Three Tune Tuesday - 1980's Pub Bands
It's Three Tune Tuesday, and I'm going waaaay back with this one.
Back in the 1980's, I was lucky enough to be living in and around the Kingston area of Southeast London. We were blessed to have some really amazing pubs doing live music, and many of the artists and bands playing were incredibly talented. Quite a few of them are even still alive, including all three in this post !
I was working as a despatch rider at the time so at the end of the day, wherever I was, I'd head back to my local area and hit whichever pub had the best music on that night. For much of the time, until it was demolished in 1989 that was The Southampton, just outside Surbiton station. Incredible place, and I was enough of a regular that even if it was five deep at the bar the staff would have my drink waiting for me as soon as they saw me pull up 😁
Finding clips from back then is almost impossible. Mobile phones had only just been invented, and were in the realm of well-paid stock brokers lining their Nokia bricks up at the wine bar. Hairy bikers couldn't afford such things, and even if we could they didn't have cameras and stuff on them.
Most of the music was R&B or rock, and although most of it was covers the level of talent and the atmosphere was just incredible.
So here are three clips of bands I saw back then, but most of the actual clips are a bit more recent.
Steve Whalley - 110 In The Shade
Steve was a lot younger when I first saw him play at The Victoria in Surbiton. He was originally in Slade for a short time; incredibly talented but a bit unpredictable. He tended to be around for a few months gigging, then disappear for a few months to get his head together. Really nice guy, though.
This is a long track, but a high quality recording, and well worth listening to. Blues at it's finest !
The Monday Band - Busted Loose
Another more recent recording. Damn but we've all gotten old ! The Monday Band was a collaboration between some of the most talented local musicians, all of whom had their own things as well. I think they set it up just to chill and play together at the Southampton on Sunday Lunchtimes (so they called it the Monday Band... go figure...)
The two main drivers of the band were Papa George and Steve Simpson. Both are very well regarded and award winning musicians, the kind of guys you'll find with solid local/regional careers as well as doing a lot of quality session work with big names.
Busted Loose was always a favourite, and a number they often saved as an encore. Even a couple of decades on, they've still got it 😀
Dumpy's Rusty Nuts - Box Hill or Bust
This one's a total contrast to the first two - a solid rock number.
I couldn't find an actual recording with decent quality sound and good video, so I went with sound quality.
Dumpy was a real local character, a born comedian, a damn good guitarist and biker. He'd turn up at the pub on a noisy, fast, and one-off Triton. Wonder what happened to it ?
He never hit the really big time as a recording artist (the boring BBC wanted him to change the band's name and remove the profanity from his lyrics....), but his live performances were insanely energetic. As well as playing the local pubs, he also did bike shows and festivals, and the sometimes anarchic performances always went down well.
So yeah, this is what I used to listen to back then. Quality music, great venues and a really good time to be around. I miss hooning around on bikes without having to worry about speed cameras, spending every night in the pub or partying, and running over the footbridge at Surbiton station at 11.55 on a Friday night when the SPG (Police Special Patrol Group) did their regular-as-clockwork totally predictable raids. Life was a lot simpler back then !