then...but I guess they would of pressed on regardless if I was with them or not".

But Paul was accepted and Paul was very aware he had taken on a big job stepping into Hugh's shoes,

PR "it is not easy for anyone to do, I don’t envy anyone replacing anyone in a band because in the end a replacement is all you are."


1992 - Pic Jill Furmanovsky


JJ & Paul - Shepherds Bush Empire December 2005. Picture Paul Marko

Even so Paul found his place musically in the band pretty quickly and by the time the single "Heaven or Hell" was out he had already found his place, however acceptance outside of the band wasn't immediately forthcoming

PR "it can be an uncomfortable situation because as the replacement you are being blamed for everything that is going wrong...punters are an eclectic group of people and you have to be stupid to think everyone will hang around".

Paul admitted he didn't ever feel completely comfortable "not to this day."
A common story that gets mentioned about the Stranglers in this period is that John Ellis suggested changing the name of the band

PR "that is absolute rubbish...they thought of changing the name by dropping one letter and becoming the Strangers but really it was just a bit of fun." John Ellis and Paul Roberts however always like to take things forward, develop them "the thing we both have in common is that we are progressive people, we like to take things in different directions".

No coincidence then that John Ellis is playing guitar with Paul at the 100 Club.

Paul Roberts Part 2

© OldPunkGit 2007 - OldPunkGit MySpace