Blondie at the Roundhouse - 7/7/2013

Sunday was 7/7. This is a date etched in the heart of many Londoners following the tube and bus bombings of 2005. I suppose there is no better way of marking the date than by carrying on completely as normal. In response to an attempt by fundamentalists, who would ban alcohol and make all women cover themselves from head to toe, to destroy our society, than going to see one of the most iconic female singers on the planet strut her stuff, whilst having a few beers in my favourite venue.

Blondie at the Roundhouse

I have been a fan of Blondie since the very first time I set eyes on their first album "Blondie". I was intrigued and fascinated. It is probably the only album I have ever bought purely because of the cover. Debbie Harry was georgeous! When I got home and played it, the album was brilliant. It wasn't commercially successful. The single, perhaps the worlds first rap record, "Rip Her to Shred" was catty and funny.

The band could also play. Clem Burk, the long standing drummer brought an energy and vitality to the music, so lacking in many similar "girl singer" bands. At the time I was just getting into the London Punk Rock scene. At the time, the place to be was at the Roundhouse on a Sunday night. The first gig I saw there were the iconic New York bands, the Ramones and The Talking Heads.

So fast forward from 1977, to 2013, a Sunday night at the Roundhouse for an iconic New York Band. Debbie arrives on stage in six inch high heels and the shortest mini skirt ever. Now there was a big disconnect in our party between the boys and the girls. The boys thought this was great, whilst the girls thought maybe she could have been a bit more demure! What no one could argue about was that the band were awesome. They can all play and Debbie can belt out a great pop song. The band have a whole stack of hits. "Hanging on the Telephone", "The Tide is High", "Heart of glass" were all belted out at full throttle. I was struck by the fact that unlike the next generations of glamourpuss singers, Debbie Harry didn't hog the limelight. It wasn't "Debbie Harry". It was a band. She didn't use the explicitly sexual moves that some of her successors have. She didn't need to. In the 1970's Debbie Harry was probably the sexiest woman alive, so I guess she didn't need to strut her stuff so brazenly, she just knew! For me the night was pure bliss. Rock and Roll music is the ultimate high. seeing one of your icons in the flesh, in tip top shape is as good as it gets.

All too soon they had finished the main set. For the encore, I was thrilled that they did a rather obscure choice. A cover of "You can't put your arms around a memory" by The Heartbreakers, in memory of lost friends. This is one of my favourite songs. They wrapped up with a cover of Relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood and a finale of "Call Me".

It was for me a perfect rock and roll night. As I left the venue, I looked at the our itinery and then noticed the date. My first thought was I'd just seen the reason why the people who let those bombs off will never succed. Because their is no joy in their life, and who wants a life like that?

35 Years later - The Ramones Vs John Cooper Clarke

On the 6th June 1977 my life changed. That was the day I saw the Ramones, The Talking Heads and the Saints at the Roundhouse. That was the day I was bitten by the punk rock bug. I was fourteen years old and had never even considered playing a guitar. I only went because my sister had a spare ticket and I was at a loose end. That weekend there was a bank holiday for the queens silver jubilee. I wasn't at that point too aware of the music scene. We didn't have wall to wall TV and music, downloads or iPods. It was all vinyl. The only two music shows were Top of the Pops and the Old Grey Whistle Test, which both ignored punk rock. I had seen the Sex Pistols on the Bill Grundy show. I thought it was hilarious, but they seemed like aliens from another planet. Unlike today, there was no flood of twittering. I'd never even seen a computer, let alone used one then. My musical tastes at that point were T Rex, Bowie and the Rolling Stones. I knew every bar of every verse of every song on "Sticky Fingers" backwards. I had even spotted the mis-edit in "Bitch". It tried to explain this to my sisters but they hadn't a clue what I was on about.

I have very strong recollections of that night. The Saints strolled on and were just a kind of cool wall of noise. I knew they were Australians. I can remember Chris Bailey was wearing a mac and the music was frantic and the band looked completely out of it. Next up were Talking Heads. I found Tina Weymouth intriguing. As a fourteen year old boy, the highlight of the show was Psycho Killer. Not because I particularly liked the song, but because of the way Tina's breasts moved in time with the bass on the Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum Dum der Dum bit. I didn't know any song by any band, so it was all a bit odd. I thought Talking Heads were a country and western band.

Then the Ramones strode on. Joey shouted 1-2-3-4 and 33 minutes later they finished. I was drenched in sweat and had found meaning in life. I went out the next week and bought their first two albums. I then found that due to a campaign by a Conservative MP, the track Carbona Not Glue had been replaced on my copy by Babysitter. I spent the next six months tracking down a copy with Carbona on. I also started planning to form a band. we actually had the band for a year before we had any instruments. We'd go and sing Acapella versions of songs such as "The Vietnamese Boat refugee" song to the people queueing outside gigs. On one famous occasion we took a crate of overripe bananas to Camden Town and pelted the people in the queue with them (after drinking a couple of bottles of Vodka). A reporter from the NME took umbrage at getting hit in the face with a banana and stepped out of line to take his revenge. He slipped on another banana and broke his arm, which we found hilarious. What was even funnier was the fact that he wrote in the paper that the crowd had been attacked by vicious fascist thugs chanting obscene nazi slogans and one of them beat him up, breaking his arm. He couldn't admit that he'd been called a twat by a pissed teenager singing a song slagging off the Thai government for executing refugees and he's slipped over on a banana. His story couldn't have been further from the truth, especially as one of our little gang was a Kenyan. After that we'd always give him as much abuse as possible whenever we saw him. I even wrote a letter to the NME explaining just how wide of the mark they were, but it was never published.

Thirty five years later, I'm celebrating the diamond jubilee by going to see John Cooper Clarke at the Stoke Newington Literary festival tonight. Will it have the same effect as the Ramones? I doubt it, but I am sure it will be a great night. These days I don't drink bottles of vodka, throw bananas at journalists and laugh when they break their arms. I guess I'm still guilty of occasionally calling out a pompous twat or two. Thirty five years ago, as I got ready to see the Ramones, I had no idea what sort of effect it would have on my life. There are very few seconds of that ride I'd change. Here's to the next thirty five years.

However you spend the Jubilee, I hope you have a wicked time !

Rog T's Top Ten gigs

Here's my top ten gigs. Dates are guesstimates.

1 - 1977 - The Roundhouse - The Ramones, Talking heads, The Saints
2 - 1977 - The Roundhouse - The Vibrators, 999, The Radiators from Space 
3 - 1978 - The Marquee -  The Dickies
4 - 1978 - The Hope and Anchor - Crass
5 - 1978 - The Moonlight club - The Doomed (The Damned's post Brian James reunion)
6 - 1990 - The Subterrania - Big Audio Dynamite
7 - 2009 - The Roundhouse  - Smokey Robinson
8 - 1978 - Stonebridge Park Festival - The Vibrators, Misty in Roots, The Ruts
9 - 1977 - The Marquee - Wire
10 - 1982 - Dingwalls - Country Joe McDonald

It was a rather hard choice as I've been to plenty. Most of the Ramones gigs could have made it in there, as could most of the Vibrators gigs. There are a few notable other gigs I'd like to mention. We put on a show for Edgware General hospital Campaign in Montrose Park in 1997, with The Sway and The shrinking Violets, which was superb. For my band, The False Dots, my two favourite gigs was 1982 at Pub Bastun in Aland, Finland and 1984 at Dingwalls. I really enjoyed The Steve Miller Band and Joe Cocker last year at The Concorde Plaza in California. A few years ago I thought the Polecats at Oakwood Golf club was a great show. Recently I've really enjoyed the annual Pogues gigs at Brixton Academy. X-Ray specs were good at the Roundhouse and the Pisols were great at Brixton.

My Top 5 venues

1 - The Roundhouse, Chalk Farm
2 - The Marquee (in Wardour St)
3 - The Moonlight Club (West Hampstead)
4 - Dingwalls, Camden Town
5 - The Music Machine, Camden Town (Became the Camden Palace)

And my big bugbear of the week. In the BBC coverage of the Electric Proms, the trailer featured pictures of Camden Town tube station, in relation to the Roundhouse. Everyone knows that Chalk Farm is the station for the Roundhouse.

The Roundhouse

Of all the places in London to have a night out, my favourite is the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm. This may have something to do with the fact that the very first Punk Rock I ever saw happened there on 6th June 1977 (The Ramones, Talking Heads and The Saints). Then again maybe it doesn't. Tonight I was there to watch Echo and the Bunnymen. I thoroughly enjoyed the gig, they are a truly awesome band, but I kept turning over the question in my head "Why is an industrial shed built 150 years ago my favourite venue in the world".  I put this question to my friend Derek who is an award winning designer. He said that he thought that maybe constraining designers was actually beneficial. I really don't know. All of the buildings I like most in London The Roundhouse, St Pancras, etc, blend old & new. The most successful venue in the world is the 02 (formerly the Dome). I don't actually believe it works as a venue. It's too big and you are too detached from the band.

Sadly the economics of music mean that the O2 dwarfs the Roundhouse in financial terms. That is why the top bands play there. I'm off later this month to see Smokey Robinson at the Roundhouse as part of the BBC electric proms. I doubt there'll be a more enjoyable gig at the O2 in the next 10 years.