The Saturday list #483 - My top ten tips for running a successful band!

 Having played with The False Dots for 46 years as band leader, having played at most of the best clubs and pubs in London as well as playing in Europe, I have a little bit of experience of running a band. I've also run Mill Hill Music Complex music studios since the band started and I've seen all manner of bands come and go. I've watched some artists start and rise to the top, whilst others, who may well have been more talented, have never really taken off. When we started, our mates, The Polecats, who I was at school with got a deal and were on Top of The Pops, inspiring us all to believe that we could 'make it'.

So what do you need to do to have a successful band? Well here are my top ten tips for aspiring band leaders.

1. Decide what you want your band to achieve and set clear goals and put a plan together to get there. I have mentored many artists over the years. The first question I always ask is "where do you want your career to take you?". Probably 75% say the same thing. "We want to get a deal and have hit records". It may surprise you if I say that this is one of the easiest things in the world to do. All you have to do is have at least one song that is a surefire hit (great beat, catchy hooks, etc), which has a vibe which is in tune with current music tastes, an image that is compelling and something unique that sets you apart from the crowd. If you have all of these, then the goal is achievable, but you have to play the game. It always amazes me how many artists who aspire to great things, don't have the basic building blocks to achieve it. So be honest, look at what you actually have and work out how yiu can build on this.

2. Choose the right people for your band. The reason why 99% of bands fail to get off the ground is because the members do not share a common purpose or commitment. If you want to "make it" ou have to pretty much accept that it will take 2-3 years to get established and for that period, the band has to be 100% your full focus in life. Relationships, careers, holidays,etc  cannot be part of the plan. You have to spend your time writing, rehearsing, gigging, recording and networking and you all have to be committed to it. If the band are going our for a drink, go to places where other musicians hang out. Time spent in your local is time wasted and you really don't have time. Bear in mind, if the band takes off, you will be stuck with these people for the next couple of years. If they get on your nerves, it won't end well. Choose the right people.

3. Keep writing new material and study how to structure and compose music so that you get the best out of your ideas. Ultimately, success in music is all about having great music. No band has ever made it without having great tunes. Having quirky ideas is as compelling as having brilliant melodies, if you look at British music, some artists have great natural musical talent and tunefulness, such as The Beatles, Amy Winehouse, etc. Other such as Ian Dury, The Clash and the Rolling Stones,have a spikier talent and quirkyness that grabbed attention. Play to your strengths. The one thing all have is brilliant material and a compelling delivery.

4. Build a good team around your band. Once you start seriously gigging, you will need help. Getting gear to gigs, promoting the band, producing your tracks to bring the best out of them and emotional support, when things don't go well are really important. I mentioned the Polecats at the start. Tim, the singer, had a Dad Barry, who was a plumber and had a van. He would drive the band around the country and became their manager. Such people are the lifeblood of aspiring bands. My band had a mate called Emil, who'd lend us his VW camper van and another mate called Dermot, who drove it and didn't drink! Such people are diamonds.

5. Don't be disheartened when things go wrong. The reason that the False Dots are still going after 46 years (and I think making better music than ever), is that when things go wrong, we pick ourselves up off the floor and step back in the ring. Several times, absolutely key members would leave, just as we thought we'd crack it. You can't get disheartened. If you believe in what you are doing, just treat it as experience. 

6. If things aren't working, be honest with yourself as to why. The biggest mistake bands make is to delude themselves as to why they are unsuccessful and the plan isn't working. Bands are the best at blami ng everything else for their problems. The labels, gig promoters, etc. I've heard the same old stories time and time again. Then I hear the music the band are playing and it is obvious. Generally it is because the songs bands make are simply too self indulgent. One of the biggest mistakes bands make is to try and look cool, writing highly pretentious nonsense, rather than songs that connect with people. They all slap each other on the back, celebrating their own brilliance, then the songs simply don't find an audience. One artists said to me, back in the 1990's that they couldn't understand the success of The Smiths, with their miserable lyrics. The answer is simple, many people connected with the emotions Morrissey shared. When I analysed the artists lyrics, effectively the songs were all "Look at me, I am cool, I am wonderful, aren't I great". The tunes were decent jangly pop, but it was was impossible to connect with. The artist absolutely refused to recognise that his was the problem. Needless to say, they never acheived success.

7. Understand the dynamics of gigging. Gigging is the most important stepping stone to success. But there are rules. If you don't play enough gigs, you will never get anywhere. If you play too many, at the same place, you will saturate and lose your audience. I'd recommend not playing the same venue more than 4-5 times a year. When you do a gig, always have another one to announce in the locality if possible, but make it 6-8 weeks apart. When you are building a following, there are two things to do. The first is to play free to enter gigs at venues that people actually go to. The second is to get good support slots at recognised venues. The second is better, but the first is more attainable. Different rules apply if you are a covers band, playing for cash. What you want then is a regular circuit of paying gigs. I've never really done that, so I can't offer too much advice, beyond see what pubs are doing live music and hassle them for gigs. I'd recommend checking out the bands playing there, and seeing what goes well. 

8. Have a social media strategy. You won't get anywhere without social media. They say that people need seven social media engagements for things to sink in. Posts have to be engaging and eye catching. Building a following on social media platforms takes time and there is no easy fix. But there are a few good cheats. Follow similar acts, like their posts and comment. This will, eventually, draw attention to your band. 

9. Make your media clips interesting and ensure there is an attractive narrative. One of the biggest mistakes bands make is to put boring, bland videos of the band up, that have dodgy sound quality, with a bland message, such as "Us playing a cover at the Dog and Duck last night". Half the time, it puts more people off the band than it gets to come. It is always worth investing in some coloured lights, so your videos look better and make sure the sound quality is good. Try and make the text sound exciting, so "Last night, everyone went crazy when we played Freebird at The Dog and Duck" is more likely to get a view.

10. Have a strong 'brand identity' for your band. Think of all the good things about your band, all of the USP's, what you sing about, what style of music you play, what you look like and your name. Make sure that when people engage, you've done everything you can to ensure they remember you. Try and make sure that when you take to the stage, you look different to all of the other bands. 

As someone who has been running a band for 46 years, I look back on our career. There have been many phases. I thougght I'd finish this blog just listing how we progressed

1978-79 - We spent this period tring to put a band together and write songs. Our aim until Fen 1979, was simply to have a band we could rehearse with. Once we acheived that, the aim was to get a set together. It all imploded in Spetember 79, but we restarted in December.

1980-82 - This was all about getting the band gigging. We recorded demo's, toured Scandinavia and built up from playing local pubs, to better venues in London. 

1983-84 - This was all about trying to get a record deal. We got close, but the industry didn't want a band fronted by a black female singer. We didn't fit. It all imploded in September. Here's a video of what the labels didn't like!

1985 - This was about rebuilding and getting back gigging. We ended the year playing in Belgium.

1986-87 - The less said about this period the better. We had a singer who wanted to make us a covers band earning money. It was a miserable period./

1988-90 - This was mostly about just playing gigs for the fun of it. We'd lost our spark, but we did a few decent gigs.

1990-2001 - I was doing other things, paying the mortgage and having kids. 

2001-2009 - We rediscovered our love of gigging. That was always what it was about. We did a  couple a locally.

2009-2011 - Much to my amazement, we enlisted a brilliant singer Connie AB, wrote a new set and started playing Camden Town again. As with 1984, we were scuppered by industry racism. Here' a video of Connie singing with us.

2012 -2019 - Allen Ashley, who sang with the band in 1985,  rejoined and we returned to playing local gigs and festivals for the fun of it. We also recorded an albums worth of songs, but the pandemic meant we didn't get around to releasing it.

2021-Present. Allen left and I started singing. The band returned to what I wanted when I first set it, playing Ska/Pop/Punk tracks with a Madness/Ian Dury tone. We started playing back in Camden etc and I rediscovered my love of making music and showing off in front of an audience. What is our aim? To have as much fun as possible and see where the road leads us. Here is an example of our work!

For me, the band was always about gigging and playing our own stuff, to as many people as we can. I feel blessed to have had so much fun and work with such wonderful people over the years! 

Is it still the Sex Pistols without Johnny Rotten?

The Polecats at The Pistols lapping it up!

On my Facebook page, there are various Facebook debates raging about whether the recent Sex Pistols shows with Frank Carter on vocals are 'really the Sex Pistols'? I didn't go to the shows. I really couldn't make up my mind whether I fancied it or not. I've seen several shows in recent years where iconic bands have played without their main man. The ones that spring to mind were The Undertones, The Members and The Stranglers. In both cases, I was massively underwhelmed and wished I hadn't bothered. Seeing The Stranglers without Hugh Cornwell was particularly odd. When I saw the Stranglers back in the 1970's and 80's, Hugh had an electric persona, a mix of menace, jokey banter and a strange sort of vulnerability, that seemed to lure you in, so he could murder you. The new bloke, at one point, put his arm up and shouted "Awright London". It was very un Hugh and just seemed wrong. Musically both bands were great. I saw The Stranglers with a few mates who liked the music, but hadn't seen them before. They loved it. All the boxes had been ticked, they'd heard all the great tunes, they'd danced a bit. They'd had fun. Me? I was just miserable, finding fault in every little thing that I felt was wrong and Hugh wouldn't approve of. I was probably even more critical than Hugh would be, had be been standing next to me. The only bit I enjoyed was when JJ sang a few numbers. For a few minutes, I had The Stranglers back. 

But that is just me. As I said, my mates loved it. One of them said it was one of the very best gigs they've ever been to. As a musician, I get why the rest of the band didn't simply retire when Hugh left. Why should they? They put a lot of work into the whole thing. I see no reason why they shouldn't carry on and earn a few quid from their music, even if it's not my cup of tea. As a rule, I don't really like the whole 'tribute' scene. When bands dress up and pretend to be other people is really not my thing at all. We recently went to see a Bowie tribute at The Horn in St Albans. The band were great and I loved hearing all of the numbers. David has gone and it keeps the flame alive, but I hated the dressing up, pretending to be Bowie. If they'd just worn tidy suits in the style of Bowie in the mid 1980's and left it there, I'd have much preferred it. It just reminded me that they were not Bowie. But hey, ho that is me. I was probably in a minority of one and the rest of the audience lapped it up. 

But here we are with the Sex Pistols. The nearest thing I can think to what they are doing is Queen with Paul Rodgers. I am not a Queen fan, I don't like their operatic, theatrical style at all. I have a real aversion to Brian May's style of guitar playing. It sounds very heartless and soulless to me, but people seem to like it. As Freddie died, they could either hang up their boots or do something a bit different. They got Rodgers, an icon in his own right. If the three members of Queen still enjoyed playing together, then there is no reason they shouldn't. Any audience would want to hear the Freddie stuff. As such getting Paul Rodgers was, to me, a masterstroke. He wasn't pretending to be Freddie, he didn't sing the songs the same, but he could sing them pretty damn well. It wasn't a pantomime, it was an evolution of a functional band.

Which brings us to Jones, Cook and Matlock. They had the band before Rotten came along. They seem to enjoy playing together, Jones and Cook grew up together. They were never just Johnny's side men. There is no underestimating Johnny's input, but he doesn't want to play with them. Frank Carter is a recognised singer in his own right. He is not John Lydon, he doesn't pretend to be. Johnny is suitably miffed, I get it, but I think he's wrong. It keeps interest in the music and the legacy alive and I suspect he'll sell more tickets for PIL and his speaking tour than he would otherwise. Rock and Roll is a music of hype. Johnny knows this and he knows that slagging off his old bandmates efforts is good for ticket sales. It is pretty clear there is no love lost, but it is totally in Johnny's financial interests to milk the feud. 

So is it still The Sex Pistols without Johnny? This is a really good question. To me, they will be The Sex Pistols when they record some new music. I happen to think that Matlock, Jones and Cook are great musicians. I vaguely know Paul Cook, as he's mates with one of my best mates, Boz Boorer and I've had a beer with him a few times. He is one of the nicest people you'll meet. His daughter Holly rehearses at our studios. I see no reason why Paul shouldn't pay the bills with music that he made a huge contribution to. One of the biggest myths is that the Sex Pistols couldn't play. Paul Cook worked as session musician with all manner of people, including Edwyn Collins and Johnny Thunders. Glen Matlock has played with a whole host of iconic bands and artists, including The Faces, Blondie and Iggy Pop and was recognised as a talented musician even in the early days of The Sex Pistols. Steve Jones worked with such legends as Johnny Depp and Lisa Marie Presley. The point is that all three are great musicians, have co-written some of the greatest tunes in the pantheon of rock and roll and want to play together. Fans want to hear those songs. Johnny doesn't want to play so good luck to them with Frank Carter. Having made the decision not to go, when I saw all my mates clips from the 100 club, I felt a pang of regret. It looked like a great night. As tickets were like gold dust, I sort of felt it was wrong to deny someone else, who would've just gone along and enjoyed it a ticket, when I am sure I'd have grumbled. 

When the Pistols split, Malcolm Maclaren put out The Great Rock and Roll Swindle, a mish mash of recordings, milking every last penny out of the brand. Some tracks even had Great Train Robber Ronnie Biggs on. all highly dodgy, but I have to say, I've always loved "No one is innocent" with Biggs singing, and have a soft spot for "frigging in the rigging" with Jones on vocals. To me, both are an important part of the Pistols legacy, which means that it isn't entirely necessary for Johnny to be there.

Having said all of that, if they can ever reconcile their differences and bury the hatchet (and not in each others heads), I'd be delighted and have no qualms about seeing them. Many people are highly critical of John Lydon and his apparent lurch to the right. I don't agree with much of what he's said recently, but I do take the view that he's entitled to his opinions. Lydon, PIL, Sex Pistols with Frank Carter, as far as I'm concerned, if you wanna pay your money and see them, great. Never mind the Bollocks was one of the best albums ever made and all those guys deserve their pension. When I first saw the Pistols on the Bill Grundy show, I never guessed that we'd still be talking about them 48 years later. Then again, I never thought I'd be in a band, still playing rock and roll 48 years later. 

I will part with my one Sex Pistols story. When we first started the False Dots in 1979, I wrote Not all She Seems with Pete Conway. We always used to invite mates down to watch. Pete especially liked inviting attractive girls (he was less shy than me back in the day). We met a couple of attractive punk girls and asked them to a rehearsal. Paul Marvin (Hank's son) was drumming. Our best song was "Not all she seems" and we excitedly played it. One of the girls turned around and said "That's a rip of from Submission by The Pistols" (It had the same chord progression on the verse). Pete, who was always far more on the ball than me and a very accomplished liar, shot back "They ripped it off from us. We wrote it in 1975 and my uncle was John Lydon's mate from the building site and he played him a cassette and he stole the idea". This was absolute nonsense, but within a month, we were getting asked by all sorts of people if it was true. We made a pact to swear that it was. Even 20 years later, I still got asked occasionally. When Paul Hircombe joined the band, we went for a rehearsal at Hank Marvin's studio. Hank came in and jammed with us. He suggested a simple, jangly riff to play over the Submission chords. This was in 1980. We modified the story, so that we co-wrote the song with Hank Marvin, before the Pistols ripped it off. The first time Boz Boorer introduced me to Paul Cook (who he knew from playing with Edwyn Collins) I was half expecting Paul to pull me up on Pete's porky! Fortunately, the rumour never got back to him. 

Anyway, what better reason to play it and you can hear it at our next gig at The Builders Arms in Barnet on 12th April!

Why I believe that God loves Punk Rock?

 As I understand it, the Universe came into existence about 13.8 billion years ago. There are two main theories how this happened. Th first is that there was a 'Big Bang'. The second is that someone called God was rather bored and lonely and said 'let there be light' and then sat around waiting for something interesting to happen. I can remember when I was little. My Dad showed me to make nitroglycerene, in a rather wise bit of parenting. He told me that it was a useful life skill. We then made and detonated a small bomb. It was a massive buzz, so I can completely get why God would enjoy making a 'big bang'. If I was in Gods shoes and nothing was happening, I'd make a Big Bang myself.

God then sat around for 9.3 billion years watching all of the galaxies, stars, planets and moons forming. I guess that if you've been surrounded by nothing for an infinite period, that''s not verylong really, is it? Around that time, a little planet, about 93 million miles from a fairly non descript star formed. I personally have no idea if that planet is unique or if the Universe is full of such planets. I've always been interested in that question, but sadly God hasn't chosen to share the info with me or anyone else, to the best of my knowledge. Maybe one day we'll find loads of other similar planet, with all the same problems we have, or maybe, like God before the "Big Bang", we are utterly alone. But anyway, that little planet was in what is called the Goldilocks zone. This does not mean that three bears eat your porridge on the planet. It means that it's orbit is not to near to boil off the oceans and not too far to freeze them. It had an ample supply of water, it had a reasonably large moon, that exerted a strong enough tidal force to move oceans and make an intermediate zone between land and sea. This was quite useful when life evolved (or was made by God). It meant that creatures in the sea, where it started, moved on to land. The first life forms are believed to have existed 3.5 million years ago, about a billion years after the Earth came into existence. We don't know anything about the first life forms, as they were simple creatures that left no fossils. We can guess that they flourished, as there were no stronger organisms murdering them. That came later. 

Two main sorts of life forms evolved. Plants that made oxygen from CO2 in sunshine and animals that ate the plants. Sometime later, animals started eating each other as well. Now if, like me, you believe in God, this is where God started having fun. If you were God and you had a planet full of boring plants like ferns and grasses and boring animals like worms and slugs, what would you do? I know what I'd do. I'd have some fun. I'd make some cool monsters like dinosaurs, some amazing looking plants with brilliant flowers. Dinosaurs appeared around 240 million years ago and the first flowering plants appeared about 140 million years ago. After about 75 million years, God got bored with dinosaurs and sent an asteroid to destroy them, according to various theories. I have my own theory. God made some cute, furry animals called mammals, that were small and the dinosaurs couldn't catch. These little bastards ate all the dinosaurs food and they died out. Those little furry cuties, evolved into, rats, mice, horses, wolves, lions and eventually humans. 

Now imagine you're God and you've been sitting around forever and all of a sudden there's all of these humans running around. They form tribes, bash each other up and breed like, well humans. It's all very well but it isn't exactly exciting is it? So what do you do? Well you encourage them to bash things with sticks rythmically. You then encourage them to make alcohol and dance to the sound of the things being bashed. It's only taken the whole of eternity, plus about 13.8 billion years, but hey ho, you've invented fun. After sitting around being bored for ever, all of a sudden there is something worthwhile happening in the Universe. 

So if you are God, what do you think to yourself. I am just speculating, but I think God would look at his work and think "yeh, this pretty cool". The first evidence of people playing music was about 40,000 years ago. Drums and flutes appear to be the first musical instruments. The first stringed instruments appeared around 13,000 years ago. More advanced stringed instruments started to appear around 4,000 years ago. The first musical groups appeared to form around 2nd century BCE, in Mesopotamia and Iran. So imnagine you are God for a second. It's taken all this time, you've seen countless life forms come and go and up until now, all they've done is eat, reproduce and kill each other. Now they are having some fun, doing something creative. You've been waiting an eternity for this, so what would you do? It's obvious really, send one of the kids down to see what it's all about. 

Now the trouble with this is that us lot really weren't ready for a fella to turn up and tell us that it would all be better if we were nice to each other. He gave us a few hints, turned water into wine when the plonk ran out at a wedding. If you believe the book, he made 40 gallons of the best stuff. Sadly we all know what heppened next. I guess we can count ourselves lucky that we didn't go the way of the dinosaurs there and then. This is always something that has puzzled me. I'm a Dad and if anyone hurts my kids, I am not going to be reasonable. There must be some reason that he put up with our savage behaviour. Now it is clear it is not because we are good or nice. What can it be?

Well there is a small clue in the Holy book, where Jesus tells the religious types that the tax collectors and prostitutes will enter heaven before them. There are many interpretations on this, mine is that having fun is OK, in fact it is highly desirable. Sure we've all got to be nice to each other as well. But we should not be scared to have fun. So having established that nothing much happend for a very long time, lets skip the bit of the story up to 1976. A brief summary. Drum kits, Marshall amps, Les Paul and Fender guitars have all been invented. All manner of musical genres have come into existence, classical, folk, jazz, soul, ska, reggae and glam, to name a few. This was all great. Music had become the soundtrack to our lives. Whereas the dinosaurs simply had the wind and the sea to listen to, we had a plethora of amazing music. There was only one small element missing. Musicians seemed a breed apart. The band was the band, the audience was the audience. And then the second big bang happened. Punk Rock burst onto the scene. A chap called Mark P produced a magazine called Sniffin Glue. On the front cover, he put three chords and an invocation to go out and form a band. Now we all had permission to be a part of it. 

And I believe that God saw this and thought it was good. Sure we are as imperfect as we've ever been. Sure we do bad things, we screw up, we hurt each other. But we also make beautiful things, we make beautiful sounds. I've lead a charmed life. Like the Earth in the Goldilocks zone, I was born in the Goldilocks zone of music. I was born in 1962. I was just the right age to be immersed in punk music. God has given me many gifts, but being born in 1962 and having the life I've had is the best. I was pondering on this. An odd thought occurred to me. If the universe was created in a random big bang, it could end in one, at any time. We could all disappear in the way we all appeared. Gone, not a trace. Or this could all go on for a hundred trillion years. Whatever happens though, we are in a special time. We have music all around us. We can listen to almost every piece of music ever made at the touch of a button. I just wanted to thank God for the fact that 13.8 billion years of evolution has put me here, now and able to appreciate it. If you don't believe and buy into the random chance theory, that's fine with me. This isn't a sermon, it is just me trying to explain why, despite rotten politicians, greedy oligarchs, bad priests, malicious forces that we can't control and fools on the internet, there is beauty in the world and we should cherish it. There has been death and destruction for a very long time, art, music and beauty is a relatively new thing in the big scheme of things. Isn't that a cause for hope. I believe there is a God and that God loves punk rock, because it is something that allows us to be creative and express ourselves. And I have to conclude that being creative and expressing ourselves is perhaps, our saving grace. And is we want to be creative and express ourselves, it makes us nicer, which is, as best as I can tell, the message of all the holy books. And I hope if got this all wrong, God doesn't hold it against me. I am doing my best.

Anyway, here's a little tune I made earlier, which sort of sums it up

And as it's St Patricks day, here are some of the finest tunes from the Irish diaspora to celebrate!

You can't sort your work life balance out until you get your head in the right place

 Seven years ago I made a massive personal decision. I was fifty five years old at the time. I deciced to stop working as a freelance IT consultant and concentrate my time on my musical interests. Although the studio has been running for 45 years, for the first fifteen it was a musicians collective and didn't make a profit. In 1994, I bought out my former partners, restructured, got a new business partner, who managed day to day stuff, whilst I carried on with a well paid IT career and made strategic decisions with my managers. The plan was to build the business into a lucractive venture that was at the heart of London's community of professional musicians. We set a date of 2004. Sadly, when my partner contracted pancreatic cancer in 2000 and passed away six months later, it deraled my plans. By 2017, I thought I was ready to finally bite the bullet. 

When I first stepped back from the world of IT, I carried on spending as if I still had a well paid IT contract. I managed my time badly, so I got nothing done, despite having more time on my hands. I'd go through manic spells of working on pointless, unproductive projects, which didn't get finished. I'd neglect the things that needed to be done. I felt I had to fill my time. 

Seven year on from leaving the world of corporate IT,  I have realised that I've only now properly adapted. I am almost spending the time on my music that I intended to do in 2017. I am spending the appropriate amount of time on the business. We've sorted our spending out (which sadly has meant no expensive holidays recently). I was speaking to a friend who recently retired from a high pressure job. He said that it wasn't his intention to retire, he couldn't get his head around the idea of having nothing to do, but his job finished and he had nothing lined up. His partner suggested he took the summer off. She also booked a long holiday. When he got back, his head was in a different place. He now has a raft of new hobbies, such as fishing for whiting from Clacton pier. He says that he no longer has any desire to work and is feeling happier and more chilled. I realised that to sort out your work life balance, you need to get your head in the right place. 

However the biggest change is that my head is in the right place. I am doing the right things at the right time and before I launch headlong into random schemes, I take a raincheck and think about them properly. As a result, the last eighteen months has seen a positive transformation of the studio. Rather spending months putting together grandiose plans, we've sorted out the basics of the studio that had been neglected, to make it work properly now, not at some distant date in the future. We've redeveloped the website, and we've paid attention to detail. I am spending less time on the business, but spending it more productively. 

Since I finished my IT career, I am watching far more football, as I have time on my hands. I'm drinking much less most of the time, as I'm not constantly getting waylaid on the way home by friends I met on the train. I have a better balance on this blog! I am writing about things I enjoy far more regularly. I am still keeping an eye on Barnet Council for the blog, but I am trying to focus on the big issues, which need sorting. 

In hindsight, I am not surprised that I had a brush with cancer. I was living an unhealthy and a stressed lifestyle for the best part of 37 years. I dealt with the stresses of it by drinking a bit too much, not all the time, but often I'd get home and all I wanted to do was have my dinner and a stiff drink. I don't feel like that at all. It would have been impossible to change my lifestyle, without changing my circumstances, but I couldn't change my circumstances as my lifestyle wouldn't permit me. 

I have come to realise that winding down from a high pressure situation is not like turning off a tap. You actually need to plan it properly, something I did not do. If you have a significantly smaller pot of money, you need to manage your spending accordingly. If you are used to having no time and suddenly you have all the time in the world, it is easy to fill it with unhealthy or anti social pastimes.

What really made the difference for me has been finally getting my band to be the vehicle I always dreamed it would be. Somewhere that I can create music I love and that gives me the odd night out a month that I thoroughly enjoy. I've written songs of a quality that I formerly could only dream of. I play them to industry friends who tell me "If you were writing this sort of stuff in 1979, when you were not fat and old, you'd have smashed it". Sadly they are not interested in old geezers playing Ska and Punk, but we've built up a small following of people who get it and that is just fine by me! This year we've played the most gigs we've played in any year in the history of the band. Unlike 1983, we are not waiting for the big break, just having a great time and enjoying the moment. Its called having your head in the right place. 

Scan QR code for tickets

Why not come along and see what I'm talking about. The band are launching our first ever album on Sunday 17th November at The Dublin Castle in Camden Town from 2pm in the afternoon. There are a couple of amazing bands supporting us, including The Nice Men, who include ex Then Jericho long term bassman Jasper Stainthorpe in the band. Jasper was in the Nice Men back in 1981, before he joined Then Jericho, whilst The Nice Men were putting out records on Demon Records. You can hear them on the Demon records singles playlist from 1980-3

We all have different passions, mine are music and football. I can honestly say that having time to indulge both is the best thing in the world. 

If Punk Rock is dead, how come we are all still making a racket?

 I got a phone call from my old mate Noel Martin from the skinhead/punk band Menace yesterday, inviting me to see the band at the 100 club on Friday. I was gutted as I can't go, we are in France for a wedding. If, like me, your idea of a great night out is to watch a band playing loud music that you can jump around wildly to, then you'd like Menace. I've spent my life appreciating such music. When I was about seventeen, an old hippy informed me that "when your taste's mature, you will appreciate having a big spliff and listening to proper music like Dark Side of the Moon (by Pink Floyd). Sadly for me, whilst some of my mates decided that this was a spiffing way to spend the evening, I could only really bear it if I'd drunk ten pints of beer first, so I could fall asleep. I concluded that any music that required a mind altering substance to make you appreciate it was not really my cup of tea. Generally, we'd listen to Dub Reggae, which was a decent compromise. Reggae has never been down beat, kill yourself music, so it was fine with me. Later, my Dad informed me that I should try getting some good, smoochy music, so that I could have something that any young lady who may be unlucky enough to find herself in a compromising situation with me, may at least have something pleasant to ease the awful situation (more or less his words). That was his way of saying "Beat on the Brat with a Baseball Bat by the Ramones will not set the scene for a nice romantic evening. Luckily, I like a bit of Stax and Motown, so that has seemed to surffice, although a few of my girlfriends actually liked a bit of New Rose. 

But here I am aged 62 and when it comes down to it, I'd still always listen to Ska or Punk Rock. I don't really know any hippies anymore, who smoke massive spliffs and insist on complete silence for Floyd. I've been married for 29 years so we rarely have smoochy situations (more's the pity). But we do go to a hell of a lot of gigs and most are either, Ska, Punk or Reggae. It is funny because I hear may snotty commentators who say "Punk was finished by 1977". That was when I got into it. Of course all of the first wave of Punk Bands had either split or changed their sound by 1978, but the whole time was still absolutely buzzing and for me was turbocharged when Two Tone came along. The Specials were probably the only band that I felt were up their with the Ramones as a live act. 

By the time I got it together enough to have a band and start doing gigs, the music industry had moved on from Punk and new wave. We launched on the world doing punk/new wave songs, just as the music industry lost interest. We were full of anger, energy and passion, as the new romantics took over. We'd play gigs to packed audience, who went mad and loved us, despite our lack of technique, but we were totally ignored. We took our demo's to labels such as Chiswick records. For a laugh, I replaced all the guitars on one of our demo's on a song called Fog. I replaced them with synths. Ted Carroll who ran Chiswick loved it and asked us to come back with a demo of electronic music. I was quite annoyed. His feedback was quite reasonable. He said, in effect that punk was dead and if we wanted a deal, we'd have to write a hit and if we wanted a hit, we'd have to write pop music. 

We eventually decided that we'd see if we could get a deal. None of us wanted a job. We got a female singer, and wrote some more pop material. It was a huge mistake, the audiences declined and we didn't get a deal. Certain members of the band blamed me and split off. I regrouped, got in an amazing singer called Venessa Sagoe and decided to have another go. I chucked out all of the crappy pop songs and wrote a set of fairly dark songs, which we then put pop sounding backing to. Songs such as Africa Morning, which was about exploitative sexual tourism became the new set. Venessa found a half finished punk song called Action Shock in my lyrics tin. It is the story a mate told me about shooting an Argentinian conscript on the Falkland Islands during the war. It has been a key part of our set ever since. Vanessa made it sound like a lush pop song. The feedback from the labels was horrific. They said Venessa was too black and too fat to be a pop star and the music was too dark to be a hit. Despite this, the gigs were great and the audiences loved it. I realised that the industry was full of idiots. I also realised that if I couldn't get signed in a band with Venessa, I'd never get signed. I was a fool. I should have set up my own label and sent the records to John Peel. 

Venessa got fed up, and the glory years of the early band faded. I pretty much lost interest in the music scene. If I saw a band I liked playing, I'd go. I've always gone to lots of gigs, but the late eighties were grim. The bands I loved were falling to bits. Teh Ramones were disintegrating, Johnny Thunders was slowly shuffling to oblivion, Two Tone had given up the ghost. There were some great bands and gigs, but they were on the fringes. 

The band downed tools for the duration of the 1990's.  We got back together in the early 2000's for a fundraiser for Ernie Ferebee's family. We played a gig at The Red Lion in Colindale. It was packed and people loved it, much to my surprise. It was all punky stuff. I'd lonmg given up on getting a deal, but it seemed there was an underground punk scene. The music hadn't gone away. In 2008, The False Dots did a charity gig at The Bull Theatre. The main band was a scratch band put together by Lee Thompson of Madness. Lee is a mate and he kindly helped us get it all together. The band played an amazing selection of Ska tracks, Ian Dury covers and 1970's rock (Chris Spedding joined on guitar and they did Motorbiking). With his Madness connections, the gig sold out. It reminded me of my love of Two Tone and Ska. It sowed the seeds of what is now the False Dots set. 

In 2021, when Allen Ashley departed the band, we put together a set that reflected our true roots, punk, ska,  2-tone and Ian Dury inspired songs. Not only was it fun, but audiences love it. We've secured a residency at The Dublin Castle, Camdens most iconic small venue.

On November 17th, we launch the album we've been working on for the last 45 years at The Dublin Castle. It took me a long time to stop listening to the naysayers and have the courage of my convictions to make the sort of music I love. Bands like Menace, 999 and Wire keep the punk/new wave flag flying. Great new bands like Voodoo Radio will carry it forward. 

The industry hates us all, but we don't care! If Punk Rock is dead, how come we are all still making a racket?

Music may just save your life!

 On Friday night, we did a small scale showcase gig to say thank you to our friends for their support. One of the friends we invited was Connie Abbe, who sang with The False Dots 2011/2012. The last gig Connie performed with us was for The Mill Hill Music Festival in 2011, at The Mill Hill Sports Club. 

Fortunately footage of this was preseved for posterity. Shortly after the gig, Connie got offered a gig as backing singer for Sudanese Rapper Emmanual Jal on his world tour, and sadly for us departed. 

We haven't played with Connie since, as she's been very busy, but when she showed up for the gig, we soon decided that it would be lovely to do a number together. Our friends were given a treat

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Music is the one thing in life with no downside. As a musician, playing with talented people such as Connie, and the other members of the False Dots, Fil Ross on bass, Graham Ramsey on drums and Tom Hammond on Trumpet is the most joyful thing in my life outside of my family. When we play as a band, I enter a rather strange mental state, where I am focussed on nothing but making sounds that will make the world a little bit better, for a short period. When people come and see the band, I hope that they leave with their head in a better place than when they came down. 

Our ethos as a band is to try and make everyone feel as if they are part of the event. We like to send people home happy. Of course not everyone will like or get our particular brand of music, just as I don't love every artist, but we have always had a bit of a following for our live shows and we always seem to get a great reaction. For many years, I didn't realise how important this was. Recently I was having a chat with a mate who said "Why do you keep on doing gigs, you are never going to be famous, you are far too old?". I was quite taken aback. I glibly replied "Same reason as I still make love to my missus, even though I can't have kids, because it's fun". I didn't give it a second thought at the time as it seemed to answer his question. 

When I got home, I thought about it. The last year of the band has been the busiest for gigs since the early 1980's when the band was touring. It is no real coincidence that this has coincided with me having a cancer crisis last year. The band has been busy since lockdown ended. Part of the reason for this was that during lockdown, the son of our drummer took his own life. We saw it as essential to do two things. One was get him out and playing to try and take his mind off the horrible tragedy that had befallen his family. The second was to try and write overtly fun songs, that would make him smile at rehearsals. There has always been an element of humour in the songs of The False Dots, but we went into overdrive. The songs are not comedy songs, but they will make you smile if you get the references or recognise the scenarios we sing about. When lockdown lifted and we started playing to audiences again, we found that the new material was incredibly popular. As I struggled with my health issues, having a band to focus on, gigs to do, songs to write, etc, managed to keep me focussed and positive.

Our first gig following my surgery on the 9th August was on the 15th September at The Dublin Castle. I asked my surgeon if it was OK to do it. He said "Yes, if you are mad". I took that as a yes. In truth I probably wasn't physically ready, but the mental lift, feeling I was still human, vastly outweighed the soreness and tiredness of playing a gig when not physically fit for it. 

I've often wondered what I would do if I hadn't started playing in a band. I cannot envisage a different life to the one I've got. I suspect there would have been a lot more drinking, a lot more drugs and a lot more self destructive risk taking. I suspect I'd have passed away long ago, of boredom, if nothing else. You may say "But what about your wife and family?". I met my wife at a False Dots gig in 1985. I owe the band a lot. We all have our different beliefs. I am not a theologian, but I believe that God (or call it the Universe if that works better for you) put us all here for a purpose. I believe that my purpose was to play music in a band called The False Dots. Whilst the band itself has never set the charts alight, if I look at all the great things that have flowed from it, I can see no other logical conclusion. It spawned Mill Hill Music Complex studios, which have helped launch some of the UK's best artists. It gave me a family. It has created a community that is amazing. I've lost count of the number of brilliant bands that have formed under our roof. 

My son said to me after the gig on Friday that he was so pleased to have seen Connie play with us, as people had always talked about how great she was, but he'd never seen her with us. It occurred to me that in 40 years time, my kids will look at the clips they took, when we are all gone and be reminded of happy times, just as I look back on videos from the 1980's with my sadly departed parents. You don't have to play music to appreciate it. Think of the dances you've had, the parties you've attended, the songs you've sang at Football, the tunes and hymns played at funerals for loved ones. Music is the soundtrack to all our lives and it is there when the credits roll.

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If you enjoy reading the Barnet Eye, please have a listen to my band, The False Dots on Spotify and give us a like.

You can come down and see what it's all about at The Horn in St Albans next Thursday

Thursday  30th May, The Horn, St Albans CLICK FOR DETAILS AND TICKETS enter FD24 for a discount!

We All Love a Party!

How proud am I? Today is the big day! My band The False Dots have released our first single of 2024 and it's called We All Love A Party. For me, the song is more than just a nice tune. Over the last few years, it seems to me that everyone has become more angry, less tolerant and dare I say it, less fun. When we were plunged into lockdown, I had hoped that a period of introspection would make us all more chilled and happier. It seems the opposite has happened. Many of us seem to be so uptight. Everyone seems to take offence at everything. We are suspicious of strangers, we are intolerant of people begging, if we see or hear our neighbours enjoying themselves, we get irritated. In short, we need to chill out. 

In July of last year, I was rehearsing with the band and we were discussing my forthcoming birthday. We got onto the subject of parties, not raves, but the parties we'd have at our homes in the 1960's and 1970's when all the rellies, friends and neighbours would come around. It would all start terribly politely, everyone in the best clothes (a concept that now seems prehistoric). The food would include such delights as cheese and pineapple hedgehogs and mushroom vol-au-vonts. Everyone would be smoking and full ashtrays would get knocked over. Older rellies may smoke pipes and more well to do, would have a cigar.

The music would be vinyl, and it was a constant battle for the turntable between the youngsters, who might want to play Marvin Gaye and the oldsters who wanted Englebert Humperdink and Paddy McGinty's goat.

The drinks would be things like snowballs (Advocaat and lemonade - many people's first cocktail!), Babycham, Woodpecker cider and Watneys Party 7 beer. As the evening went on and people drank, the behaviour would get worse. Beer would get spilled, people would get tipsy and embarrass themselves. As the night wore on, you might get a conga up and down the road or a scuffle. In the morning, the house would look like a tip. 

We were full of reminiscences of this and I decided to write a song to celebrate this culture. The result is We All Love a Party. About six weeks ago, we filmed the single. We wanted to show a real celebration, so we simply invited a bunch of our friends down, had a party and filmed it. The band played for a while and then we played the finest Ska music. Max Sarychkin, who is a talented filmmaker, filmed and edited it all up. Today is the culmination of that. Here it is, we think its is rather good. We all need to have a bit of a party and chill out. 

You can also listen to the single on Spotify, iTUNES, etc. Please download it and add it to your playlists - CLICK HERE FOR ALL SPOTIFY LINKS, ITUNES DOWNLOADS ETC

When we started recording the track, last August, we made a short video showing the process. To me, it is fascinating seeing how it has progressed.

And finally, why not come down and see the band next Friday, 26th April at The Dublin Castle. If you want a great music scene in London, go to gigs and support bands like us! - Click Here for Tickets

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Today is the last day that.......

 Today is a sort of special day in pretty unspecial sort of way. It is the day that I close the book on something that for the past four months has been a major focus of my life! But I have learned that when you turn the page, you have to close it, learn the lessons and move on. A new chapter starts tomorrow. I hope that it is a better chapter and the lessons learned have paid off. One of the things I've come to realise, through the therapeutic value of writing this blog for sixteen years is that once you've written a blog and published it, it is done (unless as happens occasionally some kind soul points out a factual mistake that needs correcting). Once it's published, it's done. Sure sometimes, months or years down the line, I'll revisit and rejig a blog, but this is only when there is a sound reason and things have changed. One good example of this was a guest blog by Audrey Shaw in 2010, which I updated with pictures and a narrative, after she passed away in Covid. It was in effect a new blog and a very suitable memorial to a loved member of our community.  But it is only ever really when there is such a sad occasion or if a campaign reaches a conclusion and a blog needs an update that I do it. It has got to the stage that I almost instantly forget what I wrote and the research I did after I publish it. If I do a Saturday List, I now have to check it's not been done before.

But blogging is only one aspect of my life. For me, the major part is music. I play in a band called The False Dots and run a music studio called Mill Hill Music Complex. Whereas I've only written the blog for sixteen years, these have been a big part of my life for 45 years. A friend suggested that I contact the Guinness Book of Records as the person who knows most musicians on the planet. We have 250 bookings a week, with around 1,000 people passing through the doors. Most come regularly and we get to know them. Some have been coming for decades. I try and talk to as many as possible, as sharing info is the best way to get on. Music is, in some ways, the opposite of blogging. When you write a song that is good, the last thing is you'd do is forget about it! Most of the top stars you see have 5-15 great songs that punters expect to hear every time they play. Steve Miller once described The Joker, his big hit, as his Albatross, quickly adding that he'd never dream of leaving it out. 

But, there is another side to this. When you release a new album, single or song on digital platforms, it becomes the focus of your efforts. If people are going to listen to your music, you want them to listen to this first and you hope it goes viral. On December 15th, The False Dots released a single digitally called Sci Fi Girls. This was our first full digital release and we were most excited. We also released a video and we thought it was all pretty good. It was well received and got some nice things said by the critics. For us, it was an experiment as well. We wanted to learn what works well marketing a digital track and what doesn't. The track was produced by guru producer Boz Boorer and was part of a session we did at his studio in Monchique, Portugal. I thought it was the strongest song we had recorded. It's a bit of an outlier in our set, Something written recently but very much in our 1979 style. Our new songs have a real Ska/reggae/punk feel to them, we've even recruited a very talented trumpet player, Tom Hammond, to give them an authentic feel, but Sci Fi Girls was a mash up of T-Rex, Psychobilly, Sweet, Glam and Punk. It has been a highlight of our set for the last year. I think it has one of the best intro's of any song and when friends heard it, the unanamous verdict was "That's Mad!", most of which was down to Boz Boorer's amazing production and Theramin playing.

But tomorrow is a new day. We have a new single out, one very much in line with our new style of music and one which showcase's our Tom's amazing trumpet playing. Anyone who has seen us, knows that it is already a firm favourite. So today is the last day that we will plugging Sci Fi Girls. What, are we replacing it with? Well check back here tomorrow. And if you want to catch the False Dots live, make sure you get yourself a ticket to see us on Friday 26th April at the Dublin Castle. Tickets are selling fast, so make sure you don't miss out CLICK HERE FOR TICKETS

And for the final time, here were are plugging Sci Fi Girls. Please have a look at the video and a listen on Spotify, or download on iTunes! 

The Sunday Reflection #9 - Yesterday was a near perfect day!

 I awoke this morning with the song Perfect Day by Lou Reed running around my mind. After lockdown, when we realised that Allen Ashley was not able to sing with The False Dots for the foreseeable future, the band entered a state of suspended animation. Then in January 2021, as the country was in the second lockdown, tragedy struck. Our drummer, Rambo's son took his own life. Even worse, Rambo was isolating, having tested positive for covid, and so was totally unable to get any real support from friends. As soon as was possible, I gathered the band to get a rehearsal together, ostensibly to 'try out some new material, whilst Allen was unavailable', but in truth to get Rambo out of the house and give him something to think about other than the tragedy that had befallen his family. It worked as well as anything reasonably could in the circumstances. After a couple of hours playing, he said "That's the first time anything has taken my mind off what happened" or words to that effect and he seemed to have a bit of a spark that had been missing when he came down. I realised that we had to rehearse as often as possible and we had to try and play music that would raise his mood. That first rehearsal, we played a real mish mash of old False Dots songs, cover versions and jammed a few ideas. The only song that my limited vocal powers seemed to work with was a Ska song I'd co written with Allen Ashely called "Long Shot didn't die". This seemed to show the way forward. 

Last night, at The Bull Theatre, we supported The Silencerz. If you don't know, they are Lee Kix Thompson of Madness's other band. His son Daley is the vocalist. They are probably the best band you will see in the London Borough of Barnet. I love them and I'd have gone even if we hadn't been playing as support. It is always challenging being a support band, as most of the people are not there to see you and aren't interested. We are not a band that likes to be ignored and we pull out every stop to give the audience a show. Last night was a testimony to how far we've come on the journey since that first rehearsal after lockdown. We've put together a complete new set of material. Only Longshot and Acton Shock remain from when Allen was in the band. After we played, the complements came rolling in. After a quick beer in the bar, to chill out, we went back up and watched the Silencerz, who were amazing.  Playing with the band and watching a band I love are two of the things I enjoy most in the world, so it was a wonderful way to spend the evening. 

Even better than that, my other great passion is football. I support three teams. My lifelong love, who I've supported all of my life are Manchester City. As I was playing a gig at 8pm, I couldn't get up to see them thrash Luton 5-1, but I did watch the highlights on Match of The Day when I got home. The second team I support are Hadley FC, who play at Brickfiend Lane, by The Gate Pub. I joined about 150 other fans and saw them beat Biggleswade 2-1 in a tense and thrilling game, lit up by two excellent Hadley goals. Hadley's striker, Isaac Stones has been on fire since Xmas. Father Christmas did the business bringing him some scoring boots!  Normally, I have a couple of beers at Hadley and get the bus, but I was driving so it was zero alcohol Guinness. It is odd as my brain knows I'm drinking Guinness so I almost feel as if I'm tipsy. It is all rather strange. To top it all, the Sun was actually shining!

And my other club? Well ever since 1984, when a Welsh lad joined the company I was working for and mentioned that he was going to watch Wrexham play Barnet, followed by a pub crawl and a curry, I've been a part time Wrexham fan. Ever since Hollywood took an interest, everyone thinks I'm a glory hunter, but for years, I've been making trips to grounds like Barnet, Leyton Orient, Potters Bar, Wealdstone, etc to watch them. Since Hollywood got involved, it's become impossible to get tickets, but I retain a soft spot for them. To my delight, for all my North Welsh mates, they won back to back promotions yesterday. 

I even picked the winner in the Grand National. I wasn't going to put a bet on, but my nephew Max is coming for lunch and when I saw that "I am Maximus" was the favourite at 7-1, I decided to put a quid on it for fun! As the race was starting in a couple of minutes, I couldn't actually get logged on in time, but I had the pleasure in knowing I picked the winner!

After the gig, we went to Ye Old Mitre in Barnet for a couple of beers. It is a great pub and featured in my list of favourite pubs in London a couple of weeks ago. Before they moved to The Hive, Barnet FC were on my list of fave clubs, and we'd adjourn to the Mitre afterwards for a pint and then cross the road for a curry.  I now only go there when there's a gig at The Bull Theatre, but I do love it.  I was sitting in the pub with some friends, my wife and Tom and Rambo from the band. The band was formed in 1979 and Rambo initially joined in 1985. We've been firm friends ever since. Tom is our trumpet player and joined in 2023 and is a massive edition to the band. As we chatted, he was amused by the fact that Rambo joined the year he was born. It is strange to think that I wrote Not all she seems and Action shock before he existed. Tom not only plays trumpet pretty well and adds some percussion, he is very in tune with how I visualise the band's image and look. He dressed the stage last night with Hadley FC scarves and flags as well as posters for the Bring Barnet Back campaign, for the Barnet FC fans wishing to see the club back where they belong. Tom also suggested that we got some inflatable footballs, to release on the crowd when we played Saturday, our football anthem. It worked a treat! It is almost surreal how someone can turn up and fit in so well. It feels to me like there was a piece of the jigsaw missing and now it is perfectly in place. 

As I sat there, my mind went back to that first post covid rehearsal. We were all as rusty as hell and without Allen it seemed like we had no band identity. One of the covers we tried to bash out was Lou Reed's Perfect Day.In truth, we probably butchered it. The song is a beautiful piece of music, but I almost immediately realised that it was not suited to the band or my voice. As we chatted about the band with Tom, I thought back to that. One of the mistakes I used to make as a musician with the band was that I persisted with ideas that didn't work, didn't suit the band or were just plain idiotic. A big lesson has been that you shouldn't flog a dead horse. A song may sound great in your head, may be ideal for another band or artist, but if it doesn't wok for you, then move on. The time is spent more productively on ideas that come together and click. 

The band has really developed a lot. It appeals to my sense of humour that Perfect Day played no part in what was an almost Perfect Day for me, except that it did. One of the things that often happens to me after gigs is that when I fall asleep, I dream about the gig. So I found myself back onstage at The Bull Theatre. We had a second encore. What did we decide to do? We'd not prepared anything, so we did Perfect Day, with Tom singing. To my amazement, he had an amazingly accurate Lou Reed voice and the song sounded brilliant. Then the alarm clock went off at 8am, which is probably why I recalled the dream. I've been singing it ever since. It was pretty much as good as it gets at my age!

Anyway, on wards and upwards to the next gig. That will be on Friday 26th April at the Dublin Castle in Camden. We are supporting a brilliant Ska band, called Skaface. It will be a blast! As with The Silencerz, it''s a gig I'd go to anyway, even if we weren't playing. Quite a few members of the audience last night told us they'd be coming along, so it should be fun. Ska music is perhaps the best way to guarantee a fun evening. The Dublin Castle is probably the best pub venue in London and it always feels like an honour to play on the same stage that once was graced by the likes of Amy, Madness and Blur. The posters are still on the wall. 

And before then, on Friday we release our new single, We All Love a Party. 

Here is a trailer we made for this

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

What makes you have a hit record?

Having run a music studio and played in a band for 45 years, I've done a few gigs, seen a few artists come and go, at close quarters and seen a hell of a lot of gigs. I wish I'd kept a diary of all of them. These days, I take a snap and put it on Instagram to remind myself, but I actually remember very few details of any. The first few gigs I saw, I have pretty clear memories of, but for most, there may be a snippet. I was fully engrossed at the time, but when the gig finished, that was that really. Onto the next one. What I did remember were the bands that were good and the ones that were bad. The ones that were sort of OK ended up being forgotten. That is why I have no recollection of seeing some of the biggest bands in music. In fairness, when I saw them was before they really got their act together. I saw U2 supporting Modern Jazz at the Moonlight and Pulp at Pindar of Wakefield in Kings Cross and have no recollection at all. It takes bands a while to get top the point where you think "Wow, that is amazing". The gigs I saw were very much at a time before they became what we recognise as having their sound together.

Sometimes, I've seen bands that were brilliant that sunk without trace. Usually personal differences emerge before the bands get established. I was reminded of this by a tweet posted by the rather marvellous Gary Crowley.

Cracking story, plenty of lost gems from that era. The Mrs was away so was playing some old vinyl yesterday. Was struck by what good singles Him or me by the Banned and The Aftermath by Cowboys international were

— Roger Tichborne/Rog T (@Barneteye) March 28, 2024

I never saw the band Gary mentioned, but his post reminded me of a couple of bands that I'd been listening to earlier. As Mrs T was away, I had a little vinyly 45 frenzy. One band I mentioned in my response, was Cowboys International. I saw them at a Virgin records sponsored gig. They were pretty good and we were given a free copy of their single "The aftermath" which is a pretty good pop song. I thought they'd do well at the time. I never heard of them again, despite some heavy hype from Virgin Records for the single. 

There is an saying that success in music is 80% hard work, 10% luck and 10% talent. I am not convinced of the percentages, but the theory is sound. Sometimes, what I thought were surefire hits, got nowhere because the week they were released, something else by a bigger artist hogged the media attention. Sometimes, the timing is wrong. It is worth noting that Roxanne by The Police didn't trouble charts when it was first released in the UK. It was re-released and became a hit later. For whatever reason the timing was wrong. There are many songs that didn't get the re-release and were overlooked. One band that I'm a massive fan of, who had a string of what I thought were surefire hits in the 1970's that did nothing were Art Punks Wire, with only Outdoor Miner making the outer reaches of the charts. 

That was in the days when it was tangible to say what a hit single was. It was released on vinyl and an auditable number of copies were sold. Now? The charts are made up of all manner of stats, Vinyl/CD's/Downloads. WIth platforms like TikTok, something can have millions of plays, often with no one knowing what they are listening to. 

So what makes you have a hit single in 2024? Well a chart position is always something that is measurable. However, you'll make more money if your music is featured in a TV production than a UK chart placement. Just having people hear your music is no guarantee of success though. In 2011, a track I co wrote and performed called Spotlight was used by Manchester City FC for the backing music for their website goal of the month show. It got 11 million hits, but I am not driving a limo on the proceeds!

If you want to have a hit record, it helps to understand how the chart is compiled. This article details the process. To have a hit, you need to make your music attractive enough to buy a copy, download or watch on a video app. This can be quite daunting. Getting featured on popular radio shows or the Jools Holland show are still the best way to get a hit, although there is always the prospect of getting something to go viral on social medial. In my experience, a new band, with the best song ever written is unlikely to get a viral hit, unless they have a bit of clever attention grabbing marketing. This does not have to be expensive. If you are making a video, make it so that people circulate it and tell their friends. This will be a different process for every genre. In this era, getting noticed by social media influencers is absolutely key. 

So how do you do this? The best way is to find some sort of angle that makes it interesting and unique and impossible to ignore. What works well for a Country and Western track will be rather different to a Rap track. Often people see a great video and are inspired, but end up just doing a bad copy. My advice is to think what makes your track unique and any publicity pics, videos, clips etc you do, make sure you bring out the uniqeness of the music. A bit of originality will go a long way. Before you release it, test it on friends. If they aren't interested but tell you it's great, try something else. Try and make any video as dynamic as possible. If you can cut in things people talk about and get interested in, that works well. Quite by accident, my band had a mini hit a couple of years ago with a track called "The Burnt Oak Boogie". The plan was to film lots of scenes around Burnt Oak, then splice in the band being silly, but we ran out of time and just put the Burnt Oak scenes in. Within a couple of days of release, it had thousands of views. The reason?  The people who lived in Burnt Oak were excited to see their hometown in a video. There was a lesson there. The fact the song also mentioned places with a resonance helped. There was an old adage that if you wanted a hit, write a song with a girls name in. That way, everyone who knows a girl with that name will buy it. Van Morrison went one better and did "Brown Eyed Girl" that appealed to about 80% of the population. Artists like Morrissey go the other way. They go for a niche market appeal. If 98% of the UK population hates you, but  2% loves you, then you'll sell a million records. Morrissey connects with his audience, which when it comes down to it, is what sells records.

So the rule is to make music that connects with an audience. If people get you then you have a chance. 

Since releasing The Burnt Oak Boogie, our audiences have been great. There is a connection. What is your connection?

You can see The False Dots at the following gigs. Click the gig for tickets and details

13th April, Live at the Bull Theatre, Barnet, Supporting The Silencerz - click for tickets

Friday 26th April, LIve at The Dublin Castle, supporting Skaface, click for Tickets

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