Current Line up :
Fil Ross - Guitar/ Vocals
Roger Tichborne - Guitar/Vocals
Paul Hircombe - Bass
Tony Cavaye - Drums & Harmonica
Influences
The Sex Pistols, The Velvet Underground, The Sex Pistols, The Vibrators, The Steve Miller Band, Country Joe and the Fish, Big Audio Dynamite, The Happy Mondays
You dont have to grow old gracefully, disgracefully is far more fun. Why stop doing the things you enjoy just because you think you should - Bury me with my Fender Strat - Roger Tichborne 27th March 2007. Here’s the story of the False Dots and why it’s fun to keep going.
The False Dots first got together on 14th December 1979 in what is now room 12 of Mill Hill Music Complex, but was then the kitchen of the derelict caretakers cottage at Bunns Lane Works. The very first line up was Mandy Spokes (vocals), Roger Tichborne(Guitar), Pete Conway (bass) and Dave Edwards (Drums).
The band wanted to be a cross between the Sex Pistols and the Velvet Underground, but was hampered by the fact that no one could play anything. Dave left the band when he was mistaken for Pete Conway and thrown through the plate glass window of W H Smiths in Mill Hill Broadway. As Mandy was his girlfriend she also left. The Band eventually settled down with new drummer Paul Marvin (Son of Hank), and Paul Hircombe joining on lead. Gaining a couple of members who could play saw the band power on and the Tichborne/Conway partnership wrote their first classic, "Shes not all She Seems" a sordid tale roughly based on Pete Conway not realising that the girl he was chatting up at the Moonlight club was actually a transvestite. Conway departed in September 1980 along with Paul Marvin, to be replaced by Dav from the Foundations and Craig Withecombe from the Heretics. Now the band could play and had a great line up, recording "Not all She Seems", "Fog" and "Wasting my life" at Alan Warner’s Lane studios. After 1 gig Dav departed home to Shrewesbury and Mark Barnett joined, a mate of Withecombes from the Heretics. This line up did a tour of Scandinavia + many London gigs. Rogers schoolmate Boz Boorer turned up for a guest spot on guitar on the odd occasian (vaguely visibile in the Harwood Hall Mill Hill CND picture), when he wasnt off on tour with the Polecats.
Eleanor Caine joined to add the "Nicoesque" vocals Roger had always envisaged, but despite many successful gigs, the line up never really worked.
Caine & Withecombe departed to be replaced by the immensely talented Venessa Sagoe (sister of Sally Sagoe from Eastenders)on vocals and Bill Pithers on Guitar. Adam Francis joined as drummer and the band did lots of London Gigs, most notably at Dingwalls. This appearance attracted the attention of EMI records, who recommended getting a professional manager. The band then recruited Chris Potts ..boards, another talented musician later credited with inventing a new method of playing the Tea Chest Bass with a drum stick.
Unfortunately the new manager turned out to be a divisive influence, whose master plan was to turn Venessa into a solo artist. A great demo was made featuring Action Shock, Africa Morning and Stop it, but the band imploded partially due to Roger, Venessa and Bill all sharing a flat, which didnt work out. A crying shame.
A new False Dots were formed with Poet Allan Lucas (now a successful author under the name of Allen Ashley) and Graham Ramsey on drums. Graham was an old mate of Rogers, who he’d wanted on drums for a long time. Graham had played with various Mod bands and the Bazookas. Being completely bonkers ensured Graham fitted in very well.
The partnership of Lucas and Tichborne wrote some great tunes, most notably "Heal Me" featured here. The band did several very successful London gigs as well as mini tour of Belgium. Lucas departed realising that the Rock and Roll lifestyle was not to his tastes in January 1985.
Roger, Graham,Chris and Paul then formed a new band, Urban Dance, with long time roadie Dermot Fanning on sax & Mark Usher on vocals. The band lasted a year till Dermot and Paul departed to India. Mark Usher insisted the band change it’s name to Urban Dance. Graham left, soon followed by Roger.
A quick note about Dermot Fanning here. Dermot played many roles in the history of the Dots. He acted as roadie & driver for years. He also performed as a Mork Dancer at gigs in 1982-83 (with Steve Hopkinson) and occasionally got up to do the Dukes of Hazzard rap. Eventally he decided to learn an instrument and joined as a sax player shortly before the Mark Usher period. Dermot had the one talent necessary to fulfill the roadie/driver role. He wasnt too bothered about drinking. As a result he was always a highly popular bloke. He would also go ot extreme lengths to be helpful, usually totally unappreciated by everyone.
His reward being to have the mickey taken by the assembled rabble.
If someone had to be woken at 5 in the morning for a ridiculous errand, Dermot was the man. No band that does anything ever exists without a Dermot and they rarely get a mention or thanks. Thanks Dermot !!!
Urban Dance metamorphasised into The Apostles. This band featured Mark Laff from Generation X on drums. The False Dots reformed with Graham, Rog & Paul. Several vocalists including Neil Cox from the Mods and the very talented Tony Robotham played with the line up in this period, but eventually the Dots just fizzled out.
This line up was not a happy experience and apart from sporadic reunions, nothing much happened till April 1999 when Fil Ross and Tony Cavaye, from Mill Hill Music Complex suggested to Roger that he record a couple of the old songs. The band started rehearsing and then tragedy struck. Rogers partner in the studio , Ernie Ferebee, contracted Pancreatic Cancer and died in Feb 2001. Roger promised Ernie that he would help out his widow and a Charity gig was organised to raise some money for the Ferebee children. This happened in September 2002 and Boz Boorer came down to Jam rockabilly guy with the Dots. The night was so successful that the band have played together since and are in the process of finalising their new album, which is showcased here. The line up is Fil Ross (Vocals/Guitar) Roger Tichborne(|Vocals /Guitar), Paul Hircombe (bass) and Tony Cavaye (Drums) On the recordings Roger also plays Keyboards and Tony Cavaye plays Harmonica. Tony is an accomplished Harp player having done session work with John Lawton of Uriah Heep among others. As well as Boz Boorer, Huw Llloyd-Langton of Hawkwind has guested with the band. They have played the Mill Hill Music Festival, hosting an indie night since 2003 and recently have helped Kate Nash launch her career, giving her a support slot in November 2006 at a Cancer Charity gig. They also organised a major Cancer fundraiser at the Bull Theatre in Barnet headlined by Lee Thompson from Madness other band, Damaged Goods and Chris Spedding. A free CD was given away at the gig featuring tracks from Lee, Boz and Chris (a remix from Mill Hill of his 1975 hit Motorbikin). This also featured Pusherman and Pauls Song from the Dots.
A little word about the songs featured. These have all been recorded in the last year for our forthcoming album, although some are much much older
1. Pauls Song - Instrumental written by Paul (1985) and developed with Fil, Rog & Tony. I love this song. Paul first recorded this on his own on my 4 track in 1985. I loved it then & think we’ve improved it.
2. PusherMan - Written by Rog - Samples from Life on Mars Written 2007. Written about an old wino who used to beg at Aldgate station. He got Gangrene in his leg but refused to have it amputated because that would mean drying out. Became something much darker when developed. We’ve got Charlie Honderick on Guest Vocals - an awesome performance and Alex Sarychkin drops in a bit of lead. Nasty but Nice !!!
3. Angel - Written by Rog 2006 - Losely based on letters received by Serial Killers on Death Row from Besotted female admirers. How to keep smiling when your gonna fry !!!
4. Come Back Home - written by Rog (1989) - Self explanatory - Come back home baby.
5. Heal Me - Co Wrote Allen Lucas (now Ashley) and Rog (1985) - It’s a love song about wanting a bit of help to get through the day. Chorus rewritten by Rog 1999 to rock it up a bit.
6. Action - written by Rog (2006) - written about a girl I used to know. A good llaugh in some ways but a real troublemaker. She could wreck any party, ruin any night out & seemed to have a way of making certain blokes behave like idiots. Lock up your sons & hide the key. Funnily enough she doesn’t look anything like you’d imagine from the song, it wouldn’t have worked !!!!!! Tony on Harp is superb.
