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RM) Ron, firstly, why
did you write the book?
Ron) I was approached
by the publishers, who said “would you be interested in writing your
life story”. I thought about it, for about two days, and then
thought yeah. Yes, I’d do that, you know what I mean.
RM) How on earth did you remember everything?
Ron) Most of it was in
the house, still. I just had to find all the old diaries and booking
sheets and things, and it jogged my memory, you know.
RM) You kept all that stuff, then Ron?
Ron) Well, yes, I
suppose you would, really, wouldn’t you. To be honest, I sold some
stuff off at auction, about 10 years ago, when I was skint. One
thing was the Sex Pistols contract from the Punk Festival, which was
handwritten by Malcolm McClaren.
RM) Who bought it?
Ron) I think it was
the Hard Rock Café in Central London, to put up on the wall.
RM) When’s your next promotion Ron?
Ron) Well, I haven’t
been promoting for a while, but it’s in my blood, and people are
expressing an interest in me doing something. I’ve got 2 venues
lined up for the new year, look here for news, come February. We’ve
venues in Oxford Street and High Wycombe, but can’t say too much at
this point!! These gigs are to be known as Ron’s part 1 and 2…
RM) Who are you promoting?
Ron) What I did in
1977.
RM) What, new “Punk” bands, such as The View etc?
Ron) No. Same bands I
did in ’77. Same bands in the same place. Some of them are
reforming, I’ve been on the bone mate!!
RM) Who are you still in touch with from those days, Ron?
Ron) Virtually
everybody. People from the Sex Pistols, met some of the Clash quite
recently, Damned I’m still in touch with, no end of people.
RM) Glen Matlock wrote the forward to the book and is obviously a
decent bloke.
Ron) Glen is a nice
bloke, and definitely part of the Pistols, but is his own man.
RM) Did you ban Punk?
Ron) No. Punk was
banned around me, and while it was banned at one venue, I still
considered doing it at another, the Nags Head in High Wycombe. At
the first opportunity for it to go back into the 100 Club it went
back in. It’s a false supposition to suggest I banned it. It was
banned because the police and Oxford Street traders association
objected to Punks standing in queues outside their shops waiting to
get into the club. At this time Oxford Street was the premier
shopping street in Europe. I’d be getting complaints, so would go
out into the street and try and get people to move out of shop
doorways etc, but as soon as I went back in the club they’d be back
in there. And of course there’d been some real bad violence. When a
girl loses her eye that’s a pretty serious thing. You have to
remember that I didn’t own the club, I just promoted there. Simple
as.
RM) Did Sid Vicious throw the glass that injured the girl’s eye?
Ron) Well, I presume
so, the barman saw him do it. He didn’t know Sid from Adam, but he
pointed him (Sid) out and told me it was him that threw it. I don’t
think Sid meant to hurt anybody, except the Damned! If it had caught
Captain Sensible on the head he’d have liked that! Funnily enough I
was down at the 100 Club a couple of weeks ago, and Michelle
Brigandage, who took some of the photos in the book, was telling me
that she was actually sat with the girl who lost her eye. Apparently
she was an art student from South London, never wanted any publicity
and was broken hearted, as anyone would be who lost an eye,
especially at that age. She was only 19 at the time. Michelle was
sat with her when it happened, she was her mate, and it’s the first
time I’ve had a real chat about it. She said herself that though she
accepts that it was Sid who threw the glass, he hadn’t intended to
do that. But at the same time, he had thrown the glass with malice,
and might’ve done even worse damage to someone else, you never know.
So in one sense, he’s exonerated to a degree, and in another sense
he’s still a malicious Pratt.
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RM) Was there any collusion to get Sid off by discrediting the
barman’s story?
Ron) No, but so many
people went down with him, to the police station, and said he didn’t
do it that the CPS probably thought 250 against 1 and dropped it.
RM) Were you surprised by Sid’s eventual demise?
Ron) No. You know, his
mother, Ann Beverley moved up to Swadlincote, near here. She got
some money from Sid’s estate, and the Pistols gave her some money.
She got a cheap house and a few bob in the bank, and when she’d run
through that she topped herself. As for Nancy, the police weren’t
looking for anybody else, but we don’t know, do we.
RM) Ron, how proud are you of your role in Punk, and could it have
happened without the 100 Club?
Ron) Yeah, it would’ve
happened anyway. It might have happened in a different way, but I
suppose the traumatic birth it got, and the big hand it got via the
Punk festival etc helped, otherwise it might have taken a bit
longer.
RM) Could it have started in any other city other than London?
Ron) I think it needed
London. It gave it the credibility. It might have happened somewhere
else, and it might have been more interesting if it had happened,
say, in Liverpool or Newcastle or somewhere, but it would have taken
longer to be accepted, and London would have taken longer to accept
it.
RM) I suppose the Pistols, who catalyzed the movement were a London
band, and people like Paul Weller, Pete Shelley etc always say the
seeing that band is what galvanised them.
Ron) Yes. They were
the catalyst. We needed to have them in the Capital, playing in the
middle of the Capital. It was always going to be a shortcut for
them, you know. So yes, it would have still happened elsewhere, but
in a different way.
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RM) Whose idea was the 1976 Punk Festival at the 100 Club?
Ron) Mine. My idea,
yeah. I approached Mclaren, as I knew that I needed the Pistols to
headline it. And the Damned, they said that they wanted to do it,
and The Clash agreed immediately, then we had to cast around to find
some more. The Manchester bands were got down by Malcolm (Mclaren).
Siouxsie approached me direct, although it wasn’t much of a band.
Then, the Stinky Toys were volunteered by Mclaren, although I’d
never heard of ‘em, and hardly anyone’s heard of ‘em since! Never
mind, they got on eventually on the second night!RM) I read in the book that the Grande Piano on the stage got used
like a climbing frame. Were you actually liable for damages if
things got broken?
Ron) The piano wasn’t
going to get moved off the stage. It always stays there. Thing is,
you’ve got to remember that it was a running, 7 nights a week club,
for Jazz and Blues mainly, and the piano was a part of all that. The
owners of the club left me to it for my nights, very seldom that
they were there, even. If the place had been wrecked, it would’ve
been down to me, I’d have had to pay for all the damage, you know.
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RM) Punk 77’s owner wondered if you thought the Banshees sounded as
bad as he thought they did?!
Ron) Well, in ’76 they
weren’t really a band, you can’t comment. What they were doing was
performance art, just getting up onto the stage and doing something
off the top of their heads. They didn’t know any songs, and it
sounded like it. It was weak, it was weedy. Sid just about tapped
the drums. Siouxsie was doing the Lords Prayer and stuff like that.
You couldn’t say it was a gig, or a rehearsed act, it was just
people, getting up and trying to do something. I let them do it, you
know, I might have done something like that at their age. I don’t
think Siouxsie really lived up to her reputation, if you like. Well,
not initially.
RM) I didn’t like them, but the Banshees went on to become very
skilled, musically.
Ron) Yes. By then
she’d recruited some good blokes. She’s been living in France for a
long time now, I don’t see her. |
