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A surprise inclusion
here? I've got a lot of time for Bernie Torme. Born in Dublin and
raised on a diet of Taste, Thin Lizzy and Skid Row Bernie was a member of The
Urge, a band known to fellow Dubliners the Boomtown Rats. Bernie, however, soon tired
of playing Top 10 tunes and Country & Western tunes around the pubs and clubs of
Ireland and decamped to
London to form Scrapyard which then turned into the Bernie Torme band. Got
that?
Turned on and enthused
by punk rock the band specialised in high energy rock with a dollop of punk
attitude. Hell he played the
Roxy and the Vortex and supported among others Generation X, Bethnal and the
Boys.
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Bernie Torme -Gtr & Vocals,
Phil Spalding - Bass & Mark Harrison - Drums |
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A tad
more rockier than your usual punker band...."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."
And
as he says of his skills...."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! "
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Bernie has two songs on the
Live At The Vortex
album
Streetfighter
and
Living For Kicks.
They also signed to Jet and released a single
I'm Not Ready
in October 1978 described by Record Mirror as
"...one of the most
exciting debut releases I've heard for quite some time. The appeal should
attract both HM and new wave enthusiasts alike, being a fast furious and
energised little number, with fine guitar from Bernie himself."
RM 14.10.78
By then Bernie's
hair was longer, the band looked and sounded rockier and it wasn't a great
leap as he broke the band up and joined Gillan reuniting with John
McCoy of Neo and once of Scrapyard with Bernie. Now of course
Gillan with Bernie had chart success and TOTP appearances with songs
such as
Trouble, New Orleans, M.A.D
and No Laughing
In Heaven.
Bernie's had a long
and eventful career. He stood in
on that fateful Ozzy Osbourne's tour when Randy Rhodes died and
played with Dee Snider to name but but a
few as he keeps on rocking even as we speak today. |
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Don't forget to check out
Bernie's website.
Images courtesy of Bernie Torme
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