Q-Tips (band)

Q-Tips are an English rock band first formed in 1979 from the remnants of the 70s rock outfit Streetband. (Its name derives from a well-known brand of cotton swab.) Saddled with the novelty song "Toast", a B-side made successful from incessant airplay by Radio 1’s Kenny Everett, and despite two competent albums, Streetband had failed to find credibility. Drummer Chalky and guitarist Roger Kelly departed, leaving the remaining trio of Paul Young on vocals, Mick Pearl on bass guitar, and guitarist John Gifford.

The ex-Streetbanders and new recruits Dave Lathwell on guitar, Baz Watts on drums and 4-piece brass section Steve Farr, baritone sax, Richard Blanchchard, tenor sax and Stuart Van Blandamer alto sax and Tony Hughes, trumpet hailed from North West London/Hertfordshire while organist Ian Kewley, lived in Essex. The idea was simple - put together a soul band to play the music they all loved, just for fun and maybe a couple of gigs.

History

In the late 1970s the punk music scene and the iconic band The Sex Pistols were in terminal decline. A new genre, Two Tone was eclipsing punk in popularity. The Police and Gary Numan were at the top of the charts. Bob Geldof and The Boomtown Rats had a hit with "I Don’t Like Mondays" and “pub rock” had already gone mainstream with Ian Dury & The Blockheads reaching the No 1 spot earlier in the year. Other bands on the ascendancy or consolidating recent success were the new wave acts Blondie, The Pretenders, The Specials and Dexys Midnight Runners.

Q-Tips’ first rehearsals took place on the three days 12-15 November 1979. The first gig was just three days later on 18 November 1979 at the Queens Arms Hotel in Harrow. This was followed 3 days later by another at the Horn of Plenty, St Albans – a regular gig for Streetband during 1978. The gigs came quickly and for the first few weeks the band performed as The Harrow Horns, adopting the Q-Tips name after working for several weeks. Suggestions of legal action over the band name by the makers of Q-Tips, the cosmetic cotton product however appeared to be anecdotal. The story was probably created for promotional advantage and no written evidence of the story was ever produced. In truth the band were never a significant entity in global promotional terms where the band name may become an issue.

The group developed quickly finding its stride in what was to emerge as its true forte and which separated them from many bands of their day, solid live performance. The band comprised several seasoned professionals including the brass section which on top of the fat, combo brass parts had strong backing vocals and a choreography routine for every rhythm. Also drummer Baz Watts, able to meld a technically proficiency with an authority to underpin an 8-piece outfit. Dave Lathwell brought a rhythm guitar to compliment that of John Gifford. The former influenced by bands such as The Little River Band and Little Feat, while the later leaned more towards the likes of Average White Band.

Q-Tips played 16 gigs in its first month of existence. This included well-established rock venues of the late 70’s such as The Golden Lion and The Greyhound in Fulham, and The Venue in Victoria, and in addition many other venues established recently during the emergence of "Pub Rock". For example The Bridge House in Canning Town (now demolished), The Half Moon in Hearne Hill, The Hope & Anchor in Islington and The White Lion in Putney all of which became regular haunts in the early days and where the band quickly built a strong following.

Some personnel changes occurred during the first 6 months. Richard Blanchard’s departure left the brass section as a 3-piece (Steve Farr/baritone sax, Stuart Blandamer/alto sax and Tony Hughes/trumpet). Dave Lathwell’s departure left John Gifford covering all rhythm guitar parts.

By 1 April 1980 after just four months of life the band had already achieved a staggering 80 live gigs and made multiple radio appearances. Gigs at this time were mainly in pubs and clubs in and around London. In addition to this relentless gigging schedule during this time the band held rehearsals for recording sessions and recorded two tracks in the first quarter of 1980. "SYSLJFM (The Letter Song)", the letters stand for Save Your Sweet Love Just For Me, an up tempo soul shuffle previously recorded by Joe Tex was recorded on 14-16 January 1980, and "Having A Party", a hit for Sam Cooke in the 1960s, recorded 20-21st March. Both tracks were recorded at Livingstone Studios, Barnet. The first of these recordings, "SYSLJFM" (i.e. Save Your Sweet Love Just For Me) reached No 11 in the "Sounds Independent" chart on 18 April 1980. Simple arithmetic shows 80 gigs plus 5 days of recording/rehearsals in a 4-month period actually leaves little time for anything other than eating, sleeping and travelling in a transit van.

As word spread, initially the music press embraced the band then quickly damned them with suspicions of the band’s sincerity. Comparisons were made with Dexy’s Midnight Runners, although the bands had little in common. Contemporaries such as The Specials had recorded tracks such as "Ghost Town", reflecting the youth of the day’s bleak vision of Thatcher’s Britain, no hope, no work, and “"too much fighting on the dance floor"” while Q-Tips offered something else – a party. This made comparisons with the serious dour outlook of Dexy’s all the more puzzling. To say nothing of the musical difference and Dexy’s pursuit of a mysterious philosophy to search for young soul rebels. The Tips had no philosophy except to have a lot of fun playing music they loved.

Some sections of the media accused them of being retro, a covers band, revivalists. The band had plenty of Stax, Motown and Atlantic records in their collections and the band did indeed covered soul classics but not as many as the media liked to suggest. From mid-1981, there were perhaps just 3 covers in a 90-minute show, with the remaining songs being penned by the band. Consequently the band worked constantly and in the process built a strong following not just in London, but in cities such as Manchester, Leeds, Birmingham, and Loughbrough. (University towns - note!). Meanwhile the media persisted, having found a band clearly having more than their fair share of fun both onstage and off. Curiously while lambasted by the media the band regularly appeared in media’s own "Wot-U-Listening-2-This-Week?" playlists.

By now the band were gigging mostly at least 6 nights a week, with the occasional ‘double’ thrown in for good measure (a double being an early gig, followed by another later that same day). A day off was usually co-ordinated with a journey home from a gig in Dundee or Penzance, the need to say hello to an estranged partner or to disinfect the stage clothes – unwashed for weeks. The band wore suits, shirts, ties and leather shoes, in contrast to the more austere donkey jackets, woolly hats and rucksacks of bands such as Dexys. Gigs-to-the-max was one way to get best value from hired vans, trucks and PA systems - just one factor in the economic realities of keeping an 8-pice band afloat financially. The university “Freshers Ball” being a firm favourite for the band- and the Freshers.

During 1980 the band became regulars at clubs further afield such as Sheffield's The Limit, The Warehouse in Leeds and just about every University and college on the map. At this stage the band could sell out multiple successive nights at prestigious London gigs such as The Venue, in Victoria - a gig to which the band returned repeatedly during the next 18 months. One pay-off for their relentless hard work was without doubt the emergence of a slick and professional stage show built upon a brass section with choreography routines and tight vocal harmony, a solid, unfaltering bass/drums rhythm section, and the ability to improvise on a whim into songs not within the rehearsed set. A good example being an excursion into Billy Preston’s gospel-flavoured "That’s The Way God Planned It", during the breakdown section of another song. Indeed the second album "Live At Last" - a play on the Who’s "Live At Leeds") a recording of just another live show, starts with an intensity that most bands barely achieve in their final number. The sheer professionalism of the band attracted the attention of several major record labels with the late Mickie Most (RAK Records) confirming emphatically on Radio 1’s Round Table programme that Q-Tips “"…are easily the best live band working at the moment"”.

Some further personnel changes occurred, with Garth Watt Roy (brother of Norman), bass player for Dury’s Blockheads, and responsible for the stunning bass line in "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick", replaced John Gifford on guitar. Watt Roy had recently toured with Welsh pop star Bonnie Tyler, of "Total Eclipse of the Heart" fame. In June 1981, Stuart Blandamer (alto sax) departed to be replaced by session sax player Nick Payne on tenor sax, while also adding blues harmonica and additional backing vocals. This line-up (Paul Young/vocals, Barry Watts/drums, Mick Pearl/Bass, Ian Kewley/keyboards, Garth Watt Roy/guitar, Steve Farr/baritone sax, Tony Hughes/trumpet, Nick Payne/tenor+alto sax) was to persist for the remainder of the band’s career.

The band’s reputation for exciting live work spread and the professionalism of the live performance grew. In Young, Farr, Watt Roy and Payne the band had an accomplished backing vocal section, adding to the massive horn parts, and the choreography. It all added value to the band’s onstage persona which by now, few bands could match.

Throughout 1981, the band's stature and crowd-pulling power continued to grow. They could sell out larger London venues such as the Lyceum, and a string of 3 nights at The Marquee and the same at The Venue. The band attracted offers of tour support and prestigious one-off opening slots and also began appearing at various festivals around Europe. TV shows started to appear, with the BBC’s TV/radio hook-up, "In Concert", 10 September 1981 being one of the first, followed by BBC2’s "The Old Grey Whistle Test" 18 November 1981, and BBC2’s "Rock Goes To College" 19 November 1981. Other TV slots included one-off appearances on ITV’s charity Telethon and children’s Saturday morning TV (No.73 with Sandy Toksvig). The Tips became popular with Radio 1 DJs resulting in numerous live sessions, interviews, and much airplay of the band’s singles.

European work followed, with TV shows (TV Rund, Germany), festivals (Pink Pop, Maastrict; Leixlip Castle Festival, Dublin). Also Euro-club appearances such as Grote Market Theatre (Gronigen) and the Exit Club (Rotterdam). The band even dipped a toe in the water of the European University circuit with a show at the University of Antwerp. The band opened shows for J.Geils Band at Manchester’s Free Trade all, The Knack at London’s Dominion Theatre, Thin Lizzy at the Milton Keynes Bowl, Bob Marley and Average White Band at the Crystal Palace Garden Party. On the down side the band embarked on an ill-fated summer ’81 tour with After The Fire (80F). Also in 1981 they played at both the Montreux Jazz Festival and at the music industry’s annual beano and possibly the most blasé audience ever assembled, the Midem Festival. Another memorable success was their securing the coveted tour support slot for The Who’s 1980 UK Tour – 12 dates across the UK, including a run of three nights at Wembley’s massive Empire Pool. All the while the regular gigs around London and the universities and colleges continued. All this had occurred less than 12 months since the band first stepped into a rehearsal room. Their itinerary for the entire two years shows that a day off was a rarity. The band played well over 600 gigs, recorded two albums and seven singles, in just two years. When you factor-in journey times for the gigs, the work ethic is a remarkable achievement by any standard.

Aside from their musicianship and in parallel with their professionalism was the band’s reputation for pre/post-gig hi jinx, practical jokes, parties and general debauchery. The Q-Tips annual Christmas card circulated within the music business was barely legal, and at least one editor of a music weekly joined the band on tour for a week to see for himself. Well Alf lived to tell the tale and write the feature, having witnessing first hand, field operations such as the Wardrobe Tour, the Ferret Club, and the War Correspondent in action. Further explanation of which is probably best left to the imagination of readers and the memories of those concerned.

The band came under increasing pressure when gigs continued fill the books, but the more lucrative record sales evaded them. The band came to an end in early 1982 when Paul Young announced a solo deal with Sony/CBS, capitalising on the reputation created by the band over a 2-year period.

Some concluding activity followed to settle tax bills. This included the March-April 1982, Last Chance To See The Best Live Band In The World Tour. Soon after, Young began touring billed initially as Q-Tips ensuring the gigs and wages continued to flow for the time being. This line up had only Ian Kewley remaining from the original band. Performing under the Q-Tips name was not viable however as the new band had an entirely different flavour. This incarnation quickly changed to Paul Young and The Family, then to Paul Young and The Royal Family.

In late 1982/early 1983, the majority of the group toured with Adam Ant on the UK and US legs of his Friend or Foe tour. Adam personally states that by the end of the US tour, they had played to over 250,00 people. Some of the Q-Tips also toured with Adam Ant on his 1984 Strip Tour.

Example of Q-Tips gigging schedule, October 1981

# University of East Anglia
# Thames TV Telethon, London
# Loughborough University
# Derby College of Further Education
# Q Tips V Chrysalis soccer match
# Brunel University, Uxbridge
# Reading University
# Southampton University
# Warwick University
# Leeds Polytechnic
# Leicester Polytechnic
# Recording 1st Album, Basing Street Studio, West London
# Recording 1st Album, Basing Street Studio, West London
# Recording 1st Album, Basing Street Studio, West London
# Bradford University
# Limit Club, Sheffield
# Newcastle Polytechnic
# Durham University
# Lafayette’s Wolverhampton
# Recording, Pye Studios, with Al Kooper
# Recording, Pye Studios, with Al Kooper
# Recording, Pye Studios, with Al Kooper
# Manchester UMIST
# Aston University, Birmingham
# Liverpool
# Day off – Ry Cooder Concert, London
# Day off
# Swansea University
# Sussex University, Brighton
# The Warehouse, Leeds
# Dundee University