Nige Tassell was so obsessed with Dexys he’s tracked down all 24 ex-members
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 26 ส.ค. 2024
- Nige Tassell used to go to school in full donkey-jacket-and-woolly-hat ensemble to express his boundless devotion to Dexys Midnight Runners. Forty years later he set out to find and interview everyone who’d ever been a member. For some, their time in the ranks was a joyful, career-launching delight. Others felt it was like a slightly chilly and controlling cult. They all took a while to recover and they all had extraordinary stories to tell in his latest book ‘Searching For Dexys Midnight Runners’. Here’s a flavour of what gets discussed …
… ‘No drugs or alcohol! No smiling! No eye contact with the audience!’ and other unsettling Dexys mantras.
… examples of Kevin Rowland ‘snatching defeat from the jaws of victory’.
… the many ways the band made themselves deliberately different’.
… the event supporting Bowie that got their power cut onstage in Paris and had them thrown off the tour.
... the heavy-handed recruitment of Helen O’Hara.
… Geno Washington and other strands of the Dexys DNA.
… the ad they took in the NME that soured their relationship with the music press.
… and how Rowland’s approach today remains resolutely unchanged.
Order Nige’s book here …
www.amazon.co....
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That was fascinating! I was lucky to witness the pride and passion of that first incarnation first hand as I was the studio Tape Op for 4 of the tracks on the first album including Geno. The night that Pete Wingfield, Chris Birkett and myself mixed Geno is still etched in my mind and remains, 44 years later now as a pro producer, the toughest session I have ever been involved in for a myriad of reasons...but oh, what a record it was and still sounds great to my aging ears.
'ageing'
@@hazelwray4184Aren’t we all. 🤷🏼♂️
@@TomNemmer "aging?" Lol
I played drums for Pete Saunders and his burlesque shows for a number of years. Top guy.
It's basically a story of fate and free will. I heard of someone around the corner where I moved to who did plumbing and incidentally was a musician, so during a convivial chat I asked what bands he'd been in. It was a bit of a surprise when he said 'oh...and I was in Bill Brufords Earthworks for a bit..'. These people are out there! 🙂
I used to work with Mick Galic about 20 years ago in Hemel. Nice guy but quiet. Tried to get him to talk about Dexys at a Xmas party over a few beers but he wouldn't reveal much.
From 1980 till the end of the ninthes the highlight of the week was going to the shop to get the nme miss them days,😎
Nice guy. I agree the comments about the third album. I think it’s probably stood the test of time better than the earlier efforts.
Very enjoyable. Thanks.
Donkey jacket with Doc Martins and black knitted hat was my winter schoolwear 79-84.
I was at Top Of The Pops when Dexy’s were performing Gino. They ran into the set throwing holdalls at the stage. One hit the keyboards and knocked them over.
Will definitely be buying this book. Fascinating stuff.
This Is What She’s Like - I don’t think The Beach Boys and Marvin Gaye’s estate will be losing too much sleep about it pipping them in charts of best ever songs. Seems like the usual KR blow hard stuff to me.
Course Danny Baker's glowing review of SFTYSR was payback for KR saving his life from violence at a Sham 69 gig in Brum. See DB's memoir for details.
Missed a trick there, Nige, why not call it 'Searching for the Young Soul Rebels'?
Because most people wouldn't know what you were talking about I guess. 😉
@@markkavanagh7377 Then they wouldn't be reading the book anyway!
"Young"?
@@iananderson3799
Would anybody be interested in the 'Old Soul Rebels'?
@@margaretjbuckleyBeat me to the punch there.
Fascinating stuff, what a strange character Kevin Rowland is. I always loathed Dexys' music, all that too rye ay stuff, but he certainly trod his own path, and the world needs outliers