JUST GOT MY LATEST DOSE FROM JP AT "THE SELVEDGE YARD", AN ARTICLE ON ONE OF MY MOST BELOVED ACTS OF ALL TIME, THE ONE AND ONLY, "STRAY CATS" . . . WHAT A FLASH !!!
It got me to thinkin about the significance this trio from Long Island via London had on my life back in the immediate post punk days of the 'Summer of '81' . . . two words . . . . "LIFE CHANGING", encapsulate how much influence these guys, their music and their sartorial style exerted on me and the direction my life took in the intervening thirty years . . .
Back in 1981 I had started my second year at the University of Queensland doing an Arts Degree, History, English and Drama, with a view to possibly teaching. I sure as fuck wasn't doing too much studying but I was immersed in live music, skating and generally writing off 24/7 . . . I'd been fully into the whole punk thing for a few years, from safety pins and GP boots, to the Rude Boy/Ska thing and then the dark jackets, shirts and studied moroseness of Joy Division and early Cure.
I had been living on the Gold Coast since 1976 when dad retired from the Navy, it was the home of cool waves, blonde haired surfers, pretty girls, tourists and not a whole bunch more in my eyes. You see I'd come from Canberra, our nation's fair Capitol, [there is no surf in Canberra] where my life revolved around cars, bikes and skateboards, upon arriving on the Coast, I was surrounded by surfers who mostly hated anything to do with cars and bikes, in particular . . . you were either a surfer or a spannerhead . . . when I fell in love with The Saints, The Pistols, The Clash back in '76-'78, it was probably subconciously fueled by the existing blonde haired hippy attitude I was surrounded by . . The Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, E.L.O, it was everywhere !!!
Anyhow, to cut this short of becomming a novel . . . I had loved hearing "Runaway Boys" and seeing the clip when it was put out in early '81, my old man had three fucking major strokes and was in a coma for two months from just after my birthday in late June, I deferred from uni for second semester, came home to look after the house while mum was in Brisbane to be near dad in the hospital up there, got a job making wood furniture, accidentally inherited the old man's GTR Torana, saw live original bands every night and . . . . bought "The Stay Cats" L.P . . . . . . it was all over bar the Murray's hair wax . . . say hello to brothel creepers, leather jackets and Lucky Strikes !!!
Dad came around and was home in time for Christmas '81, albeit fucked for life, tough old bugger, [the man they couldn't root, shoot or electrocute, three massive strokes wasn't nearly enough to to kill him off !!] and I attempted to restart Uni first semester '82 . . . . it lasted three weeks into February, with a head full of Stray Cats, The Cramps, The Meteors, The Polecats, Robert Gordon et al, a rapidly growing quiff and with the newly released second album, "Gonna Ball" from the Cats, featuring two ultra cool chopped/bobbed black Hogglies on the cover, my uni days were shot to hell !!! Mind you, if dad had been his old self, I reckon he would've kicked my arse straight back to U.Q and 'made' me finish, I mean, I was halfway done . . . oh well.
Myself, my best mate 'Rat', a young Kiwi called Tim Millar and his step father started our own Rockabilly band, "Johnny Bullet and The Ballistics", did the usual gigs for mate's in boardriding clubs, birthdays etc. Then, within a couple of months . . . fuck me !!! We were working with the best bands in the country, doing supports for George Thorogood, Bo Diddly and even Meatloaf and Twisted fucking Sister [they sucked] and attracting monster crowds to our own gigs and covering the country out on the road on tour . . . rock and roll !!!
For me, it is still a huge part of my life, I only stopped playing two to four weekly gigs six years ago and am still in the studio banging out originals with one of my dearest long term musical associates . . . the point is that none of it, not a single musical note on my behalf, would have been possible if it were not for the influence of three skinny white boys from Long Island with monster hair, tats and a throwback image of the fifties . . . furthermore, they firmly and forever re-established and justified my mad, lifelong madness and love for old motorcycles and cars and everything from days gone by that will remain perpetually, intrinsically and legitimately "cool" . . . . long live The Stray Cats !!!
***** to cop a gander at the cover art of "Gonna Ball" and two red hot and rockin Harleys, click on the link below or on post title . . . thanks to "Motorcycle-74" blog for the shot . . . .
MOTORCYCLE 74: Stray cats - cover art - Harley - Davidson
Only sixteen and you can't get a job
ReplyDeleteRunaway Boys was the shit, especially when all the cool kids were listening to the pop tunes.
Remember the Polecats, the Rockats, the Blasters (Long Black Cadillac)? It was a "Punk Intermission". Is "punk" cool to say anymore?
Yih.