E34 APB - Iain Slater and George Cheyne Interview

Join us for a trip down memory lane with Iain Slater and George Cheyne from APB, as they join the show from Scotland. Ever wondered how a football player becomes a bass guitarist? Iain shares his inspiring transition, fueled by the magnetic presence of Marc Bolan. Meanwhile, George recounts his early passion for percussion-heavy bands like Santana and the moment he discovered the infectious grooves of funk music. Together, they bring us back to their high school days, where their musical journey began and where the seeds of APB were sown. This episode promises to be a treat for fans eager to learn about the roots of their favorite band.

In our deep dive into APB's musical journey, we celebrate their iconic single "Shoot You Down" and discuss how the band navigated financial constraints by focusing on releasing singles. Iain provides an intimate look at the band's creative process, sharing stories behind tracks like "What Kind of Girl" and the unforgettable "Summer Love." Personal anecdotes, including Iain's mother’s favorite song, add a unique, heartfelt touch. 

Our final segment takes you behind the scenes of APB's recording sessions with John Peel and the early gigs that helped cement their legacy. Iain and George share candid stories that paint a vivid picture of APB's journey. We also discuss the pandemic's impact and how Iain's live DJing on Facebook helped maintain a connection with fans. Wrapping up, we express our gratitude to Iain and George and invite listeners to check out their latest album, "The Radio 1 Sessions." Don't miss this episode packed with musical memories and exclusive insights!

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Transcript

From Scotland to New York

Speaker 1 0:00

Hello, this is Ian from APB.

Speaker 2 0:02

And this is George from APB, and you're listening to Music In my Shoes. He's got the feeling in his toe-toe.

Speaker 3 0:36

He's got the feeling and it's out there growing. Hey everybody, this is Jim Boge and you're listening to Music In my Shoes. That was Vic Thrill kicking off episode 34. As always, I'm thrilled to be here with you. Let's learn something new or remember something old, over 40 years ago. This song comes on the radio. It starts off with this great drum beat, followed by a high-energy, funky bass and finally some edgy guitar chords. The song was Shoot you Down and that was my introduction to APB. Joining us today from Scotland, we have Ian Slater, singer and bassist, and George Cheen, drummer. Thank you, guys for joining us. I appreciate you coming on today. You're very welcome. Thank you for the invite. So when did you guys start playing your instruments and when did you start playing together?

Speaker 1 1:30

Well, George school.

Speaker 2 1:34

Yeah, high school yeah.

Speaker 1 1:36

High school you had to 16, 17?.

Speaker 2 1:40

I basically got a drum kit and didn't know how to play it and Probably told some of the other kids at high school. And then I basically got a drum kit and didn't know how to play it. Still doing it, probably told some of the other kids at high school and then you kind of heard oh, such and such plays guitar and they've got a band. So eventually our paths crossed. That would really be how it started Played at high school discos and things.

Speaker 3 2:03

Ian, what made you pick up the bass and start playing the bass?

Speaker 1 2:08

My football skills started to go under way and I got kicked out of the school team.

Speaker 3 2:14

So football, which is soccer, what we call soccer in.

Speaker 1 2:17

America is football for you. I didn't do something to impress the girls. No, no, it was something along those lines, to be honest.

Speaker 3 2:25

Okay, so you decided to pick up the bass and do something different.

Speaker 1 2:29

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I suppose. So I mean yeah, I mean, just when you get the little music bug, the thing, it doesn't go away, does it, and you get it in your thing. Mark Bowling probably was the first person that made me want to do stuff.

Speaker 3 2:44

Really.

Speaker 1 2:45

And why is that? I don't know. It's the way he looked. It's the way he looked. It had some kind of thing on the TV. The way he looked with the microphone and the Les Paul that's my first memory of wanting to do music.

Speaker 3 3:05

So what part of Scotland did you grow up in?

Speaker 1 3:09

Ellon, slightly north of Aberdeen, george's Methlic slightly north of Aberdeen and a bit to the left, right, yeah, left.

Speaker 3 3:18

Very good, I like that. So if I'm going to go look for it, I'll know to make sure that I go a little bit to the left and then. So what other bands influenced you? You know, before you started in the band and then, once you guys were together, what bands were influencing you and your style and on what you wanted to do and what you wanted to listen to.

Speaker 1 3:39

Good question, Good question George question, george, for me.

Speaker 2 3:45

I suppose I was going into bands with percussion. I was a big fan of Santana when I was really young, but I, you could say I, discovered funk music, but didn't actually know what it was. I remember camping in a tent with a transistor radio and hearing some music come over the airwaves, and I think it was Radio Luxembourg and just something about it that I really liked, and it was a track called More Bounce to Downs, and it wasn't actually until after I'd met Ian and Glenn and joined APB that I discovered that Ian had endless supplies of, you know, funk music.

Speaker 2 4:37

And he liked all that stuff, so I kind of got influenced when I was in APB and I was also instructed by Ian and Glen to not try and do so many fancy things with the drums, so it kind of, yeah, focused me, I suppose, a bit to simplify things.

Speaker 1 4:56

How long did you take for that to work then, george?

Speaker 2 5:01

Well, maybe quite a long time, ian.

Speaker 1 5:04

It was kind of reciprocated I got told off as well, and Glenn. Well, glenn didn't need told off because he probably was the sparse guitar player in the history of mankind.

Speaker 3 5:18

So it's funny, you talk about the simplified drums, but you know I talked about Shoot you Down and that you know that about shoot you down, and that you know that really was this infectious drum groove that I think that pulled everybody into the song, before the bass, before the guitars. What was your inspiration? And to come up with that?

Speaker 2 5:37

good, I think it was probably wrong. Correct me, but I think it was just a case of Ian had come up with the bass line and I just no, no, that one there.

Speaker 1 5:51

Well, I can remember that one, not many, I can remember really really clearly, but we'd been listening to some Clash stuff and we'd been listening to Train in Vain and maybe it was just. It wasn't thought out, but we'd been listening to it and it was stuff and you just came out with that drum beat and I just came out with that bass line and then Glenn came out with that guitar and we just played it and it just went wait a minute, that's good. And it wasn't thought out at all and it was almost in one take, so it just happened. It just happened. Yeah, it wasn't even thought out at all and it was almost in one take, so it just happened.

Speaker 1 6:26

It just happened. Yeah, it wasn't even thought out at all, you just started it.

Speaker 2 6:34

And then I would also say that I always enjoyed playing it. I can barely think of any time that I've played Shooty Dinit and I didn't really enjoy it. It just seemed to work and happen and it was kind of relaxed and it was a jam, I suppose it just was always fun.

Speaker 1 6:52

That's exactly how it started. When I say that train in vain thing, it's like when we started it we just did it. But I think later on we went with the start of , which is kind of like the start of Train In Vain, but I think that was afterwards. That was the only thing we did afterwards, to my memory anyway.

Speaker 2 7:16

I'm sure it was a fair amount of pent up tension in the actual recording of Shoot you Down, because it was only the second recording we would have, second single we had made right.

Speaker 3 7:28

So your first single was Chain Reaction, which is a great song. I love that song, you know, as far as that being the first single, was that the first song you had as a band, or did you just pick that out of a group of songs that you had?

Speaker 1 7:46

we had loads of songs before that.

Speaker 2 7:52

I think Oily Records might have had something to do with pick and chain reaction.

Speaker 1 7:57

It might have been, because it was always part of the live set. We usually do it last because we thought, oh, that's a catchy one, and then they might have went oh, actually that could be a single. And we were like really, and then we did and it just came out.

Speaker 2 8:11

And Oily were really just a very small label, a bunch of guys who just were looking to release records with young bands in Aberdeen in the early 80s young bands in Aberdeen in the early 80s. I think part of their aim was to give kids an interest in the city. So they certainly released tracks with a couple of bands before us, I think Ian, I seem to remember we thought we were selling out by making that, the first single thinking it was too poppy.

Speaker 1 8:50

I seem to remember that Because we were Power, crisis was a B-side and that was more like what we were doing at the time. Angola and Discordant Chain Reaction was the poppiest one we ever had then and we thought, oh God, I love Soda, we're embarrassed by it. And Chain Reaction was the poppiest one we ever could have had then and we thought, oh God, I love Soda, we're embarrassed by it. It's too poppy. Oh , but you know, it kind of has to be.

Speaker 3 9:19

We've never stood the test of time? I'm not sure. I think it's definitely stood the test of time through all these years, because I think the last couple of times I saw you was the last song that you still played yeah, well as.

Speaker 1 9:29

I'm saying it kind of has even for us. Maybe we've got to like it, but at the start we were like we never played it for years, for years and years and years on the set when we started the early gigs in New York, but we ended up well maybe we could play it. But no, honestly, for years we didn't play that. We were a little bit embarrassed by it. Actually, I seem to remember George.

Speaker 2 9:56

Yeah, I think maybe Shoot you Down actually had an effect on us having that idea about it, just because Shoot you Down seemed to be something that, as we've already said in this interview, it kind of just gelled and worked and seemed kind of natural and there were other angular edgy songs, so Chain Reaction. I think maybe we just thought, wasn't it on the same par perhaps?

Speaker 1 10:21

Yeah, and we got, we can. That's kind of what we wanted to do, but we didn't know it yet.

Speaker 3 10:30

So I went to my 40th high school reunion over the weekend and a bunch of people asked me hey, what guest are you going to have coming up on the show? And I said APB. And everybody starts singing Shoot you Down to me, no matter who. I told that APB was going to be on, they just wanted to sing Shoot you Down. I mean, that is a song that with my group of friends, I think everybody I knew knew that song and that it was all over the radio and WLIR. It was constantly played and I thought that you guys were the biggest band in the world because it was nonstop. And you know, after Shoot you Down you had Palace Fill With Love and Rainy Day and One Day. I mean all these excellent songs that you had. But you put everything out on singles at first, as compared to doing an album. What was kind of like your thought process with that?

Speaker 1 11:27

We didn't have a deal, we didn't have any money.

Speaker 3 11:30

Oh, that's the truth. Okay, I like that.

Speaker 1 11:35

If we had, we would have.

Speaker 3 11:38

Yeah, but every song really was a good song. I mean each single that came out and they weren't like copies of each other, they were their own standalone song and sounded fantastic and you guys really did good with all of those and especially being this band from you know in Scotland, that you know. Yes, there's been some big bands that have come out of there, but it's not like they're churning a ton of bands out, but you guys did such a great job. That's awesome. 1984, so basically 40 years ago, in July of 84, screamer of the Week, which was the best new song of the week on WLIR, was what Kind of Girl? Again, another single, another different type of song. Did you make the words first? Did you make the music first? What was your thoughts on all of that?

Speaker 1 12:30

Well, I know exactly what happened there. Glenn had at that point he had given me a squeeze and squeeze and squeeze of poems like poetry and that was all written down, you know, verse, chorus, verse, whatever, and quite a lot, lot even from all the appeal sessions and stuff. And I was just sitting in my bedroom playing along with Parliament and I was playing along with I think it was actually Flashlight was playing along with and I was going, so I just kind of was playing along with that but playing a different, completely different. I was playing along with that but playing a different, completely different chord sequence along with it. And then I just picked up a guitar and I worked out these chords that I thought I'd made up, which I kind of had made up, and it kind of just flowed from there. And then there was this kind of made sense along with the music, and I can remember it clearly, that one.

Speaker 3 13:29

Definitely had a long-lasting impression, if you can remember that one clearly. I like that Ian.

Speaker 1 13:35

Yeah, I can kind of remember a lot of them, just the actual, when it just first started to happen, but then, yeah, it also changes a little bit once you're going on.

Speaker 3 13:46

but right um 85 summer, love came out. I love that song. I still listen to that song a lot. I mean, I listen to all of your songs. They're, you know, on my playlist on my phone. I've been listening to them, you know, 40 plus years. Um then, something to believe in out, which to me is probably the poppiest song that you've ever done.

Speaker 1 14:07

I don't agree with that, which is a good song.

Speaker 3 14:10

It's a good song, but it's definitely, I think, more poppy than Chain Reaction.

Speaker 1 14:15

It was my mum's favourite, is it? Yeah, it was my mum's favourite, yeah, okay, as they go on, much to my chagrin, every time she would have friends around her, like here's my son's band and she'd always play something. Believe it, and it's like Mom. There's better ones than that, for God's sake.

Speaker 3 14:35

Hey, mothers usually know best, though Ian Mothers usually know best.

Speaker 1 14:39

Because you can hear the words, you can make out the words in that one.

Speaker 3 14:41

you see, Right, you can make out the worlds in that one. You see, right, you can actually. So you know what? That's a really good question. Let me ask you about that. Why is it that you know you can have someone like yourself? You know you're from Scotland and you have an accent. When you talk, I probably have an accent to you, but when you sing, you can understand and a lot of English bands oasis I never could tell what Liam was saying, but when he sings, I know exactly what he's saying. Why, what happens?

Speaker 3 15:14

It's probably a good thing, probably right.

Speaker 1 15:20

No, no, no, really, it is A part of the Scottish language. When people enunciate it's like the most understandable language and it's the most to the Queen's English that you'll get in the UK apparently, especially the north of Scotland, unless you're going to dialects and stuff, but it's the nearest to RP received pronunciation that you'll get in the whole of well, you know, in the English language. So maybe that's a point. George, please jump in.

Speaker 2 15:52

Yeah, no, I would agree with Ian. Places like Inverness speak very clear English. Over here, we've got More easily understandable than other parts of Britain. I would say some of the time, but I come from a country place in Aberdeenshire and my accent can be really quite strong. If I was going to say to you how are you doing, I'd say who are you doing?

Speaker 1 16:20

We started talking like we talk to each other like normal, normal language. You may not have started with my fucking name, but that's the end point. You see what Exactly?

Speaker 3 16:32

That was good. That was good. So real quick before we get into the Radio 1 sessions, missing you already in when I Feel this Way two great APB songs, but I don't think that they're currently available, at least on the streaming platform that I listen to. Are they going to be available at some point? Only available on record.

Speaker 1 16:56

It's never been on CD, it's never been digitally released None of them have, actually. But as it happens, Jamie, he sent me, he digitized them and he sent them to me. The idea is to make them available. I don't know how to do it.

Speaker 3 17:16

I gotcha.

Speaker 1 17:20

So, yeah, we're thinking about sending them to our new label Liberations Hall and getting them to do it, but we've not got around to it yet.

Speaker 3 17:28

Yeah, I have mission you already. I think it was an EP. It's like a 12-inch record. I got that I still have it from back in the day. I think I got it at a place called Uncle Phil's in Levittown, new York back in the day. So you talk about Liberation Hall. They've been putting out re-releasing your albums over the last couple of years and now they've just put out in the beginning of June the Radio 1 sessions. So for people to understand a little bit about the BBC sessions, so BBC stands for the British Broadcasting Company and I have in my collection. Obviously I have the APB, but I have songs by the who, pink Floyd, obviously the Beatles the Beatles were the big BBC David Bowie, buzzcocks, squeeze, the Smiths I think the Smiths' version of what Difference Does it Make is their best version, much better than what's on the album.

Speaker 1 18:23

The whole of Hot Topic is great amazing.

Speaker 3 18:25

Yeah, the the whole of Hot Topic is pure session. So what is it that people go on to make these BBC sessions? Why do people do it? It's not something that you know here in America that people are going on these shows. What's the premise about it?

Speaker 1 18:44

Well, john Peel used to have a program from 10 to midnight every night, weekdays and you probably know this. Every night he would feature two new bands and they would do four songs and they would record it in one day and then he would let them, he would showcase them on his show. So two new bands a night and so, like for 10 years, there would be two new bands a night, four, five days a week on his show. So that's where all the Sean Peel sessions would come from and you're quite lucky if you, even if you were like unknown, but to get to be able to do that. So we felt quite honoured when he asked us and so that's the background thing for it. And then David Jensen, he did the same thing. He did a slightly earlier show in the evening and then Peter Powell his one even earlier. So that was kind of more mainstream. But Peel used to just champion new bands, unknown bands. Actually A lot of the sessions that he did he probably never heard of them.

Speaker 4 19:48

So this is Jimmy here in the back. I'm wondering about John Peelel, because I love all of his recordings. Did he do the producing himself, did he? No, no, no, no, no.

Speaker 1 19:59

The studio that they recorded in is in Maida Vale, which is like on the other side of London and it's still there and there's a whole setup of a big recording studio. They farm in some producers and engineers and it was. It was all set up just to record big ssl desk, as you can see on.

Speaker 2 20:18

you can see it on the um, on the cd cover dale griffin, who was the drummer with moita hoopoe, was one of the producers and one of our sessions. Oh, that's awesome. They brought in different people to work with different bands.

Speaker 1 20:32

John Porter who did the Smiths one. He was on the very first one we did. Oh, okay, he did the early Smiths Hatful of Hollow and actually one of the Smiths early records.

Speaker 4 20:43

How much time did you spend recording four songs.

Speaker 1 20:46

Just over the course of a day. You were lucky. By the time you set it up you got got maybe one take and if you did it slightly a bit wrong you could do it again and then you could. You could redo the vocals and whatever, but all the music was done in one go and then maybe maybe one over dog the vocal. You maybe do the vocals afterwards, but that was a bit it that's great if you were we traveled down in an overnight train.

Speaker 2 21:10

Uh, and there train and there was an incident For the first session we did for Peel. It was wintertime and something. Some cargo in a train travelling north hit the train we were in and smashed all the doors and windows. We discovered it smashed all the doors and windows in like two other trains, and so we travelled down from Scotland. The accident happened north of Newcastle and very north of England and we sat in the middle of nowhere in the train for a while and then it crept into Newcastle. We got off, we had to take all our equipment the drum kit and the guitars maybe it was the ramps as well, ian. They were in the guards van and we had to take them off the train and wait for another train to take us to London. So when we arrived in London we were pretty worn out and the image in the cover of the CD is actually of us arriving at King's Cross.

Speaker 1 22:13

I think there was an amp and drum kit. I think we did take a drum kit, the kit was definitely there.

Speaker 2 22:20

I have a feeling a bass amp might have gone with this as well to London.

Speaker 1 22:25

I think, everything done. We didn't have a clue. We thought, well, they won't have anything there. They obviously did.

Speaker 3 22:31

So you mentioned John Peel. Were you nervous when you went in to record with him?

Speaker 1 22:35

Yeah, 100% yeah.

Speaker 3 22:40

All right.

Speaker 1 22:41

Yeah, actually a good question, because we didn't realize that he wasn't going to be there. We thought, oh, john Peel will be here any minute. But then we didn't realize that that's not the way it works, you know. Once we got there we thought, well, is it going to turn up? No, you know, obviously not. But so we were in the same boat as you are now asking these questions when we arrived gotcha.

Speaker 3 23:04

So you would uh, take the train, you'd get there, you'd record and then basically take the train, you'd get there, you'd record and then basically take the train and then just go back home to Scotland Any time that you would spend there in London.

Speaker 1 23:18

I actually can't remember. I think we maybe the first time did one gig in London. I think we must have done, george, I actually can't remember Terrible we must have done. We must have gone back the same night. We had friends in London, so yeah, maybe that's when we did the Rock Garden one. Yeah, Glenn had a party there and we might have stayed in the. We might have done one. That might have been when we did the Rock Garden gig.

Speaker 3 23:47

So on the Radio 1 sessions I mentioned, it came out in June of this year and there's a song Hypnotic Love Affair. I really like that song.

Speaker 1 23:55

First few American tours. We used to. Always that was always in the set and we always did Kuna's Lullaby in the set and we always did Back Inside your Heart in the set. We did quite a lot of them in the set.

Speaker 2 24:09

I remember playing them at the Ritz on more than one occasion. I guess the answer, jim, is that we play songs and then new songs are written and we have to give them a try. So other songs came in at a later point and we were playing them, or we maybe had new records out and so on. We certainly played Hypnotic Love Affair and the ones that Ian just mentioned quite a lot in the earlier days.

Speaker 1 24:43

I used to love playing them in Hypnotic Love Affair, actually I enjoyed them.

Speaker 3 24:49

Yeah, it's a real good song Again, you know, a song that I wasn't familiar with.

Speaker 1 24:54

I mean, we used to open the set for ages with Coon's Lullaby in America. That was the set opener. So I mean I love playing that. And you're talking about the Cure for the Blues album now, aren't you?

Speaker 3 25:06

Yes, yes.

Speaker 1 25:07

Yeah, I mean, Glenn disowned that one pretty quickly. He didn't like that whole LP because there was too many keyboards on it for him.

Speaker 2 25:14

Oh. So that was the basis of quite a few arguments. It did a poppier production, I think.

Speaker 3 25:28

Yeah, yeah, we spent too much time on that, I think, think, even though it was only a week and a half well, I mean, I think that any band has to do, you know, has to change a little bit, and whether it's adding percussion or keyboards or whatever it might be to, you know, not to stay stale. I mean, I think you guys did a great job with your songs, like I said earlier, kind of making sure that they didn't sound the same and each one coming out, you know, each single stood alone on itself and that's a.

Speaker 1 26:00

It was good to move on, yeah, and keep it changing. But then it got to a bit where it was a wee bit too paused. Then we reverted back to like angular, noisy stuff.

Speaker 3 26:12

So, ian, back during the pandemic on Facebook, they allowed people to play music which is something that they had not allowed them to do before and you would DJ. I remember on Sunday mornings I'd be cleaning up around my house and I would go on Facebook and I would put you on and you would be DJing records from where you live and I thought it was really cool because you played all this different types of music and I got to really kind of understand what you liked and I just loved it. I thought it was really really cool and I wish they would allow that again, because it's like you got to see inside the mind of ian and you know what he likes, I didn't know.

Speaker 1 26:57

They stopped it they did.

Speaker 3 26:59

They only did it during the pandemic. They made some changes yes, um, and what was cool for those of you that that don't know what I'm talking about that's not the reason I did it.

Speaker 1 27:09

I knew it was allowed. I just thought it's a good idea. Facebook Live just play records. Eventually they started going oh copyright, you can't play that.

Speaker 3 27:18

And that's what ended up happening is that they didn't let it be so freeform and let it be available. It was just non-stop during the pandemic and then things changed after the pandemic was over, but it was. You know, it was really neat to be able to um type to you. You know you play a song and type to you and have you respond back. You know, you know live, and I thought that was pretty cool and that's definitely something that is one of the good things from the pandemic that I remember that I would enjoy cleaning because I could listen to you play your records.

Speaker 1 27:52

That's cool and thank you very much for that. We used to take this iPad up to the mic stand like that, with gaffer tape and that was basically what was playing it and that was filming it and the actual music was just coming out the speakers.

Speaker 3 28:11

Yes, and I remember one time you accidentally brushed up against the turntable and it skipped and you weren't a happy camper, was it really? No, yes, yeah, you were not a happy camper at all, but it was a lot of fun listening to you then. So what is it that you're up to these days? Besides re-releasing apb albums? What else are you doing?

Speaker 1 28:34

well rehearsing away and writing, writing some stuff and trying to coax george and glenn down to do it alongside. But it's not easy, george. That's the main thing. It'd be good to get some new stuff going, you know, but it's very hard without Glenn and George there.

Speaker 2 28:56

New things going, but for me anyway, glenn was the writer pretty much for the lyrics.

Speaker 3 29:02

Right.

Speaker 1 29:04

He's also a catalyst when it comes to the music, because he's like, if you do something, if I play a bass line, especially if we're doing a jammy type thing if I play something, he'll just come out with something and it'll be like wait, it's instantaneous and it's always pretty good, it's always just the right thing.

Speaker 3 29:21

Right right. It's hard for me to do that and then think of that and then go and then think of that, and then go there and I'll be able to do that and then do that. It's not easy, but and I've tried, but I've tried it with other people it doesn't work, I understand. So do you think that you'll, uh, get back to america and play some shows in 2025?

Speaker 1 29:38

that could be a plan. We'll see. I doubt if glenn will do it and I've still always tried to convince george, but but we we do. We do have. We've had another drummer and a guitar player over there actually who's been in the American band for quite some time now and actually John has been playing for 25 years now. The drummer, george, yes, george, he's. But I mean, you know it's not easy. To be honest, I'd be surprised if anything does happen. But if it does, if we get an offer. There was talk of a Gramercy Theatre, but there was talk of that but nothing. Well, the people still come out.

Speaker 3 30:29

I mean I know that when you come out to the East Coast you know you play in New York, whether you're playing on Long Island or the city, and I know you've played in New Jersey and Connecticut. I mean people come out. People still want to see and hear and be part of it because they love the music.

Speaker 1 30:47

Yeah, it's very nice. Yeah, it's very, it's very nice. I think that basically about the size of it is two Mercury lounges is about 500 people over two nights. That's about the size of how it could possibly be. But yeah, and maybe a Long Island, but who knows Depends. I mean, it depends for people. People offer us things.

Speaker 3 31:11

So I know you opened up for the Clash at some point. What was it like opening up for them? Because you talked about them in the beginning of the show and you know, with Train in Vain and the drum parts that ended up being for Shoot you Down, what was that experience like being, you know, the opener for the Clash?

Speaker 1 31:30

George.

Speaker 2 31:33

It was exciting, it was a good opportunity. Joe Sturmmer went missing. I think we were probably going to open for them in our home city of Aberdeen, but he kind of disappeared. Then we ended up opening for them at Inverness, which is not north of where we live in Scotland, and I remember it being exciting but at the same time, apart from seeing the clash and seeing their fans, we didn't have an opportunity to meet them or anything. I don't think.

Speaker 1 32:10

Okay, we didn't get treated very well. We got shunted in. We got about a five-minute sound check and the bass wasn't even through the PA when we did the gig and then we got shunted off, so that was it. But you know, it was still like opening for the Clash. It was punk. But you know it was still like opening for the class. It was punk. It was yeah it was Not to put a negative slant, but it was.

Speaker 4 32:34

you know it was there, wasn't it? The headliner never wants to get upstaged by the opener, so they were like keeping you guys, you know.

Speaker 1 32:42

No, no, yeah, there was actually somebody on before us. His name was Sid Audley, uh, but he's still a friend, but he, he got a better deal than us, but he only had a bag of magic tricks. He's a comedian, so he was. He didn't really need a magic trick, but, um, but it was, it was still. It was still an experience, yeah, but we drove up there in cars, then after the game we drove back home in cars.

Speaker 3 33:08

Well, sometimes I think meeting your heroes isn't as fun as you think it is. Sometimes, you know.

Speaker 1 33:14

We didn't get to meet them.

Speaker 3 33:17

That's terrible. So if you go back to 1987, apb had played at Spit in Levittown, new York, on Long Island, and after the show I remember some of my friends saying, oh, I'd love to have their autograph. And I said I'm just gonna walk up to the singer and I'm gonna ask him. Like you can't get close enough? And I remember walking, if you remember, at Spit they had like stairs that would go up and there was kind of like velvet ropes you couldn't get up to. And I walked right up to you, ian. I was like, hey, my friend said I can't get your autograph, will you sign this for me? And I took a piece of paper and you just signed it. I don't think I had turned 21 yet, but to think you know that when I'm 20, to have the opportunity to ask you for an autograph, and all these years later I'm 57 now and here I'm interviewing you on the podcast never would have thought that you know.

Speaker 2 34:23

No yeah.

Speaker 1 34:26

What I remember from Spit Spit believe it or not, it was still a novelty for us. They gave us a big box of Schaefer beer on ice and they gave us pizzas at the end of the gig. That's the thing I remember most pizza is everything, so yes, we were getting free stuff.

Speaker 3 34:45

We couldn't believe it there was actually a pizza place in the same parking lot as Spit. It was called Tony's Pizza and that's where we would all go, so I'm going to go with that. Pizza came from Tony's.

Speaker 1 34:56

Well, and it was Schaefer beer. Schaefer beer, big, big, tall, long name. I don't know how I remember that, but I do.

Speaker 3 35:02

Schaefer's the one beer to have when you're having more than one.

Speaker 1 35:06

That's the jingle for it.

Speaker 2 35:08

Maybe that's why, then, this is a weird question. So Atlanta, where the Gone with the Wind Museum used to be, yes, yes, it is.

Speaker 2 35:15

Okay, here's a funny story. Apb made a trip to Atlanta to play in Atlanta a few times but on one occasion we went down and our roadie was probably a bigger tourist than we were and we went for a wander in Atlanta and our roadie decided that he wanted to go to the Gone with the Wind Museum. And we walked for quite a distance and got to address and I think he rang a bell and said through the speaker thing at the door hello, is this the gun with the wind museum? And the voice at the end of the line said it's gone and we had to turn back and go back to the hotel.

Musical Thank You's and Final Remarks

Speaker 3 36:02

Hey, well, we really do appreciate it. That's it for episode 34 of Music in my Shoes. I'd like to give a big thanks to Ian and George from APB. Great having you guys on the show. Really appreciate it. Thank you.

Speaker 3 36:14

Greg Pass on my regards to everybody at LIR and Long Island and New York Will do, and again, their most recent album, bbc Radio One Sessions, came out in June, so if you haven't heard it, please get it and listen to it, because I know that they would love it as much as we do. I'd also like to thank Jimmy Guthrie, show producer and owner of Arcade 160 Studios located here in Atlanta, georgia, and Vic Thrill for our podcast music. This is Jim Boge, and I hope you learned something new or remembered something old. We'll meet again on our next episode. Until then, live life and keep the music playing, thank you.