After another three hours' writing today, I am beginning to feel that be anarcho punk article that I've been writing is almost finished. It's too long by about 500 words which I'll slash and burn tomorrow along with sorting out the referencing.
It has led to a revisiting of a corner of punk that was always at the edges- apart, that is, from the wonderful Vi Subversa who not only persuaded Poison Girls original bass player, Bella Donna, to lend me her semi-acoustic bass that had once belonged to The Buzzcocks, but also lent us her son Danny (who was 14 at the time) to be our drummer. But the Crass thing always seemed to be happening elsewhere (although I think I might have seen them playing upstairs at the Resource Centre in Brighton one time); and then of course everything got very black clothes and by that time I was a checked shirt sort of person playing pop.
It's unbelievable how many bands we used to go to see back then; and when The Chefs moved to London I lived in Dyne Road in Kilburn, which was a long street away from The Moonlight Club in West Hampstead, where we had a residency. And I used to go there every night and just see whoever I saw. Sometimes it would be a rockabilly band with Crazy-Coloured quiffs and a WEM Copycat working away next to the mixing desk adding reverb to everything. Once it was The Thompson Twins before they shrunk to a 3-piece. Dolly Mixture, who we invited to share our residency; Girls At Our Best, OK Jive; all sorts of music.
The DJ there told me that Decca Studios had been next door, and they used to run cables into the club to record live sessions by John Mayall's Bluesbreakers.
Fascinating story. Keep up that writing!
ReplyDeleteI remember the Moonlight Club and the Starlight above it. Lost count of the times I travelled up from Cambridge to see Dolly Mixture and The Chefs play there... Buy the guy at the desk a beer and plug my tape recorder into the line out :) Seems such a long long time ago...
ReplyDeleteIt was a long time ago- but wasn't it a brilliant venue? I practically lived there at one point.
ReplyDeleteLater, we discovered that one of the promoters (who shall remain nameless) had skimmed hundreds of pounds from the door takings each time we'd played there.
so the rumours concerning financial shinanigans were true then... But it was a great little venue - one of my favourites at the time. You always used to meet the same old faces every time you rolled up for a gig. Don't think I ever saw a bad show. I've discovered a couple of great venues here in L.A. that remind me of the good old days - the Echo in Echo Park (350 capacity, tickets about $15 - including both Dum Dum Girls and Ash) and the El Rey on Wilshire - probably has the best acoustics of ant venue I've been to... Martin and yourself should rock up for a gig. Weather here is so much better!
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