Track 0297: DETACHED HOUSES (Trenchard) 3:08 (BASCZAX) (3rd March 1979)
Musicians: John Hodgson – lead vocals, Alan Savage – guitar, backing vocals, Mick Todd – bass guitar, Jeff Fogarty – saxophone, Alan Cornforth – drums
Recorded: BBC Radio Cleveland studios, Middlesbrough – 2 track mono
On the 30th January 1979, out of the blue, I got a phone call from a lad called Alan Savage asking if I wanted to join their Band Basczax on keyboards.
To be honest the previous six months in Blitzkrieg Bop had been a frustrating experience, with fewer and fewer gigs, and no prospect of any further recording, it was hard to see quite why we were still together.
This phone call gave me an “out” at just the right moment, although Bop still carried on, I noted in my diary that we had an excellent rehearsal the day after the phone call, and on the 1st February we played The Mayfair in Newcastle with Disguise, Neon and Treatment Room.
But by the 5th February I started rehearsing with Basczax “on the side”, and as heard on the previous track, it all came out on the 9th February after our gig with Junco Partners that I was now in Basczax, but not yet out of Bop.
The rest of Blitzkrieg Bop would not accept this situation and I took little time in deciding to jump ship and join Basczax full time.
Basczax had some history before I joined. They were formed around August 1978 by a Redcar lad called Mick Todd, known in punk circles as Mick Morbid, he had been in the audience at many Bop gigs, and had in fact filmed them twice on Super 8 at The Rock Garden and Teesside Polytechnic, these grainy films still exist in the archive.
Basssax (as it was spelt in the beginning) had numerous line-up and played some decent gigs, including support slots to The Rezillos, Here & Now and The Flys. When they approached me to join the line up was Alan “Sav” Savage – guitar, lead vocals, Nigel Trenchard – synthesizer, Mick Todd – bass guitar, Jeff Fogarty – saxophone, Cog – drums.
There was a very awkward rehearsal when both Nigel and myself were present, but he soon left the scene, taking my beloved Vox Continental with him, I never got it back.
Things happened really fast and after a couple of rehearsals I was straight into playing gigs, including a bizarre gig at Cleethorpes Winter gardens supporting The Damned where Captain Sensible stole a bright blue hairy jumper from our dressing room and promptly wore it on the cover of the next Damned single and on Top Of The Pops, he had no shame.
It became apparent that Cog, although a nice guy, was not a very powerful drummer, and I suggested we invite Alan Cornforth into the band as a replacement, so one phone call later and Alan was in. Now 50% of Blitzkrieg Bop was in Basczax, but we in no way took over, Sav (as I shall call him from now on) was the main singer and song writer in the band, and we were just “in the band” - this was OK with me as I had had enough of being the frontman and quite enjoyed the relative anonymity of being at the side of the stage.
Another thing I noticed, but not until long after Basczax split, was that I spent the whole time writing, performing and recording my contributions on the mono Yamaha SY1 synth, I didn't play a chord the whole time I was in the band, just melodies.
The first entries in the box set from Basczax come from a BBC Radio Cleveland session that was arranged by Bop's old manager Larry, who was taking a keen interest in my change of musical direction, and would become more involved later.
We used the same recording methods as the BBC Session recorded by Bop a year previously, only this time we laid off the reverb and the sound is much more pleasing to listen to.
There was one song in the set that the previous keyboard player had written and sang lead vocals on, namely “Detached Houses”, so, rather like Ringo got one song to sing, I was given this.
Just to point out, the 3rd of March was my wedding day, I married my sweetheart Denise Liddell earlier in the day.
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