When we couldn’t get any more attention as jump-rope, (the short burst of energy we created was soon swallowed up in my growing panic at still no record deal), we decided we needed another rethink and another name change. Even knocking three years off our ages Danny and I were still in our late 20’s.
Dodgy were recording near by in Highbury with Hugh Jones producing, so we popped in to see how they were getting on. They had just recorded ‘Good Enough‘ and were laughing as they’d borrowed the school bell from the school you could see from Wessex Studio‘s window for the bit that goes ‘Hey, there goes the bell!’.
The song was released a few months later and catapulted Dodgy into the top 5 with their biggest hit.
Through Pusherman, (who were managed by Marcus and Alec – the Oasis management team), we got back stage guest tickets to Knebworth. There was a VIP area right in front of the stage and there was a wristband we were all using to get in, held together with chewing gum, so it could be taken off and passed onto the next person. To my horror, when it was my turn, a security guard put his finger under the wristband and pulled, revealing the stretching gum and our scam. Not only did I fail to get in, but so did the next few people after me, who were annoyed. I felt like a loser.
In the summer of 1996, Danny and I had written a clutch of new songs and were eager to record them. We managed to save up and borrow enough money to go to Bark studio in East London, and work with our friend, the talented Brian O’Shaughnessy. Many of the early Creation records were recorded by Brian, including the original of ‘Loaded‘ by Primal Scream. We were regulars at his studio.
Through our friends, Jess and Martin we met the photographer Corinne Day (credited with discovering Kate Moss). At this time Corinne was photo-documenting Martin’s band, Pusherman, along with getting paid small fortunes for photoshoots by the major record companies. Corinne took some photos of us one afternoon in our basement Highbury flat, only charging us for the film, which was incredibly generous of her.
We now also had a name – Plaza, the Corinne Day photos were ready to go out with the new music.
A very cool start.
We recorded four songs and we were delighted with them. One song in particular was getting a great reaction, ‘Dying Kiss‘.
The three of us were working very hard, taking our music seriously, trying to get as good as we could. Pushing ourselves, digging deep. My vocals are as dark as I’ve ever sung on, ‘Dying Kiss’, matching the somber lyrics. I can hear me glimpsing the next phase and trying my best to get there. Just at the very end a hint of light comes in. I was quite surprised when I heard it for the first time in twenty or more years. (When the light came back into my voice, it exploded, listen to ‘Just Hit A Nerve’ recorded again at Bark in 1998, it blows my mind how different my voice is now).
The guitar playing is pretty cool. My Fender Jaguar and numerous pedals did me proud. We all sounded great. Danny’s and my songwriting was really starting to get somewhere too. After a gig at the George Robey in Finsbury Park, we were told by an enthusiastic A&R man, that ‘Dying Kiss’ was ‘a hit, both sides of the Atlantic’! The plan was to re-record it (with an orchestra!) when we had the record deal.
We released ‘Walk Out Into The Sunshine’ as our debut, on 7″ vinyl. Gary Crowley played it on his BBC Greater London Radio, Sunday lunchtime show and read our names out. We were delighted!
We signed a publishing deal on the back of these songs, with Trevor Horne‘s ZTT.
And so we marched on.
With the publishing money, we were able to go back to Bark and record three new songs and release them as a c.d. single. Once again on our own Push label. Signing the deal had boosted our confidence. Another great session was had; developing our own sound, we were learning more with each studio visit. For the first time, we were concentrating on how we sounded in the studio without worrying how we’d play it live. I was very happy with this recording session, really on to something now, chuffed to bits.
We recorded ‘Futures’, ‘Light Of Day’ and ‘On The Fourth Day’ and released them as a cd single.
The celebrated Scott Piering (previously manager of The Smiths among many other things) agreed to be our radio plugger and got us a Robert Elms live session on BBC Greater London Radio (GLR), where he also got the single ‘b’ listed, which meant daytime plays. We picked up a bit of press in Melody Maker and Music Week.
Every time we played live (that’s us at The Borderline above) I was looking in the audience to see if any of the A&R people I had sent music to had come along. Our friends were getting drained from our constant requests to come to see us live. Each gig was so important to me. This could be the night we’re seen and signed! Always trying, always pushing. Gig after gig, rehearsal after rehearsal. Feeling more distant from our clubbing crowd who were putting their energy into their careers now, while we were jobless and still trying to get a record deal.
Danny and I were friends with Nigel Clark from Dodgy. Nigel let us use his studio in Stoke Newington, down the road from where we lived, to record ‘Breathing Space’. Another act of kindness to help us on our way.
This was released as one side of a clear vinyl 7″ single on the Kooky label. Steve Lamacq played it on BBC Radio 1’s Evening Session when Danny and I were driving to Scotland, we shrieked with delight.
I compiled all 8 Plaza tracks here.
We still managed to have fun though. I’m bottom left with red hair. This is lots of our clubbing friends in Clapham.
Things were changing. Acoustic guitars were starting to appear. Once again through Martin and Jess, we were introduced to another special person. This time their friend from Pompy, Richie Greentree. Richie had just been asked to join the Beta Band, newly signed to E.M.I. and was sent a cassette of music by their manager, who also managed The Verve. I helped Richie with a couple of the bass lines. The cassette was basically their ‘Champion Verses’ e.p. including ‘Dry The Rain’. These songs and their way of recording and writing were a revelation to us. It actually felt like it would be easier and more fun to take a similar approach ourselves.
So, I bought three very important things – all second hand. A Tascam 4 track, a Dr Rhythm drum machine and a kids synth with a brilliant 4 second sampler.
We started to write new music, with the 4 track at the heart of it. This was my first time recording music myself, rather than in a studio, even if only on a cassette 4 track. I was very inspired. Sometimes when setting up, I’d plug in the 4 track in the corridor, rather than walk to the actual room, I was so keen to start. Danny would come home to find me in the semi gloom, lying on the floor, listening back through small speakers. I realised if you recorded on the Tascam and then turned the cassette over, it played what you had just recorded backwards. I then recorded on top of that, bouncing tracks down to make more room. I also put the drum machine through guitar pedals – delay and distortion – to great effect.
I was so deeply into the music I was fairly oblivious to the outside world. The only people we were socialising with now really was our band and other musicians we knew who were doing it full time – Pusherman, Dodgy, the Beta Band and a few others. The only gigs I was going to now were these bands. No money for tickets no longer working at a label and no longer able to organise guest lists.
One Sunday morning, Danny and I heard cheering across the road. Tony and Cherie Blair were regulars at the Anglican church opposite us. He had just won the general election with a landslide victory – the first Labour win in nearly twenty three years. Tony and Cherie were clapped and cheered as they got out of their car, we raced upstairs from our basement flat when we realised and watched.
Musically, we were starting to get somewhere but needed an extra pair of hands if we were going to do this live. We wanted to mix great song writing with more experimental, acoustic musical ideas.
Danny and I took ourselves off to stay with my brother in Brighton for a few days and got excited looking at the student A4 posters for gigs and club nights stuck in cafes and launderettes. One poster had a J.D. & Coke night. This gave us an idea for a new band name. J.D. &?
When we got home, I made a hand written note and we put it up in Totem Records on Church Street in Stoke Newington.
‘Odd job man wanted. Astral Weeks, The Beta Band and Rumours.’
Very surprisingly, someone called. ‘Hello, my name is Bob and I saw your odd job man advert’.
Bob was perfect. We met him in a pub, on Church Street and were delighted. We clicked instantly and started to rehearse. We hadn’t played live for about 9 months, while we had been reinventing ourselves this time.
Our debut gig as j.d. & bob was at the Cobden Working Men’s Club in West London.
Andy Winters had helped us to organise the night and we had a brilliant PA. It always makes such a difference having a great monitor mix on stage, you can just relax and get into the music. The Beta Band d.j.ed for us. I was so nervous before hand and warmed my voice up by singing along to my favourite compilation tape, on my own outside in the car. This was a completely new set and sound. I played acoustic guitar live for the first time in years (rather than electric), including a couple of different tunings, which were very tricky to do on stage.
We used the drum machine and various other instruments for the first time too. I really felt my vocals had changed since I had last played live. As the music had got so much better, I was now able to get in the warmth and centre of the zone. I loved it there. The sound on this night, our debut, was awesome. At this point Bob didn’t play guitar, (I actually told him he wasn’t allowed to, visually, I didn’t want us to have a traditional band line up).
Instead, he sat and hit tin cans with sticks, shook shakers, played the kids’ synth, sang and was exactly what we needed. Danny on bass with drum machines and live drums, provided by our American band member, Rick. We came on stage to Radio 4‘s Shipping Forecast theme tune. My Mum had said how much she liked it so I listened, realised it would be perfect as our intro, recorded it on tape from the radio and gave it to the sound guy.
The first track we played was called ‘Alpine Cowboy‘ which is the drum machine, through guitar pedals with us chanting, while bringing other instruments in, ending with the drums. The Dr Rhythm started as the Shipping Forecast music faded and then we played ‘Alpine Cowboy’ for about eight minutes.
We went from that into an acoustic song, one freshly written, with four part harmonies and beats. The set lasted about thirty minutes. We left the stage and hugged each other, radiant.
The night was incredible, everyone stopping and chatting to us after we played, saying how much they had enjoyed it. Man, that felt great. After all those years, I knew genuine, enthusiastic, excited, praise from ‘yeah, you were tight tonight’, plus I knew it really had been fantastic. I was so happy with my vocals and how we had sounded. We had about a hundred and fifty people there, our clubbing and musician friends plus the actor, Rhys Ifans (who Jess was now going out with) and all of Dodgy. Jess said afterwards that Rhys turned to her and said ‘I can’t believe I know the people making this music!’. It was a very clubby atmosphere with everyone dancing and cheering.
The Beta Band d.j. s took over after we performed and we partied until about 2ish, then went round the corner to Amanda and Rudy‘s flat on the Portobello Road, where the good vibes continued until morning.
It was a hugely important night for me. I think it was the night I became a proper singer and musician. It certainly gave me the drive and confidence to keep going. I’d never felt this good about my music before. We were also right at the front of the next new movement there were now early or soon to be releases from – The Beta Band, Badly Drawn Boy, Beth Orton, Goldfrapp and others. The club scene was d.j.s like Jon Carter and the Chemical Brothers who regularly played nights at Big Kahuna Burger in Smithfield Market. The Beta Band d.j.ed there a couple of times too. Danny and I went to the Shoreditch Electricity Show Room in Hoxton one evening and the two guys playing records were sitting down by their deck, as if playing in their front room. When we walked in they were playing Hurrah!, one of the bands we both loved from the early ’80s. I was near breathless with excitement, I so desperately wanted to be a part of this. We had no money so didn’t even stay for a drink. We walked around thinking of what we could do next, what clothes we wanted, shop fronts we thought would look perfect as photo back drops (The fancy cheese people!), ideas for our music, walking the North East London streets in the early hours of a chilly Sunday morning.
Another Sunday morning my mum called to ask if I’d heard the news about Princess Diana. I hadn’t and turned on the tv.
Later that week Danny and I were on a bus that went to Kensington, so decided to stay on and look at the flowers. We also went into central London on the day of the funeral – Oxford Street was empty and quiet as we walked down to the Mall to catch a glimpse of the funeral procession.
Danny and I would regularly walk through Clissold Park over to Stoke Newington then up and down Church Street.
We visited the second hand book shops and record shops to flick through the vinyl. Then, money allowing, over to the Vortex to drink coffee and talk about our ideas for the band and our music.
We started to hang out with Bob, influencing each other musically. Going to the various second hand record shops in North London, including Totem in Stoke Newington and Reckless in Islingon (where the singer from the Family Cat worked). We were buying 1960’s folk albums. We added these to music we were already listening to.
The songs Danny and I were writing were getting better. We wrote ’Love Expression’ and ’Repentant Song’, (later recorded for ’Lank Haired Girl To Bearded Boy’) at this time.
We had a few connections in The Verve now. Danny and I had socialised with bass player Simon Jones and his wife Myra both at our place and theirs. The Beta Band and Pusherman knew them, so we were able to get guest tickets to their biggest gig to date at Haigh Hall near their home town of Wigan. Danny and I drove and gave Pusherman‘s bass player Bo a lift with his girlfriend, June.
John Martyn supported and it was pretty horrid hearing the crowd shout ‘who ate all the pies’ at him. They were waiting for The Verve and weren’t interested in anyone else.
After a very funny afternoon and an immense night, with nowhere to stay, we drove back to London.
Bored of the London pub scene, we organised gigs in unusual places. Including our basement flat (really sorry if you were one of our neighbours). Thanks to Lisa Lee for these photos.
Incidentally, Richie from The Beta Band built us these record shelves – this is the room that would later appear on the cover of the It’s Jo and Danny album, ‘Lank Haired Girl To Bearded Boy’.
We played in book shops, cafes, underground clubs.
We rehearsed at Fortress in Farringdon. It was the coolest rehearsal space, where you’d bump into lots of bands you were reading about in the music press. Primal Scream were having a party there when we dropped off all our gear after a gig one night. We rehearsed loads. Got better and better.
At this stage we parted with Rick, the drummer we had been working with for a few years and Mathew Priest, from Dodgy, stepped in to help us out. I had known Mathew for years. Dodgy’s manager, Andy Winters ran Ultimate Records, where I had worked as a press officer. We had been there when Dodgy signed their record deal and then became massive. Mathew was always very supportive of my music and an incredibly positive influence to be around. And an absolutely fantastic drummer. We had some gigs already organised when Mathew joined our ranks and with one rehearsal on the day of the first one, the Foundry in Shoreditch, we played and were transformed. I called my parents from a ‘phone box afterwards to tell them how exciting it was.
Mathew’s impact on our music was colossal. We sounded brilliant.
Corinne Day took these photos of us, on a disposable camera this time, at the Shoreditch Electricity Showroom in December 1998.
Here I am on stage with j.d. & bob at The Garage in London, late 1998. Photos by Justin Thomas, who later took the cover shot for ’Lank Haired Girl To Bearded Boy’
Dodgy had split and Andy Winters started to manage us. He organised for us to go into the studio to record a demo. We went to Bark in Walthamstow, E17, Brian O’Shaughnessy‘s studio. We recorded one song, ‘Just Hit A Nerve‘. I ‘allowed’ Bob to play guitar. He was amazing of course. We sang four part harmonies all round the mic at the same time. We were thrilled with the results. From this point on, I consider myself to be a singer. So happy with this vocal and my singing in general.
The band was cooking, and I didn’t care about my age any more. The music was so great, hitting the spot for me. I felt so elevated after singing, it felt so good. I had finally got there. No more lies, just honest music.
‘Just Hit A Nerve‘.
We got a little bit of press after The Garage gig, the N.M.E. printed a couple of Justin’s photos .
Using the recording of ‘Just Hit A Nerve’, Andy secured us a week recording demos for Island Records. It was January 1999, Monday to Friday in their basement studio; the Fallout Shelter. Artists who had recorded here over the years included Bob Marley, John Martyn, Gregory Isaacs, Marianne Faithfull and Stevie Winwood. We were somewhat in awe of the place. We had to walk through the Island Records offices to get to the studio. Huge posters of Nick Drake and Bob Marley greeted us and added to our slightly overwhelmed feeling.
Steve Musters, the house engineer was wonderful. We recorded eight tracks in all. Five with Mathew on drums and three acoustic songs with Bob’s friend Sam (the bongo man) on percussion. Those tracks we recorded late at night, live, straight to tape – no mixing afterwards. Sam played percussion for Transglobal Underground and live sets in London’s clubland. Funnily enough, he later turned up in our lives as Sam the bubbleman at the Green Man Festival!
We were so happy with the recordings. I remember crying as Bob played his guitar solo on ‘Give A Little Bit Extra‘. Again, we all crowded round the microphone to record the four part harmonies on ‘Love Expression‘ which at the time was called ‘You’ve Got Tonight’. Bob played piano on ‘Repentant Song’ and I played the low recorder on ‘Take Me To Water‘. I was so happy with my vocals. The band were great, it felt easy to sing on top of that music.
Island didn’t sign us.
As we were leaving each night, people were getting made redundant and were clearing their desks in tears. It was an odd time. A change in the music industry.
We played one last gig at Po Na Na in Islington.
Sam joined us on percussion and Chrissy H from the Dodgy Club played records and added a bit of scratching. It was great, but not enough to keep us together. It certainly sowed the seeds for Danny and I to record ‘Lank Haired Girl To Bearded Boy‘ a few months later though.
I painted a poster for the gig.
Over the years I lost the Island recordings. Danny and I moved to Wales and started the Green Man Festival, (and a family) and life took over.
In 2019, my cousin Christine Olga who lives in Scotland, got in touch to say she still had a cassette I had sent her. She posted it to me and I was thrilled to hear those precious recordings again.
I got the cassette digitalised and mastered and Bob and I worked on a running order.
I’ve called the collection ‘Found‘ – it also includes ‘Just Hit A Nerve‘ from Bark. I am so proud of these recordings. When I searched for a record deal I found my voice and became a musician. I think that’s what I had been searching for all along.
I really hope you enjoy. I was so happy with my vocals, a number of the songs were recorded live. These songs and the musicians who performed them will always be very special to me:
I made a video for ‘Love Expression‘, using footage I found on YouTube, of London in the late 1990s.
A few months later, this song was re recorded for the debut It’s Jo and Danny album, ‘Lank Haired Girl To Bearded Boy.’ and was Pete and Geoff’s Single of The Week on their drive time show on Virgin Radio.
Here’s the original, from that Island Records session, all four vocals recorded live, crowded round one microphone……
Indie Through The Looking Glass 