The Blockheads

The Blockheads
Left to right: Norman Watt-Roy (bass), Charley Charles (drums), Ian Dury (vocals) and Davey Payne (sax)
Background information
Also known as	Ian Dury and the Blockheads
Origin	London; Cambridge
Genres	New Wave, funk
Years active	1977 (1977)-Present
Labels	Stiff, Statik Records, Demon Music Group, Ronnie Harris, Blox, EMI,
Associated acts	Ian Dury, Kilburn & the Highroads
Website	www.theblockheads.com
Members
Chaz Jankel Norman Watt-Roy John Turnbull Mick Gallagher Derek Hussey John Roberts Lee Harris Gilad Atzmon Occasional Davey Payne Dave Lewis Luke Gallagher
Past members
Ian Dury Charlie Charles Stephen Monti Merlin Rhys-Jones Will Parnell Dylan Howe Wilko Johnson

The Blockheads are an English rock and roll band. Originally fronted by vocalist Ian Dury as Ian Dury and the Blockheads, the band has continued to perform since Dury's death in 2000. Current members include Chaz Jankel (guitar), Norman Watt-Roy (bass guitar), Mick Gallagher (keyboard/piano), John Turnbull (vocals/guitar) and Davey Payne (saxophone). The band are best known for their hit singles "What a Waste", "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick", "Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 3" and "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll".

History

Formation and early years

Live at The Roundhouse, Chalk Farm, London, 1978

Under the management of Andrew King and Peter Jenner, the original managers of Pink Floyd, Ian Dury and the Blockheads quickly gained a reputation as one of the top live acts of New Wave music. They built up a dedicated following in the UK and other countries and scored several hit singles, including "What a Waste", "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick" (which was a UK number one at the beginning of 1979, selling just short of a million copies), "Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 3" (number three in the UK in 1979), and the rock and roll anthem, "Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll". (Although it is sometimes claimed that Dury coined the phrase, there is evidence that it was already in common use and a virtually identical wording was used by Australian band Daddy Cool for the title of their second album Sex, Dope & Rock'n'Roll: Teenage Heaven, released in 1972.) The tune is based on part of Charlie Haden's bass solo on "Ramblin'" on Ornette Coleman's 1959 album Change of the Century.)

Live at The Roundhouse, Chalk Farm, London, 1978

Dury's lyrics are a distinctive combination of lyrical poetry, word play, observation of British everyday (working-class) life, acute character sketches, and vivid, earthy sexual humour. "This is what we find ... [H]ome improvement expert Harold Hill of Harold Hill, Of do-it-yourself dexterity and double-glazing skill, Came home to find another gentleman's kippers in the grill, So he sanded off his winkle with his Black & Decker drill." The song "Billericay Dickie" continues this sexual content, rhyming "I had a love affair with Nina, In the back of my Cortina" with "A seasoned-up hyena, Could not have been more obscener".

The Blockheads' sound drew from its members' diverse musical influences, which included jazz, rock and roll, funk, and reggae, and Dury's love of music hall. The band was formed after Dury began writing songs with pianist and guitarist Chaz Jankel (the brother of noted music video, TV, commercial and film director Annabel Jankel). Jankel took Dury's lyrics, fashioned a number of songs, and they began recording with members of Radio Caroline's Loving Awareness Band—drummer Charley Charles (born Hugh Glenn Mortimer Charles, Guyana 1945), bassist Norman Watt-Roy, keyboard player Mick Gallagher, guitarist John Turnbull -- and former Kilburns saxophonist Davey Payne. An album was completed, but major record labels passed on the band. However, next door to Dury's manager's office was the newly formed Stiff Records, a perfect home for Dury's maverick style. Their classic single, "Sex & Drugs & Rock and Roll", marked Dury's Stiff debut and although it was banned by the BBC it was named Single of the Week by NME on its release. It was soon followed by the album New Boots and Panties!!, which was eventually to achieve platinum status.

Live at the Roundhouse, Chalk Farm, London 1978

In October 1977 Dury and his band started performing as Ian Dury and the Blockheads, when the band signed on for the Stiff "Live Stiffs Tour" alongside Elvis Costello and the Attractions, Nick Lowe, Wreckless Eric, and Larry Wallis. The tour was a success, and Stiff launched a concerted Ian Dury marketing campaign, resulting in the Top Ten hit, "What a Waste", and the classic hit single, "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick", which reached #1 in the UK, was notably not included on the original release of their subsequent LP Do It Yourself. Both the single and its accompanying music video featured Davey Payne simultaneously playing dual saxophones during his solo, in evident homage to jazz saxophonist Rahsaan Roland Kirk, whose 'trademark' technique this was.

“	Einstein can't be classed as witless He claimed atoms were the littlest When you did a bit of splittin'-ness Frightened everybody shitless	”
—from There ain't half been some clever bastards

“	I could be a lawyer with strategems and ruses I could be a doctor with poultices and bruises I could be a writer with a growing reputation I could be the ticket man at Fulham Broadway station	”
—from What a Waste

The band's second album Do It Yourself was released in June 1979 in a Barney Bubbles-designed sleeve of which there were over a dozen variations, all based on samples from the Crown wallpaper catalogue. Bubbles also designed the Blockhead logo which received international acclaim, and continued to be used by the Blockheads after Dury's death, e.g. on their DVD: Live in Colchester 2004.

Jankel left the band temporarily and relocated to the U.S. after the release of "What A Waste" (his organ part on that single was overdubbed later) but he subsequently returned to the UK and began touring sporadically with the Blockheads, eventually returning to the group full-time for the recording of "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick"; according to Mickey Gallagher, the band recorded 28 takes of the song but eventually settled on the second take for the single release. Partly due to personality clashes with Dury, Jankel quit the group again in 1980, after the recording of the Do It Yourself LP, and he returned to the USA to concentrate on his solo career. The group worked solidly over the eighteen months between the release of "Rhythm Stick" and their next single, "Reasons To Be Cheerful", which returned them to the charts, making the UK Top 10. Jankel was replaced by former Dr. Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson, who also contributed to the next album Laughter and its two minor hit singles, although Gallagher recalls that the recording of the Laughter album was difficult and that Dury was drinking heavily in this period. In 1980-81 Dury and Jankel teamed up again with Sly and Robbie and the Compass Point All Stars to record Lord Upminster. The Blockheads toured the U.K and Europe throughout 1981, sometimes augmented by jazz legend Don Cherry on trumpet, ending the year with their only tour of Australia.

The Blockheads disbanded in early 1982 after Dury secured a new recording deal with Polydor Records through A&R man Frank Neilson. Choosing to work with a group of young musicians which he named The Music Students, he recorded the album Four Thousand Weeks' Holiday. This album marked a departure from his usual style and was not as well received by fans for its American jazz influence.

"Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll"

Main article: Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll

The song was written by Ian Dury and Chas Jankel in Dury's flat in Oval Mansions, London (nicknamed "Catshit mansions" by Ian) that overlooked The Oval cricket-ground. The way the pair worked was for Ian Dury to present Jankel with lyric sheets hand-typed by the singer. According to Chas in Sex And Drugs And Rock And Roll: The Life of Ian Dury he would be repeatedly given the lyric for "Sex And Drugs And Rock And Roll" but Jankel kept rejecting the song only for it to be at the top of the pile again the next time only to be rejected again. This went on until Dury sung the song's guitar riff to Chas and sang the song's title in time with it. Sometime later Jankel heard "Ramblin", a tune by Ornette Coleman (from the album Change of The Century that also included Charlie Haden and Don Cherry) and heard exactly the same bass riff being played by Haden. Ian Dury once apologised to Coleman for lifting the riff but, as Coleman explained, he (or possibly Haden) had lifted it himself from a Kentucky folk tune called Old Joe Clark. An alternative version to this story exists: as Dury explained when he guested on BBC Radio 4'sDesert Island Discs, he had apologied to Charlie Haden at Ronnie Scott's Club for the riff lift, who responded by saying there was no need for an apology as he had lifted it from an old cajun tune.

The single did not chart, selling only around 19,000 copies (a small amount for a single in 1977) but won critical acclaim. A factor of this poor sales could be Stiff Record's singles deletion policy designed to promote initial sales and as such, chart success. The original single was deleted after only two months.

Released as it was in the height of the popularity of punk rock, the song was misinterpreted (as it is often is to this day) as a song about excess as its title and chorus would suggest. Although the single was banned by the BBC, a number of Radio 1 disc jockeys, including Annie Nightingale and John Peel, continued to promote the record by playing the mildly salacious B-side "Razzle In My Pocket". Dury himself, however maintained that the song was not a punk anthem and said he was trying to suggest that there was more to life than a 9-to-5 existence (such as in his track-by-track comments in the sleeve-notes of Repertoire Records' Reasons To Be Cheerful: The Best Of Ian Dury & The Blockheads compilation). The verses themselves are at times somewhat riddle-like, although always suggestive of an alternative lifestyle:

Here's a little bit of advice, you're quite welcome, it is free

Don’t do nothing that is cut-price, you'll know what they'll make you be

They will try their tricky device, trap you with the ordinary

Get your teeth into a small slice, the cake of liberty

The title of the song became part of the English language and was later used in many other song lyrics.

"Billericay Dickie"

Main article: Billericay Dickie

Narrated by a bragging bricklayer from Billericay, the song is filled with name-checks for places in Essex. It is based around naughty rhymes such as:

I had a love affair with Nina

In the back of my Cortina

A seasoned up hyena

could not have been more obscener

Each verse tells a different short story, relating one of Dickie's sexual conquests around south-eastern England, while in the choruses the character insists he is a caring, conscientious lover and 'not a thickie', even giving the names of two girls ("a pair of squeaky chickies") as references to attest this. Dickie is a character most commonly referred to in the media as an 'Essex lad'. Ironically the song, perhaps the best example of Dury's 'Englishness' and 'Essexness', was given its oompah, fairground like arrangement by an American, Steve Nugent.

Ian Dury stated on numerous occasions (as mentioned in both his biographies, Sex And Drugs And Rock And Roll: The Life Of Ian Dury and Ian Dury & The Blockheads: Song By Song) that he saw Dickie as a pathetic figure. He would reflect this on-stage by breaking down, as if he were about to cry during the final part of the song, before returning to normal, to shout the final lines of the final verse. The song was rarely used as an opening track for live sets (another song from New Boots and Panties!!, "Wake Up And Make Love With Me", was used instead), but it does open the set recorded live at the Hammersmith Odeon, in 1985, that was released as the Hold Onto Your Structure VHS/DVD. Live versions can be found on both of Dury's live albums Warts 'n' Audience and Straight from the Desk.

"What a Waste"

Main article: What a Waste

Essentially a song about being in a job that makes you happy, Dury claimed in an 1984 interview with Penthouse that while not condemning 9-to-5 jobs, he had written the song to make people question their lives, echoing the sentiments of his earlier single "Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll". The song's verses list a number of things the song's narrator could have been, from a driver, poet, teacher or soldier to an inmate in a long-term institution and the ticket man at Fulham railway station before the chorus reveals that instead he chose to 'play the fool in a six-piece band' highlighting some of the pitfalls of this (loneliness specifically), before deciding that 'rock 'n' roll doesn't mind'.

The song was written following the break-up of Kilburn and the Highroads in a lull between the formation of Ian Dury & the Kilburns and was written with Rod Melvin in mid-1975, two year before it was released. Originally a third writing credit was given to Chaz Jankel (Dury's long-term songwriting companion): this third writing credit has gradually been phased out and the 2004 Edsel Records re-issue of Do it Yourself credits the song to Dury/Melvin solely. However in Ian Dury & The Blockheads: Song By Song, John Turnbull (guitarist with the Blockheads) claims that the middle instrumental section was brought over from one of the songs four of the The Blockhead had written while they were their previous band, Loving Awareness.

Dury's first hit, "What A Waste"/"Wake Up And Make Love With Me" was released in April 1978 just before the start of headlining tour, entering the Top 75 on 29 April and spending 12 weeks there. It peaked at number 9 in the UK Single Charts, becoming Stiff Record's biggest-selling single to date. A very limited 12" pressing was also released.

The single has most likely contributed to the confusion over exactly what Ian Dury songs are by 'Ian Dury & The Blockheads', including as it did "Wake Up and Make Love with Me" on its B-side: this is not a new version of the song re-recorded by the band but the version from New Boots and Panties!! which is not a Blockheads album (although some of the band do play on it). "What a Waste", however, is a Blockheads track.

"Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick"

Main article: Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick

First released as the Stiff Records 7" single BUY 38, "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick"/"There Ain't Half Been Some Clever Bastards" went to number one on the UK Singles Chart in January 1979, and is the band's most successful single ever. It also was named best single of 1979 in the Pazz & Jop poll.

Its lyrics mix various locations across the world and a number of phrases in non-English languages (including French and German). According to its author Ian Dury, the song has an anti-violence message.^{[citation needed]}

"Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 3"

Main article: Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 3

Initially released on 20 July 1979, the single BUY 50, "Reasons to be Cheerful, Part 3"/"Common as Muck", reached number 3 in the UK singles Chart the following month. It was the last single to be released by the band in their original line-up.

Later years

The Blockheads briefly reformed in June 1987 to play a short tour of Japan, and then disbanded again. In September 1990, following the death from cancer of drummer Charley Charles, they reunited for two benefit concerts in aid of Charles' family, held at The Forum, Camden Town, with Steven Monti on drums. In December 1990, augmented by Merlin Rhys-Jones on guitar and Will Parnell on percussion, they recorded the live album Warts & Audience at the Brixton Academy.

The Blockheads (minus Jankel, who returned to California) toured Spain in January 1991, then disbanded again until August 1994 when, following Jankel's return to England, they were invited to reform for the Madstock Festival in Finsbury Park; this was followed by sporadic gigs in Europe, Ireland, the U.K. and Japan through late 1994 and 1995. In the early 1990s, Dury appeared with English band Curve on the benefit compilation album Peace Together. Dury and Curve singer Toni Halliday shared vocals on a cover of the Blockheads' track "What a Waste".

In March 1996 Dury was diagnosed with cancer and, after recovering from an operation, he set about writing another album. In early 1998 he reunited with the Blockheads to record the well-received album Mr Love-Pants. In May, Ian Dury and the Blockheads hit the road again, with Dylan Howe replacing Steven Monti on drums. Davey Payne left the group permanently in August and was replaced by Gilad Atzmon; this amended lineup gigged throughout 1999, culminating in their last performance with Ian Dury on 6 February 2000 at the London Palladium. Dury died six weeks later on 27 March 2000.

Present day

The Blockheads have continued after Dury's death, contributing to the tribute album Brand New Boots And Panties, then Where's The Party. They still tour, and are currently recording a new album. They currently comprise Jankel, Watt-Roy, Gallagher, Turnbull, John Roberts on drums, Gilad Atzmon and Dave Lewis on saxes. Derek Hussey (aka "Derek The Draw", who was Dury's friend and minder) is now writing songs with Jankel as well as singing. They are aided and abetted by Lee Harris, who is their 'aide de camp'.

Discography

Main article: The Blockheads discography

• Do It Yourself (1979)
• Laughter (1980)
• Live! Warts 'n' Audience (1990)
• Mr. Love Pants (1998)
• Straight From The Desk (2001)
• Ten More Turnips from the Tip (2002)

External links

• The Official Blockheads Website