"By the way, can you make sure you bring your guitars with you for the photo?" the man at the newspaper said, before hanging up. "Shit, we've only got this poxy acoustic guitar and that won't look any good in the picture." someone said. Not wanting to miss out on this golden opportunity for self-promotion, they hatched a plan to steal 2 guitars from the local music shop which they passed every day en route to and from school. They spent several days just looking in the window, observing the activities of the shopkeeper and noticed that just before he locked up each evening, he went out the back to get his coat. This would give them just enough time to run in, grab the guitars and leg it, before the shopkeeper returned. They planned to escape down a side alley and leave the guitars hidden in some bushes in a garden, until they could go back under cover of darkness and retrieve them. They did the dastardly deed and it worked a treat.

They looked great in the photo, really professional, and the kids at school were mightily impressed. The photo appeared in the same edition as the news about the music shop robbery, but amazingly no one put two and two together. Armed with their two newly acquired axes, they soon found a drummer and bass player and in November of '76 they were in Decibel Studios cutting their first single, 'Outside View' coupled with 'You' - with me at the helm. (I'd been working there recently, finishing off some Pistols tracks.)

Caruzo and I got busy setting the wheels of manufacturing in motion, and a short time and a few grand later we had a batch of white label promos to distribute to the press etc. I remember having to trundle down to the pressing plant in Hayes, Middlesex and bring as many boxes as I could carry home with me on the train. We spent the whole evening with Eater, who were encouraged to write personal messages on the records for the intended recipients, i.e. John Peel, Janis Long, Malcolm, Sid, Fluff, Wogan, Saville, J King, Tommy Vance, Nick Kent, Parsons, Ingham, Coon, etc etc. We just blitzed the lot. It seemed to work 'cause we had instant feedback.

Peely loved Eater and came down to Dingwalls especially to see them. This first single 'Outside View' might only have had a white label on it when we sent it out in Dec 1976, but it still makes it the third UK Punk single to be released!We would have preferred to release it on a major label, but we just couldn't find a sympathetic ear, believe me we tried!  'Outside View' clocked up sales of over 17,000 - a number which would get us into the Top Ten nowdays. It should have at least gone Top 40, but wasn't selling in the right shops to qualify for a chart entry, so 'Outside View' stayed outside.

That's how unfair it was then and in some ways it's still the same, no matter what the industry spin doctors tell you. We were asked by the industry why we needed them if we were doing so well? They then told us that we could never make it without them. That was it - now we were even more determined to make it alone if we had to. For the history books, Eater's 'Outside View' was the UK's third ever punk single, following The Buzzcocks' 'Spiral Scratch' and The Damned's 'New Rose'. Malcolm loved the Eater single, and whilst we were sharing a hotel room on the Anarchy tour, he asked me to play it to him again and again.

Caruzo and I used to print up posters and stick them up wherever we could. We had realised for instance, that the best target audience for Eater was school kids, so we took our product directly to them by advertising outside the school gates. During the Christmas holidays we had identified a dozen or so of the largest comprehensive schools in London and had gone round spraying EATER at the entrance, on the ground in massive letters. That way everyone had to walk over it for weeks until it faded. We also put "Outside View" posters up in close proximity wherever we could. It was a very direct form of advertising but it worked a treat. It meant that at least another 20,000 school kids would become aware of Eater and that was a start.

For the Eater set I'd also made up an EMI sign, which got burnt on stage (in memory of the Pistols' sacking). Eater got a full page article in one of the music papers and a caption read 'They think the Pistols are boring old farts!' Eater freaked when they saw it and claimed their words had been taken out of context. John took exception to this comment though, and one night when Andy Blade stayed over at Nora's, (Ari Up of the Slits' mum and Chris Spedding's ex), John and Wobble apparently terrorised him. Apparently someone hit him over the head with a brick or something and they burnt his records in the middle of the room. To give him his due, John rang me and got Wobble to apologise. ("Go on, Wobble, fucking apologise…") Anyway, the next time Eater played the Roxy, John got on stage and announced "Eater - the band who think the Sex Pistols are boring old farts and who plan to take over - I don't think!"

In general I think the Pistols camp appreciated Eater. We had made a point of giving them all promo copies of the single. Malcolm also seemed to take an interest in them and checked them out a few times at the Roxy. He thought that as they were so young it might take a little longer for them to make it. Maybe three years or so - if we could keep them together that long. He thought Dee Generate was one of their greatest assets.

We stuck Eater on the road and some very hairy situations evolved. In these early days there weren't that many punk type venues, so you'd take what you could get. Often they'd find themselves playing to people twice their age and fights and brawls would ensue. You see the clubs would have no idea what they were getting. Imagine if you were a middle-aged man taking the missus out for a meal and a dance to the local club, and there were these loud, young upstarts on stage screaming "Why don't you get raped? Go get fucked!" People would complain to the management, who'd try to turn them down and then off - but they'd refuse to leave the stage. So bouncers would try to throw them off, then their mates would jump up and start punching the bouncers, who'd chase them round the club and eventually they'd get physically thrown out, equipment and all. Of course, they wouldn't get paid and the only way they could get home was to sell records outside the club to a few young punters who actually got off on what they did. I remember a time, when Andy Blade threw a full pint of beer over the jeering front rows of hecklers. These guys looked like rugby players and soon they were storming the stage for revenge. The band always had an escape route in mind for such occasions and miraculously no one was seriously hurt. Their weird sense of humour would often get them out of trouble.

Eater were the first UK punk band to play across Europe. Somehow we got them a gig in Belgium. They played two nights in a new club which was packed with young kids. The first night no one knew what to expect and just looked on in amazement. Eater soon showed them the ropes and high on duty free booze, jumped and gyrated all over the place. The next night the same crowd was back - but they'd been punked. They'd cut their hair, ripped their clothes and jumped up and down on the nice comfy seats. From their dressing room Eater administered booze to the crowd and a wild night was had by all. When we came to get paid we were also handed a bill for the damage!

Eater put on a blinding show and suitably impressed the Japanese record company representative who'd come to check them out. We decided to stage a bit of self-promotion. The Tokyo A&R guy was staying at a flash hotel near Marble Arch and we had scheduled a little trip for him through Hyde Park and on to the legendary Kings Road. We'd got our poster mafia man Tommy the Pill to concentrate most of the Eater posters in this area. We also conscripted certain friends and family to be present along the route, dressed in punk gear with 'Eater' painted on their backs and wearing Eater badges. We even gave a select few spray cans to graffiti Eater slogans as we passed. It was all run like a military operation, with precision timing. 'Exaggerate to get noticed' was the rule of the day.

As Mister Music-Japan left his hotel he saw an extremely young punk of 12 or so, stroll up to the wall opposite and spray 'Eater' all over it. (This was Symeon, Caruzo's brother.) The name Eater cropped up a hundred times more that day and the whole operation was a success.

Lee Childers, the Heartbreakers' manager, took a special interest in Eater. He had a very flamboyant manner and they could never work out if he was gay or not. To be on the safe side they would sleep fully clothed when they stayed at his place.

He used to design amazing one-off fliers for their gigs. When they played Dingwalls, his old mate Lou Reed who was gigging in town, came down after his show, just in time to see Eater's gig. I noticed John Peel there as well. Eater did a few songs of Lou's, including 'Sweet Jane' and 'Waiting for My Man'. They did them about 3 times the original speed. Lee commented that Lou liked the show so much that he stayed to the end, which was rare for him. Eater's singer Andy was over the moon and plucked up enough courage to approach yer man. He gave me his camera and went up to Lou and asked for a light. Lou stood up to light Andy's cigarette (Andy didn't really smoke) and I snapped a perfect shot of the event. Andy had the photo made into a badge, which he wore with pride for months after."