PS: THE NIPPLE ERECTORS AND ME

28 Years Later…

When I first came to London, it was to be a law student, and I wasn’t very good at it. I spent most of my free time going to see bands with my new friend Dave. In my first term I saw The Ramones, The Undertones, Buzzcocks and Joy Division: it was a golden age if you liked live bands and I did. So much so that one night in January 1980, Dave and I decided to do two gigs in one night. First of all we went to Islington to see Blast Furnace and the Heatwaves at the Hope and Anchor – Dave had their EP and as the singer was NME legend Charles Shaar Murray, I was very keen to go. They were great: and we left as soon as they were done to take the tube to Mornington Crescent and rushed into the Music Machine. We were there to see Dexys Midnight Runners, who were so good that I reviewed them for the student paper, saying that “one of their songs, Geno, could be a number one hit.”

But we also wanted to see the Nips (previosuly aka the Nipple Erectors), the band formed by Shanne Bradley and fronted by Shane MacGowan. We arrived just in time for the encore, which was the great punkabilly number King Of The Bop.

And that was it. Dame Time is a strange mistress: the years went by and everyone did other things. Charles Shaar Murray continues to sing and write. Dexys went on with many line-ups: and Shane formed the Pogues. The Nips were done – until 2008 when they reformed to play an anniversary show at the 100 Club. There was much speculation as to whether or not Shane would appear: but he did, and sang with his punk sneer intact. The only odd thing was that when he sang King Of The Bop, he came in one line late and somehow managed to sing the entire song out of synch with the rest of the band.

Dame Time is a strange mistress indeed…