The Downliners Sect - Photos by Paul Slattery of the 60's R'n'B Legends Recording a Marc Riley BBC Radio Session

The Downliners Sect at BBC Studios Maida Vale - Photo by Paul Slattery

My Retro Man Blog and Retrosonic Podcast colleague the Rock Photographer, Paul Slattery was recently invited to the BBC studios in Maida Vale to witness The Downliners Sect recording a session for Marc Riley. He went along with fellow Sect fan Rob Symmons, once of Subway Sect and now The Fallen Leaves and kindly filed the following report and photos: "When you get a phone call from one of this country’s most singular guitar players then you know it’s important, and that guitarist happens to be Rob Symmons of the Fallen Leaves. I’ve been going to see the 'Leaves for some years now - they just get better and better. Their mantra is "Punk Rock for gentlemen" and, as I am of course a gent, their gigs are always absolutely perfect. Rob wanted to know if I was interested in going over to the BBC Maida Vale Studios to see a live recording by the doyens of the English 60's R'n'B music scene The Downliners Sect for a Marc Riley 6Music session. I’d only been there once before and was keen to go over and see this cavernous space again. It started life as an ice rink but the BBC took it over in 1933/34 and converted it into the studio that still exists today. 

The Downliners Sect at BBC Studios Maida Vale - Photo by Paul Slattery

The Downliners Sect at BBC Studios Maida Vale - Photo by Paul Slattery

Some of the studios are massive and are big enough to accomodate a complete orchestra. It’s like an iceberg as three quarters of the space is below ground but all the studios have natural light. Rob and I headed for Studio MV3 where we found the band getting in some rehearsal time before their live session on Mark Riley’s show on Radio 6. There is a plaque here commemorating Bing Crosby’s last recording session on 11 October 1977. MV3 had a fairly regular Peel session on Sundays and Peel kept this studio and the next door studio MV4 busy with live sessions for more than thirty years. I’ve always been fond of "Hatful of Hollow" by the Smiths which is mostly a Peel session recording, plus it does use my photo of The Smiths on the gatefold sleeve! 

The Downliners Sect at BBC Studios Maida Vale - Photo by Paul Slattery

You can’t help feeling the music history walking into this place and The Downliners Sect, contemporaries of The Rolling Stones and The Pretty Things are one of those bands who started the English Rock scene back in the early sixties. In this country though we have scant regard for such notables, in France such musicians would be lauded, have a state pension and be heroes of the Republic. I’d seen the band play at the 100 Club a couple of years before and was enthralled. 

The Downliners Sect at BBC Studios Maida Vale - Photo by Paul Slattery

The Downliners Sect at BBC Studios Maida Vale - Photo by Paul Slattery

It’s great chatting to Don and Keith, Don’s a West London lad like myself so there’s a common bond with the West London Rock scene and Eel Pie Island. This is a really class band, and while they are doing their live set they let me wander round and take photos in the studio. Their three numbers "Soup In A Basket", "Escape From Hong Kong" and "Let It Rock" are British Blues at its finest. I was brought up on this kind of music and it’s great to see it being played live. 

The Downliners Sect at BBC Studios Maida Vale - Photo by Paul Slattery

BBC Studios Maida Vale - Photo by Paul Slattery

Tireless drumming by Mark Freeman and fluent bass and vocals from Keith Grant anchor the set while Don’s vocals and guitar give us the soul. Del Dwyer adds more clever guitar and John O’Leary's harp is superb. This is a truly great band, one of the originators of British rock music and I'd recommend that you go see them play at the earliest opportunity."

Rob Symmons of The Fallen Leaves with The Downliners Sect at BBC Studios Maida Vale by Paul Slattery

Thanks to Paul Slattery for the report and photographs, to see Paul's pics of The Downliners Sect live at The 100 Club please check the feature in the Blog archive here. For more information on The Downliners Sect you can check out their official web-site here. The excellent Eel Pie Island Museum in Twickenham has a superb collection of display material on the history of the local music scene revolving around the Eel Pie Island Hotel. From the initial Jazz, Mod and Blues scene through to the raw R'n'B sound of the early Rolling Stones, The Others, The Pretty Things and of course The Downliners Sect. You can check out the archive for the feature on the pop-up British Beat Explosion exhibition that preceeded the opening of the Eel Pie Island Museum here. The Eel Pie Club at The Cabbage Patch in Twickenham puts on regular live events featuring some of the legends of the scene such as The Pretty Things and Geno Washington, check out their site here for information.

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The Fallen Leaves at The Hope & Anchor - Exclusive Paul Slattery Photos From the Recording of their New Live LP

The Fallen Leaves photographed by Paul Slattery

The Fallen Leaves latest night in their residency at the legendary Hope & Anchor in Islington was a free gig arranged for the recording of a new live album. The band played two sets including some brand new songs and of course encouraged a healthy dose of audience participation, which might well give them headaches during the editing! The set was recorded on the night by ex-Vibrator turned Producer, Pat Collier, who as the founder of Alaska Studios has worked with Robyn Hitchcock, The Sound, Screaming Blue Messiahs, Makin' Time, The Seers and many more great acts over the years. At the moment no title or release date of the album has been announced but of course as soon as we have more details we will let you know.

All colour photos above copyright Paul Slattery

All black & white photos above copyright Retro Man Blog

Thanks to Paul Slattery for the excellent colour photographs. The Fallen Leaves next show at the Hope & Anchor will be on Saturday 26th May. For more photos of the gig please check out the Retro Man Blog Facebook page here.

The Fallen Leaves: Paul Slattery Photos from the New Album Launch Party at The Hope & Anchor with The Killer B's & The Nu Vandals

The Fallen Leaves at The Hope & Anchor photographed by Paul Slattery

Hot on the desert-booted heels of their "Best of" compilation "Punk Rock For Gentlemen", The Fallen Leaves have just released an album of all new material entitled "What We've All Been Waiting For" on their own Parliament Records. The band put on an excellent launch party as part of their residency at the legendary Hope & Anchor venue in Islington where copies of the album were on sale for the first time. It's on CD only for now and if we get any news of a vinyl release of course we will let you know. Some of the new songs have featured in the band's set over the past couple of years now and have become firm favourites alongside all those much-loved classics. New titles including "Motorcycle Girl", "All That Glitters", "Lavender Girl" and "Prodigal Son" are particularly impressive. We've played exclusive pre-release versions of a couple of the new songs in various episodes of Retrosonic Podcast and you can hear the brilliant "Funny World" in our latest Episode 26 here. The band had just got back from a mini-tour of the UK, taking in Manchester and another Marc Riley session and gigs in Glasgow and Middlesbrough and tonight they were on top form. Vocalist Rob Green pulls out all the stops and props - the cool shades, the flask of tea, the maracas, the blowing of smoke rings and even gunning down the crowd with a walking stick! Bassist Matthew Karas looks cool with his cravat and velvet smoking jacket, a bemused Cheshire Cat grin playing on his lips. Rob Symmons' assault on his guitar is still one of the most exciting visual treats you will see at any gig and Buddy Ascott's mightily impressive drumming once again proving that there's much more to these "Simple songs for complex people". Here's some great photographs from Paul Slattery...

The Fallen Leaves at The Hope & Anchor photographed by Paul Slattery

Rob Green of The Fallen Leaves at The Hope & Anchor photographed by Paul Slattery

Rob Symmons of The Fallen Leaves at The Hope & Anchor photographed by Paul Slattery

Buddy Ascott of The Fallen Leaves at The Hope & Anchor photographed by Paul Slattery

Matthew Karas of The Fallen Leaves at The Hope & Anchor photographed by Paul Slattery

The night started off with some down and dirty good time Rock 'n' Roll from The Nu Vandals which certainly put a smile on everyone's faces. A Punky cover of "The Harder They Come" was ambitious but they pulled it off thanks to some great drumming from Richard Grealish and impressive sax work from Natalie Lane. Vocals are shared between guitarist Alan Blizzard, who oozes Keith Richards style and imposing bassist Dale Senior who looks like he's stepped out of a Martin Scorsese movie. In fact the band do bring a touch of that New York Johnny Thunders Lower East Side Manhattan to Islington. One of my favourite songs was the short, sharp Ramones tribute "Ask Me No Questions" but "Feeling Good About Feeling Bad", "Have You Seen My Mama" & "My City" are all great tracks and I would thoroughly recommend catching The Nu Vandals play as soon as you can.

The Nu Vandals photographed by Paul Slattery

The Nu Vandals photographed by Paul Slattery

Next up it was the welcome return of The Killer B's who's raw, hypnotic R'n'B really went down well on the night. There's a slightly off-kilter twist to their take on the Blues to keep things interesting particularly on "You Don't Bug Me". It was when Chris Thompson started off that stuttering, scratchy Wilko Johnson style guitar on the superb "Unforgiven" that it reminded me of his old band The Screaming Blue Messiahs. I knew bassist Ricky McGuire had been in The Men They Couldn't Hang and I just found out he had also been in the early 80's Punk band The Fits, if I'd have known that I would have taken along my old "Last Laugh E.P." for him to sign...! He's a great bass player and both him and his rhythm section colleague, the dapper and laid back drummer David Morgan Mathias, keep things effortlessly in check. They don't play any songs at all from their only album "Love Is a Cadillac Death Is a Ford" so I'm hoping they will get round to recording some of this excellent new material very soon and not forgetting getting out there and playing some more gigs too.

The Killer B's photographed by Paul Slattery

The Killer B's photographed by Paul Slattery

The Killer B's photographed by Paul Slattery

The Killer B's photographed by Paul Slattery

Thanks to Paul Slattery for the excellent photos (copyright Paul Slattery 2017). Paul started off taking early photos of his heroes Dr. Feelgood and Link Wray and was inspired by Lemmy of Motorhead to dive head first into the music world. Over the years he's produced iconic shots of The Flamin' Groovies, Ramones, The Clash, The Fall, Joy Division, Manic Street Preachers, The Stone Roses and many more besides. Paul has had two books published "The Smiths: The Early Years" and "Oasis: A Year On The Road" which are available from Amazon. For more photos of the album launch party please head on over to the Retro Man Blog Facebook page and hit "Like" to sign-up and check out the exclusive photo albums. You can see some videos of all three bands filmed on the night too at our Retro Man Blog YouTube channel here. You can order copies of The Fallen Leaves new album  "What We've All Been Waiting For" from band's web-site here and don't forget our very special Fallen Leaves Podcasts where the two Robs talk us through their fascinating history and play a pick of some of their influences and favourite Fallen Leaves songs along the way. Episode 1 is here...

Sheila Rock PUNK+ Book Signing and Talk, Rough Trade East May 29th

Sheila Rock takes the applause - Photo by Dave Patten

Last night, Rough Trade East hosted a talk and book signing with renowned photographer Sheila Rock as part of a series of events to promote her excellent new book PUNK+. Sheila was accompanied by legendary DJ and Big Audio Dynamite member, Don Letts, who joined her to talk through a great slideshow of her classic images, many of which were previously unseen. Don talked about his experiences working at seminal Punk stores such as ACME Attractions, which he admitted were probably amongst the best days of his life, and of course his DJing at The Roxy. After the talk, Don played some great reggae tracks as Sheila chatted and signed copies of the book. Also in attendance were Viv Albertine, Harry Pye the ex-colleague of Steve Strange and Chrissie Hynde in the short-lived Moors Murderers, ex-Subway Sect guitarist Rob Symmons, now of The Fallen Leaves (who you can see in action at our next Retro Man Blog gig on June 29th),  The Roxy owner Andy Czezowski, designer Pam Hogg, author and Joe Strummer biographer Chris Salewicz, Martin and Paul Kelly from Heavenly and there was a surprise appearance by the ex-manager of Iggy & The Stooges, The Doors and Ramones and full on rock music legend, Danny Fields.

Danny Fields - Photo by Rhiannon Ifans

Chris Salewicz and Pam Hogg - Photo by Rhiannon Ifans

PUNK+ chronicles both designer and street styles between 1976-9 that had such an effect on fashion, society and politics, including Vivienne Westwood’s shop SEX as well as BOY, Robot and Acme Attractions. It is a fascinating insight into one of the most influential transformations of music and celebrates the scenesters who were the punk audience, and the designers that clothed the movement. As Paul Simonon (The Clash) comments: "This book is a great photographic record of a major shift in British street fashion". Sheila’s conversations with Chrissie Hynde, Tony James, Don Letts, Jeanette Lee, Glen Matlock, Chris Salewicz, Jon Savage, Steven Severin, Paul Simonon, Jah Wobble and more, provide an illuminating commentary on the punk phenomenon. As she observes "Punk was all about changing and surviving". All books are numbered and signed and feature 199 full colour and black and white photos from Sheila Rock's personal archive.

Rob Symmons with Viv Albertine - Photo by Rhiannon Ifans

Don Letts - Photo by Dave Patten

Photo by Steve Worrall

Sheila Rock and Don Letts talk us through some photos - Steve Worrall

PUNK+ is published by FirstThird Books, an independent publishing company specialising in high quality music photobooks. PUNK+ is Limited to 2000 numbered and signed books, including 300 deluxe versions exclusively available through the FirstThird Books website. PUNK+ is the second in a series of limited edition titles, following the soon to be sold-out book on the legendary Indie icons Felt. This book features some excellent early Felt photographs by Retro Man Blog's regular contributor Paul Slattery. Here are some more photos from the signing.

Rob Symmons with DJ Jeff Munday - Photo by Dave Patten

Don Letts - Photo by Rhiannon Ifans

Sheila Rock signing copies of PUNK+ - Photo by Dave Patten

You can read more about the book and see some examples of Sheila's fantastic photographs in our previous Blog feature here. We have also previously published a feature on  the excellent Heavenly Films documentary "Lawrence of Belgravia" and FirstThird's Felt book here.

With many thanks indeed to Rhiannon Ifans and Dave Patten for contributing the excellent photographs of the Punk+ Party. You can view a full set of Dave's photos at his Flickr site.

Retrosonic Podcast Presents: "Simple Songs for Complex People" The Fallen Leaves Story in Two Parts

Retrosonic Podcast are proud to present The Fallen Leaves story. On the A-Side "Punk Rock for Gentlemen", Steve from Retro Man Blog and Rock Photographer Paul Slattery chat to Rob Symmons and Rob Green from the band about their music and history. This episode is not only crammed full of superb Fallen Leaves songs from all of their releases, but we also discuss and play some of the band's favourite tracks and influences from the Ramones, Trini Lopez, Buff Medways and Dr. Feelgood. Along the way we will meet some of the characters the band have rubbed shoulders with over the years including Vic Godard, Billy Childish, Bernie Rhodes, Joe Strummer, Malcolm McLaren, Paul Cook and more...So slip on your smoking jacket, pour yourself a cup of tea, get yourself comfortable on your chaise longue and prepare for some fine "Punk Rock for Gentlemen!"

Here's the B-Side to The Fallen Leaves story: From their first gig at the home of London football to the Parliament Club featuring a guest appearance by a short Rolling Stone. From secretly using their 5 hours rehearsal time in Pete Townshend's Eel Pie Island to record the whole of their first E.P. to being lauded as "Style Icons" by Johnny Marr - this episode is generously soundtracked by loads of great Fallen Leaves songs and some more of their influences and favourite tunes...The Who, T-Rex, Prince Buster, Roxy Music, John's Children...and Rolf Harris...! Expect some rather splendid "Simple Songs for Complex People!".
  
The Fallen Leaves are playing a session on BBC 6 music tonight, Monday March 25th at 7pm on the Marc Riley Show, live in the studio as you hear it, plus interview. It will be available on BBC I-Player too. Photographer Paul Slattery will be joining the band on their trip so hopefully, BBC permitting, we will be able to bring you some photos of the proceedings as soon as possible.



Rob Green - Photo by Caz Hellbent

The Fallen Leaves played the proverbial blinder at last Friday's excellent "Some Weird Sin" Club night at the Buffalo Bar in Islington. Although I've been to the Buffalo Bar before, it was the first time at one of the Some Weird Sin events and I can thoroughly recommend it. Great value too, you got The Fallen Leaves and the energetic Glam-Punk of Jonny Cola & The A-Grades, who were so lively that they made me feel a bit old and in need of a sit down. DJ Heidi Heelz played a cracking selection of old-school Glam and Punk Rock, that perfectly complemented the live bands, I look forward to going along again in the future...they do great flyers too. The Fallen Leaves were on top form and Rob kindly mentioned Retro Man Blog, which was a pleasant surprise. The enthusiastic calls for an encore were acknowleded by the DJ, and the band returned to treat us to the superb "Sylvie Says". It was a great show, full of their trademark theatrics, humour and some of the best Garage Rock songs you'll ever hear. One happy member of the audience turned to me after their set and said that The Fallen Leaves were "London's best kept secret"...well let's hope tonight's BBC Radio session goes someway to addressing that. 

Thanks to Caz Hellbent for the great photo of Rob Green. Caz is not only "Some Weird Sin's" resident photographer, but she is also in two different bands - singing and playing guitar with "Yeah And She Has Red Lips Too"  and also drumming for "Desperate Journalist". Please check out her bands and the "Some Weird Sin" Facebook page to see more of her excellent Fallen Leaves photos and more...

Don't forget to check out the Retrosonic Podcast Soundcloud page for more Special Editions, including TV Smith from The Adverts, JC Carroll from The Members, The Soundtrack of Our Lives, Swedish singer-songwriter Mattias Hellberg and much more. There are also the regular episodes where Steve, Paul and Adam play an eclectic selection of Punk, Garage Rock, Psych, Mod and Soul nuggets and generally get drunk and waffle on a bit...

The Fallen Leaves will play their regular "Minimum R 'n' B" Club night at Denmark Street's 12 Bar Club on Wednesday April 03rd. Thanks to Paul Slattery for the Fallen Leaves Podcast covers.