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Phil Seaton (The Anal
Surgeons):
'I
was a member of The Anal Surgeons and of Friars [from Jan 1974] I knew
the venue well having seen many bands there [also at the previous venue]
so to play was a great treat for me. We had already played all the gigs
in the Chris France empire, and were friendly with John (Otway) and
Willy (Barrett). It was interesting to see things from the artistes
perspective [the sign at the rear said Artistes Entrance which caused
much joy amongst the band.] we had a proper dressing room, crate of beer
and a shower. The thing I remember most was walking out then the stage
lights came on, I thought i was going to melt!. Growing up in a council
house in Hemel, I never dreamed such warmth possible. The reason for the
name change to The Untouchables was that the main newspaper in the area
did not like to print the original, another was that Mr. France had also
had a problem with the council in Leighton Buzzard, and having postered
the place silly for a gig at the Hunt hotel, was forced to take them all
down. My thoughts were stuff them its a good name but we came to a
compromise. The surgeons split after a year in which we learnt our
trade, with lots of gigs in the area and some with Planet Gong, Here and
Now and diverse others. I formed Vince Pie and the Crumbs and my pal
Mick played with the Vice Creems, then formed the Funboy Five. I saw
some great gigs at Friars and it was by far one of the best music venues
in the country, very fond memories indeed.[ps. Vince Pie and the crumbs
have a retro MySpace site"
Mick Sinclair (The Anal
Surgeons):
"I’m thrilled to discover from Phil Seaton that we (I was the guitarist
in the Anal Surgeons) were ‘learning our trade’ as I’ve often wondered
what it was we were doing that year… I’d been a Friars member since
joining as an underage 15 year old in 1972 (Lou Reed that year and
Ramones with Talking Heads in 1977 eclipse all else) so actually playing
there was indeed a treat. That said, my main memory is breaking a
string, not one of the thin strings that often break but the a string,
one of the thick ones nobody would normally break in a hundred years.
Yes, the dressing room was larger than most of the venues we played in
but the beer had all gone by the time I wanted to drink some and I was
too scared to go in the shower after John Cook (our other singer) had
used it. I did form the Funboy Five (see
www.funboyfive.co.uk)
and subsequently became a music journalist though I only got back to
Friars once, to review UK Decay." |
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Otway
Is, was and always will be an Aylesbury legend. After Really Free gave
Otway his one hit wonder status in 1977 which he regularly played on
('I'm now going to do a selection of my hit'), he confounded everyone by
being back on Top of the Pops in 2002, 25 years after last troubling the
charts, with the entertaining 'Bunsen Burner'. Plans for a world Otway
tour where he took the audience with him in a plane fell through in
2006. He's still gigging today, occasionally with Wild Willy himself and
helped close Friars Phase Three in 2010 having played the first gig
there in 1975. starred in Otway the movie in 2012 |
