Glam + Punk = Blitz
Batcave owner with the rest of the band who was sitting at his table happily obliged .
When Almond passed me a few minutes later I stopped him and told him to his face how much of an arsehole I thought he was much to his shock and surprise . The Batcave had also moved to Heaven , and the Cellar bar ( behind Heaven ) which on any other given night was a heavy duty gay S and M bar like the clubs in the Al Pacino movie Cruising. One particular night a group of gay leather boy clones came in and were checking out the trade among the spikey haired punks while Wayne / Jayne County lay sprawled out on the stage singing fuck off , it was a surreal weird scene to witness .
The Cellar bar also had the oddest toilet , when you went to the gents everyone could see you as one of the walls had been removed and replaced with a wire mesh grill . After the demise of the Batcave London clubs were very dance / soul orientated places not my style , I had one really shit night I remember at the London Limelight club which I strayed into by mistake , the dj played nothing only dance music and Hi /energy which I did,nt really like , though I liked Dead or Alive they were ok , Pete Burns had been around for a very long time in his many guises . It got to the point were I just could,nt listen to anymore of this stuff and we just left our drinks and walked out . luckily I had the Finnish glam rockers Hanoi Rocks a band very much in the dolls image and clubs like Valley of the Dolls (at Fouberts) , the Kit Kat club and the Moscow bar in Bayswater to fill the void around 1984/ 85 . There was also Pleasure and the Beast who were a great rock band , excellent live with snakes ,n, all , formed by ex members of Shock from the Blitz days . I met vocalist Robert Pereno when he was working as a barman in the Batcave and we had a chat , I told him I,d seen the band play the Embassy a while before and I had the records and I thought they were really good and he seemed pleased at someone from Belfast being a fan and he gave me complimentary tickets for an upcoming Pleasure and the Beast gig at the Hippodrome . Sigue Sigue Sputnik are probably the last band of its type that I can remember to take its influences from the R,n,R /Glam / Punk /Blitz era,s . With their heavy electronic twin drums pounding , a throwback to the Glitterband days and the Eddie Cochran rockabilly riffs and Tony James driving one string punk bass synth and with ex fashion designer and original blitzer Martin Degville howling over the top while wearing shocking pink stilleto heeled boots , drapes and exaggerated multicoloured dyed quiffs . I,d been going to Kensington market and I was buying clothes from Johnstons and Rock a cha and you could buy bootleg tapes of the latest live gigs and demos by anyone who was anyone from a stall in one of the corridors as well . The most errie and scariest shop I,d ever been in was here , I,can,t remember the name of it but it was something to do with the Psychic tv cult .
There was wooden blocks set into the floor so as the surface was uneven and it was difficult to walk on without hurting your ankle and there was a very large crucifix like one that would be found in a chapel in the corner with a nazi flag wrapped around it , the place was really sinister and uninviting ,I did,nt like it at all . I had bought a few of the $$$ logo and hardcore porno trannsexual t,shirts from Degville,s shop Ya Ya and I bumped in to him in the shop on the day of the biggest ever $$$ gig at the Royal Albert hall on 13 . 10 . 86 . His manner was very different from his over the top in your face loud image of his stage persona for the tv and in the press , he was wearing all his outrageous clothes as usual but he was very soft spoken , shy even and like most of the other well known people I,d met very friendly . I met him again later that night at the after show party at the London Limelight . Sigue Sigue Sputnik were hated by the music press but I thought they were great , they brought out an audience who for a long time were all dressed up with nowhere to go . I saw them live a few times over the years including a secret gig they played at the Camden Palace on 31 .7 .86 as the Sci Fi Sex stars when they screened an illegal pirate copy of Clockwork Orange a banned movie at the time on the clubs large video screen overhead while the ultraviolent droogs in the audience looked on menacely . Since the days mentioned here faceless dance music and conveyor belt pop without characters or personality has took a stranglehold on the music scene and has all but destroyed it , but over the years there has always been pockets of resistance in clubs and bars where kids or the still young at heart who were there and want to get back to the vintage sounds of the 70s early 80s can relive or visit those great years for the first time and that can only be a good thing , long may it continue.