There’s a lot more people in D.C.
There’s a lot more people in D.C. who need this worse than this statue ever did
(Lincoln Memorial)
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Q-Tips are an English rock band first formed in 1979 from the remnants of the 1970s rock outfit Streetband. (Its name derives from a well-known brand of cotton swab.) Saddled with the novelty song “Toast”, a B-side made successful from incessant airplay by Radio 1’s Kenny Everett, and despite two competent albums, Streetband had failed to find credibility. Drummer Chalky and guitarist Roger Kelly departed, leaving the remaining trio of Paul Young on vocals, Mick Pearl on bass guitar, and guitarist John Gifford.
The ex-Streetbanders and new recruits Dave Lathwell on guitar, Baz Watts on drums and 4-piece brass section Steve Farr, baritone sax, Richard Blanchchard, tenor sax and Stuart Van Blandamer alto sax and Tony Hughes, trumpet hailed from North West London/Hertfordshire while organist Ian Kewley, lived in Essex. The idea was simple – put together a soul band to play the music they all loved, just for fun and maybe a couple of gigs.
[edit] History
This article is written like a personal reflection or essay and may require cleanup. Please help improve it by rewriting it in an encyclopedic style. (December 2007)
In the late 1970s the punk music scene and the iconic band The Sex Pistols were in terminal decline. A new genre, Two Tone was eclipsing punk in popularity. The Police and Gary Numan were at the top of the charts. Bob Geldof and The Boomtown Rats had a hit with “I Don’t Like Mondays” and “pub rock” had already gone mainstream with Ian Dury & The Blockheads reaching the No 1 spot earlier in the year. Other bands on the ascendancy or consolidating recent success were the new wave acts Blondie, The Pretenders, The Specials and Dexys Midnight Runners.
Q-Tips’ first rehearsals took place on the three days 12-15 November 1979. The first gig was just three days later on 18 November 1979 at the Queens Arms Hotel in Harrow. This was followed 3 days later by another at the Horn of Plenty, St Albans – a regular gig for Streetband during 1978. The gigs came quickly and for the first few weeks the band performed as The Harrow Horns, adopting the Q-Tips name after working for several weeks. Suggestions of legal action over the band name by the makers of Q-Tips, the cosmetic cotton product however appeared to be anecdotal. The story was probably created for promotional advantage and no written evidence of the story was ever produced. In truth, the band were never a significant entity in global promotional terms where the band name may become an issue.
The group developed quickly finding its stride in what was to emerge as its true forte and which separated them from many bands of their day, solid live performance. The band comprised several seasoned professionals including the brass section which on top of the fat, combo brass parts had strong backing vocals and a choreography routine for every rhythm. Also solid, uncluttered bass from Mick Pearl, and Baz Watts able to meld technically proficient drumming with an authority to underpin an 8-piece outfit. Dave Lathwell brought second rhythm guitar to compliment that of John Gifford. The former influenced by bands such as The Little River Band and Little Feat, while the later leaned more towards the likes of Average White Band.
Q-Tips played 16 gigs in its first month of existence. This included well-established rock venues of the late 1970s such as The Golden Lion and The Greyhound in Fulham, and The Venue in Victoria, and in addition many other venues established recently during the emergence of “Pub Rock”. For example The Bridge House in Canning Town (now demolished), The Half Moon in Hearne Hill, The Hope & Anchor in Islington and The White Lion in Putney all of which became regular haunts in the early days and where the band quickly built a strong following.
Some personnel changes occurred during the first 6 months. Richard Blanchard’s departure left the brass section as a 3-piece (Steve Farr/baritone sax, Stuart Blandamer/alto sax and Tony Hughes/trumpet). Dave Lathwell’s departure left John Gifford covering all rhythm guitar parts.
By 1 April 1980, after just four months of life, the band had already achieved a staggering 80 live gigs and made multiple radio appearances. Gigs at this time were mainly in pubs and clubs in and around London. In addition to this relentless gigging schedule during this time the band held rehearsals for recording sessions and recorded two tracks in the first quarter of 1980. “SYSLJFM (The Letter Song)”, the letters stand for Save Your Sweet Love Just For Me, an up tempo soul shuffle previously recorded by Joe Tex was recorded on 14-16 January 1980, and “Having A Party”, a hit for Sam Cooke in the 1960s, recorded 20-21 March. Both tracks were recorded at Livingstone Studios, Barnet. The first of these recordings, “SYSLJFM” (i.e. Save Your Sweet Love Just For Me) reached No 11 in the Sounds Independent chart on 18 April 1980. Simple arithmetic shows 80 gigs plus 5 days of recording/rehearsals in a 4-month period actually leaves little time for anything other than eating, sleeping and travelling in a transit van.
As word spread, initially the music press embraced the band then quickly damned them with suspicions of the band’s sincerity. Comparisons were made with Dexy’s Midnight Runners, although the bands had little in common. Contemporaries such as The Specials had recorded tracks such as “Ghost Town”, reflecting the youth of the day’s bleak vision of Thatcher’s Britain, no hope, no work, and “too much fighting on the dance floor” while Q-Tips offered something else – a party. This made comparisons with the serious dour outlook of Dexy’s all the more puzzling. To say nothing of the musical difference and Dexy’s pursuit of a mysterious philosophy to search for young soul rebels. The Tips had no philosophy except to have a lot of fun playing music they loved.
Some sections of the media accused them of being retro, a covers band, revivalists. The band had plenty of Stax, Motown and Atlantic records in their collections and the band did indeed covered soul classics but not as many as the media liked to suggest. From mid-1981, there were perhaps just three covers in a 90-minute show, with the remaining songs being penned by the band. Consequently the band worked constantly and in the process built a strong following not just in London, but in cities such as Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, and Loughbrough. (University towns – note!). Meanwhile the media persisted, having found a band clearly having more than their fair share of fun both onstage and off. Curiously while lambasted by the media the band regularly appeared in media’s own “Wot-U-Listening-2-This-Week?” playlists.
By now the band were gigging mostly at least 6 nights a week, with the occasional ‘double’ thrown in for good measure (a double being an early gig, followed by another later that same day). A day off was usually co-ordinated with a journey home from a gig in Dundee or Penzance, the need to say hello to an estranged partner or to disinfect the stage clothes. The band wore suits, shirts, ties and leather shoes, in contrast to the austere donkey jackets, woolly hats and rucksack apparel of bands like Dexys. Constant gigging was one way to maximise efficiency of hired vans, trucks and PA systems – just one factor in the economic realities of keeping an 8-pice band afloat financially. The university “Freshers Ball” being a firm favourite for the band and the Freshers.
During 1980 the band became regulars at clubs further afield such as Sheffield’s The Limit, The Warehouse in Leeds and just about every University and college on the map. At this stage the band could sell out multiple successive nights at prestigious London gigs such as The Venue, in Victoria – a gig to which the band returned repeatedly during the next 18 months. One pay-off for their relentless hard work was without doubt the emergence of a slick and professional stage show built upon a brass section with choreography routines and tight vocal harmony, a solid, unfaltering bass/drums rhythm section, and the ability to improvise on a whim into songs not within the rehearsed set. A good example being an excursion into Billy Preston’s gospel-flavoured “That’s The Way God Planned It”, during the breakdown section of another song. Indeed the second album Live At Last – a play on the Who’s Live At Leeds) a recording of just another live show, starts with an intensity that most bands barely achieve at the finale of their show. The sheer professionalism of the band attracted the attention of several major record labels with the late Mickie Most (RAK Records) confirming emphatically on Radio 1’s Round Table programme that Q-Tips “…are easily the best live band working at the moment”.
Some further personnel changes occurred, with Garth Watt Roy (brother of Norman, bass player in Dury’s Blockheads, and responsible for the stunning bass line in “Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick”), replaced John Gifford on guitar. Watt Roy had recently toured with Welsh pop star Bonnie Tyler, of “Total Eclipse of the Heart” fame. In June 1981, Stuart Blandamer (alto sax) departed to be replaced by session sax player Nick Payne on tenor sax, while also adding blues harmonica and additional backing vocals. This line-up (Paul Young/vocals, Barry Watts/drums, Mick Pearl/Bass, Ian Kewley/keyboards, Garth Watt Roy/guitar, Steve Farr/baritone sax, Tony Hughes/trumpet, Nick Payne/tenor+alto sax) was to persist for the remainder of the band’s career.
The band’s reputation for exciting live work spread and the professionalism of the live performance grew. In Young, Farr, Watt Roy and Payne the band had an accomplished backing vocal section, adding to the massive horn parts, and the choreography. It all added value to the band’s onstage persona which by now, few bands could match.
Throughout 1981, the band’s stature and crowd-pulling power continued to grow. They could sell out larger London venues such as the Lyceum, and a string of 3 nights at The Marquee and the same at The Venue. The band attracted offers of tour support and prestigious one-off opening slots and also began appearing at various festivals around Europe. TV shows started to appear, with the BBC’s TV/radio hook-up, “In Concert”, 10 September 1981 being one of the first, followed by BBC2’s “The Old Grey Whistle Test” 18 November 1981, and BBC2’s “Rock Goes To College” 19 November 1981. Other TV slots included one-off appearances on ITV’s charity Telethon and children’s Saturday morning TV (No.73 with Sandy Toksvig). The Tips became popular with Radio 1 DJs resulting in numerous live sessions, interviews, and much airplay of the band’s singles.
European work followed, with TV shows (TV Rund, Germany), festivals (Pink Pop, Maastrict; Leixlip Castle Festival, Dublin). Also Euro-club appearances such as Grote Market Theatre (Gronigen) and the Exit Club (Rotterdam). The band even dipped a toe in the water of the European University circuit with a show at the University of Antwerp. The band opened shows for The J. Geils Band at Manchester’s Free Trade all, The Knack at London’s Dominion Theatre, Thin Lizzy at the Milton Keynes Bowl, Bob Marley and Average White Band at the Crystal Palace Garden Party. On the down side the band embarked on an ill-fated summer ’81 tour with After The Fire (80F). Also in 1981 they played at both the Montreux Jazz Festival and at the music industry’s annual beano and possibly the most blasé audience ever assembled, the Midem Festival. Another memorable success was their securing the coveted tour support slot for The Who’s 1980 UK Tour – 12 dates across the UK, including a run of three nights at Wembley’s massive Empire Pool. All the while the regular gigs around London and the universities and colleges continued. All this had occurred less than 12 months since the band first stepped into a rehearsal room. Their itinerary for the entire two years shows that a day off was a rarity. The band played well over 600 gigs, recorded two albums and seven singles, in just two years. When you factor-in journey times for the gigs, the work ethic is a remarkable achievement by any standard.
Aside from their musicianship and in parallel with their professionalism was the band’s reputation for pre/post-gig fun, practical jokes, parties and general debauchery. The Q-Tips annual Christmas card circulated within the music business was barely legal, and at least one editor of a music weekly joined the band on tour for a week to see for himself. Field operations such as the Wardrobe Tour, the Ferret Club, and the War Correspondent are probably best left to the imagination of readers and the memories of those concerned.
The band came under increasing pressure when while gigs continued to fill the diary, the more lucrative record sales (as was the casae in the early 80’s) evaded them. The band came to an end in early 1982 when Paul Young announced a solo deal with Sony/CBS, capitalising on the reputation created over a 2-year period.
Some concluding activity followed to settle tax bills. This included the March-April 1982, Last Chance To See The Best Live Band In The World Tour. Soon after, Young began touring billed initially as Q-Tips ensuring the gigs and wages continued to flow for the time being. The name was a misnomer as the line up had only Ian Kewley remaining from the original band. Performing under the Q-Tips name was not viable for other reasons however as the new band had an entirely different flavour, no brass section, choreography, strong backing vocals though this later changed with the addition of various backing singers. This incarnation quickly changed to Paul Young and The Family, then to Paul Young and The Royal Family.
In late 1982/early 1983, the brass section and drummer toured with Adam Ant on the UK and US legs of his Friend or Foe tour. Adam recalls that by the end of the US tour, they had played to over 250,000 people. Some of the Q-Tips also toured with Adam Ant on his 1984 Strip Tour.
Ordinal post fail – Too long.
I buy them all from Benford Tools.
Arr arr arr.
>Benford
*flinch&
Heh. Much as I love the ordinal posts that one was so long my scrolling finger started to feel arthritic.
Being laid off the last few weeks, and needing to conserve finances, I have simply been sitting here on FB and PK. My right index finger is sore from using the touch pad. *sigh*
Call the government. Assert your right to have an ergonomic mouse. They’ll have to give you one.
Hell, they can claim the mouse “saved or created” 20 jobs.
Everybody wins!!!!
20? More like 2000.
I often have hand pains, from being too enthusiastic about just anything I do. Whether it be to glue latex clothes, make christmas decoration needlework or play Warhammer Online, I always do it until my fingers are starting to fall off. ;p
So yeah – I know what you mean, I think.
Tell us more about the latex clothes. This is relevant to my interests…
Making latex clothing is one of my favourite hobbies. Wearing it and going to fetish clubs is another of my favourite hobbies. If there weren’t so many Americans on this site, I’d happily discuss it here, but I think it’s probably MUCHLY offensive by American standards.
Latex = GOOD!!!!! We may be American, but there’s also a lot of men. Anything TIGHT and Shiney is GOOD!! Come on this is the country that has perfected the CFM Boots.
I know. There are some truly fabulous latex makers in the US. I just couldn’t pass on the opportunity to make a good-natured poke at the US.
Well most men can’t pass up a good-natured poke at a woman in latex. Please, go on.
“Latex = GOOD!!!!!” Unless you’re unfortunate enough to have an allergy too it.
Ha! Well we’re all very much more enlightened here in Europe… *dons latex anti-troll suit*
A well cared for latex suit is the best anti-troll gear ever!
I still remember using a bicycle innertube patch kit to fix a roommate’s latex mini-dress before she went clubbing. That was fun! The roommate, on the other hand, was too high maintenance for me.
s’OK. I’m sentimental about the time I spent rehabilitating a paper mache skeleton, so I can’t complain!!
The Puritans totally ruined things for the U.S. Bastards!!
This one I’m leaning towards the bra burning non-shaving man eating lesbiens, b/c “Latex would exploit the woman’s body” (and nobody and I MEAN nobody would want to see them in it).
I think they’re but one side of the puritan coin.
(…which, btw, I think is an impressively multi-sided coin.)
Um, shouldn’t that be ‘bra burning non-shaving WOMAN-eating lesbians’? Just asking!
PS Putians ruined beer on Sunday and after 8 PM in Connecticut.
I read ” Putians” as something related to Putin. ;p
I read it as the nickname for Lilliputians. Jonathan Swift, respet!! *snap*
R-E-S-P-E-T!
(Damnit, why doesn’t it fit with the music?)
Oh well, nvm, SOCK IT TO ME!
Mine was Ali G not Aretha F.
Ah. Yes. The Staines respet. I see!
But the puritans are why we have feasts at thanksgiving!
I thought thanksgiving was just to punish the turkey population for all of the horrible things they have done
… your point?
The purist turkeys and the purist Americans have been in cahoots for Quite Some Time.
Hahaha. Yeah well I bet the turkey’s wish the puritans had never banned Christmas all those many years ago. Thanksgiving then would still be about going to church to “give thanks to god” while FASTING, rather than feasting.
Though I’m sure they were happy about Lincoln designating an official day rather than whenever people felt like having one (which was many).
Course Lincoln is also the one who spread the propaganda of the indians and pilgrams having a feast.
Yes! This is an interesting experience of mine – I have never been in any club or pub where I can be so free of unpleasant sexual approaches or even stupidly clumsy flirting as in fetish (and similar) clubs. (Possibly because no one, man or woman, is let in unless they are also dressed up in fetish apparel – that weeds out the “hurhurhur:ers”.) It’s the safest environment I can think of, as far as sexual assault is involved.
We have a “dress to impress” rule as well. And sometimes, we charge those who aren’t dressed 3 times the cover so that we can all get in free. And they normally don’t stay long once they see that its not just the girls dressed up, and they hear the music being played. And we never offer refunds. Sweet justice.
I miss my fetish balls.
Me too charro…. me too….
I think I”ll go to the goth club tonight for some dancing.
ooh take bitter troll, bitter troll could use some dancing
Me too!
It’s … umm… Six weeks or so since my last big one.
:/ 
Ok, bitter troll. It’s in Chicago though. Can you make it up from Florida in time?
I’d prefer we go with Danbala, but that’s a little farther.
hmmm long drive for a troll whos car is broken….longer walk
come to florida charro!
But I don’t know where the goth clubs in Florida are.
bitter troll will show you!
There is a place called The Castle in Tampa. Saw VNV DJ there after there concern a few years back.
Great, great parties.
Wow, V. What an evil capitalist you are! Enron would be impressed!
Ooo. good point! oO
But, Danbala, you know I love it.
Mmm, well, yes, but … to everything there is a season* (and a place) …
*) turn, turn turn **
**) goes into obscure references, depending on the audience
All the shineys have distracted me from the point.
tl;dr
Hee! using new tools is fun!
I know!
Their head cleaned?
Ears cleaned out…. so they can hear.
What? You want dears wheemd out so they can cheer?
“wheemd”? Is that like “wee-wee’d?”
Ohooo! It is funny because it is true!
…. or is it true because it’s funny?
Discuss.
2 funny posts in a row. Someone must be deathly ill, and the temps hired to fill in actually thought this was a funny site.
Dare we hope that EW-know-who got the hint?
I figured he got the swine flu, and has been unable to log on with all his socks and vote his garbage up.
According to most doctors, you shouldn’t clean out all the wax from inside of your ears. Something about your body producing it and it being natural, and the removal of it could lead to infection.
What? I can’t hear you… too much wax in my ears…
I think the exception would that if you had some kind of abnormal buildup, but I was told as a general guideline, its not a good idea
The pharmacy type stores sell ear wax removal kits, which if you check them, are nothing other than watered down hydrogen peroxide and a suction bulb.
But like you, I was told it’s not a good idea. I have had the habit since I was a teenager to clean my ears after every shower. I’ve had, maybe 4-5 ear infections in my life. (That I can remember) So who knows?
If I *over*-clean my ears I’ll get an ear infection. If I don’t clean them at all I have chunks fall out at random times. I usually do a swab or two after a shower if my ears have been itchy, or if my bluetooth has been looking grimy when I remove it.
Yummy grimey blue tooth. **puts down sandwich for lunch**
Hearing aides and such can hold back the wax and cause the need for cleaning. Also, older folk can have trouble, because the wax gets more dry and doesn’t self-remove. Therefore the need for ear cleaning kits…
I usually do the peroxide thing once a month, and clean the outer part well, and a careful cleaning of the canal. I think some people dig for gold, rather than a nice drying, and pick up any excess wax along the way.
Too much information, chaps.
No thanks I have pants on, don’t need chaps. Besides I don’t ride a motocycle or have bedroom playtime with a guy named Blaine.
My dear fellow, you’ve never lived.
Considering some of the things discussed in here, I would imagine that was the tamest post on the site.
Or they haphazardly use q-tips and basically pack it down rather than clean it out.
My mother would “clean” our ears once a month, and she ended up packing it down instead. And since I produce far more than necessary I had to have the doctor to clear it out. (Got quite the talking too about it, as well as he assumed I was the one who was attempting to clean my ears out.) Used a water pick for teeth at the highest setting and basically drilled it out. It was actually kind of painful.
Now a days I use the kits from the pharmacy once every month or two to keep things clean but I never use q-tips.
When I was a small child I had a lot of ear trouble. At one point they actually vacuumed out my ears to get all the wax out.
Scrub scrub here
Scrub scrub there
And a couple of la dee das
That’s how we pass the day away!
In the merry old land of Oz.
Why is that man wearing a raincoat? Is Lincoln’s head full of goo?
If the photo was taken recently, it’s because we are being deluged by Ida. What’d we ever do to her? I hate grey rainy days after grey rainy days…..
We’ve gotten more than 4 inches of rain here.
JAC never say 4 inches in a sentence with this group of individuals. It can’t end well.
*noted* Yeah, that thought hit me right after I clicked reply.
That’s what SHE said!
Well, I did say MORE than.
Millmeters? Nanometers? Aangstroms?
*sings*
‘She’s teasing you with science!’
*hangs head in shame, knowing there is no way to win this one*
Oh, all right. *offers brownies* Promise they aren’t ‘magic’ brownies, because I’m pretty much a square with the illicit substances!
*nom nom* [grows more aerodynamic]
*snerk*
I had to get rid of the talking scale last week. When I got on it, it said “One at at time, please.”
It’s dangerous to use Q-tips to remove earwax. You can damage an eardrum. Murine earwax remover is the way to go.
Did anyone like my caption? It’s on page 7 on the View All Captions if you’re interested.
I only do the outside and just inside (where you can see the ‘potatoes’ growing and to dry them a bit. Occasionally. I’ve not had an ear infection in years. But I’m very careful because towards the end of his life, my dad had trouble with ‘water on the ear’ from rinsing them out in the shower, then he had trouble with psoriasis – where they were too dry.
AMEN LoL