Generation X Redcar Coatham Bowl
Generation X were a breath of fresh air as a live band, fusing punk attitude with power pop tunes, and fronted by two powerful characters in Billy Idol and Tony James. Billy Idol was dynamite on stage; all peroxide hair, ego, curled lip and attitude. And Tony James understood that a good rock band had to build on our rock n roll heritage and not cast it all aside, as many his punk contemporaries tried. Generation X took the best of punk, T Rex, and Mott, blended in some pop hooks, and a little Elvis, and produced a band that was great fun. I saw them twice around 1978 and 1979, the line-up being Idol (vocals), Tony (bass), Derwood (guitar) and Mark Laff (drums). They weren’t the best band musically, and both of the performances I saw were pretty rough and raw, but there was an energy, image, and swagger about them that made their gigs enjoyable and memorable. The first time I saw them was at Newcastle University students union. At the time the local punk contingent held a lot of resentment and outright hostility towards students, partly because the punks saw the new bands as being “theirs”, and yet the gigs at the Students Union were “student only”. This led to confrontation at a number of gigs, in particular at the Clash White Riot tour gig in Newcastle, where punks were battling with students at the door in an attempt to gain entry. Quite a few punks from the town managed to get into the Generation X gig somehow, and there were some scuffles, and lots of beer being thrown about. The band played a short set, probably less than an hour, and finished with their then-current single “Ready Steady Go”. There was no encore, which incensed the punks. A chant of “Ready Steady F*** Off” started and the punks clambered onto the stage and started to wreck Generation X’s gear. The gig was good but the end was nasty, which soured the evening. The next time I saw them was much more fun. By this time they had released “King Rocker” and were living the part of being rock stars. Billy Idol was awesome and clearly thought he was Elvis, Tony James had his bass hanging down at his knees and was throwing rock star poses, and Derwood was wearing a Charge of the Light Brigade jacket and looking the biz. Mark Laff was at the back banging away and being Keith Moon. Great stuff. Bring back Sunday nights at Redcar Bowl and / or put me in a time machine and take me back to 1978.
Update 27 December 2021. Many thanks to Jimmy Burns (a.k.a. Punk Hoarder) who kindly provided me with an image of the poster for the Newcastle University concert. It brings back so many happy memories of a great, crazy night with my late wife Marie. We enjoyed so many early punk concerts together and many of them were crazy, manic and even dangerous. This was one of them and it brings back so many memories of people dancing on stage with the band (I think, although this could be my memory playing tricks!) And the nasty end when people started to try and smash up the bands gear because they didn’t return for an encore.
Writing about the Old 29 the other day made me think about that great punk band the Angelica Upstarts, who I was lucky enough to see quite a few times in the late 70s and early 80s. The Upstarts grew out of the punk movement and hailed from South Shields, a town very much in the heart of the North East of England. The original line-up of the band was Mensi (vocals),Mond (guitar), Steve Forsten (bass) and Decca Wade (drums). Mensi worked as a miner and this was his escape route from the pits. Mond worked in the shipyard as an electrician. They were very much of a working class background, and started to appear at local punk gigs, accompanied by a group of punks and skinheads. They had been influenced by seeing The Clash on the White Riot tour at Newcastle University (a gig which I also attended) and their first gigs were in local venues in South Shields, including Bolingbroke Hall, which if my memory serves me right is a sports and recreation hall a couple of streets behind South Shields town hall. I saw the Upstarts in concert quite a few times in those early days, including gigs at the aforementioned South Shields Bolingbroke Hall and Sunderland Old 29, a gig at Newcastle Guildhall where they supported Stiff Little Fingers on their first visit to the North East, and a gig at Newcastle City Hall where the upstarts were the support act, possibly for Penetration. Their gigs were legendary and they found themselves banned from many venues, including the City Hall, because of the hardcore troublemakers who came along, and their controversial stage act. An Upstarts gig had an atmosphere of its own. The audience would be strongly committed fans, mostly skinheads and punks (more skinheads as time went on) who bought 100% into the Upstarts socialist and anti-establishment philosophy. Their manager, cum bouncer and minder at the time was local hardman and ex-boxing champ Keith Bell, better known as The Sherrif, who could be found at the front or on the side of the stage at their gigs, always ready to jump into the crowd and sort out any fights. Bell went to prison in 1980 for arson, and was sentenced to a further 18 months for threatening to kill Upstarts drummer Decca. And there often were skirmishes and fights at Upstarts gigs; I always lurked around the back; I felt pretty exposed as one of the only people in the hall with long hair :). The Upstarts made it into the charts with a few of their singles,including “I’m an Upstart” and even played “Teenage Warning” on Top of the Pops, which was their highest chart entry at No 29. Their set at the time consisted of those two songs along with “Student Power” (“F***ing Shower” according to the lyrics; I was also a student at the time; another reason to lurk quietly at the back at gigs), “Small Town Small Mind”, “Police Oppression” and the song that was always a highlight, and became their anthem “The Murder of Liddle Towers”. Liddle Towers was a local amateur boxer who died at the hands of police. In his own words: ‘They gave us a bloody good kicking outside the Key Club, but that was naught to what I got when I got inside’. Towers died in hospital in 1976 from injuries received at the hands of the police during the night of January. The inquest decided that it was “justifiable homicide”, a verdict which was widely criticised at the time. The Upstarts song told the story with lyrics “Who killed Liddle? The police killed Liddle”. The track is a great slab of raw punk, and it was amazingly powerful live. At the early gigs Mensi would introduce the song by brining on stage a whole pigs head which he had purchased at the butchers that day. The pigs head would have a policeman’s helmet perched on top of it, and Mensi would hold it above his head at the start of the song before throwing the head into the moshpit of the crowd. The audience would then throw the head about the place, kick it around the floor, and generally go crazy. I have an enduring memory of a skinhead at Bolingbroke Hall biting the ears of the pigs head. Mensi would be screaming and growling the lyrics of the song, wearing the policeman’s hat. Great memories, of a very under-rated and in terms of the North East punk movement, a very influential band. The Upstarts have reformed over the years with various line-ups, with Mensi the one original member (although at one point the band did continue without him). They are currently on a hiatus as their official website explains: “Unfortunately the Angelic Upstarts had to cancel all scheduled gigs for 2012. Since Mensi is single parent again he currently can’t combine parenthood with the band. Expect new live dates in 2013.” I’ve never seen them live since the early 80s, and haven;t felt the need to do so, but writing this makes me linger for one more Upstarts experience. I must remember to keep my eye on their website for any future gigs.
This is the last of my Groundhogs postings, and concludes my coverage of the 40 something times I have seen the band. I’ve seen the Hogs a few times since this 2007 gig, but I’ve already blogged on those gigs, as and when I attended them. In 2007 Tony McPhee reformed the Groundhogs again, with Dave Anderson on bass and Marco Anderson on drums. The first chance I got to see the reformed band was at a concert in Darlington Arts Centre in 2007. I went along with my mate Will. This was the last time we visited the Arts Centre. The lovely venue has sadly now closed, as a result of funding cuts. The Hogs played in the intimate Green bar venue and gave us a set of classic tunes. I recall Tony inviting a young lad up onstage with him. The young lad was celebrating his birthday that day, and will certainly have had a day to remember. Some footage from this gig is on Youtube. I’ve enjoyed blogging about The Groundhogs, and look forward to seeing them in 2013, which is their 50th year.
When the Groundhogs split in 2004, Tony McPhee concentrated on his solo career, playing and singing the blues with his partner Joanna Deacon. The duo released an album Blues at Ten, which was well received by fans and critics, and toured in support of the album. I saw Tony and Joanna twice during this period, once at South Shields Customs House and a second time at the Barrels Alehouse in Berwick upon Tweed. The South Sheilds show showcased tracks from Blues at Ten with Tony on acoustic guitar, alongside Tony playing electric for a couple of Groundhogs numbers. I went along with my mate Will; we had good seats right down the front and enjoyed the gig. I recall that they played the following from Blues at Ten: Messin’ My Mind; Strange Place; Oh Death (which Tony used to sing with Jo Ann Kelly); Better Off With The Blues; Don’t You Feel My Leg; and Graveyard Blues. Tony also toured with Alvin Lee and Edgar Winter on a Classic Legends of Rock tour in 2004, which we caught at Newcastle Tyne Theatre. Tony was the opening act, and played a few acoustic songs. 
The Barrels Alehouse is a pub in the Centre of Berwick, with a tiny cellar room which holds music nights. Tony and Joanna played there in 2006, and Marie and I took the opportunity to see them. It was great to see them perform so close up and in such an intimate setting. The cellar room can’t hold more than 50 or 60 people; it was like seeing someone in your front room. The set was again drawn from Blues at Ten and a good time was had by all; as they say. Tony was to reform the Groundhogs in 2007. I’ll blog on a gig from that year tomorrow, which will take me to the end of my Groundhogs journey (for now 🙂 ).
In 2003 the unexpected happened and the original, classic, Groundhogs line-up of Tony T S McPhee, Pete Cruikshank and Ken Pustelnik reformed. It was great news that the guys had decided to play together again, and I was lucky enough to see them twice when they came to the North of England. The first occasion was at the Maryport Blues festival, where they shared the bill with Zoot Money, and a couple of other acts, on a hot Sunday afternoon in July 2003. This was my first visit to the festival, and really enjoyed it. Since then I have returned to Maryport Blues a couple of times. 
David came along and took some photos. It was great to see the original line-up again after 30 years. The bands played in a large marquee down by the harbour (this was before the festival moved to its more recent home up at the Rugby Club). Their set was quite short on this occasion, and consisted of the classic songs.The next year I had the chance to see the original line-up again. David was studying in Leeds at the time, so I took the opportunity to go and visit him, and then we both went to see the Groundhogs at a great venue called the New Roscoe. The New Roscoe is close to the centre of Leeds, and has live gigs almost every night. 
The set was drawn from the first four albums; Scratching the Surface, Blues Obituary, Thank Christ for the Bomb and Split, and included all the classics: Split 1, Split 2, Groundhog, Eccentric Man, Mistreated, Still a Fool, Garden and, of course, Cherry Red. Ship on the Ocean and Soldier may also have featured at the Roscoe gig. Tony was playing as well as ever, with some serious soloing. At the Roscoe gig, I can recall lots of use of the whammy bar, and Tony running his hands up and down the neck of his strat. The support act was a young band called Shearwater, who played a set of rock classic. 
We got to the venue early and claimed a couple of seats close to the front, for a good view of Tony and the band. David was on camera duty again. The Leeds crowd gave the Groundhogs a great reception and called them back for a couple of encores. The last encore was Time, which I don’t recall ever seeing them play live before. In 2004 the Groundhogs split. However, this wasn’t the end.
I continued to follow Tony McPhee and the Groundhogs throughout the rest of the 1980s, and into the 90s, although I probably didn’t see them as many times in later years as I had done in the 70s and 80s. During this period I recall attending a couple of gigs at Washington Arts Centre, a gig at Sunderland Alexandra, and a couple at Newcastle Trillians Rock bar. The line up for the first time at Washington Arts Centre was Tony, Alan Fish and Mick Kirton, and it took place in the larger hall downstairs (and was pretty packed). I remember lots of idiot dancing to Cherry Red. I also seem to recall seeing a gig with Eric Chipulina in the band at Washington, in the smaller upstairs room. 
The line-up of the Groundhogs was forever changing during this period, with drummer Mick Jones sharing his duties as drummer with Stan Webb’s Chicken Shack, which confused me, as I often saw him in both bands at the time. Their recorded output was also quite confusing with a number of live album releases including: Extremely Live; Hogs on the Road; Groundhog Night… Groundhog Live; and a DVD Live at the Astoria. The latter DVD was recorded in 1998 and features the line-up of Tony, Eric Chipulina on bass, and Pete Correa on drums. 
Their live set on the DVD, and in the late 90s would be something like: Shake For Me; Eccentric Man; 3744 James Road; I Want You To Love Me; Split Part 1; Split Part 2; Mistreated; Still A Fool; Cherry Red; Groundhog Blues; Down In The Bottom. The third ticket here comes from a gig at Whitley Bay Dome in 2000. The Dome was part of the old Spanish City funfair, and was home to quite a few gigs for a time, including a great show by Robert Plant and his Priory of Brion. I was soon to get another chance to see the classic line-up of Tony, Peter Cruikshank and Ken Pustelnik, when they reunited in 2003. I’ll blog on that part of my Groundhogs gig saga tomorrow.
This was quite an eventful gig, and is thus worthy of mention on its own. It was probably in 1985 (I must have seen the Hogs many times in that year) and I went with my mate Dave. At the time the Bowes was a well-known pub in Skinnergate in the centre of Darlington; I understand it is now an Italian Restaurant; it’s sad how many great old pub venues have disappeared. In the 80s it hosted a number of gigs; I remember Man playing there and a few other bands; I only went this once. The gigs were in a Cellar bar under the main pub. I am pretty sure that there was a support act; The Force who are a well known local rock band, and were quite new at the time. To get to the Cellar bar you went through a door in the middle of the pub, and down a flight of stairs. The gig was on a Saturday night, and the upstairs bar was full of bikers. The Cellar wasn’t very big, so you were quite close to and facing the band, and the music was very LOUD. The Force played a good (loud) set of rock covers before the Groundhogs took the stage. Just before the Groundhogs were due to come on, we could hear some commotion upstairs in the bar. A voice shouted downstairs telling us that the bikers were fighting up in the bar; the door to the cellar was locked and we were told to stay down there, until the police arrived to stop the fighting. The Groundhogs played a great set, and we remained oblivious of the events upstairs, but somewhat nervous as to what else might occur. As it happened, all was well; by the time Tony and the guys had finished playing all signs of bikers and trouble had been dispersed by the police and we emerged safe from the Cellar and able to drive home in one piece. The ticket for this gig is a piece of art in itself, and very professionally produced 🙂 The line-up was the (now very familiar to me) Tony, Alan Fish (bass), Mick Kirton (drums). I remember that we were so close to the band that the drum kit looked massive, and that my ears were ringing for days after.
The Groundhogs played Sunderland Old 29 on at least three occasions in the mid 80s. In this case, and for me, the venue itself is as memorable as the gigs. The Old 29 was demolished many years ago, but many of us of a certain age (and older) hold fond memories of the old place. It was a lovely old traditional pub, nothing special, but with a certain ambience, sited in High Street West, close to the Empire Theatre. The 29 hosted regular gigs from the late 70s onwards, and was a haunt for local rock and punk fans. Local bands such as The Toy Dolls, King Crabs (featuring Jimmy Nail) and the infamous Angelic Upstarts would play there. Gigs would be on a Saturday lunchtime and some evenings. 
I remember seeing The Upstarts there a number of times (must blog on them one day) and Jimmy Nail jumping around the tables during a King Crabs gig. The Old 29 was a proper spit and sawdust town centre pub; your feet would stick to the carpet and there would a strong smell of stale beer in the air. The tickets show that the entry price to see The Groundhogs was £1.50; a true bargain. Two of the tickets show the year as being 1985 and 1987; I think the other could be from 1984 (Nov 7th fell on a Wednesday that year). Two of the tickets have the band billed as the Original Groundhogs, which wasn’t quite correct; yes they were original in the sense that Tony was in the line-up, but that was as far as it went. The actual line-up for the Old 29 gigs was Tony McPhee (amazing guitar and whammy bar), Alan Fish on bass, and Mick Kirton on drums. 
The place was packed for the first couple of gigs. I think by the time of the third gig everyone had seen the band a few times, and I seem to recall it being only half full. The band would play on a tiny stage near the front of the pub, and if you came in during the set you had push your way through the crowds. The music was loud, to the point of being deafening, and could be heard on the street outside. The pint glasses were real glass (no plastic in those days), and when the gig finished and the pub cleared you could see that the floor was strewn with broken glass. This was another chance to see Tony up close, and at the time he was playing as well as he ever did. Happy days. Bring back the Old 29.
For my final gig of 2012 last night I went to see the legend that is Uli Jon Roth, ex-Scorpions, Hendrix aficionado, inventor of the Sky guitar, and exponent of neo-classical rock guitar. It was a real privilege to witness one of rock’s greatest guitarists so close up in such an intimate local venue. I arrived at the Office at 9am, just catching the end of support act Lovedrive’s (Scorpions tribute act) set. The gig was in the upstairs room of the venue, which is close to the centre of South Sheilds, and it was packed to the walls. The room holds 200 people and the gig was completely sold out. I made my way to the front to get a good view of the great man. Judging by the t-shirts, the crowd beside me were all Scorpions fans of many years. There was then a bit of a wait before Uli Jon Roth took to the stage to chants of “Uli! Uli! Uli!”. Within a few minutes he launched into All Along the Watchtower (ala Jimi Hendrix), and it was immediately apparent that this was going to some special concert. Many musician’s of Uli’s generation seem tired and have lost some of their spark, but not this guy. His playing was just amazing. His instrument for the evening was one of his custom Sky guitars, which is a beautiful piece of craftsmanship, having additional frets going right up to the pick-ups, which allow Uli to get very high notes, and play his trademark riffs. Watchtower was followed by more Hendrix: If Six Were Nine, flowing straight into Little Wing. 
Just awesome; the 50 something guys at the front were saluting Uli and nodding to each other as if to say “This guy can still do it”. The rest of the set was largely Scorpions classics including The Sails of Charon; Life’s Like a River; We’ll Burn the Sky; and Fly to the Rainbow. There were other songs which were less familiar to me, but the crowd knew them all, singing along to every word. He also played Enola Gay (Hiroshima Today?) from his Electric Sun period. Vocal duties were handled by the bass player, who did a spectacular job reaching all the high notes, and singing sweetly during the ballad sections. The rest of Uli’s very tight, rocking band were a second guitarist, keyboard player and drummer. Uli told us that this was his first visit to South Shields but made reference to the fact that he had been to nearby Newcastle a few times, playing the City Hall in 1983, and 1985. He asked “How many of you were there?’ and a great roar came from the crowd. When I got home and checked my ticket stubs, I found that was at the 1983 City Hall gig. Is doesn’t seem almost 30 years since I last saw this guy in concert. Uli also commented on the rumours that the City Hall might be facing closure, and told us that we must not let it happen: “get a petition; do something, you can’t let it close, that hall is one of the most beautiful in your country”. Uli’s playing has developed over time, moving more towards classical music; however last night’s set was very much focussed towards his rockier side, and his years with the Scorpions. As I left I heard a guy say to his mate “He’s just phenomenal!” which just about summed it up. Everyone in The Office last night will have been blown away by the skill, passion and warmth of Uli Jon Roth’s performance. It certainly felt like I had witnessed something pretty special. There was talk on bringing him back again next year; I’m sure the place will be equally as packed if that happens.
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