Photo: Alain Le Garsmeur
When the clock hit midnight, I would be twenty-one years old. I had a break between Status Quo tours for three weeks.
It was weird to be able to say that I am an adult. I felt the same. I didn’t think I’d make it to such an old age. I had a thread in my fabric that I needed to keep moving. I could prevent myself from feeling depressed if I stayed in the present and didn’t look at myself. The difference between what I showed the world and what was actually happening would have astounded most people. I had lower expectations that something lasting long enough to be enjoyed, really taken in, would become a real part of the place. It’s always on the edge. I was living one day at a time, and each day could be my last, as if I was a passenger being hurtled down my own Highway to Hell. I didn’t have a rudder.
The World’s End district of London was where I lived at the time. Jack, his brother and a friend were in this place with me. It was in a massive old U-shaped apartment building with a courtyard in the middle and a marble entrance and staircase that was wrapped around the open metal cage lift. The building and flat were both named after Ashburnham Mansions. It was a great place to take time off between tours.
I was bored after starting a three week break between Quo tours. I could never stop. I was in a bad mood all day and thought I should go out. I had never made a big deal about my birthday, but this year I felt like I needed to do something about being able to do all the things I have been doing for years. I wasn’t sure how this whole adult thing was supposed to work, so maybe it was better not to draw attention to it. I would be enough for now because I was still here.
As I hadn’t bothered to tell anyone about this milestone, I felt it might be a bit late to start planning, although in London you could get a party together on a moment’s notice and easily keep it going for 24 hours. I didn’t lack options, I just wasn’t feeling it
Photo: Manfred Becker
It was right across from Status Quo’s offices that the Marquee Club had become my favorite place to start off a night of entertainment. Jack Barrie, the manager, let me in for free and would give me drinks even though he was too young to drink. Billy is two years younger than me, so I would be the one giving him the drink.
I had a standing place on every guest list at The Venue when it was opened by Richard Branson. If I wanted to be rough around the edges, I could go to one of the following places.
Jack, my roommate, had just signed on as tour manager for the TV Eye Tour and the phone had been ringing all day. The band had some problems in the rehearsal room, and Jack couldn’t be located. I answered the house phone a couple of times and each time it got more desperate and less polite. Nobody could figure out how to remove the buzzing sound from the PA. I offered to go over to try to find Jack as there was no sign of him. I was doing it for Jack because they were going to sack him.
I went to the rehearsal room to make sure they didn’t get away. The group consisted of both band and crew. I didn’t know anything about the band backing him or who they were. While the rest of the band were huddled on the stage area, the crew was busy fixing the problem.
There was something about this guy that caught my attention immediately. While Quo were nice guys, with a clean-cut, denim-clad, working class image, here was something completely different. I hadn’t seen anything like this before. The other side of the working class was the people who weren’t employed. They were rolled up in a big package. He was bare-chested, wore silver leather pants, and had piercing eyes, and he looked like a sleek feline predator.
I felt like I was at home. It was a change that embodied the feelings I had had my whole life. The person crossed the room to speak to me. There were many layers underneath that punk exterior.
I didn’t know who I was, this girl who came out of a dark, rainy London night to fix him. He was trying to get on with rehearsals. I asked the sound engineer what his crew had been doing to find the problem. The engineer glared at me and gave a cold reply. If I fixed the problem this would make the guys look bad because they had no idea who I was. The whole crew didn’t like me very much. I could see on the sound guy’s face that he didn’t think I could help at all, but maybe I could make him a cup of tea. I was wondering why I volunteered when I wasn’t obligated to be there.
He had nothing to lose, I told him. If I didn’t fix it, he could blame me, and I could disappear into the dark and rainy night, never to be heard from again. If I had to deal with a man who was resistant to a woman taking charge, the words “what if we try it this way” got me a lot further than I thought. It was simple but it worked. I used the ‘I’ version when I wanted to make someone angry.
Photo: Alain Le Garsmeur
We all went to work when the engineer said that he and his crew had nothing to lose. The room was a mess and it was difficult to clean it up. The equipment was poor, the power supply was bad, and a new crew was learning the equipment set-up.
After many attempts, we were able to ground-lift the sound system. This was not the ideal solution, but it was the only one that was going to work because Iggy wasn’t going to stop practicing while we fixed it. As long as no one touched a plugged-in instrument while touching a live mic, it would work. It would be nice if no one died. We told the band that we didn’t want them to run the risk of getting shocked, although a few of the crew might have felt differently by this time. Someone from the production company could come out the next day and fix the problem.
I was going to leave quickly, not wanting to be around if it all went south. It was going to be difficult to get out of the rehearsal room in the middle of the night. It’s not the best neighbourhood. Birthday plans were out the window as it took two hours between songs to make tea and fix the problem. It was early in the morning. I brought tea and sarcasm to the Doubting Thomas sound guy.
The bad news was that I didn’t like the music I heard. Something down and dirty with both talent and substance, a sound from Detroit very different from what was being passed off as punk in most of the London scene.
I waited outside for my taxi because the rehearsals had begun again. If I didn’t have a reason to be there, I would just hang around. I had finished my part. I would have walked back to the flat if the rain hadn’t come down.
Then someone showed up. He told them to come in. We’re taking a break, so we’re going to hang out with you.
They’re taking a break now. It’s typical.
By this point, I had reached my limit. My birthday night was spent with a group of people who were not nice.
Thank you. I spoke. I really have another place to be. After 2 a.m., swinging London had been tucked away for the night.
It was the first time anyone had said no to being invited to watch the rehearsals. Iggy asked, ‘What are you going off to that’.
At that time, my taxi arrived. I jumped into my cab and waved goodbye after I was told I was twenty-one.
Photo: Alain Le Garsmeur
Jack was a little standoffish the next day. I thought he’d gotten yelled at and it would blow over. He told me that the band wanted to see me and that I should meet them at the record label in London. I was surprised that Jack didn’t thank me for helping him out. I decided to leave because curiosity got the better of me.
It seems all wasn’t well between the band and their label, and they were supposed to have a get- together. The people from his label would hang out with him in an attempt to get to know him better. He could be a force to be feared.
His TV Eye album was his last one for the label and he wanted out. It was going to be a great tour and record labels pretended everything was okay. The label presented Iggy with a life-size Nipper. The HMV logo has a dog on it. This was the first time a life-size Nipper had ever been given. I am not sure what the punk legend was supposed to do with a large plastic dog on the eve of a European tour.
Iguo didn’t know. He presented me with Nipper immediately after the ceremony. I wish you a happy birthday, Tana.
I was really happy. The personnel of the label aren’t that important. I wanted a dog for a long time, and this one was perfect for the moment. It wouldn’t be a problem when I was on tour.
People on the record label were gobsmacked that I was happy. The band and I left together, laughing and talking about having to rehearse.
There was even more good news. Nipper was thrown in to piss off his label because I was on the tour. I thought this was great, as I was starting to like this strange, intense but funny little guy, with a nervous energy. This tour would allow me to take a break from Quo. It was nice. I was going to the production company the next day to help get all the equipment ready for the tour.
Jack was going to tour with me. It would be fun because we never worked together. I didn’t see him in the days before we left on the ferry, but I thought we had time to catch up.
I couldn’t see Jack when I got to the dock. He was six foot seven but he was nowhere to be found. He was with the band on the ferry. I asked after him. I was told that Jack wouldn’t be with us because he’d been fired.
This wasn’t great. It’s not good at all. Jack was my friend and landlord. Oh, yeah! I wanted to know if this isn’t happening. I like my place of residence.
They wanted me on the tour even though I declined. I don’t know what I was supposed to be doing. I don’t believe in giving someone a title to justify their existence. Everyone in a crew is expected to do their job to the best of their ability. Teamwork and resilience are what hold it all together.
I had thought of a three-week bonding experience for me and Jack, but it was not what I had in mind. There was going to be a lot of expectation on me. I wanted to make sure everything was going well on the production side. I would keep a close eye on both sides of the stage-manage and lighting crew. The star doesn’t need to be happy if he goes to shit.
The new tour manager might have seen me as a challenge, with me and I getting along well. Over the years, I have learned that people either take you as you are or have a preconceived idea of you that can be hard to change.
The crew filled me in on who the band members were, as I had no idea who they were or how important they were in the punk scene. By getting to know the band members, I was able to comprehend their dynamics. I was going to learn a lot about US music history.
The book is published byHarperCollins.