User:Malcypoos

Malcypoos is the nickname of Malcolm Birtwell which was coined by his friends in the 70s copying one of the jingles of the late Kenny Everett "let's have a little breaky-poo" from his television show; The Kenny Everett Video Show. Green Beach [1] [2] [3] was formed in 1985 by Malcolm Birtwell from West Runton, Dave Lewis from Sheringham and Bill Allard from Southrepps and were part of a scene generally termed as the Cromerzone. [4] North Norfolk had a vibrant local music scene at this time. Malcolm taught himself guitar by ear by copying early songs by The Cure from Three Imaginary Boys and Seventeen Seconds albums and was latterly much influenced by The Smiths' Johnny Marr; as a result stylistically they were often likened to The Smiths. Another major influence in Malcolm's life was the West Runton Pavilion [5][6][7] where he saw many bands from 1978 until its closure in 1983. There is a book; "What Flo Said" [8][9] telling the story of this once famous rock venue, situated in a tiny North Norfolk Village. Malcolm was the songwriter of Green Beach. Dave Lewis had played drums in various bands notably C-View Bagpipes with Alistair Murphy, Diana Hare and Steve Gilbert, but when he joined Green Beach he took up bass guitar having been much impressed by Mark King of Level 42. Bill Allard had also been in a number of bands such as Passchendaele, since Paston School, now Paston College, with Jem French and Steve Little to name but a few. Bill was much influenced by heavy metal music such as Iron Maiden, but his musical tastes, like those of his fellow band members, was quite diverse. Green Beach rehearsed twice a week in Moons Disco, Village Inn, West Runton [10] courtesy of Chris Wren the landlord at that time and so tended to gig around the coast, at the Melbourne Lounge, now Giovanni's [11], in Cromer, Moons Disco to the rear of The Village Inn, next door to the by now defunct West Runton Pavilion. They also played at The Jacquard Club [[12]] supporting Lawrence and the Comfortable Society. Part of their first ever gig at West Runton Village Inn can be seen on Facebook at The West Runton Village Inn Appreciation Society [13].

Alistair Murphy recorded Green Beach [14] in his studio in Crossdale Street, Northrepps in 1986. The four songs were released as a cassette EP entitled "Annoying The Neighbours" following Bill's drum practising having attracted a neighbour's ire in Southrepps.