At The King Charles In Poole On The 9th March
They said, with some justification, that it could never happen but Poole’s near legendary punk-pop cult heroes TOURS are to reform for one night only and play a gig at the King Charles pub in Poole with support from Surfin’ Dave.
The band – Ronnie Mayor, Richard Mazda, Steve Jeff and Mark “Basha” Spiers – sent a shockwave through the music industry in May 1979 when their self-released single ëLanguage Schoolí so impressed John Peel at Radio 1 that he played it for 50 consecutive nights and declared it his second favourite 45 of all time behind “Teenage Kicks” by Undertones.
Not bad for four snotty Poole upstarts, two of which were still teenagers. In the ensuing scramble for their signatures Virgin Records came out on top and tied the band to a £225,000 six-album deal then declared Mayor and Mazda (or was it Mazda and Mayor?) the punk Lennon & McCartney.
A second single followed, the fizzing ‘Tourist Information’, but it wasn’t to be and within a year the whole thing had fallen apart, ripped to shreds by clashing egos and industry meddling in the band’s line up and future sound.
After various other musical ventures in which a solo Ronnie again narrowly missed out on pop stardom before heading to Australia to become a window cleaner; Richard moved to London then New York to be a producer and actor; Steve went to live in Amsterdam and took up the teachings of Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh; and Basha played with Polly Harvey and Tom Robinson while plying his trade as a cobbler.
In 2010 Cherry Red Records released “Album of the Year (That Never Was)”, a compilation of studio sessions from 1979 and 1980 that should have resulted in ‘Tours’ debut album.
In gathering the material Ronnie and Richard spoke for the first time in 30 years and set in motion a chain of event that has come to this – TOURS back on stage and for the first time appearing as a five-piece with original guitarist John Hole who left and was replaced by Richard just as all the fuss began.
It’ll be quite a night.
Videos
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXtKqV4m0CA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIVoCKnG-sc
Gig Details
King Charles, Thames Street, Poole
Friday 9 March, 9pm
https://www.facebook.com/events/207109453199431/
Come on down and help us Turn back the Clock ⌛⏳XX Mark BASH’A Spiers
Gutted I will miss this as Tod Harry and myself are going to another gig that night .Hope they do another one soon and its not just a one off .