An Interview with Clive 'Winston' Blake - April 2019
Part 3: 1988 to present
Clive Blake aka Winston - original bass player, and founding member of the League was interviewed in April 2019.
What follows here is part 3 of the interview, which covers the period 1988 to present day.
Also, be sure to check out Part 1 (the early years) & part 2 (1983 to 1988) of the interview.
Q) The final farewell for the League was at the Victoria Hall in 1988 – this would be the final League show until you reformed in 1992. Could you share your memories of that farewell gig ?
Blake “It was my stag night as I got married the very next day for the second time! And that ended in divorce as well, I don't think I was cut out for marriage! The gig was a blinder and I mean a blinder, we played to a packed house at the Victoria Hall in Southborough and it will go down in my list of best ever gigs I ever played, the band were as tight as that and we played brilliantly, is was a sad time when it finished.”
Q) What did you do for the next four years, in-between the initial breakup and later reformation of the band in 92? (According to Nick (in the uberrock interview: http://www.uberrock.co.uk) he went off to college ti learn business management skills, and also got back into the building trade. Did you do something similar?)
Blake “If you want the truth Nick was with Sophie and her step father owned a fruit farm, we were in partnership in our roofing business but he offered Nick a job which Nick took but it lasted about 3 months, after that he went to work for a builders merchants in Hawkhurst Kent, he never went to college to learn business management skills that's another ‘Walter Mitty’ moment, I carried on the roofing company called Roofcraft, but diversified into ecclesiastical and ornamental leadwork which I attended West Kent College on day release to learn, after about 2 years Nick came back into the building trade and worked for me on a self-employed basis, he wanted to rekindle the business relationship but I was quite successful in my own right and didn't want or need a partner especially one who had done the dirty on me.”
Q) After four or five years of no band activity, why did you guys decide to reform the League?
Blake "Well the thing was - when we split up after doing the final farewell at the Victoria hall, that was going to be the last knockings of the band. We split up, and that was the night before I got married, and that was the end of the ANWL. And then Metallica done So What, and I think Guns n Roses fucked about doing a song (I Hate People). So we got together to do a few gigs, because we got offered really good money. I actually remember JB's music store was, which was in T Wells at the time, and I remember meeting up with Chris, JB and Nick there to discuss reforming the band. I remember it clear as anything, cos it was an opportunity, and lots of people had been asking us about reforming and we were offered some good money. I remember doing the London shows and coming away with a bit of money from those shows. I mean all it was one practice in the week, go and do a London show on the Sunday, and I think we were coming out with £1500 each, and they were packed shows as well. Most of them were at the Astoria if I remember correctly, and it was a way of getting money back again."
Q) Apparently none of you ever really made any money from the music business – why was that?
Blake “That’s the music business for you at the end of the day. You think they are all your friends, but they are all out to fucking shaft you. You might as well grease your arsehole, bend over, and let them fuck you then and there, cos that’s how it is. All of our royalties went that way, you know Miles Copeland.. a thousand pound here and two thousand pound there, with us thinking it was never going to be for perpetuity, and if we had of realised that, then we would never have fucking sold them would we? I mean the money I could have received from Metallica doing So What, to what I did get, was probably a 1/10th of what I could have got if I hadn't have sold all of my royalties off. I probably got about £40,000 out of Metallica, you know, and that’s a nice big screw of money isn't it, but that’s all history as they say at the end of the day.”
Q) As far as I can tell, you didn’t really tour between 1992 and 1994, rather it was just one off shows being played?
Blake "The thing was if we were touring, that would have been sent up by an agent. Whereas if it was just a matter of going up to London, for the Astoria.. or if we done Brixton Academy a couple of times.. Fuck Reading, or something silly like that? I think there was a resurgence of punk around that time, wasn't there. “
Q) When you initially reformed the League in 1992 you did so as a four piece to start with – why was this, and also was Gilly asked to rejoin?
Blake “Gilly wasn't asked to rejoin - we got offered quite good money to go out and do the old stuff and to be honest didn't need a lead guitarist to play that stuff and it would have meant splitting the money 5 ways, at this time I started managing and taking control of the band business and for the first time in our career we started making good money.”
Q) In 1993 you decided to recruit a second guitarist (Mark Edwards) – who’s idea was that, to recruit a second guitarist, and how did that all come about?
Blake “I think it came about by a meeting with Lol Prior who owned our back catalogue and talk of a new record deal, Mark Edwards was on his label with the Heavy Metal Outlaws and Lol said he would be a good addition to our band, Mark was alright but didn't really fit in as he was a lightweight and didn't drink or take drugs if I remember correctly.”
Q) Mark was your lead guitarist from 1993 to mid-1995 – how did you all get along with him?
Blake “He was alright I think, he knew how he wanted things to sound, but he either ran an old peoples home or a foster home for children and that was his priority over touring and over everything really, so he wasn't committed to the ANWL so he had to go.”
Q) Did you write any of the songs on the Pig Iron EP?
Blake “The last songs I co-wrote with the band were Pig Iron, London Boys and Talk Dirty To Me, I believe, you can tell they were my collaborations by the bass riffs, London Boys is still one of my favourite songs, the production needs to be better and some of the lyrics sharpened up on it, it deserves a big Heavy Metal sound.”
Q) Who wrote Judges and Whores?
Blake "Judges and Whores was written by Mark Edwards who was the guitarist for The HMO, Mark was the lead guitarist for the ANWL for a while and that's when we recorded it."
Q) Was that a joint band decision to avoid playing Perfect crime era material during the reunion years (1992 to 1997)?
Blake “I think we still played some of it occasionally live, it wasn't a conscious decision not to play it as far as I recall.”
Q) You signed to IMPACT records for the release of the Pig Iron EP didn’t you?
Blake "IMPACT records was a couple of brothers, if I remember rightly, and I just remember them being a bunch of fucking idiots to be honest. I wasn't that impressed with them at all. And this bloke we had as manager came from East London somewhere, I can't even remember his name - another fucking idiot. Yeah, they funded it and I think they gave us an advance. But we insisted on having it in cash. I can't even remember how much the advance was, but it wasn't a great deal of money. But some money was sent over to this manager for an American tour that we was going to do - and this fucking bloke cleared off with the money. It was coming over for us to do a tour.. to pay for the tickets or something, but it was faxed over to him. I remember at the time I was working for a solicitor - we went to court and got an emergency court hearing in London, and tried to put what’s called an Mareva injunction on his bank account to stop the money going out. But we was too late and the judge wouldn't grant it. I remember going up to East London - I think it was Mile End, waiting outside this building society for him to turn up and cash it and try to get the money out. Cos we was going to fucking beat him up but it never transpired and I don't know whatever happened to him.. it was no skin off of our nose but he was doing the dirty on us."
Q) What is the story behind the 'Horse is Dead' CD, that you guys released in 1996? (think it was the last album that you played on). Was it really a live album, recorded in front of an audience? As i've always suspected it to be a studio recording, with 'audience clapping' dubbed on afterwards, to make it seem like a live album(!).
Blake "We called it The Horse Is Dead, because it was like flogging a dead horse! Anything they (the labels) put out was to make money, so I thought that was a good title - the horse was dead! (Laughs) It was recorded in a little studio in Leigh near Tonbridge Kent over a Saturday and Sunday. I think we got a one off fee of £500.00 cash each, it was for Trojan Records which was owned by Frank Lee brother of Jimmy Lee who played in Slade, it was then sent to a company called Enlivening who added the audience. Considering it was recorded in either an 8 or 16 track studio (I can't remember which) and we did it in just over a day or so it came out quite well."
Q) By the summer of 1995 Mark had left the band, and was replaced by Keith ‘the Beef’ Hillier, who would remain in the lineup until the League disbanded (briefly!) again in 2002.
Blake “Beef was a mate of Mark's so he put him forward when he wanted to leave, fuck knows why we had him in the band, he looked and acted like a retard and never had any money, he wasn't a bad guitarist, but he would have been better off getting care in the community if the government hadn't stopped it!”
Q) In 1995 the League set out on a USA tour, with Beef on lead guitar – the first USA tour since 1983 I believe.
Blake “A great tour what I remember, I actually spent most of my free time on that tour with a Mexican girl called Shelley I met in Corona California, and she came with me on tour and stayed to the end when we finished in LA, At that time I knew the writing was on the wall of the bands demise and me leaving, I wasn't really enjoying it anymore, in fact it was becoming a chore to play and practice and I hated it in fact as I didn't get a buzz out of it anymore probably because I wasn't taking too many drugs or drinking that much and I was becoming boring (read growing up at last).
That was the last USA tour I did with the band if I remember correctly, it was a great tour with very well attended venues, after that tour I decided my days playing in the band were going to be numbered as I wanted to spend more time with my family and my hobbies, I think I gave it another 18 months before I knocked it on the head and it was the right decision for me as the band was becoming an over the top self-parody and that was the exact opposite of what we were about and why the ANWL was started in the first place.”
Q) Why didn’t Chris Exall play the whole USA tour? I believe it was current bassist Steve Barns who took over on rhythm guitar for the last few shows?
Blake “Steve Barns was a roadie. He was a friend of Nicks and was a roadie. And when - this shows how Chris wasn't committed to the band when we reformed and done that American tour Chris was fulltime employed for a living, he was a printer. And because they wouldn't allow Chris to have the time off of work, he had to miss one of the last shows - I think it was San Francisco if I remember correctly, and he had to miss that and fly back, cos I remember taking him to the airport. And the reason we took Barnsey is he could play a bit of guitar and he went on and played rhythm guitar, but for the rest of the time he was just the roadie. But for Nick to now choose him as the bass player… I don't know, I'm embarrassed to be honest with you. But all the time they (the current ANWL lineup) are making me money I couldn't give a fuck to be honest with you."
Q) Jonathan Birch was the first of you to quit, and he was replaced by Kevin Taylor.
Blake “Kevin was too good, I mean he was a drummer in a NZ orchestra at 11 years old! I think they changed his name to Revvin Kevin, or something nauseating like that didn't they? But his name was Kevin Taylor and he was a mechanic.”
Q) There were a few big festival shows in 1996 that you played at, and Cherry Red records are rumoured to have filmed the whole of the League’s set that night.
Blake "I don't know to be honest. We played the Bulldog bash on the Friday night and then played the Blackpool HITS on the Saturday night."
Q) When was your final show with the League, and why did you decide to throw the towel in?
Blake "I can't remember exactly mate, but we always said as soon as we didn't enjoy doing it anymore we would knock it on the head and I did as I'm true to my word, I couldn't think of anything worse than doing that now, it was good while it lasted but all good things must come to an end and that was the right time for me, the ANWL was always me Nick and Chris and always will be."
Q) After you left the band (believed to be end of 1996) the League recorded the SCUM album in 1997, did you write any of those songs – I believe that ‘Pig Iron’ was one of your songs?
Blake "Yeah, I wrote the music for Pig Iron, that was one of my bass riffs. Burn em All - I've no idea. How does it feel - I don't know. Great unwashed, Long live Punk.. ? I can see what they were trying to do here, they were trying to get their punk audience back, weren't they.”
Q) After the release of SCUM, the band started touring more. Mostly to small crowds, but they did return to Yugoslavia for some festival and to record the ‘Return to Yugoslavia’ live CD, where they played to a huge crowd.
Blake "Yeah, but let’s face it, if you go out to Yugoslavia and make up the name of a band, because you are English you'd pull a big crowd wouldn't ya. You know what I mean - it ain't because it was the ANWL! But I'm just baffled by it. It might sound like I'm just a bread head but yeah, when we reformed and I went back in the band I done it solely for the money - no other reason. Cos I had spent so many years doing the ANWL and only really getting out of it free drugs, a bit of drink and shagging a few birds. You know, it wasn't as if we'd made loads of money."
I'm quite fortunate same as Nick, because I'm a roofing contractor, and a leadwork contractor, and I do specialist lead work, I've always earned very good money. The least I would have earned would have been £1000 a week, so if I'm going out and I'm doing a gig, and I'm only paid £50 for it and I've had to rehearse for it twice, and drive all the way up to Newcastle for £50, then sorry that ain't for me. And that’s the reason why I left the band at the end of the day, you know. It was a decision that I didn't want to do. I didn't want to leave like that, I wanted us to all to finish together, and that would be the end of the band. It was a shame it went like that. The trouble is, unless you've ever been in a band, and been successful, it’s a bit like a drug, you've got to have more and more of it, and that adoration from your fans, of getting out up on stage, that adrenalin rush, that pumps through your veins, there’s nothing quite like it! I can understand why Nick keeps doing it, because he loves the adoration of it, and all that. But that was secondary for me, first and foremost it was for the money - that may sound a little bit mercenary, and I don't really care if it does, as at the end of the day, everyone is in it for the money. As for all those 'punk ideals' and that - no way, I'm not a punk, and I'm not into the punk ideals. I was solely into it to make money at the end of the day. I sold my reggae collection - I had a fucking fantastic reggae collection, to buy my first bass amp a 4x12 and a cheap Fender copy guitar, and I never really got that money back until - probably when Metallica started playing So What. So that’s how long it took to get any money back from the fucking band. So that really says it all as far as I was concerned.”
Q) After you left the band, Nick and Chris released the album ‘Out of Control’ a CD of early demos from 1980. What do you know about this? Apparently it was a 1999 re-recording of early League demos.
Blake “Thats not from our early days, I'm amazed at this shit that keeps getting dragged up! A lot of these songs were relegated to the bin back in the 80s, this song sounds like Chris recorded in his bedroom after I left the band, and in fact looking at that album sleeve a lot of those titles are songs that were never going to see the light of day, all I can assume is that they needed to get an album out quickly for Impact Records and they rehashed a load of early stuff just so they could honour the contract. If Chris was using a Portastudio to record that song on he needs to read the instruction manual! Funny enough I was speaking to Chris about this earlier, Frank Lea who owns Trojan records and paid us a one off fee to do The Horse Is Dead album, paid Nick and Chris in the same fashion for that album and they paid a local bass player and drummer a one off fee to play on it, Frank Lea is the brother of Jimmy Lea who played bass in Slade, and Trojan Records is the Iconic reggae label, when we recorded The Horse Is Dead, I asked Frank Lea if he had all the Trojan back catalogue still and he did, I was lucky enough to get a lot of my original reggae albums again for free that I had sold reluctantly to buy my first bass gear when I joined the band so I was very pleased indeed that we had worked with Frank Lea.
Q) After Chris Exall left the band in 2000, it wasn’t long before Nick disbanded the Beef/JJ/Danny lineup and put together a new lineup, which included PJ on drums again – although PJ didn’t hang around that long..
Blake “No disrespect to Nick - but Nick is fucking greedy, and I think he was paying PJ, along with the rest of the band £50 a gig and Nick was having the lions share himself. Well - that ain't on. PJ told me himself "Fucking cunt! He take all money and give me £50". LOL. And you know it’s true because it’s come straight from the horse's mouth. At the end of the day Nick can do what he likes, I don't give a fuck what he does - whether he goes out and plays ANWL songs or not, but he ought to give everybody a fair crack of the whip. The trouble with Nick - and Nick is a good mate of mine, we're still great friends and we talk regularly, but Nick surrounds himself with sycophants. He loves to be adored, and that’s the only reason he goes out and does that now. He loves the adoration of getting up on that stage, people screaming Animal and all that. And the rest of the people, the geezer on the guitar and the drummer - I don't know their names, and then Barnsey, all licking his arse. And that’s what Nick likes, and that’s how Nick will always be. And I would say all this to his face - and he knows that I would say it to his face. I've known Nick for many many years, and not only were we in the band together, went to school together we were also partners in our own roofing business. So I know Nick probably better than anybody else. So I know exactly what Nick is like - and he is a bread head at the end of the day. He tucked PJ up and that’s why PJ fucked off, cos PJ said he's not working for £50 a night. Getting in the back of a van in T Wells, drive all the way to say Norwich.. or fucking Newcastle, or wherever it is they played, for £50? I know I fucking wouldn't that’s for sure!
Q) I’ve interviewed other ex-members and a few of them have told me they never got paid for the League albums they performed on etc.
Blake “No.. Nick would have had it all. He's a greedy fucker. I worked with him for 10 - 15 years, in the roofing business, and I did all the paperwork, and we went out on site and everything, and Nick loves money. He's the first person in the pub, but the last bloke at the bar! That’s how he is. He is never going to change. His dad was a lovely bloke - his dad would have given you his last penny, Nick wouldn't give you the hair off his fucking arse! It’s just how he is at the end of the day. The trouble is if you are like that with people, you ain't gonna get the best out of them are you. PJ would have fallen over broken glass to play drums for them, at some of the venues they played at, but at the end of the day it’s a matter of money, you can't live on bread alone. It’s a shame because it shouldn't really be like that. If it was me - if I was still going out with the ANWL I would have made sure that everyone gets a fair crack of the whip, because that’s what they deserve, they put as much into it as what you are.
Q) Do you think there could be a possibility of yourself, Nick and Magoo reforming for just a one off gig, perhaps next year (year after?!) to celebrate the 40th Anniversary of ANWL.. or maybe just wishful thinking on my part..
Blake "Wishful thinking I would have thought mate, I can't fret a guitar since my skiing accident as I damaged my spine which left me part paralysed down my left side. I've had two major operations on my spinal cord at Kings College Hospital and there is nothing more they can do, it's damaged something called the perennial nerve and other nerves so I can't walk very well and I have partial use of my left arm, it's just one of those things, there are lots of people worse off than me, it's weird though, all the things that I've done in my life i.e. motorcycles, band, working at heights etc etc, and it has to get fucked up by a leisure pursuit! I can still ride a motorcycle and that is the most important thing to me.”
Q) What did you think of the new ANWL documentary? I know you didn’t make it to the premiere, but I understand you managed to obtain a DVD copy of it after the event.
Blake "I had imagined the actual documentary to be a bit more risqué than it was. I think it was a lot more watered down to what it could have been. It portrayed us as being quite nice and reasonably intelligent people and not the brute, thuggish bikers that you might have expected us to have been! In one way that was a plus side, but then on the other side of things maybe it wasn't what the fans wanted to see - I don't know, I mean it was a long time ago really.
It was a bit of an arsehole for me, cos I had just sold my house in Tunbridge wells, and I was staying with a mate, and I was moving into my new place, so I was in-between houses at the time. She wanted to come and film me at work, up on the roof and in my garage working on bikes and that, but I couldn't be fucking bothered - I wasn't getting paid for it, and it was inconvenient to me to be totally honest. What you see (in the documentary) is perhaps 5/10 mins of interviews, but in real time it works out to be 6/7 hours of it. I had already done about 4 hours with Nick, and another 4 hours by myself at Tunbridge. If I was getting a bit of money for doing it, then all well and good.. but for memories of being in ANWL and just doing it for face value for fuck all, I ain't really into that. That may sound a bit wrong but you know at the end of the day, if I'm taking a day off of work, to interviews, I'm losing a day’s money at the end of the day".
Q) Were you all paid loads of money to appear in the documentary?
Blake "No. I think I've got more chance of getting a wank off of the pope to be honest with you!"
Q) So why didn’t you turn up to the premiere?
Blake "I didn't know anything about it really. Although I knew it was being premiered in London, then funnily enough my daughter phoned me and said that Nick's daughter had been on the phone to her, and been up there to see him and said how great I had come across. My daughter Chloe and Porchia are in contact quite often, which you know is one of Nick's daughters. I think it came across as a little bit light hearted, reasonably well filmed. Yeah it was good.”
Q) It was great to also see PJ in the documentary – do you keep in touch with him?
Blake “I haven't seen PJ for ages, cos last time I saw him was in Marks and Spencer, and he had his hands all bandaged. And he went "Aahhh.. Winston how are you?" And I grabbed his hand and squeezed it.. "oh! you bastard man my hands!" (Laughs) But I do get on well with him, I mean we had our ups and downs, when I had to sack him from the band for being a total arsehole and all that but I've always got on alright with him really you know. PJ is PJ and if you accept him for being a fucking idiot that he is.. a good drummer, done really well, but was a nightmare, and absolute nightmare to be in a band with. You know - just no sense whatsoever. And I think that’s what Sensible said, after the Friday 13th Damned 1981 tour - he went up to PJ and said "Well I'd just like to say you've made no sense whatsoever on this tour!" You know, and that is PJ! (Laughs) All the fucking trouble he used to get us in"
Q) The director chose to concentrate on your early days/childhood to begin with - what are your thoughts on that?
Blake "Well that’s the sort of angle they look for. Yeah, I guess I did have a damaged childhood, if truth be known. You know everyone goes on about the ANWL and what a wonderful band they were, but I had a life before the League like we all did, and I had a life afterwards and yeah - I did have a hard childhood, being banged up in an approved school and borstal and all of that stuff when I Was a kid. But then again it’s probably made me the man I am today. When I was in the approved school a lot of the blokes I was in there with went on to a life of crime, ended up being armed robbers and things like that - whereas the experience straightened me out and put me on the straight and narrow.. you know, it just wasn't for me being banged up. It gave me a good way of looking at life and a good way of dealing with life to be honest with you."
There were loads of things that we discussed, including risqué things you know. We discussed things I'd done on tour with different birds and things like that (Laughs). But let’s face it, I'm 62 years old this year and the last thing I would want is for anything derogatory to be included about me - or for any of the band members really, Who I've shagged in hotel rooms etc. I mean it ain't conducive to my grandchildren is it really!"
Q) Do you think the League should have ‘called it a day’, after you and Magoo departed? How do you feel about Nick carrying on the League being the only original member left?
Blake "Some bands are built around a singer. The Anti-Nowhere League wasn't built around a singer. The Anti-Nowhere League was built around the band. As far as I was concerned the Anti-Nowhere League is me, Nick and Chris - and it always was me, Nick and Chris. Well, I left the band but Chris carried it on with Nick, and carried it on for a couple of years. And then Chris knocked it on the head, and he wanted Nick to knock it on the head. Because Chris owns the name to the ANWL. But Nick carried on and I think that’s why they fell out big time. But, you know Nick goes out and it’s not the ANWL – it’s Nick Culmer singing ANWL songs. They’re not the ANWL. That’s Nick Culmer who was the singer of the ANWL singing songs that me, Chris and Nick wrote. It’s like a tribute to the ANWL as far as I'm concerned. Now this is something that we were totally against doing, you know because we used to see bands like The Troggs at Caster, Eric Burdon and the Animals at Caister - you know, sing-along the Animals, Sing-along the Troggs, Kinks and all that.
It doesn't bother me - they can go out and fucking play the rest of their lives for all I care, but I just find it.., I just can't quite get my head around it. But why Nick still wants to fucking do it I really don't know!"
Q) The bulk of the documentary concentrated on the original lineup of the band, up until the farewell show in 1988. It then fast forwards pretty much to the present day lineup.
Blake "And towards the end of the interview there’s Steve Barns, and some other geezer, saying something like 'this is the best ANWL there’s ever been..' or something like that, I can't remember exactly, but I just thought you fucking pair of cunts - you've got no idea what you are talking about, you know? It’s not me being bitter, cos as I say I don't give a fuck about it. I left the band cos I got bored doing it. Well - I got bored doing it, cos I didn't have the fucking time to go to practice and all that sort of stuff. We didn't really have anywhere to practice. We'd either go to Nick's house or we'd go to a fucking farm up Reynolds Lane and practice there. The money was absolute pox. You know? It was going back to like when we first started, we'd spend all weekend in the back of a van and you'd be lucky if you came out of it with a day's wages. So I thought this ain't for me. And that’s when I knocked it on the head. I didn't really want to, and I felt that I was letting the band down a bit. But to be honest, the band was on its way out anyway then and I thought it ain't going to be long before it folds up.. and it wasn't long after that Chris left, about a year or 2 later.”
Q) Apparently Nick’s autobiography is due for release later this year – did you read the early draft of what he has written so far, on the Official ANWL site?
Blake “Reading those paragraphs of Nick’s book, there’s probably three percent of that was true! The reason PJ left the band was because he was a fucking cunt that smoked dope and was an absolute pain in the arse getting into Countries - and that’s why he got sacked, and I sacked him. That’s the truth behind it and it wasn't musical differences, or he couldn't stand the pressures of touring, I sacked him because he was a cunt!”
Q) Have you ever considered writing your autobiography – a lot of people agree that it would be a great read!
Blake “I have been asked to do that for years mate, I don't think my life has been that interesting, but funny enough lots of people do for some reason, I don't think it would make great reading for my children or grandchildren and a lot of people would hate for me to do my memoirs because what it would say about them!”
Q) Could you tell us about your skiing accident you had in 2006?
Blake “Yeah, a bit of an arsehole really - a bastard thing to happen! It was my own fault really. For years and years, I've got a load of mates who go skiing, they've always asked me to go skiing, and I always thought it was a fucking poncy thing to do, to be honest with you, you know sort of 'Champagne Charlies' and all that. But anyway, I got a mate who is a scaffolder, who has his own ski lodge and all that - a really good bloke. And a load of my mates are really good skiers, so they finally brow beaten me down and I said I'd go. So we went skiing, and I really, really enjoyed it - it was the next best thing to riding a motorbike that I've ever found. You know, the speed, the adrenalin rush and everything, and I got right into it and I was going skiing about 4 or 5 times a year. I had all the lessons and I became a reasonably good skier.
I done it for a few years, and then my wife and my kids - I said how about we all go away for Christmas, skiing. My wife was up for it and so were the kids. So I think about 12 or 15 of us went away in Christmas 2006.
Well I think it was on New Year’s eve, on the slopes it was very icy in France that year. I'm pretty sure it was New Year’s Eve, but anyway, it was the last run of the day. Me and my mate skied off, but the rest of them said nah, it’s too fucking icy, too dangerous.
Me giving it 'Charlie-big-potatoes' I thought ah fuck it, I'll do it anyway. The first turn I done, I went down and hit my head and lost all the feeling from my neck downwards. I thought - fuck, I've broken my neck. The mate who was skiing with me, took my skis off of me and put them in a cross, which is the universal sign for saying you are in trouble, you know, to get the air ambulance out. Well - after about 5 minutes, the feeling started coming back into my chest, and it came into my stomach, then back into my hands and then finally into my legs. Just before the air ambulance arrived, I had got full feeling back into my body again. So I said, "Nah, fuck it, I'm alright, I'm alright - we will ski down". Well I finally got my skis back on, and we skied down but I was seeing double vision all of the way down and I thought there might be something wrong with me. I didn't want my wife and kids to know because it would have spoilt their holiday. Anyway, we got back to the station and I started walking with a limp, after I took my ski boots off. I thought - this is fucking weird, but I didn't really think any more about it. Just thought I'd come down a bit too hard and hit my head and blah blah.
Anyway, we got back home and I was still sort of suffering, but I didn't really think too much about it. One day I got in my car, a convertible I had at that time, and because it was low down my fucking back gave out. I lost the feeling in my body again - I thought this is fucking weird, and I sat there for a while until the feeling came back. You know what it's like as a man, you don't wanna make a drama out of a crisis, do ya? I just thought it was one of them fucking things. A couple of days later I took the dog for a walk out in the woods, cos I had acres and acres of woodland at the bottom of my garden. And anyway, the first bit of fucking mud I slipped over and went down, hit my head and just lay there in the mud and couldn't move, lost all the feeling throughout my body.
The dog run off and then came back and started licking my face and all that, and finally I managed to get a little bit of feeling back in my body, and I rolled myself over and broke a branch off of a tree, which I used as a walking stick and got back up the hill and back to my house. I said to my missus at the time "This ain't right, there’s something fucking going on here that I'm not too happy with. So we went to the doctors, they took me to the hospital, had tests and everything, and they said we are going to put you forward for an MRI scan. Oh great, at least I'll know then whats occurring. It was 20 weeks before I could have a scan, with the waiting list on the NHS. So I thought, fucking hell - I can't wait 20 weeks, you know within yourself when something’s not right.
Anyway, I went online and found a private place up in Cheltenham - a charity (Cobalt) that did MRI scans and they charged £250. So me and my missus - well I drove us up there, and dropped her off at an outlet centre, and went to Cheltenham for an MRI scan. About a week later the results came back to me, but I couldn't understand what it said. But one of my clients Paul Gibb at the time was the head orthopedic surgeon at the hospital in T Wells, so I phoned him up, and said I hope you don't mind me asking but I've had an MRI scan and I'm not too sure what it says, let me read it out to you. He said yeah, go on then. So I read part of it out, and he said - I will stop you there, this is very, very serious. I want to see you in my surgery at the hospital at 8:30am in the morning. So I was at the hospital, he carried out some tests on me, and phoned the neuro surgeon he knew there, and they had me in that day for an operation. If I had had another blow to my head I would have been permanently paralyzed. So it just shows it’s not what you know, it’s who you know, isn't it!
So I had the operation, and you know you think you are gonna feel like a million dollars, and cured and come out feeling wonderful and that, but I came out exactly the same as I was when I went in. The neuro surgeon said, it wasn't to make you better, it was to stop you getting any worse, which it did do. I still walk with a limp and have lost strength in my left hand.
Then later I started suffering again, with back trouble and all that, and so went for another MRI scan which showed problems with my lower spine. I then went to Hayward’s Heath and had an operation in my lower spine, thinking this was going to cure me, make me all wonderful and able to walk properly again - but it was the same thing, to stop me getting any worse. So really, just one of them things mate.
I'm a fucking old cripple (!), and just have to put it down to experience.
Just sitting here now, even though it’s my left leg that is bad, my right leg is like ice, and my left leg, the toes turn to the left on it. There's nothing I can do about it - it’s just one of them things. I am fortunate though, as I can still ride a motorbike - if I couldn't have been able to do that then I would have been absolutely fucking devastated. I must admit I do find it hard to ride modern motorbikes, cos the gears change on the left hand side, but on most of my British motorcycles the gears change on the right side, so it’s not too bad.
So yeah, it’s just one of those things. But I've been really lucky, I've had a right good life. I mean some people in their lives, they could have 5 lifetimes and they wouldn't have had the life I've had, so I've got no qualms about anything. There’s always someone worse off though - I could dwell on the negative side of things, and feel sorry for myself and that, but bollocks to it, I'm still alive and I've got 4 children, 3 grandchildren plus I've another grandson on the way in December, who I love dearly, I can ride motorbikes, I've got a good business, I can still go out and do some roofs - specialist lead jobs, cos I can earn a lot of money doing that.. all the ecclesiastical work and all that. I got a house that’s paid for, which hasn't come from the band - it’s come from sheer hard work. It doesn't get any better than that to be honest with you. As I've said before, I'm the happiest now, I'm 62 years old this year, and I’m the happiest now that I've been in my life.”
