Diary of an Alpha Male #1 - Who are the 100 geezers I'd pick to fight the Silverback Gorilla?

Welcome to my new feature. I have realised that as an Alpha male, I've not talked enough about blokey things like beer, football, girls and fighting on this blog. So I thought I'd put that right by making Wednesday bloke day. There are lots of geezers like Andrew Tate etc, telling young men how to be Alpha Males and giving advice on how to do blokish things properly. From what I've seen, such fellows are simply wannabee's who have seen an opportunity to cash in one the fact that a lot of young men are a bit insecure and need role models who can tell them how to be 'proper blokes'. I thought we'd start with a proper bloke subject. Fighting

There is a lot of debate on social media about who would win a fight between 100 men and one silverback gorilla.

Who do you think would win in a fight?

A. Silverback Gorilla
B. 100 Men pic.twitter.com/73p5MFcnGW

— Tucker Carlson Network 🇺🇸 Fan Account (@TCNetworkFans) April 28, 2025

You may ask what I know about such matters. Well, technically I own a boxing gym and some of the UK's top boxers and MMA fighters have trained in it, especially when former top Boxing coach Don Charles was running the gaffe. I've watched these boxers preparing for title bouts, seen the work and chatted with Don about their technique and prospects. My Dad was also a boxer and competed for both the RAF and Army. He taught me the tricks of boxing as a kid and explained to me the art of winning boxing bouts. You don't win by battering your opponent for ten rounds. Mohammed Ali proved this against George Foreman with is rope a dope strategy in the rumble in the jungle. I watched the fight with my Dad and after four rounds, I said to Dad "Foreman is going to kill him". Dad said "No, Foreman will run out of steam in three rounds and Ali will knock him out". Dad explained that boxing is a very tough sport, but if you punch yourself out, then your opponent will win.

Is there a more Alpha male than Mohammed Ali in the history of the human race? A fearless man, prepared to go to jail for his beliefs. A man who out boxed the best boxers in the history of the sport and won. A man who fought in an era when none of the medical checks were done in the way they are now, the MRI machine hadn't been invented. Every time Ali stepped in the ring, he was risking life and limb and he was figting the hardest punchers on the planet.

Which brings me back to the Silverback gorilla challenge. The first question I'd ask is who should the 100 men be? If it was 100 Donald Trumps, or 100 Andrew Tate's, who both fancy themselves as Alpha Males, I'd back the gorilla every day. But 100 Mohammed Ali's in his prime? I am not so sure. One of Ali's special talents was that he was almost impossible to hit. When he fought, he'd primarily not get hit. He'd bide his time and pick his punches. But he was also a man who had a brain. I suspect that if you put 100 Mohammed Ali's up against a gorilla, he'd not want to fight such a magnificent beast, not out of fear but out of recognition that such a show is a total charade. I'd expect Ali to end up being mates with the gorilla. Ali's opposition to the Vietnam war "My conscience won't let me go shoot my brother or some poor hungry people in the mud for big powerful America".would surely be his mantra if he was stuck up against a gorilla. 

In nature, being the Alpha in the pack implies leadership. The Alpha in the lion pack is the boss. If you aspire to be an alpha male, you have to also be a leader of men and brave. It takes me back to my Dad. A WW2 bomber pilot and RAF Officer. A man who understood what leadership and risk was. A man who flew 28 missions on active service, was shot down, was taken POW and escaped. He knew that the crew of his Wellington bomber was his responsibility. When he had a family, we were his responsibility.  He ran his own business, employing most of the hoodlums from Burnt Oak at one time or another and none messed witThe best way to fight is to talk to your enemy and persuade them that it is not in their interest to fight you. If you find yourself up against someone who there is no reasoning with, then you do what you have to, to win or at least survive. Bear in mind, that in the boxing ring, there is only one winner. But the fact George Foreman lost to Ali, made him no less of an Alpha male than if he won. 

I am not a fighter, I am a musician and a business owner. I don't have cause to use my fists to get what I want. I have watched a few Andrew Tate videos over the years out of curiosity. They are laugable. The only person who gets the Ferrari from watching those is Andrew Tate. If you want to succeed as a male, whether you are Apha, Beta, Gamma, Delta or Epsilon, you need to decide what you really want, put together a plan and work you nuts off to achieve it. One of the reasons Ali won, was because he had a plan. The Rope a Dope routine was not an accident. It was an intelligent man using his brain to beat a stronger man. That is the lesson for the day. 

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Rog T's food blog - Navigating the risk of Ultra Processed Foods

There was a fascinating article on the BBC yesterday, detailing how ultra processed foods are shortening our lives. I found it quite shocking and disturbing. Before we proceed, below is a list of foods. Which do you think are healthy and which do youthink are deemed 'ultra processed' and may shorten your life?

cakes, pastries and biscuits
crisps
supermarket bread
sausages, burgers, hot dogs
instant soups, noodles and desserts
chicken nuggets
fish fingers
fruit yoghurts

fruit drinks
margarines and spreads
baby formula

It may surprise you, it certainly surprised me to learn that all are 'ultra processed'. Clearly cakes and sausages were not really a surprise, but yoghurts, fruit drinks and fish fingers did surprise me. It almost made me laugh, my good lady has moaned at me for years to eat fish fingers instead of bacon sarnies. Seems like I needn't have bothered.

So which of these do I eat on a regular basis? I don't have a sweet tooth, but crisps, sausages, fish fingers and  supermarket bread are all part of my shopping basket. Now I actually believe that the odd cake or fish finger as a treat is no problem (once a week?) but I had got into the habit of having a bag of crisps with my salad most days. The report states that in the UK, there are around 18,000 premature deaths a year.

I believe that healthy eating is all about balance. I've learned that freshly prepared food tastes better than the stuff you buy in plastic pots and warm up. The more fresh food you eat, the better. If you buy loose veg, they are cheaper and I find them tastier. I am lucky, I have the time these days. When I had a job that involved almost daily travel, it was hard. Food was all too often a full english at the hotel, a canned drink and a sandwich for lunch and a pint and a bag of crisps for dinner. Maybe firms should have healthy eating policies for staff that travel. I love food, so the full english buffet was hard to resist, especially as it was free. It is perhaps no coincidence that this period of my life coincided with developing prostate cancer.

I was well paid and it suited me, but I believe I paid a price for the lifestyle. We all think we are invincible until show otherwise. We often only realise the lesson to be learned when it is too late. And for the record. My lunch today? A freshly prepared salad with sardines, a banana and an orange.

Barnet Labour doesn't know what art is!

 Barnet Labour recently launched its "There's Art in Barnet Campaign" (with your money). When I saw their offering, I nearly cried. How on earth could they get it so wrong? As someone who has spent their life trying to create a music scene in the London Borough of Barnet, this is a really painful debacle for me to watch unfold. When Labour were elected, their Leader Barry Rawlings asked me to help him draw up a Strategy. I did one for free. I took two weeks out of work and sent a draft to officers and councillors. I had not one comment back and eventually they all admitted that they hadn't bothered to read it. I have discussed this on the blog before. I also predicted what they would do. I said they'd bring in outside consultants, spending huge fees, to produce something that was completely useless and irrelevant. There is nothing I'd have preferred than to be proven wrong. But sadly, even the low expectations I had have not been met. 

So lets start with their video. I suggest you watch it, so you can get a flavour of what I'm talking about

If you make a video that asks the Question "Did you know there's Art in Barnet?", you'd think that there would be an answer to the question, with some examples. What do they give us? A bloke walking around the RAF Museum, which is a culturally important site, but its primary role is not as an arts venue. Now I am into music, I would have thought that the Council would use this opportunity (created with your cash), to look at genuine arts venues and examples of great art. 

As a musician, here's a list of venues I've personally played at in the Borough in the last three years.

2022

11th June, Mill Hill Music Festival, The Adam and Eve, Mill Hill

19th August, The Bohemia, Finchley

2023
17th February, The Edgware Services Club, Burnt Oak 
6th May, The Mill Hill Services Club
28th The Bull Theatre Centre, Barnet 

2024  
13th April, The Bull Theatre, Barnet

17th May, Mill Hill Music Complex Studios
29th June East Barnet Festival 
4th September, Mill Hill Music Complex Studios 

2025
12th April -The Builders Arms, Barnet

That's eight different venues, all of hich have regular live entertainment, including two local festivals. They are just the venues my band have played at. Theres plenty of others that I've been to, all of which I feature in my regular Friday Fun round up of local music. This week, we listed 26 gigs in the Borough. This is just a normal week in the London Borough of Barnet, but there is no mention of this in the video.

There are other forms of art apart from music. I am less well qualified to comment on these, but they are equally as important. We have some amazing public art in the Borough, which I was amazed to see was not featured. A great example is the Handley Page memorial Mural, that I made a video to celebrate the launch of in 2020 (just before Covid)

I also found it bizarre that there was no mention of Barnet's wonderful libraries. There are all manner of fascinating events at these. I was amazed that there was no mention of the Barnet Libraries literary festival in May.

Of course it is easy to moan and groan. I suppose you could say something is better than nothing, if we weren't paying through the nose for such sub standard rubbish, I may have kept my mouth shut. But that is not my style! So I am going to make Barnet an "Art in Barnet" video absolutely free. And if they like it they can have it. When it's done I'll give you all the opportunity to say which one you think is better. 

Updated 29/4/2025 - I had missed the fact that there is a whole swathe of "There's Art in Barnet" videos. Oddly, it seems Barnet Council thinks Tennis is Art?

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The Sunday Reflection #50 - Why is modern religious music so rubbish?

 When I was a little kid, my parents made me go to Church every week. I wouldn't say they forced me, it was just what our family did. There was a ritual. Dad had a big car, which started off as a Humber Sprite, then a Ford Zephyr and a Ford Zodiac. They all had bench seats. At 10/40am us kids would all pile in the front, then Dad would drive up to the Cottage Homes (retirement home for old ladies). He'd pick up three old ladies, I can recall Mrs Faller and Mrs Monaghan and he'd take us all to 11am mass at The Sacred Heart Church. After mass, he'd drop the ladies home, take us to the 'little shop' on Shakespeare Road and stock up on provisions. This included freshly cut ham, garibaldi biscuits, smoked salmon, and other tasty provisions that my frugal mother considered to expensive. He'd then drop us back and go for a drink whilst Mum made dinner.

When I was a small, Mass was in Latin. It was all sung, incence was liberally dispensed (a mate at school, when asked what he liked best at mass by a visiting priest replied 'The smell of incest', for which he was sent to the Head Mistress for a beating with the tennis bat. None of us knew what incest was, until I asked my sister). I used to quite enjoy it, it was very different from the rest of the week. The main proceedings were unintelligible. Then we'd get berated by the priest in his sermon and told we were all going to Hell if we didn't repent, and we'd sing a few hymns. There were several that I rather liked. Oh Praise ye the Lord was a banging tune. Faith of our fathers was a bit more reflective and others had excellent melodies such as How great though art. 

When I was about seven or eight, things changed. Suddenly mass was in English and we started to get modern hymns and even worse Folk Masses, where geezers with beards would play guitars and sing songs with duff melodies and choruses that had clunky choruses which didn't scan very well, that were sort of like Jesus you are marvellous, Jesus you are the best, Jesus I think your wonderful, Jesus you are blessed. Even as a child, I hated these. I couldn't really see the point of telling God how marvellous he was. I mean, God is meant to be omnipotent and all knowing, so he must know we like him and if we don't and we're telling porkies, it would just irritate him and he may smite us?

As I got more into music and analysed what made a good hymn, I concluded a good tune was the key. Perhaps the best hymn is Abide with me. It also has decent lyrics.

Abide with me, fast falls the eventide

The darkness deepens, Lord with me abide

When other helpers fail and comforts flee

Help of the helpless, oh, abide with me

To me, this makes sense. When you are in the deep do do, it is quite natural to want Gods presence, so it is a very logical and sensible emotion. I concluded that the best hymns are also sensible prayers, not telling God he's marvellous but asking politely for his support through the dark moments in our lives. 

Sadly, the vast majority of hymns fail to have any merit at all. Where are the Amazing Grace's of the current era? A mate suggested that Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen is up there and I don't disagree, but I am not entirely sure it qualifies as a hymn, as to me a hymn should be specifically written to be sung by a congregation. I used to work with a lovely chap who was also a brilliant guitarist. He was an evangelical Christian and I mentioned this view. He immediately brought me in some CD's of modern Christian music that he said would totally refute my view that modern Christians can't write religious music. Sadly, the CD's largely by failed American rock musicians, who'd discovered God, had the opposite effect to what he intended. They were all in major keys and the message was Oh Lord, you are marvellous, please make me marvellous as well. I wanted to burn the CD's as I thought the music was horrible. 

When I first got Sky TV, I flicked through the channels and found a US TV Evangalist channel. There was a geezer with a moustache who looked like a porn actor. He was tellinge everyone that if they prayed and donated lots of money to him, the Lord would make them rich. There was suitably trite music in the background, there was one 'song' which sort of had the Chorus of "Oh Lord, I've made my donation, now give me a massive bung of wonga". Well those weren't the exact lyrics but that was the sentiment. I wish ill on no one, but I do hope there is a special place in Hell for such charlatans. 

I was discussing my aversion to religious music with a friend who is a Catholic Priest. He suggested that I write a hymn, if I am so dismissive of other people's attempts. I had a go and realised it is not easy. As my lyrical style is mildly humourous observational sarcasm, it is not really suited to such things. But having said that, could it be worse than some of the abominations that have been written? My rather uncharitable take on many modern musicians who play in Church is that they do it for the captive audience. Of course, many churches have amazing choirs and great players, but I am sure anyone who regularly visits a church will know of certain people who give our lugholes a right old bashing. Of course, this is not a very christian observation, as we should be inclusive and encourage everyone to participate. 

Having said that, I was slung out of the choir at the Sacred Heart when I was a kid for being 'unmusical' and not able to sing, so I guess I have an axe to grind. What I subsequently realised was that most hymns are simply in the wrong key for my voice and the melodies push past the range of what I can manage. I realised that the majority of hymns were actually written to suite people with a different vocal range and style to me. Now I would never claim to be a technically gifted singer, but it would be nice if there were a few decent ones that I could join in with. 

One of the things that not too many people realise about singing is that it alters your mood and makes you feel better. There is a reason for this. The simple act of singing means that you inhale far more oxygen than you would normally, as you need a large volume of air to excite your vocal chords. This means that you have more oxygen in your blood stream, which actually makes you feel good. So a stonking hymn at a church service, that you can sing along to, will physically change your mood and brain patterns. Singing in a choir is a great thing to do, if you can manage the notes. I just wish I could and I wish that the stuff they sing at church these datys inspired me in the way that Ska and Punk rock music does, and even the old classic Victorian hymns did. But then again, this is the way God made me, and as my mate Bob the Scouser always says "God doesn't get things wrong". 

I did start to try and write a hymn during lockdown. It soon morphed into a song about our local church, because as I said my style is observational humour. When I started playing it, I realised that it was dull pompous and boring, so I kept the first verse and widended the subject matter to a general comment on Sundays in the 1970s. Much of the rest of the song is inspired by the reminiscences of our drummer Graham Rambo Ramsey. I rather like it now, I hope God does!

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The Saturday List #481 - Ten things I did as a kid that no one does anymore!

 When The False Dots were writing our "Finger in the Sun" album, I wrote a song called Wacky Races about building go karts and having races up and down Millway with the other kids in the road. Playing in the street was the best thing about being a kid. I'll give a shout out to Richard Wenham(RIP) and Luke Albanese who lived next door, Johnny and Frank Lewis who lived over the road and The Cooneys and Malones who lived up the road. We'd all be in the street making mayhem, annoying the neighbours. It doesn't happen anymore. I thought this warranted a list of things I did as a kid that my kids never experienced.

1. Being off school sick and waiting for 'Telly to start'. BBC and ITV did not broadcast in the morning. There was nothing on, apart from Playschool. If you left the telly on, you'd occasionally get "Trade test transmissions" that were boring documentaries, but better than nothing. 

2. Going to The Model shop and getting an Airfix kit. Dad would give me pocket money and I'd nip around to H. A. Blunt and Sons and buy an Airfix kit, usually a Spitfire or Hurricane. I'd take it home and spend an hour making it. Some of my mates would build whole bases and paint the models. I was a bit too lazy, I just liked building the models. I hung them from the ceiling with pins and cotton. I'd make cotton wool flames and make sure the Spitfires shot down the German planes. 

3. Growing radishes in the garden. My sister Catherine was really into gardening and tried to encourage me. She made me a little plot and got me some Radish seeds. They all grew and we ate them. If I hadn't grown them, I wouldn't have liked them, but I developed a soft spot for radishes. 

4. Pike fishing at Stanmore Common with my Dad. Dad was into fishing. We'd go to Hunton Bridge, catch gudgeon and then use them as live bait to try and catch the big pike that lived on Stanmore Common pond. TBH I didn't really like fishing as I wasn't into decapitating worms and gudgeon. I loved being with Dad though, and so I never let on.

5. Going out on bike. Yeah I know some people dress their kids up in safety gear and take them cycling. That is not what I mean. We'd all meet up on our choppers and racers and go exploring around Mill Hill without an adult in sight. We'd usually get up to some naughtiness on the way. My mate Pete Conway's Dad bought him a super duper new bike and he cycled down Engel Park and went down a manhole. He had six months in hospital. It was just seen as part of growing up. I mention this in the second versoe of Wacky Races.

6. Investigating bomb sites. In the 1960's there were still lots of bomb sites and detritus of WW2. These were popular destinations on our bikes. By the time my kids were born, the bombsites all became luxury flats.

7. Having a day out with a Red Bus Rover. You could have the free run of London's buses with a Red Bus Rover. We'd usually head down to Oxford Street and then go on from there. My best memory was exploring the railway sidings at Battersea Power Station and getting chased out by an angry man in a uniform. To me Battersea Power station just seemed to be a wasteland of smelly rusting metal. It was fascinating though, I wish I had a pictures of it.

8. Meeting your mates at the park for an off the cuff kickabout. In the schoool holidays, we'd all congregate at one of the local parks, usually Woodcroft or Mill Hill and have a kickabout. We'd nick traffic cones for goals and the sides would change as the game developed. We'd play for 3-4 hours.  We'd stop when we got hungry or the Sun set. Sometimes one of our mums would despatch a sister to bring us home. 

9. Making bombs in the garden. Dad had a petrol lawn mower and this gave us raw material to make bombs. As we had a large garden, we practised making molotov cocktails. One day Dad realised why there was no petrol for the lawnmower and I was warned, in no uncertain terms, what would happen if we did it again. A couple of days later, he showed me how to make a molotov cocktail properly. That was my Dad. He trained me to be a very effective terrorist. My mates Dad was a senior policeman and I'll never forget his horror when my Dad explained how he could take out the whole of Hendon Police college with a simple device he could make in his shed. My mates Dad said he was pleased Dad was not a terrorist!

10. Mending bikes in the shed. We all had 'puncture repair kits'. If our inner tubes got a punture, we'd mend them. These days kids just buy a new inner tube or around here a new bike. I completely rebuilt my bike on several occasions, putting better gears etc. These days, you get a bloke in a shop to do it.

Anyway, there's only one song I can play to sum this up. You've probably guessed, and you can hear The False Dots  play it live at The Dublin Castle from 2pm on Sunday 25th May!

Friday fun and local music round up 25th April 2025

 As ever we start our Friday collection with The Friday Joke, once again it is the rather wonderful Mr Robert Wilkinson who provides it. 

I asked the man in the shop "Have you got any Bulldog clips?"

He replied "No, but I've got a nice video of a Jack Russell"

— Robert Wilkinson (@robertwlk) April 22, 2025

Local Music Round up

Fothcoming events of note

The Mill Hill Music Festival starts with a free gig at The Adam and Eve on 31st May. Click on the image for full details

And a date for the diary for all you Skanking Ska fans!

And now for this weeks gigs!

~APRIL~

Friday 25th

Sebright Arms 9 – 11.30pm  The Runner Brothers (Rock Covers)

The Butchers Arms 9.30pm – 11.30pm  The Flying Foxes (60s, 70s, 80s and 90s covers)

The Lord Kitchener 8.30pm – late  the Singing Cabbie Aiden Kent

Barrington 8.30-midnight Karaoke with Johno

Ye Olde Monken Holt 9pm – midnight DJ Sadie (Disco)

The Haven 8pm – 11pm Denis Cook (Musician, vocalist and DJ)

The Cavalier 8pm – late DJ Reece

Saturday 26th

Broken Bones UK (Classic Rock, 3 piece) at East Barnet Royal British Legion Club, East Barnet 1.8 miles

9pm - 11.30pm

The Tease (Rock / Pop, 3 piece) at The Three Wishes, Edgware 4.5 miles

8.30pm

The Butchers Arms 9pm – midnight Highstone (60s,70s, 80s and 90s covers 4 piece)

East Barnet Royal British Legion 9.00pm – 11.30pm Broken Bones (Classic rock, 3 piece)

The Builders Arms 8.00pm – 11pm The Cool Hand Ukes

Ye Olde Monken Holt 9.30pm – midnight James Or (Acoustic Covers)

The Arkley Club 8pm – 11pm £5 cash on door Jamie Callis (Solo artist)

Sunday 27th

Black Horse 3pm- Home Cookin (jazz)

The Builders Arms, 6pm-8pm So Luna Duo (pop)

Ye Olde Monken Holt 7pm – 9pm The Sequels (Acoustic country folk roots)

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

The Bohemia 7.30pm – 10pm £10 online or at bar Jim Mullen Trio (jazz funk blues)

Monday 28th 

Jan's North London Jam at The Three Wishes, Edgware 4.5 miles

9pm - 11pm

Sebright Arms 8pm – 11pm Barnet Acoustics Sessions as Ye Olde Mitre closed for refurb opens 24 May noon)

Tuesday 29th

Builders Arms 8pm Tim Leffman

Wednesday 30th 

Ye Olde Monken Holt 8.30pm – 11pm Open Mic Night (unless affected as football)

 

~MAY~

Thursday 1st

Ye Olde Monken Holt 8.30pm – 10.30pm Irish Session

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!