Merch

Hello,all! This is Valerie, Martin's page manager. 

Martin and I were having a discussion the other day as to what merch we should sell on his website (Pretendermc.com). 

Naturally, it makes sense to ask you, Martin's fans! 

A few ideas that we came up with were: signed drum sticks, signed drum heads, mugs, and t-shirts. 

If you have any ideas concerning what merch we should sell (and even what design you would prefer to have on your merch), please comment below. We are open to any creative input! 

Many thanks from Martin and I, and thanks to all of you who have been following Martin's blog posts! 

-Valerie

Classic Lineup

 
 From ‘The Book of Rock’.❤️ Photo: Fin Costello

Spaced Out in Perth WA

   Sunday, 29th October 2017  

 

M.D.C. in 1968 by Alan Bayley 

  As I wallow in the throws of jet lag here in Perth WA, the second day in Australia arrives with the sun shining after a windy rainy Saturday. Time is both stretching and standing still.  In the early hours on Sunday, world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua retained his world title with a win over Carlos Takam. Three time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton could only manage third on the grid behind the twenty year old Max Verstappen, and pole sitter (four time world champion) Sebastian Vettel in Mexico.

  I had somehow managed to watch it all live via T.V. screen and computer. The stifling wonders of the modern world, but it ate up the hours.

  I slept from 11pm until 02.30am and awoke wide awake to watch the sporting greats do their thing. I also managed to squeeze in the Moto GP qualifying from Malaysia where, like the F1 race, the pointed end of the season sorted the 2017 World Championship. I stayed up for breakfast at 7am and then slept from 08.45 until 1pm to watch the Moto GP race that Andrea Dovizioso won in the wet to take the championship into the decider against Marc Márquez at the final race of the season in Valencia, Spain. He crossed the line on one wheel at over 200kph.

  The British Tour already feels like a year ago. It is such a strange business, this travel and performance after fifty years behind a drum kit. In my addled mind I never think about how long I will continue. I laugh it all off with phrases like; “The next fifty years should be interesting!”

  I just wish Mott the Hoople could have done a few more shows back in 2009 or 2013 when I toured with them, but of course when it's done, it's done.

  The last few shows in the UK seemed to merge into one. The band had gotten into a high gear and was laying it out there with all the swagger and confidence of a champion prizefighter. We even played the occasional mistake with grit and attitude. As Ian Hunter always said: “Never get too good”. Damn right! Slick Rock ‘n’ roll is boring. It's always got to be edgy.

Oxford New Theatre 18th October 2017 by Alan Bayley

  When I arrived in the early afternoon in Birmingham, news of an accident to the vehicle carrying the rest of the band up from Portsmouth arrived. At an off ramp near the A34, a driver had driven into the back of the queue of cars that the band was in. The impact to the back of the vehicle was minor and fortunately, no harm had come to anyone. 

After the sound check a few of the crew, C.H. and I went to a pub the other side of a canal at the rear of the Symphony Hall to watch a trio playing rock and roll Birmingham style. It was great and could only have been in Birmingham. When they finished the gig at about 6pm we invited the band to the gig. Thanks fellas.

 In Oxford at the New Theatre, my old friend and photographer Alan Bayley arrived to take a load of photos of me. I thought it long overdue to document these 'Golden Years'.  Alan took pictures of me on the drums in the 1960's. He lives near Oxford so it seemed to make sense.

  As you can tell from these ramblings, things are a little fragmented. I am upside down for a day or two until I find my equilibrium - somewhere between my arse and the elbow!

M.D.C.

Memories from the British Tour, 2017

   On Friday the 13th I drove up to Manchester and followed the route my family had driven many times through the 50’s and 60's. Back then, there were no motorways in the west, so the A49 was the way to go. This journey was made in various cars through the years, but the first car I remember well was an Austin 7 Ruby.

  It must have been quite old but could still manage to travel at 47mph downhill with the wind behind it. The journey would take five or six hours or so, which translated to about a week and a half for an eight year old boy! It smelled bad and the constant cigarette smoke from the front of the car would often result in me throwing up over my brother!

The Austin 7 Ruby

 It was interesting to see the names as I passed familiar spots along the journey like, Prees Heath and the swing bridge at Warrington that allowed the smaller ships or barges full of goods to haul inland onto Manchester and probably Birmingham. This was part of the Manchester ship Canal. Today the journey was done amongst a lot more traffic in barely three hours.

  I drove back that night negotiating my way on the A49 to south of the M6 road works and arrived home in two hours fifty minutes.

  The following day was Portsmouth on the South Coast. In the early 70's my band Karakorum had played the Tricorn Club, which was run by the legendary radio DJ John Peel. In the afternoon, he arrived at the top of the tall car park block where the Tricorn Club was in his short wheel base Land Rover. We played football with him - a bit of a kick about before load in.

  During our show at around 10pm that night, Marc Bolan and Mickey Finn had walked past us to come and see John. They had finished the screaming teeny bop show with

T. Rex at around 9pm and were now going out to enjoy the evening with Peel.

  The next day was a gig in Birmingham, and in the late afternoon across the canal from the back of our gig was a band playing in a pub. They were knocking out Zeppelin and Sabbath songs, and were great. Chrissie was diggin' it and it was a nice distraction that killed the time very well. Just by the sound of it you knew you were in Birmingham! 

Photo by Alan Bayley

 The 17th took me to Liverpool and then the final show on the 18th to the Oxford New Theatre. This is where I had seen the very first Bad Company show in 1974. I had been staying at guitarist Mick Ralph's house in London whilst his flat mate (keyboard player Morgan Fisher) was off touring with Mott the Hoople in the States. It was a welcomed relief from sleeping rough in a van at the time.

 On the 18^th, my old friend and photographer Alan Bayley had come to take some pictures of me. It was high time I had some promo shots for my drum manufacturer DW, and other general shots. Alan takes care of the preparation of my old pictures for the PRETENDERMC.COM photo archive site. We had a photo session at sound check and then he took some live shots of me.

 These are the sort of memories that remain with me during the closing dates on the British tour. 

Now off to Dubai and on to the Antipodean Tour.  We had played well and consistently in the UK but little did I know of what was to follow.

                                                                               M.D.C.

Goodbye Dubai

  Monday 23rd October

   Five days after the last British date, I drove to Heathrow to stay the night at the airport before our lunchtime flight to Dubai. After the seven hour Qantas flight that passed us through a quick afternoon and evening, we arrived close to midnight into the heat of the emirate. It didn't start well for me.

  Upon arrival at the hotel, my main bag was not in the back of any of our ground transportation vehicles. It turned out that I had not put it behind the vehicle and had taken a very cavalier attitude to the loading of said luggage. It had disappeared. I went back the airport the following morning to have a search for it and check with left or lost luggage, etc. I was dropped off by taxi at the wrong terminal and took a train to the correct one.

No sign at all.

  At the very end of that day, our tour manager had a call from a hotel the other side of Dubai. He asked if a black Patagonia bag was anything to do with our party, having seen the number on the tag. YES. The bag arrived just after midnight.

  In the intense afternoon heat of the 26th of October we did a sound check at the Irish Village outdoor gig. We had played the venue before and the procedure was not a surprise to us. Opening the show was the lovely Heather Small from the band M People followed by the guys from Aswad. We closed the show.

   Right from the top of our set, cameras were raised high and photographing and filming ensued. This was over the top, as the usual notices were posted to please respect the band’s wishes for no photos or filming. The security did nothing at all to make it obvious that this was disrespectful. Some audience members even tried to help us by telling the more persistent offenders to stop. There is no doubt that there were some people who enjoyed annoying us. Then, even though it's a Muslim country, Chrissie let the persistence have it with both barrels, but it did no good. We did our best for just over an hour and then the organisers were going to drag us off. James held them off for a few seconds, then Chrissie walked off and we followed her. 

  I said 'Well done' to Chrissie, and a man not far from me gave me some grief. At first I ignored him. The situation was tense to say the least. I didn't know the man hurling abuse was the license holder for the gig!  

He followed me for some yards away from the stage with security guards flanking him. I didn't know who he was, and then he crossed the line and called me something I didn't like. I immediately spun round and lunged towards him. I couldn't work out why nobody was stopping him. By now our tour manager had stopped me from moving as the guy continued to abuse me. I wanted his name but wasn't clued in to the fact that our tour manager had tried to keep him sweet for the last 45 minutes. The license holder had done nothing to help the situation. A person in that position should have tried to do something constructive during the show, rather than behave like a stupid youth at the end of it. Now he was pushing towards me and goading me to be as stupid as he was and calling me more names.

  Pope Francis was reported recently as being critical of a mobile phone being held aloft at a mass in St. Peter's Square in Rome. The whole point is lift up your hearts, not your phones.

 In our musical performance, each show is unique. I certainly don't play each show the same. So, be there if you can and partake of the evening. Be a part of each song’s creation on the night. Spot the mistakes!

 After the show we had a long chat about it, but my main concern was getting out of the country. What would happen at the airport, etc.

The following day we uneventfully boarded the Qantas flight to Perth at 10am arriving in Perth WA in the early hours of the following day. An eleven hour flight.

 Another odd thing happened in Perth a few days later…

 M.D.C.

The Things You Find...

 

Martin doing a 'photobomb' before it was cool. 

Enter a witty caption or a possible scenario below, as we have no idea what is going on in this photograph.😂