* the Punk film experience – with “London Shoes” & the “East London Arts & Music” (ELAM) Students

This London Shoes blog is a proper long’un – so beware.

A few weeks prior to the Christmas period I received an email via my London Shoes website – it was from a young lady (Jaya) who referred to a couple of blogs she had read that were published on my London Shoes website.

She was a student at the East London Arts & Music college – known more commonly as ELAM.

ELAM is based in Bromley-by-Bow in East London and was established in 2014 – it is a learning establishment specifically for students wishing to pursue a career in:- Music / Film / TV & Gaming.

The way the college works is that each student is assessed individually on the work they produce or have been involved in – and this was the reason for contacting my London Shoes.

Some of the students at the college were working on a project that involved the production of a documentary on “PUNK” – and, throughout their research they had stumbled upon a couple of my “London’s Lost Music Venues” blogs that I’d published way back in 2020.

The subject matter of that blog article was about 2 old ‘Punk’ venues, the ‘Vortex’ and the ‘Roxy’ – that were both located in Soho in the West End. These 2 venues were familiar to me when I worked in that part of London from 1974 to 1978 (aged 17 to 21)

Throughout that blog article I referenced the fact that I was ‘there’ when the Punk movement evolved, developed and took hold. I saw ‘Crackers’ in Wardour Street – a little club me and my work colleagues used to frequent on a Friday night after work, suddenly become the ‘Vortex’ a place where all these up and coming punk bands would play.

I used to see masses of kids, the same age as me, dressed in full punk regalia – very much of it either ‘home-made’ – or wearing the stuff championed by the likes of Malcolm McLaren and Vivien Westwood, who ran a shop called ‘Sex’ down the Kings Road, where some of the original punks, and certainly the ‘wealthy’ ones – bought their clobber.

Now – I never actually considered myself a ‘punk’ nor did i personally visited the ‘Vortex’ or the ‘Roxy’ (that was just off Tottenham Court Rd) when they were punk venues – but I did follow the punk scene and definitely got into some of the music emanating from that genre of music.

Back in 1976 I saw Eddie & the Hot Rods (who were more ‘pub rock’ than ‘punk’) – at the legendary ‘Marquee’ in Wardour Street–Soho.

The famous Marquee venue was literally a few hundred yards down from the Barclays Bank branch I was working at – and I clearly recall that, the night I went there to see Eddie & the Hot Rods, I didn’t get changed into anything more comfortable after work – I simply turned up there for the gig in my work suit.

It was the July 1976 and the placed was rammed – there was beer and stuff flying all over the place, and by the time the Rod’s had finished their 100mph set, the walls of the Marquee and all the people squashed up inside the club – were all dripping with sweat and beer. My suit was completely ruined as I had dropped the jacket a few times on the sticky beer sodden lino flooring – my shirt was soaked through (sweat – beer and fag burns) – as were the suit trousers.

What I didn’t know at the time was that the gig was being recorded ‘live’ for the next Eddie & the Hot Rods single release.

Obviously, when it as released, I bought a copy, and do you know, to this day I still regularly play the track “Get Out OF Denver” off it – a 100mph version of a great Bob Seeger song. The point I’m trying to make here is – if you wanna know what it was like that night and what great ‘live’ music from that time was all about…..then check that particular track out on the internet – Eddie & the Hot Rods ‘Live’ at the Marquee…….and remember…..‘I was there’!!!

Sorry….I’m digressing yet again (but I do enjoy reminiscing)

So – getting back to the group of students from ELAM who were making a documentary on the ‘Punk’.

Via numerous emails between us, they explained to me that they wanted the content of their film to look back on the Punk movement back in the day, and compare it with the Punk ethos and ethics of current times.

I was well chuffed that they’d asked me to assist by being a sort of content advisor for their project. A few emails later, I was even more honoured when they asked if I would actually appear in the documentary!!!

Now – anyone who knows me well – won’t be surprised to hear that this sort of offer and opportunity to talk about music, and to be filmed doing that – is right up my street – I was well up for it.

The filming of the documentary was to be a 2 day process. Day 1 involved me being filmed outside the historic and now legendary building\venue that is the Roundhouse, in Chalk Farm London NW1 – just down the road from lively Camden.

The Chalk Farm Roundhouse is exactly what it says on the tin – it’s a completely round brick-built building.

The ‘Round-House’ was opened in 1847 as a railway engine shed built to service the rail stock at Euston Station (opened in 1837), which was London’s very first main-line terminal, with a train service to Birmingham.

At the time, the Roundhouse was looked upon as one of the finest examples of Victorian civil engineering, as it was completely circular building 160 ft in diameter, with a cone-shaped roof supported by cast iron girders.

Inside it consisted of 24 ‘bays’, and a massive turntable wheel, just like a record deck, in the centre of it – that engines could be rolled on to, then spun round and rolled out to a bay for either servicing or storage.

Back in Victorian times, the Roundhouse architectural uniqueness was so popular, they even laid on guided tour, where people from far and wide would come to experience its uniqueness.

However – just a decade after it had opened, it was deemed unfit for purpose as the evolving design of ‘trains’ and rail travel, had developed so rapidly, that they no longer fitted the Roundhouse!!

Throughout the following century the building was used for all sorts of purposes – but nothing permanent – until the early 1960’s when it became a sort of centre for counter-culture stuff like Andy Wahol’s ‘Pork’ – ‘Oh Calcutta’ (very controversial at the time because of all the nude scenes) – plus radical musicals like ‘Catch my Soul’.

Along with the ‘out there’ plays and musicals, the Roundhouse also staged rock music gigs – it was very much a hippie heaven – and all the big boys of the 60’s performed – Rolling Stones / Pink Floyd / King Crimson / Jimi Hendrix / Led Zeppelin / The Doors / Black Sabbath / The Who….

The arrival of the 1970’s saw the breakthrough bands continue to perform at the Roundhouse – Blondie / The Police / Motorhead / Patti Smith plus many more.

Come the late 70’s it became a haunt for the top Punk bands of the time -and a 19yr old me was there on the night of 4^th July 1976 when the New York band The Ramones made their UK debut – a night which many have dubbed the ‘birth of punk’ in the UK…..!!

At that time The Ramones weren’t as well-known as they were to later become – but the pub rock scene and slowly emerging UK punk movement would have, from weekly music papers like the Melody Maker and the New Musical Express – been aware of them being a New York band who dressed in black leather jackets and torn blue jeans – and played short 3min numbers at breakneck speed.

Up until that night at the Roundhouse in 1976, the Ramones were just a big draw on the New York music scene, and probably hadn’t played to audiences larger than say a few hundred.

What a surprise they, and everyone else had when – on the night of their UK debut at the Roundhouse……allegedly 2,000 turned up to see them – and as I say, I was one of that audience number. The event is still etched on my memory, almost 50yrs later!!! (I’m digressing again)

Anyway – getting back to the film project experience – On a cold damp Friday morning, under miserable grey London skies – my London Shoes legged it over to Chalk Farm tube station down Camden way, and proceeded to towards the iconic Roundhouse building, where the young film crew of ELAM students, were waiting for me.

Following introductions etc – the crew ran through with me, how they envisaged the filming should go – what they wanted from me – and how they were gonna film it.

Basically – they wanted me to talk a little bit about the history of the origins of the Roundhouse and then go on to explain how it became an arts and live music venue in the 1960’s, then on to the lead up to the now legendary Ramones gig there in July 76.

They asked me whether I had any suggestions to add to their proposals – and I suggested that perhaps they should film me walking down the Chalk Farm Road towards the Roundhouse – eventually stopping on its concourse, then looking to the camera to deliver a little intro.

I then suggested that perhaps they could do another clip of me walking the buildings concourse – stopping under the plaque on its external wall, that commemorates its past railway history – and from there they could film me talking about the building’s connection to ‘live’ music – and that now historic Ramones gig there in 1976. (said by some to be the birth of ‘punk’ in the UK).

With all the filming gear laid out on the pavement – and the sound of the clapperboard going off every 5mins – the constant stream of passers-by must have thought ‘who the hell this old geezer was that was being filmed’.

Once I got over the self-consciousness with everybody looking at me – I sort of got into my stride – and I quite surprised myself that, throughout the few hours we were there filming – I remembered my ‘lines’ quite well (ie what I had in mind to say about the place etc) and surprisingly, I didn’t need to do too many ‘takes’.

The student film crew were fantastic – they clearly knew their stuff and knew what they wanted their ‘end product’ to look like – they made it a proper collaborative effort.

As I say, this group of students always made me feel like one of the team, and even though there was a considerable age gap between us…..I never once felt it.

So – having spent what must have been a good 3 hours or so filming outside the Roundhouse getting everything right – the next part of the day’s filming exercise was a destination in Upper Street Islington-London N1……namely, the famous “Hope & Anchor” pub.

With no transport available to them, the young film crew simply gathered up all their filming gear (and there was a lot of it), and with me in tow – they marched off northwards through the London streets, towards the nearest London Overground station – where we all hopped on a train that went a couple of stops on to Highbury & Islington station. From there, they lugged all their’s gear to Upper Street and the Hope & Anchor pub.

Now – the Hope & Anchor is an old 1880’s built Victorian era London pub – that has a claim to fame for hosting ‘live’ music (still does) – and back in the 1970’s it became a VERY famous venue on the ‘pub rock’ scene and then the ‘punk scene’.

Back in the mid 70’s bands like ‘Dire Straits’ cut their teeth at places like the Hope & Anchor. Bands like The Police / Elvis Costello & the Attractions / The Cure / Dr. Feelgood / Graham Parker & the Rumour plus many more – all started off their massive careers playing the Hope & Anchor.

When the punk movement started to evolve from 1976 onwards – bands like Madness / X Ray Specs / The Damned / The Specials & The Stranglers all played the Hope & Anchor. In fact, The Stranglers more or less had a residency there, they played there so many times and they used to sell the place out – they even recorded and released a ‘live’ album recorded at the Hope & Anchor.

Anyway – the film crew students from ELAM had already made prior arrangements with the Hope & Anchor management – to use the inside of the pub as a location for the next part of their film project – which involved me answering questions about the punk movement ‘in my day’ and my thoughts about the punk movement and counterculture stuff like that, in today’s world (which I knew very little about)

For this part of the film, I was filmed sitting at a table in the corner of the pub – surrounded by a wall full of framed pictures and memorabilia of the pub’s famous music history.

The film crew set their cameras and everything up into positions around the table – mic’d me up and sorted out the sound etc……and off we went.

One of the crew had provided me with sight of the questions they wanted me to answer, the night before – so I was prepared and sort of had my answers ready, in my head.

What I didn’t take into account was that the pub was going to be open for business whilst all the filming was going on – so again, I could see beer supping punter clocking me and think ‘who the bloody hell is he’ !!!!

Once the crew had filmed me answering a set of questions…..that was it for the day…..it was a “WRAP”….., as they say in Hollywood !!!

A week later, my London Shoes returned once again to the Hope & Anchor pub in Islington, for the filming of Day 2 of the student’s punk documentary project.

This time, I brought with me, a whole batch of punk related stuff I had at home – inc LP’s / Singles (not sure the students knew what ‘singles’ actually were – why would they) / Books – plus something that I never realised I had, until I dug out all the albums.

Inside each album sleeve, there were cuttings of articles from the New Musical Express and the Melody Maker and Record Mirror that I had obviously cut out at that time and stuffed them in the album sleeve, I guess for posterity purposes – I wasn’t married then !!!

These newspaper articles capture the early development of the punk scene in London – with particular focus on bands like The Clash and The Sex Pistols…..a real surprise for me to find them, and read them again, after almost half a century!!

Also – one of the old books I had, captured the whole punk scene at the old (now ‘lost’) Roxy and the Vortex venues that I had published the blog on that the students had stumbled upon – that eventually led us to this film project.

All this additional punk related physical material I brought along with me, was gladly welcomed by the students, as they could now photograph it and create stuff like collages to include in the film. Also, all my early punk era albums could be put out on display, to create a ‘punky’ vibe/backdrop.

So – this 2^nd filming session had me paired up with a modern day ‘punk’, or more accurately, a young man with punk ideology, ethics and a punk ethos.

The young man’s street name/tag was ‘Gunk’ and the days ‘shoot’ was simply me and him sitting opposite each other across a table in the Hope & Anchor – discussing our personal views to set questions about punk ethics / ethos / counter culture / changing the world etc and stuff like that. It was very much a ‘then & now’ call and response type of scenario.

I spoke a lot about how the punk scene at its very beginning, developed from the youth of that time being fed up with the fashions/styles of their elder siblings – and bored by the music they were listening to (ie Pink Floyd / Genesis / Yes etc – self-indulgent 10min drum/guitar solos and stuff like that).

So they created their own fashion which was all very DIY – ripped jackets / facial piercings / bondage stuff – which was heavily influenced by people such as Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood, who had the shop ‘Sex’ down the end of the Kings Road-Chelsea – where the lads, who went on to become The Sex Pistols and The Clash plus many other prominent punk bands, all used to hang out.

I also touched upon just how big an influence on punk music and the punk scene – that Ramones gig at the Chalk Farm Roundhouse was back in 1976.

I must say, I was a bit dubious about all this face-off stuff at first, but I actually found the discussion quite an interesting and enjoyable experience – and although there were centuries between us in age and obviously different life experiences etc – I felt me and Gunk had a decent structured conversation around our different views on things.

So – after a few hours filming – it was another ‘Wrap’– ‘in the can’ – and the whole experience had come to an end.

Before we all went our separate ways, we had a little briefing session about the filming sessions – and the material the film crew now had to go away and work with to come up with the final production.

We took a photo of us all together – to remember the experience by….and that was it!!!

A few weeks after this experience my London Shoes received not one, but two links to 2 separate films emanating from the project – done separately by 2 of the students that accompanied me on the day – so what a nice surprise that was for me.

However – the only trouble is, the films were sent to me via a link and format that I’m not sure is compatible with my London Shoes-YouTube link – if it was then I would have no hesitation in posting them onto there. Also – because these 2 films are essentially ‘school’ projects and school property, I’m not sure how the ‘privacy’ stuff works in these sort of situations – but I am investigating, and should I get the go-ahead to publish them, then I shall notify Shoes followers accordingly.

So – to summarise – all I can say is, this is just one of many journey’s my London Shoes have taken me on, since I started my little hobby in 2017 – journey’s that I would never have experienced otherwise.

I’m so grateful to all the people who follow and enjoy my London Shoes stuff and those that have then engaged with me and taken stuff further – its been a blast and I’ve loved every minute.

Regarding this particular experience, I can say I’ve learnt a lot – but the biggest ‘buzz’ I’ve taken away from it, is just how wonderful this small group of students were – bearing in mind there were decades of differences in our ages.

The respect they showed me – their enthusiasm to learn – their positivity – their energy to work on something to produce the best result……were a credit to the ELAM college – but more importantly they were a credit to themselves – they should be proud of themselves.

Far too many times, the youth of today take a ‘hit’ – and yes, there are some wrong’uns out there, as there are with every generation – but my experiences with this bunch, has most certainly restored my faith in the younger generation.

A rather long blog article this one, I know – but the story had to be told and I hope you enjoyed it.

______________________________________

See below the entire gallery of photos taken to support this particular blog article

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Day 1 of filming

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

DAY 2 of filming