Take Eddie Cochran , a drum machine, a Roland Echo box and a 1 note riff and you are there..you just need some futuristic lyrics and think you live in a John Carpenter movie..maybe one day you'll sell a million copies...

In fact the first gig ever was as a trio was with our friend Thunders at Paris GIBUS club where Tony, X and Deg got up after thunders set and played 3 songs using my drummer who was Mark Laff at the time, former drummer from GEN X... there is a video of this gig in 1983..I remember because it was the year Hurricane Higgins won the Snooker final which I had to watch with Thunders...well he nodded out while I roared. I miss him even writing this actually... such soul.....well before the band was completed... wild times in PARIS...


Ray Mayhew was first in... he just walked past YaYa one Saturday looking like a drummer... looked like a star... simple... you're in... no drums... no playing ever... but we could teach him...Topper Headon of the Clash lent us a drum kit and the kid got practicing... meanwhile we were extending the songs to include JailHouse Rock...X and TJ come up with a track called "hag in a black leather Jacket"... even Dirty Deg thinks its Tacky...an early version of Rockit Miss USA played like Eddie Cochran , a steal of the suicide track with new lyrics which we later rewrote to become the version recorded.......Ray became the best example of TJs oft quoted mantra... "easy to teach someone to play drums... you can't teach someone star quality"... he never told us that he would become mad Mayhew..the dangerous one... in later years we had a tour t-Shirt just of Rays court appearances like tour dates...such are rock and roll stars made and myths created....u know ray turned into a really solid drummer too....the song that started it all was a song called Sicky Sarah... deg and X learnt to use the 4 track and recorded this and a version of In the Ghetto one night, sort of PIL in dub...while tj was out as a present to him

We continued to rehearse in the spare bedroom packed with equipment... u could only just get the band in as well... it got so hot we would rehearse for a couple of songs then go and sit outside in the mews to get some air!... not that there was much... a motorcycle messengers had their offices opposite... they thought we were mad... we were...

Sitting outside the mews house in the sun one day a cute boy walks past..U know I always wanted two drummers like the Pink Fairies .or Gary Glitter......its Chris Kavanagh... he's in and another kit is acquired from Terry Chimes this time...we just have to spend weeks teaching him to play!.. but its all part of the magic, sweating away in the 3m square room at Magentas (now with 2 drumkits rammed inside) with the ghost of Sid Vicious watching over us.. .. .Mick Jones lends X a real guitar .. a 50s white Gibson that looks the part... a set is rehearsed of rock n roll in dub... versions of Jailhouse rock with new lyrics renamed Moscow Rocks...."everybody in the eastern blok was dancin to the Moscow Rock...."..well it was a start... Mick Jones calls and says he's been sacked from the Clash! we stare in disbelief... u can't sack the man who started it.. .but now he can help us more and he becomes the sound mixer to help us out... a true friend...somehow we get 3 gigs at colleges to try things out...no money but mick lends us his rodie flea and ford transit... and in true tradition we all drive to the gigs in the back with the equipment...even MJ sitting on top of the equipment with us on our way to a gig in Hastings... it was on that journey that Yana came up with Big Audio Dynamite to go with Micks BAD..., we use real drums... real bass... kinda space voodoo image, and we are supporting the band New Model Army, they didn't know what hit them!... the pictures were taken outside Magentas mews...the band is reported out but called the HOT DOGS! god knows why....go down like nothing on earth... this is like nothing on earth...And u know what is so great... when u have something special u really know it and this was magical...

We spend weeks teaching Chris Kavanagh to play the drums but it gives us two drummers.