|
Phil
Walmsley Sets the Record Straight - Skrewdriver 1976-78
The band existed as two very distinct entities, Skrewdriver Mk1 evolved
out of the punk explosion that gripped Britain in 1976. The early period
was all about the music, the fashion, and four lads from the north west of
England having a good time. Two years later the impetus had gone, bad
decisions had been made, key players had left and a lack of musical focus
led to their decline into a very average rock (not punk) band. They limped
on into early 1980 before finally expiring. Then two years later singer
Ian Stuart revived the name with totally different personnel and the full
National Front manifesto. Unfortunately the image of Skrewdriver will be
forever tarnished by the extreme political affiliations of this later
incarnation. People are entitled to their own opinions but this is not the
place to debate the rights or wrongs of Ian Stuart’s politics as expressed
through Skrewdriver Mk2. This is the story of those exciting early days of
76-78.
I met up with original guitarist Phil for the first time in 26 years at
the Thatched House, a pub in the centre of Poulton that we’d frequented on
many occasions in our youth. We talked for a long time and drank far too
much beer while looking back over his 15 minutes of fame with Skrewdriver.
At the end of the evening we agreed to meet up again, this time with my
tape recorder running. On 16th November 2003 we were ready to roll....
A word of explanation. Ian Stuart was the chosen stage name of Ian Stuart
Donaldson. As far as its owner was concerned the Donaldson surname wasn’t
really very rock ‘n roll. However to those of us who’d known him through
school and on into Skrewdriver he was Don, which is how Phil refers to him
in the words that follow.
The long hot British Summer of 1976 was a musical turning point for many.
Something was stirring, initially in London but the word soon spread
north. Members of Tumbling Dice, a rather uninspiring Poulton rock band,
headed for Manchester.
“Don and I, and I think the McKay twins, were at the Pistols second gig at
the Lesser Free Trade Hall, Manchester in July 76. The experience that
night was above all else the catalyst for what we did later. When I
started at University in September 76 a couple of guys who I met early on
were really into the up and coming punk scene. It was with them that I
started going over to Eric’s Club in Liverpool. We’d be there at every
opportunity and Don would come over at weekends and sleep on my floor. I
was the only one who had a car at the time so I had to drive everywhere.
During Freshers' week at Manchester University the Stranglers played at a
dingy little club called the Squat. They caused quite a stir, they weren't
a punk band as such but they had the attitude. During this period we set
about transforming what was left of Tumbling Dice into a serious punk
band, convinced we could compete with the best.”
Some sort of demo tape was needed to spread the word and hopefully win
over record company A&R men.
“We made the demo at Don's Dad's factory in Blackpool, the acoustics were
terrible, a great big draughty old warehouse, full of machinery. We didn't
have any decent recording equipment, we used Don's music centre [combined
turntable, tape deck, amp etc] which had a microphone input, it was pretty
dreadful but that's all we had. We ran off a few copies and sent them out.
This must have been about November 76. We liked the New York Dolls sound,
we covered Pills which was a regular part of our set all through 1977. We
did Gloria in a similar fashion to the Eddie and the Hotrods version, and
we used to do Louie Louie, we'd also written about half a dozen songs
ourselves. The originals were all written by Don and myself really, I
didn't write lyrics, apart from Better off Crazy, I'm not too sure what
inspired the lyrics to that! It was just a great guitar riff, it was the
first thing I wrote in the punk vein, rather in the style of Gloria.”
Chiswick Records, based in London’s Camden Town, liked the raw sound.
Roger Armstrong recalls his initial impressions.
"They sent in a tape from Blackpool with an hilarious photo of them in
torn blazers and flares standing in front of Blackpool Tower. The whole
thing was so gormless and the tape such a noise I couldn't resist. They
were part of that second generation of Punks inspired by the Pistols. I
think that the motivation for signing them was a reaction against the
studied arty side of the Pistols and the Clash as projected by their
management."
Chiswick, keen to get in on the action, wrote back straight away.
“We got a letter back from Chiswick which said that they were very keen
and would like to come and see the band in action. We couldn't believe it.
They were run by Ted Carroll and Roger Armstrong both Dubliners. Ted
formerly managed Thin Lizzy and he owned the Rock On record shop in Camden
Town which was a specialist record shop where you could buy obscure and
collectable records. It was a popular place, everybody who was part of the
music scene could be seen there at some time or other. Upstairs was the
office they used for Chiswick Records.”
Meanwhile the man from Chiswick was boarding a train at Euston Station and
heading for north west England.“Roger Armstrong caught the train up to
Blackpool and we said we'd meet him at the station. We wondered how we’d
recognise him. We didn't have any problem after he told us that there
wouldn’t be many people alighting from a train at Blackpool wearing red
winkle pickers and drainpipe jeans! He was right. He came to the factory
and listened to us go through our stuff, and he was really impressed, I
think we were all a bit taken aback. This guy knew the Pistols, he was
part of the scene in London, things we'd only read about. It was fantastic
really.”
The band needed a name, so a list of possibilities was drawn up and
Skrewdriver was chosen. A more polished recording was also required so
that Chiswick could assess their potential new assets in advance of
contract negotiations, and to help get them on the London gig circuit.
“They wanted us down to record some demos at the Riverside studio in
Hammersmith. We had to do all our recording after 10.00pm, they used to
book studio time overnight because it was half the price. They put us up
at a hotel in King’s Cross, Grinny managed to set the fire alarms off with
a cigarette. We had the attic room with the very low ceiling and Grinny
was lying on the bed smoking and the alarm went off. Everybody, including
some rather dodgy looking characters, had to tumble out onto the street in
the middle of the night.”
When not recording they were soaking up the vibrant north London
atmosphere and getting to know other Chiswick artists.
“Rock On had a stall on Camden Market at weekends. Camden Market was where
everybody used to hang out, it was where a lot of the first punk fanzines
and independent records were sold, gigs were advertised, badges, T shirts
etc. It was a really good scene, when we were in London we spent a lot of
time there, especially at weekends. We’d also hang out at the record shop
talking to Roger and Ted, making plans and all that sort of thing. The
101ers had been on Chiswick, although they’d split by then Joe Strummer
was still a regular visitor to the shop. Chiswick were also trying to sign
Elvis Costello but he went to Stiff. Motorhead were signed at the time, as
were the Count Bishops with Johnny Guitar who later joined the Feelgoods,
they also had a great band called the Gorillas. We used to go to each
other’s gigs, if any Chiswick band were playing we'd be there. It was just
ligging but it was great, a real eye opener at the time.”
Their first gig as Skrewdriver was actually a long way from London at
Manchester Polytechnic, Cavendish House in February 77, supporting
Chiswick stablemates Little Bob Story.“What a band they were, they did a
great version of the Small Faces' All or Nothing. We were so nervous it
was unbelievable, we'd never played in front of an audience properly, it
was packed. I reckon the vast majority of the student audience had never
actually seen a punk band but it went down really well. I can't remember
what we played, we just gave it our all for about half an hour and that
was it.”On a high they headed down to London to record the first single
You’re So Dumb/Better Off Crazy with Roger Armstrong.
“We'd done the demos from which they chose You're So Dumb, we weren’t
entirely convinced, we thought it was a bit too much of a thrash, but they
were the guys in the know, and they paid the money. We recorded the single
soon after”
16th April 1977 was their London debut supporting Johnny Moped at the Roxy
in Covent Garden. The gig was reviewed by the influential fanzine Sniffin’
Glue who were impressed.
“Chiswick then offered us a deal, the terms were that we'd have to
relocate, it was big decision time. Grinny, Kev and Don quit their jobs
straight away, so it all hinged on me, basically we had to go in April or
not at all. I was talked into it but in an attempt to keep my options open
I made it a condition that I had to be able to take my first year exams.
If things didn’t work out I'd have something to fall back on. They agreed
to that which was pretty good really, we had to go down in April and the
exams were coming up in May/June. I didn't tell my parents, they didn't
know until years later, I would ring them from London and pretend it was
Manchester. I ended up missing the last month of lectures at University,
then there was a few weeks for revision but I wasn't doing much of that!”
It was time to move to the big city, the accommodation was not exactly
luxurious.
“Chiswick had this arrangement with a landlady in Tufnell Park. She owned
a big Edwardian terraced house and we had one room for the four of us. No
beds, a double mattress and two singles on the floor and barely space
between them to tread, that was it! There was one bathroom between about
eight people and one horrendous kitchen. We survived on a diet of potatoes
and baked beans. The landlady was called Nora she seemed a bit unhinged at
times, she had two dogs and they weren't house trained so you had to watch
where you walked! The place was filthy. Chiswick paid the rent and they
paid us a wage £15 a week, that's all we got whatever we did. We could be
recording, gigging, or anything else but we still got our £15.”
There were other interesting people at the same address.
“We met Steve Harrington (soon to be Steve Strange) shortly after he
arrived from Cardiff. He had a room in Nora's house and worked as personal
manager for Generation X, whatever that entailed. He was unique and was
soon heralded as a punk fashion guru, he wasn't going to stick around with
us for long. He persuaded Don that he needed an image makeover if he was
to stand out from the crowd, and offered to take him shopping down the
King’s Road. Unfortunately Don was too 'cool' to try anything on! Much of
the stuff they got didn't fit or he never wore because of adverse comment,
with the exception of a pair of black leather pants. This was the start of
the Gene Vincent phase complete with dyed black hair, sideys and biker
jacket. I thought it suited his hard man image, but it didn't last for
long.”
The group needed somebody to take care of the non playing side of things.
“Chiswick employed a manager, a girl called Effie, she was from
Birmingham, I don't know what her real name was, she was full of
enthusiasm and energy. I think she'd been around the punk scene since the
beginning, she had an impressive list of acquaintances which included
Chris Miller aka Rat Scabies. I guess she was paid a wage by Chiswick, it
was up to her to make sure we got where we were supposed to be on time and
PAs were hired and the gear was alright. We never knew how the gigs came
about, how much we were 'paid' for gigs, or what agents they used, it was
all sorted out by Chiswick and Effie. We just got our £15.”
Skrewdriver’s roadie/van driver was already part of the punk scene.
“We didn’t have a roadie at first, but when we started gigging quite a lot
we hired a guy called Paul Hurding. When we met him he was playing drums
with Shag Nasty, a punk band from World's End, a council estate down at
the end of King’s Road. They were keen but pretty dire, they used to
support X Ray Specs every Sunday night at a pub called the Man in the
Moon. On Sunday nights that was the place to go. Loads of people used to
go down there, the Pistols would occasionally be there, after the gig
there'd always be a party at a flat somewhere on the estate. We met Paul
down there, he'd been at a few of our gigs, we recognised him, he had a
van, he was fed up with Shag Nasty so he came to work for us. I think he
was on a wage from Chiswick, he was only with us for a few months then he
was offered the drum seat in X Ray Specs. One week he was our roadie, next
week he was off to the USA with X Ray Specs after they signed a major
record deal.”
BP Hurding was drummer with X Ray Specs until they split, he was later a
founder member of Classix Nouveau who were fronted by the bald,
charismatic vocalist Sal Solo and had a sizeable hit with Guilty.
“So that was the team, the four of us, Paul and Effie. Effie was with us
all the time. If the music press were there she was in her element, the
Paul Morleys and Julie Burchills of this world. Burchill gave us a real
slating in the NME on one occasion and Don hated her guts.”
Experiences on the London gig scene were many and varied. Although
technically no great singer, Don was beginning to build the aggressive
swagger and confidence that made him a good frontman.
“The Roxy became a regular, we played there quite a few times, that was
the place to be. Dingwalls, we did on more than one occasion. I remember
the gig with the Movies, that was pretty early, a bit of a difficult one.
The Movies were a Sad Cafe type band, melodic rock, really good musicians,
fantastic gear and the place was full of their fans. I vaguely remember
doing the Oaks in Chorlton (Manchester), that was a long way to go as we
were based in London by then. We did quite a lot of gigs at the Roxy on
our own, some with Sham 69, I remember playing there with the Models, the
Cortinas, Johnny Moped. The Marquee we did more than once, three times I
think. I remember vividly doing the Marquee with Chelsea on the day
England had played Scotland at Wembley, the place was full of football
supporters and it was a really great night we just couldn't go wrong. I
reckon we headlined there once and supported a couple of times, but it was
the highlight of the whole thing for me. It was just such a nostalgic
place, the dressing rooms hadn't changed they'd never painted it, it was
just covered in graffiti. It was a real buzz to play there.”
Note for football aficionados, Phil was correct, 4th June 1977, Wembley,
England 1 (Channon) Scotland 2 (McQueen, Dalglish). Oh dear!
A live recording exists of a June 77 gig at the Marquee, the actual date
is uncertain. It’s a bit rough, probably courtesy of a mike in the
audience rather than through the desk. If you can get beyond the recording
quality a tight and energetic band emerges, no doubt the result of many
evenings on the London punk circuit. Frequency of gigging was erratic,
there would be gaps of a week or two, then some sort of mini tour, four or
five gigs on the trot. Some of the support slots were with well known
acts.
“We did quite a few gigs with the Damned. They were on a much bigger tour
and we were doing three dates with them in south London and then down to
the coast. We did Hastings Pier Pavilion at the height of the summer and
the place was full of deckchairs! The last time I'd been there was on
holiday with my parents when I was about 14 and they let me go and see
Status Quo. The next time I was there we were playing! It was a huge
pavilion and there could only have been about 200 people there, you could
see that beyond about 20 rows of people it was just deckchairs. I used to
love playing with the Damned they were great, I think we got those gigs
through Effie because of her friendship with Chris. I remember standing in
the wings at one of their gigs and what Chris Miller used to do was he'd
cover his drum skins with talcum powder and then the first beat at the
start of the first number he'd just hit everything as quick as he could
and he'd just disappear in a cloud of white dust, it was a great effect
especially with a bright light behind.“
As well as the London circuit there were a few provincial gigs.
“We went out to High Wycombe there was a venue there, the Greyhound?
Dunstable I seem to recall playing, and we went up to Birmingham to play
at a big club called Rebecca's. That was a bad night because we had to
come off. The crowd were all tabloid punks who thought it was cool to
shower the artistes in saliva. Absolutely awful, it was like standing in a
rain storm, a horizontal rainstorm, we went on and it was just coming at
us, after the first number we just stopped. The DJ said it had to stop or
we wouldn’t be back, so we came back on and a bit later a fight broke out
and they'd started spitting again, somebody threw a glass at the stage, so
we had to go off again. The promoter called it off, we'd only done about
four or five numbers, but that was it so we were back in the van to
London. It was a pretty grim experience. We didn't really venture anywhere
north of Birmingham until later versions of the group. We were really
concentrating on London.”
Things didn’t always run smoothly and there were a few setbacks.
“Sometime around July we’d played the Roxy, all the gear had been taken
out and loaded into the van. We'd locked up and gone back inside for a
drink, and when we came out the van with all the gear was gone, never to
be seen again. Chiswick had to buy us new gear, but there was a delay with
the insurance money while the claim was verified. We had a series of gigs
coming up so we had to go on the scrounge and Effie knew Paul Weller's Dad
quite well. He was managing the Jam, and she arranged for me to borrow
Paul's gear for a week because they weren't gigging at the time. I met
Paul and his Dad in the Ship Inn on Wardour Street and he gave me his
Rickenbacker and Vox AC30 and off I went. Then we met a week later and I
handed it back, we had a few jars and that was that.”
Another nasty moment occurred after a gig at which Skrewdriver were
supported by a new band called the Police who were being groomed for
stardom.
“I think it was at the Railway in Putney, we didn't know who the support
was going to be, never did really. There were a lot of Press there, more
than there would be for us, so we got the feeling something was going on.
They used all our back line, apart from the drums, Stewart Copeland would
only use his own kit. I don't particularly remember listening to what they
were doing. After the gig while we were loading up the van a nearby rock
'n roll club was just emptying out, all these Teds were coming down the
road and spotted us. The van was surrounded and we got a right pasting.
The police were soon on the scene and the Teds all ran off, but Grinny had
been knocked to the floor with a mike stand, one of those with a really
heavy metal base, it had come down on his face and before we knew it he
was off in an ambulance. We later found he'd lost several teeth and had
lots of stitches.”
There was even a fleeting TV appearance, if only we could get our hands on
the tape.
“It was a show fronted by Janet Street-Porter, she was just an up and
coming TV presenter at the time. I think it was for Thames TV, they were
doing an item on the punk scene and she wanted to interview us at a café
in Notting Hill. We went along and all the lights and cameras were there,
we just sat in the café and JSP asked the questions, this lasted about 5
minutes of which about 20 seconds ended up in the programme. Unfortunately
I was out of shot, Don, Grinny and Kev were all on but somehow they missed
me. I didn't actually say anything, as I recall she talked about Grinny
and how he lost his teeth. I never actually saw the programme. Apparently
Marc Riley (Mark Radcliffe’s sidekick ‘Lardy Boy’) found a videotape of it
and has threatened to send it to me!”
Back in Phil’s parallel universe of academia the pressure was on.
“I did my University exams, they put me on the overnight train from Euston
to Manchester, I'd take the exam in the morning and get the train back to
London in the afternoon. I think the exams lasted for about a week and a
half, I don't think I slept, I think they gave me some chemicals to keep
me awake. In the end I narrowly scraped the pass mark in the exams, so at
the end of the summer if things didn't work out I had something to go back
to.”
Word of Skrewdriver’s growing reputation in the capital had not gone
unnoticed back home. There was talk of a showcase gig in Blackpool, but
some of the natives were restless.
“Yes, the Blackpool Council fiasco. Chiswick thought it was a great idea
for us to play in Blackpool on the bandstand in Stanley Park, it was going
to be a Sunday afternoon punk festival with us headlining. Everything was
arranged, then objections were raised and after convening a special
meeting it was blocked, they didn't want that kind of thing in Blackpool.
Although the festival didn’t happen there was high profile coverage in the
local paper the Evening Gazette which Chiswick looked on as good
publicity. We were a bit disappointed to be honest, I think we quite
fancied coming back and playing in Blackpool. That was going to be the
showcase gig. We actually didn't come back to the Fylde much that summer,
just a couple of times I think.”During the early part of the summer
rehearsals were taking place in advance of recording sessions.
“We had to get a few more songs together, we were using a rehearsal studio
which was once quite famous. Studio 51, Great Newport Street was a really
happening place in the 60s, the Stones had a residency there and all the R
'n B bands from that time used to play there. It wasn't a club any more I
think it was mainly use for storage, that's where we got it together for
the album.”Sessions started in earnest during August.
“We were back at Riverside and once again it was mainly at night, the
engineer was a guy called Neil, good bloke, laid back long haired hippy
type. He was very experienced which was just as well because we were
complete novices in the studio. All the songs were written by Don and I,
apart from the covers of course, but he wrote most of the lyrics. That's
an acoustic guitar on Where's it gonna end actually I think Don wrote that
riff. The recording sessions were great, it was all new and exciting,
although Don would get bored because he didn't smoke and neither did Kev
so they'd go off somewhere. It was quite a time consuming process, it
would sometimes take several hours just to get the drum sound! We did a
few guitar overdubs. Most of the vocals were double tracked to give it
more power which meant that Don had to sing the same vocal exactly the
same twice.”
Were the band happy with the finished product?
“As a package it was a bit of a novelty record, it spun at 45rpm and
lasted 26 minutes. Some of the tracks were quite good, I'm quite happy
with the part I played bearing in mind the limitations of the time but
some of the lyrics are a bit trite. I don't think we got involved enough
in the mixing, the bass sound isn't good, some of the tracks are just not
charged, not angry enough. Actually the earlier session for the single
produced a much more powerful sound.”
Not having a huge advance to work with usually meant that the quality of
the equipment was little more than average.
“It was a bit frustrating at times, we didn't use valve amps, so there
wasn’t that really great Marshall sound. The Pistols’ sound was fantastic,
but then if you look at the gear they had they were playing through Fender
amps, Gibson Les Paul guitars, Fender Precision bass. We were using
transistor amps with 4x12 Cabinets and it was a struggle, not many people
used pedals then, so to try and get the sound you wanted you just had to
overdrive your amp which was pretty unsatisfactory.”
Back out on the road things were beginning to get a bit unpleasant as the
summer progressed.
“The violence was becoming a regular occurrence, Don had started knocking
around with a few people who were that way inclined. We played a gig with
999 at the Music Machine which was also the Boomtown Rats' debut, we'd
played a good set and so had 999, then Geldof came on with long hair and
posing about like Jagger. Don was getting very angry and this guy took it
upon himself to teach Geldof a lesson on Don's behalf, or that's how it
was seen. He strode up onto the stage walked straight up to Geldof and hit
him hard, knocking him over, there was blood everywhere. He then just
walked off the other side of the stage and wasn't even thrown out. He came
back and stood with us! Don was laughing and patting him on the back. I
was very uncomfortable with this, I didn't want any part of it, I think
that was perhaps the start of it. The word got round that these people
were acquaintances of ours, although in reality they were acquaintances of
Don's.”
Time was almost up for Phil, disagreements over songwriting credits and
the image change were bringing things to the boil.
“I finally quit after things came to a head at Shepperton Studios. We were
having a photo session, Roger Armstrong came in and said that the album
was due out soon and we needed to sort out the publishing rights for
royalties. Who wrote what? Don was adamant that I had not had a
significant input to the song writing, we argued about it and he turned to
take a swipe at me which I dodged. That was the final straw as far I as
was concerned, he wanted to go down the skinhead route, I was not happy
about that at all. From his point of view I was going to stand in his way
so I think he was looking for some way to get me out. The others had
agreed to shave their heads, I was under serious pressure, their view was
we were getting nowhere and this was our new direction. Don needed to
create some sort of rift to get me out and he got what he wanted.”
The record company had to grin and bear it.
“Chiswick seemed to understand, they weren't happy with the bad image that
was developing because of our new following. They were putting money in
and we needed to promote the product but we couldn't get the gigs, so
there wasn't much point in making any more records. I think they would
have been quite happy to write off the contract if they'd had the choice.”
Roger Armstrong, “The original band were a great punk band, they were
about as raw as it gets. The skinhead image was a fashion thing, maybe in
hindsight a bit misconceived.”
Phil was replaced by Poulton hard man Ron Hartley who had played in
various other local bands.
“Ron was quickly on the scene, he looked the part, he had been a skinhead
in the past and was quite happy to be one again. There was never any hard
feelings between him and me, nor Grinny, but for a while of course to Don
I was beneath contempt. I think Effie drifted off the scene around this
time, she wasn't happy with the image change and the violence. I think she
went back to Birmingham. It was all compressed into about 9 months, but I
think I got the best out of it, I didn't have to put up with the painful
demise. Shortly after I left I was offered an audition with Adam and the
Ants but I wasn’t really interested, I suppose it could all have been very
different but I've never regretted it. I went back to university having
missed the first four weeks of term.”
All Skrewed Up was finally released in early November 1977. Although Ron
Hartley is featured on the album sleeve the original liner notes
acknowledged that Phil played all the guitar parts. Roy Carr in the New
Musical Express, the UK’s most influential rock publication, gave it the
thumbs up. His closing comments were very positive.“Skrewdriver don't need
to warm up other people's leftovers because in singer Ian, these Blackpool
boot-boys have (potentially) one of the best gravel throated vocalists to
emerge this year, whilst Ron (guitar), Kev (bass) and Grinny (drums) give
the listener the distinct impression that they would be better deployed on
more adventurous chords and rhythms.”
"Although Chiswick were a small label they had distribution and publishing
deals with some of the big companies, I'm sure EMI were one of them, so
their records were sold all over the world. I didn't get any royalties
while I was with the band, the publishing hadn't been sorted out properly,
it always takes time to come through. Then every three months or so
royalty cheques and statements were sent to my Mum and Dad's address, this
went on for a couple of years until they deleted the records from the
catalogue. It wasn't a fortune of course but it was amazing to see the
statistics. The statements would detail how many copies of which record
had sold in which country and what the royalty was. We sold records all
over the place, Australia, Canada, we sold a lot in Scandinavia. I think
Anti Social sold about 14000 copies in the first two weeks in the UK."
Were there ever any indications of the future Skrewdriver political
agenda?
“Our music did not have any serious political content, I don’t recall Don
being politically active at the time, other than the normal sexual/racist
prejudices that prevailed. There was however, always an aggressive
undercurrent with Don, ever since school. He was a volatile character,
always prone to explosions of violence at the least provocation,
especially after a drink. He was great fun to be with most of the time,
very generous, he would always buy you a pint if you were skint, always
back you up if you got in a sticky corner. A great pal when your face
fitted. Above all, he sought notoriety and attention, which he finally
achieved.”
At this point we jump forward a few months into early 1978, to a time well
documented in Mark Radcliffe's book ‘Showbusiness: Diary of a Rock ‘n Roll
Nobody.’ This is essential and frequently hilarious reading for anybody
with an earthy sense of humour, particularly if they were in their late
teens in the late 70s, and in possession of a love for the less
sophisticated hybrids of rock ‘n roll. Phil and Mark first met at
University in 1976 and have remained close friends ever since.
“Don and Kev came back to Manchester at some point around January 78, I
think the band only limped on for a couple more months after I left. Don
ended up at the flat Mark and I rented for quite a while, he was still a
skinhead which made things a bit awkward at times. He was as nice as could
be because he needed us now. We started going to gigs, he still had the
Chiswick contract, he wanted to get something together so he found this
guy from Oldham, a sort of entertainments agent, who persuaded us to
reform but with Ron on guitar and me on bass. We needed a drummer so Mark
was asked and he agreed. Very quickly the agent got us a headline gig at a
festival at Groningen in Holland. The week before the Vibrators had
headlined and the week after it was Lindisfarne!! We ‘borrowed’ Grinny’s
drumkit out of his garage while he was away and began a week of rehearsal
in a church hall in Poulton. We had a couple of guys with a big Mercedes
van and a great PA to do the sound for us over in Holland. Apparently they
used to be the singer and drummer out of Shabby Tiger, a 70s glam rock
band. Anyway it poured down all weekend, it was badly organised, it ran
late, and we were blown away by some band from Newcastle. By the time we
went on the weather was awful the sound was dire and people were drifting
away. On the way back our agent was stopped at customs and we never saw
him again, the main problem was he had all the money. The two lads out of
Shabby Tiger were not happy, they just took us to the M6 and dropped us
off at the first service station. We had to hitch back.”
This line up continued for a few months gigging at a variety of places in
northern England and even up to Scotland on one occasion, Dumfries I
believe.
“We teamed up with Bitch who were led by ex Drones guitarist Gus Gangrene
(aka Gary Callender), with Glenn Jones also on guitar, a guy called Gabby
on bass, a strange peroxide girl singer called Charlie, and Martin Smith
on drums. We did about a dozen gigs with them. At the Mayflower in
Manchester I cut my left hand quite badly on a broken glass after fooling
around with Gus/Gary backstage. There was blood everywhere, I should have
been stitched really, but we were due on in 10 minutes, so I bandaged it
with a towel and went on and played."
"We did a gig at Sutton in Ashfield which the so called promoter had
failed to advertise and nobody turned up. He paid us in beer and we all
got absolutely hammered. At the end of the night we all jammed together,
Don with Glen and Gus both of Bitch on guitars, me on bass, along with the
Bitch drummer. The police turned up because of the noise and asked who was
driving the van, which was a good question as most of us were incapable of
even standing up. They drove us and the van to the nearest lay-by outside
their jurisdiction and told us to stay there until the morning. Mark and I
had had enough by then and quit soon after.”
Ron Hartley was dropped soon after.
“Ron's style of playing was more rooted in the blues, he was really very
good, but he didn't really have the right style for the chord thrashing
that was required. His influence was Clapton and Page whereas mine was
Townshend and Wilko Johnson, so perhaps my style was more suited to the
punk thing.”
Don was still keen to carry on though, his music was no longer punk as
such, more like high energy rock.
“Don ended up living at Sean McKay's student house in Salford. He decided
it was time for a change again and that the music scene needed a good rock
band! He rang me up and was so enthusiastic and persuasive that I went
along with it. Grinny was back on drums, Kev McKay was on bass, I was on
guitar and Chris Cummings also joined on guitar. I remember going round to
Chris’ house in Blackpool with Don, we persuaded him to quit his job and
join the band! I think we did about three gigs the most memorable one
being the support slot with Motorhead at King George’s Hall in Blackburn.
Not long into the gig Lemmy somehow broke his bass and borrowed Kev's. He
practically wrecked that too, it was a sorry sight at the end, covered in
deep scratches from the bullet belt he always wore. We were pretty
dreadful really, the material was crap, mainly new stuff that Don had
written, plus a few leftovers from earlier times, anything that could be
done in a rock vein. It all fell apart very soon.”
Thus ended Phil’s final chapter with Skrewdriver. He has continued to play
music, often in the company of long time friend and well known broadcaster
Mark Radcliffe whose book documents many of Phil’s post Skrewdriver
musical activities.
Many thanks to Phil for his time and patience on this project, it was
great to catch up with him again after all these years and to discover
that his memory banks are still in good working order.
|
