Old Skool @ London Rhythm and Rib Fest

This bio is written by Monty Oz (Clive Osborne).I hope this answers all the questions that I get asked.It all started in the 1970's. I used to spend some of my school holiday time in Stevenage with my auntie. One night in 1976 we went to a fair in Stevenage where I met Dave Phillips, we became good friends. I left school in 1977 and started my first job.Dave told me he wanted to start a band so I decided to play saxophone. We joined up with two older guys and did one gig as I remember it was not so good. I had met two brothers in Sutton were I lived,Carlo and Stef Edwards who would later become with me and Dave the Blue Cats. I found out that Carlo played guitar and through me Carlo met Dave.A new band was formed with me, Dave, Carlo and Doug on drums.Doug was not that good so Carlo told us that his brother Stef played drums. He was perfect so Doug went onto rythm guitar.After a short time Doug was dropped.I remember doing a gig in East London in Hainault,it was a teddyboy Rock 'n' Roll club, it went down badly because we wanted to sound as original as possible and all they wanted was that typical 70's loud Rock'n' Roll sound,you know what I mean if you were around at that time.We went on from gig to gig improving along the way and getting a following of fans.A guy called Tony Martin that new Carlo and Stef had a record shop in South London,did our first recording in his friends house in Stanmore north London,an EP single on his Red Hot Records label.On the EP were the tracks: Dancing Doll, Well I knocked, Rock Therapy and guitar instrumental Goofin' Around.We carried on giging and became more and more popular.We played our first of many Euro gigs in Gent,Belgium.It was a great adventure for me,it was my first time abroad and we had a great time partying and drinking. We then signed a contract with Rockhouse records and recorded the Blue Cats album at Seaside Studio Haarlem,Holland in august 1980. Unfortunately for Rockhouse,by the time it came out the band was falling to bits.Dave and the Edwards brothers did not get on well at all. At a gig in Brighton,The Lewes Road Inn, it all came to blows. Dave was owed money from some gigs.I new there was trouble brewing,so at the end of the night I went to the chinese take away across the street, then came back and sat next to the front of the van to eat. I could hear arguing from inside the pub.The door flew open and out came Dave and his friend, can not remember his name, shouting as he walked to the front of the van and threw a mike stand through the windscreen and ran up the road. The brothers were not at all happy. I stayed out of it and continued to eat my food. The Manager of the pub,Carlo and Stef stood looking at the van.Then from round the corner came a very pissed off Dave in his Ford Anglia and drove straight into the front of our Transit van.As he drove away he nearly ran over Stef and the pub manager,off he flew up the road.Later the police found his car abandoned with a broken radiator,but Dave and his friend were gone.No charges were made against Dave and I did not see him again for a while.That was the last gig we did with Dave.Maybe you can understand why the brothers will never play with Dave again as the Blue Cats.Without a singer / bassist we were in trouble.Tony Martin came up with Clint and Mitch from Little Tony and the Tenessee Rebels.So off we went again,but it was never quite the same without Dave.It took a while for our fans to get used to the change in line up.The style of music also started to change with Clint writing his own songs, like Wild Night. The copy that I have loaded is from a BBC session we did for the Richard Skinner show. The band later re-recorded this on the Fight Back album for Rockhouse Records which by then I had left and joined the Dynamite Band.