Jude Cole – The Records 1980

40 Years Ago Today – The Records 1980

It was 40 years ago today… so the kid comes in, about 10 years our junior, and he can harmonise like McCartney and twang like, well, any guitarist you care to mention, but he has one serious addiction – ‘Asteroids’ – the quarter-in-the-slot arcade game that recently succeeded ‘Space Invaders’. We hook up in Miami Beach having been together some months earlier in London to record the Crashes album.

Crashes LP 1980

We had seen Jude Cole the previous year at the Marquee, playing in the Moon Martin band (RIP Moon). Our producer Craig Leon endorsed him, as if we were in any doubt. Anyway, ‘Asteroids’… we’re in Miami Beach because the tour is going to open in Boca Raton, ‘just up the coast’ we’re told, although it is quite a schlep, and we are rehearsing at Criteria, the studio where the Bee Gees are in residence (we regularly see Maurice in the hallway but never Robin or Barry). Nice café over the street with a handy Asteroids machine.

We are staying at ‘Castaways’ (a motel on the beach) for eight nights and I’m suffering from sunburn after some unprotected paddling. I’m keeping a check on expenses. Two cabs from Miami Airport to the motel – $50. And get this kids – the Castaways room rate is $28 for a twin (we occupy three, later to expand to five when the road crew arrives).

On 18 July we play the first of two nights at Florida Atlantic University and on the way back from Boca Raton to Miami Beach our tour van is rammed on the ramp leading to Interstate 95. ‘A road runner,’ says Jude later, perhaps referring to the Plymouth car model, or its driver, I’m not sure. Jude’s the only guy awake other than our driver, anyway, road runner doesn’t hang around.

1. Ram on the ramp

A replacement hire car is a mind-blowing $236, while a local guitar repair is just 12 bucks. We are interviewed by the Miami Herald and the tour proceeds to Tampa. For the next five weeks we tour North America and venture into Canada promoting Crashes. It’s uphill, because whereas our debut album had enjoyed full-on promotion as the first release under the Virgin/Atlantic pact, the honeymoon is now over, or so we are told. We whinge a bit, but never mind, it’s a most enjoyable romp.

We play around 20 dates and we’re not half bad. Our nightly fee varies – Tampa $750, Hallandale $1000, Orlando $750, Atlanta $1000, Washington DC $750, Ritz NYC $1250. These numbers seem typical for any up and coming band on the club and college circuit and are only diarised, along with outgoings, in anticipation of some likely future disagreement between act and admin.

Eventually we wind up in Chicago where we play ‘ChicagoFest’, apparently headlined that day by Alice Cooper (our fee is a cool $3000). At our hotel across the street Jude introduces us to his friend Rob Grill, singer with the Grass Roots who had a ton of hits just ten or so years earlier, then I head back to the festival site to catch ‘The Coasters’ and ‘The Shirelles’. The next day we play a show at Pierce Arrow Recorders, a studio in Evanston, for a live recording for Chicago Loop FM. This set will eventually be released on CD as The Records Play Live.

Play Live Edmonton IL

On 16 August we fly home and Jude returns to California, unfortunately never to reunite with The Records as an act, but personal contact is maintained. Our equipment meanwhile is slow to make it back to the UK and after some legal intervention finally arrives. John and I take a trip out to an air cargo unit at Heathrow to inspect and collect, and he’s one guitar down. It’s all a bit of a mess and the solicitors’ bills stack up, during which time we write the songs for Music On Both Sides, because to our utter amazement Virgin has exercised its option for another album.

In memory of Phil Brown 1953-2012 and John Wicks 1953-2018

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