OH Heck!

Originally formed in Sutton, Surrey in 1979. The first studio demo was recorded in 1981 and the first gig was in 1982. The debut single was released in 1983 and first album in 1984. We split in 1986, reformed in 2004 and have been through several line-up changes across the 45 years.

Est… Folle is the third album by experimental French singer Brigitte Fontaine, released in 1968 on the Saravah label. Fontaine herself considers this to be her first real album. Jean-Claude Vannier was responsible for the arrangements.

An almost incomprehensibly great final salute to Tim Smith who was damaged by a stroke when he started this record in 2007. The incredible effort by the band to complete this is not just your standard posthumous album. It’s a genuine masterpiece. How they will do this in March 2026 (I have tickets) will be an incredible thing to see.. The loyal and fanatical fan-base have of course lost their minds over this since it was released fully on the 19th September.

‘I Trawl the Megahertz’ was originally released as a solo record by Paddy McAloon in 2003, conceived and recorded after he was diagnosed with a medical condition that seriously affected his vision. Not surprisingly, the album is a testament to the healing power of music. It is comprised of nine compositions: the lengthy 22-minute title track, a series of shorter instrumental pieces and a couple of songs originally intended to accompany a short film. Though the record was originally released as a solo album, it seemed fitting to re-classify it as a Prefab Sprout project.

Back when the Park Cafe was known as Cafe Cha it had music some evenings. The room was tuned to “D” I think as it had a great resonant frequency. Ocelot and The Well Known Thief Family has some memorable gigs there. Even the late great Modal Roberts (RIP) played there and also Fred and Al before Mark and I joined later to make the Experience. Al Ronald - A comedian I worked with, I also met there. A kind of cultural space we have lost. There was a meeting there of artists and think this picture of me dates from then and Rob is in the door behind me. For a laugh I put the picture next to one of my musical heroes, Eric Satie. I think I had one of my bonkers episodes where I composed a few piano tunes in the style of Satie which I am still fond of. The Cha Cha Cafe was one of the first places that semi-opened after lockdown and you could queue safely outside for a coffee and decent (not overpriced food). The people that ran it sold up a year or so after and moved out to run a cafe in Cornwall. It’s now run by a company that has a few park type cafes. The food is overpriced but they make a fine coffee and they still have dog biscuits on the counter for canine visitors which was something the previous owners started. Back then it was 20p for a bag of biscuits which are now free so the dogs are winning at inflation, not me. Sunday was my usual morning out - this time hastened by the double threat of Laura K**sberg and Nigel Fartrage on the TV so to avoid smashing it off the wall I left in good time. This morning I bumped into Rob (Ocelot) and Lucille. We both as grey as heck these days. They had a game of ping pong outside on the open air tables and I remarked that this is the only sport I have seen Rob partake in for the 25 years I have known him. We acknowledge that Watford and the world is not the same and then go our separate ways.