Part 15 Transition back to London


 Dick suggested I move into his tiny flat in Leinster Square and John wanted to release another Krypton Tunes EP , I think we all knew it would be the last. I bought a pair of white shoes and a folding foam sofa bed on Bayswater Road and moved it into the sitting room, up four flight of stairs.

John and I ran a small rehearsal room(s) in the railway arches in Camden. I mostly remember we had our own “space invaders” machine and the Boomtown Rats taking a block booking, paid for by Phonogram , large numbers of indy bands and a few demo’s for young hopefuls. I particularly liked the Phonogram money, a taste of the ‘crumbs from the table’ of the large multinationals.

John had his favourite 3 songs left to release and I booked the best of the local studios that indies could afford for a couple of days, no rehearsal, both Dick and Brian came along to the session and I played the track that I knew and got Brian to played the two new ones. We fancied some female backing vocals and Dick called a couple of friends from his Stranglers tour days and Petronella and her friend, a couple of lovely Chelsea girls, turned up and obliged. It was chaotic and delightful.  The sleeve notes are revealing


Dave Hunt came with Berry St Studios, probably the most prolific engineer of that period on the indy music scene , we were to work together often after that, Dick sang backing vocals with the  The Secret Impulsettes . Sue ( another friend of Johns from Wales), played synthesiser . David Cunningham came over and helped out with the mixing and synthesiser parts and RD Laing provided the Lyrics for “ My night to moan”.

This was a big cross over year for me and the exact sequence of events over this year may get muddled, but all of them occurred at some times apparently, simultaneously.

Dick was opening an office in Belgravia with a view to  The Slits and The Pop Group and building a “stable” of acts, starting with what he considered to be the best of the fringe bands that had supported the Stranglers on the last tour ( Hugh had insisted that they use a local band as support act on each date of the UK tour, to showcase local artists) he offered to share the space, an informal arrangement, if I'd help out with these two bands while I decide what I wanted to do next.

I had two bands in mind that I wanted to join as a drummer, the Gang of Four from Leeds and the Au Pairs from Birmingham. If I couldn’t do that, I would join Dick in management and create a stable of acts to look after, either together or separately.


audio here
I went up on the train for a formal audition with the Gang of Four when Hugo, their drummer left. I didn’t get the gig, in fact Hugo returned to the band the following week, but we got on well and kept in touch, they came to London and asked Dick to help them as part of the new management company. More of that anon. The Au Pairs didn’t need a drummer but were interested in a London based manager, so I went up to Birmingham and spent the day with them in the hope of finding kindred spirit and a slightly anarchic management arrangement. Paul the guitarist offered me a lift to the station and I was surprised to find Suzie ( ex Gwernogle) in the car with him for the journey. I don’t think Lesley Woods was keen on my ‘hippie’ background and nothing came of it till later, Jane, I felt, I had a real connection with.

So I decided to join Dick in Eccleston Street and we set about putting in phones, desks and filing cabinets, If there was one thing I knew I was good at, it was starting things off . That same week the Slits got a gig in Paris and being the only one with an up to date passport I flew out with them and coordinated the press interviews and return.

Dick and I would spend time between the bands, the office, gigs and record companies, we had almost weekly meetings at Radar, negotiating for the Pop Group. I always remember the two A&R guys in suits, with bald heads , nodding along to ‘We Are All prostitutes’, next to the mixer at the Electric Ballroom. I also remember offering them vague Zen Koan’s in answer to questions that we either didn’t want to answer or simply didn’t know the answer to. We worked well together, I always deferred to his much greater knowledge of the whole industry and he always treated me as a friend. 

I’d often be in the office fending calls from journalists and other artists, the news of an alternative artist management setup soon spread and people would drop in for chats and advice in those early days. Dick already had years of experience of the industry. 

Audio Here

David Cunningham was amongst the first, he’d had a degree of success with his electro version of Summertime Blues and wasn’t sure how to get the best out the interest it generated. (hence roping him in to mix the last Krypton Tunes release).

Siouxsie and the Banshees manager was clearly a friend of Dicks and asked him to get Nico to support on the Banshees upcoming tour (A Siouxsie teen idol ?) and I was tasked with picking her up at the airport and taking out on the road for about 5 shows.

I had a call from Val Haller and Henry Padovani who wanted someone in the UK to look after the Electric Chairs venture with New Yorker, Wayne County.

The Pop group were looking to find a producer for their first Album on Radar and Dick was flying in John Cale from the states and I was to pick him up and entertain him for an evening before he went down to meet the band at the studio.

My old buddy Brian had a scheme afoot to release a bootleg of an upcoming American arthouse band and the Elvis Costello album I'd first listened to in Jan's spare room in Wales was now in the UK Charts.

I'm going to have to take some of these items one at a time.

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