|
she wanted to sell them. But if you went somewhere else to buy them, she would see it as some kind of treachery. So it was a little bit tricky— it was never very straightforward with that lady.
IE: A main question I wanted to ask is, Do
you remember the first time someone around you— or you yourself, actually noticed that you had this amazing voice? RG: Yeah. The group I used to be in when I first made a record was called The Akrylykz, and— this was before we’ d cut a record— there was a guy who had a recording studio in his house in Hull, and we did some demos in there, and there was a guy called Thurston Benz who was a lecturer in sociology at the technical college, but he also used to put gigs on. And he’ d heard the demo tapes, and I sang on one of them— KIND of sang on one of them—, and he said to he group, The Akrylykz,“ Oh, you should get Roland to sing!” And that gave me a little bit of … ruthless ambition, because three of us were singing in the group, and it just
|
made me become the singer, become the sole singer in the band, with that little bit of encouragement. I was also in a little bit of a drama group, prior to that, and that’ s where I first sang onstage. And again, somebody just said something a little bit complimentary, which just sort of buoyed me up enough
to pursue it.
IE: When you look back at that era, there are very few singers of that magnitude— the main one is probably Ali Campbell from UB40. RG: Oh yeah. Yeah. Strangely, Ali Campbell and I used to talk about how we shared a grandmother. I used to live on Ivor Road in Birmingham. My family lived at 66, and at No. 80 were Dave and Betty Campbell, who were his grandparents. And Dave and Betty Campbell’ s son and daughter had a group called The Ian Campbell Folk Group, and then Ian Campbell, who was the father of Robin and Ali from UB40. So I always used to visit Betty— Dave died, and I always used to visit Betty when I went back to
|
Birmingham. I’ d take her a bottle of whiskey, and sometimes we used to have New Year’ s with the Campbells when I was growing up. So yeah— there’ s a closeness there.
IE: Your play— not“ Pilgrim’ s Progress” by John Bunyan, but“ Punk’ s Progress”— that’ s a true story? You actually gave Joe Strummer a safety pin( onstage from the audience) when he needed it? RG: Yeah, I did. I did.
IE: But didn’ t you end up becoming a roadie for( The Clash)? RG: Yeah, I did. I followed them for a bit on that tour, and then they finished up with four nights at the Music Machine( in London’ s Camden Town), in the next street, though, the next street to the one I’ m in now. And I went down there early in the day, when the roadies were putting the stuff in, and just kind of hung around. I’ d also gotten to know The Specials, because they were on the same tour, so I was recognized. And then Johnny Green, the tour manager, said,“ Do you want a job?” And I said,“ Yeah!” Because it was great to sort of feel part of it, so I got the job of fixing the backdrops, and when hey came onstage, Johnny Green, he tour manager, was on one side,
|
and I was on the other, and then we would pull these blackout curtains down, off the backdrop, and it would reveal a Messerschmitt on one side and then on the other side, it was a tank in Northern Ireland, in Belfast, and that was their backdrop. So yeah, it was great to feel part of it. And I remember, I was on the floor, fixing the backdrop, and Joe Strummer lost his temper with Johnny Green and was banging his guitar on the backdrop. And Johnny Green had to say,“ Steady on, Joe! There’ s a man working underneath there!” I was just fixing a clamp, clamping the backdrop together.
IE: I started writing in’ 77. And how do you describe that era to some kid today? It’ s impossible. It was just magic, don’ t you think? RG: What, the punk era? I guess it’ s a lot easier these days to kind of capture that era, because there’ s so much footage available now on the internet that you can kind of see glimpses of that theory and get some kind of sense of it. I know I get quite a nostalgic feel about it when I look through the‘ 70s. But it’ s amazing what you can see now.
Tom Lanham
|