WEBVTT - Rod Argent 0:00:08.600 --> 0:00:12.879 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the Barbed Left Podcast. My 0:00:12.960 --> 0:00:16.000 guest today is Reman with the Magic Mean Yes what 0:00:16.360 --> 0:00:20.840 origin himself? What are you doing? Pretty well, considering Bob, 0:00:21.720 --> 0:00:24.279 considering what we've been through and you know, and and 0:00:24.640 --> 0:00:26.720 the frustration of not being able to work as much 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:28.440 as we want to. But there we are, okay. So 0:00:28.560 --> 0:00:31.040 have you coped with a lockdown? Well? I have to 0:00:31.120 --> 0:00:36.839 say that the first two months I was really enjoying because, um, 0:00:36.880 --> 0:00:40.360 I'm here with my wife. I've never spent a spring 0:00:40.840 --> 0:00:42.800 since we've been in this house, which is in the 0:00:42.840 --> 0:00:46.120 past six years, and it's in the most beautiful setting, 0:00:46.720 --> 0:00:48.920 and I've never had the chance to share with her, 0:00:49.720 --> 0:00:52.519 you know, everything coming out in wonderful bloom and walking 0:00:52.560 --> 0:00:54.520 and being able to spend time with her. I've always 0:00:54.520 --> 0:00:58.000 been on tour somewhere, which is fine in itself. But 0:00:58.560 --> 0:01:01.360 for those first two months, it was like a justified 0:01:01.440 --> 0:01:05.759 holiday and something that we really enjoyed together. But I'll 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:08.280 tell you what, after about four or five months, I 0:01:08.440 --> 0:01:11.840 just had enough And now I'm screaming because we started 0:01:11.880 --> 0:01:15.480 a new album and um, I'd already ready written three 0:01:15.520 --> 0:01:18.000 songs for it, and we we got into a finished 0:01:18.040 --> 0:01:21.280 stage and we were really feeling like we were rocking UM, 0:01:21.440 --> 0:01:26.039 and then suddenly we couldn't do anymore. And and uh, 0:01:26.200 --> 0:01:28.560 we did another couple of tracks where I could actually 0:01:29.440 --> 0:01:34.200 use technology as it is and sending over what we 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:36.560 used to call the tapes a long time ago to 0:01:37.120 --> 0:01:40.720 UM to a bass player who lives in Denmark and 0:01:41.040 --> 0:01:42.840 he would put his part on, you know, in the 0:01:42.840 --> 0:01:45.440 way that people do like that. But I love, actually 0:01:45.480 --> 0:01:48.160 on some of the songs the whole band to be together, 0:01:48.440 --> 0:01:51.480 because sometimes it can take you in a direction, even 0:01:51.560 --> 0:01:53.440 when you're on sound check and you think you've got 0:01:53.480 --> 0:01:57.600 something that really works, UM, but it tells you within 0:01:57.640 --> 0:02:00.080 a couple of minutes no, that that that's that's not 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:02.360 how I thought it would be at all, and you 0:02:02.440 --> 0:02:05.240 take it into a different direction. And so we've got 0:02:05.240 --> 0:02:09.400 our first meeting and rehearsal together and recording with the 0:02:09.400 --> 0:02:12.799 whole band again together UM in two weeks time, and 0:02:12.880 --> 0:02:16.440 I'm so looking forward to that. I have to say, now, 0:02:16.480 --> 0:02:18.560 you say you're in this beautiful occasion for the last 0:02:18.560 --> 0:02:23.079 six years without giving the address, generally speaking, where is it. 0:02:23.080 --> 0:02:26.480 It's in It's in Hampshire, UM, and I'm about an 0:02:26.520 --> 0:02:32.120 hour south of London and it's in the beginnings of 0:02:32.160 --> 0:02:35.480 what is known as the South Downs National Park. So 0:02:35.680 --> 0:02:40.240 the countryside around here is absolutely glorious. Um And I 0:02:40.280 --> 0:02:42.880 had no idea it was as absolutely lovely as this, 0:02:42.960 --> 0:02:46.280 but it really really is. Everywhere you go in whatever 0:02:46.320 --> 0:02:51.000 direction you go, you go through gorgeous villages, gorgeous protected countryside. 0:02:51.280 --> 0:02:53.360 You know, it's it's a very lucky place to be. 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:56.560 I think we're very lucky. So if you've only been 0:02:56.600 --> 0:02:58.960 there for six years, where were you before and what 0:02:59.040 --> 0:03:03.280 motivated you to here? We were actually in a house 0:03:03.320 --> 0:03:06.040 that we've been in for thirty eight years in Beforshire, 0:03:06.080 --> 0:03:09.240 which is north of London. Um, in a little village 0:03:09.280 --> 0:03:13.040 called Silso and Stilso was a lovely little village when 0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:14.880 we first moved into it, but as is the way 0:03:14.919 --> 0:03:18.079 of the world, it got gradually built built up more 0:03:18.120 --> 0:03:22.960 and more, and bypasses and and main traffic roads went 0:03:23.040 --> 0:03:26.840 all around the place. Um and it's I think we've 0:03:26.880 --> 0:03:29.600 just got out in time. My wife said, UM, if 0:03:29.639 --> 0:03:30.800 we are going to move, we've got to do it 0:03:30.840 --> 0:03:33.440 now before we get too old. So so we made 0:03:33.440 --> 0:03:39.480 that decision. Okay, generally speaking, are you turned on creatively 0:03:39.640 --> 0:03:43.280 by the city or by the country's isolation help or 0:03:43.400 --> 0:03:49.480 does inspiration come from other actions going downtown people come in. Well, 0:03:49.520 --> 0:03:52.760 I mean anything can give you a little bit of inspiration. 0:03:52.960 --> 0:03:55.720 And when when you're in lockdown and you're not doing 0:03:55.800 --> 0:03:59.840 anything at all, um that that's not the greatest place 0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:02.920 to be. Um. I always remember Charlie Parker reading about 0:04:02.960 --> 0:04:06.480 Charlie Parker saying that UM to a young Miles Davis. 0:04:06.560 --> 0:04:08.080 I think it was so it might have been somebody 0:04:08.080 --> 0:04:11.240 else saying, listen, whatever you do, even if it's just 0:04:11.320 --> 0:04:14.440 a walk outside down the alleyway in between sets, do 0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:17.800 it so that you get some sort of outside input 0:04:18.200 --> 0:04:20.800 that can just I don't know, just broaden your perception 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:23.800 a little bit, you know, in whatever way. And I 0:04:23.839 --> 0:04:26.480 think that's very true. Actually, I think you do need 0:04:27.240 --> 0:04:30.080 um other things going on. And I have to say 0:04:30.120 --> 0:04:33.279 the more I've been in lockdown that to some degree, 0:04:33.320 --> 0:04:35.120 the less I've wanted to go out, and I don't 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:38.599 think that's a good thing. Um Well, I found the 0:04:38.640 --> 0:04:40.719 same thing in that I'm almost you know, the first 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:43.160 month or two of lockdown, people called you haven't heard 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:46.360 from in years. Then that stop. It's like I don't 0:04:46.360 --> 0:04:48.960 want an intermediate zone. I want to be hunkered down 0:04:49.440 --> 0:04:52.239 and then if everything's open, I'll go out in between. 0:04:52.279 --> 0:04:56.680 It is just too frustrating. Yeah, absolutely, yeah. So how 0:04:56.720 --> 0:04:59.600 have you filled the time you're reading, you're listening and 0:04:59.680 --> 0:05:03.400 s eating? Would even doing? Yeah, I mean I have 0:05:03.560 --> 0:05:08.520 to say so that much really current music, and um, 0:05:08.560 --> 0:05:12.320 I mean maybe that's just a factor of my age. Really, UM, 0:05:12.360 --> 0:05:14.800 I still do you know what. I still go back 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:19.280 sometimes and play the early Ray Charles records or UM 0:05:19.400 --> 0:05:23.280 or the Miles Davis um albums Night when he first 0:05:23.279 --> 0:05:26.159 got together with John Coltry and Canniball Laderie, and I 0:05:26.200 --> 0:05:29.160 can still sing some of the solos on those very 0:05:29.200 --> 0:05:32.039 first records that I that I got to know in 0:05:32.080 --> 0:05:35.560 those days. And I've got a jukebox, and my jukebox 0:05:35.640 --> 0:05:39.760 is full of early Elvis and Little Richard and and 0:05:39.880 --> 0:05:44.240 you know all those all those things, um, And I 0:05:44.279 --> 0:05:49.160 do find from my limited perception, I do find quite 0:05:49.160 --> 0:05:51.480 a lot of modern music. Not everything, but quite a 0:05:51.520 --> 0:05:54.840 lot of modern music, a little bit mechanical in in 0:05:55.200 --> 0:05:57.880 just it's just the way it affects me. And I 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:02.279 often think that where and when we started out to 0:06:02.400 --> 0:06:06.479 make anything work, you had to make You had to 0:06:06.480 --> 0:06:08.960 have a structure that worked. You have to you have 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:13.000 to write something with a good chord sequence with um, 0:06:13.960 --> 0:06:18.039 with something that just works and builds and has a shape. Um. 0:06:18.480 --> 0:06:22.839 And these days it's to make something work. You can 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:26.240 every everybody samples things, and you can just loop a 0:06:26.320 --> 0:06:28.960 drum loop and you can get a great sounding little 0:06:29.000 --> 0:06:31.479 bass loop and throw that on and and and it 0:06:31.520 --> 0:06:34.240 sounds like a groove immediately. And you can put two 0:06:34.320 --> 0:06:36.839 or three things together and it almost sounds like a record. 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:40.120 And and then you auto shoot the vocals and you 0:06:40.200 --> 0:06:42.479 get that sort of metallic sound on the voice that 0:06:42.560 --> 0:06:45.960 everyone seems to have these days. Um. You know, I 0:06:46.279 --> 0:06:48.840 I know, I'm this is a huge generalization, and I 0:06:49.160 --> 0:06:52.760 quite understand that. No. I mean, the you know there 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:57.080 thinking amongst older people is if you trash the younger music, 0:06:57.760 --> 0:07:00.800 you just don't get it. It's a nege. But we 0:07:00.920 --> 0:07:03.440 lived through the Renaissance. I mean, I always say, like 0:07:03.480 --> 0:07:06.560 in painting and sculpture, there was only one renaissance. They've 0:07:06.560 --> 0:07:10.000 been painting and sculpting since then and the era certainly 0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:11.840 you were a member of that in the sixties and 0:07:11.840 --> 0:07:15.880 the seventies. That's why they call it classic rock, but 0:07:16.360 --> 0:07:18.680 switching gears a little bit. You talk about your wife, 0:07:18.920 --> 0:07:22.160 You've only been married once, right, I've only been married once. 0:07:22.280 --> 0:07:24.360 I met my wife when she was eighteen and I 0:07:24.440 --> 0:07:27.560 was twenty two. Uh, and we we sort of lived 0:07:27.560 --> 0:07:29.720 together for a few years and then we got married 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:32.480 in nineteen seventy two. And I'll tell you what, Bob, 0:07:32.480 --> 0:07:35.720 and this is not just sentimentality. We're happier now than 0:07:35.720 --> 0:07:39.520 we've ever been. Okay, what was she doing when you 0:07:39.560 --> 0:07:42.080 were she was eighteen? And where were you at in 0:07:42.080 --> 0:07:45.360 your career when you were twenty two? Um, when I 0:07:45.400 --> 0:07:50.119 was twenty two, we'd already I was nineteen when she's 0:07:50.160 --> 0:07:53.840 not there, became a number one record in cash box. Um, 0:07:53.880 --> 0:07:57.040 and our first gig in America was at the Brooklyn 0:07:57.080 --> 0:08:00.760 Fox Mary the Case Show Christmas Day in nineteen sixty four, 0:08:01.280 --> 0:08:04.880 and we were we were scared shitless actually, because we 0:08:04.880 --> 0:08:09.200 we thought, here we are five skinny, young white Englishman 0:08:09.480 --> 0:08:10.960 and we're going to go and play with some of 0:08:11.000 --> 0:08:14.320 our heroes, like you know, Benny King, Patty LaBelle was 0:08:14.360 --> 0:08:19.480 on there, Um, Dion Warrick, and and we thought they're 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:24.160 gonna hate us because they're gonna say these guys coming 0:08:24.200 --> 0:08:28.240 over and creaming, you know, creaming everything, and they're just 0:08:28.360 --> 0:08:31.760 bringing back American music. But it's a pale imitation. But 0:08:31.840 --> 0:08:34.560 that wasn't the way they they looked at it at all. 0:08:34.800 --> 0:08:37.400 And I remember we actually walked into the Brooklyn Fox 0:08:37.440 --> 0:08:39.640 and we had a sound check and the person sound 0:08:39.720 --> 0:08:42.640 checking before us was Patty LaBelle, and we thought, oh 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:44.839 my god, you know, how how are we gonna you know, 0:08:44.880 --> 0:08:47.720 we were nineteen years old, how are we gonna follow that? 0:08:48.080 --> 0:08:50.600 But you know, we did, and she became a really 0:08:50.600 --> 0:08:54.280 good friend and she introduced us to remember her saying, 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:56.920 there's this young kid on the block. You've really got 0:08:56.920 --> 0:08:59.360 to check out our names a wreatha. And this was 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:02.240 the day. These were the days before Aretha was a 0:09:02.240 --> 0:09:05.640 soul singer. She was doing her cabaret thing with CBS 0:09:05.760 --> 0:09:09.120 UM and uh and she told us about Nina Simone 0:09:09.440 --> 0:09:11.200 and it was just wonderful, and she would she would 0:09:11.559 --> 0:09:13.960 just talk to us every night and tell us about 0:09:14.160 --> 0:09:17.040 the Black Church and how that affected how they sang, 0:09:17.559 --> 0:09:20.480 you know, and and how obviously Aretha came up and 0:09:20.600 --> 0:09:23.679 probably Nina as well, and how she came up and 0:09:23.679 --> 0:09:27.920 how that affected her um her style of singing, and 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:30.439 obviously that's where Ray Charles came from in the first 0:09:30.440 --> 0:09:33.320 place as well. Um, and it was just it was 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:37.439 just wonderful. But you're totally right, I I think I 0:09:37.960 --> 0:09:41.720 was so so fortunate to be born in the time 0:09:42.280 --> 0:09:46.280 of what was a great cultural explosion because we just 0:09:46.360 --> 0:09:49.120 had the war and in the UK ten years after 0:09:49.120 --> 0:09:52.200 the war there was real austerity, that really was and 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:55.640 suddenly the younger generation started to get a little bit 0:09:55.679 --> 0:10:00.320 of money. Um, we heard Elvis, which actually lew our 0:10:00.400 --> 0:10:03.640 socks off. I mean, for me, it was like hearing 0:10:03.679 --> 0:10:06.559 black music by proxy, because I had never heard any 0:10:06.640 --> 0:10:08.800 rhythm and blues at that point. And I know I'm 0:10:08.840 --> 0:10:10.160 not the only one. I mean it was the same 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:14.800 for the Beatles, for Van Morrison, Eric Burden, all these guys. Um. 0:10:15.400 --> 0:10:19.800 And it was just a wonderful time to be ensconced 0:10:19.840 --> 0:10:23.000 in all that. And and I mentioned the early Miles 0:10:23.040 --> 0:10:26.600 Davis group that was fantastic as well, huge energy, but 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:32.000 really really inventive and and and the wonderful thing was 0:10:32.559 --> 0:10:34.920 that the older guy, once we were lucky enough to 0:10:34.960 --> 0:10:37.640 get a record deal, the older guys in the record 0:10:37.679 --> 0:10:41.000 business didn't understand what was going on. They hadn't got 0:10:41.000 --> 0:10:43.360 a clue, so they left it up to the bands. 0:10:43.679 --> 0:10:47.360 They left it up to them to follow whatever direction 0:10:47.400 --> 0:10:50.760 they wanted because they were from a previous generation. And 0:10:50.840 --> 0:10:56.040 it meant that there was none of this um product 0:10:56.120 --> 0:10:59.080 management all the time, and all the sort of DJ 0:11:00.800 --> 0:11:03.400 what do you call it, playlists and and and and 0:11:03.640 --> 0:11:08.079 very governed you know, playlists or anything like that. And 0:11:08.320 --> 0:11:12.439 you know what, the people the public absolutely adored that. 0:11:12.720 --> 0:11:16.400 They ended adored the real enthusiasm of the DJs who 0:11:16.480 --> 0:11:19.480 would get knocked out by a particular record and play 0:11:19.480 --> 0:11:23.040 it and play and that enthusiasm really infected the listening audience. 0:11:23.080 --> 0:11:27.200 It was just a fantastic time. Um, we'll get back 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:29.400 to that time. Let's just kind of close the loop 0:11:29.440 --> 0:11:31.760 on this. So how did you How did you meet 0:11:31.800 --> 0:11:37.240 your wife? I met my wife because sorry, I was 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:40.200 whispering on there and going around and around the houses. 0:11:40.520 --> 0:11:43.400 But when we did them marry the case show, Um, 0:11:43.440 --> 0:11:46.839 there was some choreography that was going on on the show, 0:11:47.160 --> 0:11:50.959 and there was the choreographer was a woman called or 0:11:51.000 --> 0:11:54.280 a girl called Molly Malloyer, and she got married to 0:11:55.160 --> 0:11:57.880 she started going out with Paul Atkinson and guitarres and 0:11:58.360 --> 0:12:01.840 eventually married him. And she came over to the UK 0:12:02.360 --> 0:12:05.720 and she formed a dance company and my wife was 0:12:05.760 --> 0:12:08.440 the lead dancer in that in that dance company at 0:12:08.440 --> 0:12:11.520 that time. And I went to Um, I went to 0:12:11.559 --> 0:12:16.679 a party one night. UM, and uh, she grew up. 0:12:16.720 --> 0:12:19.040 My my wife grew up with someone called Arlene Phillips, 0:12:19.040 --> 0:12:21.480 who who who has made a name as a choreographer 0:12:21.600 --> 0:12:24.160 over here, and she's been on the you know, the 0:12:24.280 --> 0:12:28.360 dance programs and everything. Um. And I thought she had 0:12:28.360 --> 0:12:30.600 the most beautiful face I've ever seen in my life. 0:12:30.960 --> 0:12:36.040 And uh, Colin the bastard actually got in there before 0:12:36.080 --> 0:12:41.720 me and said and invited her out and actually took 0:12:41.720 --> 0:12:44.120 her out. And I had phoned Colin up because Colin 0:12:44.160 --> 0:12:46.760 and I we've always been really good friends and and 0:12:46.800 --> 0:12:50.520 Colin and I I had this thing where we wouldn't 0:12:50.559 --> 0:12:53.280 try and step on each other's toes if when it 0:12:53.320 --> 0:12:56.520 came to girls, you know. So I phoned him up 0:12:56.520 --> 0:12:58.480 and said, look, I know this is really unusual, Colin, 0:12:58.640 --> 0:13:01.959 but would you mind if I I said, I'm I'm 0:13:01.960 --> 0:13:05.480 pretty besotted with Kathy. Would you mind if I gave 0:13:05.559 --> 0:13:08.080 a call And he said, listen, mate, He said, you 0:13:08.160 --> 0:13:12.439 might you might even marry her. Ha ha. So so 0:13:12.440 --> 0:13:15.520 so go ahead if you feel that strongly. So I did, 0:13:15.840 --> 0:13:18.600 and then went out with her and we we never 0:13:18.640 --> 0:13:20.520 looked back, really, I mean we It was a pretty 0:13:20.559 --> 0:13:23.080 loose relationship for maybe two two or three years. Then 0:13:23.120 --> 0:13:26.600 we moved in together, and then we got married. So 0:13:26.640 --> 0:13:29.680 how do you keep it together? The itinerant life of 0:13:29.720 --> 0:13:34.480 a musician? I know, Well, the thing was because maybe 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:38.240 because her life started as a dancer. She became an 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:40.920 analystic psychotherapist in the second half of her life, but 0:13:41.240 --> 0:13:43.280 in that first half of the life, she was a dancer, 0:13:43.480 --> 0:13:48.440 so she understood, um, what creativity was and how you 0:13:48.440 --> 0:13:51.600 had to follow it, etcetera, etcetera. And she was always, 0:13:51.800 --> 0:13:54.880 you know, wonderful about that. I still feel very guilty 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:57.960 now when we go on tour, because you know, we often, Bob, 0:13:58.040 --> 0:14:01.520 we often do three tours a year in America. Um, 0:14:01.960 --> 0:14:07.320 and that means a long time away. Um. And I 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:11.240 wouldn't say we're isolated here, but it's, um, you know, 0:14:11.360 --> 0:14:14.679 it's it's it's a pretty secluded spot and uh. And 0:14:15.240 --> 0:14:18.640 I often feel that I'm being very unfair to her, 0:14:18.720 --> 0:14:22.600 but in actual fact, um, it's it's worked beautifully. I 0:14:22.640 --> 0:14:24.840 mean maybe that helps in a way because it always 0:14:24.840 --> 0:14:27.440 feels great when we get back together again. And how 0:14:27.440 --> 0:14:31.080 many kids do you have and what are they up to? Now? 0:14:31.720 --> 0:14:37.000 We've got two kids. A daughter is actually an academic 0:14:37.160 --> 0:14:40.600 but she um is living with her husband in Austria. 0:14:41.280 --> 0:14:43.880 And we've got one grandson, which is the only one 0:14:43.880 --> 0:14:46.800 we're going to get which is which is her son. 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:52.680 And and my son unfortunately has some mental health problems. 0:14:52.720 --> 0:14:57.480 But he met a lovely girl who was actually a 0:14:57.520 --> 0:15:01.880 great university um uh when she had a mental breakdown 0:15:02.040 --> 0:15:04.480 and they got together and they've been together now for 0:15:04.960 --> 0:15:08.640 twenty years. Um. And that's fantastic. And my wife and 0:15:09.040 --> 0:15:12.240 my daughter is very very happy in Austria uh and 0:15:12.640 --> 0:15:14.280 having a great life. So you know, we have to 0:15:14.320 --> 0:15:16.720 count a blessings really, I think. And are they off 0:15:16.800 --> 0:15:19.120 the pay roll they make it independently or you help 0:15:19.160 --> 0:15:22.280 them out. I don't have to help my daughter out 0:15:22.320 --> 0:15:26.880 at all. Her and her family are doing brilliantly well. Um. 0:15:26.960 --> 0:15:29.600 But and she writes academic books and one thing and another, 0:15:29.960 --> 0:15:32.760 and she's the most beautiful girl as well. She looks fantastic, 0:15:32.760 --> 0:15:34.920 which she's not a girl anymore now she's you know, 0:15:35.280 --> 0:15:40.440 for they thought it, um, but my son I help 0:15:40.480 --> 0:15:44.760 out and I account myself in the most privileged position 0:15:45.120 --> 0:15:47.640 to be able to be in a position where I 0:15:47.680 --> 0:15:50.840 can continue to support them so that they don't have 0:15:50.920 --> 0:15:53.640 to live off the government or whatever. So they have 0:15:53.680 --> 0:15:56.280 a good life. It's fairly sheltered life, but you know, 0:15:56.320 --> 0:16:00.240 they're very happy. So I'm I'm very happy with that. Okay, 0:16:00.280 --> 0:16:02.560 let's go back to the beginning. Where in the UK 0:16:02.680 --> 0:16:07.120 are you originally from St Alban's which is a little 0:16:07.240 --> 0:16:10.680 It's not a little, it's a city twenty miles outside London, 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:14.520 north of London, and lived there for when we went 0:16:14.560 --> 0:16:16.680 to Bedfordshire that that's only up the road as well, 0:16:16.800 --> 0:16:19.000 because I always wanted to be in touch with my 0:16:19.040 --> 0:16:23.200 mom and dad as well. My dad was a a 0:16:23.200 --> 0:16:25.800 a dance band musician from the age of seventeen to 0:16:25.800 --> 0:16:28.080 the age of eighty three. There was a there was 0:16:28.120 --> 0:16:31.720 a wonderful moment when we had a guy doing our 0:16:31.800 --> 0:16:34.360 boiler in sils and he came up and said, what's 0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:37.760 your dad? Then? Is he is he a musician at all? 0:16:37.880 --> 0:16:40.320 I said, yeah, he's he's got his own dance band, 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:42.920 he's and is he how old is he? I said, 0:16:43.040 --> 0:16:45.880 what is as one now? And he went, oh, my god, 0:16:46.160 --> 0:16:48.440 and I said um. And just the other day he 0:16:48.520 --> 0:16:54.160 was complaining he wasn't getting enough work. Okay, so you're 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:58.040 growing up at St. Alban's. How many kids in the family, Um, 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:01.360 just two. In our family, my mom was was one 0:17:01.400 --> 0:17:05.800 of eight children, UM, and and all the brothers and sisters. 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:10.080 Her brothers and sisters had kids, and some of them 0:17:10.080 --> 0:17:14.240 had three four kids. I think one of them had 0:17:14.400 --> 0:17:17.360 five actually, So I had a huge number of cousins 0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:22.000 and they all stayed around the Stormers area, so there 0:17:22.080 --> 0:17:26.040 was always a very good family social scene around St. Orban's. 0:17:26.280 --> 0:17:28.760 We all lived very close and we all used to 0:17:28.840 --> 0:17:32.840 visit each other. My my closest cousin was Jim Rodford, 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:34.920 the guy who was later in the Kinks but formed 0:17:35.000 --> 0:17:38.920 Argent with me um and later in the Incarnation of 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:42.560 the Zombies. UM. And he became a mentor of mine 0:17:42.560 --> 0:17:44.639 because he was four years older than me, and he 0:17:44.720 --> 0:17:47.800 was the guy that introduced me to the music at Elvis. UM. 0:17:47.840 --> 0:17:50.480 I remember one day I went down to his house, 0:17:50.520 --> 0:17:53.200 only four dred yards away. His mom was my mom's 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:56.679 best friend, and um, he was playing me some Bill Haley, 0:17:56.720 --> 0:17:58.639 and I said, well, it's all right, you know, I 0:17:58.680 --> 0:18:01.520 don't mind it, okay, okay, And he said, well, let's 0:18:01.520 --> 0:18:03.960 listen to this, and he played me handled and it 0:18:04.119 --> 0:18:06.960 just blew me away, blew my world away, spun my 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:10.879 world around, and then to my parents horror. For six months, 0:18:11.080 --> 0:18:13.119 I didn't want to hear anything but the royalst rock 0:18:13.160 --> 0:18:15.240 and roll. I could get my hands on Little Richard 0:18:15.320 --> 0:18:17.959 as it was at the time, you know, Jerry Lee 0:18:18.040 --> 0:18:21.240 Lewis of course, um and then that quickly introduced me 0:18:21.280 --> 0:18:23.320 to Ray Charls and all that sort of thing. But 0:18:23.680 --> 0:18:26.720 it was a very very musical family. My mom got 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:29.560 me involved in a great choir from the Asia of 0:18:29.600 --> 0:18:33.359 about ten years old, and that gave me a real, 0:18:35.040 --> 0:18:39.240 really broad sort of panoply of a sort of umbrella 0:18:39.359 --> 0:18:44.919 of music. And and by almost by the condition of 0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:47.800 os Moses, I sort of you know, drew that in 0:18:47.960 --> 0:18:50.520 and and and it exposed me to stuff that I 0:18:50.520 --> 0:18:54.040 would never have heard otherwise, wonderful music by Bark and 0:18:54.119 --> 0:18:56.119 you know all the other things. But at the same time, 0:18:56.560 --> 0:18:59.960 that's when we started the zombies, and and I couldn't 0:19:00.040 --> 0:19:03.680 bear to tell the master of the music that I 0:19:03.760 --> 0:19:07.919 was going off early on a Sunday evening to do 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:09.760 a gig with the zombies of rock and roll, gimee 0:19:09.760 --> 0:19:14.920 with the zombies, you know, and at one for a second, sorry, 0:19:15.160 --> 0:19:18.560 did your mother work outside the home? She didn't know 0:19:18.760 --> 0:19:20.760 what she did much later in her life she did. 0:19:21.520 --> 0:19:23.520 When you were growing up, she didn't. And that was 0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:27.359 your was your father's main source of income. The group 0:19:28.320 --> 0:19:32.400 know that his main source of income was as an 0:19:32.480 --> 0:19:37.360 aeronautical engineer. He worked in a in a the hat 0:19:37.400 --> 0:19:42.840 Field Aeronautical Works, which was about five miles away from St. Orban's. 0:19:43.200 --> 0:19:47.199 And Colin came from Hatfield, and you know that that 0:19:47.280 --> 0:19:49.679 provided a link as well. But I don't think and 0:19:49.760 --> 0:19:53.040 his father worked there too. Um, Jim's father worked there, 0:19:53.800 --> 0:19:56.240 but I don't think they. I mean, obviously Jim's father 0:19:56.280 --> 0:19:58.600 and my father knew each other, but I don't think 0:19:58.600 --> 0:20:02.359 Colin's father ever did. But there we are, okay, and 0:20:02.440 --> 0:20:07.320 your sibling older, younger male female. It's it's my sister 0:20:07.680 --> 0:20:10.800 and she's ten years tipped between ten eleven years younger 0:20:10.800 --> 0:20:14.840 than me. Okay, so you're the golden child and you're 0:20:14.880 --> 0:20:17.600 growing up in St Alban. Sounds like your father made 0:20:17.600 --> 0:20:23.120 a good living, so it wasn't like you were economically struggling. Well, 0:20:23.760 --> 0:20:26.439 we weren't economically struggling struggling, but we lived in a 0:20:26.480 --> 0:20:31.000 council house. We lived in a council house, UM, and 0:20:31.840 --> 0:20:36.399 my father UM was making out the time twenty pounds 0:20:36.440 --> 0:20:42.320 a week. UM. This was in which was much more 0:20:42.440 --> 0:20:45.600 of an average wage, but a lowish average wage at 0:20:45.640 --> 0:20:51.040 the time. And you're growing up, you're going to school. 0:20:51.320 --> 0:20:54.159 What kind of student were you? Were you popular? Do 0:20:54.160 --> 0:20:57.159 you fit in? And we're more of a loner. I 0:20:57.280 --> 0:21:02.200 was fairly much of a loner. I mean not completely loner. Um. 0:21:02.240 --> 0:21:04.720 It was a school that my mother really wanted me 0:21:04.760 --> 0:21:07.159 to get into. It's it's what we call a public 0:21:07.160 --> 0:21:10.000 school over here, which is it's like a private school 0:21:10.000 --> 0:21:13.360 to either. It's only called public because I think King 0:21:13.680 --> 0:21:18.359 King Henry the eighth um designated a few schools for 0:21:18.440 --> 0:21:20.280 the children of the clergy or something like that, so 0:21:20.280 --> 0:21:24.240 it became more of a public school anyway. I had 0:21:24.240 --> 0:21:26.440 to take an exam. I got a scholarship to go there, 0:21:26.760 --> 0:21:30.199 which was a very good start. But after being in 0:21:30.240 --> 0:21:33.720 the sort of B form, I quickly was pushed down 0:21:33.760 --> 0:21:36.960 to the C form and it wasn't until the streams 0:21:37.359 --> 0:21:40.320 divided and I could concentrate on the arts rather than 0:21:40.359 --> 0:21:44.199 the arts and the sciences that that I started to 0:21:45.000 --> 0:21:47.960 make more of a mark academically. Um. And there was 0:21:48.000 --> 0:21:50.520 only one thing I was ever any good at, bob, 0:21:50.600 --> 0:21:54.480 and that was English. And and I would have certainly 0:21:54.480 --> 0:21:57.080 gone to university at the time if it hadn't been 0:21:57.119 --> 0:22:00.119 for the band starting to take off. But so so 0:22:00.359 --> 0:22:03.399 that route was then closed to me. Um. But you know, 0:22:03.480 --> 0:22:05.560 but it was a very it was. It was a 0:22:05.560 --> 0:22:17.280 pretty highly rated school. Okay, so you're growing up, when 0:22:17.359 --> 0:22:22.760 do you start taking the piano or whatever you take lessons? Well, 0:22:23.280 --> 0:22:25.760 I only ever had two years piano lessons in my life, 0:22:25.800 --> 0:22:29.640 and that was between the ages of nine, nine and eleven, 0:22:29.760 --> 0:22:33.719 Between the ages of nine years old and eleven years old. Yeah, Um, 0:22:33.760 --> 0:22:36.080 And you know what, in that time, I played the 0:22:36.080 --> 0:22:41.000 piano less than, uh, than I ever did before or afterwards. 0:22:41.280 --> 0:22:43.639 I always I could always pick out a tune on 0:22:43.680 --> 0:22:46.639 the piano, and in fact, strangely enough, I remember my 0:22:46.680 --> 0:22:51.200 parents buying me a harmonica when I was about seven 0:22:51.280 --> 0:22:55.560 or eight years old, And somehow I always had this 0:22:56.440 --> 0:23:01.760 um facility to look at music visually and and I 0:23:01.760 --> 0:23:04.560 could always work out where the tune had to go 0:23:04.600 --> 0:23:06.879 when I was playing the harmonica, because I could I 0:23:06.880 --> 0:23:09.680