Also the death of one of my best friends, photographer and record sleeve designer Michael Beal, he worked with many bands including Johnny Thunders / The Only ones / Sham 69 / The Wanderers / John Cale / Pati Paladin and did the iconic cover for Eddie and the Hot Rods 'Teenage Depression'. “The death of my father in law whilst I was away on tour, he was a great guy who lived his life the way he wanted right up to the end, not being able to say goodbye to him (I missed seeing my father before he died as I was in hospital myself having an operation) and not being there to give my partner the support she needed, as I missed going to the funeral as well. Just to have found the right people with the right chemistry, and to finally be out there playing again, has without doubt been my biggest high.” On bass is Rob Jefferson, a veritable powerhouse who compliments my style of playing perfectly, Ian Whitewood remains on drums, being the longest serving sham drummer at over twenty years of fine service. Tim’s a cockney and has been accepted by the Sham audience worldwide. I found Tim V who had been on the Punk seen since the beginning, he knows virtually all the main punk bands and his best man at his wedding was Mark P – the godfather of Punk from ATV and sniffing Glue fame, so he came highly recommended. “The hardest and almost impossible task I had this year was trying to find a replacement for Jimmy, therefore my biggest high was completing the new line up with no compromises. I’ve spent my life working with Jimmy (and therefore some of the best times were with him) but in the end I had to protect the reputation of Sham 69.” At the end of 2006 Sham 69 parted company from Mr Pursey, there were many reasons for this, mainly that Jimmy would never play more than a handful of gigs a year while the rest of the band were desperate to get out and play Jimmy would accept tours and dates from promoters and take large advance payments which went into his pocket only for him to cancel the tour days before we were due to start, it had also become like working in a dictatorship where no one was allowed to question Jimmies decisions. “This has been a year of major change for both myself and Sham 69. VLP: How was 2007 for both yourself personally and for Sham 69 as a band? Vive Le Punk caught up with guitarist and surviving member Dave Parsons, and said 'Tell us the Truth!' Sham are a little disappointing and the Upstarts blew me away.Last year was quite a year for 70’s punk legends SHAM 69 who saw both the departure of frontman Jimmy Pursey (who has since set up Day 21), and the formation of a new line-up which released the return to form new album ‘Western Culture’. For the Upstarts, it was after 50 minutes, for Sham, it was after 20. Sometimes, I can judge a gig on when I first check my watch. Not exactly value for money when tickets are the best part of thirty quid. But something doesn't quite click, Sham don't demand my attention like the Upstarts and they play for 45 minutes, including the encore. You can't argue with the likes of Ulster Boy, Borstal Breakout, Angels With Dirty Faces, If The Kids Are United, or Hersham Boys. Yeah, Dave Tregunna, Dave Pearson and (only non-original member) Robin Guy are tight as a gnat's wotsit. Yeah, Jimmy Pursey can be a magnetic frontman. What I had forgotten was The Who-like maximum R 'n' B and raucous rock 'n' roll that drove the bootboy anthems. What I remembered was, well, primitive rock. I'd not listened to Sham for a while so I dug out some stuff to prepare for this. Songs like 2,000,000 Voices, Never 'Ad Nothing and Last Night Another Soldier are as strong as anything in the punk canon, Solidarity is an almost Springsteenesque anthem and the band put out a seemingly tireless intensity throughout this hour long set.Īnd now for Sham 69. The rhythm section keep things simple but powerful, whilst there is some steering guitar work. Mensi might not be the most mobile of frontmen but he holds the attention. Boy oh boy, did I get that one wrong! They blew my bloody socks off. That wasn’t based on any previous experience of the Upstarts, just on things I had been told over the years. If I am honest, I wasn't expecting much from this mob, just some big-standard punk. I was expecting great things from one and not a lot from the other.įirst up, from South Shields, come Angelic Upstarts. Both bands are celebrating their fortieth anniversaries, albeit that both have split-up, reformed and gone through several line-up changes. Tonight, we have two legends of the punk scene, in Sham 69 and Angelic Upstarts.

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