I presented the Gig Guide (“Solent Rock Roundup”) on BBC Radio Solent for four years in the late seventies. I would rush, after teaching my last lesson on Wednesdays, down to the subterranean Solent Studio in Winchester’s Upper High Street, where I would often bump into (literally) the legendary presenter Peter White. There I would compile the gig listings and speak them “down the line” to the Southampton studio on tape. The programme, which had originally been called Beat ‘n’ Track, was presented (very well) by Gethyn Jones, now a prolific novelist. Occasionally, I would be granted a whole programme and this is what is represented here, in my best “Smashie and Nicey” tones. The tracks are by:
The Talkies (a group from Hayling Island, not Richard Mazda’s band)
The Keys – 2 tracks (an absolutely brilliant Gosport band, then signed to A & M and produced by Joe Jackson)
The Planets (Another signed band from the Portsmouth area)
Cosmetics (Yes, Richard Mazda’s band)
Tours (Poole’s nearly-made-its and Peel favourites)
Martian Schoolgirls (From Sturminster Newton with connections to The Clash)
High Risk (W Sussex prog band)
Thieves Like Us (I managed them, sssh)
Big Brother (soul band from Southampton led by Chris Shakespeare)
Bob Pearce (Southampton bluesman)
Ebony Rockers (great Southampton reggae band)
Dabiz (another popular Poole band)