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
Sunday, November 19, 2017
Friday, November 17, 2017
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.
Wednesday, November 15, 2017
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 18th, 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.
Saturday, November 11, 2017
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