The Sunday Reflection #23 - God gave Rock and Roll to you

I awake this morning with a fuzzy head. Last night, my band, The False Dots did a special free show for our fans at Mill Hill Music Complex. We invited Al Pascal's rcok school along to play with us. Five bands/ solo artists appeared. As most gigs these days are at pubs, there are really limited opportunities for younger musicians to play. So we thought a showcase gig would be great experience. The studio shuts on a Saturday at 6pm. The concept is simple, after the studio's commercial operations cease, we open the doors and let bands play in our lovely studio reception area. We are planning to do it monthly. There is no charge to come and if people want a drink, they bring there own. It is a chance to play and hone your talents. 

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About 80 people turned up for the various artists, many were family. I think all had a great night. We ended with my band, The False Dots. 

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The whole place got up for a boogie at the end. Afterwards, had a chat with a few of the punters who turned up. They loved the concept of the evening. One of my big bugbears is that there is nothing to do for teenagers in Barnet. There are so many talented young people making music, but apart from the odd gig at schools and local festivals, there is nowhere for them to go and hang out. A couple of people said "why don't you get an alcohol licence and make it a regular thing?". We could but then we'd not really be able to do it in the same way. The UK really needs to think the way we provide activities for teenagers. Parents moan that all they ever do is stare at their phone. Is it any wonder when there is nowhere for them to go. At this time of year, when it is warm, you get a few lurking around in parks etc, but that is the extent of the council's provision. 

I'm a big advocate of Rock and Roll music. I've been organising gigs since I was eighteen years old in 1980. There was nowhere to play for us, when the False Dots started, So we booked The Harwood Hall in Mill Hill, invited our mates bands along and put on a gig. It was a roaring success, so we've been doing it ever since. What is really great for me, is the divesity of people coming along these days. I was chatting to a few after and I explained my theory of how life is enganced by music. Unlike sport, religion and just about everything else, no one is right, no one is wrong, there are no winners and no losers. If you don't like an artist or genre, just listen to someone else. If you like it, get grooving. One of the young people, who'd been having a boogie said "I don't normally dance". I asked why? He said "It's not my thing?". I said "You seemed to be enjoying yourself tonight". I then explained that as far as I was concerned, if you enjoy something, do it. Don't worry if someone is better, someone looks cooler or you 'have two left feet'. Let the music guide you. Back in 1973, a band called Argent released a song called  "God gave rock and roll to you". It has one of the best choruses of any rock song, with a great guitar riff. Listening to it now, its a bit too prog rock for my tastes, but the chorus is magnificent. 

It used to be said that Rock and Roll was the music of the devil, but the opposite is true. It is the soundtrack to our lives. Often when rock songs are criticised for being rude, lewd, disrespectful or disgusting, the people who are most offended are the people who most deserve to be offended. My Dad once explained to me that it is always worth understanding the difference between smut (a word we don't hear often these days) and vulgarity. Things that are smutty are theings like Carry on films, Ian Dury Lyrics etc. They are not vulgar, even the start of Plaistow Patricia to me is not vulgar. It is designed to shock and get your attention, buried in there is a serious message "Keep your eyeballs white and keep your needle clean" The message is often overlooked. Dury was a masterful lyricist, there is always something in there that surprises you. If I've learned anything, it is not to jump to quick conclusions. If people act badly, there is usually a reason. This is an observation, not a justification. However if we want to fix our broken society, we need to take a good, long look at the reasons it is broken. Are you part of the problem or part of the solution. I happen to believe that getting young people into music, giving them safe places to express themselves and appreciate what they do is a big part of the solution and in a sane world, Rock and Roll is a big part of that. 

All I can really say is that if I'd not got into music, things would have been very different in my life. 

Here's a small snippet from our show

The Saturday List #454 - The False Dots Set List for MHMC Saturday 14/9/2024 and the story behind all of the songs

Tonight, The False Dots perform at Mill Hill Music Complex. We play a set with songs written in 1979, up to today. Here is the story of the set. 

Wacky Races  - Started life when I was remiscing about the go cart races we used to have as kids in Millway. I then sprinkled a few other tales of our youth in and observed that kids aren't allowed to have fun anymore. It has a slow, dub reggae vibe. 

Bubble Car - I found a picture of my brother Frank in his bubble car in Manchester in 1967 with his mates. I commented that it would make a great album cover. It inspired me to write the song. I wanted a Ska feel, I wanted the song to shout 1968!

We all love a party - Our last Single/video release.  Started life as a reminsence about the parties my parents used to have when we were kids. Always a laugh. Mum always vowed "never again" when they finished. She hated clearing up the debris and the embarrassing incidents. The rest of us loved it. It has become our anthem.

Channelling Ian Dury - Anyone who has heard us will know how central an influence Dury was on our sound. I felt that I should recognise this and tell the story of when I met Ian in Camden town in 1977 when I was fourteen. 

Dave The Roadie (The man who saved the world) - I wanted to pay tribute to all the mates who helped the band over the years. It is based on a lot of people, it's all true, but it's a mish mash of a lot of people I know condensed into a song. it started off being about our original roadies and biggest supporters, Dermot Fanning and Brian Shillibeer, but as I wrote it, the scope changed and widened. It is really as much as people I met in the journey, who helped us or just hung around at some stage. This is the first time we've ever played it live. 

Rambo's Rampage - I love this song, the story of our drummer Graham Rambo Ramsey and how he became a Mod. The song is based on stories he shared, although it is my interpretation and there is artistic license, but it is pretty accurate.

Longshot didn't die  - I wrote this song as a Ska song. I wanted Lee Thompson from Madness and Jenny Bellstar to to sing it. I played it to Lee and he said "Why don't you sing it yourself? I'd not thought of it. It is perhaps the starting point for the post 2022 sound of The False Dots. It is a re-imagination of what the true story of the Pioneers Ska hit from 1968 was. I love the song. 

Don't be scared of a finger up the bum -  An impassioned plea to my mates and men everywhere to get a prostate check. It is a fun song, with a serious message.

Buy Me a Bottle of Jack -  A song about dark, suicidal thoughts, prompted by my struggle with prostate cancer and facing up to the life changing effects I've had,  but told with a very dark humour. After I drafted it, I gave the subject some more thought. Three times in my life, I've seriously thought about ending it all. Each time, something has made me laugh, something very dark, but it pulled me back from the brink. There is an absolute plague of young people killing themselves, our Graham's son being one. We need to talk about it. When I have a dark music, I sing myself the song in my head.

The Burnt Oak Boogie -  I wrote this for a laugh. I went to Orange Hill School, we used to bunk off out and go for a cup of tea at The Betta Cafe on Watling Avenue. Somethimes, I'd nip arround to my surrogate Grandma, Annie O'Keef'e's place on Homefield Road for a cup of tea and a slice of cake. A lovely old Irish lady, married to a caretaker called Joe. The Burnt Oak I knew has disappeared. I miss them and I miss the old days.

Sunday in the 70's - I was a teenager in the 1970's, it formed me. This song is a love song to those days. 

Sci Fi Girls - I used to be obsessed with TV Sci Fi series UFO and I liked Dr Who until Tom Baker took over. This song is all about this pre teenage obsession. 

Not all She Seems - All of the other songs up to now are (relatively) new. This one was written in 1979. The guitar lick was donated to us by Hank Marvin of The Shadows. His son Paul was our drummer for six months in 1980. It is about a transsexual prostitue on the run from a pimp and a Tory MP who is besotted with her. Like many False Dots songs, it is a true story, with a bit of artistic license. We wrote it very sympathetically. Pete Conway co wrote it. We wanted to write a song telling the story of someone at the margins, abused by everyone. I am amazed we did so good a job as sixteen year olds.

Action Shock -  This was written in 1982. A mate was a Marine in the Falklands. I saw him six months after he came back. He was a mess, suffering from bad PTSD and was really unpleasant. Six or seven years later, I met him again. He was back to himself. He told me that he'd been to Nepal and spent three years up a mountain smoking dope. He was back to normal. I feel that I should write a follow up, but I've failed to get the right vibe and given up every time I've tried. It was written as a punk thrash. We never played it. When Venessa Sagoe joined in 1983, she insisted we play it. It has been a highlight ever since. It stubbonly refuses to die. 

Rock and Roll Stories #14 - The wilderness years

 Between the 19th May 1990 and the 20th April 2002, The False Dots performed no gigs at all. Shortly after the gig at St Josephs College, Mill Hill on the 19th May, I disbanded the False Dots. A decade that started with the band dreaming of conquering the world (or maybe just Camden Town), ended with me being totally disllusioned with playing music. I put the guitar down and vowed that I'd done my last gig. At 27, I felt old and irrelevant. The sort of music I liked was totally out of fashoin. The punk and ska explosion of the late 1970's had fizzled out. 

This was the top ten in the week we played our last gig

Official Singles Chart

Number1

KILLER
ADAMSKI

1. LW: 1,
2. Peak: 1,
3. Weeks: 8

Official UK Chart: Top 10 Songs This Week | What's The Number 1 Single?

Number2

BETTER THE DEVIL YOU KNOW
KYLIE MINOGUE

1. LW: 2,
2. Peak: 2,
3. Weeks: 3

Number3

DIRTY CASH
THE ADVENTURES OF STEVIE V

1. LW: 3,
2. Peak: 2,
3. Weeks: 10

Number4

COVER GIRL
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCK

1. LW: 4,
2. Peak: 4,
3. Weeks: 3

Number5

HOLD ON
EN VOGUE

1. LW: 7,
2. Peak: 5,
3. Weeks: 4

Number6

I STILL HAVEN'T FOUND WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR
CHIMES

1. LW: 16,
2. Peak: 6,
3. Weeks: 2

Number7

OPPOSITES ATTRACT
PAULA ABDUL WITH THE WILD PAIR

1. LW: 5,
2. Peak: 2,
3. Weeks: 8

Number8

VOGUE
MADONNA

1. LW: 6,
2. Peak: 1,
3. Weeks: 8

Number9

WON'T TALK ABOUT IT
BEATS INTERNATIONAL

1. LW: 10,
2. Peak: 9,
3. Weeks: 3

Number10

TAKE YOUR TIME FT WONDRESS
MANTRONIX FEATURING WONDRESS

1. LW: 11,
2. Peak: 10,
3. Weeks: 3

There was nothing that excited me,  there seemed to be few gigs that I wanted to go to. What was worse was that the ethos that got me into music had disappeared. It seemed to me that Thatcherism had worked it's evil magic and everyone had become selfish and hedonistic. Gigs had become almost impossible to get. No one was interested in our sort of music. I actually thought our 1990 line up was brilliant. Tony Robotham was a great singer and performer, but we simply couldn't get any interest. 

I took stock, thought I'd had a good run and put the guitars away. We'd put a lot of work into the studios and I felt it was important to give bands somewhere to play and I realised that there was a business that would bring in cash, but I had completely fallen out of love with music. My main job was in IT, but it didn't excite me. I felt like a man who had sold his soul to the devil, for a few years of fun, only to find myself living in a world of broken dreams where nothing excited me. I'd got back into football, playing for Old Hendonians and this filled a gap of sorts. By 1992, the music scene had picked up. Bands like the Happy Mondays,  Nirvana, Blur, Oasis and Suede had hit the scene. I'd been a bit slow to pick up on them initially, but found when I put the radio on, I was excited by what I was hearing. 

Then a young band hit the studio and I thought "They are amazing". I realised that I'd learned a hell of a lot running the band and could put this to good use. So I ended up managing The Sway. They were four local lads, who played what we now call Britpop. They were amazing live and and had some great tunes. I was genuinely excited. I got them some amazing gigs, and a record deal with an independent label. We made two singles and a very overblown video. The band were played on Radio 1 and stations around the country. They played a few minor festivals, but despite spending a huge amount of time and money. the hit never came. Within three years, the band split up and that was that. In hindsight, I screwed up massively. I was offered a decent sum of money as a finders fee by a major management company, who also saw their potential. When they outlined their plans for the band, I was horrified. I knew I'd be throwing lambs to wolves. I also felt that their interest showed that I was right about the band. I discussed the offer and the band declined the offer. Oddly, the gigs and opportunities dried up. In hindsight, if I'd taken the cash, I'd have been laughing and they'd probably have at least had a proper career. 

When the band split up, I was gutted. We'd just recorded a new single, a cover of 2000 light years from home by the Rolling Stones. We had the Stones blessing and did a dance remix that was brilliant. However, David the singer was less than happy at doing a cover, not seeing the concept of it being a mechanism to elevate the band. He quit and all efforts to get things going again simply didn't work. The episode coincided with the studios growing massively. The efforts put into The Sway had raised the profile of the band and the networking opportunities had massively improved our client base, but I was rather demoralised by it. By 1997, I'd vowed to completely leave the music business alone, aside from running the studio. Having two young daughters helped that decision. I was working like a lunatic, in IT and running the studio. I was always getting asked to manage bands, but I always politely declined. On a couple of occasions, I did them a favour, got them gigs, introduced them to great contacts. They would never even say thank you most times. One thing I learned with artists and their business teams, is that when things go well it is the bands brilliance, when things go badly, it is the managers/agents/labels fault. I didn't mind, but it did reinforce my decision. The only exception I made was to help organise local fundraiser gigs and the Mill Hill Music Festival.

By 1999, the studio was employing musical guitar legend Fil Ross and drummer Tony Cavaye. They started nagging me to have a jam. I wasn't interested, but our old bassplayer Paul Hircombe said "Rog, why don't we record a few of the old tracks for posterity". As I had a studio and I liked a few of the old numbers, I cracked. In early 2000, we had a jam. I hadn't picked up a guitar for ten years and it showed. I selected seven songs that were easy and tuneful. We started to play. After about fifteen minutes, I thought to myself "My God, I've really missed this". If felt like we'd never stopped. I had no ambitions beyond getting some recordings done. Then tragedy struck. My best mate and business partner, Ernie Ferebee was struck down with Pancreatic cancer and died in February 2001. Rick Collins, a good mate and bassplayer with a host of well known punk bands, suggested that the band headline a charity gig for Ernies family. Having vowed never to perform again, here we were. We played at The Red Lion in Colindale. There was a large crowd and we smashed it.

I realised that being a performer wasn't something I could walk away from. I loved it and we were pretty good. I started writing songs again. I've no longer got any dreams of conquering the world, or even Camden Town, but we do have a residency at The Dublin Castle and we are pretty damn good, even if I say so myself. I look back at those wilderness years with a degree of incredulity now. How could I  have stopped doing something I so clearly love? The sad truth is that I made the mistake of listening to people who didn't understand why I was doing it. It was never about getting hits, playing major venues. It has always been about playing music I love and sharing a moment with the audience. When the False Dots do that, we are as good as any band you will see. When we start straying from that ethos and trying to make music to fit the current scene or to appeal to A&R men, we become a very dodgy band indeed. I wish I'd realised that 45 years ago.

The band are doing a free show at Mill Hill Music Complex tomorrow evening with three other young bands. Come along if you fancy it.  Here's a blast of what you will hear.