The Flys Talking – Taking off February 1978

The Flys Talking – Taking off February 1978

by Pete Clemons

The Flys. Group of Coventry origin: Neil O'Connor guitar and vocals; David Freeman lead guitar; Joe Hughes bass; Pete King drums.

Flying Start: 'Me and David and Joe have been playing together for three or four years. The front room situation!' - Neil

'Neil started us off. We began writing songs together and recording them on beat up cassettes' - David

'We were originally called Midnight Circus. You see I was really into the Pretty Things and that came from a song of theirs. That was the first working situation, but it was not easy or right to remember' - Neil

'We all made lists of names for the band and The Flys on two people's lists. So that was it' - David

'F-l-i-e-s may be correct, but looks terrible. Flys is visually more acceptable. We were not thinking of insects, zips or anything like that. Though when zips became trendy friends accused us of that implication' - Neil

'Coventry died in the disco thing. The only live music is from club bands. We had difficulty in finding a drummer, because most to work in a £5 job in the clubs, rather than do something new' - David

'Its only recently that people have tried to get something together. There are four or five new wave bands in the area and one club has a new wave night. It may only be 18 months late but in Coventry.........' - Neil

'One club used to book us when other bands cancelled. People must have got fed up with seeing us'. 'One night Peter almost refused to play there. That night we got an encore' - David

'Four or five night supporting Buzzcocks helped us. They paid for us out of their own money'. 'Yeah, they're really decent blokes' - Neil

'EMI saw us at a gig with them. It also brought us to London' - David

'Even before EMI came along we decided our own record out. We wanted to put out value for money so put out value for money so we made a five track EP for 90p' - Neil

'We recorded 13 tracks in two days at Pathway Studios. 2350 printed and it made number ten in the Lightning new wave chart. We were going to put out 7000 then EMI showed interest' - David

'We were surprised when EMI said they wanted to put out 'Love and a Molotov Cocktail' on the single. It was on our own record label too and has been in the set for months and we were getting a bit tired of it. Now we can't put it on the rest pile' - Neil

'Big interest from EMI came after Buzzcocks Marquee gig. There were so many bands in London that it had been difficult for us yo get gigs here because we were not a London band. We've still only played here a handful of times' - David

'Coming from Coventry we felt a bit like country bumpkins. Sometimes it seems a bit strange with us in Coventry and the company in London but I wouldn't want to live here full time. I wouldn't mind somewhere we could stay when we're down here though. Whether we can afford it is another matter though' - Neil

A Fly in the ointment: 'You're the most rubbishy band we've ever seen. And I'm going to tell all the other people I know not to book you. Here's a fiver' - manager of a London club

Flying squad: 'A year ago we did a gig up Redcar way and it was so heavy we were scared stiff. There was a long line of bouncers armed with wooden clubs forming a line in front of the stage. People were shouting: 'come on be a punk. Do something outrageous'. The manager of the place told us we'd be alright the next time as the next gig was at an elite place. But it turned out to be near a skinhead stronghold and they were chucking bottles at the stage and pouring beer down the neck of the roadie sitting at the mixing desk. The manager had to take me through the crowd to get to the toilet and told me very reassuringly - 'your going to get fucking battered tonight lads'. Our van was showered with missiles. We had to have a police escort. Can you imagine the police protecting a new wave band?' - David

Fly blown: 'We supported the Rich Kids at the 100 club and had no room to play at all. Their roadies set their stuff up on stage and we weren't allowed to move it, so we ended up cramped up trying to get our gear and ourselves on the stage as well as their gear. Consequently we were pretty crappy' - David

'We've vowed that that sort of thing wont happen when we're at the stage of having someone support us. Support bands should get the chance to have a soundcheck, use of a good PA and other equipment if necessary. Groups can't forget what they had to go through can they? Some of them obviously don't remember the days when they used to be supporting better known acts and what they had to put up with' - Neil

'It's not always the bands fault. Some of the roadies get a bit bossy' - Neil

Fly paper: 'Some of our mates were dead jealous when we told them we were being interviewed by Sounds magazine, it's the first time we have been interviewed' - David

'When we released our EP that for us was fulfilling our fantasy. Then when we signed with EMI that was a further step into the dream world' - Neil

'Now our fantasy is to be on television. Your standards and hopes rise all the time as things develop. It was incredible to hear our record on the radio, even though John Peel didn't sound overkeen on it after he played it. After five years of learning guitar it is quite good to walk in a disco and hear a DJ say; 'this record is by The Flys.....' That is enough to get the heart going very fast' - David

'We're straining at the leash to get into the studio's to start work on the album. We have plenty of material to work on. We have already had six of our songs out on record, which isn't bad going (five of their own on the 'Bunch of Five' EP, with two re-done cuts on the EMI three track single now in the shops)' - Neil

Unidentified flying object: 'People tell us our songs are very melodic. That's just the way they come out. This fresh pop craze is nothing new, just another fashion. It's like at the end of the year all those one-two-three-four punk stuff just neatly disappears for the next craze' - David

'I'm glad we came out at the end of '77 instead of the beginning. We could easily have been swamped in the mass movement. By the end of '77 it was obvious you had to come out with something different if you're going to break through' - Neil

FLY-OVER

Lanchester PolyTech Festival - February 1973

 

Lanchester Polytech Festival - February 1973

by Pete Clemons

Lanchester Polytechnic festivals of the past have been celebrated affairs. Here is an account of one that maybe has kind of flown under the radar as time has advanced over the years.

Friday: Charisma at Lanch

Friday night at the Lanchester Arts Festival was Charisma night, featuring Howard Werth (will he join The Doors? Even he doesn't know). Peter Hammill and Genesis.

Genesis were experimenting with a new stage set up, due to be completed before their new tour officially starts, and when it works it should be dramatic.

The set was good, if unspectacular - a standard performance of recorded works, but nonetheless popular and well received. So many of the audience knew and sang the words that it was hard to tell, in the quiet sections, if the echo effect was their singing or the terrible acoustics. 'Suppers Ready' was the longest and possibly the best piece they played, with more depth and content than their lighter fairytale songs, but all went down equally well.

Saturday: Jazz at the Lanch

The following night was billed as a jazz night - a title that may have put off many rock fans from an excellent new band that calls itself Q, it should really be called X, with a complete set of musicians previously in more famous bands.

There's Paul Jones vocals, ex Manfred Mann, Mike Giles drums and Graham Preskitt on violin and piano, both ex King Crimson, and Dave Wintour bass, Terry Smith guitar and Dave Quincey saxophones, all ex - If.

The first piece was an If song, 'The Light Still Shines', and it looks as if that's the way they are going to go - a full band sound, and Terry Smith sending out surging waves of guitar notes. But there's too much diversity in the band for that, and they go through such a range of styles from free-form improvisation to vaudeville and poetry reading - not a collection easily labelled.

Paul, Mr. TV, Jones, appears for one song 'Wrestling Man', dressed or rather under dressed for the part, in wrestling boots and trunks only - but the musical quality is not compromised - a superb solo piece with just a harmonica. That's really the essence of this band. All superb musicians taking turns to express their own musical ideas. What direction they may move in its impossible to predict.

Sunday: Coventry Theatre

The finale of the festival turned out to be a fiasco. Sunday night at the Coventry Theatre with a host of stars billed to play together. The list was extensive and grew during the whole week as further names were tentatively added. Carl Palmer, Albert Lee, Chris Farlowe, Poli Palmer and Keith Tippett were to have been the central core with Keith Moon, Rick Wakeman, Ric Lee, Tony Iommi and so on as possibles.

However something went wrong, and after the two support bands, Necromandus and the really excellent Average White Band had suitably whetted our appetites, we were greeted with sad news. Viv Stanshall and sundry limbs belonging to Keith Moon appeared through the curtain, expressed considerable dissatisfaction that they and Gaspar Lawal were the only ones there and would perform, and assisted by various members of Necromandus, they played a wholly chaotic couple of pieces interrupted loudly by an angry audience.

People who left in disgust before an announcement was finally made, are recommended to write to the organisers who have promised to do their best concerning refunds. It was a sad end to a festival which makes commendable efforts to put on a wide range of activities, and it is, unfortunately, their reputation which will suffer most.