The Saturday List #454 - The False Dots Set List for MHMC Saturday 14/9/2024 and the story behind all of the songs

Tonight, The False Dots perform at Mill Hill Music Complex. We play a set with songs written in 1979, up to today. Here is the story of the set. 

Wacky Races  - Started life when I was remiscing about the go cart races we used to have as kids in Millway. I then sprinkled a few other tales of our youth in and observed that kids aren't allowed to have fun anymore. It has a slow, dub reggae vibe. 

Bubble Car - I found a picture of my brother Frank in his bubble car in Manchester in 1967 with his mates. I commented that it would make a great album cover. It inspired me to write the song. I wanted a Ska feel, I wanted the song to shout 1968!

We all love a party - Our last Single/video release.  Started life as a reminsence about the parties my parents used to have when we were kids. Always a laugh. Mum always vowed "never again" when they finished. She hated clearing up the debris and the embarrassing incidents. The rest of us loved it. It has become our anthem.

Channelling Ian Dury - Anyone who has heard us will know how central an influence Dury was on our sound. I felt that I should recognise this and tell the story of when I met Ian in Camden town in 1977 when I was fourteen. 

Dave The Roadie (The man who saved the world) - I wanted to pay tribute to all the mates who helped the band over the years. It is based on a lot of people, it's all true, but it's a mish mash of a lot of people I know condensed into a song. it started off being about our original roadies and biggest supporters, Dermot Fanning and Brian Shillibeer, but as I wrote it, the scope changed and widened. It is really as much as people I met in the journey, who helped us or just hung around at some stage. This is the first time we've ever played it live. 

Rambo's Rampage - I love this song, the story of our drummer Graham Rambo Ramsey and how he became a Mod. The song is based on stories he shared, although it is my interpretation and there is artistic license, but it is pretty accurate.

Longshot didn't die  - I wrote this song as a Ska song. I wanted Lee Thompson from Madness and Jenny Bellstar to to sing it. I played it to Lee and he said "Why don't you sing it yourself? I'd not thought of it. It is perhaps the starting point for the post 2022 sound of The False Dots. It is a re-imagination of what the true story of the Pioneers Ska hit from 1968 was. I love the song. 

Don't be scared of a finger up the bum -  An impassioned plea to my mates and men everywhere to get a prostate check. It is a fun song, with a serious message.

Buy Me a Bottle of Jack -  A song about dark, suicidal thoughts, prompted by my struggle with prostate cancer and facing up to the life changing effects I've had,  but told with a very dark humour. After I drafted it, I gave the subject some more thought. Three times in my life, I've seriously thought about ending it all. Each time, something has made me laugh, something very dark, but it pulled me back from the brink. There is an absolute plague of young people killing themselves, our Graham's son being one. We need to talk about it. When I have a dark music, I sing myself the song in my head.

The Burnt Oak Boogie -  I wrote this for a laugh. I went to Orange Hill School, we used to bunk off out and go for a cup of tea at The Betta Cafe on Watling Avenue. Somethimes, I'd nip arround to my surrogate Grandma, Annie O'Keef'e's place on Homefield Road for a cup of tea and a slice of cake. A lovely old Irish lady, married to a caretaker called Joe. The Burnt Oak I knew has disappeared. I miss them and I miss the old days.

Sunday in the 70's - I was a teenager in the 1970's, it formed me. This song is a love song to those days. 

Sci Fi Girls - I used to be obsessed with TV Sci Fi series UFO and I liked Dr Who until Tom Baker took over. This song is all about this pre teenage obsession. 

Not all She Seems - All of the other songs up to now are (relatively) new. This one was written in 1979. The guitar lick was donated to us by Hank Marvin of The Shadows. His son Paul was our drummer for six months in 1980. It is about a transsexual prostitue on the run from a pimp and a Tory MP who is besotted with her. Like many False Dots songs, it is a true story, with a bit of artistic license. We wrote it very sympathetically. Pete Conway co wrote it. We wanted to write a song telling the story of someone at the margins, abused by everyone. I am amazed we did so good a job as sixteen year olds.

Action Shock -  This was written in 1982. A mate was a Marine in the Falklands. I saw him six months after he came back. He was a mess, suffering from bad PTSD and was really unpleasant. Six or seven years later, I met him again. He was back to himself. He told me that he'd been to Nepal and spent three years up a mountain smoking dope. He was back to normal. I feel that I should write a follow up, but I've failed to get the right vibe and given up every time I've tried. It was written as a punk thrash. We never played it. When Venessa Sagoe joined in 1983, she insisted we play it. It has been a highlight ever since. It stubbonly refuses to die.