Rock and Roll Stories #30 - Searching for the mythical 'lost tapes'

 Many years ago, my sister had a flat in Canfield Gardens, in West Hampstead. She had a flatmate, who was a sound engineer. He may have been called Craig or I may have imagined that. He wasn't very chatty, but one day I was having a casual conversation with him and he told me a rather odd story. Apparently Bob Marley had been mixing tracks at a studio near Willesden. As was the way, back in the day, after the session, the artist and their representatives would take the master tapes away for safekeeping. The band went off and found a pub to wind down. They then went to a few more pubs. Marley was a Rastafarian ad reputedly didn't drink, but some of the pubs in the locality had a relatively lax policy in regards to smoking of ganja at the time. Anyway, as the evening progressed, the band ran out of cash. Pubs didn't take cards back then. To secure further libation, the band offered the Landlord of the pub the master tapes as security against their bar tab. They carried on the evening, making their way back to their dwellings at the end of a long, celebratory night.

When they woke up in the morning, none of them could remember which pub they'd left the tapes in. A frantic search of the area was fruitless. Somewhere, a Pub landlord had a set of Bob Marley master tapes, worth millions, and they didn't kow where. The story seemed implausable for many reasons and I dismissed it at the time. Then in 2017, the tapes turned up. Finding lost recordings of a legend like Marley is always an event of note. As a fan, we always dream of 'lost recordings' turning up. Usually when they do, the reason they were lost is apparent, but the Marley tapes are actually pretty good. Unlike most 'lost tapes', the tapes were genuinely lost, they were not just out takes.

This was brought to mind yesterday when I was in studio reception. A chap, who I didn't recognise walked in. He looked like a musician. He asked if I was Roger and if I played in a band called The False Dots. This happens from time to time. He then told me he'd seen a post I'd put on Facebook, about a gig the band played on June 30th 1984. It was a benefit gig for Greenham Common peace camp, rather incongrously at The Bald Faced Stag in Burnt Oak. We played with a band called "No Biscuits". He had been the drummer of the band, who were a rather good Rythme and Blues band. The gig organiser was a chap called Tony Byrne. Tony arranged for the gig to be video'd. This was a big thing at the time, but sadly I never actually got to see the video. We had a Betamax and Tony recorded it on VHS. To my astonishment, the chap informed me he had a copy and could get me a copy too. 

Now this is not on the scale of the Marley tapes, but for me personally it is a massive thing. Venessa Sagoe was our singer at the time. She was truly amazing. Often these videos have poor sound quality and are badly filmed, but several of my friends, including our bassplayer Paul Hircombe have passed away and the thought of seeing myself at age 22 will be interesting. I am also intrigued as to what songs we performed. I am pretty sure that the only number we perform from those days is Action Shock, albiet a very different version. 

Last year, a tape of our very first gig in 1980 turned up, courtesy of our old drummer Dav Davies. I was surprised at how good it was. It isn't the Rolling Stones, but it was perfectly acceptible and I used some of the songs for social media postings, which was fun. For a band like us, I suspect such things are only really of interest to us and a few mates. Some of the footage may see the light of day on social media etc, and a few locals may check it out, out of curiosity. In actual fact, there is a lot of nostalgia for the 'old Burnt Oak', so if there is enough usable footage, I may well hack something together. 

One of the interesting things about getting old, is that I take a completely different view of the bands old material. When we were teenagers, starting out, we wrote a lot of material, that we decided was rubbish. We dumped it all. I've revisited a fair amount of it recently and I realised that I just lacked the patience, technical ability and wherewithall to develop some of the ideas. At reecent gigs, we've been playing a song called Wrong, which was the first song we ever learned as a band. It has gone down a storm and will feature on our next album, in its newly recorded glory, with Tom Hammond singing. 

The only real sadness is that legends like Bob Marley didn't live long enough to revisit his lost material. But don't despair, here's a short clip from the False Dots 'lost' first gig tape!

@falsedotsrog A rare treat for all you False Dots fans. A recently discovered audio clip from our first ever gig, at Harwood Hall in Mill Hill, December 13th 1980, finishing our set belting out I wanna be loved by The Heartbreakers. We’ve always done originals, but did this in homage to Johnny Thunders. Proper #punkrock Thanks to Dav Davies our drummer then for the clip! #millhillmusic #londongigs we’re still going and celebrating our 46th anniversary as a band on Sunday 16th February at the @dublincastlecamden #camdentown ♬ original sound - FalseDotsRog

Wellbeing Wednesday - Hitting a low

 Do you ever wonder "what is the point of bothering?". I am sorry to say that right now, that is exactly how I feel. Before everyone rings up, no I am not feeling depressed or down, I am just feeling very pissed off. Since November, I've been working hard on my weight and fitness. I've lost just shy of two stones, which is a good thing and was necessary. That is the good side. 

The bad side? It's a litany of woe. Where to start? Well I've been going to the gym regularly and my ankles and knees are suffering for it. It is not unbearable, but I am getting increasingly fed up with constant knee pain and ankle pain whenever I walk more than a few steps. My knee pain has abated somewhat over the last couple of weeks, but it has become a constant and irritating constant companion. I'd rather hoped that the weight loss would go some way to mitigating this, as les weight would put less strain. Sadly, this has not proven to be the case. It is really frustrating. But it is not the most frustrating thing.

Having been doing some serious gym work, I had just started to get to the point where I was happy with my rowing performance. I enjoy doing 10K rows. My target had been to get under 50 mins by April. I got down to 47.30. I was very pleased. I always reward myself by going to the sauna at Virgin Active in Mill Hill. Last Wednesday, I noticed something odd. When I was in the sauna and went to sit up, I had a rather odd bulge between my ribs and belly button. It was not painful, and only appeared when I tensed my abdominal muscles. I showed this to my physio, who immediately informed me that it was a large hernia and needed to be looked at. As the bottom of it was where I had the scar following my cancer surgery, I booked to see my surgeon, who I will see in mid May. In the meantime, no rowing.

A bit of a cherry on the top of the Gateaux de Merde is that I have a cold and I am covering for one of my staff, doing extra hours all week. As anyone who has ever worked in a position dealing with the general public will tell you, all of the most annoying customers always show up when you are feeling a bit rough. Don't get me wrong, I value our customers as they pay the bills, but sometimes I wish certain ones would choose days when I'm feeling a bit better to turn up! (And yes, most have been lovely).

Hopefully by tomorrow or Friday I'll feel better. I'm going to see a band later in Camden which should cheer me up, although right now, I just feel like an early night. We are nearly a third of the way through 2025. We've lost a Pope, Brian James, the founder of The Damned and Clem Burke, drummer of Blondie. I wish no ill on anyone, but I can't help but think that the Grim Reaper is doing us no favours in his choices right now.

I just hope some beer and rock and roll does the trick and tomorrow I'm feeling tickety boo! You may wonder why I am sharing such trivial woes? Because misery shared is misery halved. Talk about it, if you are feeling a bit low

The history of Fanning Builders in Mill Hill. A guest blog by Chris The Millhillian

Fanning Builders were founded by brothers George and Jimmy Fanning in Mill Hill after being demobbed  from the army after World War two. They found plenty of building work in Mill Hill, undertaking many bomb damage repair jobs and other projects. Their first yard was located in the old Bunns Farm buildings (now known as Bunns Lane Works) situated at the junction of Flower Lane and Bunns Lane next to the old railway sidings and coal depot with the entrance opposite Mill Hill Park. The firm eventually moved out of there in the early fifties and their buildings were taken over by Laurie Tichborne who co founded Macmetals, a car crash and metal work repair shop. There were other business owners in that yard including Lynn Products making kitchens for local councils, Smiths Coffee roasters (now based in Hemel Hempstead), Higginsons Joinery, Daleys fire places and Blake engineering. It was an industrious workplace with a strong smell of freshly ground coffee and cellulose paint wafting across the park land.

The move was to occupy larger premises on the sloping railway sidings of Mill Hill Station fronting Bunns Lane. Most of the buildings were old wooden site huts and the office building was constructed at street level to designs submitted to Hendon Council by George. They operated there until the yard was taken over by the council for use as a car park and the old Station Masters House, Garden, sidings and station yard and buildings were all demolished and built over in 1973. There were no toilet facilities at the yard so staff would use the toilets at the station which were also basic. The joiners shed was heated with off cuts of wood in an old iron burner and the hot water was fed to iron radiators rescued from jobs.

 The yard man Joe, who was the uncle of George and Jimmy,  a Lancastrian. Joe would chop up all the old scrap wood and sell it at the gate for firewood for about 6 pence a bag. This paid for his beer at the service men’s club in Hartley Avenue.

At Christmas the men knocked off early and went to the yard for a Christmas booze up and ham sandwiches from a barrel supplied by the Brothers. There was a Christmas club, so each week the staff contributed to a fund and the firm matched the funding which was put into Premium bonds and shared out at Christmas including any prize money. Joe would create a crib in the shop window with a light which was always fascinating for the children to look at. Each summer was a firms coach outing to Southend which was a boozy and jovial affair.

 

There was quite an industrial set up in Mill Hill situated all along the railway sidings where several businesses thrived. There were builders merchants such as C. J. Hunts just by the bridge, the roof tiling suppliers were along the railway siding’s behind Millway, several garage repair places, joinery shops and next to Fanning's yard was Ace shop fitters. There was the Rawlplug factory in Hale Lane, Middlesex Reboring engine restoration at the bottom of Lawrence Street, an iron fabrication place called Rocar welding in Bunns Lane and an asphalt roofing company in Daws Lane. Builders really had it all on their doorstep except for specialist stuff such as cast iron but that was brought at the Thames Bank iron Company in St John’s Wood.

 

Tea breaks were often taken in local cafes as parking outside was always possible, there were a few choices such as, the cafe across the road, the Ivy in Daws Lane, San Remo in Staton Road and my favourite, the old Forge at the bottom of Lawrence Street. This was run by Phil Matthews who lived there as a boy with his brother Geoff, sons of the last Blacksmith. Builders vans all parked up on the green to pile in for a cup of tea poured from a large metal pot. Geoff was was carpentry foreman, very skilled and bit of a character who told many a yarn particularly about Mill Hill. He would hold court filling us with his mixture of angst and witty humour, the original stand up comedian.

Fanning Building Supplies closes in 1972

When the yard was shut down the company moved over to a more concealed yard in Daws Lane but it seemed like the builders had gone forever. The brothers split the premises in the mid sixties leaving Jim Fanning to run the building Company and George Fanning to run Mill Hill Building Supplies. They were offered alternative premises in Graham Park but George sold out to Lawfords and Jim wanted to remain closer to Mill Hill centre.

 In those days parking was always possible outside any property we worked on and that was just about every road in Mill Hill. Lorry loads of sand were simply poured at roadside as well as several thousand bricks and rubbish was piled along the pavement verge to be collected and loaded to a tipper lorry as seen in the attached photo and then dropped up at the landfill site at Hendon Wood Lane and later in Radlett. Fanning Builders Ltd closed in 1987 and Jim retired and moved away as he was battling with cancer. He had six sons who all spent time working on the firm during the summer holidays. I became his apprentice bricklayer and my first job was working on the fabric at the UK optical building- now demolished. There are still some examples of my brickwork in different places.

 
It was great being a builder in Mill Hill getting to know so many people and all over town. Very fond memories for us all.

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Chris the Mill Hillian worked at Fanning Builders and was a resident for many years.
Guest blogs are always welcome at The Barnet Eye.

Pope Francis RIP

 It has just been announced that Pope Francis has passed away at the age of 88 years old. He is the first serving Pope to pass away since I started writing the Barnet Eye blog in 2008. As someone who identifies religiously as a 'Bad Roman Catholic', the news does warrent a comment. Of all the popes in my lifetime, I suspect Pope Frances has been the one most closely aligned with my own views. The first Pope I recall was Pope Paul, who seemed a distant figure, who I felt little empathy with. At Catholic schools, we'd pray for the Pope. I never really understood why, as surely he was the Pope and Holy enough already! I don't really recall anything about him, other than the fact that he was Pope. He was replaced by Pope John Paul I, he lasted around a month. At the time, I didn't really consider myself Catholic. He was replaced by Pope John Paul II, who was a dynamoic figure. The first Polish Pope. My Dad was hugely excited by him. He went to see him when he visited the UK and made a series of videos of the visit. To his dismay, I taped Match of The Day over them. Dad asked a couple of Priests around to watch the videos, and they got to see the highlights of Manchester City vs Ipswich instead. Dad would probably have killed me, but for one of the Priests saying "I missed match of the day as we were celebrating the Pope's visit, so this is divine providence". The Lord moves in mysterious ways. 

John Paul II was a massive figure and was seen by many as an inspiration to those who brought down the Berlin Wall. He was however and old man and for the lest years of his life, he was unable to really do very much Popery. I was working with a Fundamentalist Christian, when JPII was at the height of his powers. Ian Paisley had denounced him at the EU as "The Antichrist". I asked "What sort of a lunatic genuinely thinks the Pope is the Antchrist?". My colleague announced to a stunned pub "I do". This confirmed to me that the fellow was a bit odd. He'd had a lovely girlfriend who he split up with, because she served cheeecake with a fish slice to his parents. It made me realise that the extremes of religion attracts odd people. 

JPII was replaced by Benedict. A former Hitler youth member (who had recanted the NAZI ideology), he was a hardliner. Where JPII brought down the Soviet Union, Benedict changed the order of service of mass and made all manner of grammatical changes to various prayers. this was highly irritating, you'd start saying the passage and everyone else would say different words. To me it was completely pointless, but I am not a theologian. He also added chest beating to one of the prayers, which seemed to me a bit odd.

He retired and Francis took over. He was a lot more liberal. He told us not to judge people with different lifestyles to the Holy flock. He couldn't bring himself to say that such things were OK, but being a bit less judgemental is clearly a very good thing. I suspect he was a bit constrained by the two hundred od far more conservative cardinals who elected him. I wonder who they will choose. I hope it is someone who realises that we should be united as a human race, not divided. I hope it is someone who is brave enough to drag the Church into the modern era and make people like me a bit less embarassed about some of the policies of the organisation. Most of all, it would be nice if the new Pope read the Beatidues and made them the central plank of his mission. If you don't know what they are, google them.

The Sunday Reflection #49 - Enlightenment

 Yesterdays Saturday list was themed on realisation. This was very much a precursor to todays blog which is on the subject of enlightenment. I don't think you can really feel a sense of enlightenment without first having a deep realisation of what you are and what is important. When I talk about enlightenment, I am not talking about a religious feeling of conversion or some sort of new age experience, where you discover your inner self. I am sure that some people have these experiences and they are deeply profound and beneficial, but for me, real enlightenment is a totally differrent thing.

So what exactly am I talking about. Well as I said, enlightenment is not realisation. Realisation is gaining an understanding, where previously there was none. Enlightenment is the understanding of why that realisation has come about. It may sound strange, but there are times when I feel a deep sense of enlightenment about my life and where it is going. Other times I feel like I am in the middle of the Atlantic, in a rowing boat in a storm, just hanging on for dear life. 

Two years ago, I was absoluteley in the eye of the storm. The news that I had cancer and needed to have a radical prostatectomy was just dawning. I felt absolutely bereft. I was in a situation that I really didn't want to be in. I just wanted the whole thing to go away, but I knew it wouldn't. For a while, I was extremely angry and just about hanging on to the side of the boat with my fingertips. Then I had the realisation that whether I felt angry, desolate or numb made no difference to the situation. I had no choice but to deal with it and move on to the next phase of my life. 

Once I had this realisation, enlightenment came. Rather than focus on what I'd lost, I should be focussing on what I hadn't lost. I should look at all of the things that I still can do and that I can enjoy. For me, this made me take a long look at my involvement with music. I can still play guitar, write songs, record and perform in a band. Having had my prostate removed in August 2023, I decided that in 2024, the band would play more gigs than any year in our history and we'd release an album. This was a solid target and it would leave some sort of a legacy. In fifty years time, when I am long gone, maybe my grandchildren (should my kids ever have them) might stumble on the tracks and think "That's my Grandad" and learn a little bit about me.

As I often tend to do, I got very wrapped up in the whole thing and the practicalities of getting everything done. When I set myself the goal, it was very much a numbers thing. The band worked very hard to achieve this. One of the interesting things about music is that the more you play, the better you get. The band came out of 2024 being a much better set up than the one that started the year. It's now April 2025. I look back on the last two years and it is clear to me that, to quote Charles Dickens "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times". A crisis spurred me on to do things that maybe I'd have just let drift. It seems to me that you only ever really achieve true enlightenment after a crisis in your life. When things are good, you are happy and having fun, you have no reason to challenge yourself or rethink what you are doing. My advice? If you are having fun, make the most of it, enjoy it and don't worry. Sure as the tide changes, the good times don't last for ever, and neither do the the bad times. 

Today is Easter Sunday, symbolically it is a day of rebirth which is why the egg is the symbol of the season. If things are great, enjoy them, if they are bad, seek to change. On Thursday, I had some news. It looks like I might have to have some more surgery. I have a large hernia and I am pretty sure it will need fixing ASAP. I was really fed up about it. My physio advised me to see a doctor ASAP and not to lift anything or do any exercises that involve abdominal muscle work. Having spent six months getting fit, this felt like it was a bit of a low hit. But the Sun is shining, we are going to take the dogs for a walk and I'm going to see The Potato five at The London International Ska Festival later today. The glass is half full and perhaps true enlightenment is being grateful that it hasn't run dry just yet. 

As usual, we finish with some music. When the Sun shines, it puts me in a Reggae frame of mind. I was walking around the garden earlier, admiring the spring flowers and I got thinking of my mates Rick Wenham(RIP) and Luke Albanese who lived next door and who spent our youth messing about in the garden. They inspired this song and are namechecked in it! It seems sort of right. 

The Saturday list #480 - My top ten moments of realisation!

Having spent most of yesterday dancing and drinking at The London International Ska Festival, I awake in a strangely reflective mood. I had a very odd dream. I was in a rather good pub, having a beer and a chat with a mate of mine. He suddenly revealed his true personal. He was the devil. Yes, I was having a beer and a friendly chat with a mate and I had just learned that in fact he was Satan ( I won't tell you which mate it was, and I certainly was surprised). Oddly though, our nice friendly chat continued. He then said "You do realise that the Earth is my realm, it says so in the Bible?". He then explained that if you look where Satan tempts Jesus in the desert, he clearly states that he has realm over all of the Earth and Jesus does not dispute this. I then said "That's all good, but why are you having a beer with me?". His reply? "Even Satan needs to chill and have a beer occasionally". He then said "I will offer you a gift, absolutely free, I don't want your soul or anything like that. But what I will do is give you a day with someone you loved, who has passed away, or I will give you a million pounds in cash, which will secure your families finances for the future, which do you want?". At that moment, at 4am, my neighbour started banging nails into the wall and woke me up. I never got to choose. But it was a very disturbing dream. There is nothing I'd like more than to spend a day with my Dad, who died when I was 24 and I really didn't spend enough time with. But a million pounds would pay off the mortgage and buy a flat for each of my kids, giving them financial independence. Putting to one side, the fact that any deal with the devil comes with strings, the dilemma has troubled me. My initial feeling was the day with Dad, but I know he'd be saying to me "Take the cash son!". I suppose this is what happens when you drink too much and eat cheese when you get home. I also wonder what will happen when I next see my mate? It really was very vivid. 

My Dad always said to me "In life, you always have choices, but sometimes none are pleasant and you need to take the least worst". My Dad's wisdom, to me, was priceless but even he would tell me to take the cash! It got me thinking, there are moments in your life, when the penny drops and you realise that you've got something wrong or need to change radically. I thought this is a good subject to explore in a Top Ten list. Moments of great realisation.

1. West Germany 3 England 2. World Cup Quarter final 1970. England were holders of the World Cup. We had beaten the Germans in two world wars. We were leading the Germans Two Nil. The universe seemed fine. Then the Germans scored three goals and knocked us out. England weren't unbeatable and the Germans were better than us. The realisation was too hard for a seven year old to take. Sadly the rest of my life has been spent realising that England really isn't what I thought it was until the Germans knocked us out.

2. My confirmation as a Roman Catholic. I've talked about this before. This was the moment I really started to lose faith in the Catholic Church. Until that moment, I unquestionably believed in the Church. It was a massive part in our life. I was ten. The pre confirmation classes told us that the Holy Ghost (that was his name before he got a rebrand as The Holy Spirit). would come down on us and give us mystical powers. Actually they probably didn't, but that was how I enterpreted it. When the Bishop laid his hands on me and confirmed me, I felt nothing at all, except acute disappointment. I had really believed I'd get the gift of tongues (the ability to speak foreign languages etc). When I felt nothing and had no new super powers, I felt demoralised and cheated. I have to say that I get reallyfrustated by people who talk nonsense about religion and promise miracles that don't happen. They are dodgy snake oil salesmen and if my mate is really the devil, I expect him to round them all up pronto. Scumbags!

3. David Bowie releases Sorrow. Up until that point I loved Bowie. Space Oddity, Life on Mars, The Jean Genie, Rebel Rebel. He could do no wrong. Then he released Sorrow. To my ears, it sounded horrible. How could he do this. It hadn't occurred to me that Bowie could make a rubbsih record (I'd not heard the laughing gnome at that point). It was a reallyr ude awakening. I've never really completely trusted any musician ever since. 

4. Waking up vomiting blood in 1984. I nearly died. My stomach had reacted badly to a prescription of erythromycin for an ear infection. I spent six weeks in hospital and went down to nine stone as I couldn't eat. I realised that I wasn't invincible. I've tried to look after myself since then. It was a horrible time. 

5. Getting hit by a car in 1988. This was a year after my Dad passed away. When I realised that the speeding car was going to hit me and there was nothing I could do and I was going to die, I felt completely at peace. Time stood still for a second. I have never felt happier, which is strange. Then survival instincts kicked in and I jumped. The car hit me and my feet went through the windscreen. I had multiple injuries. The driver admitted jumping the red at 40mph. The Doctors told me that they'd never seen anyone walk away from such a smash. I still suffer pain from the injuries, but I was back at work within two weeks. I ceased being scared of death.

6. Giving up on playing music in 1990. In 1990, I had spent a decade trying to make a go of a career as a musician. It seemed that every time we got anywhere, it would spectacularly collapse. I was sick of it. I woke up one day and realised that I just wasn't enjoying playing music anymore. The type of music I was into, Ska and Punk were no longer fashionable and it was hard to get gigs. No one was interested and no one seemed to care. I thought "Why am I doing this?". I decided to carry on with the studio, as a sideline, as it put a few quid in my pocket, but I didn't pick up a guitar for ten years until I rediscovered my Mojo. 

7. Realising I had to sort my head out in 1995. When Clare told me she was pregnant, I had a dreaful fear. I felt that I was not fit to be a father. My main fear was that I had massive anger issues. I am not violent, but if things anger me, I snap. I was terrified what the stress of having children would do. I was also incredibly ashamed of this. So I had counselling for anger management. I had assumed this would make all of my anger go away. It didn't, but over time, I have learned how to deal with things in a better manner. One of the the things I'd not really understood is that anger is a natural reaction to threat. It keeps us safe, but we have to handle it and be in charge of our anger. I wouldn't say I am perfect but I am a better person for that.

8. Realising that I was dyslexic in 1995. Out of the anger management, came the realisation that I was dyslexic. I could trace much of my anger issues to this and my experiences at school. I am not stupid, but my educational performance until I was fourteen was awful. I was called a dunce and made to stand in the corner on many occasions. I was beaten by a teacher for 'refusing to spell train correctly'. I had to attend remedial reading classes and I couldn't do long division until I was thirteen. I had my own little world that I lived in. Then I discovered Punk Rock and it was OK to be different and suddenly it didn't seem to matter and I developed confidence and moved on. But I couldn't rationalise this until I was 33 and it was all explained.

9. Realising I could sing! Well actually I can't! But in 2021, I was forced to take up the role as singer of The False Dots. I had to write a whole set of new material that suited my (lack of a) voice. But it worked. I also realised I am a good front man for a band. And most of all, I love it!. After fourty one years in a band, the penny dropped. A mate, who is in the industry recently told me that if we'd been doing the set we now do in 1979, when we started, record labels would have been biting our hands off. Sadly, they don't sign fat sixty two year olds, but we do have fun! Item number six on the list was losing my love for playing. I couldn't be more happy that it returned.

10. Bodo/Glimt beat Lazio on Penalties on Thursday night! Tom, our trumpet player spent our recording session on Thursday night checking the Europe League scores on his phone. Like me, Tom is a football nut. I met Tom at Hadley FC and he is an amazing guy. He is very into non league and obscure Europrean football. I am a Hadley Fan and have always been interested in Non League football, but since I've been following Hadley FC, I've got far more interested in other Non League issues and minor European teams (especially following the trip with Hadley FC to San Marino last season). Whilst I was more interested in The Man Utd result and hoping they got knocked out, Tom was fixated by the Lazio vs Bodo/Glimt game. They are a Norwegian team and were playing Italian giants Lazio. They took Lazio to penalties and won. As our session went on, with regular updates from Tom, I realised how my football journey had changed. I started this blog talking about English exceptionalism and ended getting a buzz from Bodo Glimt beating Lazio in a minor European cup. I have come to realise that the best football fans support clubs where the odd minor cup is the height of expectations. It was really easy to watch England play West Germany on telly and feel sad when they lost. Earlier this season, I went with Hadley FC to Oxford City FC to see them play and lose in the FA Trophy. I am lucky, my Dad used to sponsor Edgware Town FC and so I was brought up with an awareness of non league football. I went to Barnet FC regularly until they moved out of the Borough and have been a Hadley FC season ticket holder for seven years. But it took that result on Thursday for the penny to drop that the best thing in football is not when England win the world cup. It's when you unexpectedly see something that you'd never have expected. What I#ve come to realise is that too many fans of big clubs have actually lost their love of football. It has simply become a numbers game, where massive businesses seek to milk their customers for every penny that they have. Having said that, I am also a Manchester City fan and I'll be at Wembley next week!

As the saying goes, Life is strange. You learn things as you go along and what you might believe to be 100% true when you are 10 will seem laughable five decades later. Perhaps the one lesson I've learned above all others is that your views and opinions will change and most of the time, they will be wrong!

And I'll leave the last word with Tom, singing the False Dots classic Wrong from 1979, at a recent live gig!

@falsedotsrog #thefalsedots #punkrock#protestsong #punk #trump #putin #farage #elonmusk #wrong The False Dots recorded live at @thedublincastle ♬ original sound - FalseDotsRog

Friday Fun 18th April 2025

 Lets start with the Friday Joke, a cracker from Robert Wilkinson

My teenage kids treat me like God. They pretend I don't exist until they need something.

— Robert Wilkinson (@robertwlk) April 17, 2025

And this weeks gigs, we have the amazing London International Ska Festival all weekend. Don't miss it

Don't forget to get tickets for the Mill Hill Music Festival

And the local gigs this weekend

Friday 18th

The Butchers Arms 9.30pm – midnight Rockit Science (Rock covers 5 piece)

Barrington 8.30-midnight Karaoke with Neil 

Ye Olde Monken Holt 9pm – midnight Bob Storey (DJ) Simon Leavold DJ (soul/funk/disco/boogie)

Saturday 19th

East Barnet RBLegion 8.30 – 11.30pm Dr Realgood (Covers)

The Builders Arms, 8.30 – 11.30pmHorizon (Rock Covers)

The Butchers Arms 9pm – midnight Dukes Of Ol (Covers 5 piece)

Black Horse 8.30pm – 11.30pm Discovery Duo (dance)

Barnet South Club 8.30pm – 11.45pm (cash only bar) Paparazzi Replaced by Pip in Boots (Pop/rock) 

The Arkley Club 8pm – 11pm £5 cash on door Peace and Love (ska, reggae, rock and blues)

The Lord Kitchener 8.30pm – late Karaoke with Johno

Maddens 9pm – late Mighty Heartache

Sunday 20th

Ye Olde Monken Holt 7pm – 9pm Lana Shelley (Blues)

Ye Olde Mitre Inn, starts 8pm or 8.30 Home Cookin’

Butchers 8.30pm – 11.30pm Butchers Arms Jam Electric/Blues/Rock (Full backline available)

Monday 21st

Ye Olde Mitre Inn, High Street 8pm – 11pm (stables room) Barnet Acoustics Sessions

The Barrington 6pm – 8.30pm Leech (Rock and pop covers)

Wednesday 23rd

Ye Olde Monken Holt 8.30pm – 11pm  Open Mic Night

Thursday 24th

Ye Olde Monken Holt 8.30pm – 10.30pm Irish Session

@ Maddens 8.30pm – 11pm

Ronnie Gordon Legacy (ska, reggae, blue, soul, latin)

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Rock and Roll Stories #29 - Tales of refusal and rejection

 Have you ever watched a band and thought "They're great, why aren't they top of the charts?". Having run a studio, managed artists and played in a band for fourty six years, I've seen hundreds of bands and artists who I was convinced would hit the big time but didn't. People have often asked me why I thought The False Dots didn't make it. At various points, we had line ups that certainly had the potential to do bigger things, but like many bands, we made bad decisions, had fights and split up or just were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

When we made our first demo with Alan Warner of The Foundations at Lane Studios, we were convinced that we would hit the big time with it. We had a simple strategy to get signed. We made a list of the labels we wanted to sign to and turned up on their doorstep with a ghetto blaster and said we wouldn't leave until they listened to us. The two that I still recall clearly were Rough Trade and Chiswick Records. We turned up at the office of Rough Trade and made it clear we were going nowhere until they listened. I can't recall the name of the chap who had to endure our demo, but at the end of the tape he said "Sorry mate, it's not our thing". Pete Conway demanded to know why. He responded that we were a bit too "mainstream pop and commercial" for them and they preferred stuff that was a bit more 'out there'. Pete's response was "So what you are saying is you want stuff that will sell less records?". The bloke just stared at his feet and we shuffled out.

We were a bit deflated as we both liked Stiff Little Fingers and The Monochrome Set as well as The Rough Trade ethos. 

Next up was Chiswick Records. The label was set up by Ted Carroll and Roger Armstrong. They gave us a cup of tea and a biscuit, listened to the stuff and said "You need to do more work on the material, we like your attitude but it sounds like what we were doing last year, record some more stuff and come back". We took this as a thumbs up, rather than a brush off. We immediately went back and started to write some new material. By the time we recorded our next demo, Pete had left the band. I made my way back to Chiswick Records, played Ted Carroll the new material. His first question, asked with a touch of disappointment was "Where is your mad mate?". I explained Pete had left. He said "That's a shame, he had attitude". The second song on the demo was a track called Fog. I'd borrowed a synthesizer and replaced all of Craig, our new guitarists tracks with synths. Paul Hircombe sung it. Ted Carroll loved it and suggested this was the way forward. He said "Come back with a few more tracks like that!". The problem was that I didn't have a synth and also that Paul hated singing live. Things stalled and we never went back.

I discussed the response with Craig. His response was actually pretty sensible. He said "Let's write a set of material we can play well at gigs before we go back to any labels, we don't want to embarrass ourselves". At the time, I had to concede that he was probably right. In hindsight I have concluded he was absolutely wrong. We should have begged, stole and borrowed synths, put together a strong three track demo and gone back to Ted. A deal would have facilitated making the band fit for purpose. A bad decision.

Two years later, we had another go at the labels. Eleanor Caine was singing and we recorded a sort of sub Blondie demo. The idea was to make something that would get us a deal. All we succeeded in doing was making something that didn't really cut the mustard. I played it to an A&R guy called Golly Gallagher, who was very nice about it, gave me some good advice but was quite brutal in his assessment of the band. "You won't get a deal with someone who looks like her singing". He also said "If you are going to write catchy pop songs with a female singer, you can't have such morose lyrics, so decide what you are trying to do". He added that he liked it and if we could sort those things out he'd be more interested. 

A year later, Eleanor had gone, Venessa Sagoe had replaced her and the band was truly amazing. We had put a really dynamic and exciting show together and we did an amazing gig at Dingwalls. At the end of it, a bloke called Dennis approached us and offered to act as our manager. He said he'd put us in the studio and get us a deal with EMI. We did the demo, and he went to work. The only problem was he stopped calling. We waited for the gigs and the deal and nothing happened. Eventually, I tracked him down and asked what was going on. He simply said "EMI said Venessa was too fat and too black to be a pop star". I was devastated. I thought she was brilliant. I also couldn't tell her what had been said. In the 3-4 months that we'd been hanging around waiting for Dennis, we'd lost momentum. That was really that for The False Dots chasing deals.

A decade later, I was managing a band called The Sway. I thought they were brilliant. They had a great front man in David Casson and a great Britpop sound. To my amazement, none of the big labels went for them. I was given a few reasons. The main one was that they lacked a really strong single track. All of their stuff was a bit too album material. So we signed with a bit of a dodgy indie label and put two singles out. Despite a lot of plugging, they did nothing. They got a fair bit of regional air play. About two years after I stopped working with the band, I met a record company A&R who had been looking at them. I asked if they could tell me why they weren't interested. The answer was illuminating "All of the labels already had bands like The Sway and they last thing any of us needed was another one to worry about, if you'd been around a year earlier, we'd have bitten your hand off". Wrong place, wrong time.

Fast forward to 2011. Connie Abbe was working with The False Dots. We recorded a couple of brilliant tracks, with a view to trying to get Connie a solo deal (and have a bit of fun on the way). We did a couple of great gigs in Camden and I approached a label to see if they were interested. The response? What really disgusted me was that it was the same as the response to Venessa in 1984. I concluded that I really didn't like the industry. 

I am long past the point in my life where I dream of record deals. I was speaking to a customer of the studio recently who had been working with an aspiring artist. It had recently gone rather pear shaped. After he left, I concluded to myself that the music industry is one of the nastiest, most vicious and least forgiving industries on the planet and as far as I am concerned, the citizens of planet Earth have been denied a lot of brilliant music by te gatekeepers, who preside over what the masses are allowed to listen to. 

Back when The False Dots started, Pete Conway had a really novel idea "Why don't we rob a bank and use the money to start our own label, where we sign all the brilliant acts that no one else will touch witha  bargepole". These days, anyone can release music on electronic platforms for mimimal costs. It is great to see such democratisation. The only problem is that artists earn almost no money from these platforms. That is the next hurdle. Anyway, here is the video we did with Connie. I will go to my grave believing she should be a superstar!

Restoring my faith in the power of live music to heal the soul

 What were you doing on Saturday night? Me? I was doing a gig at the Builders Arms in New Barnet with my band, The False Dots. For me, live music is like oxygen. It keeps you alive. You may not be technically dead if you don't get your fill of live music, but what is life with no fun and for me, there is no better form of fun than watching a great band live. Best live gigs I've seen? The Ramones, The Dickies, The Specials, Toots and The Maytells, The Family Stone, Chic, Smokey Robinson, Wire, The Potato five, Madness, The Beat, 999, The Vibrators, to name but a few off the of my head. Having seen gigs from both sides of the microphone,  why do I love live music so much?

Saturday night was the 121'st gig I've done with the band in a career spanning 46 years, so you may wonder if I've got sick of doing gigs yet? The simple answer is that I've actually never really enjoyed doing gigs as much as I am right now. When we started as teenagers in the 1970's, it was brilliant, but we were filled with testosterone, angst and chemical additives and we were mostly unable to really enjoy the moment. We were too busy wondering whether record labels had shown up to sign us, whether the girls we liked thought we were good and often we were in no fit state to appreciate the moment. Some of the gigs were brilliant and I have great memories of the era, but there are few moments when we were playing that I really remember enjoying. Two that stand out were when we played Dingwalls in 1984. We were really at the top of our game and when you are playing a proper venue and the whole place roars at the end of your final song it is a massive buzz. We knew the industry were there and so the band were on our best behaviour and we knew we'd smashed it. The other gig that stands out was when we played Pub Bastun in Aland in 1982, a Finnish protectorate in the Baltic sea. The audience went wild and were dancing on tables. There were no industry there, we were just playing to enjoy ourselves and clowning around, having fun. I think that gig was us at our very best and it took me a long time to recognise that this was how we should treat gigs. In truth, I was far too uptight about music in the first incarnation of the False Dots from 1979-1990. 

When we got back together in 2000, it was initially just to 'record the old numbers for posterity'. Our bassplayer Paul Hircombe was reluctant. he didn't really want the intense stress and pressure that the band had been. He just wanted to enjoy his music. I'd changed and we started playing. Unlike the first incarnation, the aim wasn't a deal and mega fame, it was just to enjoy playing our music. 

It took us a couple of years to gig, mostly because we were not that motivated. When we did, it was amazing. What was odd was that we'd not really planned to gig at all. The death of Ernie Ferebee and the organisation of a benefit gig for him spurred us. The set was all old material. It hadn't even occurred to me to write new stuff. The reaction blew us away. We spent a nearly a decade plodding along doing a couple of local gigs a year. I wrote a few new tunes, which TBH weren't very good. Then Paul left the band and Connie Abbe joined. Connie should've been a superstar, she is one of the best vocalists I've ever seen and to work with her was a pleasure. She got a gig as a backing singer with an internationally famous rapper, playing at Barack Obama's inauguration. Sadly this left no time for us!

The band went into a mini hiatus, until the Friern Barnet Library campaign reached its climax and occupy needed a band to play the key handover party. I hurriedly reached out to our singer from 1985, Allen Ashley, who is also an author and poet and asked him if he could do a one off gig. We recruited former False Dots drummer Gray Ramsey on drums and Fil Ross on bass. To cut a lng story short, Allen stayed on until the pandemic. We did a selection of local gigs, which were fun.

The pandemic changed everything. We all re-evaluted ourselves to some degree. Gray lost his son to suicide in January 2021. Allen couldn't commit to rehearsals and I felt that it was vital to get Gray engaged with the band. I wanted to take the band right back to our early roots, playing a mixture of ska, punk and reggae. Not having a vocalist forced me to take up vocal duties. To make this work, I decided to write songs in the only style I can really  pull off, and pay homage to the late, great Ian Dury. I started writing lyrics with the sole intention of trying to make Gray laugh. As to the musical structure, I realised that as my vocal style is so limited, the arrangement and structure had to be complimentary. This forced me to write better musical arrangements than I had for a very long time. I had no idea whether it would actually work. I had this fear that everyone would simple laugh at me and say "God, the singer is awful". 

Our first gig, at the Mill Hill Music Festival, supporting Alan Warner at The Adam and Eve was a really stressful gigs for me. At the end, I was amazed at the response. The audience loved it. In the early days of the False Dots, after Pete Conway left, I used to sing a few songs and a couple of promoters had complimented my Dury-esque style, but I'd not taken them seriously and I didn't enjoy singing. Now I realise that this was a massive mistake. I was able to play the material I wanted in the way I wanted and people love it. We started working on an album. A chance conversation with Tom Hammond, a fellow Hadley FC fan, who plays trumpet, resulted in Tom joining the band in late 2023. Initially I asked Tom to play some trumpet on a couple of recordings. As soon as Tom started playing with us, it was clear that we had discovered the magic formula! As Tom can sing pretty well, we have also roped him in to do the vocals on some of the material that my voice doesn't suit. It has given us another string to the bow. 

In this most recent line up, there have been bumps on the road. In 2023, I was told I needed surgery to remove a cancerous prostate gland. This derailed a few plans. I had the operation in August 2023. We had a gig scheduled for The Dublin Castle in September. I asked the consultant if I should do it. He said "Well if you are mad you may want to". That was good enough for me! God help me, I am 62, why would anyone be so stupid? Because I believe music heals the soul. There really is no downside to great music. You just listen, dance and enjoy yourself. In sport, there are winners and losers. In love, there are broken hearts. If you go to see a live band, you will see something totally unique. The Universe is 14 billion years old and you are at a single moment that has never happened before and will never happen again. You are in the moment. 

I believe that music heals the soul. When Gray was at his lowest following Daniels passing, we had a rehearsal. Afterwards Gray told me that it was the first moment since the awful tragedy that he had respite from the dark thoughts. That was when I realised we were on the right path. No one knows what is around the corner. On Saturday, we had an absolute blast. The venue was packed and everyone was having a hoot. In the Christian tradition, on  judgement day, it is said we stand before St Peter and account for ourselves. When I am asked what I did with my life, I will say "I think I put a smile on a few people's faces and made their lives a little bit better for just a short time". On Saturday night a lovely young lady came up to me after we played. She said "I just wanted to thank you, I've been going through a rotten time recently. I saw that there was a free Ska night here, I've made a half of lager last all night, and had a brilliant time. Thank you so much". It was an affirmation that I needed. 

I've expended a lot of words here, to say something really simple. I beleive that live music has the power to heal the soul that nothing else had. From the earliest days, when people sat around fires chanting, beating drums and dancing to the Builder Arms on Saturday night, we all need to feel happy. When I was an angry young man, I used to want to change the world. Now all I really want to do is put a smile on people's face. If I could save the world I would, but I'll have to settle for doing it one smile at a time. Anyway, here's a little clip of what we got up to.

Blogging - What a load of rubbish! Getting it wrong!

Every so often, I write a blog, usually spending ages on it, then I realise it is as dull as dishwater and if someone else had written it, I'd think "How could anyone write such drivel". I know some of my readers (Hi Brian Coleman), think all of my blogs are drivel, but I get nice feedback on enough of them to think most must be OK. I don't actually mind when people tell me I've written a load of old cobblers because they disagree with me. I have strong views and share them freely, so that is part of the job, but occasionally people pull me for simply writing a duff blog and on occasion I have to agree.

Generally, the blogs I wrote about Barnet Council didn't fall into the complete drivel category. The reason was simple, I'd see something that no sane person would think was OK and lay the facts out. A reader may disagree with my analysis, but I cannot recall a single occasion where I was called out for having written simething stupid about Barnet Council. When I write about more subjective things, it is easier to waffle and talk complete nonsense, if  not careful. On a few occasions, readers have taken such exception that they've written and complained. The best example was when a reader, Andrew Evans, who was an atheist, took exception to my views about Richard Dawkins. My response was simple. Write a guest blog as a response and I'll share it. Andrew did and I was really pleased with his response. I thought it was a pretty intelligent exchange of views and the world is a better place when we do share our opinions in a civilised way. 

Although I am sure Andrew would categorise the blog he responded to as not one of my best, I thought it was actually pretty good. I tend to like provoking such a response, so it has to be classified as OK. The blog I wrote yesterday and didn't publish was not OK. I suspect that if Andrew had seen it and responded, he'd have conclusively given me a verbal kicking. I try and write blogs that people who hold diametrically opposed views will find interesting and challenging. Sometimes this is easy. Some of the blogs I wrote during the Brexit referendum campaign, I thought were very good and even staunch Brexiteers conceded I may have a point. One recently told me that he was dismayed to realise that I'd been right about the effects on Eastern Europe. But one thing I've learned is it is always the unexpected consequences that are most interesting, when the dust settles. A good example is that now Trump is in the White House, Brexit does have an upside no one, especially those in the Leave camp predicted. Having said that, I suspect that the early promise of a better deal for Britain is a pipedream, as all Trump really wants is a better deal for America. What really worries me is that Trump can kick us harder than Europe, because they are bigger. We will just have to see how that will play out and I genuinely think that Mystic Meg has as much chance of predicting Trumps next action as any other commentator. 

The one thing I know for certain is that if Mystic Meg could accurately predict Trumps next action, she'd be a rich lady as she'd be able to make a fortune shorting the latest stock market sector Trump has shafted. But for poor, humble, ill informed bloggers like me, Trump presents a real dilemma. The problem is that there is almost nothing interesting to say about him. He's Mr Marmite, those that love him and think he's a genius are convinced, those that think the opposite equally so. I suspect that Trumps saving grace is that no one knows what he will do next, so everyone is terrified of upsetting him. I think that the recent, outrageous missile attacks on Ukraine are Putin seeing how far he can push his luck. Unlike Trump, I think Putin is wholly predictable. The problem for every country with the exception of perhaps the USA and China is that we can do very little. What we do know is that Putin wants to decouple the USA from NATO. He wants this for one simple reason, if he acheives this, he can push Europe around. Whatever you may or may not think of Trump, Putin or any other world leader, in twenty years time, neither are likely to be around. Putin will be 92 and Trump 98. But I suspect that the legacy of their respective reigns will still be casting a shadow.

Personally, my assumption is that by 2045, the USA and Russia will no longer be the powers of note. I believe that this will be the century of China and India. Both have populations that dwarf the USA and China and both are growing far faster. Trumps policies seem to me to be aimed at putting the genie back in the bottle. I suspect that all he's doing is forcing these countries to open up new markets, that the US cannot dominate. It seems to me that the leaders of China are planning for the next 20 years, whilst I am not convinced Trump really knows what he will do tomorrow. China know that in less than four years, there will be a new President of the USA. Whatever happens, the direction will change. It may well change another three or four times over the next 20 years. China's economic policy is very likely to adapt, but remain focussed on what the ruling elite in China think is important.

Of course, there is always the unexpected. Few predicted the dissolution of the USSR and it is always possible that the central control of China may go the same way, but unlike the USSR, China is prosperous. People tend to rebel when the economy doesn't work for them and they feel there is nothing to lose. China is robust, I believe it will easily withstand the seismic shock of Trumponomics. It seems likely to me that Trumps policies will hit global growth and we will all suffer to some degree, but markets adapt quickly. Unless you buy into the conspiracy theory that Trump is simply generating a bear market so his mates can make a fortune shortings stocks (which I don't), the turmoil will die down fairly quickly. The trading models that do not respond well to unforseen shocks, will start to price in a 'Trump Announcement factor' and market swings will be less pronounced. The ride may still be bumpy, but it will be potholes rather than off the edge of the cliff.

But all of this is purely my best guess. I may be spouting a complete load of rubbish. Getting it wrong is a way of life for bloggers. When Boris won in 2019, I woke up in the certain knowledge that the Tories would run the country for a decade and Labour were in permanent decline. It appeared Nigel Farage was riding off into the sunset, telling all who would listen that "It was Nige who won it for Boris". We all know how that went.

Anyway, at the start of the year, I made a few predictions in my new years blog, here's the ones we can pass judgement on. I didn't do to bad, did I?

Politics

Donald Trump will not end the Ukraine war on day one of his presidency as promised.

Nigel Farage will continue to be the bloke most invited onto #BBCQT whilst claiming that the 'mainstream media' gives him a hard time.

The Weather

Winter will be cold and miserable and at the end of it, we'll be told it's the hottest winter on record.

So there you go! Bloggers do occasionally get something right, even in the most challenging of circumstances!