THE TUBE

AUTOLEISURELAND – new album by ex-Kane Gang duo

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Paul Woods & David Brewis

Autoleisureland is the new project by former Kane Gang members Dave Brewis and Paul Woods.

The Kane Gang, with Martin Brammer completing the line-up, formed in the former coal mining town of Seaham on the North East coast in 1982, and signed to Kitchenware Records.

The pop soul band notched up several UK and USA hits including Respect Yourself, Closest Thing to Heaven and Gun Law.

I asked Dave and Paul how did the project come about ?

PW: It started a few years ago when Dave was working on his instrumental album.

Every week before we popped out for a pint he’d drop off a new mix or new track. I really liked them and started on lyrics to turn them into songs. It snowballed and I started giving him lyrics and ideas for new ones.

DB: Paul and myself have remained in touch and seen each other regularly over the years since the Kane Gang was active. When I quit lecturing at Gateshead College I was still doing session gigs, but fancied writing again.

I recorded a set of tunes, and Paul thought he would write lyrics, so that got the ball rolling. Before long we were full on writing and recording, something we always enjoyed. So we thought we’d name ourselves and start a band project.

PW: Eventually we came up with the song Autoleisureland and that was the catalyst for the sound we were going for in our heads. Sort of all of our influences coming together.

After that we were off and running. I’ve never enjoyed working on something so much.

Have you a best time for song writing ?

DB: Definitely not in the mornings. A few days a week we work two to three hours at a time in the afternoon on recording.

After that length of time we lose our judgement so we stop, but evenings are when we usually write and that is done separately. Then we exchange ideas and continue. It’s quite efficient as we usually know what we are after. But it can take time.

PW: I tend to have the best ideas at night for hook lines, titles and choruses. Sometimes when I’m listening to some other music and I mishear the lyrics, it sets me on a different train of thought. The rest of the daytime is used for the mundane lengthy task of actually finishing it.

Autoleisureland album released 25 November 2022.

What do you consider for the final running order of the songs on the new album ?

PW: We had a number of catchy songs that kept going, all rather upbeat and positive and we didn’t want to break the mood. So, we didn’t really want a slow number until about the seventh track in.

DB: We start with something upbeat that is representative of the album – Autoleisureland, then try to run four or five strong bangers in a row. Pop in a slow one then kick off again.

We have a few reflective ones but we finish this album with the title track Infiniti Drive, as it bookends with the first track Autoleisureland.

Do conversations ever turn to ‘remember in the ‘80s when this happened’ ?

DB: Yes sometimes. The odd daft thing that happened with taxis, airports, interviews. For me, thinking back to studio work mainly. That was very enjoyable, I think we preferred that side of it.

PW: The Kane Gang was and is a big part of our lives so it’s natural we have some thoughts about it. Obviously, the older you get, the less you remember.

For instance, a few weeks ago a thought came to me and I asked Dave, ‘were we on Soul Train?’. All of a sudden I had a flashback of the dancers and the show’s set. We performed Motortown.

However, on its official website it says we were never on. They mustn’t have used it, I guess.

What does music mean to you ?

DB: Music is a part of my life. I feel somewhat frustrated if I haven’t played or written something for a while. We can create and shape something out of nothing that entertains and feels worthwhile. 

PW: This is difficult. For Dave, I believe it’s simpler. He’s a musician. That’s what he studied for, that’s what he practised for, that’s what he does, that’s who he is. He doesn’t think about it. And then there’s me.

When it comes to music I’ve always had imposter syndrome. Never believing I’m good enough to sing, write, record. All the time I was in The Kane Gang I was plagued by that.

It was only until this latest project that I thought, ‘yeah this IS what I do, and I’m going to keep doing it’, so I apologise in advance.

What are your hopes for the new album ?

PW: Who knows anymore. I’m just pleased it’s done, out, finished. I’m prouder of this than anything I’ve done. So I’m pleased it’s out, people can hear it and then we can get more stuff out and even more recorded.

DB: We hope we can reach a lot of people who like this style of music, worldwide. Obviously some Kane Gang fans, but also the people who listen to our contemporaries like Tears for Fears, China Crisis, Prefab Sprout.

And people who like some of the more interesting newer bands. It’s good to try to be fresh but ultimately do what you do.

Autoleisureland is released on 25th November 2022 on all digital streaming and download platforms including Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube & Bandcamp.

Alikivi    November 2022

MASTER OF PUPPETS with WAVIS O’SHAVE ON THE TUBE

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Ground breaking ‘80s live music show The Tube was broadcast from Tyne Tees studios in Newcastle for Channel Four from 1982 to 1987. The last post featured Wavis O’Shave who appeared regularly on the programme.

For one of the shows some filming was scheduled at the South Marine Park, South Shields and Wavis asked his mate Phil Whale to accompany him. Phil was a miner who lived on the Whiteleas council estate, South Shields.

Wavis: ‘I took Phil with me because he was the leader of the Whiteleas Massive and as a miner pissed off being involved in the Miners Strike. Thought I’d cheer him up!’

Phil Whale: ‘If there is one thing having a mate like Wavis has taught me is to always expect the unexpected. I’ve had hilarious times in his presence and witnessed surreal bizarre events’.

‘At that time Wavis was a regular on the show with his character The Hard who in essence was a delightfully exaggerated alpha male tough guy who was on a quest to demonstrate that he was the hardest guy on the planet’.

The Hard in his Hard backyard, South Shields.

‘I remember feeling excited at the prospect of watching him undertake his TV work, yet also feeling nervous at what he may do to challenge the norms and expectations of those in attendance because that is one of the things that he’s about.

Funnily enough I do remember him having a glint in his eyes’.

‘We met a camera crew all wearing Barbour jackets and talking in middle class accents. Wavis politely explained to them that he was going to present new characters to the cameras such as Mr Ordinary Powder, Mr Starey Oot and a hand puppet scene called the Non Sweary Puppet Show’.

The Tube crew were expecting The Hard to turn up as that character was starting to make a big impression on their viewers. Even the staff in production meetings used to do impersonations of The Hard. But on the day Wavis had other ideas.

Filming Mr Ordinary Powder in the South Marine Park, South Shields.

Phil remembers ‘The director begged him to do The Hard and asked him if he would consider doing six episodes for Channel 4, but Wavey was having none of it stating that the Hard was now consigned to the past and as an artist he wanted to move on’. 

‘It was just mental watching Wavis perform these new surreal characters in a public park with Mr Ordinary Powder who was naked apart from a loin cloth, carrying a shopping basket containing a talking loaf of bread, and Mr Starey Oot just staring everyone and everything out – in a manner that the Hard would be proud of’.

‘Mind you the best part of the day had to go to the Non Sweary Puppet Show which involved Wavis hiding behind a wall then up popped glove puppets arguing and screaming at each other that included loud explicit references to sex and constant use of the F word – all in Geordie!

The crew and gathering members of the public stood in a stunned silence at what was happening.

‘Wavis maintained a rock steady face in between takes which added to the surreal nature. I remember experiencing a wide range of thoughts ranging from ‘what the feck this is brilliant’ to ‘Get in Wavis’. 

‘At the end of the day payment was discussed with the director, at first Wavis refused money but after haggling was pleased to get a brand new Scotland football strip.’

Phil wraps up his feelings about the day… ‘To cap it all off Wavis asked if I would accompany him to the Tube Studio for the editing. Was he valuing my comedic opinion or was he sticking two fingers up to the producers expectations?’

‘I suppose I will never know but it didn’t matter to me as the experience was priceless. Oh and by the way you won’t be surprised to hear that The Non Sweary Puppet Show didn’t survive the cuts which was a shame but not unexpected’.

It’s reported on good authority that while the Non-Swearies Puppet Show was unsuitable for terrestrial TV broadcast it was a huge favourite in The Tube Office.

‘The Non-Swearies…even I’ve lost the original demo VHS performance’ remembers Wavis.

Alikivi   October 2022

THE KANE GANG: On ‘80s Live Music Show The Tube

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Martin Brammer, Paul Woods & Dave Brewis.

Autoleisureland is a new project by North East musicians Dave Brewis and Paul Woods, but in the 1980s along with vocalist Martin Brammer, they were with Seaham soul trio The Kane Gang.

Originally signed to Newcastle label Kitchenware Records, they released two albums and scored UK hits in Closest Thing to Heaven, Respect Yourself and Motortown in the USA.

‘When we had London Records promo team the promotion was all over Europe and we always seemed to be going to a TV studio or Radio interview.

We were once booked on the the live BBC teatime show Crackerjack with Stu Francis, other guests were Keith Harris and his duck Orville’.

‘We made a video for most singles and filmed a couple in the USA. Looking back it happened pretty fast – it was surreal at times’ said Dave Brewis.

The Kane Gang’s existence was smack bang in the middle of The Tube’s dominance of live music programming. I asked Dave how did you get the call ?

‘The Tube production team contacted Kitchenware Records to set up special filming for the four bands that were on the labels roster – The Kane Gang, Prefab Sprout, Hurrah! and the Daintees’.

‘Each band was filmed in a different location in Newcastle. We were filmed performing Smalltown Creed in the Barn restaurant at the end of Leazes Terrace and Prefab Sprout were filmed outside the Holy Jesus Hospital on the Swan House roundabout. It was broadcast in November 1983’.

What can you remember of filming your live appearance on The Tube ?

‘In April 1984 we recorded Smalltown Creed and Closest Thing To Heaven. We used live vocals over the instrumental tracks from the finished records that we had just recorded with producer Pete Wingfield’.

‘When broadcast, the balance of the microphones on Smalltown Creed was all over the place and you couldn’t really hear Paul Woods, although it sounded fine in the studio at the time. On Closest Thing To Heaven the vocal balance was fine and the sound was good’.

‘I’d seen this happen to a couple of other bands when I was in the audience in the early days, and it seemed a peril of live TV. It wasn’t unique to Tyne Tees studio’.

‘In November ‘84 we were on live, this time with our full touring band, and the crew got an excellent sound. We did Respect Yourself and Gun Law, and I remember Al Jarreau having a crack live band including Steve Gadd, and David Sanborn was there. Afterwards we may have gone to the pub next door, certainly went to the Big Market for a curry’.

Did nerves play a part in your live appearances ?

‘With the show being live and featuring so much stuff every week we just had to be ready to go whenever we were told, so until we had been on, we couldn’t really mix or relax’.

Did you meet any other musicians backstage or in the studio ?

‘I remember Grandmaster Flash & Co. being incredibly jet-lagged and half asleep on their dressing room floor, and in the corridors. But they did a dynamite performance, it looked great. Jeffrey Osborne was really good live, too’.

‘I remember talking to Roy Wood in the green room on one show. Anyone flying home on a Friday to Newcastle from Heathrow was bound to see a few bands on board’.

You can find most of The Kane Gang performances on the official YouTube channel.

The Kane Gang Official – YouTube

For more info on Autoleisureland check the official website :

AutoLeisureLand Home

Alikivi  October 2022

THE GEORDIE WRECKING CREW: Forty Years since The Tube Arrived

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In between YOP schemes and signing on the dole in the 1980s I remember queuing outside Newcastle’s Tyne Tees TV Studio to get free audience ticket’s for live music show The Tube.

The ground breaking programme was broadcast by Channel Four from 1982 to 1987.

The 90 glorious minutes had a massive impact on my life. Regular doses of The Tube cudda been a prescribed vaccine injected by the NHS to release built up mental pressure in a time of strikes, mass unemployment and living in a post-industrial wasteland.

Talk about pushing boundaries of what live TV can do this show was run by a Geordie Wrecking Crew creating a bigger blast than anything coming out of London.

TV bigwigs in the South making envious glances towards the North as every Friday Newcastle Airport was chocka block full of top musicians and celebrities. 

You want exciting car crash box office TV ? it’s all here, the Geordie crew really were the ducks nuts. With the launch show planned, Sunderland punks Toy Dolls were brought in to light the fuse – tune in, turn on, blast off.

Over the past couple of years some of the production team have talked on this blog about how the North East gained a reputation to produce good music shows, and how influential and important the show would become.

Chris Cowey: ‘The Tube was a real blend of old school Tyne-Tees TV expertise and young whippersnappers like me who was obsessed with music and bitten by the live music thing. I was into DJ’ing, Drama, Theatre which led to my TV break’.

‘My mentor was Producer Malcolm Gerrie, who a lot of people will remember from his Tyne-Tees days. A lot of the same gang of music fans were the nucleus of the production teams for Check It Out, Alright Now, TX45, The Tube and Razzmatazz’.

‘Tyne-Tees already did some good old entertainment shows before my time, like Geordie Scene or What Fettle, but they were obsessed about their ‘Geordieness’. The Tube wasn’t, it was all about good music because we were music obsessed.

It also had a great mix of time served TV people blended together with new people with fresh ideas, and a kind of irreverence which came out in those shows’.

Chris Phipps: ‘I was at the Tube from the start in ’82 till it’s full run to ’87. I joined as a booker and became Assistant Producer from 1985 to 1987′.

‘A band on the first show that I booked didn’t happen. The Who didn’t do it because their pa system got stuck in Mexico or somewhere. Producer Malcolm Gerrie knew Paul Weller’s father and got The Jam to do it.

In a way I’m glad that he did because The Jam playing their last TV gig ever, really said this is what The Tube is all about – that was then, this is now and off we go’.

‘After appearing Fine Young Cannibals got signed, The Proclaimers got signed and there was a time when the Tube crew went to Liverpool to film Dead or Alive. But they weren’t around, someone in a pub told them to go round the corner to another pub where there is a band rehearsing ‘You might be interested in them’. It was Frankie Goes to Hollywood’.

‘The Tube filmed the original version of their single Relax and Trevor Horn saw it. He did the deal and re-recorded and produced the single. Frankie epitomised The Tube and the ‘80s – they got what it was all about’.

Gary talks to Radio One DJ, John Peel.

Gary James: ‘I was one of the original co-presenters on The Tube from Series One, which started on Friday November 5th 1982. I applied along with 5,000 other herberts who all thought they were cool, hip and groovy enough to be TV presenters’.

‘To give the programme a bit of extra thrill they wanted to put some unknown faces alongside the two main presenters Jools Holland and Paula Yates. They certainly achieved that as few of us really knew what we were doing.

It was all live, pre-watershed national networked TV and no second chances’.

‘None of us on the presenter side, perhaps with the exception of Jools and Paula who breezed through it all without a care in the world, could have had any idea that the show would be as seminal as it was.

We certainly knew we were part of the ‘new wave’ and that we didn’t want to be all BBC and Top of the Pops-ish’.  

‘The chaos on it was quite genuine and the edginess a result of the fact that for most of the time we were left to get on with what we were doing without any strict direction or guidance to be pros.

I had a good time interviewing Ringo Starr, Eartha Kitt, Tony Visconti, Mickey Finn of T.Rex, John Peel, Kajagoogoo and loads more interesting people who had a part to play in the industry’.

Colin Rowell, Chris Phipps, Michael Metcalf.

Colin Rowell: ‘It was just five years of sheer magic. There was Geoff Brown, Chris Phipps and me sharing an office in Newcastle. They, as producers, had applied for this music television show and asked me if I was interested in joining the team as stage manager’.

‘From years working at Newcastle City Hall I knew the acts, the crews, the managers and they were all glad when they knew a familiar face and voice was going to be there running the stages in the studio’.

‘First off started with two stages, ended up with four and I did the deal with ENTEC who were a big sound company. They ran Reading Festival and owned The Marquee. It was a smooth operation with them providing all the sound and crew.

The PA was flown in (hung from ceiling) off the stage making it easier for cameramen to have floor space and no big speakers in their way’.

‘One time me and Geoff Brown were sent to London to check out Grandmaster Flash. It was the first time The Tube were going to have on stage a set-up of a band playing all the scratchy stuff’.  

‘We got to the venue and there was a support band on so we went to a Steak house but it was dreadful and we didn’t eat it so we went back to the venue. The support act were still on and we listened in this time. This was good stuff. It was Paul Young and the Royal Family.’

‘We got back to Newcastle and in a meeting with one of the head guy’s at The Tube, Malcolm Gerrie, I banged the table and said ‘let’s get him on’. And we did. But Malcolm and I felt Paul didn’t get a good crack of the whip first time so we invited him back on again and the rest is history’.

Michael Metcalf: ‘I worked as Personal Assistant to a lot of freelance directors, one of which was Geoff Wonfor who was the husband of Andrea Wonfor, Executive Producer on the Tube’.

‘When the Tube began I continued working with Geoff for the first few years then applied for a vacancy to become a Director and got the job for most of Series Four.  

It’s important to remember that at that time we were a bunch of Geordie guys who were working with some amazing people and having the time of our lives’.

‘I remember one trip to New York we hired a helicopter to fly around the Statue of Liberty. I sat in the helicopter alongside the pilot, Geoff was in the row behind and the cameraman was strapped in but hanging out of the side of the helicopter, the door had been taken off’.

‘I had the headset to communicate with the pilot, going down the Hudson, he asked if we wanted to go under or over the bridges, I asked if we could do both, which we ended up doing.

It is hard to imagine getting away with that now but we had the time of our life. Every day the job was an adventure’.

Gary James: ‘Because it was live I only ever saw the programmes I didn’t work on. My parents told me they had recorded shows on VHS tape and did I want them? I stuck them in a box and put them in the attic’.

‘There they stayed for years until I watched them from behind the sofa for the first time. The performances blew me away. I can now finally see what everyone was going on about – but until then I genuinely had no idea’.

Chris Cowey: ‘It was really important that it came from the North-East because of the passion the swagger and total commitment. It’s not just that Geordies like showing off – although they undoubtedly do! – it’s because the history and attitude of the region can be really inspiring, creative and hugely fun. That’s how it worked so well’.

Chris Phipps: ‘You can never bring The Tube back. It’s of its time. Chris Evans on TFI Friday in the ‘90s near enough had it, the set was just like The Tube. So yeah it’s had an incredible influence’.

To read the full interviews type in the name in the white search box.  

Alikivi   October 2022

MUSIC SURPRISES FROM UDO, PAT & ALF

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Music can spring unexpected surprises when it pulls you in and holds your breath.

It was the early ‘80s when I hired out albums from the local library and sampled songs from bands I’d only read about in Sounds music weekly. There were stacks of misses but big hitters like the first time hearing the sublime poetic lyrics of Leonard Cohen.

‘When I left they were sleeping, I hope you run into them soon. Don’t turn on the lights you can read their address by the moon’.

Or Pete Murphy spitting out white hot haunting claustrophobic tunes from post punk band Bauhaus ‘Yin and yang lumber punch, go taste a tart, then eat my lunch. And force my slender, thin and lean, in this solemn place of fill-wetting dreams’.

Live gig’s also brought surprises, I remember in November 1981 self-proclaimed UK Metal Gods Judas Priest were at Newcastle City Hall primed to deliver the goods.

Before the big boys played with their bigger toys the support band are usually given 40 minutes to say their piece, unfortunately some crumble in front of the headliners crowd, but word shot around ‘the openers are supposed to be canny’.

It was a cold night outside as winter closed in and in the warmth of the ‘Haal’ the lights went down and a few shouts went out.

From the balcony I looked down to see the short, stocky blond haired vocalist plant himself at the front of the stage. Udo Dirkschneider. The leader of the pack.

Sounding like they’ve brought the Panza division with them, the twin guitar attack of German metallers Accept announced their arrival in Newcastle and rock ‘n’ rolled thunder till the end. In the wings Priest looked on, sharpened their set and Rob Halford screamed for vengeance.

My ticket stub from Judas Priest & Accept, Newcastle City Hall 17 November 1981.

‘80s live music show The Tube had something and someone new and fresh every week. Big Country, The Alarm, The Cult, they all made a big, beautiful noise, and a surprise on the programme was Pat Benatar – the little American lady with a huge, huge voice.

On one show a duo delivered power from what at first looked like an unlikely source. A young skinny lad with floppy hair stood ready, at a game of football he would have been the last picked, then on walked someone who could of been a school dinner lady.

The stage was bare – with no drums, no Marshall stacks, no guitars, I was prepared for disappointment. I didn’t catch their name, with only a keyboard and microphone set up – how loud could a synth pop duo go ?

A clunky pop sound fired up, then the voice, and what a voice. Making one of her first TV appearances was Alison Moyet who went on to sell millions of albums, a bucket load of top ten UK hits, a host of singer and songwriter awards, Live Aid, and more, and more, you get the picture – not bad for a dinner lady.

I’ve got a Dolly Parton greatest hits cd on the shelf which I pick out now and then, but recently I’ve been listening to more country & western. Yep the whole pluckin’ banjo hillbilly heartbreak songs – my neighbour even looks like Willie Nelson – here’s to music springing more surprises.

Alikivi   April 2022.

HEARTBREAKER in conversation with Lee Robertson, guitarist/keys with ‘80s rock band SHE (2/2)

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Were any major record labels sniffing about ?

The single with Neat was a one record only deal, it sold around 6,000 copies and the tracks appeared on compilation albums and a few major labels initially showed interest after we touted the single around.

We played a couple of showcase gigs at London’s Marquee, at one of them IRS label boss Miles Copeland, musician Neil Murray (Whitesnake, Black Sabbath), Michael Schenker and a few other label guys were there.

We knew we had to blast it and we did, we had a storming gig but never got any firm interest.

We were advised to stay away from publishing offers we got offered as that was signing away your rights to your song royalties.

There was a label interested but when we broke it down into how much it was to record an album and take it out on tour, we would’ve been massively in debt. What we’d get initially wasn’t enough to cover an album and promotion.

Did you appear in any of the music weeklies ?

There was a few live reviews in Kerrang, Karen done a photo shoot for them called Lady Killers. I’ll never forget those couple of days.

We went down to London and supported UK rock band FM on their last night of the tour at the Astoria. That was a blast sharing the stage with them as they were my favourite band then.

On stage I remember kids at the front grabbing onto your legs it was unbelievable. After the gig we came off to a massive dressing room with tables full of food and beer and the FM drummer said our show was awesome.

He invited us to a big end of tour party at a flashy cocktail bar where we ended up partying all night but we had to get up early to go to the photo shoot for Kerrang – we were hungover and wrecked. Then had to race over to the Marquee to soundcheck as we were headlining that night.

Karen McInulty in a video still from TV music show E.C.T.

Was this the time when you thought we have made it this far someone will sign us now ?

We were working hard – we went into Neat and pushed out a double A side single with local songwriter Phil Caffery on epic backing vocals.

Then more support slots at Newcastle University with bands like Robin George and Girlschool, we also went down to London to open for Girlschool and ended up in Kim McAuliffe’s flat on her birthday.

More nights at the Marquee followed where we got free entry into the San Moritz bar and one night hung out with Thunder and Rock Goddess. Lemmy was really friendly remembering us ‘There’s the Geordie lot come an’ ‘av a drink’.

Yes everything had been going well but we still didn’t get any firm interest and after a period of the band making no progress we decided to call it a day in 1989.

Did the band want to reform ?

We did kick the idea about of doing something as a band, we were rehearsing at Red Nose Studio in North Shields – we couldn’t hear much as ‘Venom’ were rehearsing next door !

We auditioned a few singers, but it was plain it was never going to work. Karen was unique and anybody else at the front of the band just wasn’t working.

When Karen was in the band did she get any solo offers ?

If she did I didn’t know. Karen was the focal point of the band her voice was amazing. We weren’t perfect there was disagreements that sometimes were on the edge of turning physical, show me a band that doesn’t, but they were all storms in a tea cup, generally we all got on.

There was a rumour that it was a yes or no decision between us and T’Pau and their song China in your Hand swung the pendulum in their favour – how true that whole record deal was I don’t know, but every time I hear that classic pop song I do wonder what if.

What did you do then ?

After the band I gave up music for a few years then got back playing again with some friends in a couple of rock cover bands. They were mates having a good laugh, getting paid for strings and beer money. Ended up playing all over the North East and The Newcastle Cluny a few times.

I remember the first gig with the Media Junkies was in the Bebside in Blyth and the guys were setting the P.A. and the soundman was Stosh – I couldn’t believe it. He used to do sound on all the big She gigs back in the ‘80s – the Marquees, Mayfairs, and he was our sound engineer on the E.C.T Channel 4 show. Now here he was doing my sound again!

When I started living as an adult (laughs)….I trained in I.T. Computer Programming and worked for various companies in the UK and Europe. I went where the money was for 30 years.

But that was really stressful so ended up working for Northumberland Cheese Company as a cheesemaker at the ‘Make Me Rich’ Farm on Blagdon Estate in Northumberland – seriously – I won a silver medal for my smoked cow’s cheese at the International Cheese Awards in 2019 (laughs).

I loved that job but when the Covid virus hit I went on furlough in 2020 and enjoyed it so much I retired, also by the first Covid lockdown in 2020 I had finished playing live.

She featured on a number of compilation albums. This one from NEAT records.

What are the other members of She doing now ?

Paul still plays drums, not quite sure who for, I think it was mostly show bands doing holiday parks and the like but I know he played in Qween (Queen tribute) for a bit.

Billy gave up music after the band, Ken Riley found God and formed a successful Christian rock band YFriday who recorded and toured for a while. I believe he is a full time minister now, not sure where.

Karen was very religious, a Roman Catholic, after the band she made the decision to go into a convent and become a nun. I couldn’t tell you more about that because we didn’t have any contact with her then, only that she stayed a few years and then turned to social work.

The last time Karen and I talked was in 2012, I was working in Germany, she was living in the North East and we were talking about meeting up. Sadly in October that year I got a call to say that she’d passed away after suffering several health problems, it was a very sad time.

I’ve always said without a doubt we wouldn’t have got as far as we did without Karen, those days in She were the best of my life.

Everything you ever dreamt of when you’re 17 is unfolding into reality. It was amazing playing the Newcastle Mayfair, recording studios, TV shows and gigs at the original Marquee.

I remember looking on the dressing room wall where every band who played there wrote their name, Queen were my idols when I was a kid and I spent ages looking for them and eventually there they were – of course we wrote our name up on the wall.

Looking back the whole thing was an incredible ride, it was living the dream……the memories will stay with me forever.

Interview by Alikivi  November 2021.

Never Surrender

7″ Neat Records (1985) NEAT 50
12″ Neat Records (1985) NEAT 50

1. Never Surrender 2. Breaking Away 3. On My Way

*Track 3 on the 12″ only
*Same catalogue number for both releases

Captured 7″ Elle Records (1986) SHE 001

1. Captured 2. New Start

Compilation albums:

Heavy Metal Collection 2 ‘Never Surrender’
The Flame Burns On – The Best Of Neat Records ‘Never Surrender’
The Neat Singles Collection Volume Three ‘Never Surrender’, ‘Breakin’ Away’ and ‘On My Way’
Lightnin’ To The Nations NWOBHM 25th Anniversary Collection ‘Never Surrender’

HEARTBREAKER : in conversation with Lee Robertson, ex-‘80s rock band ‘SHE’ (part 1)

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She were a rock band based in North Tyneside who recorded two singles in the 1980’s.

Fronted By Karen McInulty, bassist Billy Germaney, drummer Paul Defty, guitarist Ken Riley and Lee Robertson guitar & keyboards who I met up with earlier this month.

I was surrounded by music, there was always instruments at my Nana’s house and my uncles played guitar, when I was at Tynemouth college I played guitar and wanted to be in a band.

In 1981 I got in touch with a lad called Ken Riley, we started jamming together in his house then formed a band. We were playing cover songs and bounced a few original ideas around. Ken had a superb ear for melody, chorus and memorable hooks.

Then it was a constant revolving door of trying out drummers, bassists, singers, it wasn’t working so we put an ad in the Newcastle Chronicle. Bernadette Mooney, who you have already interviewed, answered the ad and fitted in, we eventually started rehearsing with a drummer.

We were rehearsing in Preston Grange Community Centre in North Shields when Billy Germaney walked by, heard us and asked to be in the band. I went to see him play live in his band and he was streets ahead in quality, he also looked the part so we rang him up and he joined the band.

For a name we knocked a few ideas around but I think it was Billy who came up with ‘She’.

When did you start playing live ?

We started gigging with our first at Preston High School, North Shields in 1982. Our set was a mixture of rock covers and raw originals, we got on like a house on fire with Bernadette but with the style of our new songs the vocal wasn’t working out so we parted ways after a few gigs. She went on to front War Machine and done well releasing an album on Neat records.

So it was back to the drawing board for us. A friend recommended listening to someone she knew, it was good of her to do that but we were after more serious people not just friends of friends, as we were devoting more and more time to the band.

Eventually we did invite her along to the Church hall where we had the gear set up. I’ll never forget this as long as I live.

In walks a really shy person and sits down on the seat in front of us while we were warming up. We started playing the Pat Benatar song Heartbreaker. We could hear her singing along really ripping into it – this was sitting down without a mic!

I looked at Ken, he looked over to me, it was a moment we knew something special was happening. We turned up our backline and nodded for her to pick up the mic. The power of her vocal was incredible.

The range, the timbre, the softness of her voice – that was the job on the spot right there…..and that was Karen McInulty.

We knew we were a bit rough so got stuck in to rehearsals to polish up and tighten. Then we recorded a few songs to tape and took it to Mingles rock bar in Whitley Bay – famous for Tygers of Pan Tang playing their early gigs there – the pub management said yes and the gig went well. We played a lot of pub gigs after that all north of the Tyne up to Blyth.

One night at Mingles we were approached by the Tygers of Pan Tang management, Tom Noble and Graeme Thompson, they asked if we were interested in signing up so I took the contract and looked it over, handy as I was a Law student then. We had our heads screwed on and were determined not to fall in to any traps.

It was understood that this was a management contract to get to a certain point and then it would be revisited. First thing they suggested was getting in Paul Defty on drums, as I’ve said before sometimes friends don’t work out as we were taking it more seriously.

Paul was well known as a great drummer throughout the music scene in the North East and adding him to the line-up was the final piece in the jigsaw, he and Billy just clicked.

We all thought we were tight as a sharks arse but when Paul came in the band were solid as a rock and he locked everything together. The impact was immediate.

The management got us working every day, Monday to Thursday was rehearsal and gigging Friday, Saturday and Sunday where we travelled further – even to the Iron Butterfly in Peterlee with the Pauline Gillan band opening for us!

During the early gigs did the band have any laughs along the way ?

I remember one gig we had just played the Friday rock night at Sunderland Mecca when Karen said ‘you’re going to have to stop the van’. After drinking a few sherbets we thought she might be ill so we pulled over and all got out.

Can you remember Rik Mayall and the Comic Strip who done the spoof TV documentary about a metal band on the road called Bad News ? Karen said ‘I’m not getting back into the van until you all say we’re Heavy Metal’! (laughs)

Did management have a positive effect on the band ?

The management contacts really started to come into play with our Newcastle Mayfair debut supporting local band Emerson. I spent a lot of time watching bands at the Newcastle Mayfair so to be on stage there was incredible.

That was around 1984 and we played the Mayfair a few times supporting Terraplane, Wishbone Ash and Vow Wow then eventually headlining with local metal band Tysondog opening. Other North East gigs were Redcar Coatham Bowl and Newcastle Riverside.

We were virtually guaranteed an appreciative audience up here but we put on a coach for our first gig in London at the Tunnel club which was beside a glue factory – it stunk when you got off the bus all you could smell was dissolving horse bones.

But it was a great experience playing in front of strangers and we went down well.

What was your experience of the studio ?

We went into Neat recording studio in Wallsend to record the 7” single Never Surrender and Breaking Away produced by Keith Nichol. The 12” included On My Way which to be honest I preferred.

Later it was remixed by Jon Verity (Argent) and Fred Purser (Penetration/Tygers of Pan Tang) in Jon’s Yorkshire studio, the track got into the top ten of the National rock charts.

Did the band do any radio, appear on TV or film music videos ?

For promotion DJ Little Jeff was always good to us, he supported the band by playing our single at his rock nights in Newcastle Mayfair. In 1985 Karen and I were interviewed on The Tube talking about the new single and some upcoming gigs.

We were also asked to play TX45 which was produced by the same team as The Tube. The show had North East unsigned bands playing every week and we done two tracks Breaking Away and Still Need You. ‘One Hand, One Heart’ was the other band that night, and the comedian Chubby Brown.

I’m not that tall and our guitarist Ken is a little shorter than me but when Chubby came into our dressing room he looked Ken up and down and said ‘F***ing hell when you’re on we’ll have to put up a sign saying do not adjust your TV set the guitarist really is only 5 foot tall’. He was brutal with his jokes, they had to stop filming a few times. 

The Neat single also got us on the Channel Four rock show E.C.T, we played our current single Never Surrender and our next single New Start. That was a superb experience because it was the last show of the series and they had a big after show party.

We were rubbing shoulders and having drinks with all the bands and rock stars we had watched playing live at the Newcastle Mayfair and City Hall.

Video still from tv music show E.C.T.

How did the TV appearances come about ?

The management would ring and say get the band together and we’ll meet at The Cannon Inn, North Shields. We walked in and Chris Cowey was there, Chris was the main man for TV he worked on Check it Out, The Tube and went on to do many other music programmes including Top of the Pops.

He had already heard our single, we had a great chat in the pub and then asked are you interested in being on the telly ? So it all went from there, it was a no brainer really.

On E.C.T we were on with Warlock and Magnum. We had the dressing room next to Magnum who were a lot older than us, seasoned pro’s really, we were all 20 year old Geordies let loose in London living the rock star dream appearing on TV!

We were shouting, laughing, joking, just very loud when Wally the Magnum bass player knocked on the door and in his very dour Brummie accent asked us ‘Can you please keep the noise down people are trying to sleep in here’ (laughs).

Read part two featuring Kerrang, Girlschool, London Marquee and find out what Lee is up to now.

Interview by Alikivi   November 2021

BINGO ! NORTH EAST CULTURE BLOG HITS QUARTER MILLION

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Big thank you to all readers of the blog – very much appreciated. Some of the messages you sent will be posted soon. Reaching the milestone people said why not interview yourself you must have an interesting story ?

I thought ok why not – here goes.

Leaving school in the 1980’s there weren’t many options for a working class kid on Tyneside, I drifted aimlessly from Government employment schemes, factory work and signing on the dole – one time I found myself packing blocks of cheese!

Eventually I found the peace of mind I was searching for after studying photography and video production at Gateshead college in the early ’90s. Then I dove straight in at the deep end – no art grants or funding just full time self-employment.

Since then, my life has been dedicated to photography, video production, making social documentaries and the past five years writing this blog.

It can be relentless forming ideas from the minute you wake up to working seven days a week – but to be honest it’s the only way to do it. If you’re not prepared to put the time in you might as well shut up shop and hand the keys in.

The Tube was broadcast from 1982-87 at Tyne Tees Studio, Newcastle.

There were a number of big moments that inspired me. I was fortunate enough to get audience tickets for live TV music show The Tube – looking around the studio I was surrounded by cameras, lights and stages – that was a buzz right there.

The first time I developed one of my photographs was magic, I had a similar reaction when I first saw a videotape editing machine.

Plus, I was and still am, curious about stuff – Who made that ? How does it work ? When did that happen ? All very useful when talking to people and searching for the sharp end.

The blog is called Alikivi because I was looking for a short, original name and discovered my Great Uncle Alexander Alikivi was born in Russia around 1880 and left the country around the time of the revolution.

He came to live in South Shields as a merchant seaman. His name is pronounced Ally-kivy.  

At first I didn’t have a plan, the blog was to be just another outlet for interviews I’d filmed over ten year ago with South Tyneside musicians called We Sold Our Soul for Rock n Roll.

I thought they still had some juice in them, so I updated them, contacted more musicians, added more stories and in February 2017 the blog went live.

The next few years snowballed as the blog ended up covering culture across the North East – writers, artists, photographers – all very popular as the amount of hits show.

I never thought I’d end up talking to actors from Auf Wiedersehen, Pet and producers of The Tube.

For an interview style I try to make it a relaxed, light conversation, and being genuinely interested in what they have to say. It seems to work as hundreds of interviews later the blog has hit over quarter million views worldwide.

The Angelic Upstarts, pic. by Rik Walton.

There is so many highlights and in one interview Mond Cowie, former guitarist with Angelic Upstarts, remembers being on a USA tour in 1983.

‘We walked on stage, the lights blazed and Mensi screamed ‘We’re the Upstarts, we’re from England, 1,2,3,4’ – then bang there was a huge power cut’.

Another time Danny McCormack from The Wildhearts told me his parents were only convinced he had a real job when they saw him on telly.

‘Being in a band with a plank of wood and four wires hanging around your neck doesn’t cut it with your parents. After we’d done Top of the Pops my mam and dad stopped asking if I was going to get a proper job’.

A lot of stories were bands trying to ‘make it’ and one band who set alight to the Tyne but unfortunately not the Thames, was White Heat. Former singer and songwriter Bob Smeaton, now award winning music documentary maker, told me…

‘I was working as a welder at Swan Hunters shipyard when punk and new wave happened in ‘76,’77, that’s when I started thinking I could possibly make a career out of music’.

Lesley Saint John with Bill Patterson in series two of Auf Wiedersehen, Pet. pic by Newcastle Chronicle.

One show that had me glued to the telly on a Friday night during the ‘80s was ‘Auf Wiedersehen Pet’. So I didn’t miss the opportunity to talk to one of the stars of the show, Lesley Saint John.

‘You wouldn’t believe how much attention the show attracts. I done five years on Byker Grove, and a Catherine Cookson film, but Auf Wiedersehen is the one that’s talked about the most’.

South Shields born Eileen O’Shaughnessy.

‘Wildflower’ was a documentary I made about South Shields born Eileen O’Shaughnessy, George Orwell’s first wife. I interviewed his son Richard Blair who revealed Eileen’s influence on George.

‘She done some re-writing of his manuscripts, certainly when he was writing ‘Animal Farm’ he would read out what he had written during the day and she would pass comment on certain aspects’.

I was proud to hear The Orwell Society screened the documentary on the Isle of Jura where Orwell wrote his masterpiece ‘Nineteen Eighty Four’.

The late Chris Phipps, author & TV Producer.

One man I interviewed, sadly just a few weeks before he passed away, was author and TV Producer Chris Phipps who worked on live TV music programme The Tube.

I told Chris it was being in the audience of the programme that inspired me, Chris offered bags of encouragement ‘to go and dig out more stories, there’s plenty out there’.

So far I’m proud at the success of the blog – can’t smile wide enough, and I suppose I’ll keep going until the juice runs out.

Check out the You Tube channel : ALIKIVI – YouTube

TUNE IN/TURN ON – Music TV in the 70s & 80s.

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Some TV programmes can numb the viewer into searching for the remote. But for me music shows were about tuning in rather than turning over.

Broadcast from Newcastle was live music show The Tube who were undoubtably the top dogs leaving in their wake a dusty Old Grey Whistle Test.

The velvet tones of Bob Harris whispered on what was essentially an album show in the 70s – the BBC’s Whistle Test provided a much needed alternative to chart shows.

Up on the bridge in the ‘80s, Annie Nightingale, then Andy Kershaw and team, fired more passion and energy into the show before it sunk in ’88.

The Tube was produced off the back of Tyne Tees music and youth shows Alright Now and Check it Out. The first band to play live was Sunderland punks The Toy Dolls and the first show was broadcast 5th November 1982 presented by Jools Holland and Paula Yeats.

The Tube co-presenter Gary James interviewing John Peel on the Marc Bolan special in 1983.

In an interview for this blog former presenter Gary James talked about that first night…

‘I was one of the original co-presenters from Series 1. None of us on the presenter side, perhaps with the exception of Jools and Paula who breezed through it all without a care in the world, could have had any idea that the show would be as seminal as it was.

We certainly knew we were part of the ‘new wave’ and that we didn’t want to be all BBC and Top of the Pops-ish. It was all live, pre-watershed national networked TV and no second chances’.

Even when setbacks happened, the Tube squad were able to show a strength in depth and capture the now.

Back in August 2019 I spoke with author and TV producer Chris Phipps…..

’I joined in ’82 as a booker and became Assistant Producer from ’85-’87. A band on the first show that I booked didn’t happen. The Who’s p.a. system got stuck in Mexico or somewhere. Producer Malcolm Gerrie knew Paul Wellers father and got The Jam to do it.

In a way I’m glad that he did because The Jam playing their last TV gig ever, said this is what The Tube is all about – that was then, this is now and off we go’.

Before the show finally checked out in ’87, an appearance raised the profile of a band and record companies came calling. From the same interview with Chris Phipps, he confirmed that…

‘Fine Young Cannibals got signed, The Proclaimers got signed. and there was a time when the Tube crew went to Liverpool to film Dead or Alive but they weren’t around.

Someone in the pub told them to go round the corner to another pub where there is a band rehearsing. ‘You might be interested in them‘ he said.

You know what happened next. Frankie Goes to Hollywood had huge number one hit singles Relax, Two Tribes and The Power of Love plus a number 1 album Welcome to the Pleasuredome produced by Durham born Trevor Horn.

Shoulda’ had a t shirt made – Frankie Made in Liverpool via the Newcastle.

Chris Cowey and co-presenter Lynn Spencer interviewing P.I.L. on Tyne Tees programme Check it Out.

Sunderland born Chris Cowey is now a successful TV director & producer with a CV including The Tube, The White Room & Top of the Pops. Back in ‘79 he was a teenage presenter sharpening his skills on Tyne Tees programme Check it Out, he interviewed Public Image Limited, featuring a confrontational ex-Pistol Johnny Rotten (Lydon). He spoke about it on the blog in October 2019…

‘The infamous P.I.L chat was a real baptism of fire. My memory is that the band got themselves ‘relaxed’ by the time the studio session started, and they were ready to do their usual argumentative schtick.

The whole pantomime was their way of getting themselves noticed and being in the press, which sells records. The point of the interview was that they’d just brought out their Metal Box album.

Anyway, everyone won, they sold records, the Check It Out show was on the map, and I did about seven series of it’.

Top of the Pops chart show was broadcast at prime time on BBC to millions of viewers, and some acts considered it a privilege to appear on the programme. But during summer ’79 one band who weren’t impressed was South Shields punks Angelic Upstarts. In an interview in 2013 vocalist Mensi Mensforth told me…

‘We were on once. It was like, nothing. There was no atmosphere. The only good thing was I sang live. They wanted us to mime but I wouldn’t, so that was something’.

Guitarist, Mond Cowie added ‘I remember we did ‘Teenage Warning’ it went in around number 29 on the chart. It was a horrible cold studio with four stages in it.

There was only 20-30 people there. It was like playing a big warehouse. It was horrible really, not a nice experience’.

Bands would pop up on Saturday morning kids shows like Tiswas and get huge exposure to new audiences. Gillan, Iron Maiden, The Clash and even Lemmy from Motorhead – who received a pie splat from the phantom flinger – couldn’t turn down an interview with the gorgeous presenter Sally James.

North East based broadcaster & producer Ian Ravendale worked on the weekend kids show Get Fresh…

 ‘Most guests came up to Carlisle the night before so I’d take them out. People like Rat Scabies and Captain Sensible from The Damned. We’d go into the music pubs and clubs around Carlisle and people would love seeing them there. Rat got up a few times to play with some local bands’.

The Young Ones with Ade Edmondson (left) and Rik Mayall (right).

A music slot was also available in the running order of alternative comedy show The Young Ones featuring Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson. The programme was broadcast for two series in ’82 and ’84.

Nine Below Zero, Madness and Dexys Midnight Runners were some of the bands that played in the first series.

Ace of Spades by Motorhead kicked off the second series broadcast on 8 May. The Damned, Amazulu and Madness again featured on the second, but sadly, last series.

Talking of Motorhead, the band started a UK tour in autumn ‘79, in between live dates a Top of the Pops appearance on 6 December was booked to air the new single Bomber.

The band already had form on the programme. Their first appearance was in October ’78 with Louie, Louie, following singles Overkill and Leavin’ Here, provided dirty, loud, no compromise rock n roll, opposed to the chicken feed pop that was on show most weeks.

Weekly chart show and kids TV wasn’t their target audience but this was prime time exposure providing a welcome boost to record sales – and fear not Motorheadbangers, set lists on the Bomber tour have them opening the gig with the intensely majestic Overkill – their reputation for leaving a stain on the soul of everyone that came within one thousand yards was still intact.

Alikivi  January 2021.

Links to interviews:

Chris Phipps:

NAMEDROPPER – in conversation with freelance author/TV producer Chris Phipps | ALIKIVI (garyalikivi.com)

Chris Cowey:

DIRECT ACTION – with TV/Media director & producer Chris Cowey. | ALIKIVI (garyalikivi.com)

Angelic Upstarts:

 THE BUTCHERS OF BOLINGBROKE – Pigs, Gigs and Prisons with Angelic Upstarts | ALIKIVI (garyalikivi.com)

Ian Ravendale:

WRITING ON THE WALL – in conversation with North East music journalist, broadcaster & producer Ian Ravendale | ALIKIVI (garyalikivi.com)

Gary James:

GET IT ON – with Gary James former presenter of Music TV’s Top Dogs, THE TUBE | ALIKIVI (garyalikivi.com)

NIGHT OF THE TUBE with former TV music producer Chris Phipps

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‘How Frankie Goes to Hollywood were discovered by default, why Tina Turner was nearly not on, what was a life changing career appearance for her. Also, what was Ozzy doing in a coffin on City Road ?

Hear all the backstage stories from ‘80s music show The Tube at a free talk by Chris Phipps.

The Tube was broadcast from Tyne Tees Television Studio 5 in Newcastle and hosted by Jools Holland and Paula Yates. It showcased everyone from Madonna, French and Saunders to Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

I was in the audience for the early shows and watched some great bands including Thin Lizzy, Big Country, The Alarm and American rock singer Pat Benatar.

Chris will be talking about the sights and sounds from behind the scenes when he worked on the show. ‘As an ex-BBC producer, I initially only signed up for three months on this unknown programme and it became five years! I was mainly hired because of my track record for producing rock and reggae shows in the Midlands. On the night I’ll be telling of my Jamaican exploits’.

Chris will also have copies of his new book ‘Namedropper’ for sale at a special price.

Newcastle City Library (opposite Trillians Bar) 8pm Saturday 18th May 2019. Free entry.

Namedropper Cover

Interview by Gary Alikivi    April 2019.