Ramblings

Photo: Steve Rapport

Punk rock came late to Warwick University. The Arts Federation was sniffy about it, persisting instead with booking tired old rock bands like Caravan. And it wouldn’t have changed their minds when Ultravox! with John Foxx (later to become Ultravox with Midge Ure) played a gig there supporting one such band, some time in late 1976 or early 1977. They were fresh, energetic and exciting: everything missing from recent gigs I had seen. About a quarter of the audience agreed with me, and were on their feet, dancing and then applauding. The rest booed, or sat sullenly with their beers on the sticky floor of Rootes Hall.

But punk was not to be denied. An enterprising student called Paul Shurey – who styled himself “Max Volume” – started The Rabid Rat Club, which organised coach trips to punk gigs in Coventry and beyond. I went to the Ents office to book my place and solemnly asked for this person as instructed. “Max” turned to a friend with a modest shrug: “It’s what they call me”. My accurate but incomplete diary tells me that I saw The Boomtown Rats at the Coventry Locarno on 18th October 1977, and Australian punk band The Saints at Mr George two days later – both excellent gigs.

The Rabid Rat Club also promoted gigs on campus. In October 1977 they invited a band called School Meals to play. Punk had arrived on the Warwick campus: not in any of the main concert spaces, but in the quirky, angular space of the Disco Room in the Union Building. It didn’t go well: after the gig offensive graffiti appeared around the building. Half of the audience had come from outside the university, and they were deemed responsible. An Arts Federation source said “They made a mess of the stewarding – only one man was at the door”.

By now Shurey had acquired a drum kit – apparently he was taught to play by Clem Burke of Blondie. He formed The V.I.P.’s (their apostrophe, not mine) with fellow Warwick students Andrew Price (bass), Guy Morley (guitar) and Jed Dmochowski (guitar, vocals). Their early style was full punk, and for a while they styled themselves Max Volume, Tone Control, Mike Stand and Jack Lead. Shurey was Max: otherwise I couldn’t say who was which. Impatient for success, Shurey started booking gigs for the band just a few weeks after their first rehearsal. In a fascinating interview on Paperface Zine, Jed describes the early days like this:

“We started gigging in the Midlands, around Birmingham, Leicester, Coventry, etc. It was the classic experience of turning up at a dive at 8:00 p.m. and waiting until 12.30 a.m. to get on stage, performing to about ten people, and getting back to Warwick at 3:00 a.m. – rock’n’roll, here we come.“

Shurey’s Rabid Rat Club organised another punk gig which took place a week after School Meals, on 22nd October 1977. Model Mania from Birmingham topped the bill, supported by The Shapes from nearby Leamington Spa – later to enjoy a radio hit with the wonderful Wot’s for Lunch Mum? (Not Beans Again!). The V.I.P.’s were at the foot of the bill, taking the opportunity for more gigging experience.

This time the Arts Federation employed its own stewards in the Disco Room, but they too were unable to keep order. “It was like the inside of a powder keg in there”, their source said, “the only way to handle gigs like that is with professional bouncers”. Again, half the audience had come from outside.

The Students’ Union executive announced: “Rabid Rat, the campus society which caters for new wave enthusiasts, has been formally told of the imposition of a ban, following incidents at two new wave concerts that took place earlier this term”.

Not to be defeated, Shurey sidestepped the ban by starting the Now Society with his friend Mike Dembinski – a fearsome looking but friendly enough punk – to replace the banned Rabid Rat Club. The Now Society declared that the Arts Federation was incapable of putting on bands of any interest at a time when the British music scene was at its most vibrant.

But then Shurey got the job of Students’ Union social secretary, and was able to put on more ambitious gigs in the larger Union Building space. They were lively, fun and spontaneous, with little known but entertaining bands such as Whirlwind, The Boyfriends, Rocca Hula and the Waikiki Wipeouts – not punk but a spread of beat, power pop, surf-rock, rockabilly and rock’n’roll. Fancy dress was encouraged and there were competitions: food and drink was available from the surrounding bars. These gigs were a hugely refreshing change from the stodgy sit-down fare the official programme had previously served up. In his spare time Shurey, a talented cartoonist and illustrator, launched a punk fanzine called Blades and Shades, which featured many of his own graphics and cartoons. I couldn’t say how his studies in American History were going by now.

Meanwhile the V.I.P.’s played more gigs on campus – light-hearted soft punk – and were getting tighter. Mike Dembinski attended some rehearsals and contributed to their song Causing Complications, later getting a label credit. The band had a friendly, unthreatening stage presence, with clean-cut boy-next-door personas – presenting as a boy band before the term existed – and steadily built up a loyal following.

Enter Clive Solomon, Warwick’s ambitious young entrepreneur. A law student, he would pop up wherever there was music. He presented a Sunday afternoon radio programme on University Radio Warwick (URW), conducted around the university campus by induction loop. Founded in 1970/71, URW counts politician David Davis, radio presenters Leona Graham and Simon Mayo, and writer and actor Stephen Merchant among its former presenters. Also children’s TV presenter Timmy Mallett, who worked on URW at the same time as Solomon. I would never miss Clive’s show: his knowledge and love of music were obvious. Also he set a weekly music quiz question, giving out singles as prizes, which I would always enter and sometimes win.

He ran a second hand record stall in the Union Building at lunchtime and rocked the place to I’m a Man by the then unfashionable but still great Spencer Davis Group. While still an undergraduate in 1977, he had a book published called Record Hits listing all the records which made the UK Top 50 from 1954-1976 – the first book to provide comprehensive chart listings. It would have sold many more copies had not the first edition of The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles been published in November of the same year.

A talent contest was held in the Union Building, perhaps organised by Shurey himself. There, in a theatrical flourish (perhaps scripted) worthy of Simon Cowell, Clive delivered the judgement of Solomon, offering to sign the V.I.P.s to his nascent record label, Bust!, and manage the band.

One time the V.I.P.s staged a publicity stunt where they pushed each other around the university bars in a supermarket trolley to promote an upcoming gig. There was a note attached to the trolley reading “I wonder, wonder who, who-oo-ooh, who, who’s going in the trolley?” a clear reference to The Monotones’ fabulous record The Book of Love from 1957. Few people there would have made or recognised that reference, but Clive was one of them.

The V.I.P.’s played various gigs in the Midlands, sometimes supporting the Automatics/Specials. The band teamed up with Clive Solomon and Timmy Mallett to finance their first single, and the EP Music For Funsters was recorded at WMRS, a small four-track studio in Leamington Spa, and released on Solomon’s new Bust! record label in 1978. It featured I’m Perfect,- a Bonzoesque track reminiscent of “I’m the Urban Spaceman” – I Believe and the punkier Boys of the City. Shurey designed the cover, and Dmochowski had the idea of printing the centre of the image on the label.

That summer they built up a following in London: John Peel declared the EP his “favourite record of the moment” and played tracks from it a good deal on his BBC Radio 1 show: a favourable review also appeared in The New Musical Express. The record quickly sold out its initial pressing. The band gigged locally with The Specials, The Killjoys and many others. Solomon persuaded the band to move to London to help them get a recording deal with a major label. Price and Dmochowski quit university, while Morley commuted from Warwick to gigs in London. Shurey had already dropped out of university after he had been a passenger in a serious car crash, which resulted in him spending several weeks in intensive care. Clive Solomon went on to complete his studies, and graduated with a 2.2 in Law in 1978.

The band based themselves in Clapham, and obtained plenty of gigs in the thriving London scene, with the band and their equipment crammed into an old Ford Transit. The move to London started to bear fruit, and Solomon was getting enquiries from record companies. Jed takes up the story again.

“We kept working and eventually signed a management deal with Grandmark Management, based in Greenwich, even though at that stage we were still rehearsing in small studios in Battersea and could, in all honesty, barely afford to feed ourselves. Lunch would often be biscuits and crisps.“

In early 1980 they went to Olympic Studios in Chiswick to record some tracks with Chas Chandler, former bass player for The Animals, former manager of Jimi Hendrix and at the time still manager of Slade. Soon Landmark got the band a deal with RCA label Gem Records, who had seen the band at at Dingwalls in Camden, and whose stable included Ronnie Lane and the U.K. Subs. They were paired with producer Mike Leander, who had worked extensively with Gary Glitter, and many better artists – including the Beatles, for whom he had arranged She’s Leaving Home. It had been quite a journey from WMRS in Leamington to the plush Mayfair Studios with a top producer – Dmochowski describes Leander as enthusiastic and positive, and a gentleman.

Causing Complications was released in March 1980, captured here on this charming video filmed back in 1978 – directed by Nick Morris with Clive Gardner and the Warwick University film club. Nick Morris went on to make many music films, including videos for Every Time You Go Away by Paul Young and The Final Countdown by Europe. Rudi Thomson from X-Ray Spex played sax on the record.

They went on tour with Mod revival band Secret Affair to promote the single – another three-track EP – and became identified with the Mod revival, although they hadn’t seen themselves as Mods – more as beat and pop/rock. They also toured with Madness, The Beat and Dexys Midnight Runners, playing top venues like The Glasgow Apollo, The Hammersmith Odeon, The Electric Ballroom in Camden, and the The Brighton Top Rank.

In June 1980, I saw in Time Out that the V.I.P.s were playing a gig at London’s famous Marquee club supporting big soul band Q-Tips. So I scooted along, and The V.I.P.’s played an excellent set, although they didn’t make much impression on the audience waiting for the main band. Q-Tips were also very good, although with my customary skill as a talent scout, I pronounced the band first rate, but the singer as the weak link. Hmm. That singer was Paul Young.

The whole band would share writing credits, regardless of who wrote the songs. Dmochowski describes the origin of The Quarter Moon, their most successful single:

“I wanted to write a melody that evolved along sensitive lines, and I remember, clearly, going through the chords and building up the sequence of ideas and music; it was a major creative effort—all in my attic bedroom, looking out onto a quarter moon. It’s about comforting a traumatized friend.”

BBC Radio 1 DJ Mike Read heard the demo of the song, and offered to make it his record of the week on his Morning Show if it were the band’s next single. It was duly released. It was also chosen as Radio Luxembourg’s “Power Play” and received extensive airplay in the UK and Europe. Produced again by Mike Leander, it emerged as a breezy, poppy song – perhaps not as poignant as Dmochowski had intended.

The band were invited to play on Top of The Pops, and it seemed that stardom beckoned. But on the afternoon before they were due to appear they learned that a scene-shifters strike at the BBC had resulted in the show being cancelled. That was a bitter blow. They would never be offered a slot again on this powerful platform.

If having a chart entry is the mark of success, you could say the V.I.P.’s made it: The Quarter Moon entered the Top 75 on 6 September 1980, and spent four weeks on the charts, peaking at number 55. But an appearance on TotP could have boosted it much higher, and possibly taken the V.I.P.’s to sustained success.

Undeterred, they continued to record, and Bob Sargeant who had produced hits for The Beat – and was soon to do so for Haircut 100 – was brought in to produce Need Somebody To Love. This recording captures the band’s sound as well as any – somewhere between The Monkees and The Buzzcocks – but there was still no Top of the Pops appearance, and, despite the inclusion of a free bonus EP, there was no further chart action.

Their fourth and final single on Gem, Things Aren’t What They Used To Be from their earlier sessions with Mike Leander, was released in the same year without success. A shame too, as it’s a minor mod classic. with a Small Faces vibe. Rudi Thomson again featured on sax.

There had been some decent sales in Europe but the V.I.P.’s were becoming disillusioned. There were also health issues: Dmochowski had contracted a collapsed lung. They played their last gig at Leicester University. Price quit the band in the spring of 1981, and soon afterwards Dmochowski left, needing a break for his health and feeling musically constrained by the boy band pop style – saying at one point that he “felt like a vegetable in the Garden of Eden”. The V.I.P.’s were no more.

Jed Dmochowski recorded a solo LP Stallions of My Heart on Whaam! Records (as Jedrzej Dmochowski) in 1983, which had excellent reviews – The Guardian called it the “best debut in the last decade” – but only modest sales. He went on to teach English at Haberdashers Askes School near London.

And, get this, he is currently the Director and Treasurer of the Marc Bolan School Of Music and Film in Makeni, Sierra Leone. Inspired by the life and music of the Marc Bolan – always cited as one of The V.I.P.’s’ influences – the school “aims to provide a world-class, stable and long-term state-of-the-art school which will enable students to be educated in music and film production.” The school is raising funds to build better facilities on the site. The President and Director of the school is none other than Gloria Jones, partner of Marc Bolan from 1973 until his death in 1977 – also the singer who recorded the original version of Tainted Love, and a prolific songwriter for Motown who wrote If I Were Your Woman for Gladys Knight, and many other songs.

Jed continues to make music with his band Tranquilizers.

After the demise of the V.I.P.’s, Paul Shurey set up The New V.I.P.’s with Guy Morley, recruiting Simon Smith from The Merton Parkas on drums with Paul moving to keyboards, acquiring a bright orange Vox Continental organ from Steve Harley. They added Phil Ward and Tony Conway on guitars and Andy Godfrey on bass and became Mood Six, who launched as part of the British new psychedelic revival. They signed to EMI and released Hanging Around in 1982, which received some airplay but failed to dent the charts.

Shurey then started a clothes outlet in Portobello Road called Wild, initially highly successful, which supplied clothes to various pop groups, including Frankie Goes to Hollywood. Then he moved on to record distribution and promotion with the dance music label FFRR, part of London Records. There he discovered the dance music trends coming out of Chicago.

This was a perfect chance to use his talent for organising parties: teaming up with a friend with a quality sound system and a group of travellers with a circus tent, he started putting on illegal “raves”, initially in the countryside around his home in Bristol. He would play cat and mouse with the police, preparing three potential venues for an event, so that if the police caught wind of one, he could switch to another at the last minute.

He would feed out hints of upcoming raves to nourish rumours in the week before, and the punters would gather in pubs to await news of the rendezvous – often at a motorway service station – from where a convoy of vehicles would take them to the rave destination. The party could start late on Friday night and continue all weekend. It was a flash mob before the internet or widespread mobile phones.

Finally the police abandoned their light touch and decided to put an end to a huge rave taking place in a disused aircraft hangar in Wiltshire. They arrived at midnight with a riot squad and a helicopter. The revellers barricaded themselves in and continued to dance until 7am when the police finally forced their way in. They arrested Paul Shurey and 36 others, although no charges were made. “I was lucky” said Paul’s brother Simon, “I had the gate bolt cutters under the seat in my car.”

The revellers had filmed the police breaking in, and Shurey successfully sued Wiltshire Constabulary for criminal damage to the sound system, and received compensation. From Simon Congiu-Shurey:

“It was a weird time as Wilts constabulary were very anti rave, whereas Avon and Somerset did a deal with Paul to help find suitable venues. I was at his flat one afternoon when they arrived! This deal lasted for about one year by which time Paul went legal.”

With others Paul set up Brainstorm, which became Universe, organising events such as Tribal Gathering, a large festival dedicated to dance music, with several different stages and DJs. 25,000 people attended the first event, held at Lower Pertwood Farm in Wiltshire in April 1993. DJs included several who went on to become stars of the club scene, such as Pete Tong.

The government then moved the goalposts: before the 1994 Tribal Gathering could take place the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act legislated with comic yet sinister specificity against “persons attending or preparing for a rave” and against music which “includes sounds wholly or predominantly characterised by the emission of a succession or repetitive beats”.

So the 1994 Tribal Gathering was moved to Munich, with great success. Simon tells the story of their exploits in Germany:

“There were three events in Munich, the first being attended by an estimated 44,000 people, with 11 stages, 150 DJs and 75 live acts. Mix mag reported it as the best dance event ever with The Prodigy headlining and the event aired live on both MTV and VIVA. Each event released a double compilation album on Logic Records. The location was fabulous, the recently closed Munich International Airport. We had the whole place to play with! Universe went on to take part in five Berlin Love Parades. I moved to Germany to help organise the events and ended up living there for 8 years. Fabulous times!”

Shurey’s vehicle Universe brought Tribal Gathering back to Britain in 1995 after teaming up with promoter Mean Fiddler. The Festival flourished until 1997, but disputes between Universe and Mean Fiddler over money and naming rights resulted in the Tribal Gathering event being cancelled in 1998. Shurey tried to organise his own festival, but without success.

Shurey had played a central part in the birth and growth of the Rave movement, but now found himself frozen out, and became disillusioned with the dance scene. Later ventures included a spell of digital marketing, and a return to university to study TV production. After spells on a shopping channel and production company Tiger Aspect he worked for Cupid, the dating website. Then in 2012 saw an opportunity and set up his own dating site for, hem, married people looking for affairs.

Sadly, on a trip to Goa in 2013 he slipped and hit his head on cobblestones, and died soon after. Jed has said, after talking to Paul’s brother Simon, that this was probably as a result of heart problems from which Paul had suffered for some time, although none of the band had been aware.

This obituary appeared in the Telegraph. His brother Simon gave this tribute.

“He didn’t do it for the money. He didn’t want for anything, he had a good life...I can’t go anywhere without people hugging me and saying what a good bloke he was….he was always on the move. He oozed charm. Everything to do with marketing, Paul was incredibly good at and you never knew what he was going to do next.”

Jed Dmochowski sang The Quarter Moon at Shurey’s funeral.

Guy Morley left the music business when Mood Six ended and works as a freelance film and video editor in Cambridge.

Andrew Price left the music business after he was the first to quit the V.I.P.’s in the spring of 1981. He runs a computer business in Spain.

Clive Solomon went on to set up Fire Records with music journalist Johnny Waller in 1985. Fire released early records from Pulp and Teenage Fanclub (on its subsidiary label Paperhouse) among others. On his Linkedin page, Solomon says:

“Have no experience of working for anyone, other than self! Continuing to release and enjoy fine music for another 30 years, at least…”

The V.I.P.’s never made it big, but they obviously had a lot of fun trying. Things might have been different if they had been able to make that Top of the Pops appearance. But they will know better than to dwell on that. Thank you guys, for those happy memories and some great music.

Sources:

• The Coventry Music Scene Archive on the Rabid Rat Club and the Now Society
• Jed Dmochowski interview with Paperface Zine on the V.I.P.’s and Jed’s career
• The Marc Bolan School – on Jed’s involvement
• Daily Telegraph obituary of Paul Shurey

A 17-track compilation of all the V.I.P.’s studio recordings is available on blue vinyl from Five Rise Records.

Many thanks to Jed Dmochowski and Simon Congiu-Shurey for their extra details and stories.

R.I.P. Paul Shurey a.k.a. Max Volume 1958-2013.