The Prisoners at King's Hall Herne Bay, Saturday 28th February 2026

Band reunions can be hit and miss affairs – some acts resist the temptation all together in the hope of not tarnishing a legendary reputation such as The Clash, The Smiths and Talking Heads, for example. Some bands you think have reunited have never actually gone away, they just evolve over the years – dealing with various bust-ups, court cases, serious illnesses, and of course untimely deaths along the way by replacing key members. Kind of like a football team, you still support them despite them selling your star striker, sacking a favourite manager and dropping down to the lower leagues, occasionally to rise again like a phoenix. The Stranglers were totally reinvigorated when they reverted to the traditional four-piece and moved Baz Warne up front and are now selling out huge venues like the Royal Albert Hall again. The Undertones with Paul McLoone now fully grown into his role as frontman, are probably playing more gigs now than they have in years. Then at the other end of the spectrum are some bands who are more like Trigger’s broom and really should know better, somehow continuing without any original members in the line-up at all. Some misjudge it completely and get in totally inappropriate replacements so that you wonder who is actually advising them. There are some bands who tread the cabaret circuit, happy to get together for the occasional festival, play the hits and collect a big pay cheque. 

 

Then there’s the rare case where some reunions really work, such as Pixies – which hit to a completely new generation of kids and some like Wire, who still produce superb new and vital music. So, what happens when it’s one of your really ‘special’ favourite bands, and it’s no secret that The Prisoners are one of mine. Thankfully, like The Soundtrack of Our Lives, another act who mean so much to me that the announcement of a reunion a few years ago stirred up mixed emotions. On one hand it’s ‘please god, let it be good, don’t tarnish the many happy memories, don’t let yourselves down’ and on the other, there’s the excitement that you’d get to see them play again. Thankfully in both cases, neither band let me down in the end. Of course, The Prisoners did get back together for some shows and a so-so single “Shine On Me” in 1997, but that didn’t last long, it was over pretty soon. Once it was clear The Prisoners reunion wasn’t a long term prospect, Graham and Allan followed up on the Prime Movers with the superb Solarflares, a three-piece that  eventually reverted to the classic Prisoners style line-up by adding Parsley on the organ. Then Graham recruited The Woggles’ rhythm section for Graham Day & The Gaolers and released two brilliant albums with material that matched the quality of The Prisoners. After a hiatus, the news was out that Graham had got the three-piece Solarflares line-up back under the guise of Graham Day & The Forefathers - “we’re basically a tribute band to ourselves” he told me in our Retrosonic Podcast special. There was no talk of new material – just a set of stripped back versions of classics from the back catalogue – The Prisoners, Solarflares, Gaolers and Prime Movers. They went down a storm and released a raw, live in the studio album of choice cuts called “Good Things”. 

 

Fed up with the pressures of fronting a band, Graham then started The Senior Service where he could indulge in his love of Barry Gray’s wonderful themes to Gerry Anderson TV shows such as Thunderbirds and Fireball XL5 and John Barry and Ennio Morricone’s evocative Spaghetti Western and Spy movie theme tunes. Of course, this aspect was nothing new, The Prisoners and Solarflares in particular would often include at least one or two instrumentals on their albums and in their live shows. Graham seems to have a love/hate relationship with both singing and fronting a band and with the Hammond organ. He sometimes needs a break from both. He once told me his dream was to just play guitar in one of those groovy bands you saw in a 1960’s hippie exploitation movie, where assorted spaced out kids dance away under psychedelic liquid lights. Either that or just playing guitar in The Woggles, his favourite band, would have been cool. The opportunity for this wish did occur, although in rather sad circumstances, when The Woggles guitarist Jeff Walls passed away in 2019 and they needed a replacement. So, Graham ended up touring the States, Europe, the UK (you can see a feature on The Woggles brilliant 100 Club gig here) and even Japan, where Graham, that icon of cool, was enjoying himself so much that he even performed in fancy dress costumes such as lederhosen or karate monkey suits! But the pull of The Prisoners was strong, and circumstances conspired to facilitate the latest and long-awaited reunion. The Prisoners had that something special, that all important chemistry and a hugely dedicated fanbase, as shown in the brilliant book “A Taste of Ink! The Prisoners Sentenced By Their Fans”. Plus, they had James Taylor on the Hammond organ. James had gone onto forge a respected career in Jazz, Soul and Funk with The James Taylor Quartet and it didn’t seem likely that he would be interested in revisiting The Prisoners given his success. Wrong! The news filtered through that the original line-up was getting back together, initially incognito at a friend’s party at the Billabong Club in Rochester in 2021. 

 

Then came the announcement of a show at the Royal Function Rooms in Rochester (check out our feature here), in early December 2022 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of their debut album “A Taste of Pink”. Due to the demand, it ended up as a four-night stand from November 30th – 3rd December 2022 and it was also live streamed on-line. It was emotional, it couldn’t end there could it? Thankfully no, there were shows in Herne Bay in December 2023 and the fantastic news of a brand new album, “Morning Star” followed by a gig in May 2024 at the legendary Roundhouse in London’s Chalk Farm (read all about it here), actually the band’s biggest show to date. But “Morning Star” was superb, the sound of a band having fun, embracing their influences, although sometimes sailing a bit close to the wind in the shades of The Who, Ramones, Small Faces and Hendrix, which coloured the songs, but who cared. The quality of the songs was what mattered and there were some that easily stood up to the classics, in particular “Winter In June” and “Something Better”. Everyone was on top form, with James Taylor in particular shining out with some superb Hammond. Then came the feeling that was it, all over again. In some ways it would have been a fitting way to draw a line under it all, to go out on a high, but it seemed a fire had been lit. This year came the announcement of a new single “Autumn Skies” and live shows at King’s Hall in Herne Bay, an impressive Edwardian Pavillion on the sea front where they would celebrate three albums over three nights. On the Friday night it would be 1983’s “The Wisermiserdemelza” (and my entry point to the band back in the day), Saturday would be the classic “The Last Fourfathers” from 1985 and then Sunday it would be 1986’s “In From The Cold”, where they would be joined by the James Taylor Quartet’s sometime Brass section. 

The venue was great, and in some ways better than the Roundhouse, where the sound can sometimes get a bit lost in that cavernous building. It was packed out on the Saturday night, sadly the only night I could attend and there were so many eager, happy and familiar faces in attendance, many of whom I’d got to know through my Retro Man Blog  gigs with Graham Day & The Forefathers and The Solarflares. Kicking off proceedings were Lord Rochester, featuring Russ Wilkins, formerly of The Milkshakes, Saskia Holling on bass and vocals and Lois Tozer from The Embrooks on drums and maracas. Their Bo Diddley influenced rhythms went down really well and they were the perfect opening act. My personal favourite was the Crampsian rumble of “Transcontinental” and the insanely catchy “Chicken Salt” and Russ closed the set by announcing “This is for the Mods… and the Punks” and they launched into a cracking version of “What’cha Gonna Do About It”. Next up the always reliable Masonics, aided and abetted by Ludella Black, entertained the crowd and played my favourite track “Silently By Night”, so I was happy. DJ Wendy May was spinning some mighty fine tunes, putting everyone in an even better mood and you could feel the atmosphere start to build.

 

 

Then The Prisoners took to the stage, looking great and starting strongly with “I Am The Fisherman”, the crowd went mental, you can’t get much better than this. They play a good chunk of “The Last Fourfathers” including “The Drowning” and “Take You For a Ride”, ending the section with a powerful version of “Night of The Nazgul”, one of their best instrumentals. Then we get “This Road is Too Long” and “Save Me” from the current album and in between there’s the new single “Autumn Skies” before a nice surprise from their debut album, “Til The Morning Light”. They then flit between the “Last Fourfathers” and “Morning Star” albums including a great version of “Whenever I’m Gone” and I see that Eddie Piller, who released the single on his Countdown label back in 1986, is in the crowd. The James Taylor written and sung  “Go To Him” is a highlight as it channels the way the Ramones took those Phil Spector, Shangri-La’s melodies and married them with fast Rock ‘n’ Roll, plus it has a classic “Blitzkrieg Bop” style call and response section of “just go, just go, just go with him!” Considering Johnny Symons isn’t regularly playing like his bandmates, his drumming is superb throughout and Allan’s impressive bass riffs and backing vocals complement Graham perfectly, who is in mighty fine voice. When he’s not singing, Graham stalks the front of the stage, guitar pointing out to the adoring crowd. There’s a really nice chemistry fizzing between all four of them, from Allan with his deadpan between song banter to James’s cheerleading and encouraging the crowd to sing along, they look like they are having as much fun as we are. They always did carry a reputation for being ‘surly’ and ‘difficult’, but it’s certainly not been evident at any of the reunion shows. After all, all four members spent a long time afterwards signing the new single  and chatting to fans at the impressive merch table stocked by our favourite record label Spinout Nuggets and Sound Is Colour clothing.

Someone posted a nice photo in The Prisoners forum from one of the Herne Bay nights of Allan and Graham smiling at each other, one wag commented “must be A.I.” and Allan himself replied “Fake News!” The set draws to a close with the Prisoners very own Garage Rock classic “Melanie” and then “Reaching My Head” the song which started it all for me and quite obviously The Charlatans too as they nicked the bassline and made a career out of it. A stunningly emotional “Thinking Of You (Broken Pieces)” nearly has me welling up, something in my eye! Then “I Drink The Ocean” segues into a fantastic version of Deep Purple’s “Hush” and sadly, that’s it, all over. An absolutely momentous night, we got twenty three superb songs from a band that despite starting over forty years ago, strangely seem to be at the top of their game. Maybe it’s the impressive back catalogue, the lessons that have been learned, of getting older and wanting to do things right. Maybe it’s the huge wave of respect and affection that the crowd shows towards the band, that special bond, I don’t know what it is but all I do know is that I don’t want it to end, again. I’m hopeful that there will be more to come from The Prisoners in the future so let’s hope it becomes more permanent so that we can finally stop labelling it all as just another reunion.

 

You can read all about how I first got into the band and my experiences of putting on shows for the Forefathers, Solarflares and Senior Service, in my feature on The Prisoners Roundhouse gig here. Our thoroughly entertaining Forefathers Retrosonic Podcast with Graham, Allan and Wolf Howard is still available in our archive here. You can listen to them discussing and playing a pick of their favourite songs from all aspects of their musical careers. 

Retrosonic Podcast · Graham Day & The Forefathers

 

Unfortunately, the brilliant book “A Taste of Ink!” is now sold out, but if you are interested, then please contact them here and register your interest as I’m sure they will consider a re-print if there is a big enough demand. However, don’t despair if you did miss out on “A Taste of Ink!” as a new book has just been announced. “Graham Day - 45 Years of Music”, originally a limited edition book in Italian by Antonio Bacciocchi and Luca Frazzi, has now been translated, expanded and revised by Thomas Buch and Les O’Hare and will be available to order on 20th March. Please check out their Facebook page here for details on how to get hold of this promising looking book.

 

For more videos from the gig, please head on over to our Retro Man Blog YouTube channel and subscribe for free here. All Photos and Videos copyright Retro Man Blog 2026.

The Woggles at The 100 Club London with The Len Price 3 & The Galileo 7, Friday August 16th 2024

The Woggles made a very rare trip to the U.K. for two shows, first of all in Bristol on the Thursday and then Friday night at the legendary 100 Club in London, where I finally got to witness what many people claim are one of the best live acts around. I've been a fan for a long time now and watching videos of them over the years and seeing comments from those lucky enough to have seen them play I was wondering if they could live up to my expectations. Well, I wasn't to be disappointed, in fact they exceeded all of those expectations and then some. Another big fan of The Woggles is Graham Day, frontman of one of our favourite bands, The Prisoners. In fact, he is such a fan that he invited The Woggles to play at his wedding and he also borrowed their rhythm section of drummer Dan Eletxro & bassist Buzz Hagstrom for his Graham Day & The Gaolers line-up on their excellent debut album "Soundtrack To The Daily Grind". I've spoken to Graham about The Woggles on a few occasions in previous interviews and chats and he has now been in the band for over five years, the opportunity arising after the sad and untimely passing of guitarist Jeff "Flesh Hammer" Walls in 2019. Graham has expressed how difficult he sometimes finds the pressures of being a frontman and his struggles with singing and lyric writing - although if you take the Gaolers for example, this seems somewhat hard to believe. He told me once in our Retrosonic Podcast interview that he always fancied being the guitarist in a band seen playing at a dance or 'happening' in one of those American sixties teen movies. Either that or in an instrumental band, an ambition he was to make happen when he formed The Senior Service, his side project that was heavily influenced by those classic Spy, Sci-Fi and Spaghetti Western movie and TV theme tunes by composers such as Barry Gray, John Barry and Ennio Morricone. 

So tonight, the London crowd gets their first chance to see Graham playing guitar with The Woggles and he seems to be having as much fun as we are. Busting out all the moves and shapes with his cool looking Nineteen67 Jones guitar and despite the proliferation of Prisoners T-shirts in the crowd, he is relishing the spotlight being on the livewire frontman The Professor Mighty Manfred Jones. Manfred has to be one of the best rabble-rousing all action vocalists I have ever seen - he does not stop moving for a minute, he demands your attention with his cheerful cheerleading antics. One minute he's lifting the mic stand high above his head, then he's on his knees blasting out on his harmonica, before leaping up and pirouetting around with some nifty dance steps. He also likes to get down among the crowd, encouraging us to participate. I'm exhausted just watching him and I wonder how he gets his energy as he never lets up. His energy levels are matched by Go Go dancer Moana Santana who also doesn't stop for the duration of the show and she adds even more glamour to the visual extravaganza. We saw Moana dancing at the 100 Club for the fantastic Lenny Kaye plays Nuggets gig (which you can read about here) and she really adds to the whole swinging sixties vibe. 

Bassist Buzz Hagstrom and guitarist/saxophonist Shane Pringle also seem to be in their element, they have to compete with some strong personalities to their right and yet they acquit themselves perfectly, they are superb on the night. Only super-cool drummer Dan Eletxro in his trademark cap, remains seated throughout and that's because he has to keep the relentless groove going, I'm sure he was dancing inside. The perfectly plotted set unsurprisingly draws heavily on the excellent new album "Time Has Come", which is out now on green vinyl via Little Steven van Zandt's Wicked Cool Records, and is surely going to feature very high in our best albums of 2024 come the end of the year. I would go so far as to say it's up there as one of the best, if not the best Woggles albums and it positively bursts out of the speakers, coming very close to capturing the live energy we witnessed tonight. It's going to be lauded as a future classic in the Garage Soul genre, I'm sure of it. Graham contributes a couple of songs to the record along with guitar and backing vocals and what with The Prisoners stunning reunion album, "Morning Star", he's on a great creative streak at the moment. My personal highlights included "Telling Me Lies", "Paisley In Paradise", "Mr Last Chance", "Her Majesty's Pleasure" and the blistering "Flesh Hammer" which was written by Pat Beers by another of our favourite bands, The Schizophonics. "Karate Monkey" is also superb, with everyone joining in on the "ooh aah" karate kata moves. I sincerely hope that The Woggles don't leave it so long before returning to our shores - in these sometimes dark and depressing times we all need a regular shot of their peerless good-time Garage Rock 'n' Soul. 

The night was made even more special with the added bonus of The Galileo 7 and The Len Price 3, two more of our long-time favourites. In fact what with Graham Day on stage with The Woggles and so many familiar friendly faces in the crowd, it took me back to the good old days of our Retro Man Blog nights at the Half Moon Putney. The LP3 powered through a raucous set including a couple of promising sounding new songs which seemed inspired by their Medway and North Kent roots. You realise just what a great back catalogue the band have built up and they treated us to a pick from most of their albums, culminating in the classic "London Institute". The Galileo 7, who are of course fronted by Graham's colleague in The Prisoners, Allan Crockford, opened up proceedings quite early but thankfully there was a healthy crowd already in the venue to witness another great performance from the band. Their dynamic and memorable Psych Pop songs, with all four members having a go on vocals, went down really well with the crowd. They also debuted two new songs which are due out early next year and they sounded excellent, I'm really looking forward to hearing them recorded. So, all in all it was a perfect night out, proving the importance of the communal spirit and positive vibes of a room full of fans enjoying no-nonsense, uplifting live music. 

The Galileo 7

The Len Price 3

For more information on The Woggles and details on how to order the new album, please check out their official web-site here. Please click on the highlighted links throughout the feature for more information. I'll put more photos of the night at the Retro Man Blog Facebook page so please head on over here, like and subscribe for access. All photos and videos copyright Retro Man Blog.

The Return of The Prisoners - New Book "A Taste of Ink", New Album "Morning Star" and Reunion Gig at The Roundhouse in London...

It's certainly a good time to be a fan of The Prisoners - this week sees their biggest gig since the band's reunion - a huge show at London's legendary Roundhouse on Friday May 24th featuring the original line-up of Graham Day, James Taylor, Allan Crockford and Johnny Symons with support from Inspiral Carpets and DJ Steve Lamacq. Talking of huge... there's been a loud thud on the doormats of many households around the world in the past few days (orders have been received from Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, UK and USA) as the Postman has been delivering the fantastic new book "A Taste of Ink: The Prisoners Sentenced By Their Fans" lovingly compiled and edited by Elinor Crockford, Jeremy Stride, Michael Langer and Thomas Buch. I've just received my huge hardback labour of love and all 385 pages are bursting with every scrap of information you could wish for on the history of the Medway Garage Rock legends. It's mainly a chronological collection of various fan's experiences with the band over the years right up to the recent reunion shows but along the way, there are also hundreds of flyers, adverts, posters, press cuttings, fanzine features, fan's own original photos, illustrations and official promo pics crammed into each page.

There's also a comprehensive gig list and a timeline with a family tree showing the many branches to have sprouted from The Prisoners - the various side projects and new bands that the members of the band embarked on after the initial split. I have an extensive music book library and I can honestly say that I haven't seen many better books on a band than "A Taste of Ink", what with it's wealth of archive material and first hand experiences - it's a fan's dream, and that's basically because it's been compiled by and contributed to by the fans themselves. A fantastic effort and well done to all involved, they must be very proud of the work of art they have produced. I know, I'm very honoured to have some of my photos included and it's great to see them alongside so many familiar names and faces from fellow Prisoners fans that I have got to meet and know since my first Graham Day & The Forefathers Retro Man Blog Night some ten years ago now. 

The Prisoners reunion in Rochester December 2022

 

 

 

My old Ramones Gig Ticket - The Prisoners as support

My first recollection of seeing The Prisoners was on the classic TV music show The Tube in 1984 and I was hooked ever since - however due to geographical difficulties, I only saw them play live a couple of times back in the day at the much-missed Hammersmith Clarendon and supporting Ramones at the Hammersmith Palais. Fast forward some 30 years and I must admit to having a lump in my throat when I walked backstage at the Half Moon Putney before one of my shows for Graham Day & The Forefathers, and saw the Star Trek outfits hanging up in the dressing room. It made a special event even more special than I could have imagined and I'll never forget it.

Photos above Graham Day & The Forefathers at Retro Man Blog Night

I would go on to put on gigs for The Solarflares, Senior Service and The Galileo 7 and then was in the crowd to finally witness a superb Prisoners reunion show in Rochester in 2022 (which you can read about here), something I never thought would happen. But not only is there the upcoming Prisoners gig at The Roundhouse to look forward to, there's also the superb new album "Morning Star" which is out now on Own Up Records and is a remarkably strong set of brand new material that distills all of those trademark Prisoners elements you love. The stomping Motown beats, immense Hammond organ, fuzzed up guitars, melodic bass lines and instantly memorable, bittersweet harmonies. There's also one of the very best Gerry Anderson TV show instrumental themes that never was in "The Green Meteor" and nods to all the band's influences along the way, some more unsuspecting than you might think such as The Who on "Going Back" and Ramones and Phil Spector on "Go To Him" (I hope they play this on Friday...), it's a surefire classic that will live up to all your expectations.

 You can order "A Taste of Ink" via the book's own official Facebook page here.

Retrosonic Podcast Episode 50 "Something New" - Best Wishes for Xmas & New Year!

Welcome to this milestone episode of Retrosonic Podcast - yes we've made it to 50 shows so thank you all for your support over the last ten years or so, it is very much appreciated. Of course thanks also to the great bands, artists and record labels who have been producing so such excellent new music that keeps us so busy! So, here's a little Xmas gift for you to celebrate 2022 with - 18 new releases which prove that despite all the hardships of the past year - nothing has stopped the creative force of these fantastic musicians. As always, if you like what you hear, please do check out the feature at Retro Man Blog .com for the full tracklisting and links to discover more about the featured bands - so check out their info, go and see them play live and most importantly - buy their merchandise and records.  Listen in here...

Retrosonic Podcast · Episode 50 "Something New"

1. Jim Jones All Stars feat. Nikki Hill "It's Your Voodoo Working"

2. The Schizophonics "Won Your Love"

3. Wyld Gooms "Doesn't Matter To Me"

4. The Playn Jayn "It's Not Me"

5. Graham Day "The Memphis Train" (Spinout Nuggets)

 6. Wipeout "Miss Understood" (Spinout Nuggets)

 7. The Beatpack "Greek Street 2AM" (Spinout Nuggets)

 8. Gina Birch "Wish I Was You"

9. Ruts DC "Faces In The Sky"

10. The Jackets "Pie In The Sky"

11. The Jack Cades "Something New"

12. The Embrooks "Black Hatted Lady"

13. The Courettes "Daydream" (Damaged Goods Records)

14. Mimi & The Miseries "Stop Following Me 'Round"

15. AlterModerns "Mask"

16. Nervous Twitch "The History of The Wild West" 

17. Hipbone Slim & The Kneejerks "Lou Anne"

18. The Highmarts "Sorry" from their "Dodgy Demo Tape"

Subscribe to Retrosonic Podcast for free at SoundCloud, Spotify, iTunes and Apple Podcasts. Retrosonic theme tune by Adam Donovan, this episode's cover star Amy K-B. With thanks to Lee Grimshaw at Spinout Nuggets, this year's Retrosonic Podcast special guests Damian O'Neill, Suzi Moon, Pete & Michele at Eel Pie Island Museum, The Gruesomes and my occasional co-presenters Buddy Ascott & Paul Slattery.

Retro Man Blog & Retrosonic Podcast's Best Albums of 2022 (new releases)

Here's Retro Man Blog and Retrosonic Podcast's top 22 new album releases of 2022, we hope you enjoy this selection and if you do, please follow, like, subscribe to the Blog and Podcast and please support all the featured bands and artists. Thanks for all the support throughout the year!

1. Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band "Dear Scott'

2. Graham Day "Master of None"

3. Damian O'Neill "An Crann"

4. Ruts DC "Counterculture"

5. The Schizophonics " Hoof It"

6. The Guy Hamper Trio "All The Poisons In The Mud"

7. The Brian Jonestown Massacre "Fire Doesn't Grow On Trees"

8. Cat & The Underdogs "Punk Rock Overdrive"

9. The Bug Club "Green Dream In F#"

10. Thee Moot "Mood Swings And Roundabouts"

11. Viagra Boys "Cave World"

12. Suzi Moon "Dumb And In Luv"

13. AlterModerns "Side Effects of Reality"

14. Paper Lips "The Sound of Sound"

15. The Senior Service "A Little More Time With..."

16. Sounds Incarcerated "Unswitchable Hits Vol. 2"

17. Robyn Hitchcock "Shufflemania!"

18. Martin Hederos "Hederos c/o Satie"

19. Gaye Su Akyol "Anadolu Ejderi"

20. The Len Price 3 "Ip Dip Do"

21. Luke Haines & Peter Buck "All The Kids Are Super Bummed Out"

22. Autoramas "Autointitulado"

Thanks to all contributors, bands, Podcast special guests and co-presenters, record labels and people who have shared and supported what we have done over the past year. Retro Man Blog and Retrosonic Podcast are an extension of the spirit of my old 1980's D.I.Y. cut 'n' paste fanzine Out of Step and are strictly non-profit without advertising or sponsorship, set up purely to promote music that we like. We hope you have discovered some exciting new music along the way, your support is very much appreciated. 

The Prisoners at The Royal Function Rooms Rochester Friday December 2nd 2022

Back in one of our earliest episodes of Retrosonic Podcast – myself, Rock photographer Paul Slattery and Adam from The Jetsonics all happened to choose a Graham Day related track for the playlist – in the end we decided on The Solarflares “Windsor Oval” and bemoaned the fact that Graham’s most recent outfit, The Gaolers had sadly called it a day after two blistering albums. There were rumours that Graham had packed in music all together and sold off all his guitars and we all mentioned how good it would be for him to play again. Well, not long afterwards we got our wish as Graham Day and The Forefathers emerged. This new band consisted of Graham, his former Prisoners colleague and bassist, Allan Crockford along with Wolf Howard on the drums and all three were bandmates in Graham’s other post-Prisoners bands, The Solarflares and The Prime Movers. Graham told me in a later Podcast that The Forefathers were “basically a tribute band to myself” – the band were to play the best tracks from The Solarflares, Prime Movers, The Gaolers and of course, The Prisoners too. I knew I just had to get involved and through my dealings with the Medway based band The Len Price 3, who we were championing at the time, managed to secure a show for The Forefathers at The Half Moon in Putney for one of our Retro Man Blog nights. So, despite warnings from more than one person that the band may be “difficult” to deal with I wasn’t to be deterred and the gig sold out pretty much immediately. In fact, I was to go on to promote more shows for The Forefathers along with The Solarflares reunion at the Water Rats in Kings Cross and The Senior Service album launch as well as various gigs with Allan’s own Galileo 7, so obviously I never got to experience their so-called difficult reputation. I must admit though, I was in awe to meet Graham, Allan and Wolf for the first time and it was a bit difficult to separate the fan from the promoter in me initially. Luckily, this is all just a hobby for me, I’m not a professional, so the fan easily won out and I made sure I was down the front among the “middle-aged mosh-pit” as Graham christened us from the stage – leaping about and singing along to all those classic songs. The Half Moon gigs seemed to go down a storm and thankfully the band enjoyed them too, so we did a few more shows together over the years. I’d told the band that the first time I ever became aware of The Prisoners was seeing them on CH4’s The Tube when they played “Reaching My Head” dressed in Star Trek outfits and then before one Forefathers show at The Half Moon, I went backstage to see Star Trek costumes hanging in the dressing room. I was almost moved to tears! It was great hearing The Forefathers play those Prisoners songs again even if they were stripped back and raw minus the Hammond organ. 

However, nothing quite beats the real thing and that’s what we got treated to courtesy of Lee Grimshaw and his team at the fabulous Spinout Nuggets, a Prisoners reunion to celebrate 40 years since the release of their classic debut album “A Taste of Pink” with the original line-up of Graham and Allan, James Taylor and Johnny Symons. The four of them had got together to play at a couple of benefit shows over the summer and I guess that’s where the idea for a full-scale reunion sprang from. So, some 37 years since I last saw The Prisoners, I was to get the dream opportunity to see them again at The Royal Function Rooms in Rochester, the jewel in their Medway home. The rush for tickets was phenomenal, the initial Friday night sold out in an instant and was soon followed by the announcement of further shows on the Saturday, then the Wednesday and Thursday were added too. Due to the demand, the Saturday was to be filmed for an on-line livestream which enabled even more eager fans around the world the chance to see their heroes in action. I must admit to being a bit concerned on how the shows would pan out and doubts were raised – would the band get along, Johnny doesn’t seem to have played drums regularly since The Prisoners, is James Taylor “too famous” nowadays? But as they took the stage to the strains of the theme from “The Sweeney” and Allan announced “track one, side one” and they powered into “Better In Black” and that crunching guitar riff hit everyone between the eyes, you could sense a huge tide of emotion spread through the crowd around me.

 

It was a real mixture of relief, disbelief and all those memories of being back at the Hammersmith Clarendon, the Star Trek outfits on The Tube flooded back. The band look great, sound great, turning back the clock – sounding as fresh, youthful and powerful as you could ever have wished for. For the first set, they play the whole of the debut album from the Garage Go-Go stompers like “Creepy Crawlies” and “Maybe I Was Wrong” to the emotional heartfelt numbers like “There Can’t  Be A Place” and my particular favourite “Til The Morning Light” which brings a lump to the throat – it’s a classic track that surely paved the way for The Charlatans and Inspiral Carpets to plunder and take to far more commercial success than the Prisoners ever achieved. It’s a travesty, but there you go – sadly, true originators often get overlooked. I mean, I can’t remember any other band on the scene at the time using a Hammond organ – The Fuzztones used a Farfisa to conjure up that authentic Nuggets sound but generally, keyboards and in particular the cumbersome Hammond, were a rarity. Of course, James Taylor has now become an internationally acclaimed Hammond maestro with his Quartet and it’s a truly wonderful experience to hear those swirling riffs again, in particular on “Say Your Prayers” which is a personal highlight.

There’s an interval and a chance to catch up with friends and exchange delighted chatter about just how bloody marvellous it all is and there was a real buzz of adrenaline coursing through the Royal Function Rooms. I bumped into a lot of people I’d got to know through our Retro Man Blog gigs over the years, many of whom are in their own bands including The Past Tense, Jetstream Pony, Thee Girl Fridays, The Beatpack, Of Arrowe Hill, The Len Price 3, The Dentists and everyone agreed we were experiencing something very special indeed. Thankfully, the band seemed to be enjoying themselves too – there’s lots of smiles and a nice chemistry between all four bandmates and in particular, between Johnny and James. One thing that hit me was to reminded just how good a drummer Johnny is, he’s lost none of the chops, powering away cheerfully through some quite complicated drum patterns and his performance gets a thumbs up from everyone I spoke to. “Hurricane” opens the second set and then follows most of the superb “The Last Fourfathers” album, although sadly no “I Am The Fisherman” which is saved for the very last number on the Saturday night Livestream. Of course, “Whenever I’m Gone” gets a huge cheer but for me it’s the “Thinking Of You (Broken Pieces)” that hits me right in the heart and I must admit to a tear in the eye as everyone sings along to the uplifting chorus. It would have been worth the entrance fee alone just to experience that one moment of magic. 

Retrosonic Podcast · Graham Day & The Forefathers

The set is punctuated by only two tracks from the “In From The Cold” album, luckily they are “Find And Seek” and the soulful strut of “Deceiving Eye” which has always been one of my favourite Prisoners songs. The band also play a fair selection of instrumentals including “Revenge of The Cybermen” and “Night of The Nazgul” – tracks that would lay the foundation for Graham’s current project The Senior Service and their Ennio Morricone, Barry Gray influenced tunes. The set closes with the classic “Melanie” which sparks off some frenetic dancing down the front and then sadly, it’s all over. But is it? Of course, there are encores, and the instrumental rarity “American Jingle” gets an airing along with “Reaching My Head” the very track that I first heard from The Prisoners and then finally it’s their cover of “Hush” and it really is all over. What can I say? Better than I could ever have hoped for – if it is to be The Prisoners last stand then I’m just thankful I was there to witness it. However, the reaction and demand was just too good to be ignored – and taking into account, the band seemed to be having fun too – I’m sincerely hoping that they will consider more gigs in the future. 

Sadly, just prior to the gigs the news filtered through that The Royal Function Rooms and worse still, the legendary Ranscombe Studios which is housed in the premises, are due to close soon. This is a nightmare and yet more damning evidence that cultural buildings have no protection in these relentless greed and profit driven times. How many great venues have we lost – not just the traditional down and dirty places such as the Marquee, The Fulham Greyhound, The Hammersmith Clarendon and the 12 Bar Club but historic buildings in their own right, like the Astoria and the Hammersmith Palais too. There is a fundraising concert at The St. George’s Hotel in Chatham on January 13th to help with the relocation of Ranscombe Studios that features a mouth-watering line-up of Medway talent including The Solarflares, The Len Price 3, The Galileo 7, The Masonics, Theatre Royal and more. Tickets and information can be found at this link. 

Huge credit to Lee and Dave Grimshaw at Spinout Nuggets and their team for organising the shows so brilliantly. Don't forget to check out the Retro Man Blog archive for loads of previous features on Medway related bands and music including reviews, videos and photos of all our shows with The Forefathers, Solarflares, The Galileo 7, The Len Price 3 and more. Also, all episodes of Retrosonic Podcast are available at our archives at Spotify, Apple Podcasts, iTunes or Soundcloud including interview specials with Graham, Allan & Wolf, The Len Price 3, Billy Childish, Ian Greensmith of The Dentists and much more besides. More videos from the Royal Function Rooms show can also be found at our Retromanblog65 YouTube channel, here's a taster...

Retrosonic Podcast Episode 49 "A Tonic For The Soul" - 21 Song New Release Special with Graham Day, Giuda, The Coolies, Cyanide Pills and Much More...

Steve from Retro Man Blog picks out 21 of the best new Garage Rock, Psych, Indie, Power Pop and Punk releases from as far apart as the U.K., Canada, Sweden, Italy, USA, Japan and the Medway Delta! Includes spotlights on some of our favourite record labels Spinout Nuggets, Chaputa, Beluga and Damaged Goods and the episode is packed with killer tracks from former Prisoners frontman Graham Day's debut solo album, The Coolies featuring special guests Clem Burke from Blondie and Kathy Valentine from The Go-Go's and an unreleased song from Les Envahisseurs. Then there's Mimi & The Miseries, The Sound Station, Los Pepes, Deviation Days, Smalltown Tigers, Giuda, The Mourning After, The Sellwoods, The Speedways, Thee Escapees, K.S. & The Mystery Jet Set, Kurt Shirt, Dirt Royal, Cyanide Pills, Thee Moot, Cat & The Underdogs, Thee Strawberry Mynde and a sublime song from Paper Lips, the new solo project by Mike Whittaker of The Baron Four and The Jack Cades. Please support these fantastic bands, artists and record labels so do check out the highlighted links below for further information on how you can buy all this wonderful music. You can subscribe to Retrosonic Podcast for free at Spotify, iTunes, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and SoundCloud and you can stream and download direct from the SoundCloud archive below:

Retrosonic Podcast · Episode 49 "A Tonic For The Soul"

Track-listing & Links

Graham Day - A Rose Thorn Sticking In Your Mind's Eye

Mimi & The Miseries - Security

Thee Moot - Tonic For The Soul

Paper Lips - Monday Morning

Les Envahisseurs - Back 266

Thee Escapees - Lose Your Head

Thee Strawberry Mynde - Try As I Might

Cyanide Pills - The Kids Can't Be Trusted With Rock 'n' Roll

Los Pepes - Never Get It Right

The Sellwoods - Searchin'

The Sound Station - Wild One

The Coolies - King of Confusion

The Mourning After - She Left Me Today

Kurt Shirt - Imaginary Friend

Dirt Royal - Shoot Me Now

K.S. & The Mystery Jet Set - Downtime

Cat & The Underdogs - Rich Kids

Deviation Days - Well of Trouble

Smalltown Tigers - Just Friends

The Speedways - Shoulda Known

Giuda - Roll On (live)

With thanks to Lee at Spinout Nuggets, Ian at Damaged Goods, Esgar at Chaputa Records, Melissa from The Sellwoods, Trevor at Beluga Records, Ake from Cat & The Underdogs and Hans Selander.

Retrosonic Podcast Episode 47 "This Is No Audition" with Special Guest, Rock Photographer Paul Slattery

Ronnie Mayor of The Tours/Da Biz - Photo by Paul Slattery

 

Welcome to Retrosonic Podcast Episode 47 where Steve is joined by Rock Photographer Paul Slattery to discuss "Retrospectively Yours", the excellent new compilation from Ronnie Mayor of The Tours, the criminally underrated, short-lived Power Pop/New Wave band who Paul first photographed and championed way back in 1979. There's a special feature on the album which highlights Ronnie's songwriting skills with The Tours and Da Biz and we pick a selection of songs from both bands. Steve talks about another great night of conversation at The Exchange in Twickenham hosted by Gary Crowley with his special guests Debsey Wykes from Dolly Mixture and Mick Talbot from The Style Council and we play a classic Dolly Mixture song. Then we have brand new releases from former bandmates in The Prisoners, Graham Day and Allan Crockford, Graham with his debut solo single and Allan with Sounds Incarcerated, the lockdown cover version project with Viv Bonsels. Then there's Autoramas, our favourite Space Age Garage Rockers from Brazil, some perfectly crafted modern day French Ye-Ye from Monsieur Paul et Les Solutions, there's the melodic Glasgow sound of Neil Sturgeon & The Infomaniacs and some blistering tuneful Punk Rock from Suzi Moon. Subscribe for free at Spotify, iTunes, Amazon music, MixCloud or direct from our SoundCloud site below:

 

Retrosonic Podcast · Episode 47 "This Is No Audition" with Rock Photographer Paul Slattery

 

Also in this episode, Paul tells us of the time he was kissed by Ronnie Spector and we have the photographic evidence to prove it as you can see below! Then he picks three of his favourite local bands from his time living in Boston including The J. Geils Band, Lyres and Duke & The Drivers. 

 

Paul in front of two of his iconic Smiths photos.

Paul also talks about a recent trip to Manchester and Stockport to see exhibitions featuring some of his iconic photos and picks a track by his favourite Mancunians, Howard Devoto and Magazine. "There's my Joy Division photos at The Stockport Museum where you can also see sound equipment used in the making of Joy Division's records. Here's some photos from the exhibition of Manchester Rock bands "There Is Light That Never Goes Out" which can be seen in the The Market, University Place, Manchester University, 176 Oxford Rd, Manchester M13 9QQ. In the photo of me with my two Oasis images there's also The Stone Roses by Kevin Cummins and Electronic by Steve Double."
 

 

 

Here Paul explains the early impact of Rock 'n' Roll on his life. "It must have been 1956 or '57. I was six but my neighbour Joe was a rocker and ten years older than me. He'd just got a new Dansette and he stacked up a load of his Elvis records for me to listen to. I'll never forget "Blue Moon of Kentucky" and after listening to that I knew somehow that rock and roll would play a major part in my life although at the time I didn't know actually quite how much that would be. It took me another couple of years before I bought my first Elvis record "Hound Dog" from saving my pocket money and doing odd jobs for neighbours and I bought records regularly after that. There was no pop music on the BBC and you had to listen to Radio Luxembourg if you wanted to hear anything that wasn't your mum and dad's era. My dad helped me string up an outside radio aerial so we could get a better Luxembourg signal. By 1960 we were listening to Elvis, the Shadows, Cliff Richard, Adam Faith, Duane Eddy and my favourite of the year must have been Johnny Preston's "Running Bear" the beat was just amazing. 1961 and '62 were more of the same although Billy Fury who I thought was so cool had crept in by then. So had the Everly Brothers, Chubby Checker, Ray Charles. My fave of 61 was John Leyton's "Johnny Remember Me" recorded in a bathroom by Joe Meek and my fave of '62 was Little Eva and "The Locomotion". 1963 though everything changed."

 

Ronnie Spector photographed by Paul Slattery

"For me it wasn't just The Beatles, I was just blown away by The Crystals. They were amazing cool black American girls with fantastic harmonies and a shimmy that was out of this world. "Da Doo Ron Ron" and "Then He Kissed Me" were scorchers. I was thirteen and thought these were the most amazing records I'd ever heard. I went straight down to the record shop and bought them. One early Saturday night in the autumn I was watching "Juke Box Jury" with the family on the telly, there was always a couple of good records played every week but when "Be My Baby" came on I was just blown away. I went out and bought the record the next day and played it over and over and over again. I couldn't get enough of it, I must have worn the stylus out playing that record. I noticed the same name on the record as on The Crystals records but Phil Spector wouldn't mean anything to me until I got a bit older. I saw the Ronettes later on the TV and loved them, and that record eventually became my favourite pop record of all time. A few years after I started my rock photography career I found out that Ronnie Spector was going to play a gig at the Venue in Victoria London so I just had to go and take pictures of Ronnie. Halfway through the gig I noticed Ronnie was looking right at me, she crouched down right next to me and let me take a photo of her and the next thing planted her lips firmly against mine with the tenderest of kisses. I couldn't believe it but it was recorded on film by fellow rock photographer David Corio, who got this amazing shot of me and Ronnie."

Ronnie Spector & Paul Slattery photographed by David Corio

"I was so sad when I heard about Ronnie's death recently as memories of  me first hearing "Be My Baby" and that gig at The Venue flooded back. There is a great Wiki article on "Be My Baby" here, I didn't know that The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson also loved this song, as you can read in this article he was obsessed with it. I always knew Brian Wilson and myself would be soul brothers!" Ronnie Spector images. One by me and the one of me and Ronnie kindly donated by David Corio. For more info on David Corio's  photography please check out his official web-site or Instagram.

 

Tracklisting 

(Please Click on the highlighted links for info on how you can buy the featured music)

Tracks 1-6 from "Retrospectively Yours" by Ronnie Mayor

1. Da Biz "Can't Wait Till The Summer Comes"

2. The Tours "Language School"

3. Da Biz "This Is No Audition"

4. The Tours "Foreign Girls"

5. The Tours "Imagination"

6. Da Biz "Driven To Tears"

7. Graham Day "You Lied To Me"

8. Autoramas "Sem Tempo"

9. Neil Sturgeon & The Infomaniacs "I Just Wasn't Being Myself" 

10. Sounds Incarcerated "The Real Thing"

11. J. Geils Band "First I Look At The Purse"

12. Duke & The Drivers "What You Got"

13. Lyres "How Do You Know?"

14. Dolly Mixture "How Come You're Such a Hit With The Boys, Jane?"

15. Suzi Moon "Gold Record Autograph"

16. Monsieur Paul et Les Solutions "Pourquoi, Pourquoi"

17. Magazine "The Light Pours Out of Me"

18. The Ronettes "Be My Baby"

With many thanks to Paul Slattery and David Corio for the excellent photographs, copyright as stated. Retrosonic Podcast has a valid PRS Licence. Subscribe for free at Spotify, MixCloud, Apple Podcasts, iTunes or SoundCloud. You can also follow Retro Man Blog on Facebook & Instagram