Dark luminosity, p.38
Dark Luminosity, page 38
Taking a bow
Left to right: George, Chungy, me and Marc
Another good pal of mine up here is a fellow called Antony Walsh. Ant makes my T-shirts, along with his business partner Will; plus they have a rehearsal rooms called Pressure Drop. Ant is well known as an enthusiastic supporter of Stockport County. Many years ago, when County punched well above their weight, Ant was considered a bit of a face down at Edgeley Park and, of course, much further afield. He had a bit of a reputation. Unlike a lot of those ex-tough-guy football supporters, Ant does not dine out on his past exploits, or try to exaggerate any of it. We occasionally go to County games together. He has a terrific punk band, as well, called Kingsway Flyers. I started to go to watch County play as soon as I moved up here. I even saw them beat Man City 4–1 in Jim Gannon’s testimonial. George Weah was in the City team that day. Another good mate of mine, Phil Brennan, even got me doing co-commentaries alongside Jon Keighren, who takes care of all the County radio broadcasts. I was thrilled when my boy Charlie turned out for them. He represented Stockport Schools (they won the cup) and Stockport County.
I’m good mates now with Marc Riley, the BBC Radio DJ, Tony Husband, the Private Eye cartoonist, and Jason Wood, who was boss at Home in Manchester and is now the exec director at the BFI. Although Jason is a Stockport resident, he is like me, originally a Londoner. He supports West Ham. Marc is a Blue and Tony a committed Red, so our regular ‘Curry Club’ meet-ups get quite lively. They are good lads.
I too still play football; although at the time of writing I am recuperating from a couple of hairline fractures and a torn abductor. I still managed to play a game in Holland in the summer of 2022 – an eleven-a-side game which we won 5–0. I got a hat-trick. The little stadium the game was played in was just up the road from where Willem, my old agent, lives in Rotterdam. He turned up to watch with Ben, his old assistant. It was pretty surreal. As he pointed out, he thought years ago that I would kill myself prematurely drinking and drugging the way I did. He didn’t expect to be watching me kick a ball about forty-odd years later!
Some of it is open-age football, with a wide age range, and some is the new ‘walking football’ for older people. To be honest, from my experience, it tends to a walking/running hybrid. Although at the tournaments I notice the walking rules are fully applied. I play with two smashing groups of older chaps: one lot around Poynton, the others in Stockport. (I have played occasionally with the famed ‘Camden Strollers’ in London too. They have a very wide age range – and some decent players there.) The fellas in Stockport are good players – very impressive for their age, they ping it around, with lots of movement, balls in to feet, at pace, no messing; very competitive, but with very little bickering. There’s a lot of banter between the blue lot and and the red lot. One of my pals there, Philip Royal, is an excellent photographer. He takes lots of dramatic photos around the Manchester Ship Canal.
I have also developed a strong penchant for foot-golf (yes, there is such a thing). Every week I go and have a game with my good mates Franny, Steve, Albert Morgan, Dr Mike, Ian, Andy Ritchie, Dave Mac, John Wilcox and Andy Oldfield. Great company they are. Albert was the Manchester United kit man for years, sitting alongside Fergie on the bench, and Mike was the United club doctor. Andy Ritchie, the ex-Manchester United and Oldham player, is, as you would fully expect, a very decent player. I have improved over the last couple of years. Incredibly, I have to date got five (yes, five) holes-in-one. All were witnessed. Steve, like myself, is an ex-karate guy; a very sound fella. Franny doesn’t miss a trick. I won the ‘player of the season’ last season, which without doubt is one of my proudest moments in life.
Proudly holding my player of the season trophy
I reformed my Invaders of the Heart (MK III) band in 2014. Obviously, Marc Layton-Bennett, Chungy and George were a collective ‘shoe-in’. A good, proper drummer – Marc – is vital. In fact, forget me – the band had got a great reputation around the gig circuit. All our audiences will attest to that. They groove and have really got chops. Interestingly, they are all Aries, as was Neville. My good mate Andrew Black is Aries. Jon Klein, who sits in with us a lot, is an Aries, as is his wife Keiko, who does backing vocals on the records we make together. Lastly, Tyson, our beloved Staffie, was also an Aries. Aries can be a bit rude and overly direct. They but up against gates, so to speak, rather than look for a hole or gap somewhere. But they tend not to be schnieds. Since I reformed the Invaders in 2014 we have played a ton of shows. Marc, George and Chungy have been phenomenal – great players and great company; there is always a lot of laughter when we are together. Our standard set is two hours straight through. It’s not unheard of for us to play three-hour sets, though. They are high-level players and, importantly, deliver consistently, night in, night out. There are never ever any excuses from them. Like a lot of northerners, they just get on with it. It’s not easy being a bandleader. I had long given up ever thinking it was ever going to be without hassle. One of the main issues is simply keeping things on a professional, functional footing. In particular, finding consistent trustworthy crew has, at times, been a problem. Understandably, a lot of talented crew members take up steady jobs outside the gig economy. Long-term illness has been a factor too, on occasion. While I never ever expected my band to make their own way to gigs, this line-up of the Invaders is tough, no-nonsense and self-reliant: Marc owns a transporter van, and he and the others came to me one day and made it clear all they ever needed to know was when and where! We have a full complement of crew at the moment, but it’s lovely to know that whatever happens we can get the job done, and are self-reliant.
The Invaders seen from side stage
Sometimes Zi-Lan and my sons, John and Charlie, come and play with the band. Talking of them, we released a family album called Guanyin in 2021. It’s a blinding record. The single from it, ‘Dim Sum’ did well. Charlie did the vocals.
30 Hertz Records, Cherry Red, Music, Football, Boxing and Education
Me and Evan Parker – I think this was taken in New York backstage at the famous Knitting Factory venue
So, as we moved into the new millennium, we made record after record. I loved it. I felt so privileged to be able to make just about any sort of record that I wanted, whenever I wanted. The 30 Hertz Records catalogue continued to be very eclectic: Molam Music from Laos, leftfield jazz with legendary English saxophonist Evan Parker, ‘ambient psychedelic boogie’ (Deep Space, featuring Bill Laswell), ambient (Anomic, made with Marconi Union) … the list goes on and on. The records sold OK, won the odd award, and were generally well received. I look back with particular affection to the Nippon Dub Ensemble record (Japanese Dub). I drafted in my old friend Joji Hirota on taiko drums and vocals. The flautist Clive Bell was, as ever, a great help. In any case, it would be fair to describe Clive as a Nipponophile. Koto player Keiko Kitamura also featured on the record, and did a great job. I toured that record, drafting in Emi Watanabe on flute, and the force of nature that is Kumiko Suzuki on taiko drums. We also had an amazing character called Takashi Sawano, an ikebana (Japanese flower arrangement) master. As we played our set Takashi would gradually build a dense and detailed wall of foliage and flowers at the front of the stage. At the culmination of our show water would spray out from the foliage over the first few rows of the audience. Takashi was a deep person – very spontaneous and in the moment. That in itself tells you everything you need to know about a person. Working with Japanese people was a wonderful experience for me. They are totally committed to the cause. Not the slightest problem with them.
For a time, around that period, I was an ambassador (a funny old term) for a secondary school in east London. The deputy head there, Suresh, was out of Brick Lane, and was a friend of mine. He was the person who approached me to get involved. We did a music–taiko drums–dance–ikebana art workshop sort of thing, in conjunction with the music and arts department. Now, as in any inner-city comprehensive school, some of the pupils there could have issues with authority. I know that at their age I certainly did – and still have, in fact! I insisted on including all the pupils who wanted to get involved. And, of course, it was those kids whose reputations went before them who excelled, particularly on taiko drums. To my mind, drums – especially large deep-sounding drums – are great for converting pent-up emotion into relaxed expansiveness. The pupils were in thrall of the Japanese, especially Kumiko. We had looked to get her doing some martial arts stuff, which she was also an expert in, but even then health and safety (understandably) loomed large, so we didn’t go down that path. I also did some work with an organisation called 2nd Chance, based in south London. At the time that we were involved with it, it seemed mainly concerned with helping rehabilitate and provide education for young people who had formerly faced social hardship and disadvantage. Some of the young people were former gang members. We made some tracks, simply facilitating the young people with the various stages of pre-production, recording and post-production. It was a fantastic experience. Me and my crew did not have one single problem with any of the young people. It was clearly apparent that they were all more than worthy of a second chance.
I have an idea to start a record label, utilising the talents of young people in actually running it. I think that these young street entrepreneurs could make a great fist of that. So many people that I encounter in the business have been given a leg up in life. Surely disadvantaged people deserve similar. Such a thing would truly empower the deserving. They would still need to employ crucial skills in a sink or swim situation. But whenever I pitch the idea to likely facilitating bodies, the key people get nervous. I think that ultimately it’s going to be down to me and my associates to make it happen.
I sold my record label, 30 Hertz Records, to Cherry Red in 2014. By that time streaming was a thing. Without a doubt it had started to have a detrimental effect on sales. It was quite a sudden change. I was also getting a bit worn out administering the label. It was a big catalogue and there always seemed, to use a small-holding/farming analogy, a fence to be fixed somewhere. Zi-Lan had always been a big help, but she had (due to her dad’s long-term illness, had to devote more and more time to running the Pagoda Centre and Pagoda Youth Orchestra. I fancied being untethered from the label and starting anew. I really thought that I would simply start a new label and just release one or two albums every few years. So began Jah Wobble Records. However, seven years later I had made another eight albums, an EP and a single! There are some absolute gems in there, such as Maghrebi Jazz made with Tahar Elidrissi and Hassan Nainia of MoMo (Music of Moroccan Origin). Hassan is a great guitarist, and was able to play quarter-tone scales with great alacrity. Taha has a fine voice and musical vision. He works (in his day job) as a London cabbie. Realm of Spells, produced by Bill Laswell at his New Jersey studio, is another nugget. I flew out with my Invaders of the Heart band to record it. I have since sold all those records, bar one, to Cherry Red. My big fear in regards to selling catalogue is that it would stop being available. I think with Cherry Red that is unlikely to happen. To be fair, the resurgence of vinyl, and Bandcamp, has made a big difference when it comes to the financial viability of running a small indie label. Heather, who used to work in record distribution, runs an eBay store selling Jah Wobble merch, as well as selling it at gigs.
Not long after Cherry Red purchased the 30 Hertz Records they released my second anthology, a massive premium-priced six-CD boxset I called Redux. My first anthology, I Could Have Been a Contender, had come out on Trojan Records ten years earlier. The original version of this book signed off with that Trojan anthology. I was pleased as punch to have an anthology on such a legendary label. My God, it seems a long time ago now. I certainly didn’t expect to have another two anthologies. My designer Andy Squiff did a great job on the Redux package. Anyway, it’s sold out now … and I haven’t got one! I have now sold most of the Jah Wobble Records catalogue to Cherry Red – over the last decade or so I have become very friendly with the people there.
I am proud to be a member of the Cherry Red family. I went there when John Reed, who signed me to Trojan in the noughties, went to work for them. Iain McNay, the chairman, and Adam Velasco, the managing director, are both keen football fans, as is Matt Bristow (a Wolves fan), the man who sorts the royalties out. Iain has a strong affiliation to AFC Wimbledon; Adam to Wycombe Wanderers. Iain and Adam are both very involved with their respective clubs, at an administrative level. I enjoy attending games with them both. Nowadays I really like going to lower league and non-league football. Having said that, Wycombe, incredibly – when one looks at their budget – got into the Championship (the second tier) in the 2020–21 season. Of course, the Dons are now fan owned, and had to survive incredible travails in order to start from scratch and then move up the football pyramid and into the league again. I always get on well with everyone down there, especially Harry Bassett, their old gaffer. We had a long old chat once, through a game, not about football but about the best hearing aids – and heated gilets (I have one – they are blinding – it was a freezing day, and I was as warm as toast). Gareth Ainsworth, the QPR manager, is another person who I met through Cherry Red. Gareth is totally into music. Very good company.
Talking of football (as I often do), I mentioned in the first edition of MOAG that my boy Charlie was a keen footballer. In fact, he got signed by Wigan’s football academy in the Roberto Martínez era. He was scouted by a guy called Jonathan Middleton, who was his coach at Bramhall North boys team. He also played with Reddish Vulcans for a few years. We were at Wembley when Wigan won the cup. Obviously, Martínez was one of the chief adherents of possession-based football at that time. He turned up one night at the academy and shook hands with all the young players – a nice touch. In his first season at Wigan Charlie had ex-Wigan veteran Neil Rimmer as his coach. Neil’s assistant was a geezer called Basil. I chatted a few times to Neil, but never exchanged words with Basil. What a fantastic partnership they made. The training routines were superb – very imaginative.
After Wigan he was at Crewe and Oldham for spells, before signing for Bury. He had his GCSEs coming up. I was very concerned that the academy routine was adversely affecting his studies. He is pretty academic as well as sporty, so that bothered me hugely. I was terrified that Charlie would sacrifice his life, thanks to me, on the altar of football. At Wigan he missed two afternoons a week to go and train, as well as do an extra evening of training. Obviously over the course of time, that’s a lot of catching up to do.
At that time Zi-Lan’s dad got very sick, to the point where he was terminally ill. He died in 2013. She was left with the responsibility of running the Pagoda Community Centre and the orchestra single-handedly. It was a big ask. It was a crucial time in the development of both my sons. I was fortunate that I could take my foot off the gas pedal re. my work at that time. I did fewer shows and sessions. Instead I ferried the boys to and from football and boxing, as well as overseeing their education, as best I could. As well as walking and taking care of Tyson. Tyson would often sit in the car with me and I would take him for a walk around Wigan. Often I would drop John off at Irlam boxing gym, Charlie off at Wigan, then work on a track, via iPad, in my car. Zi-Lan would pick John up from boxing and I would take Charlie back home, or Zi-Lan would bring John to Wigan where we would all eat a late meal. It was a pretty hectic schedule. At times I really put running the label and ‘my career’ on the back burner. The great thing about that is that I can now bang on, whenever it takes my fancy, to my family about ‘the huge sacrifices’ that I have made. Never forget: sacrifices are collateral. But, in all seriousness, I would not have missed that period for the world. That sort of pressure that my sons were put under spurred great conversations about life, pressure and expectation, and how we deal with it.
Me and the Missus
There’s a very good book about football academies by a writer called Michael Calvin, called No Hunger in Paradise. He also wrote a book about football scouts called The Nowhere Men, which is also very good. All his books are worth a read. The various football academies that I witnessed, reminded me quite a lot of the scene around major record companies and the music business as a whole, back in the day. Both situations, to my mind, often tended towards being fickle places, with lots of similar platitudes about artist/player development – whereas, in reality, a lot of people working in both industries are primarily only concerned with themselves and their own careers. Lots of politics. Nepotism far from unheard of. Lots of mixed messages. Lots of grand, second-hand mission statements from arrogant blokes in their twenties and thirties. Apart from that, they are OK places! No, seriously, I hasten to add: you do see and meet some good, straightforward people along the way, as you inevitably do in life. No matter how indifferent the situation seems to be.
