Skip to main content

Nikki Sudden & Dave Kusworth - German Tour 1985

Having A Good Time - Wish You Were Here.

Nikki at home in Berlin

If you (as I do) place any importance on all things WANWTTS, then this is the REAL Great Lost Issue, in that it was all edited and put together and ready to go to the printers. This was in 1986 - then economic caution got the better of me, as I was unsure we'd sell the numbers we needed to break even, and I pulled the plug on it. I was probably wrong, again. I let down Nikki, Dave and (badly) Trevor Austin who'd created and designed what was a beautiful artefact of an eventful German tour in October 1985. Berlin-based Trevor provided photos and artwork for a number of Nikki's records, perhaps most notably "The Ragged School", the Jacobites 1986 (first) American release on TwinTone.

Making up the band with Nikki and Dave were Eamon "Big Duff" Duffy on bass ("I don't want to see quaint fuckin' villages. I want to see what our lads blew up in the war!") and Carl Bevan (from the Rag Dolls) on drums.

Nikki recalled the tour some years later in a 1989 interview with Australian blog Rockbrat:

"Epic was busy playing with Crime and the City Solution who he’d recently joined. Plus after the assorted misadventures we’d encountered in Italy I don’t think he would have wanted to do another tour with Kusworth anyway. So we decided to take the Rag Dolls drummer Carl Bevan on the tour with us. I also wanted to bring Duncan Sibbald on bass. Unfortunately I gave way to Dave’s suggestion that his old band mate (from T.V Eye days) Eammon Duffy should be included. Eammon is better known as ‘Big Duff’ or just ‘The Big Man’, and he is big in a short kind of way. He also is terminally balding. In no way did he look at all suitable for the role. Audiences must have wondered what on earth this oaf was doing on the stage. Especially after the first night’s misadventures when he managed to throw up over his jeans. He only brought one pair of trousers on the tour with him. Consequently until he was able to afford to buy a replacement pair he had to go on stage every night wearing this one vomit stained pair of jeans.

Dave in Belgium November 2006

The first night Dave, Carl and Duff arrived in Hamburg I had suggested to Joachim that he meet them at the airport and take us all out for a meal to cement the goodwill for the tour. This he agreed to. He was greatly shocked when Dave staggered out of the arrivals gate carrying his guitar wrapped in a blanket. Not even in a case. Joachim took us back to his office and generously offered to have the guitar set up that evening. He also offered Dave the use of a hard case for the guitar for the duration of the tour. Dave took him up on this. Later that evening Dave, Carl and Duff were booked into their hotel. A most decorative looking place run by two lesbians. A bad mistake as it was to turn out what with Duff’s homophobic attitudes. But Joachim was not to know this. Anyway he took Brigitte, myself and the rest of the band out for a meal. He handed over some spending money to Dave, Carl and Duff to see them over to the next morning. This was to be his last generous act of the tour....."

For the complete and hilarious warts 'n' all story check out the full interview on http://rockbrat.wordpress.com/2010/10/21/rockbrat-chat-the-nikki-sudden-interview/

I lost touch with Trevor Austin many, many years ago - I met him just the once on my only trip to Berlin to see Nikki and Dave play (...and there's a story to tell about that little adventure one day) - but I'd like to think he gets to see this blog. So here's a link to download a PDF of the magazine - quality isn't too bad - hope you enjoy.

http://www.mediafire.com/?pnjzkx5sfz24e


Comments

  1. Absolute Chaos12 January 2011 at 23:03

    Hi Chris - thanks for posting all this 'lost' stuff, especially the scans from the magazine!! I'm looking forward to having a good read through those

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Music That Moves Me by Epic Soundtracks

Late 1995 and through the post comes a package from Epic including a photocopy of his contribution to Rolling Stone magazine's "Alt-Rock-A-Rama" which was eventually published in 1996, and a note.... "Hey Chris Here's my piece Dig it Man! Epic" And here is that piece, together with "videos" of the tracks he selects....all bar one. If anybody has a copy of  Harold Smith's Majestic Choir - “We Can All Walk A Little Bit Prouder” single from 1968, it would be pretty cool if you could rustle me up an MP3 of it. Thank-you. And with that, we're back.... Music That Moves Me by Epic Soundtracks Epic Soundtracks (aka Paul Godley) began playing music in 1972 and made his first record in 1977 as drummer with the influential Swell Maps, which also included his brother Nikki Sudden. More recently Epic has re-emerged as a singer, songwriter, and piano player, recording solo albums that reflect many of the influences discussed below. The...
1 comment
Read more

Part Two: Alex Chilton by Epic Soundtracks

Mr Epic Soundtracks As described, the second part of the exhaustive Alex Chilton interview by Epic Soundtracks as included in issue six of What A Nice Way To Turn Seventeen. Let's get straight into it. The cover of What A Nice Way To Turn Seventeen Issue Six's magazine The next record to come out would've been “The Singer Not The Song” EP. There was an album that came out after that from all those sessions, “Bach's Bottom”. Did you have anything to do with the release of that? No, Jon Tiven had the rights to those tracks. How about the Chris Stamey single (“Summer Sun”)? Was there anything cut at the same time as that? Well we did four tracks of mine, but Ork Records could never pay for the tapes. Did the whole punk thing going on in the UK in '76/'77 mean much to you? Well, I think it's difficult to understand the English mentality that bred the Sex Pistols, because the social conditions must not exist in America. I always thought that Americans wh...
4 comments
Read more

Albion Sunrise by Nikki Sudden - Chapter 12: Johnny Thunders

Nikki Sudden at the 100 Club, Oxford Street, London - 17th May 1983 - Photo by Nik Coleman Following the recently posted introduction to Nikki Sudden's unpublished novel "Albion Sunrise" we've dipped into the tale itself and extracted Chapter 12, "Johnny Thunders". Enjoy. Albion Sunrise: Chapter 12 - Johnny Thunders "In the dark-lit surroundings of The Establishment tea-rooms, general bric-a-brac and curio shop, The Bagman has once more taken up the reins and is keenly talking on the same generally much misunderstood subject of pure rock’n’roll. But, we find that he’s veered from the purity, albeit it seldom seen, or indeed rarely, if ever, understood by the general populace, of Jerry Lee Lewis and Memphis rockabilly, to fields further from home. Unfortunately by doing so he loses Mr. Dickens. For Mr. Dickens’ heart, it must be said, mainly resides in rock and roll’s first few timeless years. “ If there’s anything to be said on the general feelin...
1 comment
Read more