Baz Warne of The Stranglers "Convivial Tour" Acoustic & In Conversation About His New Book "No Grass On A Busy Street" at St. Pancras Old Church, March 5th 2026

“Soon, all that’s going to be left is a large pair of smoking boots” Baz Warne tells us, making the sign of the cross and glancing up to the heavens. I’m not sure that the beautiful St. Pancras Old Church has ever had so many swear words bouncing around it’s ancient stone walls. The Stranglers vocalist and guitarist briefly wonders if he will be struck down from above for yet another brutally honest and expletive ridden appraisal of something or someone who winds him up. Baz is in good form, preaching to an attentive flock of fans gathered here today on this sold-out date of a U.K. tour entitled “Convivial” promoting his new book “No Grass Grows On A Busy Street: 25 Years On The Road with The Stranglers”. Yes, it’s hard to believe that Baz has been in the band for so long and yet still there are people who hark back to the Hugh Cornwell years and make comparisons. This is something Baz has to deal with on a regular basis, and he does so tonight with his customary self-deprecating good humour. When tonight’s interviewer, Mark Hart from the Rock ‘n’ Roll Book Club and Music Maps Podcast mentions “So, The Stranglers were looking for some hired help I gather, yet you initially turned them down” Baz replied “I did, and I bet there’s a few people in here who wish I still had!” and he mimics “oh, he’s not Hugh is he?” before raising his middle finger. We all clap and cheer our support, Baz smiles and says, “I see there’s quite a few not clapping!” 

 

It’s a shame that Baz still has to contend with this after 25 years as a Strangler, of course Baz is not Hugh, and I very much doubt he wants to be, after all, he didn’t join a tribute act. What he did do for me, and obviously many other Stranglers fans, considering the number of sold-out shows at impressive venues around the world the band still plays, was to revitalize and re-energize The Stranglers. For me personally, The Stranglers had lost their mojo even when Hugh was still in the band when people seem to forget that the last few albums with him were lack lustre affairs. JJ had lost his mojo and was playing one of those humiliatingly naff Steinberger headless basses, there was an awful brass section and Dave’s trademark organ was reduced to weak synth background noise. I remember being hugely disappointed at their last ever gig with Hugh at Alexandra Palace, it was awful. There was no energy, no passion and it was obvious the band were going through the motions and destined to call it a day. However, as much as I wanted to continue to support the band when they decided to continue after Hugh left, I just couldn’t handle the Paul Roberts, John Ellis line-up era. Paul’s overtly theatrical vocals and performances just didn’t cut it with me until I heard the track “Norfolk Coast”. There was Dave’s swirling organ again and finally an old-school killer bass intro from JJ that had me intrigued. The album of the same name was still patchy but promising, and it was no coincidence that the ousting of the much-maligned Ellis and the addition of new guitarist Baz Warne had something to do with it. 

Just as I thought that Paul Roberts might be winning me over, it was announced that he was leaving the group and the band were reverting to the classic four piece line-up, which meant that Baz was taking on guitars and lead vocals and JJ was back to singing his songs again. Then the album “Suite XVI” was released and I loved it, so I decided to see them play live and was blown away by the sheer power and intensity. It was a throwback to the sound of “The Raven” and I was absolutely thrilled. Baz was great, mastering Hugh’s intricate and often baffling guitar riffs, adding a big visual presence, simmering with aggression and it was good to see the crowd taking to him and embracing this new era of The Stranglers. Most die-hard Stranglers fans have accepted Baz whole-heartedly and I often find it’s the ones that moan about the ‘good old days’ and say, “it’s not the same without Hugh”, haven’t actually seen the band play with Baz. Of course, it’s not the same, and nobody needs to put Hugh down or belittle his legendary status or role in the band, those were the classic days. This is The Stranglers now. Sadly, Dave and Jet are no longer with us but what’s wrong with accepting both the current Stranglers and Hugh’s solo material, nobody can force you to take sides. All I can say is, if you are still in any doubt of Baz’s (and indeed Toby and Jim’s) abilities and contributions, get yourself a ticket to the next gig, give them a go and I’m sure you will feel very differently.

 

Anyway, I digress…back to the night and Baz explains that “No Grass On A Busy Street” is a collection of various diary entries, interviews and tour blogs throughout his 25 years with The Stranglers. However, he has fleshed these chapters out with his current thoughts, looking back on the earlier writing, which give an interesting contemporary perspective. He has also included some more background on his upbringing and family life, of growing up in Sunderland in the Northeast of England and on his time in Canada, where the family relocated due to his Dad’s work. He told us he added this new autobiographical section rather reluctantly and on the advice of his publisher, as he couldn’t believe that anyone would be interested in his life outside The Stranglers. He’s wrong of course, and some of the funniest and most revealing moments during the talk are when he discusses his family and early years. Mark asks questions on a wide variety of topics that despite sometimes veering on the trivial, such as “what’s the hottest gig you’ve ever played?” Baz answers all with a mixture of charm, candour and good humour. For example, after a particularly sweaty show at Fibbers in York, “I was so hot and soaked through that I didn’t want to get on the bed, so I laid on the floor and when I got up there was a large Baz-sized outline on the carpet” and “We’d have a competition to see who had collected the most sweat in their Dr. Martens”. 

Baz tells us about his audition for The Stranglers and how proud and thrilled he was to join the band as, like us he was a big fan. He talked with honesty about his relationship with his bandmates, it wasn’t the usual ‘everyone is lovely’ kind of thing but he said it was more like a family, admitting that Dave could be sarcastic, Jet was gruff, Toby like an excitable puppy, and JJ can be rather prickly and aggressive and he mentioned one incident where he went toe-to-toe with JJ, luckily JJ diffused the situation by saying “let’s have a cup of tea”. He also told us that he had to suffer his “thousand yard death stare” if he happened to hit a bum note. However, he said JJ could be incredibly warm and he’s one of his best friends, joking that JJ was very disappointed not to be asked to be best man at his wedding, but Baz was worried he might try to pull his mother! Baz did drop in some hilarious impersonations of JJ, Jet, Dave and Toby throughout the talk. In fact, during the tour JJ called him up at one point to say “hey, I hear you’re doing impressions of me on your tour”. At first Baz was a bit worried until JJ laughed and said he was over the moon. What was apparent though was the real love and genuine friendship he has for his current and former bandmates. He opened up that he and JJ were devastated by losing Dave Greenfield who, it was clear had made a huge impression on him, telling us how proud he was of the latest album “Dark Matters” and the sad circumstances around the recording of it, with the untimely passing of Dave. He played an emotional “And If You Should See Dave…” which took on an extra poignancy in the hallowed surroundings. 

 

Baz then spoke about Toby’s recent TV appearance on The Repair Shop with admiration, where Toby took in Dave Greenfield’s old battered and broken organ to get it repaired. Baz mentioned that he really wants to get a new album out with Toby and that very same keyboard on it. He mentioned that hopefully the new album would be “full of joy” and that he’s already written a “really fast punky tune, a serious kick up the arse”. Ruts DC guitarist Leigh Heggarty who is also in Wingmen with Baz, was in attendance and they exchanged some banter and Baz told us the good news that they are working on a new Wingmen album along with Paul Gray from The Damned and Marty Love from the Johnny Moped Band. Baz regaled us with more tales of life on the road including humorous encounters with Blondie and Debbie Harry, Simple Minds and their American Tour Manager and Ricky Wilson of Kaiser Chiefs. He stressed the importance of the road crew or “technicians, as we have to call them these days” and dealing with outdoor festivals in dangerous pouring rain. He also touched on the much-anticipated Stranglers documentary, of daring to drop “Golden Brown” from the set, the on-the-road routines and the song writing process in particular how proud he and JJ were with “The Lines” after they finished it and recorded it in one take. He then strapped on his guitar and treated us to a sublime version of the song. 

One interesting thing that Baz mentioned was that it would be JJ calling the shots if the band were to end, if they ever stopped enjoying it or feeling they were not moving forward. He said that he believes it couldn’t be a band unless they have at least one original member in the line-up. Throughout the evening Baz also treated us to a few more songs on acoustic guitar including “Long Black Veil”, “Breathe”, then a unique version of “Peaches”, and his favourite Stranglers song, “Goodbye Toulouse”. So, it was a thoroughly entertaining evening in the company of a real character. I’m sure Stranglers fans will have warmed to him even more after this tour and he would have won over a whole load of doubters, that’s for sure.

 

 

All photos and videos copyright Retro Man Blog 2026. Check the Stranglers and Wingmen archive labels for more of our features with reviews, photos and videos on both bands. For more information on Baz, please check out his official Facebook page here, The Stranglers can be found here and Wingmen here.