John Acock: Producer, Engineer, Keyboards and free studio time Bimbo Acock: Sax, Clarinet, Flute, Keyboards Dik Cadbury: Guitar Steve Hutt: Bass Jeff Watts: Bass Bob Critchley: Drums Additional sterling work ... Janos Bajtala: Keyboards Colin Vallance: Bass Greg Knowles: Guitar Pete Thomas: Sax Phil Beer: Fiddle Gilly Elkins: Vocals
The Roy Hill Band, 1978–81, forever a six-piece, forever changing ...
Mk1 Bimbo Acock: Sax, Clarinet, Flute Richard Brunton: Guitar Mike Taylor: Keyboards Gary Twigg: Bass Kevin Currie: Drums Mk2 Ross McGeeny: Guitar Colin Wilkinson: Drums
Mk3 Jamie West-Oram: Guitar Steve Shone: Bass Mk4 David Hughes: Guitar Mk5 Chas Cronk: Bass Tony Fernandez: Drums Mk6 John Knightsbridge: Guitar
In 1975 I won a heat of the Melody Maker Rock Contest and figured I must be the new Dylan. Yaaaaahooo! Fame and an indecent fortune beckoned. I wrote more songs, played floor spots in a Cheltenham folk club, formed an ad hoc band, the Strolling Players, made my first demos and hawked the tapes around record companies and music publishers. A chance encounter with Freddie Mercury was most helpful.
'The soloists’ section was won convincingly by Roy Hill whose original compositions, 'Join Me' a bitterly ironic song about a potential suicide, 'Living On Memory Lane’ a savage and hilarious look at a family living in a nostalgic wonderland and the poignant ‘Still Waiting’ revealed him to be a writer of substantial talent.' Allan Jones: Melody Maker.
In 1976 I signed with Arista Records and Island Music. Bingo! Arista would make me a star, Island would ensure my songs were recorded by the worlds’ major artists. Hurrah! I wrote excitedly, made more demos, played bigger stages with the Strolling Players and prepared for life as a pop icon.
'There were demo tapes by Roy Hill that sounded good enough to release; tough, spare, inexorable urban laments full of sexual and social grief.' Donald Clarke: The Rise and Fall of Popular Music.
CDS ON SALE NOW - SEE END OF PAGE
Click here to email me and receive a regular newsletter / updates
In I977 I recorded my first album with former Elton John producer, Gus Dudgeon and a host of top session men. It was as an expensive and overblown affair but it would have been churlish to complain when I was the only one there I hadn’t heard of. Any hope of working with some Strolling Players was dashed by Gus's ability to locate and destroy unknown musicians from a distance of several miles. Saxophonist, Bimbo Acock, survived by disguising himself as Lulu. An appearance on So It Goes provided brief respite from anecdote hell.
It's impossible to do justice to the very colourful time I spent with 70's superstar producer and all-round megalomaniac, Gus Dudgeon, in this brief guide. Shame.
In 1978 the daringly named and much hyped Roy Hill was released to a critical mauling. A newly assembled Roy Hill Band supported Strawbs and Styx on UK tours, recorded a session for the John Peel Show and appeared on Revolver. Club and college dates attracted further withering disdain. Two singles, Marionettes and Georges Bar, sank without trace. Nothing was going to plan but it was fun. What plan? The year ended with a trip to Canada where Roy Hill was more politely received.
...........
Click here to watch Piccadilly Lights Revolver video.
Click here to watch Radio Revolver video.
High hopes are rising in young hearts today as pen approaches dotted line the flashbulbs flow, wide smiles are fixed and the executives sign A deal is made with Deadweight Records and Tapes a knowing groom, a blushing bride now all that talk of instant fame can just be pushed to one side - MARIONETTES
Georges Bar ...'diluted calypso drivel.' NME.
'Hill scores nil.' Des Moines: Sounds.
'Roy Hill has all the excitement of Julie Andrews singing with her head buried in a bucket of sand.' Donna McAllister: Sounds.
In 1979 as I continued touring to a chorus of howling disapproval my next offering I like I like I like, produced by Davy Rohl, became ... an NME single of the week! A second John Peel session was followed by a live set on Radio One's In Concert with Dire Straits and three sell-out shows at Riverside Studios in London. The reviews got favourable, the tide was turning. Happy days were here again.
'I like the way Roy Hill takes the piss out of rock and roll's sexual mores, social manners, tribal customs, etc ... and what I would really like is for the rest of the world to quit this Roy Who? bullshit and recognise the geezer as one of our greatest songwriters with no eyebrows raised.' Tony Parsons: NME.
'A band able to handle any number of mood shifts as their employer goes cavorting off round the stage.' David Hepworth: Sounds.
'I haven't enjoyed a rock show so much for ages. How can such a man fail to become a star?' Dave Gelly: The Observer.
In 1980 I was dropped by Arista and Island, a chastening experience, and just when everything was going so well. Ex-Arista General Manager and staunch ally John Cooper helped me look for another deal, nothing doing. A reputation as a sharp tongued prima donna with a propensity for biting the hand that fed me didn't help. Dazed and probably drunk I joined a version of Strawbs which included four members of my own band. Don't ask. Mercifully for everyone involved it only lasted three weeks.
I wouldn't wish to give the impression it was all work and no play. I was very open to distractions, really very open. I drank beer once and ran around with my trousers off for several weeks, a frightful business.
'I never thought Roy was much good.' Pat from next door.
...........
2008 World Tour trailer.
In 1981 The Roy Hill Band started playing in pubs. It was fun, but not as much fun as it had been. A single, Vancouver Nights, was released by Attic Records in Canada, From The Bottom Of My Heart, co-written with Chas Cronk, came out on Scratch Records in the UK. They didn't get into any charts, I don't think they actually got into any shops.
It faded, it was gone.
Cue funereal music.
Every Strolling Player, every member of The Roy Hill Band brought something good to the table. Country boys, city slickers, space cadets, funkateers, shy types, awkward types, all types. Some I knew from my teens, some came and went. John Acock was an endless fund of help and goodwill; Bimbo Acock, top man, dynamite player; Bob Critchley, grand companion, great drummer; Chas Cronk and I have been friends and cohorts since 1978; Gary, Richie, Mike, Kevin, Ross, Colin, Jamie, Steve, David, Tony, John, I learned something from all of you and look where it got me.
Cry No More 'George's Bar' 2008
END OF PART ONE
In 1982 I recorded an album of songs with airline pilot and sound engineer Nigel Stokes, in his basement studio, with a host of guest musicians. It was a happy and heartening experience. I hawked the tapes around and acquired a manager, Jim Beach, renowned for his success with Queen. Fame and indecent fortune beckoned. This time there would be no mistakes.
Saturday night and the clock strikes ten Marie sits crying like a fool once more wondering just how long she'll wait before he comes knocking on the door It's not as if it's the only time Eddie's taken to breaking her heart she could look for somebody else but she wouldn't know where to start - WITHOUT EDDIE
In 1983 I signed to Warner Bros Music who would ensure my songs were recorded by the worlds’ major artists. Jim Beach would get me a new record deal in no time. Happy days were here again. I began working with producer David Richards at Queen’s Mountain Studios in Montreux, Switzerland, another happy experience.
In 1984 I recorded songs in Switzerland, I recorded songs in London, I wrote with French disco star Patrick Juvet, I wrote with ex-Genesis guitarist Anthony Phillips. Chrysalis Records showed interest until I recorded some tracks for them. I made a 'showcase' appearance in a 'fashionable' London nightclub with a hastily assembled band, nobody came, nobody missed anything. Jim and I parted company. I was dropped by Warner Bros. David Richards began working with Queen.
END OF PART TWO
Buddy's being questioned by the SS department of the DHSS but he don't cry no more Are you sure you didn't work this week, last week, next week, no, no, yes, yes? but he don't cry no more A big man in a Tory skirt spewing out worthless gratuitous dirt hitting little Buddy where it used to really hurt but he don't cry no more - CRY NO MORE
In 1985 I played some shows with Chas Cronk at The Mulberry Tree, a pub in Twickenham. The shows turned into a weekly residency, and we turned into Cry No More. Sunday night took on a life of its own, part music, part bearpit, a drop-in centre for moral delinquents, a cabaret for the disposessed. Moi? We were joined occasionally by moustachioed keyboard wizard Nick Magnus, against his better judgement. Everyone talked a lot and had nosebleed. It was fun. We released a self-financed single Cry No More and the keenly titled Live At The Mulberry Tree on cassette. Paul Farrah, the owner of a successful sound equipment hire company, provided us with a PA, sound engineers and recording gear free of charge.
In 1986 we played Richmond Theatre thanks to Paul Farrah and an expanding Mulberry Tree Choir. Chas and I began a regular writing partnership and acquired a manager, Jim Beach, renowned for his success with Queen. We signed to EMI Records and EMI Music. Bingo! EMI Records would make us stars, EMI Music would ensure our songs were recorded by the worlds’ major artists. Fame and an unspeakable fortune beckoned. This time there would be no mistakes. We released Dancing In The Danger Zone, a self-produced single which disappeared without trace, followed by Real Love which was even less successful in spite of having five different producers. I won’t trouble you with their names. Smile, an edited version of Live At The Mulberry Tree, was released by Coldharbour Records.
This afternoon I bumped into a girl from Manhattan who told me that every aspect of the way I lived my life was wrong She said you are what you eat and you must eat junk you'll have your other foot in the grave before too long - REAL LOVE
In 1987 we supported Suzanne Vega on a UK tour before recording the provocatively titled Cry No More, produced by Richard Gottehrer, Jeffrey Lesser and David Richards. Planned in New York, recorded in Switzerland with American session men and Nick Magnus, against his better judgement, mixed at a studio belonging to Tears for Fears, it was an expensive, overblown affair. Richard and I were not a match made in heaven. Not to worry, it was singles time. Recipe For Romance bombed in spite of a Nick Davies remix, Tears On The Ballroom Floor, co-written with Anthony Phillips and released with a promotional video, went the same way. We provided songs for a low budget horror film, Bloody New Year and our cameo appearance as The Flying Cadillacs won us both Oscars. It didn't really, I made that bit up. I'm not making this up though, Bucks Fizz recorded Tears On The Ballroom Floor and we ended the year touring with Aswad. Yes, Aswad.
...........
Click here to watch Tears On The Ballroom Floor video.
In 1988 we wrote more songs, played at The Mulberry Tree, played in lots of other pubs, toured with John Martyn and produced a 17 minute documentary video, Crying Out Loud, without EMI noticing.
Johnny was eleven when he came of age running from a home in Mexico Seven years later on Christmas Eve Johnny got married to an eskimo She was only young but the law was loose all they needed was a clean start and holding the ring on her warm finger Johnny got married to his sweetheart And you know what happened next? Johnny ran off with his child bride And you know what happened next? They both got buried in a landslide - LANDSLIDE
In 1989 we recorded Love And Power with curly haired ex-Strawbs keyboard wizard Andy Richards. It still didn't sound like us and we co-produced it. EMI released Peace In Our Time, another flop, before dropping us, but the album was released in Germany by EMI-Electrola. A single, Oh Sharon! was an airplay hit, well almost, and we played a club tour of Germany, a colourful experience. Following the closure of the Mulberry Tree we started the Cry No More Social Club at the nearby Turks Head.
In 1990 we did a second tour of Germany, released two more singles, Big Car and Landslide, which were not almost airplay hits and played larger venues supporting Marillion. We wrote more songs, EMI-Electrola didn’t like them, you can guess what happened next. Correct. In a fit of pique I started writing a comedy script, Radio Nowhere.
MICK: Come on ref, watch him. JOHN: Now use it. MICK: Go on, shoot! JOHN: Useless Evans, you're useless. MICK: How's your missus? JOHN: She's only crashed the car hasn't she? Swerved to avoid some kid running in the road and bosh, straight into a skip, both legs broken, four broken ribs, broken shoulder, sixty stitches, no claims right up the chute, muggins 'ere on the bus. Come on Evans pass it. MICK: When was this? JOHN: About quarter to one, I nearly didn't make it.
In 1991 we were asked to perform Georges Bar on an ITV consumer show, Beat The Cheat. I ended up becoming a presenter, something I wouldn’t care to repeat. It never got past the pilot edition, a blessing. Noel Gay Television expressed an interest in Radio Nowhere, I wrote a second instalment, it came to nothing.
Beat The Cheat ... 'When Lloyd Grossman is the only person making any sense you know you have encountered crap of the highest order.' Time Out.
In 1992 we played a week long residency in the Hyatt Hotel, Montreux, which is as much fun as you can have without actually enjoying yourself. The Social Club audience began to drift away. Jim Beach quit.
END OF PART THREE
The Defence Department has confirmed that scientist, Andre Delon, was working on a top secret project at the time of his death, fuelling rumours that he may have been killed by a Russian spy.
In 1993 I was commissioned by Paul Farrah, now a theatre producer, to write a stage musical version of The Fly, a gift from heaven. I wrote day and night for a spectacularly tiny fee. My profits would come when the play was a hit.
SHERAZ: Did you kill your husband Mrs Delon? JENNIFER: Yes. SHERAZ: How did you kill him? JENNIFER: In a hydraulic press. SHERAZ : You squashed him to death? JENNIFER: I pushed a button. SHERAZ: Why did you push it twice? JENNIFER: I missed the first time. - THE FLY
In 1994 a director, Steven Dexter, was appointed and a dizzying round of re-writes, rehearsals and backstabbing began. The music business might be a filthy swamp of deceit, avarice and corruption but it’s a tea party compared with musical theatre. Paul announced that, as producer, he now owned the entire rights to my script and songs. Someone called Steven Clark changed a few words here and there and was credited as co-writer. The Fly played two preview shows at the Garrick Theatre in London and that was that. Game over.
Cry No More bid adieu to The Turks Head, the first of many farewell appearances.
...........
Click here to watch all Small Stories videos on YouTube.
END OF PART FOUR
In 1995 I got a driving job.
As you drive out of East Town on Corridor Five there's a house on the corner of Albany Drive It's a kind of bordello, it's a kind of a church run by a good woman left in the lurch Now she can be crazy if she feels so inclined but most of the time she is cool and refined and a long line of callers are pleased to arrive at the house on the corner of Albany Drive - ALBANY DRIVE
In 1996 I started writing again and decided to try and record some songs myself. I contacted Jim Beach, renowned for his success with Queen. Jim was starting his own record label and willing to invest a modest sum in the project. Bingo! This time absolutely nothing could go wrong.
In 1997 I acquired an 8-track recorder and set about becoming my own producer, engineer and three-fingered keyboard player with all the technical acumen of a dead otter. Not a pretty sight. Helpfully, my keyboard could play She’ll Be Coming Round The Mountain on its own.
Did you ever make love in Iowa? Did you ever make cakes in Maine or sing Somewhere Over The Rainbow again and again and again? Did you once see a doctor’s prescription but not understand what it meant? Did you once glimpse the moon in a mirror and wonder wherever it went? - IOWA
In 1998 I finished the tracks. Jim suggested we replace my toytown instrument noises with the real thing using classical musicians from the Lausanne Conservatoire at Mountain Studios. My primitive playing with a bleak orchestral veneer. I agreed. David Richards was called in. Our relationship was less harmonious than of old. I returned to England. David did rough mixes in my absence, I didn’t like them. I got a call from David saying he was sorry to hear Jim had dropped me. I called Jim and received an 'I’m not sure where we’re going with this' fax and a promise that we would speak soon. I’ve never heard from him since.
A part of me's gone but it's still in my heart and the old days won't go but the new days won't start A part of me's gone and it's not coming back it's discarded and lost at the end of a dirt track - GONE
END OF PART FIVE
In 1999 I sold steam irons, handed out leaflets and got a job as a courier driver.
And so my life is over now, I have nothing to look forward to except death and hell. In 'The Waltons' and 'Little House On The Prairie', people die nice deaths, surrounded by their freinds but I will probably fall down a manhole and break my neck before drowning in sewage. However, I wonder if hell can really be that bad? It can't be any worse than standing outside this bloody warehouse waiting for Terry Watkins to arrive. - DEATH AND HELL
In 2000 I drove a van, wrote stories, script ideas, sketches, poems, anything but songs.
In 2001 I drove another van, sold massage machines and wrote a comedy script, Car 13 Where Are you?
RUBY: Still no news from Car 13? VINCENT: Nothing. RUBY: He’ll show up. VINCENT: I hope so. How are things with you? RUBY: Well, I swear my clients are getting weirder. VINCENT: Is that possible? RUBY: You have no idea. This morning I had a gentleman who dressed up as Rupert Bear and tried to balance a beach ball on his head. Every time the ball dropped I had to whack him between the legs with a golf club. A nine iron. VINCENT: Good grief. RUBY: And tomorrow I have a gentleman who likes to cower behind the refrigerator while I skin a rabbit. I have to shout at him. VINCENT: What do you shout? RUBY: You naughty boy, you scamp, that sort of thing. - CAR 13 WHERE ARE YOU?
In 2002 I co-wrote and recorded an album with my son Jamie. He hears different notes to me and I learned a lot. Most of all I learned to loosen up my approach to songwriting and don’t work with your son. Only joking Jamie.
Decisions! Decisions! Boy I really made one this time Something had to change but I didn't know what so I changed everything - SOMETHING HAD TO CHANGE
In 2003 I sold more massage machines and wrote a comedy script, Welcome To Kent.
Up with the lark in the morning never let a day go by Fight for your King and your country never ask the reason why Don't get upset cos it's raining you're gonna get wet so stop complaining Think of the life left remaining and never let day go by - NEVER LET A DAY GO BY
In 2004 I sold more massage machines and wrote another comedy script, Hubert.
SOUND FX: Seagulls, distant waves. GEORGE: Oh I love the seaside. I love the sea. It's so wet and salty. Hubert loved the sea you know. I remember once in Eastbourne, when he thought he saw a kangaroo, but when we got up close it was just a tennis ball ... what kind of bird is that? WHITWORTH: It's a seagull your reverence. GEORGE: Is it really? He's a cheeky fellow, look, he's blowing me a kiss. Too whit too whoo, too whit too whoo, I think he knows what I'm saying. WHITWORTH: Shall we walk a little further? GEORGE: Hubert loved birds ... WHITWORTH: Did he? GEORGE: ... eagles, wrens, peewits, even the humble sparrow, he shot them all. - HUBERT
In 2005 I wrote and recorded continuously. If I stopped I felt ill. The new songs seemed outside my normal style, sometimes they seemed to be writing themselves. My lawyer and good friend David Gentle felt I might have found my oeuvre (he’s very cosmopolitan), my brother Deryk said they sounded like a suicide note.
I think I might be confused by the way of the world with its starlight and storms as we follow the tide and on this confusion we sail like boats in the night we're a terrible sight as we crash and collide - TORN
In 2006 my doctor told me I was clinically depressed. I asked her how she'd reached this apparently random diagnosis. She said, 'You've been crying for the last fifteen minutes', a regular Sherlock Holmes. She said I needed anti-depressants and counselling. I said I didn’t believe in counselling. She said I couldn’t have the anti-depressants then. I had the counselling. Things got much worse then much better. I got a job putting up exhibition stands. There's nothing quite like being constantly called a useless wanker by a gang of tattooed ruffians for lifting the spirits.
END OF PART SIX
In 2007, impressed with my ability to carry four bacon rolls with brown sauce, two hot dogs and six teas, in one go, without dropping anything, the ruffians decided I wasn't entirely useless and I became just 'wanker'. Bliss. Their pug ugly faces and endless moaning will live in my heart forever. Feeling more like my old self than my old self ever did I started compiling CDs from the stuff I’d been writing and recording since the long gone yesteryear of 1974. One crisp October morning I started singing in the bath. I was back.
By 2008, I'd found enough material to make at least twelve CDs - more if I included the real rubbish - and released the first two, Hello Sailor and Fun With Dave on Deepdene Records. A brace of Cry No More re-releases followed. I was a music business mogul, sometimes selling two CDs in a single week.
I played some solo shows, a revelation. I never wanted to play solo until I tried it and then found it was exactly what I wanted. Very me.
I decided to turn the 2005 tracks into an album called Switzerland, a rather bleak album.
For 2009 it is my avowed intention to finish Switzerland, start a website so CDs can be ordered without having to send me an email, play more live shows, tidy the shed and record an album of showtunes with international showjumper, Korky Von Trapp.
In the meantime browse through the current Deepdene Records product list and enjoy a buying experience from a lost age (email).
CDS ON SALE NOW FROM DEEPDENE RECORDS
HELLO SAILOR
A mixture of acoustic demos and tracks recorded 1976-77 with the Strolling Players.
'Although sometimes primitive in execution these recordings are charged with the writer-performer’s manifest eccentricities, by turns playful, waspish and melancholy.' Pat from next door.
FUN WITH DAVE
12 tracks produced by David Richards, 1893-84. Most are demos, some had loftier ambitions. David Richards went on to work with Queen, Bowie and Michael Jackson. I went on to sell massage machines.
'I am completely satisfied with my massager, it has helped my shoulders no end’ Mrs Pike, Watford.
LIVE AT THE MULBERRY TREE
Cry No More debut, originally released on cassette in 1986. Exactly what the title suggests with knobs on.
'My all-time favourite album.' Brian Rizla, The Brian Rizla Experience.
CRY NO MORE 'CRY NO MORE'
1987. Chapter 15 of a study in career pinball. Previously available on vinyl and cassette only.
'What were they thinking?' Keith from Homebase.
Click here..to contact me / order from deepdene@fsmail.net.
Thanks for reading. If you got bored halfway through and decided to watch CSI, I hope your car breaks down.
Hi Roy! Hope all is going well! The CDs arrived in the post. I've listened to all 3 by now (Cry No More, 'Social Club...and...yes! ....theeee Brown Paper Bag CD). Wooooahaaa! I like like the 'Paper Bag album! :D Am I brave? or? ;) Oh yes, I like the other CDs too... Your (and Chas') music was much needed, and at the right time, ...to sooth my soul and to lift the spirit (and just at the right time :) Cheers! Cry No More - Brown Paper Bag CD
Hello Mr Hill! Thank you for the Birthday message, I too am looking forward to Sunday! I'm leaving a message to say that you need to broaden your horizons, look further than myspace, see past the blogs (which you right far to many of and I can't keep up to date with them.)
Anyway the point of this is get Face Book so I can follow 'Roy Hill the musical genius' on there.
This may seem a selfish request from you favourite common-law neice but I'm hoping the flattery might of persuaded you.
'allo Roy, great to see you and yours at BW 60th! We still gotta do that Turks re-union do-dah blah blah thang. Lets see if we can shape something up for 2010, maybe around Ape-prool/ May and put a spring in our step.GOOD-TIMES never fade.
Hi all - the brentford gig shaping up nicely - Would be great if people could buy tickets in advance - we need a vague idea of numbers so we get enough beer in!
www.wegottickets.com or send me a message via myspace or helphil@blueyonder.co.uk if you have any questions - tickets 10 in advance or 12 on the door - it's going to be a good one
I am gutted! I have had an up and down little time of it recently so am being flown away to Spain by my best friend for some R&R and we leave on 25th. G.U.T.T.E.D. When will you be playing next? xxxxx
Hello Roy - shameless self-promotion I'm afraid. Apologies. Our debut album When We Were Invented is now available for pre-order from our MySpace site at the special price of £9.99, with world-wide postage and packing free. Albums will be shipped shortly before the release date of May 18th. Very best wishes, Dean and Andy.
x love to Celia the tech head x
But during the show keep shouting: More, more, more! For that i thank you.
