The very worst thing about running a music studio

 I love my job. I love running a studio, meeting musicians both world famous and just starting out. Sometimes, those just starting out become superstars, such as Amy Winehouse and Kate Nash, sometimes they stay like my band, The False Dots and just play the grassroots circuit. All have stories and tales to tell, which I love. Sometimes, we don't see customers for months, years and sometimes decades, but sooner or later they turn up. Some have been coming in regularly for decades. Last night, I went for a beer with Boz Boorer of the Polecats and Alan Warner from the Foundations. Both are still working musicians. Boz was back from a gig in Anchorage, with the Boz Boorer allstars and Alan was back from a tour of Northamptonshire with Grandma's wooden leg. Both have lived locally for years, but Boz was telling me he's just sold his Mums old house in Edgware and Alan is planning a move to Bedford to be nearer his daughter and grandkids. I hope they'll still be able to make beer and curry night! Boz and the Polecats were the very first paying customer of Mill Hill Music Complex, and Alan was the second! That was back in 1979. Alan was talking about remembering Boz doing a paper round. Alan was telling us stories of how he attended the premiere of the Beatles Yellow Submarine and how he chatted with George Harrison and John Lennon at the after party. I keep urging Alan to write a book, but he always insists he has no stories!

That is the side I love. I also experienced the side of the business that I absoluetely hate. Last month, legendary singer Terry Reid passed away. I had spoken to Terry in June, when he booked a rehearsal for a forthcoming tour. He was in great spirits. Terry has been using the studio for decades. He was a lovely bloke and would always have a coffee and a chat with us. Terry very nearly became the lead singer of Led Zeppelin, but turned them down. He is one of the truly great British singers. Our studio booking system automatically generates a booking reminder 24 hours before the session is due to take place. This helps remind musicians what time etc the session is booked. Sadly, and this was remiss of me, we didn't cancel Terry's booking. Terry's booking was today and yesterday we got a phone call from his wife, who had received the reminder. I felt really bad for not contacting her in a more appropriate fashion, but in the sadness at his passing, it had simply not registered. Terrys wife was absolutely fine and it gave us the chance to pass on our condolences. 

Actually going on the system and deleting his bookings was a sad moment. You realise that this is it. I think the saddest moment of all was when Amy Winehouse passed away. She had a large recording booking. She was working on a new album. She had rung us in July and explained that she wanted to get some ideas down in the studio. She explained that she felt that none of the music she'd released really sounded how she really wanted and wanted to be in control. She said the tracks may just end up being pre production demos or they may be the next album if it goes well. On the night Amy died, her neighbours complained as she was practicing drums at 2am. Unlind press reports suggested that this was a sign that she was, shall we say, not in a sober state of mind. To me, it said she was working on the new material and making sure she could get the performance she wanted. We will never know. But what I do know is that the world was robbed of a great album. 

I was in France when she passed away and the saddest thing was getting out the tippex and scrubbing out her bookings. Back then we still used a paper diary,. It seemed brutal. I felt like a thief in the night, robbing the planet of music when I scrubbed them out. But what can you do?

Over the course of time, we have seen many valued customers pass away. Apart from Amy, the one that absolutely horrified me was when Andy McGoldrick passed away. You probably won't have heard of Andy. He was a local lad, playing in local bands. He was also a much loved teacher at a local school. Andy had a rehearsal at our studios, in preparation for a gig, back in 2006 the same evening. He had just bought a new amplifier and showed me the beauty in his car. I asked why he wasn't using it at the rehearsal and he said he was saving it for the gig, where he would debut it. The gig was at the James Joyce pub. After the rehearsal, we wished Andy well for the gig. At the sound check, he plugged his guitar into the amp, strummed it and was electrocuted. Andy was 27. The really sad thing, was that if Andy had been using our studios, our electrics have circuit breakers that would most likely saved his life. That was no solace at all. He'd simply had an amp with an incorrectly wired mains plug and it killed him. 

Such random things, such sadness. Life is a precious and fragile thing. You never really know when your time will come, so treasure every moment. 

Here is a bit of Terry RIP. 

The harsh truth about the music business and why you should never give up on your dreams

Hold on tight to your dreams.....

So you want a career in the music industry (or one of your offspring does). You want them to have the best advice and you want someone to mentor them. There are two ways to mentor such a person. There are two methods. I don't subscribe to the first, but you can make a mint doing this, if you are well connected and unprincipled.

You charge them a lot of money, draw up a plan with aims and goals and work with them to achieve them. If you are crafty, and they or their parents are wealthy, you get them to work with the best people, play the best places and record at the best studios (mine or Abbey Road, depending on your budget). If it works, you are a genius and you get a handsome cheque. Basically you take the cash to open a few doors that they don't have the key for. If it fails, you just get a fat cheque and you blame everyone else for not pulling their finger out. There is a lot of money advising the untalented offspring of the wealthy on how to get on in music. 

Then there is the other way.  The way I prefer. You do this if the person is talented, you like them and they don't want to pay you a fortune. What do you do with them? Sit them down and tell them the harsh truth. There are three questions I ask. 1. What do you want out of a career in the music industry? 2. What will you be doing in five years if your career takes off. 3. Do you like Pot noodles. 

If you want to know the correct answer, then you'll have to pay me a lot of money, but if the answer is wrong, there is no conversation to be had. The fourth thing I tell them, if they get the answers to the first three right,  is to come back when they have three tracks that are absolute killers. The reason? Unless you have an absolute killer track in you, then it doesn't matter how pretty, how versatile a musician you are or how rich Daddy is, you are wasting your time. If there is a killer track, then the next thing is to see it performed live. If you've got a killer track and you can deliver it live, then you are in business.

The most successful person ever to pass through our doors at Mill Hill Music Complex was Amy Winehouse, who started her career rehearsing in our studios. When I saw Amy work, I didn't need to ask the first two questions. It was obvious what she wanted and that she had no plan B. She was up for the rock and roll life of pot noodles at 3AM after a drive from Hull in the rain. We mentored Amy unofficially in her early career as we do many musicians. Not by sitting down and drawing up plans, but by providing an environment where she could do what she needed at that stage in her career. The difference with Amy and most other kids who walk through the door was that it was her asking the questions. She'd walk through reception and stop and say "Who is that your playing?" We'd reply "Joni Mitchell". She'd say "What's the track I'll check that out". Sometimes she'd pick up a guitar when she was waiting, strum a song and say "I don't think it sound right". We'd say something like "Try a passing note of B, when you change chord from C to Am". She do it and say "Yeah that sounds cool". She'd ask about which venues the more established bands were saying had the best buzz. She wanted to get the best musical influences, write the best songs and play the venues with the best vibe. I told her that if she wanted a local gig, it had to be The Torrington and if she was looking for a gig in town, it had to be The Dublin Castle in Camden to start. She listened. She played both. She wanted to be a step ahead of the game and she got that it isn't just about play songs and doing gigs, you play the best songs you can and you do the gigs at the venues that will be best for you. I wasn't unique, she asked anyone if she thought they may have an insight. She was also pretty humble with it and would chat about the why's and wherefores. 

The truth about the music industry is that if you want to succeed, you need to know your own mind. You need to have a clear idea of where you want to play and why. You need to play songs that you think are amazing. You need to play gigs with an audience that you know will connect with them. You want the audience to go home and tell all there mates you were amazing and to bring them back next time. So many artists miss this all. They think that something will magically happen and all of a sudden you'll be the next Lady Gaga or Rolling Stones. I hear lots of musicians of my age sneer at both. The thing is that the likes of Gaga and The Stones do what Amy did before she'd even started gigging. They get the best out of their talents, they put the best shows on in the right venues and they play to an audience that will like them. It doesn't matter what level you are at, this is the secret.

Which brings me on to your dreams. We have two main groups of customers. The up and coming ones who are full of dreams and old crusty ones like me, trying to glue back together a few fragments of our dreams to have a bit of fun with, before the grim reaper carts us off to Hades. This Sunday, my band launch our debut album after 45 years. We will be launching it at The Dublin Castle, far and away my favourite grassroots venue in London. A loyal bunch of friends and fans will turn up for the show. For me, it is an important statement. Not just for me, but for every old geezer like me, who's ever looked up at the stars and had a dream. Back in 1990, I put my guitar down for a decade and vowed that "I was done with all of that".  I'd had ten years of broken dreams and I just ran out of energy. We got the band back together in 2000, but it was just for fun. Having my own recording studio, inspired me to "record a few numbers, for my own enjoyment". A few gigs followed. In 2009, an amazing female vocalist turned up at the studio and we roped her in for a year or two. From playing The Three Hammers and The Mill Hill Sports club, we found ourselves back onstage in Camden and getting some serious interest (in her not the band). She got a gig as a backing singer with an international star and we went back to the Mill Hill Sports club!

But it gave me a real taste. We started working on an album, with a singer we worked with in 1985. Some of the songs were good, we were enjoying it, but we weren't setting the world alight and I wasn't 100% happy with the songs. Then lockdown hit. Our singer departed, our drummer had a massive crisis when his son took his own life and we had a new mission. The band became his support mechanism, to get him through lockdown. How? I set myself a task to write songs that made him smile and laugh. Niot cheesy joke/comedy songs, but Ian Duryesque observations on life. I took up singing duties that I'd put down 40 years before. 

And then something odd happened. It all fell into place. To my amazement, the energy we'd had in 1983/4 had returned. An added bonus was that the songs were really hitting the spot. We made a video of The Burnt Oak Boogie and within a week, it had 3,000 views. We did a gig at The Adam and Eve and people loved it. Then we did a gig at The Dublin Castle, just for fun as I fancied it, and it was brilliant. A residency followed and Sunday will be our tenth gig in two years at London's best venue. The final piece in the jigsaw was when trumpet player Tom Hammond joined. Tom was born the year Graham our drummer joined, but it feels like he's been here for ever now. 

We recorded most of the album at my mate Boz Boorer's studio in Portugal. It was a good excuse for a few days in the Sun with the boys. And now, to my amazement my dream is materialising.  Each of the songs is a story. 

We all love a party - Our last Single/video release.  Started life as a reminiscence about the parties my parents used to have when we were kids. Drunken Irish relatives, workmates and drinking buddies of my Dad, jokes, whiskey and punch ups. 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. The crowd knows the words better than me!

Wacky Races  - Started life when I was reminiscing about the go cart races we used to have as kids in Millway, getting old prams, making go carts and also when my mate Pete fell down a manhole on his new bike and nearly died. 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 morphed into a song about a dodgy band leader trying to seduce a pretty girl by getting her to become the singer in the band. Something that happened a couple of times when we started the band, although we didn't actually have a bubble car. The song has a bouncy a Ska feel, I wanted the song to shout 1968!

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, that was possibly the moment that this iteration of the band was cemented. It is 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. 

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. HE did actually breed budgies and have a dog called Beauty. Dedicated to Annie and Joe.  The Burnt Oak I knew has disappeared. I miss them and I miss the old days.

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. Here's a live version. 

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. Regular blog readers will know that I had my prostate removed last year after ten years of living with Prostate Cancer hanging over me.  The album name is a play on this, as well as a reference to the sunshine at Boz's place in the mountains of Portugal. 

Not all She Seems - This and the next songs are over 40 years old. 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 prostitute on the run from a pimp and a Tory MP who is besotted with her. Like many False Dots songs, it is a mash up of two true stories, with a bit of artistic license. We met a transexual girl at the Moonlight Club in 1978. She was in a mess, totally alone and without a friend in the world, only really feeling accepted in the local punk scene. It was also based on a story a prostitute told me at a decorating job I had, I conflated the two.  We wrote it very sympathetically. 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 stubbornly refuses to die.

Sci Fi Girls - I used to be obsessed with TV Sci Fi series UFO and I liked Dr Who until Tom Baker took over. I wanted a really rip roaring 70's Bolan/Glam sound to end the album. Boz Boorer, who produced this totally got the vibe. If ever we get any money. I'll remake the video with all of the Sci Fi clips I wanted to use but couldn't get permission.

The song is very much about this pre teenage obsession and the music I was listening to. I wanted it to sound a bit like The Sweet, but my voice is a bit too punk so it ended up a glam / punk mash up. It was on 365  Radio's Juke Box Jury and ace producer said I should try singing. If ever I bump into him, I'll tell him that he should try doing a Crass/Sweet mash up. 

So that's what's on the album. Watch this space, We'll put links to it on Sunday. Hold on to to your dreams. Without them the night is just a dark abyss. You may ask "Why would a 62 year old bloke want to release records and play gigs in trendy Camden Town?" My response "Why wouldn't he!". Please come along if you are free, Tickets from here Falsedots Album Launch Party

The Amy Winehouse I knew at Mill Hill Music Complex Studios

On Sunday, Absolute Radio aired a special show dedicated to Amy Winehouse, coinciding with the release of her new film. I was asked to contribute to the show. I did this on the basis that I wanted to talk about Amy as the musician,  I knew, rather than her personal issues.  You can hear my contributions and the rest of the how here.

I wrote this article a couple of years ago, based on my personal experiences of Amy at Mill Hill Music Complex studios.

Let me start by giving some perspective on this. I have always felt slightly uncomfortable talking about Amy Winehouse. She was a studio customer from the days before she was famous until the day she died. Shortly before she passed, she'd called about doing some recordings. She wanted to do something stripped back, without the big production, but primarily where she was in control and calling the shots. We were sworn to secrecy about the project (no big deal, many artists do this). The sessions were booked provisionally for September 2011. When Amy passed, I was in France. When I came back, the saddest moment of my professional life was getting the Tippex and erasing the sessions from our diary.

I have never been so genuinely excited as when we took the booking. It's not often we get a Grammy winning artist wanting to record an album worth of material in our little North West London studio. They normally prefer Abbey Road. Although this was likely to be pre prod demo's, Amy would most likely have ended up recording the final versions at Abbey Road, she said that she needed a less formal enviroment to create and said that if it came out well enough she'd do it all with us.  It was still hugely exciting. She said she wanted to lock herself in the studio with a couple of musicians and simply create. 

It is a well known fact that Amy had her troubles. When we last spoke, it was not to a troubled soul. It was to someone who wanted to open a new chapter. She told me she'd been listening to lots of music and was feeling really inspired. This was not inspired in a whacky or drug addled sense. It was in a serious, professional and purposeful manner. She wanted a stripped back, unplugged vibe, more jazz based. She wanted to put out an album that people didn't expect. Something with a raw depth that maybe she felt the super polished previous albums and the pop tunes hadn't addressed. I was given the impression that almost no one knew about it. She most certainly didn't want her label involved until she had what she wanted in the can. She didn't want someone saying "This is a single, we need XXXXX to produce it now". 

I've waited ten years to really talk about this. Why? I was sworn to secrecy and that was important, but now, ten years later, I think the time has come to say this. There were two things that spurred this on. The first was that I watched 'reclaiming Amy' on Saturdya night. My thoughts? I was really disappointed. I get that her parents needed to set the record straight and that her friends wanted to put some perspective on her life and death. But what disappointed me was that we are yet to see something that tells the story of Amy, the musician. What made her tick, what made her so influential. What did the people who played with her, produced her, toured with her think. I am not interested in the stories of alcohol and drugs and breakdown. I am interested in how this little sparrow of a girl from North London became the most infuential singer of the last 20 years. When Amy first came down, she was a sassy, funny teenager. She would wear her white leopard skin print trousers and was shy and respectful. As she got used to us, the shyness gave way to cheeky banter. Occasionally she'd bring a guitar and ask us what we thought of  a song. Her Dad Mitch would hang around on occasion, chatting, drinking a coffee and telling us Amy was going to be massive. Mitch is a typical London cabbie and it was clear he adored his daughter. As she progressed, Amy started playing with better musicians. She got a management deal and when she was booked to play her first TV performance, she bounded into our shop, looked up at the wall and said "what is the blue Fender guitar like?". Our senior tech Fil Ross, replied "It plays well and has a good tone". She added "Sort out a gig bag and I'll pay when I've been to the loo". Fil set it all up so she could try it out. When she emerged, Fil said "Here, try it out". Amy replied "I trust you, I'm using it for filming a TV show tomorrow". That was Amy. Maybe she was too trusting. What you saw in that appearance was how I remember Amy best.

The guitar was a Mexican Strat. It did the job. I'm sure that when we watched that Jools Holland appearance, none of us really expected any of the things that happened as the story unfolded.  We knew she was a great singer, to be honest, we'd heard her sing better in the studio (she loved studio 9). I recall one moment, she was doing an important showcase, I can't recall if it was for a label, a management deal or whatever, but when she mentioned it, I suggested that we give her a free upgrade to Studio 7, our biggest and best room. We often do this for struggling artists on limited budgets, if the room isn't booked and they have important guests. This is as much so that the VIPs see the best of us as they see the best of the artist. Amy replied "Thanks, but Studio 9 works for us, I don't want to risk loosing the vibe". The show went well and she told me later "I really appreciated that offer, but music is all about vibe and we know that we always get it in studio 9". 

Several years later, at the height of her problems, I was in a pub in Camden with a couple of non music industry mates. Amy and her entourage were at another table, clearly not in the best shape. I didn't want to intrude on their space. As I went up to the bar, she approached me and said "Hi, how's it going in Mill Hill". I said things were great. She then said "Sorry we've not been down for a while, but Studio 9 is a bit too small for the setup I'm playing with at the moment". We had a little chat about this and that. The mates I was with said "Do you know Amy?" I replied "yeah, she's been a customer of the studio for years". One said "I've heard she's a bit of a nightmare". I replied "She isn't with us. She just came up and asked me to say hi to all the guys at the studio". 

As to the issues of addiction. It is clear that Amy had major problems with substances. I never really saw this side of her. Part of this was because we saw most of her before it became an issue. When I saw her in Camden, she was a bit worse for wear but was charm personified. I know a few people with serious abuse issues. From what I've seen, for them, their addiction was their promary reason for existing. Everything else, music, relationships, work, everything was simply a conduit to feed their addiction. I felt with Amy, this was never the case. I honestly don't believe she was aware of how badly alcohol was damaging her. I don't think you can really blame anyone, even Amy. I have long believed that we should educate children about addiction. We hear that alcohol can kill you, but we see friends getting bladdered night after night and they don't die. Maybe what we need to do is to learn the warning signs that it is starting to kill you. My view is that Amy had sorted out the Class A problem and was unaware that the booze was as dangerous. She wasn't someone planning to die, so I have to assume she didn't understand the damage it was causing. 

I said there were two reasons I felt that now is the time to write this. The first was the Reclaiming Amy film. The second was a conversation I had in The Bridge Tavern with our chief engineer Fil Ross last night. Fil had spent two days at the Finchley Community Carnival, doing the sound for a whole host of local artists. This was the first PA system we've done for a festival for nearly two years. After we put the gear back in our store, we retired to The Bridge Tavern for a debrief. Fil knew Amy best of anyone at the studios. He commented that all of the aspiring young female artists are really heavily influenced by Amy. We laughed as we recalled seeing her at The Torrington, long before she made it, never thinking that in 20 years time a whole bevvy of young artists would be onstage in a car park down the road from the site of the long gone and much missed venue, trying to be the next Amy. 

There are many singers who can put a really good Amy style performance on. What I think many miss though is that Amy wasn't just a singer who played to backing tracks. She cut her teeth with a band. She wrote songs. She played guitar. She knew the music of the greats. If she heard a track she liked, she wanted to understand why it sounded so good. She wanted to know how a singer got a certain sound. She wanted to understand why some songs worked so well for some singers. She wanted to know how she could fill her songs with her personality. When she covered a song, such as Valerie by The Zutons, she wanted to own it, to make it better. That is why she won five grammys. I'd love to see a documentary that told that story, if I could, I'd make one. I'd speak to musicians she worked with, the producers, the engineers. It would probably screen at 3am on Sky Arts, if anyone ever saw it. But for me as a musician, it would tell the story I really wanted to know about Amy. Not the drugs, the tantrums and the boozing. It would tell the story of why she was such a genius and how she became one.

The rest is pretty unimportant to me. She is and will always be the most important UK artist of the first decade of the century. Remember her for that as that is what matters. 

We will never forget Amy. We remember her on the wall of her favourite studio - Studio 9 pic.twitter.com/wNQdc2IyHi

— #MillHillMusicComplex (@MillHillMusicCo) July 18, 2021

The Saturday List #273 - My top ten females with local connections

I've been meaning to do this list for a very long time. Our area has an extraordinary history in many areas, but often the contribution  of our female residents is much overlooked. It is about time that someone put that right. With Amy's anniversary it seems only fitting.

1. Amy Winehouse

A local girl, I sold her the guitar she played on her first TV appearance on the Jools Holland show, in our shop in Mill Hill. As we remember her anniversary, I am always tinged with sadness. RIP


2. Margaret Thatcher

Lady Thatcher was the MP for Finchley for many years. She knew my mum and although she didn't like her politics, she admired her work rate and intelligence. Mum took this picture at Finchley Carnvival in 1972.




3. Dame Vera Lynn

Dame Vera famously also lived in Finchley. It would be nice to properly commemorate the first lady of the forces locally.

4. Dorothy Squires

Dorothy was married to Roger Moore and used to live up the road from me in Millway, Mill Hill, until Roger Moore got fed up with fans spying on them when he became famous through The Saint.

5. The Beverley Sisters

Britains biggest selling female trio, all Barnet girls.


6. Kate Nash

Like Amy Winehouse, Kate won a Brit award and also bought a guitar from me at Mill Hill Music Complex, where she rehearsed and wrote most of her early albums (Her Dad is a good mate of mine). The family are from Harrow.

7.  Fenella Fielding

My brother Frank used to tell me that Fenella Fielding, of the Parish of Edgware, was the most sexy woman alive. If you watch this scene from Carry  on Screaming, I'm sure you'll agree.


8. Margaret Lockwood

Film Star Margaret Lockwood lived in Mill Hill. Perhaps most well known for the Hitchcock classic "The Lady Vanishes".

9. Lynsey De Paul

Lynsey was a Cricklewood girl. A mega star in the 1970's, source of many a teenage crush! Sadly missed


10. Enid Blyton

Did you know Enid Blyton ashes are in Golders Green cemetery. The list of the people she resides there with is fascinating, well worth a view. 

Have a great weekend!

The Saturday List #14 - Famous people associated with the London Borough of Barnet

As we commence work on the sequel to A Tale of Two Barnets, here's a list of a few famous people with links to The London Borough of Barnet. It is not exhaustive, feel free to add anyone you think warrants a mention.

1. Charles Dickens - the workhouse in Oliver Twist was based on Barnet workhouse
2. Simon Le Bon - Used to live in Hendon
3. Lee Thompson - the flying sax player from the band Madness, lives in Barnet
4. Patrick McGoohan - lived in Mill Hill in his 1960's hayday
5. Amy Winehouse - Local girl, regularly rehearsed at Mill Hill Music Complex
6. Paul Gascoigne - used to train at Chase Lodge training fields with Spurs
7. James O'Shea - Paralympic Swimmer is a member of Barnet Copthall Swimming club
8. David Bedford - member of Shaftesbury Harriers atheletic club
9. Ken Loach - Award winning film director appeared in A Tale of Two Barnets
10. William Wilberforce - Built St Pauls church on the Ridgeway

This list is not exhaustive. There are many other famous people but my criteria for choosing this list is that at least once, everyone on this list has made me extremely happy through their exceptional talents and brought a ray of sunshine into my life.

Amy Winehouse RIP

Just back from a week in france (more of that tomorrow), been totally out of the blogosphere, with no Internet at all for 7 DAYS. All the blogs you've read in the last week were forward posted in the weeks before I left, just to keep you entertained (some more than others it seems!). They contained a few themes, I'd been working on etc.

Anyway, I've had no internet, TV or Radio at all for 7 days, so I was shocked to see the headline on the front of the free paper I was given that Amy Winehouse has passed away. I know for you, this is old news, but it is a terrible shock for me. Amy was a customer of my studio and rehearsed with us until she became a megastar and could afford plusher £1000 a day gaffes. I sold her the blue stratocaster guitar she played on Top of  The Pops the first time she appeared.

I've watched her spiral downhill with despair. I've heard all the horrible comments and yet she was always lovely with us. She was truly special. I hope she's at peace now and she'll be leading the chorus of angels.

I still recall the first time I heard her sing. I was walking past studio 8 and heard this awesome voice. When she came out for a drink I was amazed to see this tiny girl. Where did she keep those lungs? I'd hoped and prayed that she'd sort her self out. Sadly it wasn't to be. To the press it's a story. To me it's a tragedy.

Amy, God rest your soul

Put me in the Spotlight !

If any of you have no plans for next Friday (June 11th) night and want to have a truly amazing night, why not head down to the Purple Turtle in Camden Town. My band, the False Dots are supporting the notorious Bollock Brothers featuring Jock Mc Donald. We'll be on stage at around 8pm.

For those of you unfamiliar with the work of Jock and his band of Brothers, they hit notoriety by releasing a version of "God Save The Queen" sung by Michael Fagin, who famously hopped over the wall of Buckingham Palace and nipped in to HM the Queens bedroom for a sherry and a chat.

We have a truly fantastic singer, Koni A, singing with us and I promise that if you don't see Koni soon with us, then you'll be seeing her at some rather larger and more expensive venues. We've just been putting the finishing touches to her first single and video and it is truly awesome. The pictures on this blog are some stills from it. It will be a fantastic night of music.

Having run a music studio for 31 years and had such great talents as Amy Winehouse  and Kate Nash pass through the doors before they were signed, I think I can say that I can spot a great talent and Koni is right up there. She is an awesome singer and when we saw the first rushes of the video, we realised she's great on the screen as well.

A few interesting customers of Mill Hill Music Complex

Guess what. I've just started a new blog. I'm sure that many people in Barnet will be think "Hasn't he got anything better to do with his time?". Well this new blog is all about what I do with my time, when I'm not banging on here. I've launched a blog for my business - Mill Hill Music Complex. We get so many interesting characters passing through that I thought it would be a great forum for keeping track of what is happening.

Anyway, here's the latest entry -

http://millhillmusiccomplex.blogspot.com/2010/05/few-interesting-customers-of-mill-hill.html

Hope you enjoy it.

A few questions I'll be asking Mike Freer on Tuesday

I'm having breakfast with Leader of Barnet Council, Mike Freer on Tuesday. He's invited me over to North London Business Park to discuss the way Barnet can help local business. I bet you're thinking "lucky old Rog T, hobbing with the knobs" and that if you write a marvellous enough blog you get special access to the Leader of Barnet Council. Well, you'd be wrong. Mike sent an invite to all of the businesses in Barnet inviting them to the same event. I suppose you'll all be yelling hypocrite at me, having criticised the "FREE DINNER CULTURE" of certain high profile Barnet Councillors, but I actually believe this type of event can be quite useful.

I speak to lots of people who run small businesses. As you may or may not know, I run one myself. I employ nine people and run a music recording, rehearsal, equipment hire and sales business. I'm very successful. Brit award winners, Amy Winehouse and Kate Nash started their careers at our studios and Kate is still a regular. We have about 1,000 musicians a week passing through. We are a supplier of services to Barnet Council, Barnet Homes and Harrow Council, although 99% of our business is private individuals.

Whilst there are many issues I'd like to raise with Mike regarding social provision in Barnet, this business breakfast isn't the forum. We are there to discuss business. I've been a good boy and I've been canvassing other small businessmen I know to find out what bugs them and what the council could do to make their companies run more smoothly. Here is a list of the things we've come up with.

1) Rates appeals. If a company's business rates are too high, there is a system of appeal, administered by Barnet Council. The process can take up to three years to resolve. The Council collects rates at the high rate until the appeal is resolved. I personally got a cheque for thousands of pounds back after my last appeal. Many firms go bust for want of this money in their cashflow. I will be asking Mike to overhaul this and set a maximum time to hear appeals of 6 months. This measure will save hundreds of jobs in Barnet.

2) Business waste collection. All businesses pay rates, which covers refuse collection. A business such as mine, produces very little and what it does produce is actually items the council can recover and sell profitably (aluminium drinks tins). Other firms have a totally different waste profile (and presumably get a better deal for their money as they produce more rubbish). Mike complained at the last Cabinet meeting about the cost of waste collection. Here's my suggestions.

a) Improve recycling operations for business waste
b) Remove waste from the business rate and charge per kilo
c) Encourage private schemes to collect waste from business, especially those which recycle valuable items

3) Future Shape. As you probably realise, I'm fundamentally opposed to the scheme for a number of reasons. As a local small businessman, the thing which greatly alarms me is that the scheme has no provision for small business and preference for local suppliers. You may say "It's a scheme to save money, why should it?". Well for a number of reasons.

a) Jobs moved out from Barnet cost the local economy money. Many of these jobs are for low paid workers and they'll move out of jobs onto the dole queue and benefits. This will cost the council money in the long run.

b) The council recieves much of it's income from local firms in the form of business rates. Why should this money be used to subsidise multi nationals at the expense of local firms.

c) Local firms have a stake in the community and as such have a vested interest in good service in a way multi nationals never will.

So what should Barnet do. Firstly they should have an online business register of every firm in the borough and what they do. Companies trading in these business areas should automatically be notified of any tenders for services which they could provide.

4. Tendering for business. The council's process is not transparent. All tenders should be published and advertised. All relevant information regarding the selection of suppliers should also be published as should the costs. Barnet Council claim that this information is commercially sensitive. This is nonsense. Firms should be able to see why they lost the bid. Council Taxpayers should be able to see why decisions were made. If firms don't want the public to know how much they charge, then they don't have to tender. I guarantee that this would deliver the single biggest saving of any measure they could possibly conceive.

The council, in my experience, never engage with local firms who could provide services (unless they are friendly with the owners, maybe?). Let me give you an example. Barnet Council have spent a fortune on renovating Canada Villa and turning it into "Rythmik Sound Studio". This provides rehearsal and recording facilities to young people aged 13-19. One of the reasons the council spent hundreds of theousands of pounds and sought lottery money, was "lack of provision locally".

This rather surprised me as my business "Mill Hill Music Complex" is less than 1 mile down the road. We have 10 fully equipped studios and have been established for 30 years. For a fraction of the cost of starting an operation from scratch, we could have provided a far superior service to the council. Did the council ask my advice as a local business who have done this for 30 years? No. You may ask when I found out about the Rythmik project? In February, when we participated in the Barnet Beat Weekend.

In principle I have no objection whatsoever to anything which improves the facilities for young people in Barnet. I don't particularly see Rythmik as competition, but for what they spent setting it up, they could have provided 10 times the amount of services at our studios. They could have also spent the money on other projects across the Borough where there really is a "lack of provision". As Rythmik are less than a mile down the road, you'd think they'd be talking to us about joint ventures. Are they? No. One of our associate companies put in a bid to Barnet to provide some courses at our studios. What happened? They were told "If you want to do that, you have to do it at Rythmik as we need to make it work". They are now in discussion with other funding providers. They have decided that Barnet are too difficult an organisation to deal with. The program will be a groundbreaking project and will deliver massive benefit to young people. The sad thing is that Barnet Council will be completely excluded, as they tried to force the development of the project down a path which was completely unsuitable.

Let me contrast the attitude of Barnet with that of Harrow Council. We've worked with Harrow for several years on the "Gig in the Park" concert. This gives young people a day out and has been developed in association with the Metropolitan Police. It has a strong anti knife crime message. As a result of our links, we were approached by the Council to assist with the setting up of a project rather similar to Rythmik. I arranged for several site visits to the project and for one of my staff to oversee the procurement of the equpment. As a result of this partnership, we were able to advise on equipment costs and have a far more professionally put together operation. They got a far better studio than they would have otherwise had. Many items which they'd hoped to procure in stage 2 were bought for stage one. They also had two qualified engineers on site to oversee the installation. This wasn't in the original budget.

I've no idea who has advised Barnet on Rythmik, but don't you think it's rather odd that they :-

a) Never sought the advice of a local business less than a mile down the road
b) Never offered a local business less than a mile down the road the opportunity to tender for any of the equipment or maintenance
c) Have never sought to engage in any joint ventures for our shared client base
d) Didn't invite us to the relaunch

Don't get me wrong, I hope Rythmik is a roaring success. After all, their client base will be our client base in a couple of years and the more people who play, the better. We fully participated in the Barnet Beat Weekend, organised by Barnet Council, with all of the other Barnet musical suppliers. I thought it was a great idea. I was just really disappointed that there was no follow up from Barnet with us, as it was clear that we staged a highly successfull day. We had a quick meeting after, I sent a couple of emails suggesting ideas and then nothing. I was especially disappointed that Rythmik never even bothered to get in touch regarding the recent Mill Hill Music Festival. We staged several events over the road at the Church. I suggested to Barnet in February that they stage something at Rythmik to coincide, for young music makers in Mill Hill. They never got back to me.

I've read the Future Shape document several times from cover to cover. It is quite clear to me from their flagship music project, that it is pie in the sky. Future Shape is all about big bucks for big business. If they treat every small business in Barnet like they treat Mill Hill Music Complex, it's no surprise that the Council Tax is so high.

Anyway, if you run a small business and want me to make any suggestions to Mike, please leave a comment.

Barnet's got talent !!!!! The Barnet Beat weekend

As some of my readers may know, I run a music rehearsal and recording studio in Mill Hill. Barnet Youth services organised the "Barnet Beat Weekend" this weekend. We were pleased to take part and we staged an open day, with various activities taking places for free at the studios. Amongst the main activities, we had Sound Skool doing a DJ skills workshop, Rock United doing one of their Rock School's and Drumsense showing off their program.

For the Sound Skool sessions, teenagers came down and were able to try Beat matching, Scratching and drop mixing. For Rock United, musicians came down, were schooled in the art of playing in a band and finished off recording a song. Drumsense explained the various programs they have on offer. We had over 50 teenagers turn up for the various activities during the day. They all seemed to enjoy the activities and it was great to see so many young people engaged in positive activities.

The program was organised by Barnet Youth Services, although we put our own program together. Lloyd Gee who organises Barnet Youth Services came down to check out the activities at the studio and told me what was going on elsewhere in the Borough.

I would say that generally Education and Youth services are one area Barnet does pretty well. The Beat Weekend had all sorts of activities at a whole host of venues. I don't know what arrangements other providers had with Barnet, but we funded all of our activities ourselves, so we weren't "being subsides" at all. I would like to see a far greater emphasis on sports and arts for young people. One of the reasons I run my business is specifically to encourage young people to participate in useful activities. I was explaining to Lloyd that many of the facilities we provide for young people we run at a loss (these being partially subsidised by other activities at the studio). In the long run I believe that these pay off as once young people become engaged with music, they stay with it and as they can afford to use other services.

I'm in a lucky position that it's my own business and I can make the rules. Nothing is more rewarding than seeing how young people can develop and flourish, when given the opportunity. Two of our customers have developed their careers at our studio and gone on to huge international acclaim. Both Kate Nash and Amy Winehouse used our facilities before they had deals. One of the best feelings was seeing Amy Winehouse on Top of the Pops for the first time, playing a guitar she'd bought from our shop the week before. Kate still uses our facilities and I think she enjoys the down to earth atmosphere we provide.

We've got a couple of other up and coming artists at the moment who I fully expect to be talked about in the same breath as Amy and Kate in a few years time. Maybe a few of the people who took part in the Barnet Beat weekend will get a taste for music or find a previously hidden talent. I sincerely hope so.

The Mill Hill Music Complex Top 10 customers

Today feels like an old fashioned Christmas holiday. The Kids are all off school, we're going tobogoning soon up at Flower Lane park. I love the snow and I love spending time playing with the kids in the snow. Even our Boxer dog is enjoying it !!!

As such, with the extra little bit of time on my hands, I thought I'd compile a little list of my top ten Mill Hill Music Complex studio customers. We have between 500 and 1,000 musicians a week through the door, so here's a pick of some of the most famous and a few notes about them. To qualify for this list you have to have had a chart hit, they are listed in a sort of Chronological order of when their association with us began.

1. The Polecats
2. The Foundations
3. Morrissey
4. The Damned
5. Amy WineHouse
6. Madness
7. Kate Nash
8. Eddie Floyd
9. David Soul
10. The Black Kids

1. The Polecats
Our very first paying customers back in 1979. Boz and Phil were at Orange Hill School with me and they needed a place to rehearse. Still good mates with them all.


2. The Foundations
Alan Warner is an old friend. We recorded our first few demo's in his studio (as did the Polecats!). A great guy and a great band.


3. Morrissey
As Boz Boorer is Moz musical director, much pre production of various albums has been done with us. A true genius.


4. The Damned
As I'm a punk rocker and the Damned released the very first Punk single "New Rose", it was a real buzz to hear this blasting out of room 7. Nice guys


5. Amy WineHouse
Amy rehearsed with us for the year or so before she went big time. She's lovely. When she received her first big cheque from the record company, she marched into the shop and said "wrap that blue guitar up for me" When we asked if she wanted to try it, she said "No I trust you" - three weeks later she was playing it on Top of the Pops.


6. Madness
Lee Thompson is a long standing customer and a great guy. He did a charity gig for me last year, where we raised £3,000 for the MacMillan Trust and Teenage Cancer Trust. Threw his heart and soul into it and sorted out the venue.


7. Kate Nash
Kate is very special. Her dad Steve is a good mate of mine and we sold Kate her first Electric guitar, when she had a broken leg. She still comes down. She's down to earth, looks after her friends and loves her family. She was in the reception chatting to me about her dad's bad leg before Xmas. When she went back to the rehearsal another customer remarked "She looks just like Kate Nash". No airs and graces at all !!!


8. Eddie Floyd
Flew in from the States, had a three hour jam with his band and then immediately set off on a 21 date UK tour. It was great to hear "Knock on Wood" blasting out. Nice guy.


9. David Soul
David came down to a rehearsal with his girlfriends band, who he was doing some singing with. Posed for pictures with all sorts of people. A real gent. Of all our customers, he's the one who EVERYONE instantly recognises.


10. The Black Kids
Flew in from the states and rehearsed with us for two weeks before their first UK tour. A nice bunch. It was great seeing them on the Jonathan Ross Show the day after their slot finished.


Not a bad little list. A good smattering of world wide hits, Brit awards etc. Some days I enjoy going to work !!!!!