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Patrik was born in Stratford,
East London in 1956 of Irish immigrant parents, lived in Leytonstone
in his mum's house and went to school in Forest Gate. English was his
best subject and he did some music at primary school learning the
cello before leaving with 6 o’levels. While at school he suffered bullying and
like so many other kids found music an escape.
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“I used to get picked on all the time cos I was small, so writing was
the outlet I had, the only way I could say what I felt about things. If
you’ve got a page in front of you you’ve got the freedom to say what
you want. Whereas if somebody’s saying ‘shut up’ or kicking you in the
back you ain’t got that freedom” NME 24.02.79 |
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I was a solitary
person and as a kid I was an archetypal loner. People thought I was a
nutter, a small fragile looking nutter by the time I was ten. I found
that I liked all sorts of stuff. I was brought up on pop and the Beatles
because my sister was a big pop fan but while she liked the Beatles I
was more drawn to stuff like The Animals, Yardbirds and Stones. I then
found my own way into Glam through like Bowie and Roxy Music, Sparks and
Cockney Rebel. The Doors sang ‘Music is your only friend’ and for me
growing up that was true basically. I spent a lot of my childhood early
teens just listening to music endlessly. I first got into guitar when I
was about 14 and my cousin, who liked the Beach Boys, played acoustic
guitar. When I was 14/15 I discovered guitars and started buying
second hand ones.
Leytonstone however wasn't the centre
of the rock'n'roll universe.
Music wise Leytonstone
was a no man’s land for music except the Red Lion which was part of
touring circuit. There was a bit of underground music there but no one
ever came from there or was really interested in going out there to that
part of London apart from to visit the Small Wonder record shop.
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