As I've mentioned on here numerous times, my Dad was an RAF bomber pilot. Perhaps one of the stories he told me about his RAF training which stuck longest in my mind, was when they were trained about the effects of hypoxia(lack of oxygen). They were all put in a tank and told to write their name continually on a piece of paper, whilst the tank was decompressed, to the point where they passed out. When Dad was let out, he was amazed to see how his handwriting had deteriorated as there was less and less oxygen in his brain. They were also told that when submarine crews were stranded on sunken subs, and the oxygen ran out, they'd go bonkers as the CO2 levels rose and the oxygen was used. CO2 gives you feelings of euphoria and irrationality (which is why some people use strangulation to increase C02 levels in sexual activity). You may wonder what all of this has to do with the price of fish?
Well one of the side effects of global warming is rising atmospheric CO2 levels. Could it be that the seemingly inexplicably stupid events happening in the world are down to CO2 muddling our brain? Not a day goes by without some new level of lunacy being reached. Seemingly rational people suddenly start acting completely out of character. I must confess that I'm not entirely surprised when someone like Donald Trump does something that seems to me completely idiotic. I am perhaps more surprised that the USA, a nation of around 300 million people decided that the two best people to choose between for the job were Kamala Harris and Donald Trump. During the election campaign, I told a mate, who is rather left leaning that Trump would win. He said "How could you possibly think Harris is worse than Trump?". I replied "I don't but she is the dullest and most uninspiring speaker I've ever seen, Trump is a great salesman and his pitch is that if you vote for me, your life will be amazing". Harris simply didn't get how powerful that was. But that wasn't her fault. It was the fault of the Democrats who failed to find a Clinton or an Obama, who could also make people feel positive about the future.
If you are a political party, be it the Democrats or the Monster Raving Loonies, if you want to win, your job is to find someone that people actually like. Interestingly, The Republicans didn't find Trump. He simply decided that he was going to be their leader and then President. Back in 2016, the Republicans simply didn't know how to stop him. Once he was in, he took the party over. Make no mistake, the Republicans are no longer the party of Abraham Lincoln. But that is democracy. You don't always get what you want. Trump is a product of a broken system in the USA. In some ways, I see Trump as a modern day Kamal Ataturk, the leader who modernised Turkey in the 1920's and 1930's. Ataturk changed Turkey forever. The biggest problem for Turkey was that he was such a charasmatic leader that every leader since has been in his shadow. The Republicans will not find another Trump. I won't live long enough to see, but the history books in 100 years will be fascinating. Once everyone with an axe to grind has passed and Trump can be properly evaluated based on his record, I'd be fascinated to see what they say. I watched Trump speaking in Saudi Arabia yesterday. I was shocked. He actually made what I thought was a brilliant speech. I personally think that selling arms to a regime such as the Saudi's is completely immoral, but looking at it through Trumps eyes, where he doesn't care about their human rights record, it was a masterpiece. I almost wondered whether it was a Trump lookalike delivering it. It was coherant and would have stroked all of the right buttons for his audience.
We are in a new world. We are in a world where the good guys are on the run. We are in a world where the arms dealers, the despots and the profiteers are running the show. Even in the UK, Sir Keir Starmer, a liberal lefty lawyer, who became Prime Minister to undo years of Tory misrule, with a massive majority, has started quoting Enoch Powell in speeches.
I cannot possibly understand how we have got here. Is the CO2 in the atmosphere slowly sending us all bonkers? I am struggling to find a better explanation. A mate, who is involved in Friends of the Earth, told me a couple of years ago, that the secret cabal who run the world, know it is completely f@@ked and they are running it into the ground so they can enjoy the last few years at the expense of the rest of us. I thought he was bonkers, but maybe, he had a point.
I daresay that I'll upset a few friends with what I have to say here, but I simply don't believe that we can avoid telling the truth. As the only real policies Reform seem to have are related to immigration and they are ahead of the other parties by ten percent in some polls, burying heads in the sand is no longer an option. I had always thought that whatever Sir Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper were or weren't, stupid was not one of them. Hearing Yvette Cooper talking about immigration yesterday. I have had to change my views. Why?
Well lets start by looking at why immigration is an issue for so many people. I talk to a lot of people from all walks of life and there are four reasons which I hear repeated time and time again. These are
1. Illegal immigrants are coming during a housing crisis, taking up all of the social housing and claiming benefits, adding to the tax burden of hard working British people. This means that we have less money in our pockets and our young people are priced out of the housing market.
2. Immigrants are involved in crime and anti social behaviour, not respecting British Culture.
3. Immigrants are changing the face of our towns and cities, Churches, Pubs, etc are disappearing and our High Streets are being overrun with Businesses which are fronts for money laundering.
4. The Police, Courts NHS, Councils and other Government agencies give Immigrants, their culture and their cultural needs preferential treatment, at the expense of indideonous British people.
Regardless of whether you think these statements are true, the reason that a significant number of people in the UK are now committed to voting Reform is because they believe them to be true and also only trust Nigel Farage to deal with their concerns. Sir Keir Starmer has four years to change their minds and prove that he can address their fears. There are two ways he can realistically do this. The first is to demonstrate, beyond reasonable doubt, in a way that the general public will believe, that he is addressing these issues. The second, is to implement policies that address the root causes of the discontent that the likes of Farage are counting on to persaude people to vote Reform.
I was fascinated when I saw Yvette Cooper on the news explaing how she was addressing these fears. Her big idea? To stop care workers from moving to the UK to work in care homes. To me, this is bonkers. The one thing, not even the most ardent Reform supporter has ever suggested we need to do, is stop genuine, hard working immigrants from working in care homes. The concept that there are lots of British people queueing up to work in care homes and are being forced out by immigrants is ridiculous. Of course, some at the fringes of the far right, would deport all immigrants, but that is a really minority view and not why Reform are polling at over 30% in some polls. This policy would be awful for all manner of vulnerble people. It does nothing to address any of reasons listed above.
So what should Starmer be doing? Well, if I was in his shoes, this is what I'd do to address the four issues.
1. The first thing I would do is to make any money given to France dependent on stopping illegal crossings. I'd double the money we pay France to police the channel, but I'd dock a sum for every crossing. We pay France around half a billion pounds a year to stop channel crossings. In 2023, approximately 29,000 people crossed the English Channel in small boats from France to the UK. This number was down from 46,000 in 2022. So if we docked £10,000 f'or every migrant crossing from France, they'd lose the half a billion extra if they let levels rise to 2023 levels again. I believe that the problem would stop and we'd save far more money as we'd not have the bills of housing and feeding migrants. I also believe that the UK government needs to do something to make housing affordable for younger people. That would remove a big cause of resentment.
2. Successive governments have chipped away at Police numbers and made it almost impossible for the Police to do their job. Having an effective Police force costs money. Starmer and Cooper need to properly fund the police. When the Police have the tools to do the job, crime drops and these sort of grumbles dissipate.
3. Yes, our high streets are changing. This has always been the case. If you think of the poem, Rub-a-dub-dub, it refers to the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker. Most of us just have a Tesco's Express instead now. Pubs don't close because "someone wants to put a Mosque there". They close because people stop going to the pub. I'd like to see things like pubs given support and protection from greedy developers, but ultimately if people don't want to use businesses on the High St, then the High Street changes. As for the charges of money laundering, see the answer to 2.
4. I think that there is a perception that the Police and Courts do not enforce the law properly for fear of creating a backlash. The grooming scandal is an example. It seems to me to be a complete no brainer for Yvette Cooper to instruct all police forces and the CPS to enforce the law without prefudice and with equality for all. I have no idea why Cooper hasn't already said publicly "We have reviewed what has been going on and in future, if people comit crime, they will feel the full force of the law, regardless of creed or colour'.
My views on this are not new, I've mentioned all of the above previously in blogs, if not all in one blog previously. I accept that fixing migration is far more complex than can be summed up in one short blog by someone who knows little about the subject. But I can also spot dodgy policies that won't work a mile off. Sir Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper have clearly panicked after the appalling results in the local elections. They have rushed through a series of completely idiotic suggestions that will do nothing to address the real issues that concern people and everything to damage the social services sector. In short, they've lost the plot
First, let me put a caveat on what I am about to say. I am feeling awful today. I have a cold and if it wasn't for the fact that I feel worse when I lie down, I wouldn't be writing this today. Let me tell you about my walk home from the studio yesterday. I got beeped and nearly run over twice. Both times crossing Station Road, in the space of 30 seconds. Both drivers were female (not that that is relevant) and both were breaking the Highway code. The first was fed up that she was hel up by a van turning right onto the Broadway, when she wanted to turn left. Her solution? Mount the pavement to get around the van and beep me because I had the audacity to stand on the side of the pavement (not on the road). I stood my ground and crossed the road. The woman wound down her window and called me something rude. I noted that she had two toddlers in the car, so I ignored her. I was still fuming, and about to cross the lane where people exit the Broadway onto Station Road. Another woman, turning right, off the Broadway, saw this and beeped loudly, making it clear that she was coming through come what may. Now whenever I drive up there, I follow the Highway code and let people cross. It is not only polite, but safe. SOme people are deaf, or wearing headphones and beeping at them may not alert them. As this woman had cut across the Broadway, she was not in my eyeline when I looked before crossing.
The actions of these two drivers to me summed up the attitude of far too many people in the UK at the moment. In both cases, had they followed the rules, shown a degree of respect to pedestrians and behaved like decent human beings, their journey would have probably been five or ten seconds longer. If these two incidents were an isolated coincidence, it probably wouldn't be worthy of comment, but sadly this year has been full of people behaving in a horrible manner. Someone who I thought to be a family friend behaved in the most appalling fashion. I was shocked beyond belief at how events transpired. I don't really want to go into it here, but lets just say our Xmas card list is a bit shorter this year. I'd almost forgotten the whole thing, however I had an unfortunate reminder of it this week. It seems some people are so self obsessed that they simply cannot recognise that some behaviours are beyond the pale.
My wife witnessed another example a couple of weeks ago. She was in the post office in Mill Hill and a man had turned up to collect a parcel. The staff, following procedures, asked him for ID. He replied with a tirade of abuse "You know me, I am always in here, I don't need to produce ID". When they replied that they had to follow the rules, he became abusive and started swearing at them. Clare was right behind them and was visibly shaken.
As for social media, especially X (formerly Twitter), the levels of bile and abuse launched by Trolls is something to behold. Elon Musk has monetised accounts who pay and get large amounts of clicks. Their algorythms direct these to unsuspecting viewers, via the 'For You' stream. I seem to be inundated with short, shaky clips of people beating each other up. This is the last thing I want to see. I immediately block such rubbish, but that hasn't stemmed the constant flow of such horrible nonsense. Is it any surprise that people are getting angrier, when we get force fed such crap by social media companies.
I was chatting yesterday to John Burgess, Barnet Unison branch secretary about the political situation in the UK. John was noting that with the rise of Reform, both Labour and the Conservatives are lurching to the right. I always enjoy chatting to John, but our conversation yesterday was completely depressing. After we finished speaking, I reflected on Johns comments. For the more right wing people in the UK, the two iconic Prime Ministers were Churchill and Thatcher. When you compare them to the current crop of politicians on the right, the first thing to note is that neither used to rant and bluster. You may completely disagree with both, but they were highly intelligent and could make a rational argument for their policies. Both had their views and didn't bend to public opinion. It seems to me that the current crop are always looking for a bandwagon to nail their flag to. It may deliver short term electoral gain, but I suspect that ultimately they will all end up skewered by their own lack of morals.
Many on the right look back to the post war decade as a golden era. The warm beer and people playing cricket on Village Greens (before they were bulldozed and had flats built on them). They seem to forget that we built the NHS and social housing, people didn't walk on the grass, if there was a sign saying so and we followed the rules. There was no need for 'Woke' because by and large, people were polite. But it is also worth remembering that singe mothers had their children stolen from them, hotels had songs saying "No Blacks, No Irish, No Dogs" and if you came from a working class family, your chances of going to University were almost zero.
Earlier in the week, when I started thinking about what I'd write this blog about, I thought it would probably be about the election of Pope Leo XIV. I don't know if it is just me, but I really couldn't be bothered to do any research, meaning I had nothing to say. When Stalin was running the USSR, he once derided the Pope, asking "how many divisions does he have". The new Pope has to deal with a fellow American, Donald Trump and a despot in Vladimir Putin. Can you imagine spending all of your life working as a Priest/Bishop/Cardinal and you make it to Pope and these are the people who you have to deal with. As for the new Pope, unless he demonstrates in short order that he will be the Pope who sorts out the abusers in the Church for once and all, I personally will think he lacks the real moral authority to do the job.
Having said all of the above, I am lucky. I have a great family, I don't worry where my next dinner is coming from and I can take solace in music, which I have to admit is going pretty well at the moment. It is a trobled world. We have to take solace where we can.
Having played with The False Dots for 46 years as band leader, having played at most of the best clubs and pubs in London as well as playing in Europe, I have a little bit of experience of running a band. I've also run Mill Hill Music Complex music studios since the band started and I've seen all manner of bands come and go. I've watched some artists start and rise to the top, whilst others, who may well have been more talented, have never really taken off. When we started, our mates, The Polecats, who I was at school with got a deal and were on Top of The Pops, inspiring us all to believe that we could 'make it'.
So what do you need to do to have a successful band? Well here are my top ten tips for aspiring band leaders.
1. Decide what you want your band to achieve and set clear goals and put a plan together to get there. I have mentored many artists over the years. The first question I always ask is "where do you want your career to take you?". Probably 75% say the same thing. "We want to get a deal and have hit records". It may surprise you if I say that this is one of the easiest things in the world to do. All you have to do is have at least one song that is a surefire hit (great beat, catchy hooks, etc), which has a vibe which is in tune with current music tastes, an image that is compelling and something unique that sets you apart from the crowd. If you have all of these, then the goal is achievable, but you have to play the game. It always amazes me how many artists who aspire to great things, don't have the basic building blocks to achieve it. So be honest, look at what you actually have and work out how yiu can build on this.
2. Choose the right people for your band. The reason why 99% of bands fail to get off the ground is because the members do not share a common purpose or commitment. If you want to "make it" ou have to pretty much accept that it will take 2-3 years to get established and for that period, the band has to be 100% your full focus in life. Relationships, careers, holidays,etc cannot be part of the plan. You have to spend your time writing, rehearsing, gigging, recording and networking and you all have to be committed to it. If the band are going our for a drink, go to places where other musicians hang out. Time spent in your local is time wasted and you really don't have time. Bear in mind, if the band takes off, you will be stuck with these people for the next couple of years. If they get on your nerves, it won't end well. Choose the right people.
3. Keep writing new material and study how to structure and compose music so that you get the best out of your ideas. Ultimately, success in music is all about having great music. No band has ever made it without having great tunes. Having quirky ideas is as compelling as having brilliant melodies, if you look at British music, some artists have great natural musical talent and tunefulness, such as The Beatles, Amy Winehouse, etc. Other such as Ian Dury, The Clash and the Rolling Stones,have a spikier talent and quirkyness that grabbed attention. Play to your strengths. The one thing all have is brilliant material and a compelling delivery.
4. Build a good team around your band. Once you start seriously gigging, you will need help. Getting gear to gigs, promoting the band, producing your tracks to bring the best out of them and emotional support, when things don't go well are really important. I mentioned the Polecats at the start. Tim, the singer, had a Dad Barry, who was a plumber and had a van. He would drive the band around the country and became their manager. Such people are the lifeblood of aspiring bands. My band had a mate called Emil, who'd lend us his VW camper van and another mate called Dermot, who drove it and didn't drink! Such people are diamonds.
5. Don't be disheartened when things go wrong. The reason that the False Dots are still going after 46 years (and I think making better music than ever), is that when things go wrong, we pick ourselves up off the floor and step back in the ring. Several times, absolutely key members would leave, just as we thought we'd crack it. You can't get disheartened. If you believe in what you are doing, just treat it as experience.
6. If things aren't working, be honest with yourself as to why. The biggest mistake bands make is to delude themselves as to why they are unsuccessful and the plan isn't working. Bands are the best at blami ng everything else for their problems. The labels, gig promoters, etc. I've heard the same old stories time and time again. Then I hear the music the band are playing and it is obvious. Generally it is because the songs bands make are simply too self indulgent. One of the biggest mistakes bands make is to try and look cool, writing highly pretentious nonsense, rather than songs that connect with people. They all slap each other on the back, celebrating their own brilliance, then the songs simply don't find an audience. One artists said to me, back in the 1990's that they couldn't understand the success of The Smiths, with their miserable lyrics. The answer is simple, many people connected with the emotions Morrissey shared. When I analysed the artists lyrics, effectively the songs were all "Look at me, I am cool, I am wonderful, aren't I great". The tunes were decent jangly pop, but it was was impossible to connect with. The artist absolutely refused to recognise that his was the problem. Needless to say, they never acheived success.
7. Understand the dynamics of gigging. Gigging is the most important stepping stone to success. But there are rules. If you don't play enough gigs, you will never get anywhere. If you play too many, at the same place, you will saturate and lose your audience. I'd recommend not playing the same venue more than 4-5 times a year. When you do a gig, always have another one to announce in the locality if possible, but make it 6-8 weeks apart. When you are building a following, there are two things to do. The first is to play free to enter gigs at venues that people actually go to. The second is to get good support slots at recognised venues. The second is better, but the first is more attainable. Different rules apply if you are a covers band, playing for cash. What you want then is a regular circuit of paying gigs. I've never really done that, so I can't offer too much advice, beyond see what pubs are doing live music and hassle them for gigs. I'd recommend checking out the bands playing there, and seeing what goes well.
8. Have a social media strategy. You won't get anywhere without social media. They say that people need seven social media engagements for things to sink in. Posts have to be engaging and eye catching. Building a following on social media platforms takes time and there is no easy fix. But there are a few good cheats. Follow similar acts, like their posts and comment. This will, eventually, draw attention to your band.
9. Make your media clips interesting and ensure there is an attractive narrative. One of the biggest mistakes bands make is to put boring, bland videos of the band up, that have dodgy sound quality, with a bland message, such as "Us playing a cover at the Dog and Duck last night". Half the time, it puts more people off the band than it gets to come. It is always worth investing in some coloured lights, so your videos look better and make sure the sound quality is good. Try and make the text sound exciting, so "Last night, everyone went crazy when we played Freebird at The Dog and Duck" is more likely to get a view.
10. Have a strong 'brand identity' for your band. Think of all the good things about your band, all of the USP's, what you sing about, what style of music you play, what you look like and your name. Make sure that when people engage, you've done everything you can to ensure they remember you. Try and make sure that when you take to the stage, you look different to all of the other bands.
As someone who has been running a band for 46 years, I look back on our career. There have been many phases. I thougght I'd finish this blog just listing how we progressed
1978-79 - We spent this period tring to put a band together and write songs. Our aim until Fen 1979, was simply to have a band we could rehearse with. Once we acheived that, the aim was to get a set together. It all imploded in Spetember 79, but we restarted in December.
1980-82 - This was all about getting the band gigging. We recorded demo's, toured Scandinavia and built up from playing local pubs, to better venues in London.
1983-84 - This was all about trying to get a record deal. We got close, but the industry didn't want a band fronted by a black female singer. We didn't fit. It all imploded in September. Here's a video of what the labels didn't like!
1985 - This was about rebuilding and getting back gigging. We ended the year playing in Belgium.
1986-87 - The less said about this period the better. We had a singer who wanted to make us a covers band earning money. It was a miserable period./
1988-90 - This was mostly about just playing gigs for the fun of it. We'd lost our spark, but we did a few decent gigs.
1990-2001 - I was doing other things, paying the mortgage and having kids.
2001-2009 - We rediscovered our love of gigging. That was always what it was about. We did a couple a locally.
2009-2011 - Much to my amazement, we enlisted a brilliant singer Connie AB, wrote a new set and started playing Camden Town again. As with 1984, we were scuppered by industry racism. Here' a video of Connie singing with us.
2012 -2019 - Allen Ashley, who sang with the band in 1985, rejoined and we returned to playing local gigs and festivals for the fun of it. We also recorded an albums worth of songs, but the pandemic meant we didn't get around to releasing it.
2021-Present. Allen left and I started singing. The band returned to what I wanted when I first set it, playing Ska/Pop/Punk tracks with a Madness/Ian Dury tone. We started playing back in Camden etc and I rediscovered my love of making music and showing off in front of an audience. What is our aim? To have as much fun as possible and see where the road leads us. Here is an example of our work!
For me, the band was always about gigging and playing our own stuff, to as many people as we can. I feel blessed to have had so much fun and work with such wonderful people over the years!
Sebright Arms 8pm – 11pm Barnet Acoustics Sessions as Ye Olde Mitre closed for refurb opens 24 May noon)
Tuesday 13th
The Builders Arms 8pm – 11pm Open Mic/Music Night#
Wednesday 14th
Ye Olde Monken Holt 8.30pm – 11pm Open Mic Night
Thursday 15th
Ye Olde Monken Holt 8.30pm – 10.30pm Irish Session
Malt & Hops 7.30 Open Mic Night
Maddens 8.30pm – 11pm Ronnie Gordon Legacy (ska, reggae, blue, soul, latin)
And I'll finish with a little treat for you. This week a lost video of The False Dots appearing at The Bald Faced Stag in Burnt Oak turned up. It has decent audio quality and features the amazing vocals of Venessa Sagoe! Have a listen to this real bit of Barnet music history
"Did you used to play in a band called The False Dots?". I replued "Yep I stll do"
"Did you put something up about video of a gig at the Bald Faced Stagg in Burnt Oak and wanting to see it, on Facebook". I replied "Yep I did".
"I've got a copy. I got it on DVD do you want to see it". I replied "I'd love to".
And so it was that for the first time ever, yesterday, I saw the video of The False Dots gig at the Bald Faced Stag, on the 30th June 1984. Our singer at the time was the rather amazing Venessa Sagoe. The line up was in blistering form and it was the fourth gig in a residency at The Bald Faced Stag, and a few days before we played a "Big Gig" at The Pindar of Wakefield in Kings Cross (now The Water Rats). The Bald Faced Stag in Burnt Oak was one of Barnet's most notorious pubs. Most of the hoodlums in Burnt Oak used it as their watering hole. Half of them had worked for my Dad at MacMetals. The guvenor liked us and paid us well for playing. At the previous gig, a chap called Tony Byrne, from Colindale CND approached us and asked if we'd like to make the next gig a benefit for CND. In return, he said he'd make a video of the event. These days everyone can make videos with their phones, back then, it was a massive thing. The idea of a whole gig being videod was really exciting.
My only concern was that the guvenor of the pub at the time was ex Army. How would he react to a CND benefit in his pub? He was delighted, as he knew that the pub would be busy. We got our mates, in a rythme and blues band called No Biscuits to support us. They were pretty full on and we knew it would be a good night. We played a great set and got a good reception. It was like a home fixture for us. After the gig, I rang Tony to get hold of a copy of the video. He was very cagey. Something had gone wrong and he'd missed half of the set. He was highly embarrassed. We never got to see it. Until yesterday.
What was even more annoying was that Tony showed it to the local paper to get some press for his cause. Even more annoying was the fact that the video editor had incorrectly labelled the band "The Full Stops" on the video, according to the press report. After a couple of weeks of nagging I gave up. By the end of the summer, that iteration of The False Dots had split up. Venessa had joined another band, I was in hospital in aserious poor health, following a burst stomach ulcer. I had split up with my partner and things couldn't be more miserable. I had no interest in seeing the video. It had been fun whilst it lasted, but in bands, you look forward, not backwards. And so the video got forgotten. When you are twenty one years old, you do stuff and move on. But when you are sixty two, you take a different view. I was looking through my bands scrapbook and saw this article and wondered. Did the video still exist? So I put a post up on Facebook and Veg, the drummer of No Biscuits got in touch.
So after all those years, what is it like? Well here is a snippet. This is Action shock, which is the only song from that era that we do.
The first thing that struck me was that that sound quality is excellent for a video of that era. I assume that the video maker took a live feed from the PA desk. The band also sounded excellent to my ears. Venessa was an exceptional singer and you really can hear that. Perhaps the most interesting thing for me, and it was somewhat emotional at times, was seeing all of our friends. Some, such as our bassplayer Paul Hircombe, have sadly passed away. Some, such as Venessa, keyboard player Chris Potts and drummer Adam Francis, I've not seen since that era. There are all manner of interesting faces in the audience, many of whom I knew casuaully and have no idea what they are doing now. I am sure Burnt Oak residents will see plenty of faces they know!
Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this is that the band is still going. It has changed and developed over the years. The year after this video was made, our current drummer Graham Ramsey joined the band. Bassist Paul Hircombe was a member until 2009, when he moved to Portsmouth, passing away from cancer three years later. Paul was replaced on bass guitar by Fil Ross, who had originally joined in 2000 on guitar and vocals. Of the songs in the set, we did several covers. There were also songs that I had no recollection of. Venessa should have been a massive star. I watched the whol 45 minutes and she didn't miss a note or a cue. She was a fantastic singer.
But things move on. The song I chose to feature (and I will post a couple more) was Action Shock. I've told the story of the song before. It has become a very important song in the False Dots set and until recently was always the song we closed the set with. It wouldn't have even seen the light of day, had it not been for Venessa. As I recounted in the blog
Like most of the lyrics and poems I write, it then got stuck in my shoebox, put in the sock draw and left. In 1983, Vanessa Sagoe, joined the band. She asked to see any lyrics I had. She loved the song. She asked if I had any music for it. Myself and Paul Hircombe then composed a very basic two chord pattern. We played it and Vanessa simply took the song and that was that. We never bothered to develop it any further musically, because Vanessa's delivery was so powerful.
And so to 2025, forty one years after this video was made. What has changed? Well as I mentioned, too many friends are no longer with us. The Bald Faced Stag has also been knocked down. Burnt Oak, which was once the home of numerous pubs, only has a small Irish bar for the local boozers. The only place left for a band like The False Dots to do a gig is the Burnt Oak Services club. Even the Bus numbers changed from Burnt Oak, with the 114 replacing the 140 and the 302 replacing the 52. Many landmarks, which seemed timeless have gone. Edgware General hospital is no more, with a sort of downgraded hospital with no A&E in its place. The mighty Coop department store has also long gone. The Tesco's next door, the banks have departed. The Market shut its doors and the Betta Cafe is no more. My nephew watched the video and noted that everyone is smoking inside. Our keyboard player performs the whole gig with a ciggie in his mouth. If you want to know what the Bald Faced Stag was like in 1984, I doubt that there will be another video of it. It occurs to me that this video is actually a really precious piece of local history, a window into a lost world.
I was chatting with a mate in the Services club last night. He is a successful businessman and he asked me what I'd got out of being in the band.The great things I've got are too many to list. I met my wife at a gig, many of my best mates are musicians I've met through the band, I've had an absolute blast and occasionally a gem like this turns up, that blows my mind! He then said "No, do you actually earn any money out of the band?". In truth, no. These days, if we cover our bar bill, petrol and have enough to buy a kebab on the way home, it is a good night financially. When we recorded this video we actually got paid decent money for gigs. We'd get paid £250 for a gig at the Stag and we'd get free beer and a plate of sandwiches. Within a couple of years, it became almost impossible for a band playing original material to get a paid gig in London. When I wrote the chorus of Action Shock "Life, Mine's not for sale" I didn't realise how true those words would ring.
Anyway, just for your fun, here is a live version of Action Shock that our current line up made at London Talent Week last December. It's a rather different version. I'd love to hear Venessa sing it with us one day. Who knows, I never thought I'd see this video, life turns up funny things!
See the band peform Action Shock live at The Dublin Castle on Sunday 25th May
I was genuinely upset today to see this post on X. It is a few days old, but I felt really sad, it marks the passing of an era.
RIP legendary Hendon and Finchley Times chief snapper Peter Beal, who you knew would be *everywhere*. Always kindly supportive at events organised by my Mum and very generously offered insights to help me scrape an otherwise unlikely C in Photography GCSE. https://t.co/arxFe5ErBV
I've known Peter for donkeys years. Not only that, but over the years he took many pictures of me and my band, The False Dots, as well as all manner of events which I have been involved in and that the Barnet Times covered.
Below are some of my favourite pictures of the band, taken by Peter.
1980 - Our first outing in the press!
November 1983 - Our classic line up
2004 - Celebrating 25 years of the False Dots
There are plenty of others in my collection, but these all tell a special story for me. Peter covered all manner of events for the Barnet and Hendon Times. When I first met him, he had the look of a dapper mod, fresh out of a gig at Ronnie Scotts. We were just snotty teenagers, in a punk rock band. You might think that a local photographer, turning up at Harwood Hall in Mill Hill on a freezing night in December, to watch an unknown bands first gig would be a chore. None of it! Peter said "For all anyone knows, you lot might be the next Rolling Stones, and I'm taking your first press picture". Over the years, I got to know him far better. He was always interested in the band. When he turned up to take the picture for our 2004 gig (above), I said "I bet you don't remember our first picture". He said "Was that at Harwood Hall, you were all far more serious then!". We'd often chat about various local issues. Peter was the soul of discretion, but a wry smile would usually tell me all I needed to know. Photographers are like furniture and often people are indiscrete in their company.
As I got into politics and blogging, Peter took all manner of pictures of events for the Times. Sadly, I didn't keep copies of them, as I did for the band, but I'd scour the paper for them. They always had excellent composition and he had a brilliant eye for detail. The internet is awash with pictures taken by Peter, sadly, most people posting his pictures, don't have the courtesy to credit the Times newspaper and so most are unaware that the great pictures are his work. The Barnet Times printed a wonderful obituary to Pete. Many of the Hendon Times pictures are on the wonderful Mempics site. Sadly these don't have a name on the pictures, but I am sure many are the work of Peter. They are well worth a look.
So next time you see a post on Facebook, with an uncredited picture saying "I've been doing internet research and I found this amazing picture of Mill Hill from 1983" just think for a second, it may well have been Peter who took it. He would have had to jump in his motor, go to the site, take 20-30 snaps, go back to his darkroom and develop them and then pick the best one. It took a lot of talent and a lot of time. It's just a shame that he will get no credit at all for his work from these 'Internet researchers'.
Here's a few pics from the Hendon Times website that I rather like. RIP Peter, legend and top bloke.
