The Big Untidy Magazine

On seeing Eddie & the Hotrods for the first time.

Is it really 30 years since Teenage Depression?
I have no shame in admitting Pub Rock kept me sane in a world of Yelpesis, endless drum solos and guitars being mutilated to the point of strangulation.
Then Wilko Johnson turned up one Sunday and punched the 20 or so of us that were there that night firmly in the collective solar plexus with his hand-of-steel guitar before the rest of Dr Feelgood finished the demolition job and sent us all home extremely happy and baying for more. Of course they were soon back and with them they brought their mates from Essex including the likes of the Kursall Flyers and, as the likes of the NME caught on to the band, the doors were flung open to the sound of Canvey Island and nearby Southend on Sea.
One band that rushed in through that opening door was a band even more dynamic and energetic than the Feelgoods, I know it seemed impossible then too, a band called Eddie & The Hotrods.
While Wilkos riff from Cellblock #9 could carve wide chasms in the night air like only Mannish Boy has ever done for me, the early Hotrods literally took your breath away.
The band pumped pure adrenaline from the speakers, the very walls of the venue sweated, the R&B was incessant, your feet had to dance and before my very eyes Lew Lewis blew harmonica fit to raise the devil as he turned somersaults, all the while blowing his harp.
The greatcoat that clung to his shoulders didn’t seem to bother him, neither did the fact he could have lamped any one of us in the ‘crowd’ with his feet – would it have mattered anyway?
Would we have even noticed?
We’d had a fair few beers but more importantly were drunk on the moment.
I remember Steve Nicol pounding his drum kit relentlessly.
I remember Barrie Masters wide eyed, sweating as he sang.
I remember the searing, blistering energy and most of all I remember Lew Lewis.
Eddie & the Hotrods signed to Island and a single, Writing on the Wall, came out in a plain black sleeve - very fitting.
Lew Lewis left the band.
In 1977 Eddie & the Hotrods released their debut album – Teenage Depression.

Clive's response;

Unbelievable though it sounds... I NEVER saw Eddie And The Hotrods LIVE! It was hearing the Live At The Marquee tracks on Nicky Horne's Your Mother Wouldnt Like It on Capital Radio that did it for me. What a FANTASTIC piece of vinyl that is. That and The Pink Parker EP. Oh boy!!!! Hold Back The Night... still one of my all-time fave tracks. Come to think of it, I never saw Graham Parker with The Rumour in concert either (though I did see him solo in the early 90's in Berlin). Back to the Hotrods, I loved much of Life On The Line too. But by the time they released the third album... actually, I didn't even hear that one. But it didn't matter, not really. Cos with Live At The Marquee, Teenage Depression and Do Anything You Wanna Do, the job had already been done. Perfectly!