Rock and Roll stories #44 - The awful truth is that there is nothing in the world better than being in a Rock and Roll band

 When I started writing this series of blogs, I simply wanted to convey what my relationship with the London music scene from June 1977 up until now has been like, using my band mostly as the vehicle to illustrate it. I have been rereading the series recently. In doing so, I realised I have done the whole thing a bit of a disservice. I have failed to truly convey how joyous and fun the whole thing has been since The False Dots first rehearsal on the 14th February 1979. It is so easy to get side tracked by the bumps on the road, the fallings out, the other things, that you forget to talk about just how brilliant it all really was. On the False Dots band site we have a list of gigs that we've done. Enough that I actually can't remember most of them, only the brilliant and the dire ones. We also have a list of all of the line ups. Again, with many of the members, it is easier to remember why they left than why we got them in the first place, especially when the fallings ou were massive. Some members like Dav Davies, our first gigging drummer left because he was moving away. It was sad, but it was just life. That was a rarety. Mostley it was the result of unpleasantness. But that always masked the good bits. I founded the band with Pete Conway, who had been a mate since I was four. We went through primary school and much of our secondary school together. There was a period of about a year, where Pete and I would meet nearly every day and write songs, etc. It was a brilliant period and we came up with some great stuff. Towards the end of this, Pete lost interest as he became more interested in females. I was not disinterested, but I managed to work around the two things. Pete was working for Dewhursts butchers in Mill Hill. He'd knock on our front door after work. I was at Orange Hill School. He'd come in and announce he had a new song he'd written the previous night when he'd got home. We'd go up to my bedroom, plug in our guitars, pen and paper to the ready and bash out chords and arrange the songs. Often we'd work until 9pm and then adjourn to the Railway or Green Man pub. We were only sixteen or seventeen, but Pete had money so we'd get served. I had a paper round, so I couldn't really buy many beers. I once asked Pete if he minded and he simply said "pay me back when we are rich and famous". 

We'd invariably get involved in scraps and scrapes. Often our behaviour was misinterpreted. One incident that really made us think was when we were walking to the Railway, probably in August 1978. As we crossed the footbridge over the M1, we noticed a Datsun car broken down, with an Indian family sitting on the verge, looking forlorn. When we saw this, we blooked at each other and laughed and started singing Breakdown by The Buzzcocks and pointing at them. The incident lasted about five seconds and we strolled on. It didn't really occur to us that not everyone knew the work of the Buzzcocks and we certainly didn't intend to be offensive. We'd just been listening to it before we came out. When I got back from the pub, I tuned into BBC Radio London, as I recall Robbie Vincent used to do a late night radio show. If I was working on a new idea, I'd listen to this rather than John Peel, who would distract me. The subject was racism in London. As I was listening, an Indian chap rang up and told how he'd broken down this very evening on the M1 at Mill Hill and him and his family had been verbally abused by aggressive skinheads, shouting racist abuse at him and his children from the overbridge. I was horrified, then I realised that the guy was referring to us. We weren't skinheads, we were punks and we hadn't abused them at all. I rang up immediately to put the record straight. Robbie Vincent, very sensibly listened to what I had to say and then said "Just put yourself in their shows for a second. They didn't know who you were. All they could probably hear was some sort of shouting. They had young children. You may have meant no harm, but if you can't see why they felt threatened, you are an idiot". As it was a central theme of the band that we were anti nazi and anti racist, I was horrified, but I realised Robbie Vincent was right. When Pete turned up the next day, we had a long chat about it. 

Like many such incidents, it inspired us to write a song, in this case, one we are still performing. I think it marks the maturity. The song is called Wrong and it is us berating ourselves for getting it wrong. In those moments, it seemed like we were channelling something bigger and better and it felt amazing. Like many of our songs from that era, we never performed it live and it sat in a dusty tin. I was embarrassed about it for a long time, but I came to realise that it is an important message. Just because you can smugly explain away bad behaviour, doesn't make it ok.  If you are in a band, you gotta not only be on the side of the good guys, you gotta make sure that this is clear. I've always had a soft spot for Robbie Vincent for putting me straight. 

If we fast forward to the current day, we don't have the same electric energy. I've never had Fil, Graham and Tom in my bedroom writing songs, then going for beers to discuss. We have a rehearsal and do it all there. But the energy when it works is the same. At our last rehearsal, we played through three new (to this set) songs for my birthday bash gig on Saturday. After we played Pusherman ( as song we last performed in 2009, before Tom joined and Graham rejoined, Tom beamed enthusiastically "They will love that". If we are still going in twenty years, I will have long forgotten that moment, but those are the really great moments.

The other really good thing about being in a band, is that you get to see other great bands on the way up. Tony Gleed at the Dublin Castle, recently shared with me the name of the band playing with us on 2nd November. They are the Double Nines and they are brilliant, click here to have a listen. The list of amazing bands the band have played with over the years is long, and includes The Foundations, Lee Thompson from Madness, Chris Spedding, Kate Nash, Huw Lloyd Langton of Hawkwind, Way of the West, Skaface, Radical Dance Faction, The Nice Men, Soldier Bike and The London Sewage Company just to name a few. Great young bands such as Divided Compass, Wine Mom and Inbetween Honey recently have been amazing. If I wasn't in a band, I'd been in watching quiz shows and doing soduku puzzles. It really is brilliant. So if sometimes, I seem a little grumpy about the band, it is only a small part of the story and not only has the band been great but it has been an education.

I'll leave you with some of our music. I chose this. Getting to this gig was a nightmare. Graham's car blew up. We had to take the gear on a bus, then in a cab. But we got through. That is just part of the story. I think it sounds pretty good for a 100% live song