In Harlow, although I didn’t know it, The Hare pub was the place for bands to meet, along with the Playhouse Bar.

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Pressure Pub

Because it was fairly central to everyone I socialised with, we had started to frequent a pub on the far side of town called The Hare.  A few friends from school used to hang out there and it quickly became the place for youngsers to come and chill out after a hard week of avoiding doing anything at college or school.

The Hare, Harlow – McMullen (mcmullens.co.uk)

“We were working at Blakedales and Roy suggested we go to The Hare one Friday night or whatever, which is where I met Lee and then James Doherty who I’d met before, although I didn’t make a very good first impression with him to start with.”

Steve C

“Not many people did!”

Roy

“Initially there was Steve Christy, Allan Walker, Gary Hull, then Cob appeared on the scene not long afterwards.  And then other people used to drift in and out, like Mark McCallum, the guy with the van…Roland, Paul Weeks, Dave Sessford.  Then there was Jackie Jones, Diane and Evelyn.  Then Bill Meadows (of The Gangsters) drifted in.  And Bill Pearmain.”

Steve C

“Bill was the playleader at The Dashes play scheme and when me and James used to go there and he’d sell us dope.”

Roy

Lakes

Dave “Dartz” Bridge, Alistair “Gibbo” Gibson and I had spent a fortnight away in the Lake District, mainly because we enjoyed Geography and Geology and went to look at Palæozoic land masses, Arêtes and Basket of Eggs (Drumlin) scenery.  Our geological ramblings suitably fulfilled, we returned to The Hare and were unceremoniously chucked out by the landlord for being underage. 

It was the 24^th of August 1978, the day before my 18^th birthday, so I couldn’t really argue.  I was one of the youngest in my peer group, so the others did argue but it was to no avail.  Not only was I 24 hours underage for drinking in a pub, but I also only looked about 12.

Pressure Purchases

For my 18^th birthday I had asked my dad to buy me an electric guitar.  I had owned an electric guitar once before.  An old right-handed copy of a Stratocaster which I’d traded with a friend of Steve Byrne’s, for a full-face Cromwell crash helmet I didn’t use anymore.

I had spoken to a guy I worked with who played guitar in a band.  He’d suggested something like an Ibanez/Peavey combo for the money I was looking to spend, and I’d been scanning the adverts in the music papers for months and had seen an Ibanez Les Paul Custom copy ‘left-handed’ for sale in a shop in Ealing and decided I had to have it. 

Aladdin’s Cave

One Saturday (when I wasn’t in The Hare) I travelled up with my dad on the train and with the assistance of an AtoZ of London we found the shop tucked away in a side street.  On entering, we discovered the wall behind the counter was covered from floor to ceiling with guitars of all makes, colours and sizes.  It occurred to me I’d never been in a real guitar shop before and the plethora of equipment on sale, was breath-taking. It was like an Aladdin’s cave of bejewelled guitars: bright reds, metallic blues, deep blacks, sonic purples, sunlit yellows; everything. 

Ibanez & God

And then, there in the middle, shining out like a beacon from heaven was a pure white, left-handed Ibanez Les Paul custom guitar with gold hardware, black binding and a black scratch plate and volume/tone controls.  As if it had been struck by a ray of sunlight, the guitar appeared to glow and shimmer, and I felt the sturdy touch of God’s hand upon my shoulder as he propelled me forward, and suddenly the shop was full of the majestic voices of angels singing “Hallelujah! Hallelujah!” over and over. I looked again.  This time it stood out because it was both white and left-handed and I knew then it would be mine.

Ralph and the Streets

I didn’t care what the guitar sounded like: the action, neck, frets, machine heads, bridge, saddles, pickups, wiring, weight, feel, playability.  None of that stuff mattered because I either didn’t know what it was, or that it was important.

What I did know was months of searching had led me here and if I didn’t go away with this guitar, I’d be starting again from scratch.  One of the assistants in the shop got it down, plugged it in, ran off a few riffs upside down and handed it over.  “Take your time,” he said, “I’ll be over here if you have any questions.”  How daunting, I thought.  I had to play it now.  In front of everyone! 

I sat on the amp and my dad sat next to me.  I honestly had no fucking idea what I was supposed to do. So, I did what any other self-respecting novice would do. I apprehensively strummed an open E chord.  It jangled brightly and harmoniously in my ears.  “Wow!” I said.  “That sounds good.”  I tried a few chords and played “The Streets of London” by Ralph McTell, not because I thought it would sound good on an overdriven Les Paul, but it was one of the songs I’d learnt at my guitar lessons and so I could play it quite well.

Johnny & Johnny

“Well, what do you think?” my dad asked.  “Are you going to be Johnny Hendrix then or that Johnny Horrible bloke?” He often did this.  And he also sung the wrong lyrics.  Partly for the entertainment factor, partly to wind me up and partly I guessed, to distance himself from the younger generation, as if misremembering lyrics effectuated a dismissive attitude to something of little consequence or importance.

One of his favourite songs was “You Sexy Thing” by Hot Chocolate, but he would sing “I believe in milkmen,” instead of “miracles.” What was a miracle was he wasn’t put away.

Misremembering lyrics effectuated a dismissive attitude to something of little consequence or importance

My dad’s attitude to popular, contemporary beat music

Jam Trifle

The lyrics, “Hello Hooray, what a nice day for the Eton Rifles,” became “Hello, hooray, what a nice day, he’s a right one,” which then became, “…what a nice day, eat your trifle.” 

Who or What?

He didn’t save this for me alone though. I remember he asked my brother Robert questions about an album Rob had borrowed from a friend, which my dad referred to as “The What – Dead at Wrexham.” Robert would roll his eyes, sigh in a world-weary way that only a teenager can and reply, “It’s “The Who Live at Leeds!””

“That’s them!” he’d reply enthusiastically.  “The Who…Live…..at Wrexham.”

Pressure Peavey

I bought the guitar.  I couldn’t afford a case for it, so they put it in a guitar box, and I took it home.  Later I bought a Peavey Classic 50-watt combo amp from another shop in London.  This time it was in Tooting and my dad came with me again.  He drove this time as getting a 50-watt, two tonne amp home on the tube was going to be a bit of a tall order. 

My mate Steve “Bernie” Byrne came with me and tried to talk me into buying some guitar strings, but I wouldn’t part with any more money than I had decided was necessary.  It was a habit I think I’d picked up from my parents. If I hadn’t broken a string on my guitar I reasoned, why would I need spares?

“The first bass I used with The Pressure Stops I borrowed from Alan Wellbelove. The first guitar I had was a black Les Paul copy. I don’t remember what happened to it.”

Roy

“Roy and I went to Romford on the Green Line bus and there was a little music shop there, and I bought the loudest amp I could afford, with a mic and stand. Then the bus broke down on the way home and we were stuck at Theydon Bois for hours waiting for a replacement bus. As was the way for the next few years though, we lugged all the gear between us round to the bus station at Katherines, to go to rehearsals at Netteswell.“

Steve C

Find People Who Want The Same Thing

“Roy and I went to Harlow College to do an ONC day release and one morning we went down to the Refectory and there was Steve Lazarus, who I knew vaguely, and Mick Cowley sitting at one of the tables, and someone said, ‘We’re starting a band, can you play anything?’ I said ‘no I can’t’ but that was Howard Like they were putting together.” 

Steve C

“A few months later we saw them playing a gig.  And the likes of Kevin Jones (The Sods) was saying stuff like, “You lot should start a band”. And all of a sudden it occurred to you that you could start a band up.  It wasn’t until people you hung around with or you saw on the streets or at parties said it, that you thought you could be in a band.”

Steve C

“The first actual band we had was ‘Eggy & The Chips’, which was Me, Steve, Cob and James. It reached legendary status due to never actually existing as a functioning band.”

Roy

A few weeks later I was back at The Hare, meeting other “musicians” and suddenly I was discussing forming a band.

NEXT – PART 5 – SOUND OF THE SUBURBS

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1. I am wearing a Genesis sweat shirt (it didn’t last much longer)