This is how to do a book launch! Rock music from the 70s era that’s captured in the plot, in a venue that not only features in the book series, but is also a great pub.
The idea is to get away from bookshops with their fuddy-duddy, serious literary connotations, and instead aim directly at the people who matter – readers. Especially those who don’t consider themselves to be stereotypical book readers: the ‘only on holiday while I’m on the beach’, types; the ‘I only buy a book if I like the cover’, sort. These are very important people: they’re possibly among the most vital in the book industry, after bloggers and reviewers and those inveterate souls who read all day, every day.
Let’s have a party to celebrate many months of hard work stooped over a laptop; the writer’s pain of overcoming word blocks and ideas that come to nought; and the eagle eyes of an editor who ‘gets it’, but is hell bent on making it better.
Why Pouk Hill Prophetz? Because they are good musicians who play the music of the 70s that features in Vinyl Junkie, and because, while they are amateurs, they have a professional attitude to making music.
Why The Exeter Arms? It was the first pub I was taken into by my first newspaper’s Chief Crime Reporter, Dick Wallis, and the first taste of a beer that was going to stay with me to this day.
Come along. Have fun. It’s a party first, and a book launch attached.
Two hours of some of the most distinctive rock music ever written, and the sound of Family, the band that got together in mid-60s, is still ringing melodiously in my ears.
As the last strains of Shadow on the Wall faded and Roger Chapman put away his intensely gloccal (my word) wailing for another night, perhaps it was the time to reflect on how a 75-year-old bloke flawlessly grabs an audience and keeps it rocking, clapping and baying for more for nearly 120 minutes.
Chappo has put an amazing band together for this short tour, which included the O2 Academy in Leicester, Family’s and Chappo’s home town. Most of those at the packed gig knew what to expect – Chappo returns to the city once every few years and is always well received – he’s a recognised star in a musically star-studded city.
Rock and roll is in the man’s blood; it flows through every vein. The on-stage persona has change from being, I still believe, a major theatrical influence on Peter Gabriel in the 60s, to the cheeky chappy that was always there. He’s always had that beaming smile, and he’s always played to an audience as if he’s one of us. It cannot hide the man’s talent and brilliance as a lyricist and poet. The days of cavorting around the stage with gay abandon, long hair flying irrepressibly and playing rock festivals with naked youngsters dancing have gone; what’s left is a purity of music.
Chappo bestrides the stage like the Best Man on a stag night. He rules, but his ‘party’ consists of some of the greatest rock musicians this country has produced, many unsung, all remarkable. Behind him there’s John Lingwood on drums, with a Family style that seems to portend the massed ranks of mythical warriors marching to war; beside John, Gary Twigg reminds me of a canal lock keeper – a laconic smile on his face as he controls the flow with minimum effort and absolute note and time perfection; while off to Chappo’s left is keyboard maestro Paul Hirsh.
Poli Palmer has been on vibes for as long as Cappo’s been in long trousers, or so it seems; Nick Payn, sax, flute and anything else he can put in his mouth, adds that jazz feel that Family were so good at in the 60s and still are; and then there’s Geoff Whitehorn. I’ve seen a fair few guitarists, but rarely have they been so accomplished, fluent, commanding and in complete touch with the lead singer’s demands. Roger Chapman’s backing musicians have just improved with age.
There were tracks from Music in a Doll’s House and Family Entertainment, the early albums that I remember best. Chappo may not have retained the incredible range in his voice and that signature, extended vocal catch in his throat (that’s what I call ‘gloccal’), but the man’s a rock beast. We had Who Pulled The Night Down, the crowd sang along to My Friend The Sun, and the Stones’ Let’s Spend The Night Together. Track upon track, Chappo ruled that stage.
The man belies his years. He moves and rocks like someone well under half his age. Go see ‘em – January 13, The O2 Shepherd’s Bush, London; 18th Newcastle O2 Academy; and 20th the Great British Rock & Blues Festival, Butlin’s Skegness. It’s a night in with the Family.
For lovers of rock music, in its raw, throaty and earthquake-inducing prime, the new album by three true exponents of the art is a revelation. QSP will excite, rumble and erupt long-thought-dead emotions of past memories.
QSP Album
The personnel are a remarkable combination. Suzi Quatro is a figurehead for female rock music, but she’s so much more. Her vocal and bass drive is infectious and consuming. Andy Scott is a revelation. I never realised how steeped and clinically exact he is as a professional music man: his Sweet days are a long way away and this new, never heard before Andy Scott strides Collosus-like.
Don Powell, is and has been since the 60s, a force of power and admiration in drumming circles. When I first met him in December 1970, just before Slade went stratospheric, he said that he was getting a bigger, better and louder drum kit. He did, and he’s still thundering out a magnificent controlling beat. QSP is a change in direction, but Don is a musicians’ musician and he adapts his style to suit.
This trio relies on each other individually and stylistically, and the result is a great album.
Slow Down: First track and straight into Jerry Lee Lewis-style 50s RnR. Sax and keyboards drive it forward, with Don powering away.
Long Way From Home: Andy Scott and Suzi wrote this and their vocals are top drawer. Simple cadence can be a little metronomic, but the poignancy of the title is given full rein. Over the six minutes there is a crescendo building to allow Scott’s guitar full rein, before the rhythm kicks back in.
Tobacco Road: Make that geetar wail Andy, and thump out the power beat, Don. Suzi and Andy will grab the well-known lyrics by the throat and sing out loud. Suzi’s bass takes control on a well-disciplined track. Jez Davies, guesting on keyboards again, is a joy.
If Only: Don crashes the intro; Andy picks up the lead; and Suzi’s voice soars over them. Another Quatro track and, as is natural, her bass takes a central role, but behind her Don keeps it tight ‘as a drum’ and Andy drives the melody along. Another poignant collection of lyrics from Suzi, which her strong, distinctive voice communicates, despite the drive of guitar and drums.
Bright Lights, Big City: Don Powell in complete control: he takes up the melody from the start and Suzi thumps that bass line in a gut-wrenching, joyous and solid four-bar, while she and Andy can be ‘seen’ smiling through the lyrics. They know they’ve got something special here.
Pain: ‘Power up the Quattro’ was DCI Gene Hunt’s catch phrase in Ashes to Ashes. This 80s-style orchestral track is penned by Suzi Quatro and Andy Scott has all the atmosphere of those dramatic times. She pleads and she fights and you just know she’s going overcome this particular emotional pain. Strings arranged by Mike Batt … now there’s a pleasant surprise.
Just Like A Woman: Many have tried to get Bob Dylan’s emotions across; QSP have managed it. Suzi’s voice captures every nuance, and roars over the drive of Don and Andy. If you’re going to sing a song by a master lyricist and poet, you’d better be good. Suzi Quatro is that good: Dylan will appreciate this treatment.
Mend A Broken Heart: Andy Scott in 4/4 jazz mood with a dated vocal style that suits the discipline of Don’s drumming and Suzi’s bass. For once Suzi’s vocals take a back seat, but they’re still exactly what’s need to emphasis Andy’s clarity. Keyboards and sax could be late night jazz session, but with this power there’s no nightclub sleaze.
The Price Of Love: I’m not sure the Everley Brothers intended this to be such a rocker, but there’s no argument with three musicians at the top of their game. The vocals are great, but just behind them Don’s drums hammer out a solid foundation to keep everything on track.
Broken Pieces Suite: Is that St Winifred’s Choir I hear? No, it’s a great, self-penned vehicle for Suzi’s story-telling vocals combining a gentle rhythm with absolute clarity, before Andy and Don crash in and drive it into a fighting-talk rocker. It’s almost operatic.
I Walk On Gilded Splinters: Don Powell is a world class drummer, and that’s a fact. Intermittent guitar strokes give way to dual vocals – almost a duel – and then an echoing guitar riff, while the drum beat never falters. A galloping drum riff brings in Andy’s wailing guitar and Suzi’s bass keeps it solid. There’s a hint of a rocking Tubular Bells in the background.
Late Nights, Early Flights: The two guitarists, Suzi and Andy, are back at it. They’ve written a driving rock ‘n roller that has a very heavy, drum-base rhythm and the lyrics are all about what they know best – the time-defying world of being global rock stars.
Little Sister: Pop music with a Suzi Quatro voice. She takes this great little track in her beautifully manipulative hands and fashions a vehicle for everything that’s good about her voice and bass guitar. Oh yes, Suzi owns this number.
Pain (the band): Suzi winds up the album with some powerful, crying and demonstrably constructive vocals. No orchestra with strings: this is measured, emotional rock. Yes Suzi, “we’ve all gotta feel pain sometimes”, but not when you’re singing back by two great musicians.
In the early 70s I nailed my colours to the mast of Slade and for a while they were the biggest band in the world. The also-rans of Sweet and Mud, and, to an extent, Mark Bolan, were just that. Wind forward 44 years and Sweet’s Andy Scott is a stand-out musical star. He’s a guitarist, a vocalist, a song writer and he deserves some big bouquets for producing this remarkable album.
Derbyshire Noir #1: Q&A with Tony R Cox, author of A Fatal Drug 5*
Tony R Cox and A Fatal Drug
I was born in Lancashire but I went to secondary school in Derby and residential college in Buxton. So Derbyshire is a setting I know and love in novels. Derbyshire varies, from the beautiful peak district to the urban inner city that I know and love!
I have met very few authors in person. But one I have met and certainly won’t forget is Tony R Cox aka Richard Cox.
I met Richard just over a year ago at the signing of All Through The Night by M.P Wright in London. He is such a fantastic bloke and what Richard don’t know about Derby, ain’t worth knowing! I knew as soon as I started my blog, He would be brilliant for a Q&A. Very intelligent, a cracking sense of humour and rather dashing in ‘that shirt’ pic above. here is Richard’s Q&A………..
A Fatal Drug by Tony R Cox 5*
The synopsis:
England. 1971. Reporter Simon Jardine is on the hunt for the story that will kick start his career and when a tortured, mutilated body turns up on his patch he can’t help thinking his luck is finally in. At first glance the provincial town of Derby is about as far away from the sex, drugs and rock-n-roll of London and California as it’s possible to imagine but as Jardine begins to scratch below the surface he finds that all is not well in England’s green and pleasant land. Along with fellow reporter Dave Green and local DJ Tom Freeman, Jardine is soon drawn into a spiral of gangland drug dealing and violence that stretches from the north of England to the south of Spain.
Q&A:
Q) Please can you give the readers a summary of your background, main character Simon Jardine & novel A Fatal Drug?
A) My father was a railway signalling engineer and mother a nurse. I was born in Barking, London, and lived in Glasgow, Lancaster, Crewe, Lahore in Pakistan, and then back to Cheshire before secondary school in Buxton, Derbyshire. I have a long family history in Derby, going back to the early 1800s. My great, grandfather worked alongside Sir Robert Peel, MP for Tamworth; my great grandfather and his brother were in the wine and beer business in Derby. My maternal grandmother was the last private nurse to Richard, the last of the Arkwright family – ‘Father of the Industrial Revolution’ and creator of the factory system.
My first proper job was as a cub reporter at the Derby Evening Telegraph in 1970 where my love of rock music and jazz was allowed full rein as a reviewer, as well as learning the ropes of regional journalism. It is from this era I chose my central characters. Simon Jardine is an amalgam of some great young journalists, with the naivety we all showed in our early 20s; Dave Green and Tom Freeman are loosely based on major influencers – both of whom have died.
For A Fatal Drug local reporter Simon Jardine’s romantic hotel room assignation is rudely interrupted by a grey, lifeless body staring through the skylight.
Simon, with crime reporter Dave Green and DJ-cum part time private investigator Tom Freeman, become enmeshed in the mystery of who the dead man was and how he ended up on the hotel roof.
The story travels to Spain and North Africa as the search for answers and a front page lead draws the three friends deeper into a growing drugs trade. Murder and prostitution are rife, but they’re no nearer getting the answers to their questions.
What links the hotel body to the drugs trade? Why does a would-be music reviewer go missing? Who is a bigger ‘godfather’ than Derby’s Mr Big? Is the threat of violence and death really worth it for a front page lead?
Q) I went to secondary school in Derby in the 1990’s. I absolutely loved the setting of Derby, I think Derby is such an intriguing City and its demographic changes street to street. It is also home to some of the most beautiful countryside. A Fatal Drug is set in 1971 Derby, what made you pick this era & this city?
A) The early 1970s were a time of sexual freedom, the drugs trade reached deeply and openly into the music scene, and society was undergoing some big changes society. For newspaper reporters, there were no mobile phones or the internet, and there was a culture, accepted by editors, that they could drink as much as they liked as long as they got the story.
Derby was transitioning slowly from being a heavily engineering-based employer to a more diverse economy. At the same time it was preserving some great architecture; building a new series of bridges over the River Derwent and a new ring road; and feeling the effects of some disastrous planning approvals, like any large urban area trying to build a strong future.
I like to think of Derby as ‘manageable’. It is possible to segment it historically and a short walk will take the visitor into wildly differing, architecturally emotional sectors: the new shopping centre; the Cathedral Quarter (Britain’s Best High Street); the riverside; the railway cottages conservation area; the miles of redbrick terraces, built to house workers at Rolls-Royce and the other engineering companies; and the wonderful parks.
Q) How much change have you seen in Derby from the 1970’s to 2017? Do you think it still makes for a brilliant location in 2017?
A) The city is a great ‘town’. It was given city status in 1997, but cannot shake off the ‘town’ tag. This, I believe is brilliant. I occasionally take people to Derby (200+ real ale pubs is a pretty good ‘draw’) and delight in showing them history that is still happening!
I am very surprised that some Derby locations have not been used for filmed period dramas, and by ‘period’ that could be Georgian, Victorian, Edwardian and right through to the 70s. In a literary sense, an author I much admire, Steven Dunne, has set his enthralling Reaper series in 21st century Derby to great effect.
Q) I love that in your novel you are not afraid to shy away from themes of drug dealing, brothels & organised crime. It’s also hard to imagine such goings on in Derby. Did you base the novel on any real crimes? Or did they influence the writing in any way?
A) I don’t remember the town being so violent, but drug dealing was rife. I interviewed prostitutes and worked with an Irish newspaper to gain affidavits in a legal case, which meant entering a pub in the area of terraced housing by one door, meeting a prostitute at the bar, and running out of the other door – followed by a horde of irate men! Scratch the surface of any urban area and I think the criminal element will float up.
Q) The novel is set between two locations Derby & southern Spain, which is very good in terms of reflective locations. What drove the story this way?
A) There were two key drivers: the first is that I know Derby and its history well; secondly, drug smuggling involved people tapping into the burgeoning holiday destinations of southern Spain. While development in the Costas has covered vast areas in concrete, the geography remains largely the same.
Q) What are your favourite novels from childhood, teenage years to adulthood?
A) There were four phases I remember, apart from the early years of comics and Billy Bunter. My first ‘big’ author was W. E Johns and the Biggles series; then came Dennis Wheatley and Rider Haggard; later secondary school was the time of JRR Tolkien, James Joyce (and I was one of the only kids to actually enjoy Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and The Dubliners), and the First World War poets.
Now, depending on what I’m doing, I immerse myself in the works redolent of ‘my era’, such as Alan Sillitoe and John Braine. For pure enjoyment I read the latest novels by such luminaries as Steven Dunne, Stephen Booth, Sarah Ward (all set in Derbyshire), and, of course, my much acclaimed friend, M. P Wright. I also try and read as many of the books published by Fahrenheit Press, my publisher, as possible.
Q) What is next for Tony R Cox and will there be another Simon Jardine thriller?
A) The next Simon Jardine thriller is currently with my ‘editor’ who has found faults (don’t they all), but has called it well-crafted. From such an incisive and critical reader, that takes on the role of an Oscar in my estimation!
Jardine, Dave Green and Tom Freeman are again on the trail of news headlines. This time the story starts with a rock band’s homecoming gig in Wolverhampton, moves quickly into a possible expose of corrupt record sales in the music industry, and thence to drugs and murder. Police corruption lies at the heart of a novel that casts a spotlight on the finances of the IRA.
I’m also writing short stories and a more difficult work that has two main characters who speak in different dialects. It’s tough, but it exercises the writing brain.
Q) Aside from meeting me, What has been your favourite thing about being a published author?
A) Meeting your husband! No, not really, but he’s a great bloke.
There are so many positives about being a recognised writer. My first self-published Simon Jardine thriller, First Dead Body, was a personal achievement and the ‘launch’ party at Scarthin Books in Cromford, Derbyshire, was fantastic; being accepted by Fahrenheit Press for my second, A Fatal Drug, was hugely thrilling. I think the biggest change is the chance to mix with so many writers and readers whom I have admired for years, and the undimmed support they give me.
Tiger, tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
William Blake
Tigers are massive. Not elephant-style massive, but simple, pound for pound, feline power, stealth, arrogance and confidence. It shines out of every hair on their bodies. They move majestically, slowly and with that inner knowledge that no-one, no living, breathing being is going to dare to get in their way. I was desperate to see at least one in the wild; to meet it, from a safe distance, in its territory, not at a zoo or on TV.
The battered, beaten, open-topped, four-wheel drive, steel-bar surrounded, safari ‘bus’, plus signs that proclaimed that, even though the safari is through one of the six routes of the Ranthambore Tiger Reserve, India, visitors should not expect to actually see any of these shy animals, did not put me off. Just a glimpse would be enough.
Within ten minutes I caught that glimpse. This magnificent beast was reclining on a stone ledge half hidden by scrub, dry bushes and bare tree trunks and branches, and then it moved. Long, thick, fur-covered legs stretched, and it rose and walked alongside our ‘bus’, oblivious to the gasps, stares and clicking camera shutters of the 20 aficionados watching its every move. I was stunned, and the tiger moved on.
Tiger awake from his rocky perch
We sat back. Langur monkeys chattered, deer and antelope grazed, and we took in the unfolding views as our transport sidled and climbed bumpily up dry river fords and stone-strewn inclines that would defy most vehicles.
A short and exciting hour later we approached a broad, shallow lake where a myriad of different types of bird flitted and flew, strutted and posed for the cameras. Ten minutes later we drew to a halt on a ridge. On our right was the lake; on our left in a shallow valley, a stream and by it a green meadow – one of the few areas of green in the entire Reserve.
On the meadow, sleeping in the rising heat, were two tigers: an enormous male, and a few feet away a large and imposing female. They weren’t posing, but the clicking of cameras, and muted gasps and cries of wonderment from our ‘bus’ in languages from broad Scots to Hindi, Japanese and Chinese, didn’t disturb them. Half an hour later, emotionally and photographically sated, we set off again to see more sights and animals, including a relaxing family of wild boar who, were they able to speak, would have let us know how much they enjoyed being disturbed by a pack of noisy humans.
Sleep in the morning sun after a hard night’s hunting
It was soon time to return and the route took us back to our sleeping tigers. We stopped; more photographs; and then the huge male awoke.
His head was like a Chinese dragon’s, seemingly far too large for its neck as it shook slowly in a rolling, stretching motion. Then a leg extended and a massive, furry paw faced us: clear and in detail from just 50 yards away. The other three legs followed as the tiger rose and looked around. He spied his mate, still supposedly sleeping, or at least pretending to! She awoke, rose and then settled back down again.
A powerful male tiger awakes
The male’s short walk was majestic. Ripples of power shuddered through every step of each of those massive legs. He looked at his mate, shook his head again, moved round her rear and she rolled slightly. This towering example of feline, male beauty, straddled his mate and thrust forward, grasping her neck in those powerful jaws and showing the watching crowd long and vicious teeth.
Feline love – or simply an animal urge
A few seconds later, mating was complete. The male released the female’s neck, stood up, and roared. It was a rolling sound that bounced and echoed around the gentle slopes of the meadow valley; it thundered and crashed against the higher slopes and rebounded at seemingly greater volume. The magnificent male strode away, faced the distant hills, stretched his long body and neck, and seemed to take stock of who he was and where he was. He was the king, the leader, the emperor of the Reserve and he was damn sure that he was going to let everyone and everything know it.
A regal beast marches majestically away
The return trip was always going to be a deflation after such a once-in-a-lifetime experience, but how could it be? Another tiger was spotted moving stealthily along the hillside and, in front of it, deer and monkeys stopped, sniffed and began their loud and urgent warning cries to other members of the herd and pack.
There are in life experiences that will stay with you forever. Dad rugby tackling me as I careered down a slope near Beeston Castle in Cheshire, and thus saving me from ripping my neck open on a strand of barbed wire; my first day at senior school; riding on a bench over the buffers of a train up the Khyber Pass; my wedding day; the birth of my daughter – and now a safari at Ranthambore Tiger Reserve.
Maybe I should go back and celebrate the birth of the new tiger? Perhaps that’s best left to the care and sustenance of the kitten’s magnificent parents?
