12 posts tagged “hobo workshop”

MIDNIGHT CIRCUS / THE FLYS 1974 - 81

 

This was Neil O'Connor's band. Originally called Midnight Circus in 1974 and after punk they were known as The Flys.

 

I came across Midnight Circus through singer songwriter Phil Knapper (Stu knapper's brother). Phil had hitched around Finland with Neil, Alex Murphy (whom Neil sings about on his solo site) and John Gravenor of Wandering John a few years earlier. As a result we gave Midnight Circus a gig (I think it was more than one)  at the HOBO WORKSHOP at the Holyhead Youth Centre and they proved to be quite a popular band. By 1978 the band had shed their hippy image for a punk one and changed their name to the Flys. Neil''s sister is of course the celebrated Hazel O'Connor. They performed their single Molotov Cocktail on the Old Grey Whistle Test and appeared on John Peel show a few times.

Neil O'Connor's Vox Blog

Neil O'Connor's My Space

The Flys (My Space)

The Flys (Fan My Space)

Hazel O'Connor (Fan My Space)

 

I think Neils piece from the Flys My space describes them best -

In the beginning there were

three young lads from Cov in the UK.

David Freeman, Joe Hughes and Neil O’Connor.

 

Neil was slightly older than the other two

and had made their acquaintance

through David’s mum, Esther Freeman,

a lovely lady who was Neil’s Yoga teacher.

( yeah he was a bit of a late flowering hippy….)

Joe took up the bass, Dave and Neil,

the guitars and voices

and they started to try to do something.

They gave themselves the name "Midnight Circus"

and were probably bloody awful but, hey,

it was a good laugh.

In those days there was never a full time drummer

 

except for one guy,

Paul Angelopolis, an American guy from Florida,

in the same age group as them who wasn’t

half bad except for when he partook

more than he should’ve.

Sadly Paul abused too much and died of a barbituate

overdose at the age of 24.

And that was sort of the end of "Midnight Circus".

By now it was 1977 and there was a change in the air.

So they dropped the name

and reincarnated as "The Flys".

But still no drummer.

Around this time they happened upon a guy named

Chris King who started to take a managerial interest in the lads

and,

as luck would have it, had a younger brother,

Pete King, who was a good drummer and so deserved an audition.

Here was the guy they’d been hoping for years to meet.

And so The Flys became Dave, Joe, Neil and Pete.

Chris had a huge amount of belief in the band

and proposed that he’d set up a small indie label and

sign up the band to release a limited edition 7 inch EP and so

they went off to Pathway studios, an 8 track

in Islington where all the great Stiff recordings had been made,

to spend a Saturday recording their repertoire of 14 songs, or so.

Then 5 of the recordings were chosen, mixed, mastered

and became the EP "Bunch of five" on Chris King’s

"Zama" label which included the titles….

"Love and a Molotov cocktail"

"Can I crash here"

"Civilisation"

Eventually EMI were to sign the band

after having heard the EP and seeing the band on stage

opening for The Buzzcocks tour in the Autumn of ’77.

A condition of the contract was that the

"Zama" indie release had to be limited to 2,500 copies

as EMI wanted to re-launch with the title

"Love and a Molotov cocktail".

In the late winter of ’78, with EMI money,

they went on a UK nationwide tour opening for

John Otway and Wild Willie Barrett and

as spring arrived moved to London

and started to record their first album for EMI,

"Waikiki beach refugees".

Maybe they’d been too long in each others company,

it’s hard to know exactly

why but rifts started to appear.

The first casualty was Chris.

The Flys were no exception to any other bands in

that they were full of insecurity and that insecurity

pushed Chris away.

Pete continued to play with the band who, by now,

were opening for "The Ruts" around the UK and

playing shows in their own right around Europe

but he was never totally happy without his brother around.

Probably he felt torn in his loyalties,

Which is no surprise and eventually he was offered

the chance to join "After the fire" who,

at the time, were about to tour with ELO.

For Pete this became a dream come true as

ELO’s drummer became to ill to play

and Pete ended up playing drums for ELO for most of the tour.

After Pete they recruited Graham Deakin,

a lay it down Keith Moon type who came to the band

from John Entwhistle’s "Ox".

And so with new drummer, Graham,

the guys went down to a 16 track in Somerset

to record their second album which was to be called "Own".

Although they continued to record more singles, EP’s,

tour and make many TV and Radio appearances

throughout the UK and Europe their time together started to

unravel and in the spring of 1980 they called it quits.

Neil went on to play guitar and record with his sister

Hazel O’Connor.

Eventually, in the mid 80’s, he moved into the field

of recording and producing working mainly from

Martin Rushent’s "Genetic studios".

David went on to follow a solo career

securing a publishing/ development contract with Dave Stewart.

Eventually Joe joined him, they called themselves

"The lover speaks" and in the ‘90s they were rewarded

with a huge songwriting success when Annie Lennox

covered their song "No more I love you’s".

Sadly Pete succumbed to cancer before he could reach the age of 30.

Graham was never heard from again.

These days Neil lives in Montreal, Canada

producing and performing still.

Joe and his wife split their time between

the UK and the States with their band "Cicero Buck".

David’s a bit of a hermit as of writing.

"Die Toten Hosen" from Germany and

"Duanne Peters" have both covered

"Love and Molotov cocktail".

Hazel included it in one of her TV shows too.

Photo L to R ( taken by Pete Vernon 1978 )

Neil O’Connor - guitar, keys, vox

David Freeman - guitar, vox

Joe Hughes - bass, vox

Pete King - drums

Managers and road crew were………..

Chris King -manager 77 to 78

Mark Rye –manager 78 to 80

Vance Anderson -tour manager 77 to 80

Mick Anderson - backline 77 to 80

Record labels……………..

Zama-indie - 77 to 78

EMI - 78 to 80

See for miles - re-release in the 90s

Captain Oi - re-release in 2K.

 

By Neil O Connor.

Review from Alternative Sounds - 1979

THE FLYS - NAME DROPPING / FLY V FLY (EMI)

Get ready for the next Flys single - as the chorus line of the song says, it is amaaazing! Featuring David on vocals, there's some good lyrics for all you posers to sing-along to. There's some nice juicy guitar playing too, and with a catchy tune like this, all I can say is - make way for a hit.

The B Side is a novel little instrumental. The guitar work in it is most unusual - good if you're feeling like a jerky dance.

A single well worth adding to your collection.

.............................................

 

 

THE FLYS(Coventry)

7 inch singles

Bunch of fives ep, ZA 10 EP, ZAMA

Love and a molotov cocktail, EMI 2747, EMI

Fun city, EMI 2795, EMI

Waikiki beach refugees, EMI 2867, EMI

Oh Beverly, EMI 2907, EMI

Name dropping, EMI 2936, EMI

Living in the sticks, EMI 2979, EMI

Sixteen down, R 6030, PARLOPHONE

What will mother say, R 6036, PARLOPHONE

Long play vinyl

Four from the square ep, R 6063, PARLOPHONE

Waikiki beach refugees, EMC 3249, EMI

TOP

 

Biography

This Coventry, England-based group enjoyed a minor league role in the new wave, but owed more to power-pop and astute songwriting than punk. Singer and guitarist Neil O'Connor (brother of Hazel O'Connor) met school kids David Freeman (guitar, vocals) and Joe Hughes (bass, vocals) in the mid-70s, and formed Midnight Circus, eventually recruiting Pete King on drums. A name change to the Flys coincided with the discovery of punk's first tremors, but a demo in April 1977 brought an apathetic response from the usual channels. The band issued Bunch Of Five, an energetic EP, on their own Zama Records label in time for Christmas. Quick as a flash, EMI Records snapped them up, rushing out one of the EP tracks (and perhaps their finest ever moment), "Love And A Molotov Cocktail", as a single. After a tour with the Buzzcocks and John Otway And Wild Willy Barrett came "Fun City", recorded at Pathway Studios. Waikiki Beach Refugees (also the title of their next single) emerged in October 1978 to an enthusiastic response, while the band toured Europe. 1979 saw a flurry of singles - "Beverley" in February, "Name Dropping" in April and "We Are The Lucky Ones" - but internal quarrels led to the recruitment of a riotous new drummer Graham Deakin (ex-Frankie Miller and John Entwistle's Ox). Flys Own, rawer than their debut, coincided with a tour with the Ruts in autumn 1979. The EP Four From The Square was released in February as the band transferred to Parlophone Records. This was followed by "What Will Mother Say" in May 1980. Internal pressures began to erupt and the Flys broke up soon afterwards. O'Connor joined his sister for two years and two albums before becoming a musical arranger, and then a producer and engineer. Freeman issued a cover version of the Supremes' "Stop! In The Name Of Love", took a degree, published his poetry, sang on Alison Moyet's Raindancing and later formed The Lover Speaks with Hughes (after his spell with ex-Specials Roddy Radiation And His Tearjerkers). Pete King, meanwhile, joined After The Fire, but sadly died aged 26. In 1991 See For Miles Records compiled an excellent self-titled retrospective of the band.

 

 

 

 

ANALOG

They were a regular band at the HOBO WORKSHOP. C. 1974 –75.(for more info on the Hobo Workshop - see the Hobo Index and follow the links)

In his letter to HOBO in 1974, lead guitarist John Rushton described the band as a “new and truly original rock band”. As I remember, there were a strong jazz-rock and early King Crimson and Yes influences in the music.

The group is pictured here in the CET (Coventry Evening Telegraph) playing at the Hobo Workshop in an article about the workshop. (

(In the pic also  - Bob Rhodes (Youth Worker) Hobo Workshop staff - Liz Scott, Trev Teasdel, Phil Knapper (Stu Knapper's older brother).

The line-up consists of  – Mick Hartley - bass / Steve Edgson - 2nd guitar, clarinet, recorder / Paul 'Babbling' Brook - he plays a double kit + vocals and John Rushton - Multi-track maniac on lead guitar and backing vocals.

In HOBO it was reported that the band had been rehearsing an original set for a year without playing any gigs.

< In the letter used for the HOBO article, John Rushton says; -

“We’re working on a 40 minute suite at the moment, as yet untitled, based on an original idea by Paul Brook. This will comprise the first half of the set, along with a super high-energy instrumental entitled ‘Custer’s Last Stand’ – say no more! The suite contains more words than ‘Close to the Edge’ and has seven main parts.” John A. Rushton – Earlsdon (See full letter here)

Equipment is as follows; - Mick

Hartley – 120W amp 7 cab. Paul Brook – double bass drum kit. Steve Edgeson – Park combination amp and cab. John Rushton – Park 100watt amp + R.P.A. cab + horn unit. The P.A. was hired.

Piece from Hobo Magazine 1974 prior them giging at the Hobo Workshop later in the year -

"ANALOG

A new original rock band freaturing Mick Hartley bass (Sound City 120 watt

amp + cab), Steve Edgeson 2nd guitar / clarinet and recorder (Park Combination amp + cab), Paul (Babbling) Brook drums and vocals and concept (Pearl double bass drum kit) John Rushton (multi-track-manica) lead guitar and backing vocals (park watt amp + RPA cab and horn unit. They are currently working on a 40 min suite written by Paul Brook. This will comprise the first set followed by high energy instrumentals. The suite contains more words than Yes's Close to the Edge."

..........................................

According to ’s later music mag. ALTERNATIVE SOUNDS (late 70’s), Mick Hartley and Steve Edgeson from Analog

were also in the Reluctant Stereotypes (My Space) along with Paul Samson (My Space) who was with another band popular at the Hobo Workshop - Trigon (more on them forthcoming). Paul Samson went on to produce the Primatives and Catatonia David McAlmont, Diesel Park West, Toni Iommi & Glen Hughes Ultramarine & Kevin Ayres, Band of Holy Joy and a whole lot more................ . Although singer Paul  King went on to write most of the material for King, in the Reluctant Stereotypes, most of the material was written by Paul Samson. Pete Chambers has supplied an article on the linage from these bands - the essence of which is at the foot of this post.

UPDATE - Sadly Paul Brook passed away recently and there is now a tribute to Paul on this site HERE

The following is abridged from Pete Chambers article on the Reluctant Stereotypes entitled MAKING PLANS FOR TODAY published in the Coventry Telegraph.

"The Reluctant Stereotypes were the nearly men of ’s flourishing ska scene, a scene that was headed by of course the mighty Specials. Like many bands at the time, The Reluctant Stereotypes used the ska reggae rhythms as a backbone to hang their own mix of words and music onto. The Stereotypes were riding the next wave of the ‘Coventry Sound’. Theirs was much more of an ‘indie’ affair, more in common with the than the dance hall.

Guitarist Paul Sampson had been with the jazz/rock band Bung (and Trigon). Meanwhile clarinettist extraodinaire

Steve Edgson had been with the experimental nouveau progressive unit Analog (who were regulars at ’s Hobo Workshop). Guitarist Steve Haddon had formed a band called Ens and was looking for good personnel. Steve joined first and Paul then came in to replace the great guitarist Peter Bosworth who would leave to concentrate on production, (he later died from a heart attack). The line-up was completed by 2 other ex Analog members Mick Hartley on bass and Paul Brook on drums. With Peter Bosworth gone a change of direction was called for, a new name was instituted and The Reluctant Stereotypes were born. Now before we carry on it’s worth pointing out that the Stereotypes had 2 distinct periods, really only connected by a couple of members and the name."

The Reluctant Stereotypes recruited ex drama student Paul King - who later led the chart topping Coventry band King in the mid 80's. The lineage continued through the Raw Screens , Two Giraffs and King. More on this undedr the Reluctant Stereotypes (to come)

I found this article in a radical magazine called WEDGE actually in Coventry's Wedge Cafe / bookshop in

the late 70's. The article was of course written in the 70's therefore and the content will not be completely contemporary of course but Simon Frith - a Rock Sociologist - bio below - was a Sociologist at Warwick University in the late 70's early 80's (I think - not sure of dates) and in at least one of his books shows knowledge an awareness of the Coventry music scene - in fact in one book (can't remmeber the title off hand) he mentions the importance of the Holyhead Youth Centre which was the base of the Hobo Workshop and provided a seminal moment in the history of Two Tone as Pete Chambers expressed it in the Two Tone Story where Neol Davies jammed for the first time with Desmond and Charley and company, later to be Two Toners , and which continued to be an important music workshop / venue into the 90's with Urge member Kevin Harrison providing Tascam tuition at one stage. So I figure that qualifies Simon Frith to be included here. This article might well indeed spark some discussion!

Simon Frith's Sociology of Rock
Simon Frith is a former rock critic and a sociologist who specializes in popular music culture, and the brother of guitarist Fred Frith and psychologist Chris Frith. He read PPE at Oxford and did a doctorate in Sociology at UC Berkeley. He taught in the Sociology Department at Warwick University and the English Studies Department at Strathclyde University. In 1999 he came to the University of Stirling as Professor of Film and Media. Since 2006 he has occupied the Tovey Chair of Music at Edinburgh University. He is the author of many books including his first, The Sociology of Rock, ISBN 0-09-460220-4. He has chaired the judges of the Mercury Music Prize since it began in 1992. On January 1 2006 he took up the Tovey Chair of Music at Edinburgh Universit

HOW THE POP CHARTS WORK
By Simon Frith from Wedge Magazine Summer 1977

In this article, Simon Frith shows that the charts function in a peculiarly contradictory manner. They are used by companies partly to find out what people like. But they’re also used by the companies as a device for controlling the market – which must tend to work against their usefulness as a real indicator of public taste.

So by asking why the charts are important to the industry – rather than simply considering to what extent they’re rigged - we can perhaps get a clearer sense of the ways in which the commodity nature of mass music prevents it being of the people.

The charts have a good claim to be the most important institution in the record business. So many things depend on them – radio stations’ playlists, artists’. Performance fees, record company executives’ careers, retailers’ stocks, - that chart positions become fetishised, as the DJ’s read out the week’s list like it was a holy writ. It’s a strange sanctification for what is a routine exercise in market research.

For one of its commissions the British Market Research Bureau is employed by the British Phonograph Industry (the record companies’ trade organisation and a pressure group), the BBC, and the trade paper ‘Music Week’ to provide a continuing analysis of the record market in Britain. The singles and LP charts are only part of the service provided by BARS (British Analysis of Record Sales) to its subscribers and there purpose is quite simply, to give an accurate summary picture of the previous week’s sales figures.

The most accurate way of drawing such a picture would be to collect the sales details from every record retailer in the country. This is impossible, as a matter of both time and expense, BMRB has to record the sales from a sample of shops. There are two problems involved – the sample must be representative and the returns from the shops involved must be accurate – and the solutions to these problems are not always compatible. If, for example, BMRB follows the BPI’s suggestion that their sample be increased from 300 to 600 retailers, of which only a half would be used each week (for security reasons to which I will return) then it is likely that the retailers themselves, never sure whether their sales diaries would be used or not, would become less conscientious in their returns. As it is BMRB are well pleased with the cooperation of their sample – 75% of the diaries are returned each week, and the inevitable mistakes made by assistants copying down record numbers are not common enough to be statistically significant. BMRB is confident enough of the sales figures it feeds into its computer; the problem is meaning and this depends on the sample involved.

Sampling is the basis of all market research and there are no particular problems involved in the measurement of record sales. BMRB get sales accounts from record companies, shops are coded by their size and type of turn over, the sample is drawn up accordingly. The resultant formulas – converting the overall pattern of record sales into a list of 300 shops, converting the returns from these shops back into a national sales pattern – are complicated but not unusually so. Regional record sales don’t vary much, for example and when BMRB did, briefly, supply regional charts they proved unnecessary (the lack of regional variations is reflected in the similarities of local radio play lists.)> Account is taken of specialised outlets for such genres as reggae, and classical music is the only form which is genuinely under represented by the sample.
The only other obvious sampling defect is the continual refusal by Boots and W.H. Smith to provide sales returns. There is little other evidence tht BRMB’s retail sample is unrepresentative and a comparison of its weekly sales estimates with companies’ final sales figures at the end of each year reveals a reasonably good match.

The Industry’s Response.

From its own point of view BMRB is engaged ina routine form of market research and achieving more than accurate results. The importance of each chart lies not in its activities but in the music industry’s response to them. In the record business this measure of the previous week’s sales can – through its effect on radio plays, on record company promotion, on retailers’ stocks – determine future sales. Hence the bizarre situation that in an industry paying a considerable amount of money for an accurate measure of record sales there are people deliberately trying to make this measure inaccurate.

For BMRB chart ‘fixing’ is not a problem of morality but of accuracy. They don’t care who buys the records, their concern is that the sales pattern revealed by their sample can be translated into a national description. If a record company decided to buy 300 copies of its latest disc in every shop in the country that’d be fine by BMRB and into the charts the record would go; the problems only arise when such buying is happening only in the sample shops, such that the results do not reflect national sales. To give a concrete example: some record companies distribute money-off record tokens in discos. This has an immediate impact on sales, as the kids rush to the shops to get their 30p singles, and these are ‘genuine’ sales, BMRB measures; its only rule is that such tokens aren’t specific to chart shops, in which case the sales, while still ’genuine’ would no longer represent a wider buying pattern.

It is not difficult for record company reps to put together a list of chart return shops and while BMRB is confident that it spots the clumsier hypes through its phone checks and security rules, it is difficult to see how it could counter a really systematic effect to utilise its ‘active’ list (hence BPI’s suggestion that the sample be doubled and used more selectively), but, on the other hand, it is equally difficult to see the long term benefits of such hypes – their effect is to undermine the industry’s trust in the charts. Such fixing may be an extremely profitable way to break a particular record, but success is not guaranteed and failure has ramifications throughout the business. If experience were to suggest that the charts were not a good guide to what to stock and play and promote, to what the public did want, then the charts would loose their function.

There is already some distrust of the bottom part of the Top 50 – many shops and playlists emphasis the Top 30 – the fact is that these 30, in both the singles and albums charts, account for about 80% of record sales. The difference recorded between the records in the lower part of the BMRB chart sample are often statistically insignificant (and their precise chart position consequently meaningless). The only point in taking account of events down there is if they anticipate sales to come.

Avoiding Overproduction

The charts, more brutally than any mohair-suited mogul, show what happens when music is treated as a commodity – if a record is music’s commodity form, the charts are essential for the realisation of that record’s exchange-value. Most obviously, they are a sales device, part of the process by which consumer demand is created. A good part of the record business revolves around the attempt to make records time-bound, to persuade an audience to buy a record at the moment of its release, to get bored with it after a few weeks, to discard it for yet newer release, and so on. Records are released with a fanfare of publicity, advertising, plugging on the radio, articles in the press; they have a definite and active life during which time they can be heard on radio, on juke-boxes, in discotheques. The charts are the symbol of this activity; the temporary measure of a record’s current sales power, they become the permanent measure of its value.

But the charts are more than a form of publicity and promotion, a part of the process goes through which demand is controlled and manipulated. They are also important inasfar as musical demand can’t be completely controlled and manipulated. Records are bought for their aesthetic use value and aesthetic tastes are difficult to predict and satisfy. Record companies have to make for more recordings than they are able to sell (the hit; release ratio is about 10% for both singles and albums) and to avoid overproduction they are dependant on a selection mechanism such that, having put their pieces of music on the market, they know which ones to mass produce, which ones to drop.

The charts provide by far the most accurate measure of consumer demand on which to base production plans, and if record companies issue a lot of titles, their profits are based on the big sales of a few of them. Because of the nature of recording costs, there’s a minimum number of sales which a record must reach to break even (an average of 15,000 for a single, 20,000 for an album – though the latter figure conceals huge variations). Beyond the break even point profits accumulate very rapidly and it pays companies far better, for example, to have one 100,000 seller and nine nil sellers than 10 10,000 sellers. The charts reflect this situation surprisingly accurately – if the discs in the Top 30 have passed their break even points and the discs from 30 to 50 reached them, most other records do not cover their costs.

There are obvious complications to this argument; records sell over time and over national boundaries, actual break even coasts can be reduced to a level at which profits are realised in sales that are not large enough to show in the charts. But the importance of such a selection mechanism for the industry is reflected in the fact that even specialist record producers, for whom a mass market is not the object, make use of charts of the sales of records within their genres.

It is the commodity form of the music that determines the use of the charts, not the musical form of the commodity, and, for this reason, most of the criticisms miss the point. The charts are usually attacked for lack of accuracy; the randomness of the lower placings is picked on and the suggestion made that the charts aren’t a real ‘measure’ of a record’s popularity; the argument is that the charts distort demand by granting to a few records the promotional attention denied to the majority. But the problem is not to investigate how, if at all, the charts distort market ‘demand’ the problem is to understand how the very notion of market demand shapes the meaning of music.

Colin Armstrong was one of the Top Coventry singer songwriters and artsits in Coventry. I first met him in 1971 when

he was playing a folk group - Music Box with Rob Armstrong (the reknowned Coventry guitar maker and musician) who made the album Songs of Sunshine in 1971 (More on this in the entry on Music Box and also further info in Godiva Rocks by Pete Chambers). I think I saw them first at the Plough gig with Dando Shaft and tried to book them for the Umbrella club.

HOBO WORKSHOP-
Colin featured a few times in HOBO and the local press (as can be seen below). I had a lot of respect for Colin as a singer songwriter and artist and Colin was well involved witht he Hobo Workshop at the Holyhead Youth Centre in 1974 / 5. Colin often performed for us in between the band sets and took an active and advisory role on the Workshop's management committee and was indeed a great advocate for it. It's thanks to Colin that Hobo was mentioned on the original Broadgate Gnome Music Directory site initiated by Ian Green and Paul Leather - and through that mentioned in Godiva Rocks - Pete Chambers - a comprehensive guide to Coventry music new and old (now out of print but hopefully to be updated and republished at some stage). (Thanks for that Colin - if you read this).

FORGING HIS CAREER AS A SINGER SONGWRITER AND ARTIST
Colin was making great leaps forward towards developing his career in songwriting and art during the Hobo period as the press cuttings show. He won a Midlands are heat of the National folk / rock contest and was entered into the semi-finals. The top prize was a recording contract with EMI. He was judged the best soloist act from all over the West Midlands. He was the only one from the area chosen to go through to the national semi finals.He did 10 minutes with three of his own compositions -  Country Boy, Country Bound; Blues for Glenda; Heaven and Hell. He described his music at the time as Funky Folk. Like many, he'd made the trek to London to try and get a contract and sell some songs but without success. he was an engineer by trade and also an Abstract Artist. His work had been displayed at the Minster Gallery (see Hobo article further down on here), the Kongoni Cafe and Methodist Central Hall and Warwick University, Herbert Art Gallery and the Belgrade Theatre. Colin had also a certain amount of recording, radio and televison work. (The above press cutting was from Covnetry Evening Telegraph c 1978 / 9.

From Hobo issue 1 June 1973) -
"Congrats to Colin Armstrong in reaching the Semi-finals in the Melody Maker National Rock/Folk contest and also to Just Jake, Willow, Naked Light, Just Before Dawn, Bumble and all the other Covnetry bands / artists that took part. More on them if poss - later."

From Hobo Issue 4 (Unpublished version)
"Coventry singer - songwriter COLIN ARMSTRONG, who reached the semi-final in the Melody Maker contest last year, is to entre again this year...Lotza luck Colin..."

While involved with the Hobo Workshop - we formed a little band with Colin, Bob Rhodes (the detached youth worker involved with the Hobo Workshop) (Bob had played in a band before and I think managed Midnight Circus (later the The Flys, for a while) and Myself - Trev Teasdel. The band didn't get beyond a few rehearsals at the Canal Basic and the Holyhead Youth Centre but the material involved some of Colin's songs, some of mine and a few standards favoured by Bob Rhodes such as the standard Summertime; a Peter Paul and Mary song and a Jerry Lee Lewis song and the then current I Hear you Knockin'. I don't think we got as far as naming the band but finding time for rehearsals was difficult with Bob's work committments and I was full time at Henley College on a Social Studies Course.

We were in admiration of Colin's Gibson Acoustic which we figured had set him back a bit. Colin explained he saw it in a second hand shop in Cov going very cheaply (the shop keeper not knowing the value of Gibson guitars obviously) and used his rent money to buy it. Colin made great use of it though always making an impact on stage with his songs.

According the Godiva Rocks - Colin now runs his own shop Armstrong Books and Collectables in Albany Rd. Coventry. I don't have any photos of Colin to put with this piece.

Phil Knapper in the garden

NEW NEW NEW - New versions of the Phil's songs uploaded 9th Feb. The first ones were second generation - I found the original tape so they are a bit clearer I think. Having said I recorded Phil Dec 1978 on a mono cassette player, so the sound quality isn't top class. However, it's the only record I have of Phil's music. There's another tape of him playing Anji but I haven't found that yet. One of the songs (his spoof punk song) contains the F word - if you are easily offended - don't listen to it!. All songs are by Phil Knapper except Needle and the Damage Done which is by Neil Young.
This page is a little tribute to Coventry's Phil Knapper known to some of you who view this blog.

(In this picture of Analog at the Hobo Workshop 1974 the back of Phil's head and shoulders are at the far end of the photo with a long heaired me at the back next to him)

I met Phil while doing the Hobo Workshop and discovered he lived near me. I used to go around his house and jam and we formed a kind of fun, informal band with Andy Cairns and others - mostly doing covers - Knocking on Heaven's Door, Come up and See Me Some Time, Needle and the Damage Done, Mrs Robinson and a few of our own numbers. We played at the Hand and Heart for a party and the Hobo Workshop a couple of times. We were mostly unplugged but at the Hand and Heart - Andy plug his guitar in and we had Carl on bass. Don't think we had a name - it was just for fun.
OH - NEW ADDITION - just found a  song list from the Hand in Heart gig with Phil.
Songs included Get Back, Knocking on Heaven's Door, Love in Vein, Heart of Gold, Here Comes the Sun, Mrs Robinson, I Belive in You, Long Tall Saly, Whilst My Guitar Gently Weeps, You Ain't going Nowhere, All Along the Watch Tower, one of Trev's poems to music.  (More on this when I find another sheet).

Phil was a good friend of Alex Murphy - we used go around to his house in Willenhall and talk about all kinds of

profound things you wouldn't believe -literature, philosophy, art, music and changing the world for the better. Alex had a good brain on him and used to be the roady with Wandering John. Later he moved to a flat in Stoke and we went to a few of his musical parties. I think it was Roddy Radiation who stole the show at one of them playing his songs on an acoustic - some while before the Specials. They were pretty damn good.

Unfortunately Phil suffered from Schizophrenia and this held him back musically. He was great guitarist - learning classical guitar but able to play rock and folk. He showed me how to play Anji and the Needle and the Damage Done and began to weave his Classical learning into his rock songs. A song to be uploaded here, used a stretched G chord - I can just about do it - but it hurts! (The song is the Moon song).

His younger brother was Stu Knapper

who came up in the punk era with a group called RIOT ACT - Stu was the singer.

Earlier Phil had been to Finland with John Gravenor, Alex Murphy and Neil O'Connor - Neil will probbly be blogging about that on his new Vox site linked here.

I recorded Phil on one of those 70's single cassette recorders at my house

in Willenhall Wood in the mid seventies playing  a selection of his own songs and one or two by others. We also played some of my songs together. I'm slowly uploading some of Phil's song to the computer and trying to clean the tape hiss off them. I've up loaded one already called On This Train.  The sound quality is not great but it's the only record of his music I have.

Sadly, I think Phil passed away in

the 90's but he was a great friend who could still have a laugh and bash out a song despite his suffering and the chiding he got in his own neighbourghood from those who think mental illness is something to take the piss out of!

During the year or so of the Hobo Workshop 74 -75, I was also a full time student at Henley FE College on a Social

Studies Course. I was involved with the Student Union and the college magazine  - Flex. I was hoping to be able get Hobo printed through the Student Union but that didn't work out somehow - otherwise it may have continued. However I had to do a social work placement and as we had started the Hobo Workshop with a social element - the detached youth work with CCVS - I was able to nominate that as my placement! I had to do periodic reports. This one gives a synopsis of the Hobo work -

HOBO - Brief Histroy - 1974

Hobo began as a magazine in June 1973. It grew out of the need for a central grapevine to promote, in this culturally dormant city, anyhting that was happening in the area of music / arts and community ventures; to be an outlet for the creative talents of who ever took the trouble to contribute articles, poems, graphics etc. - and possibly inspire a bit of life into the city. The magazine was voluntarily staffed by myself and frineds and, although open to anyone, was youth orientated. It was financed largely by adverts and voluntary contributions but lack of substantial finance to keep up with rising print and paper costs, clamped a straightjacket on the magazine's potential. Also the quest for a relaible community based printer, that was less expensive than the commercial firms, was an equal burden. Many of the original ideas and intentions were kicked in the face by the cold facts of reality.

During this time we wanted to (having been involved with the Coventry Arts Umbrella) fill in the gaps caused by its abscence through it's lack of premises. We therefore wanted to start a music and arts workshop where people could come along and do whatever their particular 'thing' is. Somewhere where young people could do something contructive. However premises could not be found, that wouldn't involve paying a lot for the use of. Even somewhere for one evening a week only would have done. Beer bar rooms were reluctant to hire out their rooms  from past experiences.

In June 1974, through the Umbrella contacts, we met Bob Rhodes, a newly appointed Detached Youth Workser fro the Coventry Voluntary Service Council, who wanted to be put in contact with young peole who may have problems with drugs or alacahol abuse, unemployment, homelessness etc.  He was able to help facilitated use in regard to a venue to hold the Hobo Workshop and we asisted him in providing a base to operate an informal youth advisory service where people could get help with problems discretely and informally. This had been also been one of the aims of one of the founding editors of Hobo..

Thus we began to run the Hobo Workshop every Monday evening, in the Holyhead Youth Centre theatre. This served us well for a while. There we had use of the theatre and several small rooms. and held concerts with locla bands (rock, folk, blues, Jazz rock) and local folk or acoustic players, songwriters, poets etc. We also held a number of jam sessions ( a few unsuccessful ones too!). We tried against overwhelming oddities, to break down the 'them and us'' between audience and performers, and make people aware that, although we run the basic programme, they are welcome to participate or if they don't like what happens, to suggest things they would like to see happen. We wanted them to feel like they had a stake in it - that it was their place. Several acoustic workshops were held in the smaller rooms (where refreshments were served) and people could jam, swop songs, play to each other. The more competent musicians passed on tips to novices. Quite a few bands got together as a result of the jam sessions. It was somewhere to meet and try out musicians. Some of the musicians, notably Neol Davies, ventured downstairs and jammed with the West Indian musicians in the cellar youth club. Meanwhile Bob Rhodes were able to operate informally with their youth advisory service as well as building up a group of volunteers to train and assist with a projected Drop in House for Young People. I was one of the volunteers.

At first the venue was well attended, but the Youth Centre was too off the beaten track to consistently attract the youth that flocked into the city centre pubs. The Holyhead lacked a bar and many in the audience would disappear

half way through to the pub, returning later or bringing back bottles. When the Golden Cross appointed a new and enterprising landlord, the Hobo Workshop moved there. We had use of the upstairs room and a programme of music events bagan at the Golden Cross. The Cross was already popular among students from the Lanch Plytech and musicians and this cut the cost of advertising. However we wer more restricted interms of rooms.

There was no entrance charge as a) that would probably have reduced the number of people coming along. B) it meant we would have to put on 'a good show' to give people their money's worth, which would dampen any attempts to promote the creative element and get people involved or join in the jam sessions which might not always work out. C) it would contribute to the 'them and us' concept which we wer trying to break down. Instead we passed the hat around and encourage people to make voluntary donations to cover ours and the band's basic expenses. Usually this worked well with those unable to pay still able to come along and those more wealthy contribute more. It usually worked out  the same as if we had a fixed charge for everyone but with a larger audience. however there was some heated disagreement between members of the organising team on this policy, but it ws more conducice to our aims.

POSSIBLE FUTURE ACTION
We are trying to expand the range of music and encourage people to attend and contribute ideas. Some of us are trying to form a Street-theatre group with some students from the Lanch Polytech. We also aim to try and organise something for the workshop in ocnjunction with the Lanch Arts Festival in February. It is also possible, time and money permitting , that we produce another issue of Hobo magazine for Christmas or January. Bob is trying to organise a Youth Drop in House and we want to put on a Hobo - Coventry Arts Festival., embracing all kinds of arts and people who are doing things in the city. If this materialises, it probably will be later in 75 when the weather improves. Amen!!

......................
Vallhalla was a band from near Birmingham who John Bo suggested for the Hobo Workshop - here is their letter and card.

MENTIONED IN BOOKS

The Holyhead Youth Centre in the mid 70's has been mentioned in two books that I know of -

• In the work of Rock Sociologist Simon Frith who was at the Lanch Poly Technic in Coventry for a while (80's I think). I can't remember which of his books but it was only a pargraph. If I find it, I'll put on here. His Books include The Sociology of Rock and Sound Effects
  
• Also more recently in Coventry's own retro music expert Pete Chambers's book The 2-Tone Trail (The definitive guide to Two Tone Coventry) which has a forward by Neol Davies. The book is in the side bar under books. In this guide to all things Two Tone - the Holyhead Youth Club (Lower Holyhead Rd) is mentioned. "Just a basement in the mid 70's, but a defining moment in 2-Tone history. It was here that blues influenced reggae was mixed by the likes of Neol Davies, Ray King, Lynval Golding and Silverton. "it was here where I first met Jerry Dammers". The Hobo Workshop was in the ground floor theatre. Neol Davies had gone downstairs and jammed with some of the guys as early as autumn 1974. The hope was that the guys from the basement would play upstairs at the Workshop. Already by the time the Workshop moved to the Golden Cross - Neol had a good working relationship with the guys (which included Charley and Desmond and Silverton, and some of them came to the Golden Cross although they didn't play for us. There would be a good four years worth of development before Two Tone would emerge on the world stage. Two years later (Neol was playing in Hardtop 22 - an early incarnation of the Two Tone bands).Selecter to be Charley Anderson, was a  Voluntary Youth Worker with Coventry City Council at the Holyhead. After the Hobo Workshop finished, the basement of the youth centre became the base of further developments leading to the Two Tone phenomenon. Pete Chambers reveals that Jerry, Lynval, Horace and Tim Strickland reheased there. Again according to Chambers, the Holyhead later recieved a rennovation grant from the Cadbury's trust and Amos Anderson created a youth based recording studio there - later the Glasshouse. It's clear the Holyhead Youth Centre story didn't end after Hobo finished in the autumn of 1975. After I moved to Teesside in 1980, I used to get reports of the developments at the Holyhead from some of the people involved.
  

The HOBO Music and Arts Workshop 1974 / 75 was community based venture that was the culmination of a number

of threads and a desire to develop more support and facilities for local bands, artists and poets in Coventry and  resources for  young people with problems such as homelessness, drug or alcohol dependencies, unemployment and so forth. It was both a culmination of previous work and (with hindsight) a defining moment leading to new developments on the Coventry music and arts scene. Also it was a kind of bridge between the fading hippy music scene and the developing punk scene (although one would not know that punk was about to happen, there was a sea-change in the air with a Bowie and Lou Reed sensibility).

There were two main threads to to it -

1. A crying need for more facilities for bands, artists and poets in the city - rehearsal space, equipment, venues to get started at, venues to experiment with new material, cross-art forms, musician cooperation etc.
2. Advice and Support for young people with problems. (Photo by kind permision of Pete Chambers - from his book The 2 -Tone Trail see books in the side bar for  more details)
   

The Hobo Workshop, based at the Holyhead Youth Centre and later upstairs at the Golden Cross

The first thread was for band facilities etc. came from -

• My involvement with the Coventry Arts Umbrella Club from 1970 onwards. The Umbrella provided a venue and rehearsal space but was limited by space. On advice from the Umbrella Executive I had called on the local authority for help with providing rehearsal space and venues to no avail. When the Umbrella Club in Queen Victoria Rd. was condemned, the Umbrella found itself homeless or drifting from temporary base to temporary base before being given space at the Charterhouse in 1974. It was clear the band scene was not going to be part of the new Umbrella. This left a huge support gap for upcoming and existing musicians. The Hobo Workshop took up the mantle.
• In 1970 Broadgate Gnome and the Diggers movement did much inspirational ground work for local musicians and artists, with reviews of gigs, articles on local bands, concerts and the digger's 'hole' - an artists collective in the bomb hole (outside the Golden Cross.). Although I wasn't involved with it, the Gnome published an article (re-published on this blog) about the Tribal Rock Music Co-operative. It seemed to be a national underground musician network which had synergies with the later Music Collective ethos. The initiative was lost in Coventry (at least) when the Gnome folded in 1971 but the idea of it stayed with me in the creation of the Hobo Workshop. Both Neol Davies and Arole had been involved both with the Tribal Rock gig  and the Umbrella and both got involved in some way with the Hobo Workshop.
• Hobo magazine itself had started off by campaigning for wider facilities in its pages and in it's press releases.
• In terms of format was influenced by the experimental Humpoesic Happenings I organised at the Coventry Arts Umbrella and the Birmingham Streetpress gigs already blogged about here.
  

The second thread was for Youth advisory support which came out of -

• The petition against the RU 18 squad busting underage drinkers without the local authority looking at the issue of a modernised youth provision for young people who were disatisfied with the traditional youth provision, who were intersted in bands and creative pursuits which were only available in City Centre pubs. Collection of signatures for the petition which also called for more facilities for bands, poets and artists led to the creation of Hobo.

• Bo (John Bargeant) who became the first co-editor of Hobo and it's co-founder had worked for Release in London and took up the advisory thread by creating Central Point as a second thread to Hobo Magazine. It was advertised in the first edition of Hobo and in the Coventry Evening Telegraph Article. We had practically secured the use of a room in Bardsley House for Bo's Central Point when Bo left Hobo to be Road Manager on Khyyam's European tour.

HOW THE HOBO WORKSHOP CAME ABOUT

The Broadgate Gnome and the Diggers had taken a more confrontational stance to secure facilities given that the Local Authority  didn't see the needs (as often they still don't) to facilitiate youth and creative initiatives coming up from the grass roots. Young people had long hair and an ethos that challanged blatant commericalism. A few like Ron Morgan, the Labour Councillor, had the vision to see the positive side and help facilitate but campaigning for facilities was going mostly against the grain.

Hobo was mostly me and a few changing co-editors and supporters. We weren't back up or supported by a national organisation like the Diggers movement. Confrontation is much harder for individuals. I figured if we could get somethings up and running ourselves (albeit with limited resources) and show the value, demonstrate the need, then maybe the powers that be may just be impressed enough to help a little with facilities and support. Probably not but I thought it worth a try and nothing much else was happening. Most of Coventry's top bands had split up and the new emerging  bands were becoming demoralised by lack of decent venues to get started at and rehearsal space.

The first step toward the Hobo Workshop came in 1973  when I approached the Coventry Arts Umbrella for help

with printing Hobo.  Unlike Alternative Sounds later on who managed to persuade the Lanch Poly to print their magazine free, we had no free printing facilities available to us. The reason it came out irregularly was because of the cost of printing. I hated the duplicated affair, prefered it to be Offset Litho'd but beggars can''t be choosers so rather than nothing coming out, some issues were duplicated at the loss of quality. Ideally I wanted a production like Streetpoems (exampled on this blog somewhere).

With the loss of the Umbrella's premises, the Excutive meetings were held at the Coventry Voluntary Service Council  HQ in Lower Holyhead Rd.  It's Chairman Henry West was also on the Umbrella executive. He was  aware of my involvement with the Umbrella band nights and had followed the development of Hobo Magazine, Bo's idea for Central Point, and that the magazine was (to an extent) the voice of young people in the city centre area interested in creative pursuits and that we had identified some important needs. Henry was aware that the situation had worsened with the loss of the Umbrella. He told me he had just employed a Detached Youth Worker for the Voluntary Service Council to be an informal advisor facilitator for young people in the city centre area. He felt that we could help each other. Bob Rhodes, the youth Worker needed to be able to reach and interact with young people in order to do the job and Hobo had direct contact and involvement and we needed facilities - printing, office space, a venue, PA, rehearsal space and a grant! He suggested we meet

.

Although the Hobo Editorial were annoyingly treated (in documentation)  as receipients of 'help' in order to justify  the worker's time and involvent in the project,  we at least were able to get use of the Holyhead Youth Centre every Monday night to put on bands / mixed media gigs and network. Bob would attend to operate his informal advice service. A type writer and desk was offered at CCVS for the production of Hobo and Bob also gave me a reference that got me  onto a Social Studies Course at Henly College and a temporary job as a Play Leader on an Adventure playgound. I was thus able to get the Social Work Placement element of the course to be with CCVS shadowing Bob Rhodes as an informal advisor at the Hobo Workshop!

Although the object of the Hobo Workshop was not to make 'stars' many of the struggling young bands we fostered encouraged,  became recording artists.More on that in the Hobo Workshop Bands Section.

WHO WAS INVOLVED AND WHAT WAS THEIR ROLE

We formed a Committee consisting of - (although it wasn't strictly adhered to with comings and going) -

Trev Teasdel and Bob Rhodes co-ordinaters (and administered the informal detached Youth work elelment.)

Liz Scott (music fan) - Chairwomen - Typing

Trev Teasdel, Paul Samson (musician in Trigon - ex Mick Green Blues Band and later Reluctant

Stereotypes), Gordon, and Digger Arol (Ex co-founder of Broadgate Gnome - Bands

Gary Kirton (Musician in Trigon (Ex Whistler) - Transport

Joe (music fan) - Decorating and Door

Mick (music fan) - Advertisments

Finn - Door

Julian Adams (Umbrella Club Executive memeber) - Electronics

Bo (John Bargeant) (Hobo co-founder and promoter / DJ)- Publicity / Disco

Julie Clark (from CCVS) and Liz Scott to run coffee bar

Paul Sampson (musician)  to organise Talent Comp

Bo to organise poster competition.

Neol Davies (Lead Guitarist Mead- later Two Tone co-founder) - Jam Sessions

Lynn Hardcastle
Colin Cripps  - (musicians and editors of Willenhall Free Press - Later The Mountain Ash Band)  musical and publicity support

Phil Knapper (Stu Knapper of Riot Act's older brother) - support and musical accompaniment for poetry and music session.

Colin Armstrong (Singer Song Writer - Ex Music Box with Rob Armstrong) - Musical and publicity and oraganisational support

Neil O'Connor (Musician - Midnight Circus - later The Flys and Hazel O'Connor band) -  musician support.
Neil O'Connor My Space  Neil O'Conor site

Arthur Brown (not the famous one

  this time!) Singer songwriter and Hobo co-editor.

Andy Cairns (Lead guitarist in Breaker with Horace Panter) - musician and technical support

Kevin Buckley -  Researcher with CCVS

The advice element led to the creation of a Drop in House for Young People called S.H.A.C.K. in 1975.

From Bob Rhodes CCVS report June/July 1974
"The most notable feature of this period has been the development of my involvement with the Hobo group.....
on the activities side, which is the focal point for this group, they have produced their first magazine since February,

using my office for typing facilities and my contacts for obtaining cheap duplicating paper. Also I have been able to obtain use of the Holyhead Rd. Youth Centre, with its theatre facilities, for them to use as an Arts Workshop - the first evening, when a local rock band played for expenses, was attended by 60 young people and this appraoch is proving very successful in extending my network of contacts. I hope to obtain L.A. grant aid for this project as two obvious necessities are a PA system and a van for transport of people and plant."

Although we never managed to get an LA grant or an Urban Aid grant, CCVS did pay for a second hand 50 watt PA for the workshop.

FROM HOBO NO 5 unpublished November 1974

THE HOBO WORKSHOP - Let's Get it On!

Where is it?
The Hobo Workshop, which started in June 1974 at the Holyhead Youth Centre, has moved recently to upstairs at the GOLDEN CROSS in Hay Lane.  The workshop operates every Monday night and is free to get in, althugh we pass the hat around to cover the petrol expenses of the bands.

What is it?

It is a creative workshop, as opposed to straight concert, where not only bands (newly started or more established) can come and play their brand of music but anyone came along and 'Do their thing' , be it music, poetry, street-theatre, fire eating or whatever! If you'd like to do something; if you have any ideas about things you'd like to see happen at the workshop; if you'd like to organise a Jam session or anything else - give us a call. Our aim is to provide a place where you can do these things, or get together whatever you want (within reason of course!).

We've Made our Effort - It's Up To You Now.

So come along and take advantage of it or come along and enjoy it. Come in fancy dress if you like, use your imagination and help us break down the 'them and us' scene that seems to exist around here. We provide a basic co-ordination to avoid total chaos but it is loosly applied to accomodate whatever anyone wants to do.

So come along and and put away your 'do it yourself concert critic set' Kick out your Jams and come and helps us get a creative and friendly scene going.

Anyone wishing to know more write to HOBO or come up to the Golden Cross on a Monday night and ask for Trev Teasdel, Liz Scott or John Bo.

We'd like to thank Midnight Circus, Fisson, Trigon, Analog, Khayym and all the other bands that have played for us so far and Colin Armstrong, Dave Bennett, Moonraker Disco, Andy Cairns, Julian Adams, John Rushton, Ann Barton, Tony Unwin Bob Rhodes and Oh - too many to name.

 

 

I's fortgotten until I looked thrugh the letters I sent to the unedited versions of the letters I sent to the Coventry Evening Telgraph in relation to the Shut Down Coventry Shopping Precinct Concert, there more things being planned. A few got through but some of the ideas didn't. This post is to logged the the ones 'that got away', mainly through lack of funding and wider support, not to mention time llocation. It was an intense and active period.

• Underground film club - idea came from the Umbrella's Transcendental Cauldron - the first event I'd
  

  Hobo Workshop Movies
  attended coupled with the fact that there was a request from some of the users for a alternative film night when we petitioned them for their own ideas and views of what the Workshop should do.This was achieved - each friday night a projector was cranked up and a film group recruited from those attending the monday music nights watched  a range of films. Bo (John Bargeant) organised and operated the projector both for this and his discos at Hobo in which he played films as the music was playing. The film club started with a few old comedy movies too.
  
• Street-theatre Group - The ground floor of the Holyhead Youth Centre was actually a theatre with a stage and
  

  Hobo Wokshop - Drama
  dressing rooms. It had been use for rehearsals by the Belgrade Theatre. Some of the group were interested in dram. I wanted to mix the medias and liked the idea of having a street theatre group that might perform during the band nights and also go out on the streets and generate publicity for the Hobo Workshop. To get the ball rolling - I used to raid the costume deptment behind the stage, dress up strange and perform Dylan songs on the door as people came in and paid their money, to set the tone that it was (hopefully) a creative venue and people could be creative in various ways - where fancy dress, dance wildly / creativley. A small group formed around this but I don't remember it taking off as well as I would have liked. I can't remember who they were (it's so long ago) but a Sarah and Andy took charge of organising this acording to a duplicated poster you see on here.
• Trenchcoat - I'd forgotten this until I re-read the unedited letter I sent to the editor of the Coventry Evening Telegraph over the shut down concert incident. I was planning another magazine - Trenchcoat -  that would deal with wider issues than Hobo but might also incorporate Hobo magazine. These may have been environmental, life style, campaigning issues (for better facilities) and features.
• Coventry Arts Festival - We also announced plans in the letter for a Coventry Arts Festival in 1975 'incorporating local talent of all varieties, with some events being organised by Hobo and other organised by other organisations but incorporated into the programme. It will be intended to appeal to as many people as possible without mercenary objective." This never materialised ( well not through Hobo anyway - there was one in the 80's).

THE HOBO WORKSHOP COVENTRY PRECINCT SWITCHED OFF POP CONCERT (Photo shows where the bands played)

On September 1974 on a Saturday, the Hobo Workshop organised a a morning concert in Coventry city centre near the ountains. Youth worker Bob Rhodes, in his official capacity, took care of the permissions, from the Chamber of Commerce and the Council etc. We took care of the creative side. The object was to publicise the work of the Hobo Workshop and get more people involved.

We had a number of artists lined up including the middle of the road pop band Memories, (which we thought might help balance things out with passers by) Phoenix (a rock band) and
Folkies - Rod Felton and Dave Bennett (Ragtime Guitarist). We figired there was a good cross-section of music that would appeal to all ages and taste. Using an 80 watt PA the show

kicked off with the pop band Memories doing pop covers. We got a really good audience around us both on the ground and up on  the stairs of the  shopping precinct. Memories were helpful in helping to appeal for lost persons, children and various people were happily reunited. We had not sense that anybody at all was upset bu the concert - quite the oppostie - there was a really good vide and great turn out.

So it was a complete shock to us

when the police turned up half way through Memories set and told us turn the amps right down, claming there had been comlaints by paasers by who had to put their hand over their ears. They calinmed they could hear the music half a mile a way at Little Park police station. (Lucky them!). We'd hardly got started and we had done all the right things, got all the right permissions.Word on the street was they'd seen our long hair and reacted. Later the Sally Army and a choir played using a 100 watt amp - much louder than ours - but they were respectable - we were not apparently. Then someone brough along the luch time editon of the Coventry Evening Telegraph. We'd hit the front page - 'Concert Deafens Shoppers'  read the header! 'What!'  This galvanised us into action. In actual fact they did us a favour shutting it down - it got us a weeks publicity which included a front pager, two letters to the edito, an editorial dedicated to us and several smaller inside pieces in two papers - The Telegraph and the Coventry Journal - the Telegraph's rival of the time. We would have been lucky to get a small column mention on the Saturday if it hadn't been shut down. All the same a lot of work had gone into it and people were disappointed and it seemed that even when young people do good things, the iron-hand of the law comes down on them. We resolved to bombard the newspapers with complaints, letters, phone calls and encouraged all our supporters to do the same. I sent three long letters (one full of TS Elliot quotes about the Wasteland in order to make our feelings plain. It was also a good opportunity like the RU 18 petition, to get over some of our wider aims and objectives. A petition was another strategy the Bob Rhodes organised. Bob went in to the Newsaper office in an offical capacity. We got 6 or 7 peices in the paper over one week and turned a negative into a positive!

Just after HOBO - the magazine began - and we were in the paper Trev and Bo on the Music Scene - Virgin Records held a concert in their store with Virgin band Gong. They too had been shut down and somebody wrote in to the Coventry Evening Telgraph with a protest quote from Both Hobo and the articel about us - hence -

Although Hobo was about music, poetry and Art, it also began with a social conscious. Part of the petition that led to

Hobo was a complaint about the RU 18 squad (and local authority only busting underage drinkers and not doing anything to provide alternative venues for them where they can attend music events rather than the often rejectd tradition youth club affair.

Bo (John Bargeant) co-founder of Hobo, used to work with Release in London and set up Central Spot as part of Hobo - we tried to get a room at Bardelsey house for him to operate and maybe also city centre base for Hobo. Central spot didn't really take as Bo took off himself to roadie on Khayym's euro-tour.

The Hobo Workshop began with a similar perspective, as can be seen from the letters on the intor to the Hobo Workshop, the CCVS had employed a Detached Youth Worker to look into these type of problems in the City Centre area and establish an informal advice service for young people. Apart from facilitating for the Hobo Workshop, Bob used to chat to people informally at the workshop and identifiy any problems. He provided a reference for me to get in to Henley Coolege to

do a Social Studies course. As my 'Social work placement' I worked alongside him at the Workshop which was pretty neat! One of the objectives was to establish a drop in house for young people called S.H.A.C.K. and in 1975 I was invited to do some training in giving advice at Canley Teachers Training college - more of a day school. I was one of the volunteers when the house opened up. By 1976 I'd gotten involved with the Coventry Unemployed Workers Centre at Bardsley House as a Welfare Rights advisor and the magazine editor after Hobo folded . Although I still wrote and went to gigs I moved more in to advice  and community work  for a few years after 76, coming back to the music scene in 1979 - just prior to moving up to Teesside in the autumn of 1980 to do a degree.. On Teesside, althugh I had a band and played gigs, the work became more focused on Creative Writing developments as can be scene on the Outlet  and Writers Cafe sites..