TV Smith's The Adverts UC Theatre Berkeley CA

 

Trump's been in town, so by default I am angry.... and here's a man who would understand... TV Smith. Here's Tim back with The Damned after 48 years! 'TV Smith's The Adverts' is interesting as a billing, but I guess it's a device to get the punters in. The set here is predominantly from the 'Crossing The Red Sea With The Adverts', with just a hint of the hugely underated 'Cast Of Thousands' LP included. 

One Chord Forever... The Wonders don't need any more!

Thanks to the original Dime uploader: lachnta productions.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-wR5i10ZiA7

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-zdWyzRdsUP

TV Smith Opera House Winter Gardens Blackpool 9th August 2025

 

So here then is the first Rebellion gig to emerge from the 2025 revelries. And it's a good one, something of a Saturday evening respite from the punk thrash. Once again Tim delivered a career spanning set, from the second Adverts album through to his latest album, 'Handwriting'. There is even an Adverts track in there, 'Fate of Criminals', that he has not revived to date. I have not fact checked this, but then again he should know!

Thought provoking protest songs of the highest order! Cheers to Peter for this one.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-4rK92UfBNx

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-L2tUB7znsm

TV Smith Soda Bar San Diego 15th October 2023

 

Here's TV Smith on his first tour of US back in October 2023 playing a brilliant set of Adverts' material. The Adverts' flame only burned for a short time but it burned intensely, two albums of brilliantly crafted songs that captured at least as well as the Pistols (as far as I am concerned) the relentless shittyness of adolescence in mid 1970's Britain. For my part I didn't share that frustration, on account of being seven in 1976!

Well, in 2025 Tim returns, once again reuniting The Adverts and The Damned in a manner of speaking. The first of three unholy partnerships, the two bands will forever be associated with the chaotic youthful exuberance of 1977 (The Ruts and the Anti-Nowhere League later stepped into The Adverts shoes in their close associations with The Damned). He takes his Adverts repertoire back out on the road with The Damned across both North and South America.

I would live to see the pairing in the UK sometime later in the year... let's see.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-a5vpGnFwQX

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-Cg9lJRLbXT

Thanks to the original uploader.

TV Smith & The Bored Teenagers Sojus 7 Monheim Germany 3rd February 2024

 

TV Smith loves Germany and the Germans love TV Smith... and The Adverts. 

Here is a very recent marathon two part set where The Bored Teenagers 'Replay The Adverts' before embarking on a second set with highlights of what Tim did in the last 45 years since the demise of The Adverts. 

Just to return to The Adverts for one moment. Listening to the first half of the set, it still amazes me how well material from both of the band's albums have with stood the test of time.

Thanks as ever to Peter for the share!

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-avMauxjFVk

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-QVLCJnAJqn

TV Smith And Paranoid Visions Replay Cheap Pavilion 4th August 2023

 

Of the four opportunities to see ex-Adverts frontman, TV Smith, over the weekend, this was my must see set. In fact it was probably my number one must see set of the entire weekend! I have written about Cheap on these pages in the past. Like the Explorers, they were a short lived band that existed between The Adverts and Tim's long solo career. Once again, like the Explorers, only one album surfaced, postumously in the case of Cheap. With the exception of 'Third Term' (which surely to God cannot happen next year!), the songs in Cheap's set are so painfully relevant today that it is hard to imagine that nearly three and a half decades have raced by since TV penned them! In those intervening years the world has got warmer, wetter and madder. Oligarchs still live out their life of 'Luxury In Exile' and when some people need the income from more than one job to subsist, for sure someone stole their leisure time!

TV Smith and Paranoid Visions

Cheap's songs saw the emergence of themes that continue to this day in Tim's solo material songwriting, 'them and us', 'the have's and have nots', 'the 99%'. Society is unfair and TV Smith holds a mirror up to it and calls it out. Consider the lunacy of two of the richest men on the planet challenging each other to a cage fight whilst millions forego meals just so that their children can eat, how pathetic, no not pathetic, just obscene. As a post on social media put it recently 'Whatever happened to the kind of philanthropist that built libraries rather than space ships?'

'My String Will Snap'

However, it wasn't just about the music. It is the fact that nights were spent in the back rooms of pubs, The Anglers Retreat in West Drayton, The Bull and Gate in Kentish Town or The Square in Harlow where I hooked up with a crowd from the Uxbridge area that I am still friends with to this day.

For the occasion Tim resurrected the look of the day to a tee, top hat with scarf band, blazer and umbrella (of course!). He even sported a hand printed 'heart' Cheap t shirt and there can't be many of those still around. The band behind the replay were Dublin's Paranoid Visions who played the songs brilliantly. The sight of TV wielding that umbrella propelled me back to the Anglers Retreat all those years ago and I was twenty again.... at least in mind if not body! I hope that he and the band enjoyed the experience as much as I did.

Sincere thanks to Peter for sharing this one!

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-kepN8vve9o

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-eXBxjW7Moq

Up Yer Tower! Rebellion 2023 - Day 2

 

The Del Strangefish Inexperience

Empress Ballroom

Day Two

Day two dawns and it is out of the blocks early for a 12.45 start, meaning time for one livener before entering the Gardens for a set by The Del Strangefish Inexperience. Del is of course Del Greening of Peter & The Test Tube Babies (in)fame. I don’t know much about the band but I am guessing that it is something of a vehicle for Del who now has entered the literary circle of punk musicians turned writers. I suppose if you are showing your face up there on the literary stage it makes good sense to have something to put up on the musical stage too. Keep the profile up whilst the Test Tubes step back for a while.

Whatever the rationale for the Del Strangefish Inexperience, it suits me fine as it offers Del a chance to play Test Tube songs that can now be legitimately be described as obscurities. Opening with ‘Intensive Care’ (‘Watch him play one note so well!’), the set also included ‘Excuses’, another early one from the  ‘Loud, Blaring, Punk Rock’ album, and ‘Boozanza’ (‘Anyone remember Trapper?’ Del asked). From memory, ‘Banned From The Pubs’, ‘Blown Out Again’, and ‘My Unlucky day’ were also in the set.

Some ours were then spent wandering and taking in the atmosphere of the weekend before there was a musical parting of the ways in that The Vapors were playing in the Opera House whilst Subhumans and Neville Staple were on in the Empress Ballroom - Melksham punk and Coventry ska of course won the Day for me.

Subhumans

Empress Ballroom

The Subhumans were brilliant as indeed they always are.

They were followed onto the stage by Neville Staple. The last few times that I have seen them I have been very impressed, but the loss of Terry and with it the final demise of The Specials still smarts. Nevertheless, Nev, Sugary and band made a very good account of themselves.

Neville Staple From The Specials

Empress Ballroom

Somewhere in between whilst giving my battered ears half an hours respite I saw a few bits from Attila The Stockbroker who was doing his thing in the Spanish Hall.

Attila The Stockbroker

Spanish Hall

What followed was my highlight of the festival, missed by most, but given the original band's history, that situation seems right and proper. In the Pavilion was TV Smith and Paranoid Visions Replaying Cheap. I'll skip over them here as an extensive post and gig will follow. Make do with a photo for now!

TV Smith puckers up at the prospect of reviving 'Cheap'!

Then last but not least for a weary punk... Steve Ignorant's Crass set.

I follow a Crass Records Facebook page and I am always amazed at the stick that Steve comes in for on the page... Crass sell out, merch slave etc etc. He has the blessing of Penny and the band to go out and play Crass material. Crass are popular around the world, but not so many every got to see them. I was 15 and down in Sussex when they split in 1984 so my first Crass experience was at the 'Gathering of the 5000' in April 1987.... a night of chaos with a handful of Crass songs thrown in.

I don't think what Steve does with the band now is Crass by numbers or Karaoke Crass as some have suggested at all. Certainly when it comes to songs like Bata Motel' and 'Poison in a Pretty Pill' Carol's vocals are faultless. There is great love and respect of the original in what they are doing with this material. Fair play to them.

Steve Ignorant Band

Club Casbah

And so to bed with Carol Hodge's dulcet tones ringing in my bleeding ears!

TV Smith Inked

 

'Life's short, don't make a mess of it

To the ends of the earth, you'll look for a sense in it

No chances, no plans

I'll smash the windows of my box, I'll be a madman

It's no time to be twenty-one

To be anyone'

TV Smith (The Adverts/TV Smith's Explorers/Cheap)

Linoprint 30cm x 21cm (A4)

Black ink on cream card.

Steve Lamacq BBC 6 Music Album of the Week - Crossing the Red Sea with The Adverts - Excerpt

 

In Steve Lamacq's 6 Music show on 3rd February, 'Crossing the Red Sea with The Adverts' was the featured album of the week. To accompany the full run through of the album (missing here as you should all own a copy - and if you don't, shame on you!) the show featured a 2015 interview with TV Smith of the band who talks of the album, the Roxy and his pre-punk days on the English Riviera.

WAV: https://we.tl/t-fb56z6Kmea

Poster ad for the band's debut album

Before I had a copy of the album, I persuaded Tim to tape the album for me - I was an impoverished student at the time! This was at a Cheap gig at the Anglers's Retreat in West Drayton.... a long time ago now. Tim reluctantly agreed to do it (possibly because I accosted him in the Gents and he was focussed on having a pee! He moaned that this meant that he would have to listen to it! This was though at a point where he was still struggling to get his band Cheap something of a name, a struggle that was to continue right through to the demise of the band a couple of years later. As such I guess association with past glories was not the way forward and rather unfair on his current band mates.

Attila The Stockbroker Introduces...... TV Smith

 

With just over 24 hours before we enter another month of lockdown, we once again despair of the fact that we are robbed of many of the things we love, time with family, the company of friends and live music and theatre.

I have been one of the lucky ones, I can do my work from home and have worked throughout since March (having said that I have two children at university and one of those is at Manchester Metropolitan University...... in the last few weeks better known than Oxford or Cambridge Universities combined but for all the wrong reasons!). It has not been plain sailing by any measure.... did I mention parents with dementia? But less of that let's talk about musicians, the people who have provided the soundtracks to our lives. And just to be clear I am here talking about the kind of bands that get posted on this site, bands or performers that have no record label support and can no longer tour as a result of COVID-19.

Tonight Attila hosted the first of a series of 'Attila The Stockbroker Introduces....' gigs featuring his old mate TV Smith of Adverts/Explorers/Cheap fame as well as many years as a solo performer.

Here's the idea in Atilla's words:

'I've organised enough gigs in real pubs for myself and other people. Now I'm starting an online venue for the duration of the pandemic to showcase and help my fellow performers deprived of their income in these difficult times. Simple idea: you join this group, I invite musicians/poets I think you'll enjoy to live stream here once a week, you cheer 'em on, and hopefully you help them by bunging a few quid their way and getting some merch.

This is in place of the live stream on my main page which is getting a very strange response from the authorities on Facebook. I have 34000 people on there with whom I share ideas and discuss things in a civil and intelligent fashion and I don't want it shut down.'

Here's the link: https://www.facebook.com/onechordwonder/videos/3746035078793653

TV Smith - Over and Out

So there you have it. In a dozen posts or so, a contemporary look at the early career of TV Smith.... and what a rocky road it proved to be! I find it very hard to accept that a band who willingly acknowledged their own musical limitations ('One Chord Wonders' anyone?) and stressed the irrelevance of musical virtuosity in numerous interviews managed to get slated on such a regular basis for not being masters of their own instruments. Between side swipes at the band's playing and '70's era comments about the sultriness/sullenness (depending upon the personal preference of the male journalist) of Gaye, the real stand out element of The Adverts canon, i.e. Tim's lyrical contribution was largely overlooked.

It is without doubt that the 18 month interval between the release of the two studio albums did the band untold harm. If anything remained of the '60's in music it was the expectation of a prolific output.... unless you went by the name of Emerson, Lake and Palmer or Yes, a work rate of one and perhaps even two albums per year was not unusual even into the mid-seventies. For a band struggling contract-wise to get backing for a second album there was no worse time than 1978/1979, arguably the greatest 24 months in British musical history. Such was the quality of material in this period that a music fan had so much to latch on to that any band lagging behind, without product out there was easily and quickly forgotten.

That 'Cast of Thousands' was so poorly received is also something of a mystery to me. By the time that it hit the high street record racks, punk of the type that  'Crossing the Red Sea' represented  had imploded and/or exploded into a myriad of styles.... post-punk, two tone, electronica, power pop, Oi!..... In their musical diversity they shared one common musical thread that ran back to 1976 and the first wave of punk rock. So why did the 'Cast of Thousands' fall foul with the critics as it did..... it had keyboards (a studio pre-requisite in 1979) as did Buzzcocks, The Stranglers (OK they always had 'em) and even The Damned! What did the hacks want... 'Crossing The Red Sea... in the opposite direction')? Interestingly, at some point in the 2000's, in Mojo magazine I think that it was, 'Cast of Thousands' featured in it's regular 'lost treasures' feature..... how tastes can change with time!

And so The Adverts went off air, only for Tim to re-emerge just six months later, like a spindly phoenix rising from the ashes, with his new outfit, The Explorers. Moving on in the direction in which The Adverts would have continued had they not split. It may well indeed be the case that in subsequent releases The Explorers failed to fulfill the promise that the debut 'Tomahawk Cruise' offered, but they were good, both on record and on stage, as the Paisley and London recordings testify.

After a brief solo stint that delivered the 'Channel 5' album, which as an aside is infinitely superior to the actual UK 'Channel 5' that routinely pumps untold dross into British homes! TV was ready for yet another crack of the whip. However, wouldn't ya just know it... history was abut to repeat itself and this time with added interest.

TV Smith's Cheap formed in the '90's side of the mid '80's. Once again they were a tight and solid band of very able musicians, driven by good tunes that carried Tim's biting lyrics admirably. So what went wrong? From my experience of seeing them at this time, be it at The Devonshire Arms in Camden or The Bull and Gate in Kentish Town, early signs were always promising with a respectable turn out early doors in the back room of the pub. The support band would go on to play and folk leapt about as they do. Support act would duly finish, pack up their gear and make an exit from the venue.....taking the majority of the audience with them! Only a handful of punters ever remained, and one of them was preoccupied with flogging fanzines! I guess if Tim had stretched the set to include a couple of Adverts' songs, things could have panned out differently... but this was the '80's/early '90's and punk nostalgia was a no no! It was not for many years that he could embrace and celebrate the past.

Cheap (with an audience of one.... me!)

Tim has subsequently had a long and successful solo career, but to my mind it is when he performs with a band, be it these days, The Valentines or The Bored Teenagers that the material really has the impact that it deserves.

Television's Over - A Last Word on the Adverts

Less than a calendar month after his band, The Adverts, threw in a sweat-stained, gob-flecked towel, the irrepressible Mr Smith was discussing the circumstances of the break-up and imminent plans for a new musical project (from TV's homepage (http://www.tvsmith.com/)

Sounds 17th November 1979.

TV closes down

CHEERFUL CHAP, TV Smith. Here we are convened together for the first time in a professional capacity, officially as some sort of obituarising process for his just disbanded Adverts and chuckles are most definitely the order of the day. Bemused Tim Smith, lapping up the ultimate irony. He hands me a type written sheet: 'Welcome girls to this Chelsea Girl store it's the kinda store that tries to give you more of the sorta clothes that make the girls go wow!"

This, it transpires, is the main source of his amusement, a booking the next day as a session singer on a jingle for the Chelsea Girl chain of boutiques. "It's amazing: you go in for a couple of hours, sing it, and you earn a couple of hundred quid It's incredible It's more than I earn in a year. "Also on the jingleurs' pay-roll (of course Tim didn't write it himself) are latter day Adverts keyboardist Tim Cross and one Stoner, former bass man with Doctors Of Madness. These two, plus a 'name' guitarist and drummer (employed elsewhere at present, so therefore subject to at least temporary secrecy) will form the basis of the next TV Smith ensemble. There will be single on RCA, Tim's last commitment to that label under his Adverts deal.

The humour temporarily abated, Tim Smith takes time out to hit back at almost everyone who reviewed the Adverts parting shot, the 'Cast Of Thousands' LP. not least our own Garry Bushell ("He must have a lot of personal problems" and "It must be that double chin" being the few printable comments).

The 'critics' over-reactions aside, though, even a lot of Adverts (or more precisely Tim Smith) supporters weren't exactly heart broken by the group 's final demise, for my part, I'm quite willing to admit to Tim's face that the group's continued existence over the last year or so seems to have been more down to his own loyalty to the people he started out with than anything else. "You bet, " comes the reply. "That's the most important part. I mean, I do it for me mainly, but . . ."

There are advantages in going out with a whimper, Tim opines, "when everyone looks upon you as being really shit. If I'm really successful in the next six months it won't mess me 'up. You form an opinion about all the people that say you're really bad. . . "

Understandable really, this appetite for revenge. But, even granted that the Ads had graduated to every hack's favourite whipping boys in their last few months of existence, he must confess that there were times when they were really bad. "Bad gigs are great!" Smith chuckles. "They're really important!"

On reflection, he adds that he may never do another 'bad gig' again Then, "It must be terrible to be perfect every time. "

A pity, say I, that the band did seem to splutter nut in the end, just a handful of little
gigs and gone. "I'd love to have gone out with a really big farewell tour, " says TV Smith. "It's a pity that RCA really buried the Adverts before they were dead."

You mean they didn't put up any money for tour support? "They never put up any money. Ever. They never liked The Adverts. The guy that signed us was fired about a month later so there was nobody there we could talk to, who knew what we were on about They just figured how could they back a band that may or may not play a good gig or make a record. But that's what it's all about. "
My opinion that the group's pairing with producer Tom Newman was to say the least dodgy is met with another grin'n'chuckle. "I think it's fantastic getting in Mike Oldfield's producer and piano player. It was hilarious. . . "

But maybe not in your best interests? "It depends what my best interests are, " says Tim. with no hint of back pedalling on what's already been said. "If I look back on the last couple of years with The Adverts now I can see it as a two or three year thing. The Adverts were continually standing on the outside and seeing what they could do. Now it's all finished I've got to look at it in a different way, which isn't right. 'Cause while it was still going on everything was perfect as far as I was concerned. It'd be so boring if you just had stages One to Ten and just worked your way through. "

TV's quick to defend his former associates, too. "People were really insulting about Gaye's playing. But on the second album and on the last tour she was playing really well. I mean, to compare it with Jack Bruce would be pointless, but she was right for The Adverts, for what we were doing. " It's unlikely that Gaye herself will be playing again immediately, says Tim. "People were incredibly offensive to her personally Some guy from the NME said she was gross, it's hardly encouraging. "

For his part, Tim Smith says he's going to be a good boy now. "A determined amateur anyway, surrounded by brilliant musicians So probably the next step will be for everyone to say what a shit I am and then I'll leave and the group'll get someone else and everyone'll go 'Cor. what a good band.'
"I just want to write the best possible songs and get them played in the best possible way, " he says seriously He already has more than an albums' worth of new material and is, as they say, itching to go. "I couldn't stop and sit around doing nothing. I don't know what'd happen; I'd go nuts. "

There will never be another Adverts; no reunions promises TV Smith "I could never do that. I'd never reform The Adverts 'cause I'm not like that. It was a first stage, once I'm finished with something, that's it. "

Expect a new TV Smith waxing come January. Obit ends.

Interview by Giovanni Dadomo.

When Gaye Got To Play With Iggy

Gate Advert makes her feelings known for Iggy (1977)

If there is one thing of which Gaye Advert cannot be accused it is of hiding her love of Iggy and the Stooges. Over two night's (30th September and 1st October 1977) MAM promoters fixed it for the young lady to appear on the same stage as her hero when the Adverts were billed as support for the 'Godfather of Punk' over two nights at the Rainbow Theatre in London. In a career that, I think it is fair to say, never hit the heights that it should of, both Gaye and TV view this occasion as one of the highlights for their band. So much so in fact that TV wrote about it years later in his 'Punk Rock Poem'.

'Punk Rock Poem' by TV Smith

It was strange being in a punk rock band

People gobbed on us, then shook us by the hand

We played every toilet in this green and slimy land

First of all for fifteen quid, then - later on - a grand!

Thirty days of madness touring with the Damned

Turning up to soundcheck to find out we'd been banned

Driving back to London in the mini-van

Didn't get to the U.S.A. as planned

And, looking back, we didn't change the music scene a lot

But we did have one hit single, and supported Iggy Pop

And sometimes people tell me that the Adverts changed their lives

And that's nice

It was great being in a punk rock band.

TV Smith Captain Sensible's Birthday Party 24th April 2014

The great and the good and some of The Damned's closest friends over the years came together in North London a few year's ago to celebrate with the captain as he became eligible for his bus pass.

TV Smith was one.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-a5JaLFSLLV

01. Only One Flavour
02. No Time To Be 21
03. Expensive Being Poor
04. Immortal Rich
05. In The Arms Of My Enemy
06. Lion And The Lamb
07. Gary Gilmore's Eyes
08. Bored Teenagers
09. One Chord Wonders

TV Smith (with Leigh Heggarty) 12 Bar Club London 7th December 2012

A coupe of merry minstrels! Here's one of the occasional musical collaborations of TV Smith and Leigh Heggarty, here captured in Soho's famed Denmark Street with a set that fully spans Tim's long career as an angry shouter!

FLAC: https://we.tl/mOM0XTHp8r

Artwork: https://we.tl/2od9ZehVHC

Leigh Heggarty (Ruts DC) Interview February 2017

Leigh Heggarty of Ruts DC at the 100 Club (Ruffy looks on)

(Photo: Andy Miller)

Some weeks ago I posted an interview that I did with Segs and Ruffy, Ruts DC's fabulous rhythm section (here), however we all know that every rhythm section needs a guitarist and theirs takes the form of Leigh Heggarty. In the interest of even handedness I asked Leigh whether he would be happy to answer a few questions on his musical past that ultimately has taken him into the studio and onto the road as a Rut since 2011. Leigh was happy to oblige and here are the results. Cheers Leigh, enjoy the tour!

Q. I arrived in Uxbridge in 1988, the country was off its collective head on acid house and locally there was not a great deal going on musically. However, it was not always so, as an Uxbridge resident of long-standing what was the local music scene like earlier on?

A. From what I can gather there has always been a fair bit of live music in the area - for example Burtons in Uxbridge was a very popular venue in the 1960s. I suppose the main focus for me was Brunel University - I can remember seeing posters for bands like John Entwistle's Ox and Thin Lizzy gigging there in the mid-'70's before I started going to see bands. Incidentally if I'd had been old enough then I would definitely gone to those two shows! Probably the best thing about it from my point of view was that they would put on a wide variety of acts - say a heavy metal gig one week and an acoustic band the next - meaning that it was possible to see many different types of music. The venue had something of a resurgence in the 1980s with the likes of The Stone Roses and Transvision Vamp appearing there, and The Price played there on quite a few occasions - it still exists but sadly it doesn't seem to put on gigs anymore, or if it does then they're not open to the general public which is a great pity.

Ad for Thin Lizzy's gig at Brunel (1976)

Q. I know that you have been excited in the past to have had the opportunity to support Wilko Johnson and indeed a Feelgood’s logo pin is often to be seen on your lapel. Who has influenced you as a fan, and perhaps more specifically as a guitarist?

A. My first musical memories are of The Beatles back in the 1960s when I was a little lad - my mum always said that I asked her why one of their guitars were pointing the other way when I was only about 3 or 4 years old. I also liked The Stones, Who, Kinks etc before T.Rex made a big impression on me as did The Faces, Slade, The Sweet and the other glam rockers. I spent most of my milk round money on their singles before discovering Dr. Feelgood when they appeared on the teatime kid's TV show 'The Geordie Scene' in early 1975. I also liked some heavier rock music which I heard from my older cousins Gary and Steve in Birkenhead who we used to go to stay with in the school holidays. I was inspired to start playing the guitar when Gary got one sometime in the mid-'70's, although I then discovered to my absolute horror that you didn't just pick it up and play it and so left it alone for quite a while. Eventually I got to grips with the basics around the time the punk bands started appearing, although I recall being more interested in sounding like Rory Gallagher at the time. I found a guitar teacher (Tony) who lived a few streets away from us who it turned out went to school with, of all people, Paul Fox. He taught classical guitar and I learned a lot about music from him, which was great as I didn't study it at school. I began playing in bands quite late (I had a go at school and just after but that was so awful that it put me off for ages!) as I started working in a factory straight after leaving school which effected me very badly - I wasn't cut out for the world of conventional work. After a few false starts I got a band called The Others together who split up at the end of 1984, and I then formed The Price in 1985. If I had to pick a favourite player then it would have to be Pete Townshend; other influences include John Lennon and George Harrison, Steve Cropper, Mick Green, Keith Richards, Steve Jones, Gypie Mayo, Danny Kustow, Jimi Hendrix and many many more - not forgetting the aforementioned Mr. Johnson of course. 

Q. I first became aware of your music many years ago. I think that I can pin it down to a gig at The Angler’s Retreat in West Drayton, either supporting Cheap (TV Smith band at the time) or just with The Price. For the purpose of this interview I dug out an old issue of the ‘Wake Up’ fanzine from 1992 in which your lead singer described The Price as ‘probably one of the most unfashionable bands ‘cos we stick to what we really believe in’. That said, at that time guitar bands were once more in the ascendancy and potentially The Price were in the right place at the right time. How was it that the band never got a record out and is it irksome to you that after five or so years together it never broke for the band?

A. Well as you say The Price were potentially in the right place at the right time with the likes of The Senseless Things and Mega City Four (both of whom we supported on several occasions) attaining a fair amount of recognition and success. Looking back I realise that we were pretty much outsiders in every way; I remember a conversation with an A&R man who advised me to 'think about your melody lines, they need to be more commercial' - we never attempted to make anything that we did be more commercial, let alone our songs which I guess is all you need to know. That said I wouldn't change any of it - we were honest and that means a lot.

In the course of preparing this post I took a look on the 'Brunel Bands' blogspot and in doing so came across a review of The Price from the 30th November 1989 when they played a support slot to Thrilled Skinny and the aforementioned Mega City Four. This was during my time at Brunel but I wasn't in attendance that night for some reason. Reading on I saw a review from the student paper 'Le Nurb' (hilarious student humour (???) as it is Brunel backwards). Two extracts caught my eye, that seemed to sum up Leigh's take on his former band:

“It seems to  be the trend in Le Nurb to say that local support band The Price are just a bunch of lads who play to crowds of sixth formers. Well I don`t care – I went to see The Price instead of the Stone Roses last years and I`d probably do it again”.

Jim Pressley – Le Nurb

and

"A local band from Uxbridge, consisting of Malcolm (Vocals), Leigh (Guitar), Huggy (Bass) and Mick Drums and a regular band to play at the Academy at Brunel University.  Paul Fox of The Ruts produced a number of their singles. The Price were well received and played a set containing many of their classics such as “Man with a smile“, “What about love“, This shattered land” and “Between the lies”

"They`ll never be a band that`ll break big `coz they wont get asked to – a good job too, then they`ll continue to be Brunel’s best support act.”

Jim Pressley – Le Nurb

What made me laugh is that I shared a house with the reviewer for three years around the Hayes and Southall area!

'Brunel's best support act' The Price, with Leigh (far left)

Q. After the initial demise of The Price, in the time honoured tradition you got back together, it must have been ten or so years ago and I found myself once again at the bar in The Angler’s Retreat. Was that reunion supposed to be more permanent or was it always intended to be the last hurrah for the band?

A. We did indeed get together for what was intended to be a one-off show at the aforementioned Anglers Retreat 10 years after the band split up and have reconvened occasionally ever since. I guess we've all forgiven each other for whatever it was that split the band up, or realised we weren't to blame in the first place, or something...

Q. I’ll come to Ruts DC later on, but notably you have also shared the stage with TV Smith. Did that relationship stem from earlier gigs when you both appeared on the bill?

A. Yes it did. The Price played with T.V. Smith's Cheap on several occasions (it looked great on the posters!) and I always got on well with Tim and indeed the rest of the band. One of the Price's sporadic reunion shows was at a birthday party for our roadie / merch man Steve and we invited Tim along to play a solo set - as we were setting up we remembered an occasion in 1991 when our two bands were playing together and Cheap's guitarist Mik couldn't make the gig so T.V. played a solo show with me joining him and the rest of the band for a few numbers at the end. To cut a long story short we played a couple of songs together at the party and it all went from there. I still play occasional duo shows with him and they're always a absolute pleasure to be part of.

Q. Your musical tastes I know to be rather eclectic and from your own blog, ‘Leigh’s Mad World of Guitars (http://leighheggarty.blogspot.co.uk/) it would appear that you are something of a six-string for hire, playing in a wide range of bands over a number of musical genres. Which do you prefer, the live experience or the process of recording?

A. I'm lucky enough to enjoy both, although I find that they're both very different to each another. I've always liked many different styles of music - I don't think that there's any reason why you can't for example like pop music if you like punk rock, to my mind there's nothing wrong with enjoying them both if they appeal to you. I try to bring that mentality to both performing live and studio work - it's all about doing what's right for the situation that you find yourself in, and there's a discipline involved in recording that's different to the spontaneity of a live show. Both good, but as I say both very different from each other.  Incidentally I've never seen myself as a 'six-string for hire' - maybe I would be richer if I had!

Q. Your formal association with Ruts DC started with the preparation for Rut’s guitarist Paul Fox’s benefit gig in July 2007 (at that time Paul was battling with terminal lung cancer). How did it come about that you got the gig to step into Paul’s big shoes?

A. One evening a few days before Paul's last show (at The Islington Academy with Henry Rollins on vocals) I received a call from Dave Ruffy which began with the immortal words 'what are you doing tomorrow?' They were due to be rehearsing for the gig the next afternoon but Paul was too unwell and he'd suggested me as a stand-in (they also rehearsed with the then - manager of the Blockheads Lee Harris but he couldn't make this session) so I spent the rest of the evening revising all those Ruts riffs that I'd learned sitting on the end of my bed all those years ago. The rehearsal went well - really well as it happens - and the subsequent show was of course a classic. Over the next few months Dave and Segs got together and 'Rhythm Collision Volume 2' began to take shape, and I'm pleased to say that they invited me to contribute to the album. After it's release there was the offer of a show at a dub festival in France - that fell through but The Alabama 3 (who Segs was also playing with at the time) offered the band a few support shows in late 2011. And the rest, as they (whoever 'they' are) say, is history.

Paul's last gig (16th July 2007)

Q. Since reforming in 2011, Ruts DC have gone from strength to strength, with two studio albums and a live album under their belts already. From the standpoint of both a fan and now an insider, how do you view the legacy of The Ruts and Ruts DC?

A. Well I know from talking to people at gigs that there is a lot of respect for the original band and of course for The Ruts. It's interesting to note that when we first started playing together fans of the band were bemused to find that Dave and Segs didn't seem think that many people would be too interested in seeing Ruts DC again. Happily this has of course proved not to be the case. For what my thoughts are worth The Ruts were easily one of the best bands of the punk era, and Ruts DC were severely underrated at the time - I'm very aware that every time we walk out on stage to play there will be people in the audience who will agree and therefore it's very important not to let them down. Hopefully we don't!

Q. As a gigging musician, what in your opinion can be done to stem the tide of small, independent music venue closures? I have here The Square in Harlow at the front of my mind, a venue that I know is close to your heart. After a brief respite, that venue again finds itself under threat of closure.

A. The Square in Harlow was a good example of a venue with an open booking policy - the sort of approach that I referred to in my first answer where any type of music would be given a chance, which makes it's recent demise all the harder to take. The Price played there many times, and I was fortunate enough to play three songs with Eddie And The Hot Rods at the venue's closing night - if it's possible to have emotion for a building then it was certainly there on that occasion. Sadly as more and more people think that the only way to get 'discovered' is to be part of the 'X Factor' / 'Britain's Got Talent' circus live music venues are likely to seem less and less important to potential performers, which is a crying shame. What can be done to stop it happening? Well I guess we all have to get out and watch more live music and support the places that are still putting bands and artists on - easier said than done I know, but if there's no audience then there can / will be no venues…

Q. In March of next year, Ruts DC are confirmed as the opening act of The Stranglers 2017 tour. It’s a fantastic billing and I know that the pairing has made many aged punks very happy. Real good value for money in these times of austerity! What are your expectation of this tour?

Ad for the 'No More Heroes' tour gig from the student paper (the closest I got to seeing the bloody band at Brunel University!)

A. Well to say that I'm looking forward to the tour is, to coin a phrase, the understatement of the year so far. The Stranglers have always been a fine band - I first saw them (I think) 40 years ago on the 'No More Heroes' tour at Brunel University so the idea of appearing alongside them means a lot to me personally. From a band point of view it's obviously a great thing for us to be part of, and we're all really looking forward to a great tour. If you're going along then please come and say hello!

Flyer for the tour and the new single 'Kill The Pain'

TV Smith's Cheap The Square Harlow 1989

Here's one from TV Smith's Cheap..... a hugely underrated and much missed combo. They were a band railing against music mediocrity at a time when the British music scene was perhaps at its lowest ebb. Stock, Aitken and Waterman ruled the airwaves and guitars were definitely not the flavour of the month. Just a rubbish time which Cheap lightened a little when they played!

Here they are at a relatively early gig at The Square in Harlow.

FLAC: http://we.tl/7THC8KN54a

01. Third Term
02. The Newshound
03. My String Will Snap
04. Free World
05. Luxury In Exile
06. Silicon Valley Holiday
07. Ghosts
08. Ready For The Axe To Drop
09. Buried By The Machine
10. Lies

The Toy Dolls On Tour in November

 

I am in a bit of a quandary the elusive Toy Dolls are playing rare dates next month in the UK. I'll be honest in saying that whilst I have some of their early stuff, they never set my world alight really. But, TV Smith is supporting......

What ever I decide, it is always a good excuse to post this bit of footage.....

Not to mention this......