What
were the Worst trying to achieve? For most bands records are the aim but
you never recorded. Why was that? You weren’t even on the Last Night At
The Electric Circus!
"The disillusionment came when one by one the bands signed up with the big record companies, it was signing away the control. They took one look at the size of the cheque and went into the music machine, the very thing we thought punk was trying to get away from." IAN HODGES - Evening Post, 1986 10 year Punk retrospective
Odgie: Didn’t want to achieve anything as I recall, we were just doing it cos it was there and it was fun. When it stopped being fun we stopped doing it. People think Life is this huge complex thing they have to be uptight and serious about or somehow work it out or have some sort of goal or something. But the complexity’s all taken care of for you, just do what’s fun and don’t do things that aren’t fun, and you end up where you’re supposed to be anyway. Cosmic man. |
 |
Did you do any demos at
all?
Odgie: Never went near a studio. Richard Boon who managed the Buzzcocks used to tape our gigs when we supported them, but we never got any copies. He’s about the only person who’d have anything, but God knows where he is now.
What bands did
you support, places played. Reaction to you. Spitting, Violence wild
adulation?
Odgie: We supported Buzzcocks, Souxsie, Slits, Prefects, played the Roundhouse and two nights at the Marquee, a few Universities. Reactions ranged from bewilderment to people really getting into it. Cos a lot of what we did was improvised around a loose idea, it was never the same twice, some nights we really gelled and it came out greater than the sum of the parts and we’d look at one another and go fuck, where has this come from, and the audience would pick up on it and their feedback would inspire us more. Other times we’d be way too stoned and all end up playing different songs, which kinda freaked people out. We did a gig with the Automatics in Coventry, and smoked a whole bunch of Nepalese Temple Balls beforehand (we should have sussed when we offered some to their Rasta roadie and he backed right off). Needless to say we were
shite, the audience backed right off to the other end of the room, then someone shouted ‘Kill The Monster’ at us. We thought that was hilarious so by the next gig we had a song called Kill The Monster…
Robin: The Automatics was to become The Specials. They invited us up to
Coventry ‘cause I was on the Fine Art course with Jerry Dammers and the
“Rasta Roadie” was Neville! (Singer) The Manager of the club was Pete Waterman who refused to pay us ‘cause he said we were crap.
|
 |
"Alan then sings, his voice is amazing...he makes most of the lyrics up
as he goes along...with songs like 'Police'...'Rapist' and the great 'Gimme
Some Money'. This is real PUNK...The Worst want to be called a PUNK
band...When the Worst play it is real...the feeling is real...right down
to the end of their short set when Ian hits his kit apart."
Tony Moon Sounds 9.7.77 Manchester Squat gig
"They look as though
they’ve stepped right out of the industrial waste, totally uncompromising,
blinking in the spotlight. No ‘image’. They play not as thought their life
depends on it, but because it does. There’s a hunger there. A three piece;
the lead singer moves little, sings high – much is lost in the sound, and
when his guitar breaks, they call it a day, with only one song, ‘Fast
Breeder’, staying in the head. They’re haunting, seeming to epitomise the
evening’s movie perfectly."
Jon Savage Sounds 15.10.77 Last Night at The
Electric Circus 1977 |
|
"I don't know
how helpful I can be about The Worst....Ian Hodge on the drums, the
first kit was a Chad Valley children's one.....I remember them
playing at the Squat and that could have been their first gig. The
Buzzcocks were on, I remember that as Ian asked me to sing with them
and Pete Shelley also asked me to sing with the Buzzcocks....one of
those decisions in life where you wish you had said yes as that no
doubt would have been documented and then you win a place in punk
history!!!! Anyway I didn't........Alan played guitar. Ian and
Alan both came from Preston in Lancs. Ian collected American
vintage cars, Alan was married with a little boy, his wife was
called Linda. I remember Ian getting a tattoo and he made the gauze
that the tattooist had put on it into an earring!!! Funny how some
things stick in your mind!!"
Gail 2002 |
 |
Any difference
in playing down south to home in reaction and attitude?
Odgie: No, we didn’t really know were we were anyway.
 |
The Manchester scene seemed very cliquey with a very tight in crowd. Fair comment? Were bands like Slaughter, The Buzzcocks, Drones, Nosebleeds, Warsaw all pally?
Odgie: It might have seemed cliquey from the outside, inside there were the usual mild rivalries I guess. We weren’t really involved in it much, cos really we came from Preston…
"Evidently there
are two types of bands in Manchester, losely defined by myself as
Punks and Posers. On the former side so I can gather, are bands such
as the Drones, Slaughter & The Dogs, V" and several other
unknown outfits....In the ranks of the latter, so we are assured,
are bands such as the Buzzcocks, Fall, Magazine....and The Worst."
Drones Interview Terminally Blitzed Fanzine November 1977 |
You seemed to have some sort of feud with the Drones. What was going on there and why? I imagine your attitude to playing could well have got up other
bands/venues/dj’s noses who considered themselves more professional.
Odgie: They were a cabaret band, they just wanted to be famous and latched onto punk as a vehicle, it had nothing to do with being professional or not. There was no feud, we just thought they were poseurs. Bunch of tossers – end of story.
|
A two page
interview with The Drones in Terminally Blitzed Fanzine November
1977 turns into a mega slagathon of the The Worst with MJ Drone
threatening physical violence....
"Its not a bandwagon we just jumped on. You can't say the same for
the Worst...they've only been going for a few months, and when
they saw us making the breakthrough it really pissed them off.
They started saying we were plastic, jumping onto the bandwagon to
gain popularity, and even had a go at me because I've a sports
car....They're real bastards....They're a real bunch of
posers....the drummer hangs around the bar at Manchester Rafters
as though he's a superstar or something....Even the girls we hang
around with, they gob on them!" |
How and when did it all end?
Odgie: We got a bit famous, and people started coming to see us with expectations, we felt like we had to perform, and that took a bit of the fun and spontaneity out of it. Once we realized we were having more fun and making better noises in me dad’s garage than we were at gigs, we called it quits.
Robin: And the fact that, inevitably, we actually started to learn how to play our instruments, which defeated the object – we were no longer the worst.
What did you all do afterwards?
Odgie: We stopped being in the Worst
Robin: Got a job! (Grew up!)
The Worst are
legendary. But how does it feel though to have no musical legacy
only memories of your performances? How should the Worst be
remembered?
Odgie: I suspect most of our stuff probably wouldn’t live up to expectations, (Ha!) but when we were good we were really good, like a jam session when suddenly it all kicks in and goes off on one, you know? Like you’re not making the music anymore, it’s making you, coming from somewhere else, and the audience are in on the secret. Be nice if someone had captured that I suppose.
Robin: Our legacy is through people like you keeping the legend alive!! All adds to the mystique. |
 |
Anything to add?
Odgie: You never know….. …….and it doesn’t matter. |