In 2009, the excellent documentary ‘Oil City
Confidential’ quite rightly renewed interest in Dr Feelgood and helped to
re-establish their position as one of the great British rock’n’roll bands of
the mid-Seventies. However, the film failed to acknowledge one big part of the
story, in that, during the short period immediately prior to the emergence of
Punk Rock, the Southend and Canvey Island area was a real scene of musical
activity, with a whole slew of bands and musicians appearing with the intent to
take rock’n’roll back to its’ raw, high energy roots. Alongside Dr Feelgood,
the most important were undoubtedly Eddie & The Hot Rods. Taking their cue
as much from the likes of the MC5 and New York Dolls as the Stones and The Who,
they possibly paved the way for Punk even more so than the Feelgoods, and
certainly found themselves more directly involved when the new bands began to
make their own presence felt. In retrospect, their role has often been
downplayed and the phrase ‘they were never really a punk band’ has often been
used to dismiss them, but firstly, they never claimed to be, and secondly,
however you want to play it, ‘Do Anything You Wanna Do’ remains one of the
classic singles of the Punk era. Forget the categories, just listen to the
music !
Between 1976 and ‘79, the band (Barrie Masters, Dave Higgs, Paul Gray and Steve Nichol, later to be joined by Graeme Douglas) released three great albums and toured extensively in the UK, Europe and America. However, by 1980, the relentless schedule began to take its’ toll and both Paul Gray and Graeme Douglas left the band (the former to join The Damned.) One final album from the depleted line-up, ‘Fish’n’Chips’, was released by EMI, but their total lack of promotion led to poor sales and the band subsequently split.
The Hot Rods briefly reformed in the mid-Eighties, albeit with only Masters and Nichol from the classic line-up, but it wouldn’t be until 1992 that the original members came back together to play live again and record the album ‘Gasoline Days’. Various personnel changes followed until only Masters remained, but since 2001 he’s maintained a solid band featuring Simon Bowley, Richard Holgarth, Ian Dean and Chris Taylor. They’ve toured consistently and established themselves as a second ‘classic’ line-up, delivering sets that highlight their own material and proudly celebrate the bands’ legacy.
In 2014, following the sad loss of Dave Higgs, the remaining original members came together to play a Tribute gig for their former bandmate, appropriately at the legendary Oyster Fleet on Canvey Island. In a two-part gig, Barrie Masters first fronted the current line-up as they blasted through a set of mostly more recent material, before returning to the stage with Paul, Steve, Graeme and current guitarist Richard Holgarth. It was a great set and a perfect to remember their old friend, but at the time, there were no intentions for further reunions. But the fact was, everyone, band and audience, enjoyed it so much that it really had to happen again and so, a year later, they reassembled for two more gigs, this time in Harlow and London.
I’d been intending to interview Barrie Masters for some time, and this seemed like the ideal occasion. I loosely arranged to meet him at the soundcheck and, after a lot of hanging around (part of the job-description) we eventually find some comfy chairs backstage and start in on the interview.
Between 1976 and ‘79, the band (Barrie Masters, Dave Higgs, Paul Gray and Steve Nichol, later to be joined by Graeme Douglas) released three great albums and toured extensively in the UK, Europe and America. However, by 1980, the relentless schedule began to take its’ toll and both Paul Gray and Graeme Douglas left the band (the former to join The Damned.) One final album from the depleted line-up, ‘Fish’n’Chips’, was released by EMI, but their total lack of promotion led to poor sales and the band subsequently split.
The Hot Rods briefly reformed in the mid-Eighties, albeit with only Masters and Nichol from the classic line-up, but it wouldn’t be until 1992 that the original members came back together to play live again and record the album ‘Gasoline Days’. Various personnel changes followed until only Masters remained, but since 2001 he’s maintained a solid band featuring Simon Bowley, Richard Holgarth, Ian Dean and Chris Taylor. They’ve toured consistently and established themselves as a second ‘classic’ line-up, delivering sets that highlight their own material and proudly celebrate the bands’ legacy.
In 2014, following the sad loss of Dave Higgs, the remaining original members came together to play a Tribute gig for their former bandmate, appropriately at the legendary Oyster Fleet on Canvey Island. In a two-part gig, Barrie Masters first fronted the current line-up as they blasted through a set of mostly more recent material, before returning to the stage with Paul, Steve, Graeme and current guitarist Richard Holgarth. It was a great set and a perfect to remember their old friend, but at the time, there were no intentions for further reunions. But the fact was, everyone, band and audience, enjoyed it so much that it really had to happen again and so, a year later, they reassembled for two more gigs, this time in Harlow and London.
I’d been intending to interview Barrie Masters for some time, and this seemed like the ideal occasion. I loosely arranged to meet him at the soundcheck and, after a lot of hanging around (part of the job-description) we eventually find some comfy chairs backstage and start in on the interview.
Firstly, I wanted to talk about the Hot Rods
influences. As well as the more obvious reference points of energetic British
bands of the Sixties, like the Rolling Stones and The Who, Eddie & the Hot
Rods always seemed to have a fondness for less-known American bands like the
MC5, the New York Dolls and Sixties garage bands…
‘Well, at first, we were into all the sorta obvious English bands, things we’d been listening to since we were kids. But once we started to get things together as a band, we ended up with a manager who had an amazing record collection. So when we weren’t rehearsing or playing, we used to spend our time just listening to all of these great albums that he had. Everyone’s influences come from what they hear… we didn’t set out to be anything in particular, it just happened the way it did.’
But however you got there, you were certainly at odds with most of what was going on musically in the UK around that time…
‘Yeah, it was strange. Everyone else kind of jumped on our band wagon. We were getting a sort of notoriety as being this high-powered rock’n’roll band and other bands started coming up behind us. The problem was when the press started calling all the new bands ‘punk’… the rest is history. I mean, we’d always talk to new bands when we were touring and suddenly they’d be telling us, ‘we’re going to be a punk band !’ We’d never done that because ‘punk’ wasn’t even there when we started out. We’d come from this little, tiny town where we had nothing to do, so what we were doing was just for fun. To begin with, we weren’t even thinking about making records or touring, nothing like that. We just did it because it was something we wanted to do. We were playing music because we had to. When we talked to people in new bands who were doing it because they wanted to make a career out of it, we didn’t think they were doing it for the right reasons.’
When you read books that talk about that era, it’s often made out that the ‘Pub Rock’ scene was a deliberate attempt to bring the excitement of rock’n’roll back down to a street level. Do you think that kind of agenda really existed, or was it more like a bunch of like-minded people just being drawn together because they enjoyed the music ?
‘Well, it was more of what you’re saying. In the early Seventies, you had all those bigger bands playing the huge venues. There weren’t really that many medium sized venues where bands like us could play, so the only places that were really out there for us was the pub circuit. But it was handy, because once you got onto it, there were probably about thirty or forty pubs around London and you could comfortably play at two or three of them over a weekend. Once you played a good gig at one place, you’d be able to get another one at a different pub, so you just kept swapping them around. And there were enough of these places that meant you wouldn’t have to play at the same venue more than twice a year. And I’m not saying they were all great, but there were also enough bands to keep the circuit busy, so it was a good way to turn a bunch of novice musicians into a real band. That’s how we cut our teeth. It was hard work, cos we’d all also be going to work during the day, but it proved to be the way that we could get really good at what we were doing.’
‘Well, at first, we were into all the sorta obvious English bands, things we’d been listening to since we were kids. But once we started to get things together as a band, we ended up with a manager who had an amazing record collection. So when we weren’t rehearsing or playing, we used to spend our time just listening to all of these great albums that he had. Everyone’s influences come from what they hear… we didn’t set out to be anything in particular, it just happened the way it did.’
But however you got there, you were certainly at odds with most of what was going on musically in the UK around that time…
‘Yeah, it was strange. Everyone else kind of jumped on our band wagon. We were getting a sort of notoriety as being this high-powered rock’n’roll band and other bands started coming up behind us. The problem was when the press started calling all the new bands ‘punk’… the rest is history. I mean, we’d always talk to new bands when we were touring and suddenly they’d be telling us, ‘we’re going to be a punk band !’ We’d never done that because ‘punk’ wasn’t even there when we started out. We’d come from this little, tiny town where we had nothing to do, so what we were doing was just for fun. To begin with, we weren’t even thinking about making records or touring, nothing like that. We just did it because it was something we wanted to do. We were playing music because we had to. When we talked to people in new bands who were doing it because they wanted to make a career out of it, we didn’t think they were doing it for the right reasons.’
When you read books that talk about that era, it’s often made out that the ‘Pub Rock’ scene was a deliberate attempt to bring the excitement of rock’n’roll back down to a street level. Do you think that kind of agenda really existed, or was it more like a bunch of like-minded people just being drawn together because they enjoyed the music ?
‘Well, it was more of what you’re saying. In the early Seventies, you had all those bigger bands playing the huge venues. There weren’t really that many medium sized venues where bands like us could play, so the only places that were really out there for us was the pub circuit. But it was handy, because once you got onto it, there were probably about thirty or forty pubs around London and you could comfortably play at two or three of them over a weekend. Once you played a good gig at one place, you’d be able to get another one at a different pub, so you just kept swapping them around. And there were enough of these places that meant you wouldn’t have to play at the same venue more than twice a year. And I’m not saying they were all great, but there were also enough bands to keep the circuit busy, so it was a good way to turn a bunch of novice musicians into a real band. That’s how we cut our teeth. It was hard work, cos we’d all also be going to work during the day, but it proved to be the way that we could get really good at what we were doing.’
It seems strange to look back at it, now, but there was a period of time during the mid-Seventies when there were a lot of rock’n’roll bands coming out from the Southend / Canvey Island area, and the music press was actually promoting it quite actively…
‘Yeah, and it’s an area that’s always had a history of producing bands… there’s been hundreds of bands that all came from this corner of the world. I don’t know what it is, maybe it’s something in the water… Maybe it’s the fact that there’s so little to do down there, other than getting together with some mates and doing something for yourself. It’s like the old working class thing, if you wanted to make something of yourself, you could either play football or play music. Certainly, around the time we were coming up, it seemed like a real hot-bed of bands around there. They weren’t all great, but there were certainly more than a few that were worth seeing.’
Was there any rivalry between the bands, or were you more likely to help each other out…
‘There was much more of a sense of camaraderie back then, although more recently, like the last 15 years or so, if we went out and played on the same bill as three or four other bands, you’d find that no-one would talk to each other. I’m glad to say it’s starting to get a bit more like it used to be, but, you know, in the days of the pub rock circuit, we all knew the meeting places for after the show. Everyone knew about the Watford Gap, because every band used to stop there when they were playing north of London. Or if you were going down towards Kent, there was the Blackheath Burger Bar… you knew if you pulled-up there, you were bound to bump into another band on their way to or from a gig. Bands used to help each other out… I remember one time, we came across Blondie at the side of the road, and their windscreen had been smashed. It was pouring down with rain so they couldn’t drive any further. We ended up giving them a lift and dropping them off at their gig before we got to ours. All that sort of thing used to happen, and bands always talked to each other. I mean, we’d pull pranks and trash each others’ vans or stuff like that, but that sort of thing was all done light-heartedly. And I think it’s getting back to that a bit more these days, certainly in America. We always try to find really good support bands to play with us, because we want the whole show to be good. We’ve even managed to bring a couple of them over here, and that’s good for both bands, us and them. It helps to keep the whole thing alive.’
After signing with Island Records, you were already having some success, but it seems to have been the ‘Live At The Marquee’ EP that really grabbed the attention of a lot of people…
‘It seemed to cause a lot of ripples. We even got mentioned on Thames News because of it ! We’d play the Marquee and there’d be these longs queues of people all down Wardour Street, trying to get in the venue. But it all happened a bit quick, so we didn’t really have a chance to take it in. It’s only been a lot more recently that I realised why it happened… After you saw a lot of the bands around at that time, it was really exciting coming to see us. That’s what people wanted, so that’s why they started to take notice of us. Suddenly, people knew who we were… I mean, there was even a novelty, comedy band, Supercharge, that used to take the micky out of us. The singer used to do these moves to try and imitate me ! And there’s no better accolade than that, really, someone else thinking you’re popular enough to take the piss ! But to us, it was really weird. The thing was, people were picking up on us because we were doing things our way. We must have been doing something right !’
‘Yeah, and it’s an area that’s always had a history of producing bands… there’s been hundreds of bands that all came from this corner of the world. I don’t know what it is, maybe it’s something in the water… Maybe it’s the fact that there’s so little to do down there, other than getting together with some mates and doing something for yourself. It’s like the old working class thing, if you wanted to make something of yourself, you could either play football or play music. Certainly, around the time we were coming up, it seemed like a real hot-bed of bands around there. They weren’t all great, but there were certainly more than a few that were worth seeing.’
Was there any rivalry between the bands, or were you more likely to help each other out…
‘There was much more of a sense of camaraderie back then, although more recently, like the last 15 years or so, if we went out and played on the same bill as three or four other bands, you’d find that no-one would talk to each other. I’m glad to say it’s starting to get a bit more like it used to be, but, you know, in the days of the pub rock circuit, we all knew the meeting places for after the show. Everyone knew about the Watford Gap, because every band used to stop there when they were playing north of London. Or if you were going down towards Kent, there was the Blackheath Burger Bar… you knew if you pulled-up there, you were bound to bump into another band on their way to or from a gig. Bands used to help each other out… I remember one time, we came across Blondie at the side of the road, and their windscreen had been smashed. It was pouring down with rain so they couldn’t drive any further. We ended up giving them a lift and dropping them off at their gig before we got to ours. All that sort of thing used to happen, and bands always talked to each other. I mean, we’d pull pranks and trash each others’ vans or stuff like that, but that sort of thing was all done light-heartedly. And I think it’s getting back to that a bit more these days, certainly in America. We always try to find really good support bands to play with us, because we want the whole show to be good. We’ve even managed to bring a couple of them over here, and that’s good for both bands, us and them. It helps to keep the whole thing alive.’
After signing with Island Records, you were already having some success, but it seems to have been the ‘Live At The Marquee’ EP that really grabbed the attention of a lot of people…
‘It seemed to cause a lot of ripples. We even got mentioned on Thames News because of it ! We’d play the Marquee and there’d be these longs queues of people all down Wardour Street, trying to get in the venue. But it all happened a bit quick, so we didn’t really have a chance to take it in. It’s only been a lot more recently that I realised why it happened… After you saw a lot of the bands around at that time, it was really exciting coming to see us. That’s what people wanted, so that’s why they started to take notice of us. Suddenly, people knew who we were… I mean, there was even a novelty, comedy band, Supercharge, that used to take the micky out of us. The singer used to do these moves to try and imitate me ! And there’s no better accolade than that, really, someone else thinking you’re popular enough to take the piss ! But to us, it was really weird. The thing was, people were picking up on us because we were doing things our way. We must have been doing something right !’
Probably the most well-known incident, and the one that was used by the music press to set the band apart from the Punk movement, was the occasion when the Sex Pistols supported the Hot Rods at the Marquee and, during their set, smashed up some of your equipment…
‘Well, all it was, Johnny was onstage and he was throwing a chair around, which bashed some of our gear. Afterwards, I gave him a little slap and told him, you don’t do that to another bands’ gear. But afterwards, our manager, Ed Hollis, got together with Malcolm Mclaren and they decided to milk it just for the press, thinking it would be a good story for both bands. They had Johnny coming over and saying, ‘What are you going to do about it ?’ I mean, I was pretty fit back then and I’d also trained as a boxer when I was a kid, so that really wouldn’t have been any contest ! But, anyway, the press got a hold of it and ran with it for a while so, looking back, it got us some press for a few weeks, but then later on it got used against us. At the time, we just thought it was funny.’
I also think you were probably more intent on remaining an individual band rather than becoming part of any movement or fad…
‘We just didn’t want to get mixed up with the politics, the spitting and the fashion, as it all started to develop. We weren’t there to be part of any fashion. We just wanted to be a rock’n’roll band and be there for the longevity of it all. We weren’t trying to be part of a fashion or part of anything else, we were just what we were. And I think most people, including most of the early Punk bands, were happy with that and they’d come to see us. The problems only really started when certain people in the music press started to get a hold of it and try to say exactly what Punk had to be. We didn’t fit-in with their agenda, so we started to get the rough end of it, to some extent. The crazy thing was, mainly because we got fed-up with all the spitting and stuff, we ended up touring in America a lot more. We worked a lot more over on that side than most bands, and we ended up playing with bands like Blondie. They were being classed as a Punk band over there, but I didn’t mind that so much, because it wasn’t all about the politics and the fashions, it was a lot more about the individual bands. I mean, people were even calling Mink DeVille a punk band, and I really couldn’t figure that out. For us, it just meant that we got to play with some great bands. It actually surprises me how long Punk kept going, but you still have massive festivals around the world and we’ll often go and play at them. I don’t mind that sorta thing now, because Punk isn’t about all that fashion stuff anymore, and you don’t get the idiots coming along spitting at the bands. The people who go to these things are the people who just appreciate the music.’
‘Well, all it was, Johnny was onstage and he was throwing a chair around, which bashed some of our gear. Afterwards, I gave him a little slap and told him, you don’t do that to another bands’ gear. But afterwards, our manager, Ed Hollis, got together with Malcolm Mclaren and they decided to milk it just for the press, thinking it would be a good story for both bands. They had Johnny coming over and saying, ‘What are you going to do about it ?’ I mean, I was pretty fit back then and I’d also trained as a boxer when I was a kid, so that really wouldn’t have been any contest ! But, anyway, the press got a hold of it and ran with it for a while so, looking back, it got us some press for a few weeks, but then later on it got used against us. At the time, we just thought it was funny.’
I also think you were probably more intent on remaining an individual band rather than becoming part of any movement or fad…
‘We just didn’t want to get mixed up with the politics, the spitting and the fashion, as it all started to develop. We weren’t there to be part of any fashion. We just wanted to be a rock’n’roll band and be there for the longevity of it all. We weren’t trying to be part of a fashion or part of anything else, we were just what we were. And I think most people, including most of the early Punk bands, were happy with that and they’d come to see us. The problems only really started when certain people in the music press started to get a hold of it and try to say exactly what Punk had to be. We didn’t fit-in with their agenda, so we started to get the rough end of it, to some extent. The crazy thing was, mainly because we got fed-up with all the spitting and stuff, we ended up touring in America a lot more. We worked a lot more over on that side than most bands, and we ended up playing with bands like Blondie. They were being classed as a Punk band over there, but I didn’t mind that so much, because it wasn’t all about the politics and the fashions, it was a lot more about the individual bands. I mean, people were even calling Mink DeVille a punk band, and I really couldn’t figure that out. For us, it just meant that we got to play with some great bands. It actually surprises me how long Punk kept going, but you still have massive festivals around the world and we’ll often go and play at them. I don’t mind that sorta thing now, because Punk isn’t about all that fashion stuff anymore, and you don’t get the idiots coming along spitting at the bands. The people who go to these things are the people who just appreciate the music.’
But, as you were saying, you were actually
friends with a lot of the early Punk bands. You even managed to appear on the
back of the ‘mispressed’ version of the Damneds’ first album…
‘That wasn’t mispressed at all, that was Jake Riviera’s idea all along ! Stiff were always looking for another scam… In that case, we’d been doing some photo’s with this guy, Keith Morris, who was a lovely guy and a great photographer… he actually ended up becoming a top diving instructor, but sadly went missing after a dive, about ten years ago… Anyway, on the day, he was taking some photos of us, and at the end we all started doing these impersonations of Rat Scabies. He was our mate, so we were only joking around a bit. But when Jake saw the photos, he thought they were hilarious, so he got in touch with Ed. They cooked up this scheme to have the picture on the back of some of the Damned albums and then claim it was a mispress, but I don’t think many people were fooled by that. I really wish I’d kept a couple of them cos they sell for a lot of money these days !’
You also had connections with The Clash from pretty early on…
‘Yeah, The Clash were great. At least, the music was great. I wasn’t so keen on all the politics, but that was more down to their manager. We actually got to know Joe when he was still fronting The 101’ers. They played a residency with us down at the Nashville in West Kensington and we all became mates back then, so it was a bit weird when suddenly he was in this Punk band called The Clash. But I still really miss him, he was a really nice fella. I mean, in a lot of ways, he should never have been in that Punk scene, because he was such a lovely guy. He really didn’t fit-in with what people thought Punk was all about. It’s just really weird that he isn’t still around…’
And you also toured with The Ramones…
‘Yeah, over here, in Europe and in the States ! It would be us, The Ramones and Talking Heads, back when Talking Heads were still being classed as Punk. We got on well with all of them, but it was a bit odd because Talking Heads used to be really quiet. I think they were a bit too intellectual to have a good party ! Actually, The Ramones could be pretty quiet as well. There was one time I went along and kicked their hotel door open, when we were staying in Paris. Oh my God, you’d have thought I’d pulled a gun on them ! They were shitting themselves, I had to tell them it was alright and they could calm down, but they were getting really freaked out !’
Your second album, ‘Life On The Line’, seemed to be a step away from the more R’n’B influences of the first and is certainly a lot more ambitious. Was that a deliberate move or just the way you were developing as a band ?
‘It was just a sort of natural progression for us. When we had first started doing demo’s, we still had Lew Lewis in the band, so we had to think about how he would fit-in, playing the harmonica. The way we started to change after he left was really just down to the song-writing. Dave Higgs started writing different songs, and Graeme Douglas joined us around that time, so things were bound to change and I think that was natural. Our albums have always been a bit different to the previous ones, that’s how you keep it interesting.’
I think some of the new songs on the album, tracks like ‘We Sing The Cross’ and ‘Beginning Of The End’, would have really surprised people who may have been expecting something more like the first album…
‘Yeah, and when the album first came out, I remember people telling me, that’s not the Hot Rods! But now, it’s the other way around, and those are the kind of things that people really enthuse about. Basically, what it was, we were just having fun in the studio. Our feet never touched the ground for a few years back then. We never had any days off, so we treated the studio as our own time. It was almost the only way that we could get to sleep in the same bed for a few days… although not all in the same bed, of course ! But because we were enjoying ourselves in the studio, it also became a bit more experimental as well, which would also be good fun.’
‘That wasn’t mispressed at all, that was Jake Riviera’s idea all along ! Stiff were always looking for another scam… In that case, we’d been doing some photo’s with this guy, Keith Morris, who was a lovely guy and a great photographer… he actually ended up becoming a top diving instructor, but sadly went missing after a dive, about ten years ago… Anyway, on the day, he was taking some photos of us, and at the end we all started doing these impersonations of Rat Scabies. He was our mate, so we were only joking around a bit. But when Jake saw the photos, he thought they were hilarious, so he got in touch with Ed. They cooked up this scheme to have the picture on the back of some of the Damned albums and then claim it was a mispress, but I don’t think many people were fooled by that. I really wish I’d kept a couple of them cos they sell for a lot of money these days !’
You also had connections with The Clash from pretty early on…
‘Yeah, The Clash were great. At least, the music was great. I wasn’t so keen on all the politics, but that was more down to their manager. We actually got to know Joe when he was still fronting The 101’ers. They played a residency with us down at the Nashville in West Kensington and we all became mates back then, so it was a bit weird when suddenly he was in this Punk band called The Clash. But I still really miss him, he was a really nice fella. I mean, in a lot of ways, he should never have been in that Punk scene, because he was such a lovely guy. He really didn’t fit-in with what people thought Punk was all about. It’s just really weird that he isn’t still around…’
And you also toured with The Ramones…
‘Yeah, over here, in Europe and in the States ! It would be us, The Ramones and Talking Heads, back when Talking Heads were still being classed as Punk. We got on well with all of them, but it was a bit odd because Talking Heads used to be really quiet. I think they were a bit too intellectual to have a good party ! Actually, The Ramones could be pretty quiet as well. There was one time I went along and kicked their hotel door open, when we were staying in Paris. Oh my God, you’d have thought I’d pulled a gun on them ! They were shitting themselves, I had to tell them it was alright and they could calm down, but they were getting really freaked out !’
Your second album, ‘Life On The Line’, seemed to be a step away from the more R’n’B influences of the first and is certainly a lot more ambitious. Was that a deliberate move or just the way you were developing as a band ?
‘It was just a sort of natural progression for us. When we had first started doing demo’s, we still had Lew Lewis in the band, so we had to think about how he would fit-in, playing the harmonica. The way we started to change after he left was really just down to the song-writing. Dave Higgs started writing different songs, and Graeme Douglas joined us around that time, so things were bound to change and I think that was natural. Our albums have always been a bit different to the previous ones, that’s how you keep it interesting.’
I think some of the new songs on the album, tracks like ‘We Sing The Cross’ and ‘Beginning Of The End’, would have really surprised people who may have been expecting something more like the first album…
‘Yeah, and when the album first came out, I remember people telling me, that’s not the Hot Rods! But now, it’s the other way around, and those are the kind of things that people really enthuse about. Basically, what it was, we were just having fun in the studio. Our feet never touched the ground for a few years back then. We never had any days off, so we treated the studio as our own time. It was almost the only way that we could get to sleep in the same bed for a few days… although not all in the same bed, of course ! But because we were enjoying ourselves in the studio, it also became a bit more experimental as well, which would also be good fun.’
You released ‘Do Anything You Wanna Do’ as
the first single from this album, which was to prove to be your biggest hit.
It’s kinda funny, because you still get these retrospectives that say that
Eddie & The Hot Rods were not a Punk band, but at the same time, if you
ever see a list of the best Punk singles from that era, that single is almost
always included…
‘Whatever it was, I think it just managed to capture the spirit of the time. That’s what it did, and that’s why it still works. In fact, a few years ago, we were on tour in America, and we were asked to play a few Under Age gigs, because a lot of kids under 21 couldn’t get in to see our regular shows. So we took a chance, they went well, and virtually every night I’d have kids coming up after the show and saying, ‘I can’t believe that songs is nearly forty years old ! How did you know, when you wrote it, that it was going to be the way we feel, now?’ They really thought that we’d written it about them and couldn’t understand that it was also the way we felt back then. So that’s really something. It hasn’t aged at all.’
Yeah, it’s one of those songs that really could have been sung by so many different people at different times. The sentiment isn’t far removed from Eddie Cochran singing ‘Summertime Blues’, and it would’ve really worked for the Stones back in the Sixties…
‘That’s it. The lyrics are just spot-on. It captured something that started out as being just about us, but it still resonates for kids today.’
Funnily enough, when that single came out, your name was shortened on the record sleeve and label to ‘The Rods’. I’m pretty sure that was the only time that happened. Was there any reason behind it ?
‘No, at least, nothing that we knew. I always thought it was just like, everyone would call the Rolling Stones, ‘The Stones’, and because our name was quite long-winded, our fans would often just call us ‘The Rods’. Though why the record company decided to use it on that one single, I really don’t know. The daft thing was, we got a few reviews in America and, because of the logo on the sleeve, the reviewers thought we were a new band called The Reds !’
The sleeve also featured an image of Aleister Crowley wearing Mickey Mouse ears, while there was one of his quotes included on the back of it. Was there any particular reason for that ?
‘Just that he’d said, ‘Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law’ an it fitted in with ‘Do Anything You Wanna Do’. But then it got is into big trouble… The Curse of the Hot Rods ! We heard a rumour that Jimmy Page didn’t like the way we’d used Crowley on the record cover and put a curse on us ! I mean, I don’t really believe in any of that, but it was pretty strange that so many things went tits-up for us soon after that.’
‘Whatever it was, I think it just managed to capture the spirit of the time. That’s what it did, and that’s why it still works. In fact, a few years ago, we were on tour in America, and we were asked to play a few Under Age gigs, because a lot of kids under 21 couldn’t get in to see our regular shows. So we took a chance, they went well, and virtually every night I’d have kids coming up after the show and saying, ‘I can’t believe that songs is nearly forty years old ! How did you know, when you wrote it, that it was going to be the way we feel, now?’ They really thought that we’d written it about them and couldn’t understand that it was also the way we felt back then. So that’s really something. It hasn’t aged at all.’
Yeah, it’s one of those songs that really could have been sung by so many different people at different times. The sentiment isn’t far removed from Eddie Cochran singing ‘Summertime Blues’, and it would’ve really worked for the Stones back in the Sixties…
‘That’s it. The lyrics are just spot-on. It captured something that started out as being just about us, but it still resonates for kids today.’
Funnily enough, when that single came out, your name was shortened on the record sleeve and label to ‘The Rods’. I’m pretty sure that was the only time that happened. Was there any reason behind it ?
‘No, at least, nothing that we knew. I always thought it was just like, everyone would call the Rolling Stones, ‘The Stones’, and because our name was quite long-winded, our fans would often just call us ‘The Rods’. Though why the record company decided to use it on that one single, I really don’t know. The daft thing was, we got a few reviews in America and, because of the logo on the sleeve, the reviewers thought we were a new band called The Reds !’
The sleeve also featured an image of Aleister Crowley wearing Mickey Mouse ears, while there was one of his quotes included on the back of it. Was there any particular reason for that ?
‘Just that he’d said, ‘Do What Thou Wilt Shall Be The Whole Of The Law’ an it fitted in with ‘Do Anything You Wanna Do’. But then it got is into big trouble… The Curse of the Hot Rods ! We heard a rumour that Jimmy Page didn’t like the way we’d used Crowley on the record cover and put a curse on us ! I mean, I don’t really believe in any of that, but it was pretty strange that so many things went tits-up for us soon after that.’
I think it was between ‘Life On The Line’ and
‘Thriller’ that the Hot Rods ended up recording with former MC5 frontman, Rob
Tyner…
‘That’s right. We’d obviously mentioned in an interview somewhere that we liked the MC5, and then we heard that Rob Tyner was coming over to England, so someone from Island got in touch with him. We were really shocked that he’d even heard of us, but it turned out he really loved what we were doing. So we ended-up meeting and got talking about song writing. He used what’s called an autoharp, as he wasn’t really a guitar player or a keyboard player. Anyway, we met him another time and he played us these things he’d been working on, and they were great little melodies, we were really impressed. We already had a studio booked to work on some new songs, so we decided to go in with him and do a couple of his songs instead. Once Island heard them, they were impressed and decided to put them out.’
And you also played live with him a couple of times…
‘Yeah, he got up with us at a couple of gigs. I can remember the festival we played in Chelmsford. It had been really badly organised and only a few hundred people turned up when they had been expecting a few thousand ! We ended up playing our set and the road crew were dismantling the stage because they weren’t going to get paid. Rob had come onstage to sing the last few songs with us, but he wasn’t bothered by what was going on around him. I guess he must’ve seen a lot worse things when he was playing with the MC5 ! I mean, our attitude was that it wasn’t the fault of the people who had turned up to see the music, and I think some of the people who were there didn’t understand that. We just thought, everything has been set-up, we’re probably not going to get paid, but we’re here and some people have come along to see us. I mean, taking the equipment down while the band was still onstage was only going to annoy people who hadn’t caused the problem in the first place.’
Several of the Hot Rods also played and recorded with Johnny Thunders around that time, as well…
‘That was mainly Steve and Paul, although I was also on the record, just doing backing vocals. It was good, because obviously we’d been into the New York Dolls and the MC5, and it turned out there was a kind of mutual respect. It’s sorta funny, because whenever we do get mentioned in the music press, it’s usually by the other bands that were around at the time, saying how much they liked us or how we influenced them. I think it’s turned out that way because we started something for ourselves, rather than trying to copy someone else or jump on a bandwagon, and they can appreciate that.’
‘That’s right. We’d obviously mentioned in an interview somewhere that we liked the MC5, and then we heard that Rob Tyner was coming over to England, so someone from Island got in touch with him. We were really shocked that he’d even heard of us, but it turned out he really loved what we were doing. So we ended-up meeting and got talking about song writing. He used what’s called an autoharp, as he wasn’t really a guitar player or a keyboard player. Anyway, we met him another time and he played us these things he’d been working on, and they were great little melodies, we were really impressed. We already had a studio booked to work on some new songs, so we decided to go in with him and do a couple of his songs instead. Once Island heard them, they were impressed and decided to put them out.’
And you also played live with him a couple of times…
‘Yeah, he got up with us at a couple of gigs. I can remember the festival we played in Chelmsford. It had been really badly organised and only a few hundred people turned up when they had been expecting a few thousand ! We ended up playing our set and the road crew were dismantling the stage because they weren’t going to get paid. Rob had come onstage to sing the last few songs with us, but he wasn’t bothered by what was going on around him. I guess he must’ve seen a lot worse things when he was playing with the MC5 ! I mean, our attitude was that it wasn’t the fault of the people who had turned up to see the music, and I think some of the people who were there didn’t understand that. We just thought, everything has been set-up, we’re probably not going to get paid, but we’re here and some people have come along to see us. I mean, taking the equipment down while the band was still onstage was only going to annoy people who hadn’t caused the problem in the first place.’
Several of the Hot Rods also played and recorded with Johnny Thunders around that time, as well…
‘That was mainly Steve and Paul, although I was also on the record, just doing backing vocals. It was good, because obviously we’d been into the New York Dolls and the MC5, and it turned out there was a kind of mutual respect. It’s sorta funny, because whenever we do get mentioned in the music press, it’s usually by the other bands that were around at the time, saying how much they liked us or how we influenced them. I think it’s turned out that way because we started something for ourselves, rather than trying to copy someone else or jump on a bandwagon, and they can appreciate that.’
Your next album, ‘Thriller’, suffered from a
dodgy production but still included some really good songs and carried on in
the direction you’d started with ‘Life On The Line’. But despite the first
single ‘Power & The Glory’ being one of your best, the album didn’t get the
response it deserved…
‘It was the only album, I think, that got really messed up, but that was down to Island records… We’d been working with Steve Lillywhite for ‘Life On The Line’ and, really, he’s not a producer in the normal sense, he’s more of an engineer. But he was a genius in the way he brought everything together. He could just capture the spirit of a song. But we worked with someone else for ‘Thriller’, and when we thought we’d finished it and were happy with the way it sounded, we all took a break for three or four days. When we came back to the studio, we listened to the tapes and we could hardly recognise it ! Island had decided they weren’t happy with the mix and messed around with it. We’d never thought they might try to do something like that, but we were still pretty young and didn’t realise that it was down to us to really push it in the direction we wanted. The music press decided they didn’t like it almost before they even heard it. There was a big backlash against the Punk thing and we got caught up in that as well. The music press always like to build people up and then kick you down. There were a few things that happened, I guess the climate was wrong. We were still trying to take things forward, but some people just wanted us to stick with what we’d already done.’
It was also around this time that the first cracks started to appear in the band. Do you think that was just because you’d all been working so hard together for several years ?
‘Oh, yeah. We were never getting any time-off. And we were starting to have a few problems with the manager. There were a few things going on, and it all started to come apart.’
But you did go to EMI, who released one further album, ‘Fish’n’Chips’, in 1981, although both Paul and Graeme had left the band by then…
‘Yeah, but EMI really didn’t seem to know what to do with it. A week before the release, they set-up parties and brought-in American press and stuff, and we thought it was going to be great ! But then, within a few days, they were talking about shelving it. In the end, they let it slip out, but there was next to no promotion at all. Apparently, they decided to spend all their budget for that year on Cliff Richard and Olivia Newton John, or something like that… There was hardly any advertising budget left for all the other bands on the label and since we’d only just signed-up, there was virtually nothing for us.’
There were a couple of good singles from that album, but EMI didn’t even bother to release them in picture sleeves !
‘Exactly ! They put the records out, but they couldn’t really be bothered with them.’
‘It was the only album, I think, that got really messed up, but that was down to Island records… We’d been working with Steve Lillywhite for ‘Life On The Line’ and, really, he’s not a producer in the normal sense, he’s more of an engineer. But he was a genius in the way he brought everything together. He could just capture the spirit of a song. But we worked with someone else for ‘Thriller’, and when we thought we’d finished it and were happy with the way it sounded, we all took a break for three or four days. When we came back to the studio, we listened to the tapes and we could hardly recognise it ! Island had decided they weren’t happy with the mix and messed around with it. We’d never thought they might try to do something like that, but we were still pretty young and didn’t realise that it was down to us to really push it in the direction we wanted. The music press decided they didn’t like it almost before they even heard it. There was a big backlash against the Punk thing and we got caught up in that as well. The music press always like to build people up and then kick you down. There were a few things that happened, I guess the climate was wrong. We were still trying to take things forward, but some people just wanted us to stick with what we’d already done.’
It was also around this time that the first cracks started to appear in the band. Do you think that was just because you’d all been working so hard together for several years ?
‘Oh, yeah. We were never getting any time-off. And we were starting to have a few problems with the manager. There were a few things going on, and it all started to come apart.’
But you did go to EMI, who released one further album, ‘Fish’n’Chips’, in 1981, although both Paul and Graeme had left the band by then…
‘Yeah, but EMI really didn’t seem to know what to do with it. A week before the release, they set-up parties and brought-in American press and stuff, and we thought it was going to be great ! But then, within a few days, they were talking about shelving it. In the end, they let it slip out, but there was next to no promotion at all. Apparently, they decided to spend all their budget for that year on Cliff Richard and Olivia Newton John, or something like that… There was hardly any advertising budget left for all the other bands on the label and since we’d only just signed-up, there was virtually nothing for us.’
There were a couple of good singles from that album, but EMI didn’t even bother to release them in picture sleeves !
‘Exactly ! They put the records out, but they couldn’t really be bothered with them.’
There’s an album, ‘The Curse of the Hot Rods’,
which wasn’t released until 1990, but featured the final recordings made by the
band before Paul and Graeme left. Strangely, only a couple of those tracks
ended up on ‘Fish’n’Chips’…
‘Well, those songs were recorded back in 1979, straight after ‘Thriller’, and I think we were looking for another record label. So it was a while before we ended up on EMI and the line-up had changed by then, so obviously we had other songs by the time we were ready to record. Actually, I think that was when Paul wrote ‘Hit Or Miss’ and as we never used it, he took that to The Damned when he joined them. But the Hot Rods were never a band who’d wait until it was time for a new album and then write 15 new songs for it. It’s never been like that. Some days, we’ll go to a rehearsal and have fifty new songs in the pipeline, and then other days we’ll be fighting just to get one. Sometimes they flow and sometimes they don’t. At the moment, we seem to have new songs coming out of our ears. We never planned things properly, like some bands do. We don’t set aside a certain time for touring, another time for writing and another time for recording… We just can’t do that.’
The band split after ‘Fish’n’Chips’, although there were various reunions, with different line-ups, over the next decade. But it wasn’t until 1996 that you released a new album, ‘Gasoline Days’. Being your first new recordings in over a decade, it was pretty well received by the fans, if not the music press…
‘Yeah, it was actually. By then, the line-up was me, Paul and Steve, together with Mick Rogers. We just wanted to prove a point, because we’d had all these different line-ups with different people and a lot of them were really good musicians, but you couldn’t just throw a bunch of people together, however good they are, and have them be the Hot Rods. People still liked the shows, but it wasn’t the same thing. We always needed the right people in the band, and I think that’s what we were able to prove with ‘Gasoline Days’. ‘
That seems to be what’s happened with the current line-up. Although you’re the only original member still in the band, the other guys really fit-in and it has the same energy and approach again…
‘Well, that’s why were still together now. We started 15 or 16 years ago and the response has been great. We’ve been touring a lot and building-up our reputation all over again. It all came together because Simon, our current drummer, is Steve’s nephew. He had actually been in another band that had played with a different version of the Hot Rods in Holland. I remember thinking then, he was a really good drummer. Funnily enough, he actually auditioned to join the Hot Rods for an earlier line-up about ten years before that, although I can’t remember it, and he didn’t get the job. But now, he just seemed to be the right person, so we decided to get together. And as we played, it really gelled together and felt good, so it just seemed obvious. And as the other guys came-in, we realised that this was just what the Hot Rods needed, and it’s been working really well ever since.’
‘Well, those songs were recorded back in 1979, straight after ‘Thriller’, and I think we were looking for another record label. So it was a while before we ended up on EMI and the line-up had changed by then, so obviously we had other songs by the time we were ready to record. Actually, I think that was when Paul wrote ‘Hit Or Miss’ and as we never used it, he took that to The Damned when he joined them. But the Hot Rods were never a band who’d wait until it was time for a new album and then write 15 new songs for it. It’s never been like that. Some days, we’ll go to a rehearsal and have fifty new songs in the pipeline, and then other days we’ll be fighting just to get one. Sometimes they flow and sometimes they don’t. At the moment, we seem to have new songs coming out of our ears. We never planned things properly, like some bands do. We don’t set aside a certain time for touring, another time for writing and another time for recording… We just can’t do that.’
The band split after ‘Fish’n’Chips’, although there were various reunions, with different line-ups, over the next decade. But it wasn’t until 1996 that you released a new album, ‘Gasoline Days’. Being your first new recordings in over a decade, it was pretty well received by the fans, if not the music press…
‘Yeah, it was actually. By then, the line-up was me, Paul and Steve, together with Mick Rogers. We just wanted to prove a point, because we’d had all these different line-ups with different people and a lot of them were really good musicians, but you couldn’t just throw a bunch of people together, however good they are, and have them be the Hot Rods. People still liked the shows, but it wasn’t the same thing. We always needed the right people in the band, and I think that’s what we were able to prove with ‘Gasoline Days’. ‘
That seems to be what’s happened with the current line-up. Although you’re the only original member still in the band, the other guys really fit-in and it has the same energy and approach again…
‘Well, that’s why were still together now. We started 15 or 16 years ago and the response has been great. We’ve been touring a lot and building-up our reputation all over again. It all came together because Simon, our current drummer, is Steve’s nephew. He had actually been in another band that had played with a different version of the Hot Rods in Holland. I remember thinking then, he was a really good drummer. Funnily enough, he actually auditioned to join the Hot Rods for an earlier line-up about ten years before that, although I can’t remember it, and he didn’t get the job. But now, he just seemed to be the right person, so we decided to get together. And as we played, it really gelled together and felt good, so it just seemed obvious. And as the other guys came-in, we realised that this was just what the Hot Rods needed, and it’s been working really well ever since.’
With the current Hot Rods line-up doing so
well for themselves, I don’t suppose there was ever any talk of a reunion of
the original line-up. But a reunion of the remaining members finally happened
in 2014, as a tribute to Dave Higgs…
‘I think that must have been the first time in nearly 30 years that the four of us had all been onstage together again. It was an emotional night because we’d only recently lost Dave, but it was also really nice to see and play with all the old boys again. I mean, back at the time when we split up, after ‘Thriller’ and ‘Fish’n’Chips’, there had been a bit of animosity and stuff between some of us, you know, guitars being thrown around, but after all this time we could see that those differences probably weren’t such a big deal after all.’
That gig had originally been intended to be just a one off reunion, especially as the current line-up has been keeping such a busy schedule. So what made you decide to do these further reunion shows now?
‘Well, it was basically because all of us said that we’d really enjoyed it. There had been no outside pressure, and we all started thinking, well, it would be nice to do a few more… But we had to figure out when we could do it, as we’ve all got families and other commitments, plus the current band have been busy. So it wasn’t until now that we could fit these couple of gigs in. And it’s also been nice that Headline Maniac, which is the other members of the current band, have been able to play with us, because that’s brought everything together. ‘
Do you think it’s something that you might do again, after these dates ?
‘Well, originally, we were offered a bunch of gigs, all through June, but as I said, we couldn’t do it because we’ve all got other commitments these days. So it’ll all depend on the time and place, but I reckon it could. There’s certainly a demand for it, particularly from abroad. We’ve already had offers from America and Canada, even Japan. They’re going mad for it and I think they’d really love it, as well. But I think playing a few shows would be as far as it would go. I can’t imagine that we’d record anything new so I doubt that would happen. I’m not sure if we’d all have the time to do that properly and it probably wouldn’t be fair on the current band. But, never-say-never… I mean, a few years ago, we would never have imagined these gigs happening.’
‘I think that must have been the first time in nearly 30 years that the four of us had all been onstage together again. It was an emotional night because we’d only recently lost Dave, but it was also really nice to see and play with all the old boys again. I mean, back at the time when we split up, after ‘Thriller’ and ‘Fish’n’Chips’, there had been a bit of animosity and stuff between some of us, you know, guitars being thrown around, but after all this time we could see that those differences probably weren’t such a big deal after all.’
That gig had originally been intended to be just a one off reunion, especially as the current line-up has been keeping such a busy schedule. So what made you decide to do these further reunion shows now?
‘Well, it was basically because all of us said that we’d really enjoyed it. There had been no outside pressure, and we all started thinking, well, it would be nice to do a few more… But we had to figure out when we could do it, as we’ve all got families and other commitments, plus the current band have been busy. So it wasn’t until now that we could fit these couple of gigs in. And it’s also been nice that Headline Maniac, which is the other members of the current band, have been able to play with us, because that’s brought everything together. ‘
Do you think it’s something that you might do again, after these dates ?
‘Well, originally, we were offered a bunch of gigs, all through June, but as I said, we couldn’t do it because we’ve all got other commitments these days. So it’ll all depend on the time and place, but I reckon it could. There’s certainly a demand for it, particularly from abroad. We’ve already had offers from America and Canada, even Japan. They’re going mad for it and I think they’d really love it, as well. But I think playing a few shows would be as far as it would go. I can’t imagine that we’d record anything new so I doubt that would happen. I’m not sure if we’d all have the time to do that properly and it probably wouldn’t be fair on the current band. But, never-say-never… I mean, a few years ago, we would never have imagined these gigs happening.’
So you’ll be straight back to work with the
current line-up after these gigs ?
‘We’re working on making a new record, very soon… actually, we really should have started it by now. We’ve got the songs written and made some demo’s, so we’ve just got to start recording. That’s the first thing we’ve got to do, but there’s also a few other things happening. I’m going to be doing a thing with Steve and a guy called Russ Strutter, who used to play with us for a while and also played with Wilko Johnson. Years ago, we did this thing for a while called ‘Plus Support’. It was just this thing where we’d call-in other musicians who weren’t on tour, and we’d play in this band together. At one point, we had Chris Cross from Ultravox, another time it was James Honeyman-Scott from The Pretenders…we’d just play a bunch of covers and support other bands, like Madness, just for a giggle. Anyway, we decided that we’d like to do something like that again, and it’s going to be called ‘The Class of 76’. We’re just going to play things that we were involved with, in one way or another, and hopefully people will pick up on it.’
Okay, final question, to try and solve a mystery… When the band first used to play live, you used to have a mannequin-dummy onstage, who you would tell people was ‘Eddie’… where did he go after he was kicked-out of the band ?
‘We sold him to Iron Maiden ! They gave him a bit of a make over and he’s been with them ever-since ! But I saw a recent picture of him and I don’t think he’s aged very well, hahaha !’
‘We’re working on making a new record, very soon… actually, we really should have started it by now. We’ve got the songs written and made some demo’s, so we’ve just got to start recording. That’s the first thing we’ve got to do, but there’s also a few other things happening. I’m going to be doing a thing with Steve and a guy called Russ Strutter, who used to play with us for a while and also played with Wilko Johnson. Years ago, we did this thing for a while called ‘Plus Support’. It was just this thing where we’d call-in other musicians who weren’t on tour, and we’d play in this band together. At one point, we had Chris Cross from Ultravox, another time it was James Honeyman-Scott from The Pretenders…we’d just play a bunch of covers and support other bands, like Madness, just for a giggle. Anyway, we decided that we’d like to do something like that again, and it’s going to be called ‘The Class of 76’. We’re just going to play things that we were involved with, in one way or another, and hopefully people will pick up on it.’
Okay, final question, to try and solve a mystery… When the band first used to play live, you used to have a mannequin-dummy onstage, who you would tell people was ‘Eddie’… where did he go after he was kicked-out of the band ?
‘We sold him to Iron Maiden ! They gave him a bit of a make over and he’s been with them ever-since ! But I saw a recent picture of him and I don’t think he’s aged very well, hahaha !’
Time to let Barrie get himself ready for the gig, so I
wonder back out into the venue, meet some friends and watch the support band,
Headline Maniac. As already mentioned, they’re a three-piece band featuring
Ian, Simon and Chris from the current Hot Rods. They play a harder, more
blues-rock style than the Hot Rods, but instil it with plenty of power and
never lack a good hook. It’s a good start to the evening and certainly gets the
audience ready for the Hot Rods.
The place is pretty full by the time they hit the stage, and from the outset, they’re obviously enjoying themselves and playing at their best. These guys just belong onstage together and it’s a treat to see them. The energy bounces back and forth between the stage and the audience, with plenty of great songs to keep everyone on their toes. ‘Power & The Glory’, ‘Teenage Depression’, ‘Ignore Them’, ‘Life On The Line’ and, of course, ‘Do Anything You Wanna Do’. They may be older, but the energy-levels really hadn’t dropped at all, as they put everything into the performance and delivered a set that we’re all going to remember. The encore is just one song, but when it’s an excellent version of ‘The Beginning Of The End’, I doubt if anyone was disappointed. As discussed in the interview, it’s uncertain if this line-up will be playing again, but the current band are also well-worth catching in their own right, so don’t be shy. Maybe they weren’t a ‘punk band’ – does that even matter ? At the end of the day, Eddie & The Hot Rods were, and continue to be, a great band. And that’s all you need to know.
www.eddieandthehotrods.com
The place is pretty full by the time they hit the stage, and from the outset, they’re obviously enjoying themselves and playing at their best. These guys just belong onstage together and it’s a treat to see them. The energy bounces back and forth between the stage and the audience, with plenty of great songs to keep everyone on their toes. ‘Power & The Glory’, ‘Teenage Depression’, ‘Ignore Them’, ‘Life On The Line’ and, of course, ‘Do Anything You Wanna Do’. They may be older, but the energy-levels really hadn’t dropped at all, as they put everything into the performance and delivered a set that we’re all going to remember. The encore is just one song, but when it’s an excellent version of ‘The Beginning Of The End’, I doubt if anyone was disappointed. As discussed in the interview, it’s uncertain if this line-up will be playing again, but the current band are also well-worth catching in their own right, so don’t be shy. Maybe they weren’t a ‘punk band’ – does that even matter ? At the end of the day, Eddie & The Hot Rods were, and continue to be, a great band. And that’s all you need to know.
www.eddieandthehotrods.com