Dispirited and disappointed

 I rarely feel low. Today I do. I've not really felt like this for a while. There are several reasons. Probably the biggest is the fact that I damaged my shoulder a month ago and it is not improving. My physio told me last week to ice it four times a day and lift nothing heavy for three weeks (difficult with my job). Although at times it doesn't hurt at all, when I turn over in my sleep, it is rather painful and wakes me up.

The second reason is I had a PSA test yesterday and I always get anxious as I wait to see whether or not I am still free of prostate cancer. I really am not in the mood for more treatment. I've no reason to feel negative, but it always plays on my mind. Add that to the bad shoulder and it is not great.

Then there is the terribly sad news that Pat Collier, bassplayer in seminal punk band The Vibrators passed away. The news broke yesterday. Normally I'd have put a little memorial page together, but I was feeling too down to bother. Pat Collier was, like me, an ex pupil of Orange Hill, a musician, a studio owner and a music producer. If you don't know his work from The Vibrators, you will probably be familiar with Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and The Waves which was produced by Pat. He was best mates with my old Geography teacher at Orange Hill, Dave Harman, who was also an old boy. Many people assume I must have known Pat, but our paths never really crossed. He owned Alaska Studios in Waterloo and I had little reason to go there as I had my own. I recommended him to a few people over the years as a producer as I knew he was good and our drummer Gray Ramsey and our producer Boz Boorer knew him well. He did once ring me up, say thanks and said he'd buy me a beer when I recommended someone to him, but it never happened. I regret that now. When we opened our own recording facilities in 1998, we stopped sending people down to him. Puremania by The Vibrators, which Pat appeared on was the first punk album I bought. Pat wrote and sang a few of the songs. It is a go to cheer me up album, so his passing has really hit me. 

And finally, yesterday we had a statement form Rachel Reeve, the new chancellor. I have been ambivalent about Labour under Sir Keir Starmer. I had no doubt they would be an improvement on the Tories under Rishi Sunak, Liz Truss and Boris Johnson, but I was worried that they would waste the massive opportunity they have, with a massive majority, to sort this country out. Yesterday, that changed to dejection. It is now clear to me that Reeve is a cowardly individual, who is totally unprepared to grap the nettle that needs to be grabbed to sort the country out. The headline news from her statement is that she's going to give not very well off pensioners a kicking by taking away their winter fuel allowance and she's cancelling a whole bunch of much needed infrastructure projects. I get that Boris Johnson's scheme to build 40 new hospitals was hare brained and ill thought out, but the hospitals are needed and she had an excellent chance to sort the plan out and properly fund it.As to scrapping road and rail projects, this is an act of national self harm. We need these to get us and keep us moving. You may say "Well where will the cash come from? The magic money tree?". The answer is quite simple "No, it should come from clamping down on multi national companies tax avoidance schemes". Companies set up massively complicated schemes to ensure they pay minimal tax on profits made in the UK. I am all for companies making profits, but those profits should be taxed in the UK, so that we can all benefit from the cash. The chancellor has clearly decided that she wants to stay in with the rich vested interests in the City, rather than the people who vote in their millions for Labour. I see nothing at all wrong when those with the deepest pockets pay a bit more. The multi national companies that spirit cash out of the UK to offshore tax havens deserve no sympathy. I'd personally like to see countries across the planet cooperate to clamp down on avoidance, but we should start here. I'd also like to see additional Council Tax bands introduced, so people in mansions pay a bit more for the privilege. That would give local authorities more cash, something they desperately need. They should also be massively taxing water companies that pollute and dump sewage into our rivers and streams. It seems to me that Reeve is scared of upsetting big business. 

I totally get that the Tories have left a massive mess to sort out. I get that actually passing laws to get corporations to pay tax on UK profits in the UK is not simple and it is far easier to clobber pensioners, but it is quite wrong. I don't qualify for  a fuel allowance as I won't be old enough for a few years, but it is plain wrong. 

All in all, I feel rather dispirited and disappointed.  Anyway, RIP Pat Collier, here is the rather good Petrol from Puremania, that Pat wrote and sung

The Thursday Album #4 - The Vibrators - Puremania

Up until this point, my musical journey and my rather small record collection had been pretty much defined by my Sister Valerie. At the start of  June 1977, I was fourteen years old, at Finchley Catholic High School, and struggling to cope with puberty and life. I felt very alone and isolated. I didn't realise it at the time, but I was about to blown away to a completely different dimension. On the 6th June, my sister Caroline took me to see The Ramones, The Talking Heads and The Saints at The Roundhouse. I documented what happened for The Roundhouse's 50th Birthday celebrations and one of my biggest kicks in life is to have my name on their wall and my tale on their website. In short, life would never be the same again. We all have moments in our life, when everything changes, For some it is losing their virginity, for others discovering religion, for some its is the first taste of alcohol or heroin. For me, it was seeing the Ramones. Much as I'd loved the albums previously mentioned, they were not made by people I could associate with. The sentiments involved in the songs were largely alien to me and they were musical geniuses, people with talent beyond my comprehension. I saw the Ramones and in front of me was a band that I could 100% associate with. The music was fast and loud. Their dress was not outlandish. The lyrics were furious and funny in equal measure. There was no fat on the Ramones performance. It was just 33 minutes of good bits. By the time they left the stage, my brain had been rewired.

So having been blown away by The Ramones live, the only sensible thing to do was buy the record. Next day I went down to the small record shop in Mill Hill and asked for a copy of The Ramones latest record. Neil, who was the manager replied that they didn't have it. The only punk record they had in stock was Puremania by The Vibrators. I'd never heard of The Vibrators, but I desperately needed some more punk rock. I simply couldn't wait. I loved the cover, I loved the smell of the album. I couldn't wait to get it home. I put it on the turntable, cranked up the volume and......

Side one

"Into the Future..." - The first track on the album, starts with a simple drum beat, then a bit of lead, then the words "I want a new world, I want it with you.. ." Not as fast and furious as The Ramones, a quite sparse sounding, song, but absolutely brilliant. It seemed to me that this was perfect track to start my record buying career as a punk rocker. 

"Yeah Yeah Yeah" - Just a pure, unadulterated slice of raw energy. In the middle, John Ellis shouts "Oi watch that guitar" which sums up the feeling of chaos.

"Sweet Sweet Heart" - Starts withe Melodic guitars riffing, to be overtaken by choppy thrashy chords. Knox on vocals makes the most of the rather sarcastic lyrics.

"Keep It Clean" For this John Ellis takes over on vocals. A bit of an oddity really, rather quirky. To this day I don't know if Ellis was being serious when he impores us to decry drugs and 'bad sex'. Ellis is a great guitarist and a good musician. The song shows that, but still sounds like perhaps the most punky of all on the album. Ellis went to the same school as me, a few years old. He was mates with my geography teacher, who is also an old boy.

"Baby Baby" - This was the slow, commercial one. To this day I don't know why it wasn't a hit as it was a great song. I guess it was just too good a pop song for the height of the summer of hate! In fact I always assumed it charted and was most surprised when I found out it hadn't.

"No Heart" - A rather good up tempo track which I have always thoroughly enjoyed.

"She's Bringing You Down" - Side one finishes with a bang. A very nihilistic pece of raw energy, an observation on a good for nothing girlfriend, who clearly isn't paying Knox the attention he deserves. I think this is another very underrated track, should've been the 2nd single.  I love the last line of the chorus, "Don't you cry when you see her going by, of no no no no no no". Nice guitar work on this.

Side two

"Petrol" - Petrol features bassist Pat Collier on vocals. It is noisy and energetic and I am rather keen on it. A great way to open side two. Collier to mind actually has the best, raspy voice for punk in the band. Sadly he left just after the album was finished.

"London Girls" The second single off the album. At the time I loved it but I'm less keen these days. Not really sure why it was the single. It's OK, but not one of the best tracks.

"You Broke My Heart" - The band clearly wanted a track that sounded a bit different in the middle of the album. Slower paced, a bit too ploddy for me. This is the one I normally make the tea during, not awful but the weakest track on the album. 

"Whips & Furs" - This one is a belter, a dark celebration of S&M. I didn't really get that when I was fourteen, but it is a very good track and I've always loved it. Some nice John Ellis guitar in there.

"Stiff Little Fingers"  - This track is perhaps the most famous of all on Puremania, not because it is a particularly great track, but because it is the track that gave Northern Irish Punks  of the same name their monika. Another one John Ellis wrote and sung

"Wrecked on You" - And now for the fnal three tracks, all belters.  The band really get going towards the end of the album, so much so that I often would just stick the album straight back on when it finshed. Nice punky thrash chords at the beginging. The punkiest song on the album.

"I Need a Slave" - My missus reckons that this is the reason I like the band, although I suspect the lyrics are not really the kind of slave she means. I don't think she's listened too carefully. Another belter

"Bad Time" - And so it finished. The second verse really summed up how I was feeling at the time

Well, I've been having a bad time
Since you found out how to be cruel
I never had a chance at all
Since I've been hangin' round with you

But now things are different
Ain't it funny how it can change?
I've been having a good time
Since I've become deranged

Although I've not becomed deranged, for me that was a metaphor for discovering Punk Rock and not being prepared to take any $h1t anymore. It was actually very important for me. Up until this point, I'd been quite a passive person, I changed almost overnight. I became quite confrontational. In an environment such as FCHS at the time, where discipline was enforced with the cane, this meant that I had a difficult year or so, culminating in expulsion. For me though, this was important. This music sustained me and gave me strength. 

I've often wondered if I'd bought Damned Damned Damned instead, whether I'd have subsequently thought Puremania the masterpiece that I see it as, and no one else seems to? I like to think so, but I'll never really know. The Vibrators were quite an unfashionable band in punk circles. Many said they'd jumped on the punk bandwagon. Would I have thought that if things had been different. There are plenty of bands that I took an irrational dislike to. As for the charge of bandwagon jumpers, they are still on it today! In hindsight, I am glad this was the first punk album I bought and it was probably the most important. 

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.