Frank Blank

These are fvckin’ splendid!

Welcome and we’ll have none of that conchie talk around here, little old, good grief, most of us are older than you and we are having a time so keep going, it’s more addictive than crack.

Actually I’m watching (and listening to) Gerald McBoing Boing...

You, Sir, are a man of quality and distinction.

Get in! Sir Horace Gentleman. Top choice.

Welcome.

Reamer, use a tapered reamer Well can you put your drill in your bag, oh no!

Got you, yes, agreed.

I partook in the songwriting process in every band I was a drummer in.

Didn’t we all! Not the easiest guitarist to emulate, I can never see what he’s actually doing, even when I was lucky enough to be at a rehearsal I still couldn’t work it out, I blame the hot sake. I’m not a big Cult fan oddly enough I got dragged to several of their gigs as a lot of my pals were right into them, having said that I very much enjoyed that gig at The Lyceum. I'm glad you mentioned David Jay, I thought he was an excellent bass player in an equally excellent band whose gigs I did not have to be dragged to.

This is a good idea, it was noisy last time, brilliant, delicious and noisy.

Exactly!

Which is why they weren’t called Chas, Dave & Burt.

Totally. There are very few albums where every track is a cracker but DWWS is one of ‘em.

Yes, they were when I saw them.

A proper gentleman with a super dry sense of humour. I thought Big Paul and Raven were a great rhythm section.

I have very nearly had that as a tattoo several times, I am glad to report I remain a clean skin.

Agreed but both Zerøx and Whip In My Valise are on later re-releases. I love The Monochrome Set, I believe (I may have dreamt this) that I was at a Monochrome Set gig the night it was announced that Matthew Ashman had died and they did a song in tribute to him.

Yes. If your first in was Kings then Dirk Wears must be a bit odd, I love some of the tracks on Kings, but then I would being a big fan of tom tom playing but unfortunately Prince Charming finished me off too. I kind of went to that gig as a farewell I suppose.

I usually just blat out a stock answer to this but today I've thought a bit more about it. I was eleven the first time I heard a bass in isolation so to speak was that bass line that starts at 17:23 on Tubular Bells, I loved many elements of that album but that bass line... it sent shivers down my spine. Next was listening to the first five Yes albums played by my brother, he really loved Chris Squire's bass sound, constantly banging on about the distinctive Rickenbacker sound, I remember sitting down and drawing that bass over and over for some reason. Then I was looking through his albums and I found Relayer, luckily I put the second side on first and heard Sound Chaser, which remains my favourite Yes track to this day. Although these were my earliest bass influences they were almost anti-influences so to speak inasmuch as I listened, admired and decided I could never play anything like that and anyway I only really excelled at art and technical drawing at school and had already decided (at such a stupidly young age, what did I know) that I was going to be a graphic designer (or commercial artist as it was called at the time) so I kept listening to all sorts of music, kind of unaware really how important it all was to me and carried on being a unpopular long-haired teenager who spent school breaks sitting underneath the oak tree next to the art department listening to Selling England By The Pound and The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway on a scratchy little cassette player. Then I was at my school's Friday night youth club disco. Two girls appeared in garish ripped tights and what I (I assumed) were pairs of their Mum's high heels. They were also wearing oversized dinner jackets adorned with badges, I remember seeing one badge which was the Bowie Aladdin Sane face and another that I thought was Elvis Costello. Both these girls were (in that horrible school hierarchy sense) unpopular and not considered 'attractive" by the popular boys. I took one look at them and thought "Right, my long hair and greatcoat need updating". Gradually I became a punk and after auditioning in the middle of a field on a mates drum kit I became the drummer in a few short-lived punk bands. One afternoon I was sitting on the doorstep of a mates gaff when he put on the first Public Image Ltd single, "Surely that's just four notes?" I thought. My mate had a bass so I sat on the doorstep with it and indeed it was four notes, I played that bass line and I was hooked. For some reason I kept on playing drums in various bands until I was about 25 and then I bought a Jaydee and now I'm here! So, in summary Mike Oldfield, Chris Squire, Jah Wobble. Heavy influences afterwards were JJ Burnel, Mick Karn, Gabe Nelson and Eugene Wright. But who influenced me to actually pick a bass up and made me realise I could play it? Wobble innit...

It was Dec btw. Yes, unfortunately. My first gig seeing A&TA was in 1979 on the Young Parisians tour and I have to admit I remained a bit of a 'first album' idiot. Although in its defence I personally think Dirk Wears White Sox is one of the greatest albums ever created. I think A&TA are the band that I've seen the most times apart from Killing Joke and I personally took their decline (or what I saw a s a decline) quite badly. Had I have been 10 I would have loved it too I think but I was a self-important eighteen year old by then and too far up my own backside to be genuinely subjective.

Knew it would be! I was at that gig, I finally gave up on Adam that night!

Where and when was that Adam & The Ants gig? Just asking because the last time I saw them (before his latest tours) was on the PCR tour.

Brill, cheers.