mercredi 12 septembre 2012

Drei Oklok interview - Combat - 1985

 interview dans "Combat " - 1985


DREI OKLOK est originaire de Fumel , comme Les Ablettes . Le groupe participe aux compils Chaos vol1 et Chaos in Europe . Bien que le groupe se qualifie comme étant un groupe de Rock'n Roll tout simplement , Drei Oklok , c'est sans surprises, dans prétention et le fun est présent avant tout .

Où en est le groupe actuellement ?
DREI OKLOK : Actuellement,le groupe se porte pas trop mal après avoir eu une "GROSSE COUILLE".On s'est fait braquer tout le matos ,la veille d'un tremplin que nous avons fait quand même grâce a des copains qui nous ont prêté le leur. Nous avons pas repété depuis deux semaines,pas eu de balance et pourtant tout s'est bien passé,puisque nous avons remporté le tremplin.Ça a été un concert avec une certaine haine,quand des connards te piquent pour 2 battons et demi" de matos quand on sait la galère que c'est pour se le payer...  

Avez vous des projets vinyliques , concerts ...?
Nous avons des projets de vinyl avec un mini L.P en début d'année,pour un label parisien,mais je ne peux rien dire de plus.

 Y a t'il une bonne scène à Fumel ?
 UNE BONNE SCENE A FUMEL????En un mot Fumel C'EST LE ROCKET LE RESTE ON EN A RIEN A FOUTRE.  

Envisagez vous de faire des concerts à l'étranger ?
Jouer à l'étranger,c'est toujours intéressant mais pour le moment, nous attendons des contrats valables.  





Que faites vous en dehors du groupe ?
Les DREI travaillent et ce n'est pas un peché .  

Que pensez vous de la scène rock française ?
La scène française se porte pas trop mal,y a du bon et du moins bon,chacun ses goûts.  

Pourquoi ce nom de Drei Oklok ?
Si on te le demande tu diras que tu n'en sais trop rien,car nous n'en savons rien nous même.Non,nous avons voulu un nom qui accroche bien,c'est pour cela que nous avons mis DREI en allemand et OKLOK,pas comme l'heure en anglais ;beaucoup se plante,n'est -ce pas?  

Etes vous un groupe fun ?
Je n'aime pas trop qualifier notre musique,mais pour les paroles,on peut dire plutôt FUN.  

Le mot de la fin ?
Nous avons une K7 de 5 titres en vente pour 30 FRS .

mercredi 29 août 2012

Systeme D - Kontagion - 1985





 interview dans "Kontagion" - 1985


- Pourquoi avoir fait un groupe (histoire)
Pour le fun. L'histoire du groupe serait trop longue à expliquer, en gros, création en Août 1983 , 1er disque en Mai 84.

- Vos influences ?
Le punk 77

-
Que pensez vous des groupes de Rouen, Avez-vous des rapports avec eux ?
La scène rook Rouennaise est assez variée . Nous entretenons de bons rapports avec : Les Vermines
,Les Tweed, Les Flics, Les Sound Affects, Les Skin-Korps. En général on se sert les coudes.

- Que pensez vous du zine "On a faim" ?
On connait pas trop bien .

- Point de vue sur la scène Française ?Beaucoup sont décevants, on aime bien Oberkampf, Vatican, Caméra Silens.

- Que pensez vous du racisme ?
Nous sommes racistes envers les CONS,  ni "Touche pas à mon pote" ni LE PEN.

- Aimez vous le  HardCore et leTrash ?"

On aime pas le Hard Core.  Le Thrash ??!! !
(inconnu au bataillon, une nouvelle forme de smurf ?

- Quand vous écoutez un disque , portez vous plus d'attention à la musique ou aux paroles ?

En Anglais on fais plus attention à la musique , à la traduction on est parfois surpris .
En français on écoute les deux.

- Vos projets ?
Plus de concerts et un 2eme 45 T pour la fin 86 .

En écoute , "Loser" de Systeme D : ici


mercredi 22 août 2012

Sub Kids interview - Le Dékapsuleur - 1984

interview dans "Le Dékapsuleur" _ 1984


LES SUB KIDS SONT UN GROUPE ROCK DE DUNKERQUE INFLUENCES PAR LA VAGUE PUNK DE '77 SANS POURTANT RENIER LE ROCK & ROLL-BLUES.IL EST COMPOSE DE: Fred Rok...Guitare-Chant , Scum Chant-Guitare , Freddy Batterie , Steve M....Basse , JL & Zira. . .Roadies .
  

- Date de formation du groupe?
janvier 78. En fait, mon frère et moi (Fred & Scum), on jouait depuis 76 dans un groupe punk "SPIDERS" ;et après on a formé les KIDS.  


- Faites vous de la musique à plein temps ? Non,on bosse tous.Soit au chantier, soit à l'usine;mais on est quand même pas mal dans la musique.  


- Vos influences musicales ?
Ca va d'Elvis aux Damned ! on aime tous les vrais groupes rock notamment la cuvée 77 (Clash-Saints-Eater-et le reste).  


- Pourquoi chantez-vous en anglais ?
 Parce que le rock est anglais, et on écoute que ça.On est à 30 bornes de Douvres, alors le reste de la France est bien loin.






 - Combien de titres avez-vous?
On a plus de 100 morceaux et quelques reprises (Undertones,Boys ,Ruts. . . )  


- De quoi parlent vos chansons ?
De tout, des bringues, de bière, de marins buveurs, de femmes, de ROCK quoi!


 - Comment c'est passée la rencontre avec CHAOS PRODUCTIONS?
Au départ par téléphone, et on a fait la bande qu'on leur a envoyée. Ce sont des gars sérieux, et ils font pas mal de trucs pour aider les groupes.


 - Etait-ce votre premier morceau sur vinyl?
Non,on a fait le 1er 45t avant.


 - Beaucoup de concerts à votre actif ?
En 7 ans,je ne peux pas compter tous les concerts . (dans les CET, en passant par les bistrots, clubs, bals , caves , festivals, foyers de marins )


 - Ca bouge à Dunkergue ?
Y'a pas mal de groupes et pas mal de concerts dans les cafés, ce qui est bien pour 1 'ambiance, car la bière coule à flot !  


- Avez-vous des contacts avec des groupes de la région? (ex: SNIX)
Non, pas tellement, je connais un peu les SNIX,mais ils ne sont pas d'ici, alors on se voit pas du tout.


 - Que pensez vous du mouvement SKIN/PUNK en France?
Ca nous interesse pas vraiment car nous ne sommes pas punks; juste un simple Rock-band !  


- Des projets vinyliques ?
Peut etre un mini album l'an prochain,sinon on accepte toutes propositions de concerts...  


- La scène parisienne ne vous tente pas ? 
  On a déjà joué 2 fois à Paris, et on en garde pas de très bons souvenirs!


- La politique c'est quoi pour vous ? (cochez au choix)
 1-C'est quoi?
 2-Ca pue!
 3-Truands
 Les gens qui font de la politique feraient mieux de dépenser leur fric à envoyer de la bouffe et des médicaments en Afrique au lieu de nous emmerder avec leurs beaux discours (La gauche comme la droite ! )



En écoute , "Kids of glory" des Sub Kids : ici





vendredi 17 août 2012

Panik LTDC interview - Le Dekapsuleur - 1984




 interview dans "Le Dékapsuleur" - 1984

3 jours après leur concert au forum  , nous avons rencontré dans leur local Les Troubadours Du Chaos,afin d'avoir leur impressions sur le concert et pour vérifier si ce sont des garçons charmants (cf "Les troubadours du chaos").
RESULTAT: Ils n'ont pas menti!


Panik LTDC , c'est : CHRISTIAN Chant , GUY Guitare , NOEL Basse , PIERRE Batterie et BERNARD....Manager

- Comment avez-vous trouvé le concert de lundi ?
P:Ca c ' est bien passé de notre coté .Ce doit être notre meilleur concert.

- La salle vous a-t-elle plu ?
P:Oui,1'accoustique était super.mais c'était mal aéré,on étouffait .Sinon,ils auraient pu enlever quelques sièges de plus devant la scène

- Votre concept était un peu court.Etait-ce voulu ?
P: oui tout d'abord parce que c'était une première partie,et puis on a rien touché comme tune,alors on voulait pas se défoncer. Quand on passera seuls , ce sera plus long.

- Pourquoi avoir commencé votre set  à fond puis brusquement ,jouer les morceaux plus lents ? 
P : ils ne sont pas vraiment plus lents,c'est l'ambiance de ces morceaux qui fait ça. On a voulu
faire une deuxième partie plus melodique, jouer du PANIK et pas du rock vu par PANIK, et pas se mettre dans un créneau .







- Est ce le signe d'une évolution  ?
P: oui,au début un groupe s' imprègne de l'ambiance environnante , ensuite si il veut progresser , il faut qu'il évolue . On cherche un style plus personnel.

- N 'avez-vous pas peur ainsi de perdre une partie de votre public?
P: Non.on évolue pour ne pas s'enfermer dans un créneau et pas mal de gens le comprenne bien.

- Le  punk en 84, souvenir ou réalité ?
(Grosse discution ! )
Noel et Guy: Un souvenir...
Christian :Une continuité bizarre,  J'ai bien connu l'esprit '77 ,auiourd'hui c'est différent.
Pierrer : En '77 , c'était bien,mais aujourd'hui c'est des poses de branleurs !

- Vous considérez vous comme punks alors ?
A l 'origine oui,maintenant on se dirige vers un style plus personnel .

- L'ambiance du concert était un peu froide,non?
P: Oui et non.Les gens s'éclataient mais y'avait un feeling bizarre.C ' est un phénomène de mode parisienne.

- Christian ,pourquoi ces vêtements sur scène?
C : Pour prouver que l'habit ne fait pas le moine.On ne veut pas de clichés.Et puis parce quej 'aime bien les vieux costards .


- Pourquoi cet harmonica ?
P : faut délirer un peu! On a même envisagé une fois de faire un morceau avec de la cornemuse , mais pour en trouver une, c'est pas évident .

- Pourquoi avez-vous modifié "ballade pour un shoot" ?
P : Parce qu' on en avait marre de la jouer : fallait changer ou jeter,et comme cette chanson est lié à l'histoire du groupe on l'a modifiée pour la garder.

- Comment avez-vous fait pour faire la première partie des VIBRATORS ?
P : C'est VECU qui nous a contacté.Au début il  nous demandait de la  tune alors on avait refusé:puis ça a changé. Il faut dire que sans RTH et nous les VIBRATORS n'auraient jamais joué .


-Pourquoi ?
P : Parce qu ' ils ne trouvaient pas une salle !

- Avez-vous aimé leur concert ?
P : Oui,ils ont surtout  joué les anciens morceaux.C'était plus rock que punk (genre OTH).

- Avez-vous eu des rapports avec eux ?
P : très peu et de toute façon on en gardera pas un grand souvenir! Ils nous prenaient pour leur roadies!

- Les compilations "1984" et "LA FRANCE PROFONDE",vous avez aimé ?
P: Pas tellement,on a fait ça vite,c'était des copains.Par contre pour les petits groupes c'est excellent.

- Piaf, vous aimez ?
P : L ' esprit.mais ce qui est important c'est la chanson ; en plus c'est toujours marrant de faire une reprise.

- Vos groupes préférés ?
P : C'est très varié.C'est pas vraiment les groupes mais certaines chansons.On fait un tri. Les anciens KILLING JOKE pour tous,sinon un  peu reggae,un tout petit peu de béguine (NJLR : Pierre s'insurge!).Noël écoute CRUXIFIX,Christian certains GBH.  "London Calling"  fait l'unanimité .

- Un 33 tours bientôt ?
P: en 85 mais on sait pas quand . On travaille pour, ce qui est sur , c'est qu'on en sortira plus que le 1er .

- Vous en avez tiré combien ?
P : 2000 exemplaires. Pour le 2eme , ce sera au minimum 5000 , faut décoller. Tant qu'un groupe ne vit pas de sa musique , c'est la galère .
 
- Vivez vous de votre musique ?
P : Non, et en plus on est au chômage !

- Le prochain disque toujours autoproduit ?
P : on ne sait pas .L 'autoproduction c'est bien beau mais faut de la tune et puis ça va pas loin dans la distribution .Et comme on veut faire quelque chose de sérieux...A la limite il sera co-produit.

- Qui fait les textes et la musique?
P: C'est Christian pour les paroles et Guy trouve une idée pour la musique et on s'y met tous. On est très homogènes . On discute.On est jamais radicalement opposé à une idée.




- PANIK,est-ce votre vie ?
P: Oui .Dans les paroles on bluffe pas,ce serait trop grave.Si on veut faire quelquechose de bien,  faut y croire.

- La bière,vous aimez ?
(NDLR:Question idiote vu la rapidité avec laquelle les nôtres  ont été englouties ! ! !)
P: Oui,surtout les bonnes .Mais on aime aussi la vodka ou le whiskv quand on est invités !



- PANIK et les skins?
P: 0n sait pas d'où elle sort cette histoire...encore un bruit qui courre.On a rien contre eux,y'en avait bien au concert,ils s'éclataient comme les autres.Les skins de provinces sont plus cools qu'à Paris,ils traînent avec les keupons sans problèmes.

- Un souhait ?
P: Que le public comprenne que les concerts c'est aussi pour eux,et que si à chaque concert c'est la merde tout le monde en pâtira.C'est déjà assez la galère pour trouver une salle .


mercredi 25 juillet 2012

Brian Kotz , The Back To Zero 's singer

- Who are you , where are you come from ... Brian Kotz. Born 1961. Always lived in North London, most of my formative years spent in the Barnet/Southgate area, now in Crouch End.  

- How did you come into music ? Through my brother, who's 13 years older than me. He was one of the original Modernists, and had a great record collection - from around 1963 onwards it was almost exclusively soul and rhythm & blues, so I was growing up and hearing things like "Soulful Dress" by Sugar Pie DeSanto and "You're My Remedy" by The Marvelettes, so to me, that was my first definition of music. I also used to like watching pop shows like "Thank Your Lucky Stars" and of course Ready! Steady! Go!  

- Your first souvenir about that ? Souvenir - in the French sense? My earliest memory of expressing an opinion about music was when I must have been about 3 years old. The Rolling Stones were on TV singing "It's All Over Now". My Dad (who hated pop) switched the set off and said "you heard them, it's all over now". I yelled "no it's not"!! and switched it back on again. Apart from anything else, it's the first time I remember turning a television on!  

- What kind of music did you listen when you were young ? Whilst I was becoming aware of my brothers records, The Monkees came along when I was 6, and they were the group for me. I was exactly the right age for them. I loved their TV shows, collected all their bubblegum cards (which I still have) and most importantly, because of them, I started listening to the radio, (just catching the end of the pirates and the beginning of Radio 1) following the charts, etc. I also loved The Beatles from a young age, and was taken to see the film "Yellow Submarine" when it came out.

- Any favorite band when you were young ? The first band I used to call my "favourite" was 10 CC, when I was 12. This was after "Rubber Bullets" and "The Dean & I" were two consecutive singles of theirs that I loved, and I bought their first LP. Then when I found out that they'd all been in bands in the 60's like The Mockingbirds and The Mindbenders, and Graham Gouldman had written so many brilliant songs of that era, I really became intrigued, and tried to find out as much as possible about their pre-10CC careers. It wasn't cool to say I liked them when the punk era came along, but I re-visited their music after all that snobbery died down, and I still love their early stuff, and respect the individual members hugely as musicians and writers. My other fave band of the era was Sparks. Then, in May '77, The Jam blew me sky-high. From the age of 13, I started collecting records from the 60's, sparked off by finding a box of 60's singles at my school's Summer Fair and buying 38 of them for 3p each. This set me off on many years scouring jumble sales and charity shops at weekends, building up a fair collection (the 70's being nearer the 60's, so it was easy). The Kinks and The Small Faces then became as important to me as current acts. I wasn't totally convinced by punk at the end of '76, but a couple of months later, a schoolfriend who was into it, Paul Williams, lent me his copy of "Neat Neat Neat" by The Damned, and I loved it, it was fun, energetic, and I preferred it to The Pistols. Around this time (Feb '77), Paul, knowing how much of a 60's fan I was, told me, 'there's a band I think you'll like, Brian. Punks like them, but they dress in suits and sound like The Who.' I replied, "Right then, they HAVE to be the ones for me!" This is before I'd heard a note. A few weeks later, I heard "In The City" for the first time on Radio Luxembourg. Lifechanger  

- First record ? First record bought for me (apart from kid's records) Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby, bought by my brother. "Submarine" was obviously the one I liked as a 5-year-old, but after I had the record I used to run round singing Eleanor Rigby too. The following year, I was given "Finchley Central" by the New Vaudeville Band - I loved it because Finchley was near where I lived! The record had a picture sleeve of a tube map, which I also thought was brilliant. The first record I bought with my own money, aged 9 in 1970, was "My Baby Loves Lovin' " by White Plains. I still love it, a great slice of Brit Bubblegum. We'd just moved house, my brother moved out at that point leaving his records behind, and I decided it was time to start my own collection too.  

- First gig ? 10CC at The Rainbow, 13th September 1974. I was sitting in the 3rd row, and I wasn't used to a loud PA system - when they started, I remember my knees knocking together for some reason! How could I have known then, that just over 5 years later I'd play there myself with Back To Zero.  

- Best gig ? Lyres/Chesterfield Kings (double bill) 17th January 1986, The Channel, Boston. The first ever gig I went to in the U.S. Both bands were on top of their game, and both by themselves would have qualified as contenders for the best gig ever. The high watermark for US garage-punk in the 80's, and I was there to witness it. I taped it that night too, luckily!  



- Did you ever play in a band ? These have been my bands; 1978 - The Unexplained (directionless local band with schoolfriends, one gig, gave me a bit of experience and the desire to do something that was more my sort of thing) 1979 - Back To Zero (A great year to be 18!!!!!) 1980 - Bees By Post (kind of psyche-pop, we covered some tracks from Nuggets like "Psychotic Reaction", suffered from post-mod fall-out and were only together for 8 months) 2001-2003 Back To Zero - recording of reunion album. Sam (guitarist/songwriter) got in touch through the internet, he had "Pro-tools" at home and asked if I wanted to make the album we'd never made at the time. Some good thing happened, like a reunion of all 4 original members, and the album itself, which got a very limited release online, but Sam and I couldn't get on at all (old AND new differences) so we never played live again, and went our separate ways once again. 2004 Long Tall Shorty. Four gigs singing with them. I think I was about the 26th member over the years. Great to sing whole sets live again, but I wasn't really happy with them, and I then received an offer to join the band mentioned below. 2004-2007 The Buckets. A fun rhythm & blues/rock and roll band with terrific musicians like Bruce Brand on guitar. All covers - Johnny Kidd & The Pirates and Leiber & Stoller songs dominating the sets. About 20 gigs in between the other guys' commitments. 2011 The Conkers. So far, this was a one-off line-up for my 50th birthday party, but what a brilliant band - the first time I'd put my own group together instead of joining someone elses. Named after the "imaginary band" I had as a 6-year-old"! I picked 3 friends who I thought- no, knew! would be right, one 3-hour rehearsal, 8 songs - nailed 'em! I hope we do it again one day, we sometimes talk about it, it's a matter of finding the time.  

- Did you were in a youth cult ? I've had a love/hate relationship with the Mod scene over the years, but it's stuck with me, it's been too much a part of my life ever to completely cut myself off from it.  

- For how long ? How long's a piece of string?!  



- How did you come into ? I'd always been fascinated with mods as a kid, knowing my brother was involved in the original scene in London. I used to read articles about it, knew my favourite bands were considered mods - then when punk happened, I used to jokingly say "well I'm a mod"! Then The Jam released In The City, which musically, changed my life completely. A band who dressed Mod, sounding like that? YES!!!!! In March '78, Record Mirror ran a feature on "superfans" including the "mods" who followed The Jam, (including Chip Hamer, who's now a long-standing old mate who I'm still in touch with). I thought "if they're doing it, why aren't I?" No looking back from that moment.

 - Your past hobbies ? Apart from music - London and her history, and long-distance walking (about to walk to Holland for charity).

 - Your best souvenirs ? OK, as I know of your interest in Glam, and as UK/junkshop glam is something I love too, BTZ wasn't my first "taste of the public". In 1975, aged 14, I got myself on to a TV music quiz for teenagers called "Pop Quest", in my local TV region's team. We won the championship, which meant a stereo, but more importantly now, I got to meet guest pop stars on the programme....in the first show I met the one and only Marc Bolan. Spot me at the end of this clip from 2:39.... here I am actually meeting him.....! I then entered a radio quiz in 1977, "Quiz-Kid '77", and actually got to win the whole thing, having my prizes presented by Mud. I'm still a bit of a "Quiz Monster" nowadays at pub music quizzes.

  







- Does style was important for you ? 60's style's top for me of course....and I could sniff out an original paisley shirt from 10 kilometres away during the 80's and 90's! I've kept a lot of my clothes from the BTZ era, I could never part with my original regency jackets that I bought in charity shops - one's an original Lord John of Carnaby Street.  

- What kind of music do you listen now ? Favourite all-time bands - The Easybeats and The Zombies. Still love 60's Beat, freakbeat, soul, blues, pop, psyche, garage etc., big on Power Pop, still discovering glam gems from the 70's, big fan of French music of the 60's (especially Polnareff and Dutronc), and Nederbiet from Holland, can't emphasise enough how important the 80's Medway scene was in the general scheme of things for it's influence, and have a general appreciation of the emotional human voice - but one thing I NEVER do is slag off music if I don't like it, and I get REALLY irritated if people start doing that. All music means something to someone somewhere, and no-one has a right to do that. Yes, I know how bleeding self-righteous that sounds, but I don't care.

 - Does style still important for you ? The extremely loud 60's shirt I bought this year is shouting YES!  

- Your 5 favorite records ? 1) Just A Fear - Answers 2) The Real Thing - Russell Morris 3) You're Holding Me Down - Buzz 4) Making Time - Creation 5) Let Your Hair Hang Down - Catapult

  
- Your favorite song (difficult !!! ) ? Just A Fear does it for me. (the answers) The palpable paranoia in Vince Edwards' voice, that incredible guitar solo, the EVERYTHING of that record!






Back To Zero link :
http://www.thepurplehearts.co.uk/Back_To_Zero/btz_new_main.htm


dimanche 22 juillet 2012

Drei Oklok interview - La Voie of rock - 1985

DREI OKLOK - Fumel ... des petits vauriens qui iront loin 
interview dans " La voie of rock " - 1985

Formé en 78 , ce gang originaire de Fumel, débordant de fun et d'énergie , qui  a subi de nombreux changements tout en restant entre copains, nous reviens très en forme après son excellent titre sorti sur Chaos en France , "les petits vauriens" , avec une autre chanson sur Chaos in Europe : "cunégonde".



- Vous avez eu des changements ,  (notamment le bassiste) , racontez nous  l'épopée du groupe.
Oui, nous avons eu plusieurs changements ,le bassiste nous a laché le jour (disons la veille)  de l'enregistrement "des petits vauriens" pour CHAOS EN FRANCE. C' est le guitariste qui l'a remplacé.
Ensuite le batteur (Gil) est passé à la basse , il nous manquait plus qu 'un batteur que nous avons trouvé
rapidement (Amador) .Un an et demi après ,le chanteur se casse ,JOEL le guitariste lui succède et les  DREI se retrouvèrent drei !

- Influences musicales ?
Sham 69 , 999, Stiff Little Fingers, Heartbreakers, Ramones, Angelic Upstart et bien d'autres .... vagues 77 .

- Après votre morceau sur CHAOS EN FRANCE  "Les  petits vauriens",on ne vous entend plus beaucoup, qu' avez-vous fait pendant tout ce temps ?
Le groupe a connu pas mal de changement comme je l'ai cité ci-dessus et surtout un gros manque de fric  qui nous a acculé pour  le matos. A présent tout est rentré dans l' ordre.

- A propos de ce fameux morceau : aprés son succès  ne vous a -t'il pas encouragé à  sortir une galette vinylique ?
Si bien sûr,quel est le groupe qui ne voudrait pas avoir son 45t ; il faudrait le demander à une maison de disques et à ses messieurs les producteurs,s'il existe.

- Qu' écoutez vous en ce moment ?
Nous écoutons toujours la même chose, on ne s'en lasse pas,même 8 ans après.
Quelques groupes français.




- A Fumel, .il y a beaucoup de groupes rock je crois, comment se passe l'entente ?
Toujours autant de groupes, quelques uns ont arrêté mais la relève est très bien assurée.Entre groupes Fumélois nous nous entendons très bien. Nous faisons la fête ensemble .

- Comment voyez-vous l'avenir du groupe ?
L'avenir du groupe, dure question, nous espèrons beaucoup de choses. Pour ce qui est du présent , tout se passe très bien pour nous : on a quelques dates de concerts sur le sud-ouest.
Nous devrons  nous faire signer courant septembre par un label parisien .
Nous allons rentrer en studio pour enregistrer une maquette . On a enregistré pour Chaos en Europe le morceau "Cunégonde" , la compilatio est actuellement disponible .

- Que représente pour vous le Punk actuellement ?
A l'heure actuelle, le punk rock de 85 ne vaut pas  la bonne époque du punk rock 77 . Il y a de bonnes choses et de moins bonnes .

- Des paroles qui dérangent , ça vous parait essentiel pour un groupe de punk rock ?
Non , pas du tout , on est pas obligé de faire du punk rock pour faire des textes provocateurs  ou de révoltés , chacun ses idées . les textes dits engagés , c'est du déjà vu et fatiguant .

- A propos de paroles, quand vous voyez un con comme Le Pen, ça ne vous inspire pas pour  de nouveaux textes ?
Nous ne mélangeons nullement la politique aux textes , que ce soit Le Pen ou mes "couilles" en ski .

- Qui compose les morceaux ?
Toutes les compositions  de textes sont de notre ancien chanteur qui a enregistré "les petits vauriens" , la musique Drei Oklok .


mercredi 4 juillet 2012

Tweed interview - La voie of rock - 1985

 TWEED  - ROUEN
 interview dans "La voie of rock"   1985


Les Tweeds , c'est depuis 1984 , Georges au chant , Didier à la guitare, Christophe à la basse et Eric à la batterie.  


- Influences ?
Elles sont toujours dans la même lignée suivant les différents membres du groupe ; disons : Rock, Pop Rock ou encore Power Pop.  


- Biographie :
TWEED est un groupe de Rouen qui a fait quelques concerts dans la région puis ensuite a voulu tourné de plus en plus en allant jouer à Strasbourg,Paris,Blois, Nice,Vienne,Sète,Amiens.Le groupe a participé aux 2 dernières fêtes de la musique,il a fait 2 enregistrements télé (FR3 Jean-Lou Janeir Rockin Chair) ainsi que divers émissions de radio (Rouen, Amiens,Paris,Strasbourg.....).  


- Comment se porte la scène ROCK à ROUEN ?
En 79 il y a eu beaucoup de groupes,les concerts ont été de plus en plus nombreux et à partir de 82 tout cela a un peu disparu,il y a encore quelques groupes mais l'atmosphère n'y est plus.  


- Vous êtes classés comme étant un groupe MODS , qu'en pensez-vous ? est-ce que les MODS représentent encore quelques chose pour vous?
Il est vrai que les MODS se reconnaissent dans notre musique mais TWEED est un groupe de ROCK qui joue pour tout le monde,nous ne sommes pas un groupe avec un public.Biensur si nous jouons dans des villes où il y a des MODS,s'ils sont au concert , cela est très bien,mais nous voulons faire apprécier notre musique aussi bien à des gens qui écoute autre chose que ce que nous aimons.  


- Vous avez joué il y a quelques temps à Blois avec les 3 TIME LOSER et CASTING SPELLS , quels souvenirs vous restent-ils de ce concert ? et que pensez-vous des 2 autres groupes ?
Nous avons gardé un très bon souvenir du concert de Blois, le public est très bon,il sait apprécier lec concerts,il est vivant et accueillant.De même, nous espérons rejouer à Blois très bientôt.Quand aux 2 autres groupes, Three Time Loser mérite de continuer dans son élan et de faire de nombreux concerts pour être beaucoup plus connu en France. Pour Casting Spells, leur attitude nous a un peu déçu , les groupes modestes qui en veulent beaucoup méritent de réussier, le rock n'est pas un jeu de frime.  


- Qu'écoutez-vous en ce moment?
Pas beaucoup de groupes actuels,qui nous déçoivent un peu(surtout les groupes Anglais qui sont dans une mauvaise passe).En fait celà est très varié (Bangles,Jam,Ramones, Undertones, Springsteen et aussi des groupes Français).  


- Avez-vous contacté des labels pour des projets vinyliques ?
Aucun projet pour l'instant,le groupe doit encore faire des concerts et travailler toujours de mieux en mieux.  


- Projets de concerts ?
Il y a toujours des projets mais nous attendons les confirmations et pourquoi pas Blois en tête de liste.

jeudi 21 juin 2012

Julie Mac , author of "RAGE: A Sharpies Journal, Melbourne 1974 to 1980 "


- Who are you , where are you come from ...
I' m Julie Mac and I grew up in Croydon, a suburb of Melbourne Australia. I lived at home with my father, step-mother, two annoying little brothers and various animals and birds.  

"This is Dad and his mates. Dad is front right."
- How did you come into music ?
My dad was a bodgie and he used to go to rock and roll dances seven nights a week when he was a teenager, our house was always filled with the music of Elvis, Johnny O'Keefe, Jerry Lee Lewis and other 50s legends. (Editor's note : Bodgies refer to a youth subculture that existed in Australia and New Zealand in the 1950s, similar to the Teddy Boy culture in the UK or Greaser culture in the United States.)

 - Your first souvenir about that ?
My first musical obsession was Suzi Quatro. I loved her and had my wall decorated in a big collage of pictures of her. Suzi Quatro's Can the Can was the first album I nagged my parents for when I was eleven, I even had a crying fit to get my own way.  
























- What kind of music did you listen when you were young ? Any favorite band when you were young ?
 I listened to Top 40 and mainly liked the harder sounds, Slade, Sweet, T Rex, Aussie glam bands, like Hush, Skyhooks and later Rose Tattoo and the Angels. I don't know a lot about music, I just have favorite songs I like to have on in the background. My favourite Australian bands are The Angels, Rose Tattoo and Hush.  


- First gig ? best gig ?
One of the first gigs I went to was Hush an Aussie Glam rock band, at Iceland, a local ice skating ring. Hush wore satin and had an Asian influence in their stage props. It was a magical night.





















 - Did you were in a youth cult ?
When I was 13 I had my long hair cut into a sharpie cut. Sharpies were a youth subculture in Melbourne Australia. They were influenced by the traditional English Skinheads, (not racist) but had a unique Australian flavour. Sharpies started in the 1950/1960s, but were at their strongest in the mid 1970s.

The Melbourne Sharps were fading out as the members grew out of their teens. When I broke up with Skeeta I went out with Iggy, he was one of the Westside Sharps.











































 There were a lot more boys in the gangs than girls, so if you broke up with a boyfriend, you would have a new sharpie boyfriend in no time. A good looking sharpie, that could fight and dance was a grouse boyfriend to have. At the end of my sharpie period, I went out with Chap from the St Albans Sharps.

After my sharpie period, I became a punk, the two sub cultures were closely related, especially in attitude.

















- Does style was important for you ? 
Style was important to all Sharpies, it was what defined us. The hair, clothes, jewelry, tattoos, dance and music.  

- Your past hobbies ? your best souvenirs ?
My bedroom was like any teenage girls? room, full of treasures and things that were important to me and the sharpie scene.


























 - And now ? 
Now I am an old lady, style isn't that important to me, but I remembered how important style was when my daughter was growing up and asking for the latest brands.  I still listen to top 40 and music from the 70s.  

- Your 5 favorite records ? your favorite song ?
It is hard to say what my favourite songs would be, but recently I bought some old cassette tapes from ebay as my current car has a tape player, I bought : Slade's greatest hits Sweet's greatest hits The Angels's greatest hits Skyhooks Living in the 70s Rose Tattoo And will be looking to buy Can the Can by Suzi Quatro next





http://skinsnsharps.com/galleries/julie-macs-scrapbook

http://www.hungryheartcafe.blogspot.fr/

RAGE is available here : http://skinsnsharps.com/store

vendredi 1 juin 2012

Cockney Rejects Interview - Grinding Halt - 1980









The Cockney Rejects must be one of the most earthly, solid punk bands to have arisen in the last couple of years, and one of few to present punk in the way it should be heard.
Nowadays bands use all sorts of gadgets which detract from the spontaneity asnd simplicity of the music. The Rejects, however resist this and are writing and playing songs in the way groups did some three years ago.
This is what they had to say after their set supporting Slaughter:


- Is the new single (Greatest Cockney Rip Off) a reference to Jimmy Pursey?
Micky Geggus: No, well it's a bit of a piss take really, like he goes round calling himself the great cockney cowboy and all that but he never goes near the  place,y' know what I mean?

- Did you have an argument with him ?
MG : Yeah, a bit — let's drop it though 'cos he isn't really worth it. l've had enough
of him.

- How did you feel about the press the album got ?
MG : Well, I was happy with the album and that's all that really matters to me. I reckon it's a good album, and that's good enough for me, the press ain't all that important —  Gary Bushell gave it a good write up though.

- How did the Gary Bushell link come about ?
MG : Well, basically I sent him a tape and he liked it and it all went from there. But he had to choose between writing and managing and he chose writing 'cos you can't do both properly at the same time.

- Why is no-one credited on the album ?
Nigel Woolf : The guy who played on the album was bought out and so they didn't have to credit him. £200 was all it cost to buy him out. I arrived to late to have anything on the album. It was too late to do it all  again so no-one was credited. 





- Why did you choose EMI ?
NW : They choose us. Someone came to one of our gigs and liked us and it all went from there.

- How do you get on with them ?
NW :  Well, they're really great to work with, they give us everything we want and they're really generous and helpful.

- Why did you leave Small Wonder ?
Vince Riordon : Well, they're a bunch of wankers, always trying to rip bands off, all this talk about them being good 'cos they're a small company is crap. Small Wonder are only interested in Crass who are a bunch of bloody hippies - crap.  We've no regrets about choosing EMI. A lot of bands go around saying its best to be on a small label and all that, but that's a load of bollocks really. You hear about how EMI treated the Sex Pistols and all that, but they're great really. Other groups only say small companies are best 'cos the  big ones aren't interested in them and won't give them a major recording contract.

- Do you have any particular musical influences?
NW : Well, Micky and Stinky are influenced by God Save the Queen and all that stuff.

- How did the Rejects get started ?
NW : Well, Micky and Stinky used to be in a band called The Shitters then Vince came in from thE Deadflowers and then me from Back To Zero.

- Are you pleased with the way the album's been selling?
NW : Yeah, very pleased. It's outsold Sham's first two albums already, and I think that's really great.

- What exactly happened about Jimmy Pursey?
NW : Well, he'd come in and start telling everyone what to do and he'd try to change things, to how he wanted them, and not how the band wanted them to be and they just told him to fuck off.

- Have you been asked to do TOTP?
NW : Well, do it when we get asked. And Tiswas - I'd love to go on Tiswas.

- Why were so many dates cancelled on your recent tour ?
Simply because they thought there was always trouble at our gigs.

- Is there ?
VR : No, not really...well, you saw tonight - when have you seen so many punks and skinheads in one hall
and there was only one fight, which we sorted out ourselves. But there isn't much violence at our gigs at all. A lot of people say skins are violent  but the ones who follow us around are quite peaceful really.

- A lot of bands that started off in the early days of punk have changed musical direction, like The Clash, and many have become more commercial. Can you see this happening to The Rejects?
MG : No, I hope not. I Can't see any reason why we should. We'll just keep on going as we are.





And on that optimistic note we left it - lets hope they keep to their work, for I would hate to seet The  Rejects enegy surpressed, and for them to follow the same course as many other Punk bands, that arose before them.




lundi 28 mai 2012

Prop Sack interview - Rock en Stock - 1982

Prop Sack interview dans Rock en Stock , 1982



PROP SACK, Rien à jeter - Paris Mai 82 : Parisiens,l'énergie des sous-sols semble vouloir désespérément remonter en surface. Et il ne faut pas s'en plaindre car depuis Métal Urbain, Asphalt Jungle, Guilty Razors, Gazoline et autres, plus rien !! Je veux dire plus rien qui renferme autant d'énergie, de hargne, de racines dispersées. Seul Oberkampf persistait à croire que l'on pouvait aller plus loin qu'une signature au bas d'un contrat et... les oubliettes. Oberkampf après une auto-production vient tout juste de trouver la bonne porte. Prop Sack fait donc partie des nouveaux groupes qui possèdent cette fameuse énergie qui motive leur démarche.  

Prop Sack : On ne se pose pas de question sur ce qu 'on fait comme musique parce que c 'est un fait « naturel ». La musique correspond à notre démarche, à notre environnement, à notre vie. Pour le moment, on ne se voit pas faire autre chose.  
Mayonnaise : Le seul truc qui va changer, c 'est que je vais mettre plus de mélodie dans ma voix. Et puis l'arrivée d'un nouveau bassiste permet de corriger certaines petites choses.  

- Vous êtes apparus sur la compilation «Paris Mix», vous en êtes contents ?  
Prop Sack : Nous ne sommes pas particulièrement satisfaits ni du son, ni de la promotion, sous-entendu le résultat final n 'est pas convaincant. En fait, c'était une opportunité qu'il fallait saisir. II faut dire que certains groupes ont eu encore moins de chance que nous, c'est quand même emmerdant car l'idée était bonne. Il n 'existe plus de rythmique sur cet album, ceci dit c'est peut-être le pressage ?  

- La télé bouge sur la musique, les radios Libres tentent des trucs, la presse devrait suivre, bien que ??? Tu penses que c'est maintenant ?
Prop Sack : On aimerait beaucoup, ceci dit, je pense que sur Paris c'est vraiment fermé pour jouer. Nous allons sûrement faire des concerts en Hollande, et puis la province devrait s'ouvrir un peu.  

- On vous colle des étiquettes ?  
Prop Sack : Eh oui, ça commence, c 'est cela qui est dangereux et ennuyeux. Les gens pensent Punk = violence, ce n'est pas exact. Punk, punk, je ne sais plus si cela correspond à quelque chose, le mot a été trop déformé. Ceci dit...  
Mayonnaise : Je suis à 100% punk, c'est exactement ça. Mais c'est plus une attitude, une démarche qu'autre chose. Les étiquettes c'est chiant. Je pense que ce sont certains événements dans ma vie qui m'ont conduit à cette attitude, sans ces événements, je ne serais peut-être pas là. On n 'est pas punk par mode, sinon en ce moment on ferait du synthé. On vit avec et la musique est le moyen de libérer notre énergie, de faire notre truc, la violence ne m'intéresse pas, cela ne t'apporte pas grand-chose, et trop souvent, les événements te dépassent, tu contrôles rien. Ce que l'on cherche maintenant, c'est des concerts, et puis auto-produire un 45t. après on verra venir, j'espère que la « scène » va enfin exploser.







 II existe un besoin quasi vital pour ces groupes d'exister, de sortir de la salle de répétition, d'agir, d'exploser, le tout au grand jour. Devenu nécessité, leurs sons vont ricocher sur le bitume et s'accrocher à la vie, à leur vie . Il n'existe pas de musique plus réaliste , la réalité/vrai qui explose. Prop Sack tient à en être le fer de lance. Paris tente enfin de se trouver une identité propre . Jean Marc Canovas


Un morceau sur Paris Mix :  Here


mercredi 23 mai 2012

Tim Purr , Glam fan

- Who are you, where are you come from?
Tim Purr from Bath in the UK.  


- How did you come into music?
My Mum and Dad had a few records, which I used to play on a Pye Black Box record player when I was really young, five or six. Their records were nearly all 78RPM and by artists like The Platters (“The Great Pretender”, “Only You (And You Alone))” and Doris Day (“The Deadwood Stage”). Then an auntie gave me some Roy Orbison and Elvis Presley LPs. I played those a lot. I was also given an EP by The New Christy Minstrels (“Three Wheels On My Wagon”), which I really liked at the time. In the late-1960s and early-1970s an uncle used to play me his records. If I particularly liked one he would give it to me. He gave me a lot of singles in the late-1960s, but I was too young to appreciate most of them. I kept The Monkees, The Supremes and a few others, but I took lots of them to school and swapped them for comics and sweets. In 1968 my parents took me to see Walt Disney’s “The Jungle Book”. I really enjoyed the film so they bought me the soundtrack LP, which I played so much that every word, spoken or sung, is now forever burned into my memory. I remember enjoying music on TV, too. An early memory is The Monkees show. They started in 1966 when I was four years old. I also remember liking The Banana Splits. Later on in the early-to-mid 1970s I watched TV shows like Top of the Pops, Lift Off With Ayshea, Shang-A-Lang, Arrows, Supersonic, Marc, Get It Together etc.
The first turning point in music for me came in 1971 when my uncle gave me a copy of “Hot Love” by T.Rex on the mustard-coloured Fly label. I thought it was amazing. I liked the look of the record nearly as much the music. It was the first single he’d given me which didn’t seem like something from the past. It sounded fresh and exciting. I was hooked! Strangely enough, I always preferred the B-sides, “Woodland Rock” and “The King Of The Mountain Cometh”. But being given a copy of “Hot Love” inspired me to find out more about Marc Bolan & T.Rex and it got me into buying records myself.  
























- Your first souvenir about that?
I still have a T.Rex t-shirt that my Nan bought me in 1971 to help fuel my Marc Bolan obsession (see photos). It was a bit big for me in 1971, so I continued to wear it well into the Punk era. When T.Rex toured with The Damned in March of 1977, I customised the t-shirt adding a hand-drawn back print of Dave Vanian.

- What kind of music did you listen when you were young?
From 1972 onwards I started to buy records by T.Rex, Gary Glitter, Sweet, Slade, Suzi Quatro and Mud. I do remember hearing the Sweets’ bubblegum records from as early as 1970, but I didn’t start buying records myself until 1972.  

- Any favorite band when you were young?
Probably in this order: Gary Glitter, T.Rex, Sweet, Slade, Suzi Quatro, Mud, The Glitter Band.  























- First record?
Apart from the records I was given by older relations, the first record I bought for myself, or obtained in a swap, was either “Telegram Sam” by T.Rex or “I Didn’t Know I Loved You (Til I Saw You Rock ‘n’ Roll) by Gary Glitter, both in 1972. 
I wasn’t into LPs very much. I was six years into collecting records before I bought my first LP. This was probably because they were expensive and I was still at school. The first LP I bought was “Damned, Damned, Damned” by The Damned in 1977. Before this, as presents, I’d been given “Sweets Biggest Hits” by Sweet, “Bolan Boogie” by T.Rex, the “Jungle Book” soundtrack LP, and various old rock & roll records given to me second-hand by relations.

- First gig?  
My first gig was Chris Spedding/The New Hearts at The Pavilion, Bath on Saturday 1st October 1977. The show was the first night of a tour to promote Chris Spedding’s second solo LP “Hurt”, and his new single, the Punk Rock-inspired “Get Out Of My Pagoda”. Spedding had Steve Currie playing bass guitar for him, I remember, which was also very exciting for me, being a massive T.Rex fan. I went to the show with a few of my friends from school. We were 15 years old. I was already a Chris Spedding fan. I had the single “Motor Bikin’” and I’d seen him play with The Vibrators on the TV show “Supersonic”:



I was also aware that he played on The Wombles’ records, which I’d also liked in my not too distant past. Recently I’d read about Chris producing the Sex Pistols’ first ever demo.
 In 1977 The Sex Pistols were the most important band in my life, so anyone even remotely associated with them was fascinating to me. At the gig I remember thinking Chris was dressed in a really good way, not “punk”, just very cool. After seeing the show I went out and bought copies of “Get Out Of My Pagoda” and “Hurt”. The support band New Hearts went on to become Secret Affair, after a minor line-up change. Back in 1977 singer Ian Page was still going under the “punk” name of Ian Paine. I remember he was wearing a pink tonic suit at the Bath show. They were a very energetic band. The singer, bass player and guitarist spent a lot of the time leaping up in the air, obviously big fans of The Jam. They were a great introduction to seeing live bands. I must have been impressed because I went straight out and bought their debut single “Just Another Teenage Anthem”. I also bought their follow-up “Plain Jane”, which, at the time, I thought was slightly better.  























- Best gig?
My favourite ever gig was Heartbreakers/The Killjoys/The Models at The Pavilion, Bath on Saturday 22nd October 1977.  For that show I have a preview and a review of the show from my local newspaper.

Here’s the preview…. From Simon Kinnersley's 'Speakeasy' column in Bath & West Evening Chronicle, Thursday, October 20th 1977: "What's On - Heartbreakers - Pavilion, Bath. Tough and raunchy American punk band, accompanied by The Killjoys and The Models, makes this a most interesting punk package (and coincidentally the first to visit Bath). Recommended.

 I was 15 years old and I was there with five other 15 years olds and two 12 year olds! It was my second ever gig. I remember I was wearing my dad’s wedding suit covered in talcum powder –an idea I stole from Wayne Barrett of Slaughter & The Dogs. On the jacket lapels I was wearing an upside down crucifix and some homemade Sex Pistols badges, made from pictures I’d cut out of Giovanni Dadomo’s review in Sounds music magazine of the Sex Pistols’ recent Top Of The Pops appearance (on film) playing “Pretty Vacant”. Sounds reviewed the band’s TOTP appearance as if it were a proper concert, probably because the Sex Pistols themselves weren’t playing live because of the bans and band and management paranoia. I still have a stiff cardboard poster from the promotional display used to advertise the Heartbreakers’ “L.A.M.F.” LP at this show. I also have a laminated advert from Sounds (15th October 1977) with the UK tour dates on it. My ticket said "Heartbreakers/Siouxsie & The Banshees/Slaughter & The Dogs/Models", from memory. According to an article in my local newspaper the bill was also at one time rumoured to be “Heartbreakers/Models/The Boys”.

Before seeing the show I had already heard music by all of the bands. I was a big Models fan. I bought the single ‘Freeze/“Man Of The Year” when it came out and taped the John Peel session when it was first broadcast on 13th July 1977. I also had The Killjoys’ single “Johnny Won’t Get To Heaven”/”Naive” and “L.A.M.F.” and “Chinese Rocks”/“Born To Lose” on 12” by Heartbreakers. I was aware that Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan were ex-New York Dolls, but I’d only heard two songs by them, “Personality Crisis” and “Who Are The Mystery Girls”, which I had on a great, early Punk Rock compilation LP called “New Wave”. So, I already knew a lot of the songs I was about to hear played live.

Consequently, I was really excited to be there. I remember being amazed that Debbie Juvenile from the Bromley contingent was in the audience at that show. Because of her association with the Sex Pistols, I had a crush on Debbie at this time. She was fifteen like me. She was also a Heartbreakers fan and a friend of Marco Pirroni from The Models. There’s a clip of Debbie in Don Letts’s “Punk Rock Movie” describing the Heartbreakers as “proper music”. I agree!



Beyond the entourages of the various bands, there wasn’t much of an audience - a few curious hippies, some students from the local university, a couple of Punks from near-by Bristol, and us, the first and so far only punks in Bath!

 The Models were first on. I remember the bass player Mick Allen was wearing a Vivienne Westwood “Tits” cheesecloth with long sleeves and “D” rings. It was the first time I’d seen Vivienne Westwood’s designs up close and I was amazed! Marco was wearing a brightly coloured mohair jumper. I remember it was difficult to hear singer /guitarist Cliff Fox’s voice at the show, it was overpowered by the twin guitars of Cliff and Marco, although it didn’t really matter to me as I knew the words to some of their songs already.

 On 13th July 1977 John Peel broadcast a radio session by The Models consisting of: “Man Of The Year”, “Censorship”, “Brainwash” and “Freeze”. The session was excellent, even better than their Step Forward single. The session version of “Freeze” had an extended opening similar to the beginning of Heartbreaker’s “Born To Lose”. Marco was a big Johnny Thunders fan, I know. 
 As I had school the next day I was in bed for the second half of the show. I was listening with earphones, trying desperately to stay awake long enough to record the Models’ session, tracks from which were being played at intervals around the rest of the John Peel show. I managed to record “Man Of The Year”, “Censorship” and “Freeze”, but I fell asleep just before “Brainwash” was broadcast. Consequently, I had to wait for many years before John Peel repeated the session in the 1980s and I could hear “Brainwash” for the first time! 

In 1977 my aunties bought me a book called “Punk Rock (Complete Guide To British And American New Wave)” by John Tobler, (Phoebus, 1977)”, which I still have. In it there was a photo of The Models posing with their guitars. I was so impressed by their guitar straps that I bought the same ones the band were using. I treasured those straps for years, using them when I played in bands. One day our roadie picked them up after a show and put them in the support band’s bags by mistake - I was devastated! I loved The Models so much I went on to buy the singles by their future offshoot bands M.A.S.S. (Mick Allen) and Rema-Rema (Mick Allen and Marco Pirroni). Rema-Rema definitely changed my approach to guitar playing. I became obsessed with feedback and walls of sound. 

In 1978 I was in a Punk Rock band called God’s Little Creatures - inspired by the Menace song “GLC”. In our set we covered “Censorship” by The Models, a song I still love to this day. 

When The Killjoys guitarist Mark Phillips came on stage he was wearing a Vicar’s dog collar. As I’d never seen photos of The Killjoys before (there wasn’t one on the sleeve of their only single) I didn’t recognise him as a member of the band and I stupidly assumed he was a real priest and was about to lecture us all on “the evils of Punk Rock”. As the rest of the band joined him on stage, he strapped on a guitar and they started to play. I felt glad I hadn’t embarrassed myself by sharing my fears with anyone else. The thing I remember most about The Killjoys was their bass player Gem, who was dressed in a leopard print leotard, which was very exciting to a 15-year old schoolboy. I do remember thinking Kevin Rowland didn’t look very “Punk” in his white Fred Perry T-shirt and curly hair. I later became friends with the Killjoys’ roadie when he decided not to return to Birmingham with the rest of the band but to stay on in Bath, because he fell in love with the architecture. In the early-1980s he changed his name to “Mitch Moonstruck” and formed a Glam Rock band called Terry Tinsel And The Spangle Boyz: And he’s still in Bath now, 35 years later! The last I heard he was a sword fencer!

I remember the moment the Heartbreakers took the stage as one of the most thrilling moments of my entire life. Their intro tape was a mixture of air raid sirens and Nazi jackboots marching. The house lights were down. All you could see was the glowing embers from their spliffs as they crossed the Pavilion stage. The room was dark but you could still make out their silhouettes. As they plugged in their instruments and moved closer to the front of the stage you could even smell them. They smelt of cigarette smoke and Patchouli oil, which I thought for many years was the smell of rock & roll. As their intro tape ended, the band exploded into “Pipeline” and the spotlights bathed the stage in a wash of bright colours. It was the most exciting experience, ever, and one I’ve never really come close to recapturing in all my years of going to gigs. The first cut is the deepest, as they say. I recall that Walter Lure was wearing WW II fighter pilot goggles and a black tie with large green polka dots. When the Heartbreakers finished playing I remember Johnny Thunders jumped down from the stage and walked straight through the middle of the very small audience. He looked visibly pissed off, presumably because there weren’t many people there.






















After the show I remember being in the bar area stood next to Marco Pirroni but I was too shy to talk to him. The foyer of the Pavilion had a huge display for the L.A.M.F. LP. It was an amazing place to be, surrounded by my heroes.

Now here’s the post-gig review from my local newspaper…. From Simon Kinnersley's 'Speakeasy' column in Bath & West Evening Chronicle, Thursday, October 27th 1977: "Having stayed to watch almost the entire Stranglers set (The Stranglers played Bristol on the same night and Simon was obliged to review both shows), it was with a certain amount of regret that I missed most of The Heartbreakers set, and Bath's initiation to punk rock. The Heartbreakers were concluding what seemed like a typical raunchy set with an aggressive rendition of 'Do You Love Me', with Johnny Thunders storming around belligerently yelping and hollering with the band churning along behind. And that was that. More intriguing was the local punk audience decked out in last year's fashions in black bin liners (not guilty), loads of safety pins (guilty) and loads of glam make-up (does Talcum powder count?). Somebody tell them, please. This is autumn '77 and Bath's not even smouldering, let alone burning! (I was burning, thank you very much)" (taken from a much longer article on local venues banning punk gigs).

Outside of the venue I bought a fanzine called “Killer” from a Punk from Bristol, which I still have. Inside was an article on the Heartbreakers. There were rumours of a coach-load of Teddy Boys from Bristol coming to beat us up after the show, so we didn’t hang around. Historically, this was the last 1970s show that Heartbreakers played with Jerry Nolan on drums. He left after the Bath show, I heard because he was disappointed with the mix of L.A.M.F. His leaving must have been on the cards for a while, though, because when The Heartbreakers played in Bristol (12 miles from Bath) on 1st October 1977 Sex Pistols Steve Jones and Paul Cook were filling in for an absent Jerry Nolan. The support bands were The Pop Group, The Models and Levi. After seeing the Heartbreakers in 1977 I felt compelled to see Johnny Thunders play many more times.
His show at The Lyceum Ballroom with Cosa Nostra on Sunday 9th October 1983 was the second best one I ever saw.

A close runner-up for my “Best Gig” excitement-wise would be The Clash/Coventry Automatics (The Specials)/Suicide at The Locarno, Bristol on Sunday 9th July 1978. But that’s another story. I still have the poster for that show, too.


- Did you ever play in a band?
My first appearance on a stage in a “band” was taking part in a school disco competition in 1973, aged eleven. Four of us mimed to “The Groover” by T.Rex and won “First Prize”; a box of Milk Tray chocolates. Everyone miming in that band thought that they were Marc Bolan, including the boy miming playing the drums! After we won the chocolates we took them to the Boys toilets, locked ourselves into a cubicle and scoffed the lot. “Second Prize” went to the school swot, who performed Clive Dunn’s “Grandad” dressed up as an 11-year old little old man!?! “Third Prize” went to a bunch of chancers miming to Slade’s “Skweeze Me, Pleeze Me”.

Inspired by hearing “God Save The Queen” by Sex Pistols, I started to write songs and play in bands from mid-1977 onwards.However, in 1977 and 1978 I struggled to find other people in the small city of Bath that wanted to learn instruments and play Punk Rock during its period of relevancy. My friends were keen to go to gigs, but not necessarily to be in a band themselves. I rehearsed with very few people in 1977, slightly more in 1978, but only once with a full band line-up.

The bands we part-formed in 1977/78 were called: “The Corgies” (after the Queen’s favourite breed of dog), “Nicholas Ferris: Tall Boy” (after a (tall) boy in our class at school), “Buster Hymen & The Penetrators” and “God's Little Creatures”, or “GLC“ (after the Menace single). We played original songs along with covers like “White Riot”, “Belsen Was A Gas” and “Censorship” (by The Models). My early songs were all Sex Pistols-inspired and anti-monarchy, although in a slightly tongue-in-cheek schoolboy way. But we didn’t get very far with lyrics like, “I’m a Corgie for The Queen, but The Palace ain’t my scene, Maaan!” (“The Corgie Song”) and “There’s malice at the palace/They’re immoral at Balmoral/At Buckingham you’d be surprised/They will not strike a compromise.” (“Malice At The Palace’, the riff to which was The Clash’s “1977” played backwards, by the way!). Oh well, they were my first attempts and I was still only fifteen.

I occasionally went along to the rehearsals of another Bath band in 1977. They were called Red Mess and The Tampons, but they were a few years older than me and only played cover versions. I once sing “Sheena Is A Punk Rocker” with them, because Red Mess didn’t know all of the words. It took me two years before I was in a REAL band, then I played almost continually between 1979 and 1995.
The bands I played in were never commercially successful, but some of them generated some interest from John Peel, NME, Melody Maker, record labels, including EMI, TV companies, would-be managers, including Nick Sheppard (The Cortinas, The Clash), Hugh Cornwall (The Stranglers) and Max Splodge (Splodgenessabounds), and Jermaine Jackson (I was once asked to join his band). But it was all promise and no reward.




























The bands from this period were called: Little Doll (in tribute to Johnny Thunders and inspired by The Stooges song of the same name and also an early Blondie bootleg), Bike Boys Go Ape (named after a gay porn film starring David Johansen) -both of these bands sang songs inspired by Boris Karloff Universal horror films- Studs On Main St. (another gay porn film starring David Johansen) (the third line-up of Studs On Main St., long after my time, were managed and produced by Hugh Cornwall), Jonah & The Wail (more of which later), If You Wanna Talk Punk Let’s Go In The Kitchen (a line from the Dennis Hopper movie “Out Of The Blue”), Murder Incorporated (after a quote from The Phil Silvers show, “where did you get him from, Murder Incorporated?”), and Gunsmoke In Paradise (a book by Burt Arthur).

Of the above, Jonah & The Wail had the most near misses... Here’s our 1986 Melody Maker review. We were playing at The Dug Out in Bristol :
“A REAL rocky horror show this. Seven alien sex fiend idiot bastard sons and daughters of Bo Diddley, The Tubes, Johnny Thunders, The Cramps and John Lydon, smashing their way through the restraints of glam-punk, and set on terrorising the natives. The Attitude is what counts. Noses are thumbed, faces are pulled and mockery is made as they run amok. The singer leads the war dance, fixes a pagan glare on you, and mimics your nods, blinks, winks and shifty gaze, as discomfort becomes more and more apparent. Relax and react is the motto. Earthy, gutsy rock‘n’roll with humour, more trashy than Half Man Half Biscuit, and leaning to America for an unstoppable salvation. Go with the grin.” DAVE MASSEY, MELODY MAKER, 1986
The NME review from the same period is still in a pile of NMEs in my attic somewhere (I hope)…

Formed in 1985, Jonah & The Wail were the closest Wayne County ever came to having a tribute band. In our time we covered no less than three of his songs. In our heads we were The Shangri-Las (there were four backing singers, The Angels: Destiny, Harmony, Rhapsody and Melody) backed by the New York Dolls with a David JoHansen/Wayne County/Iggy Pop/Marcel Marceau type figure called “Jonah Wail” out front. Jonah & The Wail were a continuation on the Bike Boys Go Ape! theme, with even more songs about Boris Karloff films, more specifically “The Bride Of Frankenstein” (“We Were Made For Each Other”). Other song topics included New York City (“New York City” – “start spreading your legs, I’m leaving today”), werewolves/inner demons/‘Mr Hydes’ (“(There Ain’t No Hope For A) Lycanthrope” – “well I used to be a werewolf, but I’m alright n…o…o…o… h…o…w…l!?!), a song for teenage werewolves, lycanthropes and misanthropes everywhere, plus songs about TV commercials/newfangled technology and its age-old appeal to the domestic pet (“The Adverts Song”), played along with cover versions of ‘Juke Box Baby’ by Alan Vega, ‘Get Off The (F*cking) Phone’, by Heartbreakers, ‘Rockaway Beach’ by Ramones, ‘96 Tears’ by ? & The Mysterians, and as previously mentioned, the complete Wayne/Jayne County back catalogue: ‘Rock‘n’Roll Cleopatra’, ‘Russian Soldier’, ‘Paranoia Paradise’ (“Hello, is that the PRS? This is Wayne County…”).























For a while it was looking promising: positive NME and Melody Maker reviews, a slot on Saturday morning TV, John Peel wanted to play us on the radio, but sadly the BBC didn’t have the technology to cope with our cassette-only debut release, and so the moment passed.
Nick Sheppard (The Cortinas, The Clash) and Max Splodge (Splodgenessabounds) both offered to manage us…
Then came the offer of an appearance on the BBC’s ‘Casualty’. We were supposed to be a band playing in a nightclub. A fight breaks out in the audience as we’re on stage. Then the director came to see us play live and it was all off. He decided we’d be too distracting, that people would be watching us and not the fight. Flattering, but not altogether career-enhancing.
Then someone from Channel 4 approached us to be in a documentary about “two completely different bands trying to “make it” in the music business”. It was to be an hour-long show juxtaposing Jonah & The Wail with some fellow unknowns from Scotland called Wet Wet Wet. “You’re very, very different (titter, titter)”, remarked Channel 4. Then Wet Wet Wet had a No.1 single with ‘Love Is All Around’ and that was that. Wet Wet Wet were home and dry, so the whole show became about their “overnight” rise to fame. From the “Dear John” letter subsequently received from Channel 4: “…and in light of recent events, we’ve decided to make the entire documentary about Wet Wet Wet. Please accept this book on ‘How To Make It In The Music Business’ along with our thanks and best wishes…” Thanks!

But the gigs were usually a triumph, or a glorious disaster, or both.
A show at Bath Pavilion with Half Man Half Biscuit on their ‘Back In The DHSS’ tour led to a show at Bristol’s Colston Hall the following day at the band’s personal invitation. One packed London show led to the band being invited to play another London show later on the same night! That too was rammed. A one-off show at the Marzbar Club in Bristol led to a week-long residency.
At a Bristol Bierkeller show with Sigue Sigue Sputnik one paper reported that following the headliners’ departure from stage, “the crowd chanted for support group Jonah & The Wail to come back and play rather than Sigue Sigue.” You had to be there, I guess. Still, I was pleased when ex-Generation Xer Tony James confused my white Gibson Les Paul Custom for the one Malcolm swiped from Sylvain Sylvain to give to Steve Jones. Oh happy days.

And then I stopped playing because I didn’t feel like being in a band anymore and I didn’t want to fake it. I continued to write songs for other people’s bands, though. That never stopped. Then in the late 2000s I was asked to play live again. This time in a 1970s-style Glam Rock band playing original material, which is something I’d always wanted to do, and it brought things full circle, so I said “yes”. The band started life as Paranoid Dog Bark, before changing their name (mid-set during their first show) to Glam Chops (phew!). Sadly, we rarely play live because one of the singers is in another band, Art Brut, and he lives in Berlin, but we are in the process of writing and recording a Glam Rock Christmas LP.  

































- Did you were in a youth cult? for how long? How did you come into? 
I was into Glam Rock from 1971 onwards. Aged 9, I was too young to dress Glam Rock style beyond wearing band T-shirts or badges, but I was Glam Rock in spirit, definitely! I had platform shoes, and a pair of “Wedges”, which were a high street version of brothel creepers, like the ones Mud wore. Around this time I was wearing patched jeans or Bell-bottom trousers. By the mid-1970s I was wearing Oxford Bags with high street platform shoes, or Pod-Toe shoes, or 8-eyelet Ox Blood Dr. Martens. Jacket-wise, in the early 1970s I wore Jean Jackets (Levis, Wranglers, Brutus and Lee), Parkas and Lumberjack Jackets.

Very early in 1977, when I had just turned 15, I got into Punk Rock after hearing it on the John Peel show. I had only just started to listen to John’s show. I discovered its existence after reading John’s regular column in Sounds magazine. Before Punk Rock I’d only ever listened to daytime radio. I still have tapes of some of the John Peel sessions I recorded in 1977 and 1978.
 In 1977 my favourite Punk Bands were Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned, The Models, The Killjoys, Eater (I was the same age as Dee Generate), The Electric Chairs, Slaughter & The Dogs, Dead Boys, The Snivelling Shits (“Terminal Stupid”/“I Can’t Come”/Arthur Comix (“Isgodaman”), Buzzcocks and many more besides.
Being a Punk was a very dangerous occupation in 1977, particularly around the time of the Queen’s Jubilee. I was chased on several occasions and I was beaten up a couple of times as well. I stopped considering myself to be a Punk somewhere in 1979, although the Sex Pistols splitting up in January 1978 was when I first began to lose interest.

- Does style was important for you? 
 I started to pay more attention to what I was wearing at the beginning of the Punk era.
In mid-1977 myself and my Punk Rock friends -all of which had been into Glam Rock with me- went to the army surplus store and bought a pair of army trousers each (I still have mine).
A photo of Jimmy Pursey from Sham 69 getting arrested in a pair was possibly the inspiration. My next-door neighbour was ex-Territorial Army and he gave me an army belt to complete the look. With these I would wear a pair of World War II “Escape” flying boots, which were RFA issue from 1943.
The “Escape” boots were given to me by an uncle who was in the RAF and fought in World War II. They had a concealed knife in a pocket in their sheepskin lining. The idea being, if you landed in enemy territory you would use the knife to detach the upper half of the boots in order to transform them into what looked like a pair of civilian shoes.
With this look I would wear band T-shirts (Sex Pistols, 999, T-Rex) and a black leather jacket with lots of zips. I would also wear old 1960s suits from Oxfam - Oxfam chic, as it was often called. I couldn’t afford to buy much designer Punk Rock gear. I had an original Sex Pistols “Holidays In The Sun” T-shirt, which I bought from a Punk boutique in Bristol called “Out Of Order” in 1977. I also used to buy Punk clothes, like “Let It Rock” black drill trousers and Vivienne Westwood-designed black velvet bondage trousers, from another boutique in Bristol called “Paradise Garage”. “Paradise Garage” were regularly supplied by Westwood and McLaren, so they sold clothing from SEX and Seditionaries. I found Paradise Garage a very intimidating shop to walk in to when I was fifteen, but I would imagine Seditionaries was far more so.  


- Your best souvenirs? 
  I still have a few posters, fanzines, handbills and badges from the Punk Rock era, mostly from shows I went to. I saw The Clash play four shows over three different tours: “The Clash Out On Parole” (1978), “The Clash Sort It Out” (1978) and “16 Tons’ (1980). I had a ticket for the Bath show on “The Clash Get Out Of Control” tour (1977), but the venue sold out really quickly and the show got moved to a larger hall in Bristol. My parents refused to let me go to Bristol to gigs until I was sixteen, so I missed this show and several other important Bristol Punk gigs. I still have tour posters for “The Clash Out On Parole” and “The Clash Sort It Out”.  

































 - Your past hobbies?
My hobbies have always centred around music: buying records, going to gigs, playing in bands, reviewing bands, putting on bands.  


- What kind of music do you listen now? 
Junkshop Glam. I’ve returned to my roots, inspired by compilations like “Velvet Tinmine”, “Glitterbest”, “Boobs” and “Glitter From The Litter Bin”. My favourite Junkshop Glam acts are Hector, Iron Virgin, Kipper, Rosie, Grudge, Eli Culbertson and Pantherman. Does style still important for you? The way I dress today is still rooted in the 1970s, but I dress far more conservatively now than I did when I was a teenager, except when I play with Glam Chops. I always wear original clothes from the era. I don’t like reproductions. I sometimes wear original 1970s high street fashion and low-budget designer wear when I play with my band Glam Chops. I have a small collection of original 1970s platform boots and shoes, some of which originally belonged to people who played in bands at the time. I have a pair of boots that were pre-owned by Elton John’s drummer Nigel Olsson and another pair of handmade Granny Takes A Trip snakeskin platform boots that were pre-owned by John Beattie, lead guitarist with Wolverhampton’s The Spectrum. I have a pair of two-tone platform shoes with a Bowie flash on them that once belonged to a failed Glam Rock singer who switched to a career in stand up comedy. I’m told he wore them to his “New Faces” audition. Besides my platforms, I have a few more pieces of Glam Rock fashion, including items by Sniggin Piggin, Lee Bender and Frederick’s of Hollywood.  










- Your 5 favorite records ?
Gary Glitter – Rock ‘n’ Roll Part 1/Rock ‘n’ Roll Part 2 (I’m obsessed with “Rock ‘n’ Roll Part 2” T.Rex – Telegram Sam/Cadillac/Baby Strange (one of the first singles I ever bought) Jacky - White Horses/Too Many Chiefs (Not Enough Indians) (a beautiful and haunting tune. I love Jackie Lee) Jet Harris – Main Title Theme (from The Man With The Golden Arm)/Some People (My band Studs on Main St. used to play “Main Title Theme (from The Man With The Golden Arm)”. It’s also a favourite of Steve Priest from Sweet, who covered it on their LP “Desolation Boulevard”) Hector – Wired Up/Ain’t Got Time (a song I’ve only known about since its inclusion on “Boobs”, but “Wired Up” is my favourite Junkshop Glam song and I’m totally obsessed with Hector. As I used to watch Lift Off, I may well have seen Hector play “Wired Up!” on TV in 1973, but I can’t remember anything about that programme besides Ayshea, Ollie Beak and Fred Barker!)  


- Your favorite song (difficult !!! ) ?
Not difficult. Gary Glitter – Rock ‘n’ Roll Part 2. I’m in love with that beat. And every “hey” sends a shiver down my spine. I’m on a mission to find every record ever made with a Glitter Rock beat! Wish me luck!






































Tim Purr links :
Glam Chops
Purr Records