How did you
come to be interested in forming a Punk band? Was their much going on in
Camberley at the time? What kind of music did you like before 76? How and
when did the Members form?
[Nick Tesco] I'd always been into music. Ever since I was a kid the idea
of forming a band had seemed like a cool thing to do. My Dad was in the
RAF and I grew up around the world but spent my formative teenage years in
Camberley, which was a sh!t hole with very little to do. In my youth I'd
grown up listening to The Stones, The Kinks and The Animals, the Beatles
were always a little too pop for me. As I discovered drugs and such I
moved onto a lot of the US bands of the time, one of my favourites being
Little Feat. In 1972 I went to university in Liverpool and discovered
reggae big time spending a lot of my time in various dub clubs. By this
time British music was crap and said very little to me or my world and
then in 1975 I saw the light when I bought the first Ramones album.
By that time there were already pre-punk acts like Kilburn & The High
Roads (Ian Dury) Deaf School starting to perform around the place and it
seemed like the right time to start thinking about forming a band.
Unfortunately the first guy I was trying to start a band with died so I
finished my degree and went to Canada for a while, working as a DJ playing
reggae the likes of which the Canadians had never heard. In 76 I was
kicked out of Canada and came back to work in a factory while planning my
next move. I was working in a factory the night the Pistols appeared on
the Grundy show and not long after the idea of forming a band seemed like
the most natural thing to do.
One of the problems with music at that time is that the majority of people
who were playing were all a bunch of musos so there was this misconception
that forming a band required deep musical ability. Most of the songs said
nothing to us, lyrically or musically. Long rambling jams and noodles on
guitar - a wankfest basically. So suddenly there were loads of us all
with something to say about the way our lives were going. Cutting our hair
and wearing straight trousers - that alone was enough to get you beaten up
in suburbia.
I was going out with a fabulous girl called Helga who was an aspiring
actress and did the occasional voice over gig. Anyway she got an invite to
some party in a rehearsal studio in Tooley Street, near London Bridge, and
a bunch of us went along. During the course of this party I was off my
head banging away on a typewriter in this office when a guy comes in and
asks me what the hell I thought I was doing so, full of attitude, I said
"writing a fcuking song". At this his eyes lit up and he asked me to
audition for him the following week. Of course I had no band but I knew a
guitar player, Gary Baker, and he and I pulled together a line up together
and wrote the first few tunes in a week and that was enough to kick us
into gear. The line up changed obviously. That was winter 1976.
How did the Members come to play their debut gig at the Roxy? Did "Fear On
The Streets" ever come out as a single? How did it end up on "Streets"?
[Nick Tesco] When we first started out we were managed by a couple of
dodgy guys, they ran the rehearsal studio where I'd gone for the party,
who were OK, just a little flaky. One of them had been to college with
Andy Czezowski and sorted us out with our one and only gig at the Roxy.
The club was already past its sell by date at this time but that didn't
bother us being as it was the first gig. Memorable mainly for being the
first and last time that I got very drunk prior to going on stage. Fear On
The Streets never came out as a single. It was one of the songs in our
early set and Adrian's, our drummer, brother is Steve Lillywhite. At the
time he was just starting out as an engineer and had been roped into this
project by Ed Hollis who was managing Eddie and The Hot Rods at the time.
They were looking around for unsigned acts to record and we got a shot.
What was the story
behind "Solitary Confinement"...was it a true story from your experience?
How did you come to put it out on a one off single on Stiff? Did you ever
hear the Newtown Neurotics version and if so what did you think of it? The
Members seemed to specialise in that type of story-telling song-writing
style, were bands like the Kinks an influence on this?
[Nick Tesco] JC wrote the majority of Solitary and it was based around his
life when he first moved up to London. He had a bedsit in Kilburn and
pretty much lived like the song said. The Newtownies version was OK but a
little angsty. The Kinks and various other acts were among our favourites,
story telling seems a good way of getting your point across and given that
most of the music that predated punk was pointless dirge (bit like
Coldplay) that bore little relationship to the way we lived it's not
surprising we looked for another way.
Was the success of
"Sound Of The Suburbs" a help or a hindrance to the band? Was it really
exciting at the time doing "Top Of The Pops" and hearing the song
everywhere? What do you feel when you hear the song now?
[Nick Tesco] I love the song but the funny thing is we were accused of
"selling out" because we'd had a hit whereas the Clash signed to this huge
monolithic major label and they're deemed to be revolutionaries. It was
really exciting and doing TOTP was a bit of an anticlimax being as it's
not really what you expect, but then dreams never are when they come true.
I'm proud of the song and there's a lot of people out there who see it as
one of the defining moments of punk.
How do you rate the
first two LPs now looking back? Is there anything you would do
differently? What's your favourite song on each LP?
[Nick Tesco] First album was great though I'd probably have included the
original single version on the album rather than the inferior re-recorded
version. I guess Don't Push
still rocks. The second album had great songs but dreadful production. The
producer was foisted on us as we had wanted to work with Niney the
Observer, who was very keen, but Virgin thought we'd disappear into a fog
of weed. I like Brian Was and Police Car a lot.
I read somewhere that in
1980 you did some recording with the late John McGeoch of
Magazine/Banshees fame...did that happen? Are there any recordings of this
material that are likely to be released?
[Nick Tesco] Unfortunately John and I never got round to recording
together though we did share a house for a couple of years.
I got the US version
of the 3rd LP and it sounded pretty odd....was it remixed for the US
market? You were having a bit of success there at the time, so why did the
band split soon after?
[Nick Tesco] The success was illusory, after the last US tour I'd had
enough of it all and walked on our return to the UK. The album was
produced by Martin Rushent and I guess he thought he could walk on water
at the time.
What musical ventures
did you partake in after the Members split?
[Nick Tesco] Before we split up I made a fantastic track with the new York
rapper J Walter Negro and a couple of musicians from New York. It was
called Cost Of Living and it's huge.
You did some acting, what films/TV were you in? Is it something you still
intend to pursue? Are you currently involved in any musical projects you
could let us know about?
[Nick Tesco] These days I just write about music. I was in 4 films that
were produced or directed by the award winning Finnish director Aki
Kaurismaki - Leningrad Cowboys Go America, Leningrad Cowboys meet Moses, I
Hired A Contract Killer and Iron Horsemen. It was probably one of the
wildest periods of my life but I don't think my liver would handle it now.
Finally, what are you best memories of you time with the Members?
[Nick Tesco] So many, hanging out in New York with I Roy, Talking Heads
and Blondie in 1979. Auckland in New Zealand in 80 - being welcomed like
The Beatles as we were the first UK punk band to play there, all the
insane times in places like Paris, Berlin (before the wall came down when
I missed the bus back to London as I'd been out all night with a black GI
and 2 hookers). Being in love with so many brilliant women and being on
stage every time we played because we were a truly amazing band live,
laying the groundwork for The Specials, Madness and many others.
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