Part III
In my previous post, I talked about some of the very best and very worst gigging experiences we had as a band from the glamorous rock and roll hotspots of Chippenham and Romford to the slightly more hallowed boards of the Leicester Charlotte and Camden’s Dublin Castle. In this third and final post about The Screenbeats, I’ll draw a line under the group with a couple of stories from Occitanie in the South of France but first a leafy suburb of North London.
“But I love that dirty water…”
Supporting one half of the future Raconteurs in Tufnell Park
One of the early high points back when were still known as The Shake was when we got booked to play a show at the Dirty Water Club in Tufnell Park, North London in November 2005. Taking its name from The Standells’ cover of the Ed Cobb song, for a brief period, it was one of the hippest psychedelic and garage rock nights in London and its popularity had surged after a certain White Stripes had played a show there in August 2001 to an audience packed full of A&R people – as well as Kate Moss and pals (obviously). As well as stalwarts like Billy Childish, Holly Golightly and The Wilko Johnson Band, a lot of the most-hyped groups of the time played there including The Brian Jonestown Massacre, The Datsuns, The Von Bondies and a few months after us, The Horrors. We were to support The Greenhornes, a well-known three-piece garage outfit from Cincinnati, Ohio.
The day of the gig came and on arrival at the venue, the club’s promoter PJ Crittenden explained to us that there was “a chance” that the enigmatic frontman of cult ‘60s psychedelic band The Seeds Sky Saxon might be coming as he had been performing at the club recently and was staying nearby. Roger was a huge fan of The Seeds so suitably nervous and excited to hear this news. In fact, he might even have been wearing his black and pink Seeds t-shirt but unfortunately no photos exist from the night. We never did find out if Sky came to the show or not and it was too dark to see from the stage!
1.) A post-gig photo of us from 2005/6 with Roger wearing his Seeds t-shirt! (photo: Newbury Weekly News) 2.) The Seeds’ frontman Sky Saxon with Love’s Arthur Lee after their show together at the Kentish Town Forum in 2004. 3.) The White Stripes at The Dirty Water Club, August 2001 (photo: Dirty Water Club).
We played to a busy room and went down well – playing just before The Greenhornes took to the stage as their main support band. I remember that in the shared dressing room Patrick Keeler the band’s drummer commented on Joost’s snare drum (“nice snare man!”) and that they watched us from the side of the stage. Just a couple of months after the gig; The Greenhornes went on a hiatus and it was announced that Patrick and bassist Jack Lawrence were forming a new band, The Raconteurs with none other than Jack White from The White Stripes and singer-songwriter Brendan Benson. Their debut single ‘Steady As She Goes’ was a huge radio hit in the UK in 2006 and reached number 4 in the Top 40 singles chart, whilst the accompanying album Broken Toy Soldiers peaked at number 2 in the album chart.
It was my brother-in-law Stuart who first mentioned to me that he could hear a similarity between ‘Steady As She Goes’ and one of our songs ‘All The Rage’. Now, to my ears the songs are very different but there are certainly some things they have in common. Both tracks use a lot of the same chords and the introductions to both each of them feature a descending bass line, staccato guitar stabs and a prominent snare drum (“man”). Little did we realise when we shared a stage with The Greenhornes what a huge band their future group would go on to become. ‘Steady As She Goes’ was named “the second-best song of 2006” by Rolling Stone magazine, nominated for a Grammy and later covered by Adele. To this day, The Raconteurs play main stages at festivals all over the world from Glastonbury to Coachella – the last time I saw them live was at All Points East 2019 in Victoria Park, East London.
We recorded ‘All The Rage’ on at least two different occasions and below is a version that we captured with Ed Deegan directly onto his 1970s Studer tape machine at Gizzard Studios in Hackney Wick. Below is also a clip of The Raconteurs playing ‘Steady As She Goes’ live on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury 2008.
Decide for yourselves if there’s any resemblance below…
‘All The Rage’ (recorded at Gizzard Studios, 2005)
‘Steady As She Goes’ (live at Glastonbury 2008)
I have also dug out this video of us playing ‘All The Rage’ live at The Betsey Trotwood in Farringdon, London in July 2007. We’re playing it a lot quicker than on the record but it’s got a raw energy to it and features an impressive vocal performance from Faye. It was also the gig where I was struck down with food poisoning – possibly the reason why I’m pouring with sweat in the video.
Ça va Montpellier!
Perhaps the pinnacle of The Screenbeats’ ‘career’ was playing the 1,000-capacity Rockstore venue in Montpellier in December 2010. We were booked to play through a mutual contact of our later era-drummer Praag and were headlining a line-up, consisting of six other Anglo-French bands with all of the ticket proceeds going to a humanitarian aid charity.
We spent two fun nights in Montpellier and were looked after brilliantly by the co-organisers Savaha and Hanna, staying in Savaha’s apartment both nights. I think they were a little surprised by how many bottles of beer we got through in two days though… The show itself was brilliant; the venue was busy and the other bands not only decent but good people too. The venue, formerly an automobile garage was a mid-sized old theatre and bands to recently play there included Beach House, The Kills, Phoenix and The Stranglers. We were in our element, flattered to be in such illustrious company and felt great to play a large venue with top-drawer facilities.
Clockwise (from top left); 1.) Arrived in Montpellier! Place de la Comédie in the city centre. 2.) Faye, Roger and I outside Le Rockstore venue (Praag was taking the photo). 3.) Faye and I side of stage. 4.) Post-gig elation at Le Rockstore. Maxime on the far right of this shot was the frontman of The Wishy Washy, a local Montpellier band who opened for us. 5.) The Screenbeats do Montpellier! (l-r: Praag; Faye, yours truly, Roger).
The show was filmed but unfortunately only one video existed on YouTube of us playing a version of Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers’ tune ‘Hospital’. It’s a great song but quite downbeat and not exactly a showstopper. I’ve recently found the first half of the show and below for the first time are some of the tracks. A member of the audience filmed this and the camera angles and sound quality are a little erratic in places but it serves as a good record of the concert. If anyone has access to the second half of the show – please let me know (it contained our best songs!).
‘Why Can’t We Let Go?’ (live at Montpellier Rockstore, 16th December 2010)
‘Pound Signs & Foreign Villains‘ (live at Montpellier Rockstore, 16th December 2010)
‘For The Faint-hearted‘ (live at Montpellier Rockstore, 16th December 2010)
‘For The Faint-hearted’ was a new song that we had only written a couple of months prior to Montpellier and this was one of its first live outings. It was a punchy song but sadly never recorded so this is the only version that exists (the sound quality is not ideal but it gives you some idea).
‘Hospital‘ (live at Montpellier Rockstore, 16th December 2010)
As luck would have it, our return flights to the UK were severely delayed due to heavy snow storms and we had an eight-hour wait at Montpellier Airport with all of our equipment. We passed the time by playing cards and sinking a few beers and I remember that Praag, a vegetarian was forced to have some pastries and a couple of doughnuts for his main meal (the airport’s cafes were not veggie-friendly to say the least). At one stage, it was touch-and-go if we would be able to fly but we eventually made it home in the early hours, only to return to find Roger’s van covered in snow at Gatwick Airport carpark (see below).
1.) Praag tucking into his nutritious evening meal of pastries, Montpellier Airport. 2.) Finally in transit back to London after the eight-hour delay. 3.) Roger’s snow-covered van, Gatwick Airport.
The later years
Praag joined us in 2008 (he was interviewed in the very same Newbury pub that I was five years earlier) and after a spell of flux with various talented, but ultimately temporary drummers, we enjoyed another period of stability within the band. We were all older, a little more worldly-wise and we began writing some of our best songs to-date. Having been around the block a few times; the types of venues we were playing got better too and we stopped playing, well, the really shit gigs. We also by now had a small number of go-to trusted contacts who helped us out; namely Adam Cooper who released some of our music through Rowed Out Records based in Lincolnshire, Woodie Taylor (a member of The Cribs’ favourite band Comet Gain and also the drummer on Morrissey’s Vauxhall and I album) who would mix our tracks and act as an honest sounding board and we also found a new regular rehearsal and recording space; Studio 91 on the former Greenham Common airbase on the outskirts of Newbury with Jordan Fish (now a member of the huge Bring Me The Horizon) at the helm.
The new line-up of The Screenbeats with the addition of drummer Praag. August 2009, Newbury and the surrounding Berkshire / Hampshire countryside (all photos: James Thorogood).
I had by now entered the world of work and also remember spending a memorable afternoon at Studio 91 around a similar time, recording a radio advert for one of my clients, Guide Dogs For The Blind. They were a great charity to have as one of my first clients but they insisted that only real people and real guide dogs were used in the recordings. As a result, Jordan, myself and the dog’s owner spent the best part of an hour trying to persuade a docile black Labrador to bark into a microphone for the ad – we eventually succeeded though.
The Screenbeats went into the studio with Jordan at Studio 91 in summer 2009, laid-down what we felt were four very strong tracks and then sent them over to Woodie who was based in Windsor to perform his magic on them. The result was the ‘Super 8’ EP-of-sorts, containing four tracks; a reworked and more abrasive version of the song ‘Super 8’, ‘Hanging On’, ‘Under Neon’ and ‘Why Can’t We Let Go?’. ‘Hanging On’ and ‘Under Neon’ were perhaps the most notable; the former being the heaviest and fastest track we’d ever recorded, with a blistering tremolo-picked guitar solo (if I can say so myself) and the latter transforming into a disco track midway through and pre-empting the Nile Rodgers and Chic revival craze by at least three years (we were all already big fans of the Rodgers / Edwards songwriting duo). These songs also sounded distinctly contemporary and were very different to some of the more retrofied recordings we made in the early days.
‘Under Neon’ (video filmed by James Thorogood at the Lock, Stock & Barrel, Newbury, September 2009)
At least 300 copies of the ‘Super 8 EP‘ were issued on CD in 2009/10 but the tracks are also all available digitally on Soundcloud – see the links below:
The Screenbeats called it a day in 2011 and looking back, I personally have nothing but fond memories. Being in a regular gigging band from the age of 16 onwards certainly taught me some life skills (as well as probably exacerbating my email addiction as I booked most of our gigs!), exposed us to all sorts of people and we perhaps learned not to be so green and always eager to please as time went on.
Without sounding too mawkish though, the most important thing to come out of the band was friendship. I was Best Man at Roger’s wedding in 2014 and he remains a great mate to this day. Faye and I both lived in South London for a few years and it was always good to catch up with her and put the world to rights over a beer or three – most frequently at Brixton’s Effra Hall Tavern or Trinity Arms. Joost is someone I don’t see regularly enough but we usually pick up where we left off, whether it’s in London or in Newbury (“Well, I’m up for staying out!” was his response when I tentatively checked if he wanted to call it a night at 11pm when we last caught up at The Heavenly Social on Little Portland Street towards the end of 2019). Praag again, is someone who I mainly keep in touch with on social media these days but the drives to places like Cardiff or Southampton were always a good laugh and one particularly messy night springs to mind after Roger’s 30th birthday party – festivities may have continued long into that night / the following morning…
Roger and I performing a short acoustic set at his wedding reception, April 2014. (we covered Daft Punk, The Cure, The Kinks and The Velvet Underground!)
Music in London
Glastonbury 2010 was one of the hottest festivals on record (the only other year I can recall to rival it was the almost unbearable heatwave in 2019). Whilst a sunny and warm Glasto is always a blessing, the downside is that it’s very difficult to stay asleep inside a tent as soon as the sun comes up. However, this did mean that at that particular festival, my friends Joe, Mark and I got to chat to our neighbours every morning; Vicki and her friend Kate who were camping next to us with a group of friends.
Fun and games at Glasto’ 2010 and with Vicki and Kate packing up to leave on the Monday morning (photos: Joe Miller).
One of the positives of social media is that we all stayed in touch and after moving to London in January 2011, I began playing in an acoustic duo with Vicki on vocals and myself on guitar. In a strange twist of fate, we also ended up living a two-minute walk away from each other in Brixton, making rehearsals (and trips to the pub) very convenient.
After The Screenbeats, I was keen to find another group to join in London as quickly as possible. I briefly joined forces with a hip hop MC from Camden and we used to rehearse in the community studios at The Roundhouse – we were trying to emulate the guitar sounds in Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Money Trees’ and ‘Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe’ but ultimately, the project was short-lived. I collaborated with a fellow Manic Street Preachers fan from Limehouse but despite him being a powerful vocalist it didn’t quite gel. Then there was also the promising teenage soul singer from Neasden who had allegedly been spotted by Dave Stewart from Eurythmics; she had a lot of promise but her backing band consisted of a bizarre motley crew of characters from across London (a French Metallica fan on drums, a Danish barmaid backing singer and a mysterious bassist who never arrived). Her mother was also the ‘manager’, sat in on the entire rehearsal and chipped in with nuggets of advice at various opportune moments. We could barely get through a cover of ‘Sittin’ On The Dock Of The Bay’ without an interruption of some form or another.
Vicki and I worked well musically and we soon established a regular routine of a weekly Tuesday evening practice. Whilst joining The Immediate as a teenager led to me discovering a lot of great soul and Motown music, as well as the more underground movements of the 1960s and 1970s, playing as a mainly acoustic duo with Vicki introduced me to some more introspective folky influences; Elliott Smith, Martha Wainwright and Neil Young to name just three.
The Queen’s Head, Stockwell Road (and the ‘gig’ at Julia Bradbury’s house)
We were lucky that around the corner from us was The Queen’s Head on Stockwell Road. At the time, it was one of London’s most anarchic, free-spirited boozers and the burgeoning Fat White Family had made it their adopted HQ and lived upstairs (they were pictured draping a ‘The Witch Is Dead’ banner out of the top floor window on the day Thatcher died and made the pages of most of the national newspapers as a result). The pub was a pretty unique place, had a certain gothic air and it soon became a hotspot for other South London bands and musicians with the likes of Childhood, King Krule and Shame all hanging out and playing tiny gigs there. We would play Carl Chamberlain’s weekly open mic night ‘Sing For Your Supper’ (the performers were ‘paid’ with free pizza) and on one hand, would often share the stage with a wonderful Dolly Parton-esque Brixton singer, well into her autumn years known as Patti Paige, but also with an angry political poet who would rant to the crowd from The Queen’s Head’s tiny stage. I also strangely met King Prawn’s (a band I had a fondness for as a teenager) former bassist Babar Luck at the pub before playing one of the open mic nights; he was handing out flyers for a political night he was hosting there. Brixton Buzz did a great piece on Carl’s open mic night back in 2014 with lots of photos; check it out here.
The Fat White Family performing during the anarchic ‘glory days’ of The Queen’s Head, Stockwell Road (circa 2013-15).
You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone though and The Queen’s Head changed hands in 2015 and is now a very pleasant, yet slightly bland ‘vegan pub’. The pub was only 16 doors down from my old flat and had I known that the live music and bohemian antics would be coming to an end, I would have gone there a lot more in hindsight. The Queen’s Head wasn’t our strangest gig though. That honour was reserved for the day when we played a humanist baby blessing ceremony in the home of BBC and ITV presenter Julia Bradbury in Notting Hill. The gig was secured through one of Vicki’s contacts from work who explained to her that “it would be at one of her friend’s, who has a bigger house”. Vicki recognised Julia immediately after she opened the door to us (“she’s famous!”, she whispered to me as we were tuning up in an upstairs room) but I didn’t really fully know who she was until afterwards.
Now that I’ve been in Bari 18 months and with the pandemic severely restricting any musical opportunities, this is the first time since the age of 13 that I haven’t been in a band or played music with other people. It’s a time for self-reflection and practising those difficult chords or scales though and I remain convinced that there’ll be a global Belle Époque-style creative resurgence and renewed interest in the arts once this pandemic is finally over. I didn’t write these pieces about being in a band for self-promotional reasons but rather that I wanted to put down the memories onto paper for the first time and for posterity’s sake. Radiohead famously once said; “anyone can play guitar” and my advice to a 16-year-old who’s thinking about picking up a six-string, a bass, a turntable or even exploring GarageBand is to just go for it. Start making music. You’ll meet some interesting characters, make some great friends and you’ll learn just as much as at school.
Clive & Vicki became ‘OCDC’, adding bassist Rich and drummer Pete in 2018 for a gig at The Heavenly Social on Little Portland Street (first photo). Also, two shots of us rehearsing at Antenna Studios, Crystal Palace, South London. Early 2018.
APPENDIX; THE SCREENBEATS’ ARCHIVE
We recorded a reasonable amount of material and gigged a lot between 2004 and 2011. Recordings and videos have existed in various places online for a number of years now but below is an overview of where you can find the best of the band’s output. It’s the first time that everything has been indexed in one place and in roughly chronological order (by the date of release – starting with the oldest). I have embedded the ‘lead’ track for each of the main recordings below but then hyperlinked to the rest of the material (where possible).
STUDIO RECORDINGS
‘Troubled Scene’ EP (recorded at Gizzard Studios, 2005)
Also recorded; ‘All The Rage’, ‘Into The Sun’ and ‘Loyal Union’.
‘Pound Signs & Foreign Villains’ EP (recorded at Gizzard Studios, 2006)
Also, recorded; ‘Before Before’, ‘Lights Out’ and ‘Take It Like A Man’ – tracks not currently available online.
‘Pound Signs & Foreign Villains’ acoustic (recorded at Embassy Studios, Upton Grey with Graham Dominy for Newbury Sound FM in 2010)
The Pontypool Sessions (recorded at Gethin Pearson’s home studio in South Wales, 2008)
‘Super 8’ (original mix)
Also recorded; ‘They Say’ and ‘You Are The Ones’ (at that point, the most futuristic-sounding track we’d ever recorded, complete with a ‘Superman’-style guitar line in the chorus, to quote Rog).
‘Super 8’ EP (recorded by Jordan Fish at Studio 91 and mixed by Woodie Taylor at Milou Studios, 2009)
Also recorded; ‘Under Neon’, ‘Why Can’t We Let Go?’, the new mix of ‘Super 8’.
DEMOS
‘The Immediate’ (recorded in 2004 with Ali Moore at his home studio in Hermitage)
Recorded; ‘Blown Away’, ‘All The Rage’, ‘Loyal Union’ – tracks not currently available online. Cover photography below (photos: James ‘Winnie’ Winter).
‘Home demos’ (recorded by Roger Green 2005-2008)
Roger has always been something of a home recording buff too and below are two interesting sketches of what would go onto become ‘Pound Sounds & Foreign Villains’ and ‘You Are The Ones’. In the first, Rog is playing all of the instruments himself and it sets the tone for what would later become ‘Pound Signs…’. The latter features a weird keyboard intro from Rog and is much more soulful than the version we recorded and in retrospect, I think I prefer it!
‘Pounds Signs & Foreign Villains‘ (the building blocks)
‘You Are The Ones’ (home demo)
LIVE VIDEOS
Below are links to various pieces of live footage on YouTube. You will find links to other songs from the same gig on the YouTube sidebar.
Le Rockstore, Montpellier – 16th December 2010
Le Rockstore, Montpellier – 16th December 2010 (additional audience footage)
229 Club, Fitzrovia, London – 4th March 2010
229 Club, Fitzrovia, London – 4th March 2010 (interview)
Lock, Stock & Barrel, Newbury – 4th September 2009
The Betsey Trotwood, Clerkenwell, London – 28th July 2007
GIG FLYERS / POSTERS
MISC PHOTOS (2004 – 2011)
There are too many photos below to label but they include shows at The Lexington on Pentonville Road, The Monarch in Camden, The Dublin Castle, Bloomsbury Lanes, Cardiff University, Cardiff Barfly, Southampton The Rhino, Southampton Central Hall, Reading Oakford Social and The Lock, Stock & Barrel, Tap & Spile and Northcroft (all Newbury).
