Debsey Wykes Q&A on her book “Teenage Daydream” and screening of “Take Three Girls The Dolly Mixture Story” at the ICMP London February 19th 2026

I went along to the ICMP Music College in Queen’s Park for the first time for a rare screening of “Take Three Girls – The Dolly Mixture Story” directed by Paul Kelly from Heavenly Films and the partner of Debsey Wykes bassist and vocalist with the band, who met when touring as part of St. Etienne’s live line-up. The screening was followed by a Q&A session with author Daniel Rachel interviewing Debsey about her excellent, critically acclaimed autobiography “Teenage Daydream: We Are The Girls Who Play In a Band”. They discussed various key aspects of both the book and the film along with the process of writing and the background of collating all the information from Debsey’s suitcase full of diaries along with the ‘brutal’ editing process. I think it’s testament to Dolly Mixture and their legacy that they set a template for many an all-girl and female fronted Indie-Pop band for years to come. Not just with their vintage 60’s style look and timeless songs of seemingly wide-eyed innocence but that most crucial of things - the classic song writing and gorgeous vocal harmonies, which still sound as fresh today as they ever did. Unfortunately, it’s a sad fact of musical life that true originators and talent often get commercially overshadowed by the impersonators. For example, take three of my favourite bands, The Prisoners, Shack and That Petrol Emotion, they too never hit the mainstream heights that they deserved but were somewhat crushed in the rush to copy their sounds and for record companies to later cash in on the slipstream. I think Dolly Mixture suffered from this too but I sincerely hope that Debsey’s superb book, along with a wider release of the documentary, might go some way to redressing that balance.

Daniel confronts the sexism that the band were subjected to, from the ‘male obnoxiousness’ of the times to the more ingrained discrimination from the record companies and music press in general. There’s a harrowing tale of the time that Debsey was assaulted on stage by a skinhead at a Bad Manners gig which is quite shocking but it’s a reminder of the gig-going times of the late 70’s and early 80’s. Touring with Bad Manners also opened them up to being spat at and being subjected to outbreaks of sieg-heiling from a hostile audience. Bad Manners as a band were very supportive and protective of Dolly Mixture though but it must have been disheartening for the band to have to endure. Although, the sexism they faced from the male dominated music industry was sadly to be expected in those times, what surprised me most is the antagonism and outright hostility they faced from some of their female peers – most noticeably from The Modettes. They think they are in for some welcome support from a female journalist who then proceeds to complete slag the band off for no apparent reason in print. It’s spiteful and unnecessary and you wonder why this kind of bullying would exist, especially towards a band such as Dolly Mixture, who whatever you thought of their music, were hardly controversial or antagonistic.

They did however receive some unexpected support from Captain Sensible, who along with The Damned’s bassist Paul Gray offered to help them in the studio. He then asked them to back him on his new solo career and they eventually reached Number 1 in the charts together with the single “Happy Talk”.  This led to various appearances on Top of The Pops and despite Captain generously promoting Dolly Mixture in their own right, they still couldn’t seem to break out. Despite the good intentions and success, maybe it was more a curse than a blessing as they were more likely to get labelled as just the Captain’s backing band. More support came from some very unexpected people such as Eric Faulkner of Bay City Rollers, Dave Goodman the sound engineer for the Sex Pistols and Buffin from Mott the Hoople who all helped them out in the studio. They even wrote a comeback single for the child-star Lena Zavaroni. Terry Hall gave them Single of The Week in Melody Maker and invited them to play with The Fun Boy Three. Paul Weller’s Mum, Ann and Dad, John were also extremely supportive and Debsey talks very warmly about Ann in particular, who she wished had been their manager. Paul Weller signed them to his fledgling label Respond but sadly soon lost interest to concentrate on his next protégé. John Peel was also a huge fan but apparently his producer John Walters hated them and they never got their session repeated, which was very rare. The Undertones continue to cement their place in music history as being the nicest guys in Rock ‘n’ Roll as they offer Dolly Mixture a support slot the very next night after the girls hung around with their demo tape outside a gig in Cambridge. Debsey asked for Damian O’Neill’s autograph and he told her he had loved their Peel Session. “Just bring your guitars to Aylesbury Friars tomorrow” they said and this led to a proper tour with The Undertones. So despite these welcome offers of generous help and support it’s even more unbelievable why the band could not break out into the mainstream. There’s also the irony of having U2 support them at the Moonlight Club in West Hampstead, a gig that my Blog colleague Rock photographer Paul Slattery attended, they had no idea at the time that U2 would go on to be such global superstars, sometimes there’s no justice!

The book is a charming collection of diary entries, fan letters and reminiscences about what it’s like to form a band, of playing in bedrooms, swapping instruments and taking those first steps out to play live. Debsey captures those innocent times perfectly, of going up to London with a stash of demo tapes and heading to a phone box to call various record companies plucked from the telephone directory. She also discusses the band’s influences such as Glam Rock, The Monkees, Blondie and Debbie Harry, Patti Smith and Poly Styrene of X-Ray Spex and the Ramones. They also started delving back into the 60’s of Bacharach and David, Motown, The Shangri-La’s and the Ronettes and you can see touches of all these in the Dolly Mixture sound. It’s shocking to think Dolly Mixture didn’t even release an official album until their own self-released “Demonstration Tapes” compilation just a year before they called it a day. Even to this day, it’s quite difficult to track down copies of their records and surely, some proper record label with sense should consider a thorough reissue plan. 

The Long Play Sessions is a series of talks with musicians and music related authors about their current books held at the ICMP campus in Queen’s Park. They have already hosted Daniel Rachel being interviewed by Miranda Sawyer about his latest book “This Ain’t Rock ‘n’ Roll” and have upcoming talks booked in with Lawrence from Felt and Will Hodgkinson about their superb book “Street Level Superstar”, Keith Cameron on his history of Manic Street Preachers and Melissa Auf Der Maur from Hole and Smashing Pumpkins discussing her forthcoming autobiography. It’s a great venue and Paul Wilson seems to be doing an excellent job in attracting some top names to his sessions and being a music college, of course they have good access to enthusiastic staff and top audio/visual facilities.

For more on Daniel Rachel's books including the superb "Too Much Too Young: The 2 Tone Records Story", please check out his website here. 

Ray Stevenson "Not Just Punk" - New Book from the legendary music photographer

We went along to the Farsight Gallery for the launch party of the new book "Not Just Punk" from legendary music photographer Ray Stevenson. The gallery was packed with familiar faces including some that feature in the book itself including Gaye Black of The Adverts, Neal X of Sigue Sigue Sputnik and Spizzenergi. Also in attendance were Leigh Heggarty of Ruts DC, Tom Crossley of The Phobics, Barrington Francis of The Saints, Anne Pigalle, Chris Musto of Glen Matlock's band, Debsey Wykes of Dolly Mixture, Paul Kelly the Heavenly Films director, Clash DJ Scratchy Sounds, author Daniel Rachel, Roxy club owners Andy Czezowski and Sue Carrington and music photographers Paul Slattery (my Retro Man Blog colleague), Jill Furmanovsky, David Corio and Erica Echenberg. There was a presentation of some of the photos featured in the book and a Q&A session with Ray hosted by Farsight Gallery owner Sean McLusky (Subway Sect and JoBoxers). It was another great event at the Farsight Gallery which is located on Flitcroft Street just off Denmark Street close to the site of our beloved and much-missed 12 Bar Club. I'd recommend signing up to their mailing list as they do put on some superb shows which have previously included Mick Jones Rock 'n' Roll Public Library and the Batcave LP launch party.

Ray Stevenson with his new book "Not Just Punk"

Eric Waring, DJ Scratchy Sounds, Gaye 'Advert' Black and Paul Slattery

Gaye Black of The Adverts

Here's a brief biography of Ray courtesy of the Farsight Gallery...

Ray Stevenson started out as a teenage darkroom apprentice back in mid 1960's London. After meeting with rising folk star Buffy Saint Marie, discovered folk-nights at the Marquee Club, then he was introduced to seminal folk venue Les Cousins by Sandy Denny. Ray became a regular at both of these venues shooting many unknown musicians like Bert Jansch, Roy Harper, Al Stewart, John Martyn, Cat Stevens and Marc Bolan. Stumbling upon a Jimi Hendrix sound-check gave Ray a taste for plugged-in-guitars and opened up another trajectory that resulted in him photographing a much broader range of musicians. His photo ‘The Who at the Marquee 1967’ was used by the Royal Mail in their 2025 commemorative collection. But the Stevenson portfolio went beyond photographing the musicians of the day as his work also featured models, hippies, ballet dancers, the occasional film star and friends. One of those friends was David Bowie, whom Ray shot many pre-glam photos of. None of this activity was enough to pay the rent, so he took a 9-to-5 job in the BBC Open University dark-room. 

Sean McLusky (R) interviews Ray

Anne Pigalle with Spizz who features on the book's cover and inside... both photos above by Paul Slattery

Then in early 1976, Ray's brother Nils asked him to take some pictures of a new group called the Sex Pistols. And so began Ray's second wave of live visual work - capturing the nascent Punk movement and the New Wave and Post-Punk scenes that followed it. His photos of the Pistols, Clash, Siouxsie Sioux, Soo Catwoman, Jordan, 2-Tone, Sigue Sigue Sputnik, et al are now rightly seen as iconic and have been used in numerous books, magazines and documentaries.  His own photo books - Sex Pistols File, Vacant, the Siouxsie & The Banshees Book and Photopast - sold many thousands of copies worldwide and are regarded as collectors' items. In 2007  Ray was described 'as the most important rock photographer of his generation'. He has now released ’Not Just Punk’, a look back at some of those glorious times and people.

Paul Kelly, Paul Slattery, Daniel Rachel and Debsey Wykes

Paul Slattery, Ray Stevenson and David Corio

You can check out more about Ray Stevenson and his work at his official website here and you can order the book at Amazon here. For more information on the Farsight Gallery please subscribe to their newsletter via their Farsight Collective site here or on Instagram here.

Sex Pistols in Carnaby Street by Ray Stevenson - Courtesy of Farsight Gallery

Here's just some of our favourite singles, compilation albums and reissues of 2025...

1. The Blue Aeroplanes "Magical Realism The Best of 1985-2025" compilation LP
2. Mozart Estate "Tower Block In a Jam Jar" compilation LP
3. KVNX (Kathy Valentine & Neal X) "I Love You More" single
4. Patti Smith "Horses" 50th anniversary reissue LP
5. Thee Moot "Sweet As Saccharine" single
6. Francoise Hardy "Voila - Best of" compilation LP
7. The Limiñanas & Bobby Gillespie "Prisoner of Beauty" single
8. Bo-Gumbos "Bo & Gumbo" reissue LP
9. The Dear Boys "Put It Down" single
10. The Fall "50,000 Fall Fans Can't Be Wrong" compilation reissue LP
11. The Baby Seals "Tamoo Trance" single
12. The Galileo 7 "Everything To Everything Else" compilation LP
13. R.E.M. "Radio Free Europe" reissue EP
14. Viagra Boys "Consistency of Energy/Call of The Wild" reissue EP
15. Cast with P.P. Arnold "Poison Vine" single
16. The Blue Aeroplanes "Outsider Art, The Other Best of 1985-2025" compilation LP
17. The Penrose Web "It's The Penrose Web" EP
18. The Duke Spirit "Cuts Across The Land" reissue LP
19. The Skids "Radio Sessions 1978-1980" compilation LP
20. The Guy Hamper Trio with James Taylor "Chatham's Burning" EP
21. Jamie Perrett "Age of Reason" single
22. Killer China Dress "Kung Fu Attack" single
23. The 5.6.7.8's with Ludella Black "Beat Girls" EP
24. The Embrooks "Terry and Julie" single
25. The Galileo 7 "Look Away" single

Retro Man Blog's 25 Favourite Albums of 2025

Happy New Year to all Retro Man Blog supporters, subscribers and contributors. Here's our favourite 25 Albums of 2025, another great year for new music...

1. The Liminanas "Faded"

2 . Mandrake Handshake "Earth Sized Worlds"

3. The Minus 5 "Oar On, Penelope

4. WitchDoktors "Izzatso?"

5. Viagra Boys "Viagr Aboys"

6. David Byrne "Who Is The Sky?"

7. WITCH "Sogolo" 

8. Oh! Gunquit "Flex"

9. Sparks "MAD!"

10. The Penrose Web "The Least of Our Concerns"

11. Spiders "Sharp Objects"

12. Jetstream Pony "Bowerbirds and Blue Things"

13. Stereolab "Instant Holograms On Metal Film"

14. The Hives "The Hives Forever Forever The Hives"

15. Robert Forster "Strawberries"

16. The Guy Hamper Trio "Volume IV: The Goddess Tree"

17. Luke Haines & Peter Buck "Going Down To The River To Blow My Mind"

18. The Phobics "Gimme Cyanide"

19. Pink Nun "Pink Nun"

20. John McKay's Reactor "Sixes And Sevens"

21. The Capellas "Untamed"

22. MIEN "MIIEN"

23. Palooka 5 "MetroKino"

24. Paper Lips "Melodic Melancholic"

25. Proper "Meant To Say Something"

Mandrake Handshake - Photos and videos from Fabric London November 26th

 

There have been some fanastic albums released this year and we've been to many superb gigs - Mandrake Handshake, the Oxford based nine-piece Psychedelic collective, have been responsible for two of the best. Firstly, their debut LP "Earth-Sized Worlds" set an almost impossibly hard-to-beat standard from as early as it's release back in February, staking a claim for Album of The Year even before the second month was over. Then, finally we just got to see them play live at Fabric at their biggest headlining London show to date and they were even better than expected. Luckily, the stage at Fabric is pretty big so there was plenty of space for the nine bandmates to strut their stuff - Trinity Oksana has the sultry voice of an angel, next to her is the looming prescence of Elvis Thirlwell, the band's Joel Gion, on general vibes, tambourine and various items of percussion including a good old-fashioned triangle at one point. The other side of Trinity is Rudy Mae Symonds who adds some wonderful backing vocal harmonies and at the far end is the super-cool Row Janjuah on some pretty impressive lead guitar. A superb rhythm section is augmented by keyboards, synths, rhythm guitar, flute and sax and it all makes for a stunning aural and visual assault on the senses. 

 

 

This most exotic and eclectic of bands conjures up some truly mesmerising music and as they drop the word 'motorik' into the lyrics of one of the many highlights "Hypersonic Super-Asterid" - you can see they are clearly influenced by the driving hypnotic drum beats of Can - they have even cleverly labelled themselves as 'flowerkraut' - which sums them up perfectly. I love the Eastern guitar riff intro to "The Change and The Changing" which is a beautifully pastoral piece of Tropicalia and the single "King Cnut" is a laid-back delight. I think if you have any albums that feature Ardneks cover art then you won't go far wrong with Mandrake Handshake - they have certain similarities with Moon Duo and Flamingods but I also see touches of the Anatolian Psych of Lalalar and Gaye Su Akyol and the sitar driven music of Karma Sheen or Rishi Dhir's Elephant Stone and Mien. Of course, named as they are after a Brian Jonestown Massacre song, there is a certain influence there but probably more from the 2012-15 albums "Aufheben", "Revelation" and "Pish" (from where the "Mandrake Handshake" track appears). There's also a bit in common with Anton Newcombe's L'Épée collaboration with The Limiñanas but all in all this wide musical palette is moulded into a unique sound that is all of Mandrake Handshake's own creation. A quite wonderful gig draws to a close and the audience gives them a truly well deserved and rousing send-off. I'm pleased I got the chance to see Mandrake Handshake in a venue of this size as I'm sure it won't be long until they are packing out far bigger places. Please check out their Bandcamp page here to buy their records and for more information, please visit the band's Facebook page here.

 

Photos and videos copyright Retroman Blog 2025

Thunderbirds at 60 - Exhibition and Presentation with Dee Anderson, Mary Turner & David Hicks at Slough Museum

Slough Museum has been running an excellent exhibition to celebrate 60 years of Thunderbirds since early October with various regularly changing displays and happenings along the way. Sunday November 23rd saw the biggest event so far where a capacity crowd was treated to presentations and Q&A sessions with Dee Anderson, the daughter of the show's creators Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, puppeteer Mary Turner and cameraman and director of photography David Hicks. There were fascinating insights from all three speakers into the making of the iconic Sci-Fi series packed with behind the scenes information, anecdotes and technical information. Dee explained fondly what it was like growing up in such a creative family and admitted it did make her popular with her classmates. She also told us how the character of Parker was inspired by a waiter in a local pub who had once been a butler for the Queen and she spoke warmly about the musical maestro Barry Gray, who provided so many of those magical theme tunes. An audience member chipped in with the link between Barry Gray and The Who, which of course was of particular interest to me. Mary explained how she created those wonderful puppets and that Sylvia was especially fond of Lady Penelope when she saw how the design resembled her looks. 

David worked on the anniversary episodes and talked about the technical side incuding the various cameras, lighting and special effects. Of course, in those days there was no digitial film or CGI, everything was strictly analog and do it yourself. Apparently, David is writing a book about his experiences which will be something to keep an eye out for. There were also some former Century 21 employees in attendance and it was nice to see them enjoying the reunion with their colleagues. The museum, which is located on Slough Trading Estate just around the corner from the Anderson's original AP Films/Century 21 Studios, has some fantastic displays of puppets, stage sets, posters, comics, toys and memorabilia that will delight the die-hard fan along with the more curious visitor. The Museum Manager, staff and volunteers were all excellent and deserve a lot of credit for a thoroughly entertaining day.

The Exhibition runs until December 20th and is open Fridays 11am-4pm and Saturdays 10am-2pm but please check with the museum before visiting. For more information on Thunderbirds check out the web-site here and for all your merchandise needs, please visit the Gerry Anderson Store here. Here are some more photos...

All photos copyright Retro Man Blog 2015