`
THE
SCOOP
Back in the
murky early eighties in the West Midlands, I was working in a country club as
a bar celler man looking after three bars with a cellar full of spirits and
barrels of beers. In my spare time I played harmonica and wrote lyrics as well
as attempting to teach myself acoustic guitar. I was managing to hold down the
job although my feet were getting itchy - I seemed to be working my way through
an odd selection of professions at that particular moment in my life, something
I've managed to maintain up to present. Anyway, one afternoon as I was filling
up the bar shelves I walked past reception and noticed an odd Rocker looking
bloke hanging about. I nodded an "alright," in appreciation of the
fact that we seemed to belong to the same tribe. It turned out that this loitering
stranger had applied for the kitchen porters job and landed it , he would be
moving into the staff house were I was living and would be starting work the
following Monday. Me and Tyla became friends from that day and found we had
shared interests; Rock'n'Roll, alcohol, girls, art, spliff, getting wrecked...
When Tyla moved in he bought with him his Marshall 100w and his Antoria Les
Paul copy. We started writing songs together instantly, the first one being
'Dig it'. Within weeks we formed our first band, 'Weird Girlfriend'...
We
rehearsed in the staff house garage which pissed off most of the neighbors in
the village - they would often pop round to let us know. When the mood took
us we would dine out on the garage roof, eating from a white clothed table with
silver service, wearing tuxedos served by 'Haggis' the house Punk. The house
was on the main road through the village, we put up a plaque which read 'The
Weirds' and there was a grave in the back garden. It was a shame we had to work,
but the job did have other benefits apart from the house. Our job at the country
club was to prepare for the evenings events. At midday bands like 'Paper Lace'
or 'The Rockin' Berries', would turn up to set their gear up and soundcheck,
then disappear until the evening . Come six o'clock all the staff had gone home
leaving me and Tyla to go absolute crackpot on the bands gear, changing the
settings and giving the drums a battering they'd never seen the likes of. It
was these moments that gave us the true taste for performing and dreaming of
what it was going to be like....
WEIRD
GIRLFRIEND
At
the Yew Tree pub in Wallheath , West Midlands
Tyla,
with his Antoria guitar with 3 pick-ups , Barratt, trying to be Keith Moon with
one cymbal, Paul L salts (Andrews) - with the guitar he made himself complete
with the handpainted body depicting the journey of a salmon upstream - and Rook,
with 2 mics taped together, giving the harp some stick. We used a wheelbarrow
to transport our gear and had about five roadies all under the age of 10...
We
were getting cautioned from the boss of the country club, for getting in late
in the mornings and also for one particular incident involving some waitresses
and a Polaroid camera. Meanwhile the songs were coming thick and fast and the
fun was constant. We met up with one' Paul Raven', who was playing bass for
Wolverhampton punk band 'Neon Hearts', who had recently split. He introduced
us to a strange chap called Jim Crosbie who had a band called 'Burnt Out Stars'
which had also quite recently dissolved. After one seriously mighty drunken
evening together we decided we should join forces and move to London and start
creating havoc. Within a couple of weeks we left the Black country for the bright
lights...
Me
and Tyla managed to get a ruff old 2 room place to live in Ladbroke Grove and
managed to sniff out the coolest Rock'n'Roll hangout on Portobello road called
the 'Princess Alexandra'. (Does anyone remember this magic place?) We called
the band 'Kitsch' (after a 'Heavy Metal Kids' album), secured management, found
a drummer in Jonathan ( Feet First DJ ) and started playing the London circuit...
KITSCH
Tyla
- guitar. Rook - vocals . Paul Raven - bass . Jim Crosbie - guitar .
"Kitsch
combine the best aspects of American bands with the raw aggression found only
within the British new wave"."Visually they are exciting - they have
their image firmly ensconced in the spikey-haired niche of current appeal".
Steve Coxon - Brumbeat
KITSCH
Tyla
(guitar) - Jonathan (Drums) - Jim Crosbie (guitar) - Rook (Vocals) - Paul Raven
(Bass)
It
was tough holding all those ego's in one line-up but we had a collective, magic
element which could have been quite powerful. Having a manager who was a full-on
hedonist socialite didn't help but it was top grade fun before it exploded.
God bless ya' Rod, may the heavens wrap their loving arms around you. Tyla went
on to form the 'Dog's D'amour'. I was there for the first gig at the 'New merlins
cave' - a mental evening of Rock'n'Roll chaos. Paul Raven went on to join 'Killing
Joke' and then later 'Prong'. Jonathan started and DJ'd the 'Feet First' nights
at Camden Palace, the one and only truly original indie club night. Jim Crosbie
and me put together 'Kitsch' version 2 which secured a production deal with
'Plezure Records', an independent based in Camden Town, London...
The
1st ' Dogs D'amour' release was a track called 'Teenage' which appeared on a
sampler album called 'Trash on Delivery' although credited to the 'Dogs D'amour'
the track was actually written by 'Tyla', 'Crosbie' and 'Rook' and originally
titled 'Teenager of the week' which was demoed by the first line-up of 'Kitsch'...
The
new 'Kitsch' started gigging the London circuit including a showcase gig at
The Wag club with 'Colin Faver' DJing...
'Kitsch'
record an album, ' Kleptomania' with 'Plezure Records', but the only tracks
to get released are on a record company sampler album called 'Plezure starts
here' the tracks being 'Undercover Lover' and 'Never Again'...
Eventually
'Kitsch' broke up because of difficulties with the management and production
company, it was time to move on. 'Jim Crosbie' went on to work with film, and
'Rook' went on to form 'The End' with 'Nick Hall' the original guitarist in
the 'Dogs D'amour'...
