D Day @ The Bridge House

[punky]

There is a punk alldayer happening at the Bridge House on Sunday March 23rd. The line-up includes amongst others the brilliant Drongos for Europe, Dun 2 Def, Dirty Love and the best new Uk punk band around at the moment dragSTER  So get down and support as the next day is a bank holiday to sleep off the partying.

[Dagenham Dave]

I couldn't get to this one but I am making the trek from Ipswich in April for the Red Flag 77 gig

[TerryMurphy]

come on punky lets have your view on how the gig was,and what do you think of the new venue B.H.2, I was in there on Friday afternoon.and they were expanding the venue to make it larger,and very comfortable.once inside it is a lovely club,and this exstention will mean theres room for at least another 50 customers.T.M

[TerryMurphy]

Any one know how Garry Bushell and Cockney rejects went down at the east ham working mans club last wednesday?T.M

[Lee Drury]

Did people really pay to get in? Jeff is a lovely bloke and has a lot of good stories, most of which cant be told in public but Mr Bushell?
Gary wanted to start a bandwagon as did his sounds cohort Geoff Barton with the NWOBHM.
With the help of a good rejects song Gary invented a movement. The fourskins did one gig and split. Erazerhead never wanted to be an oi band and consequently lost out on loads of publicity. Barny Rubbles and the Gonads and loads of other bands were made up over a few beers for Garys sounds column and people began to believe.
If you say anything for long enough it becomes true. Cocksparrer had been finished for years but after having a couple of tracks dug out to pad out the oi albums even they reformed!
We did the original oi photos in the cellar of the bridgehouse. I was Gary Gonad with a box on my head, Yvonne was Gladys Pringle and Stinky and Bong were the gonads with more boxes on thier heads!
Whenever Wasted Youth or Erazerhead played up north the kids at the bar would ask me about the oi movement at the bridgehouse and I would tell them that there was no such thing. They didnt believe me as they had been reading about it every week.
When the first oi album came out we didnt want to be included but most of the songs that made it on are by Mick and Jeff and a few others messing around. The bands actually came about later.
With a garanteed audience and no hard work to be done why wouldnt they? The four skins got back together when the buzz started happening and they had my old guitarist Steve Pear. He said to me " its all on a plate, not like doing it the hard way".
And so the legend that is oi was born over a few beers amongst a handfull of people. I was there.
Oi was punk for the working class so they said, but punk was already on its way out and the last thing it needed was even more fragmentation.
Bushell was a journo who wanted to be a musician, like most of em. Now it looks like he cooked the books to get what he wanted.
Lee.

[TerryMurphy]

Thank you Lee,,I cannot believe all that you have stated,happened at my pub,with out me knowing anything about it .Just goes to show,us parents just do not know what is going on behind our backs,But a publican also not knowing ?well just goes to show,the Bridge house was more than just a pub,could we say a academy of art,well Oi music not really Goth yes ,Rock,and inventive music,I guess so,Mods American west coast hardly,Punk YES. New romantics,yes .Erazerhead and Wasted youth  ,no comment
Gary did give the tag. NWOBHM meaning, New wave of Bridge house Metal.
that help Iron Maiden to climb the stairs to stardom,But is still nice to see ,most of these bands are still performing all over the Globe,T.M

[Lee Drury]

Hello Terry, the bridgehouse was a special place to me and no doubt to many others. We got to watch Jerry McAvoy and Rory Gallagher jam on the upstairs stage one dinner time and to me then, it was just pub rock. Jerry was excited as he had a new bass with a battery boost button! I thought all the long hairs in all the pubs, all over the country were probably just as good, and that this was nothing special but as you get older you realise that those were special times and we were lucky to have been in the company of such fine musicians.
In a way punk spoiled us as it gave us a bad attitude to anything that wasnt brand new or to anyone who was over 25!
Every sunday night we would avoid the bridge and RDB as it was like listening to hymns to me. It was predictable and I knew what was coming next! They were some of the best musicians around also, but we werent interested at the time.
Johnny Rotten has a lot to answer to, but back then we all listened to what the Pistols said and we took it to heart.
We now know that to make good music you must have a broad spectrum of taste and listen to as much as possible but for a while, punk made us blinkered.
Getting back to what you said earlier Terry, I dont know what my kids are doing when they close the bedroom door. It would have been impossible for you to have known everything that was going on in a place as big as the bridge.
Most of it was good, creative and happy like punching Glens bag in the cellar or learning to play with Chris Thompsons  gear.
A special place indeed!
Lee.

[TerryMurphy]

Thanks Lee ,what a sensible boy you turned out to be,and also thanks for having a great and truthfull memory,I think knocking the establishment,is what we all do while growing up,my generation  were no different to you punks we had Teddy Boy gangs ,then mods and Rockers.Tell you what i heard on Johnathan Ross Radio show this morning Sex Pistols Pretty Vacant,It sounded like a great Rock song.it is now a all time classic ,Rock n Roll was our punk in the 50s.our parents hated it,Regards Terry M

[Lee Drury]

You are right about the pistols Terry. The whole album sounds like it was made yesterday. The songs still stand up. It is a rock not punk,classic. The comparison of Rock n Roll and punk is spot on. If Gene Vincent, Little Richard, Jerry Lee or even Elvis were my age they would have been punks as that is what the switched on kids were into. If it upset people then you were doing something right! I wonder whats next?
Lee.

[TerryMurphy]

WELL GOING BY BRITAIN GOT TALENT,,
It is Baritones or Dancers  ,Diversity winning.they were good
But nothing new at all ,unless there is room for us Grands?T.M

[Dagenham Dave]

Going back to what Lee said earlier the Bridgehouse was a special place. I was round a mates house earlier ( a youngster in his 20's but a keen muso) and played him some of the Live At The Bridge cd, he now knows why when he tells me our local blues bands are great and I just say " well alright-ish" but he's convinced I'm winding him up when I said it was all recorded in the pub I considered my local at the time