Colin Barton.a fine man

[TerryMurphy]

Colin Barton,invited me to the Albert Hall ,last thursday to see Mark Knophler from Dire  Straits,he called on the Tuesday and guess what i had to refuse ,over another engagement,so thanks Colin who i first met at the Bridge house,with Chris Thompson,in i guess 1976,Its was me ,Colin And Chris Thompson who formed Bridge house Records LTD  in 1978  we were all directors of the company,all these years later he is  still thinking of me and Rita,what a pal aye.Colin is now Marks road Manager.among many others,.good luck Colin.Terry M

[Dagenham Dave]

Would this be the same Colin Barton who used to do stuff at the Hermit Club in Brentwood and used to be mates with Denny Newman?
If it is I used to drink with him regularly when I lived in Brentwood, a whole bunch of people that were into music all used to hang out at the Castle back in the 90's.

[TerryMurphy]

yes you got him  Dave he lived with his parent in Brentwood,he now lives in Souther France after years in Guernsy.hes best mate is Denny Newman T.M

[Dagenham Dave]

I had some very good chats with him over a few beers, diamond geezer! Denny was another one that I used to drink with regularly, superb musician. I believe he runs a pub now, posssibly in Norfolk.

[Lee Drury]

Colin Barton rings a bell. Cant put a face to the name though. If he was running the Hermit club during the early 80s he probably still has the hump with us (Erazerhead). We were booked to play there and our van driver let us down. Trigger phoned the Hermit club to explain and the guy on the phone was very aggressive and gave Billy boy a real hard time. We re-scheduled and the day before the next gig, Spanner our bass player left the band suddenly and we were unable to play again. This was the only time anything like that had ever happened and it seemed like we were never meant to do the gig. Its a shame as I had a lot of punk mates from the Chelmsford area who were all gonna make the short trip to Brentwood to come and support us.
Because of the gyp the guy gave trigger after the first cancellation, no one wanted to phone and cancel the second gig. I thought that it wasnt right to let him down with no word of an explanation so I phoned him up and tried to explain. He hit the roof and began to threaten us and said that he had a load of contacts in the music bizz and he would see to it that we would never work again! I said 'werent you listening? We have split and we are finished. We wont be working again as its over'. In the end I had to say 'look mate. We're sorry' and hang up as the bloke on the other end of the phone was going ballistic.
I had given the music scene my best shot but by then I had two children and a mortgage to pay, and all I ever got from the whole sorry affair was a load of hangovers and nothing else to show. We made and sold a load of records, did a peel session etc and I recieved a grand total of £350 for 7 years hard work. Never had a penny since although we still have a 23 track greatest hits cd for sale.
That is a bone of contention.
That was the problem with the music bizz. Fat bastards with suits get all the money, or in my case slimey gits and frenchmen. The people who do all the work do it for nothing most of the time.
Trigger went on to road manage Public Image, Primal Scream and Oasis amongst others and is still heavily involved. He has propped up a few bars with Rocco on tour over the years and has got me in to a load of gigs gratis. He even has a gold 'Never Mind The Bollocks' signed by Mr Lydon.
Jim Berlin just wasted his talent.
Gary Spanner went back to his day job and seems to be happy with his wife and children today.
I decided to do step back and be as good a dad as I could be. Nothing is more important than your children. Now they are all musical and occasionally ask thier old dad for a bit of help and advice.
I am doing a little recording with Jeff Ellis at the moment and am enjoyng every minute of it.
I still think all these punk bands reforming is a bit sad and they look like a load of silly old gits having a mid life crisis! Leave it alone and look in the mirror.
Lee.

[Dagenham Dave]

Talk about a small world! Trigger, who Lee mentions in his post, is married to my cousin Jackie

[Lee Drury]

Hello Dave, it is a small world indeed.
I just read the bikes at the bridge post. Do you still have anything British? I have a BSA Hornet A65, a T120 TT Triumph and a late 30s flathead Harley. They are all in France at the moment so I cant meet you up at high beech this sunday! Im hoping to bring one back this summer.
Lee.

[Dagenham Dave]

I recently sold my Triumph Trophy 900 so I'm down to a GSX1400, Fireblade Steetfighter, and a 79 Guzzi 1000 that I'm currently customising in a kind of bobber style. I haven't had an old British bike for many years but I'm thinking about selling the Fireblade and either getting a Bonnie or Commando or possibly a Harley-I'm the wrong side of 50 now and haven't really got the reactions or the stamina for the 'Blade any more!
Haven't been to High Beach for a long time either as I live out in the wilds of Suffolk now.

ps you might like to have a look at these pics I took in Lyme Regis a couple of weeks ago, they're of the Westland MCC Classic bike run
http://s226.photobucket.com/albums/dd286/blankgendave/coast%20to%20caost%20run%2008/

[TerryMurphy]

Went passed the old Robin Hood yesterday,Down the ongar rd new owners in there done it up,looks good,.I will try to get Colin Barton there for a reunion?T.M