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How and when did you come
to join the band and at what stage were they at ? ie had they already written
songs and what did you contribute? Was the band just a scam ?
Steve Strange and
Chrissie Hynde wrote the songs. They'd given it up as bad idea when I went to
see Andrew Czezowski after I'd been sacked from the Ants. He had a bunch of
people hanging around from late 1977 fall out. On James Street he had a
rehearsal room in the basement, a boutique on the ground floor, an office on the
first and a publicist on the second. I'd known Steve (Harrington / Strange) from
Jordan's lot but Andy wasn't ready to give him a chance yet. Czezowski was
keener on setting up a psychedelic revival fronted by Gene Alexander (Chelsea :
Right to Work) called Love and Kisses but after I rehearsed with them for a few
weeks they decamped to the Police's label as Chelsea again while I decided to
stay with Andy and set up a new band. This is where Czezowski brought in Steve.
Were there two
versions of the band ? I mean you were a guitarist and Chrissie Hynde
was a guitarist. but you both never played together did you ?
Chrissie had been
one of the people hanging around Andy's building. Another one was Keith
Levine who had been in the Clash but was now basically out for smack
funds. The band Andy set up around me were the Photons : me on guitar,
John on bass and Vince on drums. Now he pulled in Steve Harrington on
vocals. We started rehearsing a few numbers but within a few days a
benefit came up at Holland Park Comprehensive for the NSPCC. Andrew
thought it would be a good time to pull out the Hindley numbers and the
the next day we had the the headlines : HOW COULD THEY BE SO CRUEL! My
favourite was a letter in the Sun : 'They must be Russians'. I was off
knobbing somewhere so missed the outrage. Chrissie hadn't done the gig
but posed with Steve and the others outside the James Street building in
balaclavas for the tabloids.
Did you play the
rehearsal gig in James Street in black hoods ?? Was Free Hindley ever recorded
by yourself or anyone else to your knowledge ???
People came in and out of
James Street all the time. I don't recall ever wearing a black hood. I think
Steve may have recorded Free Hindley off his own back after he left the Photons
but you'd have to ask him.
What was Sue Catwoman's
and Dave Goodman's role in the band ??
No idea. Dave
Goodman was on the publicity I suppose. I wasn't aware of any involvement
regarding Sue, but I did set some of her lyrics about a year later. Nothing came
of it.
What records companies
were interested in you and was a record ever really put out ? What was the
record company that wanted to release something by you ??
We did a demo as the
Photons produced by the sax player in Roxy Music. He brought his dogs to the
studio. Nothing came of it.
Did you ever play or
contemplate playing live ??? Were you involved in playing to Bruce Elder
of Sounds ??
Never
heard of him.
You went on to form The
Photons with Steve and Vince . What sort of music did you play ??
Syd Barrett sort of
stuff
Did you play live at all
?
We supported the Adverts
on a tour.
When and how did his end
?
The singer couldn't sing
and I got sick of it.
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