‘We turned the key and the Rolls Royce just went...’

A gig by The Blockheads is always to be celebrated, but their return to The Roadmender this May is to be savoured that little bit more –because after a tough couple of years, Ian Dury’s band had asked themselves, ‘Can we continue?’

Sammy Jones talked to Blockhead Micky Gallagher about getting back in the saddle and giving music fans reasons to be cheerful again...

The pandemic put more than a spoke in the band’s wheel; it cancelled everything.

“2020 was gonna be our year and we had all our ducks in a row. It was gonna be our best year since we’d been without Ian and to just have to cancel the gigs, it was shocking,” keyboardist Micky recalls.

And when things were returning to some semblance of normality the band was hit by another blow when their longtime frontman Derek Hussey passed away.

Devastated, and with the band unable to play live, Micky (whose long list of other credits include time working with The Animals and The Clash) admits he considered pulling the plug: “It was just not sustainable not to do any work and keep the thing going.”

But Blockhead Chaz Jankel had a pal who fancied making use of the mic, and the band decided to get together for a play – their first for three years.

“It was a one off to see what happened. We went off to Bedford where we have our equipment and rehearsal facility. We got together and turned the key and the Rolls Royce just went...it was really remarkable after three years. It really felt good so we thought let’s go out and try it.”

Mike Bennett is now filling the space vacated by Derek, although filling is the wrong word. Because, much like Derek’s predecessor Ian Dury, some people are simply irreplaceable.

“Losing Derek was shocking, it took a while to get over it. We were still mourning when we got back together, but we knew if we didn’t do something we’d have to just collapse everything, and once you do that it’s very hard to get back again.

“Mike is very good and he’s putting himself into it and we’re all for that. We appreciate what he’s doing and it’s brought us all back together. It has given us a breath of fresh air.

“It’s about capturing and interpreting Ian’s lyrics – they are beautiful lyrics, one doesn’t have to do too much more than deliver that lyric; recite the lyric, sing the lyric, it’s all in the lyric, you know...”

With their unique blend of sounds and lyrically suss musings, The Blockheads never quite fitted in anywhere, and yet they got everywhere.

“We’ve always been in a field of our own,” Micky says, “I think Ian was the most incongruous pop star of the time. We started on that foot and we never went onto the other foot.

“We came up in the punk era but we were never an out-and-out punk band. Ian’s attitude and lyrics leant towards that, but he always made sure he had competent musicians and writers around him and we developed our own style. As you say there was no-one else around us doing it, and there’s no-one else done it yet the same way that Ian did.

“We have a historical background that serves us well, because you can’t pigeonhole us really...it’s sort of funk punk.”

If this band was anything other than exceptional it could be shambolic. Instead, there is an untouchable fluidity.

“It could be trite,” Micky agrees, “... it could be a very bad copy of the original, but we never find that it is. The playing is so absorbing and the band has been together so long that we have an empathy, obviously. And the chills onstage - even though we are old geezers now, we are spring chickens when we go on stage!”

The fans are certainly on side, too.

“They rise to the occasion and lift the band every night. More so I find now there is a need for entertainment out there. I think the world is in trauma and gigs are the things that bring back community and people can get with their own.”

Doesn’t it still seem odd that at a time when you could go out and eat two-for-one to ‘help the economy’ you couldn’t go to watch live music?

“The restrictions meant we couldn’t go out and play and were just kicking the can down the road for a year and a half. Flattening the curve was a big lie. It’s total gas lighting and it’s shocking. We have a calibre of politicians now whose morals are trumped by expediency.”

The world lost the genius of Ian Dury more than two decades ago. Makes you wonder what he would be writing if he were here now, doesn’t it?

Micky gives a knowing laugh: “In many ways, even though Ian was what they call a punk and a rebel, he was very establishment at the same time, especially with the medical business, because he felt that the medical side saved his life and you couldn’t argue with that. But I think he would have had a bit of an eye up as to what’s gone down over the last three years.

“Trust has been eroded really badly.”

There were really some dreadful errors, weren’t there?

“Don’t get me started,” he warns, but we already have, “I don’t think we’ll ever be back to normal, the future’s not what it used to be. Don’t kid yourself. We all know that was just a little test to see how high everyone can jump.

“I think we’ve got to say ‘What do we want the future to be?’ Don’t let people tell us what our future should be.”

Everyone knows The Blockheads for their singles Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick, What A Waste, Reasons to Be Cheerful , Pt.3), but they are much more than the sum total of those. They are the musicians’ band, if you like; when their New Boots and Panties album was re-recorded in 2001 (cunningly titled Brand New Boots And Panties) the pedigree of performers queuing up to sing was awesome – Gallagher’s past collaborator Paul McCartney, Pogues man Shane MacGowan, Robbie Williams, Madness and Wreckless Eric just some of the varied names who made it onto the disc.

“We were very honoured that the artists came forward and wanted to be part of it and express themselves on our material...”

But you can’t win ‘em all, and there has been some friction; a stateside tour supporting Lou Reed being a famous example. Safe to say they didn’t hang out at hamburger joints together.

“We were negatively or positively charged and repelled each other,” Micky laughs, “It was really Ian and Lou, there seemed to be an attitude about the place, a resentful thing that was happening for no reason. I think it was part of Lou’s act and part of Ian’s act and they just hooked into that thing and never a word was exchanged on the whole tour.

It was very strange, they were the sort of American punks and we were the English punks of the day so there was that dynamic.”

Rod Stewart and Ronnie Wood rocked up to see The Blockheads in LA on that tour – and repaid Lou for the negativity he’d shown by detuning his guitar pre-show.

“Yeah, that was good, it was like ‘How dare they ignore the band?’”

The music industry has changed beyond all recognition in the time that The Blockheads have been around. It used to be about issues, awareness, shouting about stuff and spreading the word with flyers and boxes of vinyl. It was about real passion. Now? It’s about image and twitter stats. Forget ‘Where’s the party?’ It’s a case of ‘Where’s the music?’

“We’re a generation where music was relevant and was a reflection of the culture, and everyone understood what it was about,” Micky says, “Now it’s so disseminated in the many different charts and facets and it’s not about music anymore, it’s about selling some sort of ideology.

“Music will never be relevant as long as it’s doing that.

“We used to listen to songs and artists and they used to point true north. It doesn’t anymore which is a shame.

“We’re not as relevant, music in general is not as relevant,” he realises, “They can play the game, have the flashy videos and productions and go viral and whatever, but it’s not about music anymore.

“The Blockheads is still about music, that’s all we talk about, that’s what we do.”

> The Blockheads play Northampton Roadmender on Saturday, May 13.

To book tickets visit theroadmender.com