Misspent youth

Going to an in person seminar on the new Data Use and Access Act (my life is so exciting) in Islington the other day, I turned the wrong way out of the station. Sometimes Google maps doesn't help you orientate your direction - I ended up strolling the wrong way along Upper Street. I stopped to review my directions (yes, 180 degree turn needed), but mostly I stopped outside an arts centre that had a certain familiarity - because in the 80s it had been a pub.

Islington in the 80s was perhaps a little different to how it is now - the pub had a 'reputation', including several murders, but it also had live music most nights. And on Tuesday nights, for quite a long while (maybe a year or more), the resident band was Aardvark and No Money.

Pretty sure this is where A&NM
did their 'World Tour'

Aardvark and no money.... say it out loud and you might get the joke. Then imagine a nice black and white illustration of a cute aardvark on his back trying to get cash out of a piggy bank. And this is because in the 80s I was in a rock folk band called Aardvark and No Money and we did have a cute logo. 

Some nights we would turn up and have to clean the stage of human excreta or broken glass before setting up our PA. Some nights the audience would listen, some nights they would totally ignore us, but there was usually a full house. We advertised our residence at the pub in the Melody Maker as a 'World Tour of Islington'.  

Our singer at the time, Kevin, had a big old Luton van that we'd bring the gear in - that is until he wanted to sell it to a friend who drove it away without ever paying. The police said it wasn't theft, the absconder just owed him the money. I don't think  you could do that now. But I remember jumping in and out of that old van, unloading equipment (I had a big old bass amp), and one time in my tight PVC black trousers (couldn't afford leather) hearing a loud rip. That was an interesting night.

The pub dog was a big, friendly Doberman. He was blind and would wander around the pub in search of crisps, bumping into stools and people. The landlord told us that the dog had been stolen once, but returned the next day!

I can't remember an awful lot more about our residency at the pub, I can't even remember its name at the time! But it's funny how a wrong turn can just open up a slice of your past. (I just did a quick search and found the name of our first, and only album - 'Termite's the Night')

Liked this? Try...

• So long and thanks...
• Music, music...
• Follow the link to an old Aardvark video to see what I looked like in the 80s - perm and all.