parrot

“Oxford Street. I seem to remember the Odeon around there, so I think so.”

“That's right. Thanks. Now I really do remember Ash and Nigel from Devilles.”

“I remember Ash from Devilles. That's very sad to hear.”

“Catherine,

My brother and I were friends with Simon for a number of years. We have great memories of him and his wonderful energy and personality. I have some photographs of him and my brother probably does too. It would be a pleasure to share them with you. The easiest way is by email, I think. I'm also in the process of scanning more pictures from this time and there is a chance that more photos will surface. Could you send me an email address or something? I can't really send them via this site because the files are so big - it's rather a pain and I don't know how to downsize yet.”

“Yes, plenty. I have to downsize my scanned files, which I don't know how to do - yet. I have lots of great pictures of some of the clubs during this time and the interesting people who frequented them. Watch this space.”

“The "new" bands encompassed the post-punk movement that, I would argue, helped the short-lived New-Romantics morph into Goth. Bauhaus, Cabaret Voltaire, Killing Joke, New Order (a bit later), some die-hard punk tunes like New Rose and even Motorhead were played. You still had Velvet Underground and Iggy Pop every so often (I never remember a night without Passenger being played). But these songs from the album Space Oddity and Diamond Dogs were not being played as much. And these Bowie dressers liked to go on the dance floor and mime to those songs. A lot of the Pips clubbers knew each other. But there was a constant stream of new people coming in. They would wander in dressed really normal for the first couple of weeks, before they got the courage to start going crazy with the make-up, clothes and hair-dos.”

“On the left is Simon McGrath. The girl in the centre was one of the numerous Bowie inspired dressers, who by this time, were starting to become more scarce in Pips. Although Pips was playing the long Bowie epic songs, the times were changing and there were more "modern" bands creeping into the playlist. So the crowd was changing with the new music being played. The person on the right is unknown to me but appears in several photos from this time period.”