Hello folks!
There are two opportunities to see Johnny Moped in action at Rebellion Festival this Thursday!
(plus numerous occasions to buy them a drink, talk about the good old days, get your book signed....)
They'll be doing a Q&A on the literary stage at about 6pm, with a full band show to follow on the Club Casbah Stage at 8.10pm!
The band will have copies of the new book available to purchase and get signed!
1-2 Cut You Hair! The Story of Johnny Moped is set for release on August 11th, though if you've pre-ordered from us you'll have had an email to say it's already on the way!
**CLICK HERE TO PRE-ORDER FROM THE DG SHOP**
And finally, a reminder of the recent reissue of the band's "lost album" The Search For Xerxes. Oh and they also feature on Are They Hostile?, the upcoming film and soundtrack album about Croydon's punk and post punk scene.
Moped Mania or what!
1-2 CUT YOUR HAIR! THE STORY OF JOHNNY MOPED
By Simon Williams
Johnny Moped – The man, the band, the punk myth, the none-hit-wonder, the absent singer, the comeback (and back, and back again) king. Five decades of heroic eccentricity, elusive musicality and accidentally saving The Electric Light Orchestra.
This story has it all and so much more.
Featuring brand new interviews with Dave Berk, Slimy Toad, Xerxes and Johnny himself, plus exclusive insights from Captain Sensible, Marco Pirroni and a litany of old school expert fans and perturbed modern Moped riders, this is the only book you will ever need to read about one of the all-time great misunderstood and frequently mislaid rock ‘n’ roll troopers.
Formed in Croydon in May 1974, the band were a proto-punk band, initially calling themselves Johnny Moped and the 5 Arrogant Superstars before reverting to just Johnny Moped by January 1975. They became one of the pioneering punk bands that played at London's legendary Roxy Club.
Their track ‘Hard Lovin’ Man’ appeared on the hit various artists album Live at the Roxy WC2 (1977). The band went on to sign with Chiswick Records and released three singles and one album, Cycledelic, before splitting up. A low-key reunion album (The Search For Xerxes) came out in 1991. Sixteen years after its release Cycledelic was listed as one of the best fifty punk albums of all-time by The Guinness Encyclopaedia of Popular Music.
A documentary about the band, Basically, Johnny Moped, produced by Fred Burns, premiered in September 2013. The film further cemented the band’s legendary status. It’s currently available to watch in the UK via Netflix.
In 2016 the revitalised band released a new album It’s A Real Cool Baby on Damaged Goods Records, with a fourth studio album Lurrigate Your Mind following in 2019. With interest in the band at an all-time high, the time is now right for their story to be told.
The Search For Xerxes
Johnny Moped's “lost album” from 1990, finally gets a reissue!
I like this album, Johnny hates it. But why? I think it’s more “Johnny Moped” than any other album out there. What other album has entirely penned JM songs/ditties like ‘Soldiers’ and ‘Moped crash’ plus ad-libs and all the other little interludes in between the tracks that are pure “Moped”.
Johnny thinks it sounds like a “disco” album, which it does in places, but, hey-ho, it was 1989 and it was the age of Stock, Aitken and Waterman.
At the time there had been no Moped band since 1985-ish and certainly Slimy hadn’t been in the band since the early ‘80s. Also, there was only one album out there, Cycledelic so there was a lot of songs destined for a follow up album that never happened and it looked like we were going to be a one album band.
So, with so much unreleased material and a chronic lack of “mopedisum” I decided to embark on a little project…
This album came out in 1990 on Deltic records but the deal was that I had to produce a finished master tape that could go straight to the cutting room and be pressed, so I borrowed a 4-track Teac and a Roland sampler and Roland drum machine and got to work.
Some of the tracks sound like they were recorded in someone’s bedroom, that’s because they were, but Captain recorded some great stuff on his 8-track where I had recorded Johnny “live” and handed over a tape for him to work with (‘I’m a Spasm’, ‘Soldiers’, ‘Cut across Shorty’). Also, he provided some decent backing vocals on other tracks (‘Corpse Boogie’, ‘Hiawatha’).
DAVE BERK MAY 2022
Are They Hostile? Croydon Punk, New Wave & Indie Bands 1977-1988
An 18 track compilation featuring the best of Croydon's punk and post punk scene!
**Release date - 2nd September**
**PRE-ORDER CD / LP HERE**
**PRE-ORDER LIMITED EDITION DVD HERE**
Are They Hostile? Is a new documentary film about the Punk, New Wave and Indie scene in Croydon in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. It takes its name from the first single by Croydon band Bad Actors. To coincide with the film’s release Damaged Goods Records are releasing a compilation vinyl LP and CD featuring bands from in the film including Johnny Moped, The Marines, The Daleks, Case, Fanatics and also bands such as The Straps who played Croydon many times usually at The Star Pub in West Croydon. The CD version also features a specially recorded introduction by the legendary ex-Croydon Greyhound DJ Peter Fox.
It’s been argued that Croydon was the birthplace of Punk in the UK, largely due to The Damned and Johnny Moped. But there was a group of other, less well-known bands who were part of that scene, or who came just after, but who didn’t achieve the same success or recognition. The film and album attempt to set the record straight by shining a light on bands such as Bad Actors, Case, The Daleks, The Heroes and Fanatics.
The music still fizzes with the energy and enthusiasm of youth and the punk ethos of just doing it. And the participants, if a bit older and slightly less slim than forty years ago, come alive in the current interviews as if connected to the mains. As the saying goes, “old punks don’t die”, but they do remember.
The documentary film takes us through the history of these bands, the people in them, the places they played and, through current interviews with “a bunch of old punks”, what they did next, and how formative and important being in a band was for them growing up.
The film is the brainchild of Bad Actor Griff Griffiths and Mark Williams and will premier at the David Lean Cinema in Croydon on 2nd September with a Q & A afterwards by Griff and Mark, and an aftershow party nearby with special celebrity guests TBC.
Griff explains: “It’s also a film about being young, being passionate, being part of something.”
LAUNCH EVENTS
Sept 2nd - Film premiere at the David Lean Cinema in Croydon with a Q & A afterward with Griff and Mark, and an aftershow party nearby with special celebrity guests TBC.
More screenings to be announced - http://www.davidleancinema.org.uk/ (one on the 14th in fact)
YouTube Teaser
TRACKLISTING
(CD Also includes intro by Peter 'Foxy' Fox)
1 – Bad Actors – Are the Hostile? 2 – Johnny Moped – Groovy Ruby (Live at the Roxy) 3 – The Marines – Step This Way
4 – Slime - Controversial 5 – Case – Smiling My Life Away 6 – The Daleks – Tiny Town 7 – Fanatics – Total Confusion
8 – The Straps - New Age 9 – The Heroes - Tarzan 10 – Bad Actors – One Of Us 11 – Johnny Moped – Incendiary Device (Live at the Roxy)
12 -The Marines – Pleasure Business 13 – Slime - Loony 14 – Case – I Don't Wanna Kill The Whales 15 - The Daleks - Rejected
16 – Fanatics – When The Sun Goes Down 17 – The Straps - Brixton 18 – The Heroes - Russia
Johnny Moped Gig Listings
Aug 4th Rebellion Blackpool (Literary stage Q&A + full band show) - TICKETS
Aug 12th - Hope & Anchor, London - SOLD OUT
Oct 29th Vic Bikers Club Coalville, Leicestershire - TICKETS
Nov 18th Queens Hall, Nuneaton - TICKETS
Nov 19th Morecambe Punk festival - TICKETS
Dec 17th 100 Club London - TICKETS