THIS IS MYSPACE. THIS IS NOT A FAN SITE. I ENDEAVOUR TO REPLY TO ALL MY CORRESPONDENCE AND WOULD ENCOURAGE YOU TO MAIL ME WITH YOUR THOUGHTS ON ANYTHING ON THIS PAGE OR IN THE BLOG. ENJOY YOUR STAY WITH THE KING OF POP. THANKS FOR YOUR SUPPORT.
I was born in Liverpool, Merseyside, in the year of "Beatlemania" and first took an interest in music when my dad bought me my first two albums, "The Beatles 66-70" and "Ziggy Stardust". I spent many hours in the front room of my house playing "air guitar" and could not decide whether I wanted to be George Harrison or Mick Ronson, a tough choice for a 10 year old, I think you will agree.
At the age of eleven I borrowed a beaten-up guitar from a friends dad and my cousin Mark O’Toole, later of Frankie Goes To Hollywood, taught me my first chords and I was hooked. My parents got me a better guitar, a Suzuki classical, and I fucked it up by putting steel strings on it as the nylon ones were not loud enough to play "God Save The Queen" or "White Riot". I still have the guitar in my loft and it has a neck like a banana.
In 1977 punk rock happened and my parents bought me a white Les Paul copy and the George Harrison / Mick Ronson hybrid now thought he was Steve Jones. I formed a band called "Smuzz" with a schoolmate who insisted we had to have a name with two z’s in it so we could write it like "The Buzzcocks". We did our first gig at a local church hall and "performed" ( read; "murdered") five or six punk classics with me singing the lead vocal on the Stiff Little Fingers tune "Wasted Life". I will never forget this day as I enjoyed the adrenalin high’s of performing in front of an audience for the first time and the low’s of the long walk home to tell your parents you have been suspended from school for playing truant ( naughty boy ).
I left school with very little qualifications, despite having had the benefit of an excellent education, and became an electrician with Liverpool Council but continued my interest in music trying my hands in various amateur bands. I went for an audition with a "Joy Division" type band and got the gig because I knew how to plug in a chorus pedal which the singer had stolen from a music shop. My first serious band was called "Sons and Egypt" which featured Peter Gill and Holly Johnson, later of Frankie Goes To Hollywood, and we got our big break appearing on a local t.v. show called "Exchange Flags" where we performed two songs live. It was a great experience except I regret the choice of clothing I wore for the show ( headband, chinese slippers and some trousers that looked like a pair of curtains ) and I am glad I don’t have a video of the show, even for nostalgia!
A lot of bands used to rehearse in an old police station that had cells converted into rehearsal rooms and we had our own room which was funded by Virgin Records who kindly donated large sums of cash to the bass player when he worked there ( well that’s what he told us). Holly and Peter left the band to join Mark O’Toole in the newly formed Frankie Goes To Hollywood. I used to hear them rehearsing down the hall and remember hearing "Two Tribes" being played at 100mph with just bass and drums.
The opportunity for me to join Frankie Goes To Hollywood arose when Gerard O’Toole had to leave and I took it with both hands. We got signed and went on to conquer most of the known world. I describe this period as going to a party in 1983 and coming home in 1987.
I will suspend the tale here as the history of Frankie Goes To Hollywood has been told by many people ( including Holly Johnson in his book " A Bone In My Flute" ) and I won’t bore you with the details until I write my own book at some point in the future. If you think it would be a good idea for me to write a book then mail me and let me know. If you don’t think it’s a good idea mail me and let me know!!
Frankie ruled Europe during 1984 and made a lot of people very happy, not least of all ZTT who squeezed the Frankie money making machine for all it was worth. It was great while it lasted and I have no regrets so let’s move on to the demise of the band in 1987 and what happened after that.
Myself, Mark and Ped teamed up with Dee Harris, formerly of Fashion and tried to get a deal but failed. Dee Harris left and was replaced by Grant Boult and then we tried to get a deal again and failed again so the consensus was to shake hands and call it a day.
I started writing some tunes of my own and not having the necessary confidence and ability to sing them I decided to ask Grant Boult to get involved and this was the beginning of the Low period. We formed Low in 1991 after being called Honey Ryder for a year and signed to Swanyard Records who were a small independent label run by crooks ( allegedly ). I’m not saying they were useless but let’s just say Mickey Mouse has got a Swanyard watch. The label was run by a bimbo blonde from South Africa who had an arse like a police horse and her constant interfering led to nothing ever being released by Low and eventually the label went tits-up and we got to keep the record that, according to them, cost £400,000. I should point out that this band Low has no connection with the lo-fi strollers from Duluth, Minnesota with the same name.
The record was called "Enter The Bigger Reality" and currently resides in a dark cupboard in North London. Frankie fanatics should note this contains a composition written by Boult/Gill/Nash/O’Toole called "England In The Rain" which is truly spectacular. Anyone interested in obtaining this album please mail me and if I get enough requests I will release it on Babylon Pink.
Grant and I had to start again and formed another band called "Dr Jolly’s Salvation Circus" . We created this fictional character called Dr Jolly and decided he was the person behind defining moments of musical history. Dr Jolly gave Bob Marley his first spliff. He introduced The Beatles to Bob Dylan. He gave Jimi Hendrix his first guitar etc.etc.
Dr Jolly died in 1997 when I switched off the life support machine but not without having an influence from the grave. I decided to record some of the songs that were written during that period for "Ripe". "King For A Day", "Happy-Go-Lucky", "Patron Saint Of Crazy" and "The Dark" appeared during this period and despite the fact that they are a couple of years old I still like them.
This brings us up to the present day and you may be thinking to yourself "Why has someone with so much talent not got his record in Woolworths?". Well I did try but, according to all the record companies I went to see, I do not have the necessary blond hair and six pack so I have decided to take it to the people direct and if you are reading this then I am on my way to achieving my goal.
At the tail end of 1999 I released my debut solo album "Ripe". This was followed in 2002 by my second album "Le Grande Fromage". I am currently in the process of recording my third album "A Lo Minimo" which will be released in 2006.
For further information please visit my website www.nasher.co.uk
