Born To Be A Blockhead
There’s no doubting that the most lovable, eccentric, cocky, funny, schoolboy-rude and artful characters from the punk generation are The Blockheads. Together with Ian Dury they created songs that were clever, insightful, subversive and, more often than not, just plain fun.
“Clevor Trever”, “Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick”, “Reasons To Be Cheerful Part 3”, “What A Waste” and, the anthem for their generation, “Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll” all carried the same trademark mix of humour, indignation, wonderfully witty wordplay and extreme musicianship.
Ian Dury may no longer be with them, but ably assisted by Derek The Draw on lead vocals / lyrics, The Blockheads remain one of the hardest working groups in the country and keep their legacy alive by playing to thousands of people each year at festivals and headlining shows across the UK and Europe. They have recently been promoting their latest album Staring Down The Barrel and are currently working on a cinematic documentary about their career. The Blockheads embark on their 35th anniversary tour in September 2012.
Staring Down The Barrel by The Blockheads as illustrated by Sir Peter Blake – Ian Dury’s art teacher in the 1960’s, friend of The Blockheads since their formation and Graeae Theatre Company patron.
HOMAGE TO PUNK ORIGINALITY
REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL caught up with Davey Payne the legendary sax player and writer of some of the Ian Dury and the Blockheads greatest hits to talk musicals, saxophones and Indian headgear.
Davey lets start at the beginning. You were born in Willesden and brought up in Clacton where you started playing the clarinet because of your love of Dixeyland Jazz. Do you think this was the inspiration to move onto the saxophone?
I was born in Willesden and lived behind the Art Deco Hoover factory in Perivale. I moved to Wood Green when I was five, and later moved to Clacton. Hanging out around the jukeboxes of Butlins I found myself searching out the jazz – Chris Barber, Buddy Greco’s The Lady is a Tramp, Lester Leaps. It was time to play. I bought myself a clarinet and went to Alice St John’s music salon. Alice was classically trained as a pianist, she loved jazz, and loved her students. I loved the sound of the clarinet but musically was listening to modern jazz, from Earl Bostic’s Flamingo to Cannonball Adderley and John Coltrane. When I first saw a golden tenor sax lying in its red velvet case, it was like seeing an angel or a precious metal from another star. I moved through musical genres quickly, listening to avant-garde jazz, to Bartok’s Sonatas for Violin, and Indian sitar music. By the time I was 19, free jazz seemed the way to go.
You met Ian Dury well before you joined the Blockheads playing with Ian in bands such as Kilburn and The High Roads. How different was it playing with these bands?
I was playing free jazz with the People Band and after returning from some gigs in Holland, I went to Ian Dury’s to rehearse with the Kilburns. The mixture of free jazz and blues worked well. Keith Lucas the guitarist loved it saying it was like Frank Zappa. The Kilburns were a mixture of art school painters, lateral thinkers, an aristocrat, and a chauffeur’s son. We all had a strong empathy and understanding of where Ian wanted to go. We had diverse tastes in music, fashion, and style, which made us interesting, but having no boundaries made it difficult to put us in a box or package. The Blockheads were more straightforward and focused on a more commercial road to success, a tight funky band that gave Ian the freedom to be himself.
What is your fondest memory of the early days and rise of The Blockheads throughout the ‘70s?
The Blockheads have toured America, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and Europe many times. We’ve been to Canada, seen Niagara Falls, and been up the Eiffel Tower, the Statue of Liberty, and the Empire State Building. We’ve seen the Coliseum in Rome, and the Acropolis in Greece. We’ve exchanged new boots for panties in Minneapolis, gone walkin’ in New Orleans, and got lost in Japan. I shared a peach with Eric in Bristol, and a Bristol with Charley in Peachville. We met Michael Douglas at La Coupole, dined at the Grand on Lake Como, James Caan was in Buffalo, and we played with Patti Smith in Boston. Alex Harvey, Sacha Distel, Wee Willie Harris, and Max Wall, we met them all. There were also some great times with the Kilburns, when Ian, his girlfriend Denise and I would check out the charity shops in the many towns that we played, deciding who was going to buy the original 50s drape, with cloth buttons and a velvet collar, or do we really need another art deco teapot.
The Ian Dury and the Blockheads ’79 headline set at The Hammersmith Odeon (now the Apollo) – the legendary residency that forms the backdrop to Graeae’s REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL was a special gig for you. Tell us more about it especially your unusual headgear.
In 1979 we did seven nights at the Hammersmith Odeon, London (5-12 August), and two at the Ilford Odeon, (14- 15 August). Our support band was the brilliant American Root Boy Slim. It was a special gig for me because the 11 August was my birthday. Various friends and guests came to these gigs – Humphrey Ocean, Ted Milton, Annie Lennox, Pete Townsend, Peter Blake, Alex Harvey, Wee Willie Harris and Viv Stanshall. On stage I wore an Indian chief’s headdress, a plastic jacket and birthday candles on each shoulder. Just before the curtain went up on Wake Up, Ian’s friend and minder, Fred Spider Rowe, lit the candles. With a slight breeze onstage it crossed my mind that this could be a little dangerous. But then, we were a little dangerous.
You co-composed and are credited with some of the biggest Ian Dury and the Blockheads songs. Not to mention one of the most famous saxophone solos in popular music and certainly the most famous with two saxophones played at the same time in Hit Me! How does this feel?
I was a big fan of the saxophone player Roland Kirk so when Ian asked me to play two saxophones at once on Hit Me it was my chance to pay homage to Roland. When we toured America supporting Lou Reed, Patti Smith came up to me and said, “Hey man, Roland Kirk!” Roland was a master of playing two, and sometimes three at once. I just blow and hope for the best.
What tips would you give to any young budding saxophone enthusiast?
My advice to young sax players is to listen to other sax players but be yourself. Try to find your own way of playing. Sometimes I would sooner hear somebody playing for the first time, making strange intervals and harmonies, squeaks and honks, than a polished sax player going through the clichéd formula of scales and chords. Learn them but try to say something new.
Fast forward over three decades. A film, a play and now a musical have been made about the story of Ian Dury and the Blockheads. Do you think they all bring something different to the table?
I think the plays and films of Ian are an indication that he touched many people. They give people who had seen him, and those who hadn’t, an insight into Ian as a person. I believe that the essence of Ian is present in these performances.
What do you think of Graeae’s production REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL?
The Graeae production of REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL gives the audience a view of how it was for Ian’s fans. Ian was a great communicator on stage; his lyrics were understanding of everyday neuroses, people’s problems and insecurities, their strengths and weaknesses. So at a gig you had music and therapy.
Ian was a former patron of Graeae. What do you think he would have thought of REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL?
Graeae’s REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL has a bunch of charismatic personalities. Somebody once said that when Ian Dury and Kilburn and the High Roads walked on stage it was like a Fellini film. I’m sure Ian would have been completely at home sitting with a bag of sweets in the audience, and be reminded of how much he was appreciated.
Can you sum up Graeae’s REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL in 3 words.
Revealing, entertaining, therapeutic
Davey you now live in Cornwall. Do you miss the old punk music scene of London in the ‘70s and do you think it is different now for young musicians?
I miss places like the Rainbow Room at Biba’s where we used to have Tommy Roberts, Peter Blake, Ossie Clark, Molly Parkin, Malcolm McClaren, Vivienne Westwood, Andy Mackay, Justin de Villeneuve, and many more wonderful people com to our gigs. I think young bands today need to say something new then they will hopefully get more respect from promoters who just seem to give them 20 minutes before the next act. Be confident that you are great and demand the whole evening.
It’s an exciting year for the Blockheads with their 35th anniversary. What else does the future hold for you?
I’m working a lot on my sax and at some point in the future hope to do some gigs with a Charlie Mingus meets Alice Coltrane type of band, with some blues and John Cage thrown in, harps, bells and the celestial bagpipes. Maybe at Café Oto, 606, or the Vortex. In the words of Sun Ra, space is the place.
The Blockheads give us their reasons to be cheerful…
1. A mother’s love and support for her children
2. The scent of magnolia
3. Waterfalls
……….and Graeae for putting this together
Chaz Jankel – The Blockheads
1. The music of the Spheres
2. Racking up the beers
3. A friendship of the soul
4. Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll
5. The rising of the sun
6. The love of my mum
7. The end of money owed
8. The Blockheads on the road
Mick Gallagher – The Blockheads
1. The belief that there are multiple dimensions, parallel universes, and if the universe that we know started with a speck smaller than an atom and was created within a second, anything is possible
2. Listening to Debussy’s Prelude à l’après-midi d’un faune while cooking a tasty vegetarian meal
3. Preparing for a painting, with canvas, the smell of oil paint and turpentine
4. Sitting in front of a Victorian fireplace, gazing at a coal fire on Christmas Eve
5. To imagine that you can make love to royalty
6. Driving round the mountains of northern Mallorca
7. Sitting round a table for a meal with all my eight children
Davey Payne – The Blockheads
1. Guitars. 6-string or 12 or even 4
2. Performing in a Blockheads concert…Veterans of Rock Funk Reggae Poetry in motion. Born to be a Blockhead
3. Laughing, dancing, singing like there’s nobody watching… Loving like you’ve never been hurt
John Turnbull – The Blockheads
Reasons to be Cheerful (Part3) original track – Lyrics and music by Ian Dury, Chaz Jankel & Davey Payne
Photo credit: Matt Kent
