East Dulwich's place in Rock'n'Roll folklore

[Incitatus]

On this the anniversary of the death of AC/DC front man Bon Scott 19th Feb 1980 collapsed (after a big night) in a car outside 67 Overhill Road it occurred to me that East Dulwich and its environs can boast several places in Rock?n?Roll folklore.

There?s the Pulp track ?59 Lyndhurst Grove?, the title I?ve been told was a deliberate effort by Jarvis to annoy that houses residents after he attended a vile dinner party there.

Also the brilliantly talented Vivian Stanshall and Neil Innes formed the legendary Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band at 164 Rosendale Road in 1962.

Does anybody know of any other Dulwich musical landmarks?

[Guest]

I've heard rumours that the Rolling Stones once played at the IvyHouse (the other side of Peckham Rye)... and Pink Floyd for that matter...

[Muttley]

Beverley Craven recorded 'Promise me' while living in a flat halfway up Crystal Palace Road. OK, not rock and roll, but she added a bit of class to Top of the Pops.

[clare]

Don't forget Jerome from Robson and Jerome.........

[Keef]

Apparently, Status Quo played their first gig in the Uplands.

[capt_birdseye]

Elvis is alive and well and is working in Somerfield. Fact.

[Huguenot]

I used to see that bird from Texas (the band not the sparsely populated mental asylum) in Franklin's all the time

[Jeremy]

According to wikipedia, Nitin Sawhney and Su-Elise Nash from Mis-teeq have lived in Dulwich. Again, not really rock n' roll though...

[SeanMacGabhann]

2 of the tracks on Bowie's Ziggy Stardust album (Hang on to Yourself & Moondage Daydream) were recorded by a group called Arnold Corns after Bowie agreed to write and produce for them.. this was before the Ziggy album btw

Oh and the connection is Arnold Corns formed at Dulwich College

[Incitatus]

Dear SeanMacGabhann,

Loving the Bowie reference him being a local lad and all (well almost), I know that after he had that school yard fight with his best mate George Underwood (who later designed the art work for both Ziggy and Hunky Dory) which caused his paralysed eye, the 12 year old Bowie was treated at Kings College Hospital driven there from the school by his teacher who just happened to be Peter Frampton's dad, Frampton also played in the Bowie's glass spiders band.

Dulwich College was also the alma mater of Roxy Music guitarist Phil Manzanera, before Roxy he formed a band with other former pupils called Quiet Sun who now enjoy a cult status.

Also found out that Robert Wyatt and The Soft Machine lived on Dalmore Road!

[spadetownboy]

the former casablanca in east dulwich grove when under the guise of the village vine the super furry animals used to drink there on a regular basis,mates of the guvnor

[SeanMacGabhann]

Thanks for the Bowie nod Incitatus, although really you would NOT want to get stuck next to me on a 10 hour plane journey on the subject

I forgot to mention also one of my favourite Dulwich rock references (and also a favourite singer) Cathal Coughlan, a Cork man formerly of 80s ironistas Microdisney and 90s awesome Fatima Mansions, now solo singer based in East London & Paris I believe

Anyway, back in the early 90s when the Fatima Mansions were front cover stars on the NME and the seemingly never ending Tory rule was still merrily strangling the country, Cathal lived in East Dulwich. The Fatima Mansions had a good line in T Shirts ("Raggle Taggle Nein Danke" and "Keep Music Evil" being 2 popular examples ) but one particularly memorable one was a picture of Peter Lilley & Michael Portillo involved in some salacious behaviour, with an equally profane slogan underneath, which Cathal gleefully wore whilst running around Maggie's then-back yard - the "Aryan Slimezone" of Dulwich Village park - an excerpt of tour diaries from the Guardian from that period can be found here:

http://www.cathalcoughlan.com/cc.mv?view+109822204323255

Some may find the jaundiced take on the world a bit much - but he was VERY tired......

[Keef]

My boss is a bit of an Undertones stalker, and he told me one of them lives in Dulwich.

[spadetownboy]

Keef Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> My boss is a bit of an Undertones stalker, and he

> told me one of them lives in Dulwich.

ferrrrgal sharkey used to live down dulwich direction,whether is does now is a different story

[Keef]

No, it's not him. They're actually still going (believe it or not), with a new singer, and it's one of the musicians..... I shall ask him again, as he did say this a couple of years back, and my memory is hazy.

[Mark]

The drummer for 90's indie band Hurricane #1 is Gaz Farmer who lives up by the Gowlett. He's also the goal keeper for East Dulwich's Lordship Lane Sharks (you may have heard of them), who were recently promoted to Tuesday's Catford 5-a-side Powerleague first division.

[capt_birdseye]

Were Hurrican #1 any good? I see they were formed by Andy Bell, guitarist with Ride (ace band) and now bass player with Oasis (over-rated band, long past their sell-by date).

[mockney piers]

But how good were Ride!? I used to watch them in the plinston hall in Letchworth (of which i whinge elsewhere today).

Still have their early stuff on my non appley music thingy.

I've taken the bassist from The Family Cat to a few of the pubs in ED.

[resery]

A member of the nearly-quite-big-once High Llamas works in the library in Grove Vale...

[Incitatus]

Mockney Piers,

The Ride boys are old friends, Loz the drummer is now playing with Jim Reid in the reformed The Jesus and Mary Chain, in fact they start rehearsals this week.

[capt_birdseye]

Going Blank Again - fantastic album

[mockney piers]

incitatus, wow ride playing with the J&M Chain, it's like an all-star music recipe! (well, in my book at any rate) Nice :)

[Michael Palaeologus]

Robert Plant lives in a small village in the Midlands were my bezzie mate lives.

Kind of odd standing next to he-that-is-a-god in the queue in the village shop.

[mockney piers]

I stood behind some long haired idiot in the queue at Virgin, Camden a little while back. He was going on about writing songs that "are a little bit Manic Nirvana, a little bit Physical Graffiti" and all I could think of was "you tw*t".

Then he turned around and it was Robert Plant. I almost apologised for even having thought those thoughts.

He's still a bit of an idiot, but one of the greats and no denying!!

[Keef]

I saw him at a festival in Bristol a couple of years back, because his back up band were basically the guys from Portishead (Bristol lads), and he kept on saying "Bristol" to the crowd to get the easy cheer... I think he actually told us his nan was from there, so that was good enough for them, he's claimed as their own! :-S

For the record, his new stuff is rubbish, but when the riff to Whole lotta love started, the crowd went wild! >:D<