I found myself in deep North London, in the company of a Mr Lee Thompson, Our Buisness concluded for the day

We set about the serious task of relaxing with an icecold beer.

Many other meetings were taking place in our chosen watering hole, we blended into the corner, and talked.

The other members of crunch had kept in touch with each other over the inactivity period, Spider and Tad had a little project going, Sexy Steve had his own band, Louis well we don’t have room here for everything !! Dave was hard at it in his Bunker and Lee and Chris were as Tad would say still on Maddie Duty.

The topic of conversation moved to the subject of Crunch and the possibility of playing and recording again. After Such a long time away from the scene it was never a case of not giging again but a case of when the time comes.

From that moment the serious possibility of the band playing again became a reality,

Mr Tad was summoned immediately to assist on the foundation that was to become Friday the 14^th.

Over  the course of the next few weeks all but one of the band were contacted and a resounding “were up for it” was the reply.

Crunch had been offered gigs recently but had to turn them down for one reason or another, They went back to a promoter who had offered us the venue as and when we wanted to do it !

With this in mind a rehersal date was set , and the sound of the boys rang out, we found that it had been so long that many arrangements were rusty and needed quite a bit of polishing.

So over the course of the next few weeks new songs were practised and old ones were polished.

By now I had received confirmation of the booking at the underword and was able to inform everyone, so a email was sent and interest was high !

Im not going to go into what happened at the gig ill leave that for the kind reporters who have done so already .

Love

Swanny

Earthquake in the Underworld !

 On the unseasonably cloudy and drizzled day of the 14^th July 2000, Camden Town Witnessed an Earthquake that will not be forgotten for many years to come. I am of course referring to the first

Crunch Gig in three years.

Three years  of  Mr. swandale going to bed and praying for a return to the stage of his employers

And thanks to his hard work as well as the band themselves  a gig was pencilled in for the 14^th.

The day started for me by plying through my small yet quite deep Crunch collection, As I  flicked through my 12 inches and CD album . I would pick out a single or b-side to try to get a sense of them live and not in the studio. Although Nothing could prepare me for what that evening held in store.. I did find on the CD single of Magic Carpet  ( available from crunch.uk.com)

A live version of the title track , and what can I say they rock…..  I have not herd so much energy in a live track since Madness.

( Before the Gig)

I was to meet Swanny ( crunch website man+ all round good egg) in the spreadeagle along with around 30 other crunch fans who had arrived from all over Europe for this Historic gig. I am referring to of course my good friends Vince Foley and Vince Carden from Ireland and even more amazing

Mikel from Spain …… Yes that’s right Spain!!!!!!!!!!… Swanny arrived  Bright and bushy-tailed

And ready to start on his marathon drinking session that would leave him lying on his back having 40%

Proof Whisky being pored down our throats by Spider ( Crunch drummer) in Chrissy boys garden

At about three in the morning ( more of this later) At around 3pm we went to get some food when he received a call from mikel saying he had arrived in Camden and asking where we should meet.

“ well we are standing by the crunch poster outside the Camden Underworld ,where are You?”

Swanny was asking to which mikel replied

“ in the Phone box behind you"

so that is how we met mikel

And it would not Just be a special day for him because of the gig, Uncle swanny decided to do his impression of  Jim `il fix it  when Tad rang to say the lads needed help moving their stuff into the Underworld so with myself in tow we took Miguel along to roadie for crunch.

On turning the corner of the worlds End we were greeted by the site of The Crunch Mobil being unloaded by some of the lads. And the beaming smile of Tadd leaning on the railings. “Im shitting

bricks” he told Swanny  To which the reply was “ Im not surprised, remember I saw the rehearsals”

Then to work lugging the gear downstairs being told by swanny that id never make a good roady.

I think he was right as I nearly dropped Louis’s Roland. And when I took Chrissy boys Guitar downstairs, he met me at the bottom with a Don’t you dare drop that! look in his eyes. But a smile on his face. It was an experience I wont forget and Im sure mikel will not either.

The Gig

The gig although short ( thanks to the powers at be- wanting us all out so they could open the club)

Was the most adrenaline  pumped experience I have had in along time , I can hear shouts of

“ you should get out more”But until you have seen Crunch Live you wont know what I mean”

The crowd was in a frenzy by the time the songs  “ Birthday Girl and Magic Carpet” were played

Tops were off and so were the gloves in many cases with a Hulk of a man kicking me in the balls

As I tried to get up from the floor during “Fur Elise” The beat was driving everybody willed. Lee

Thompsons cool was kept throughout Especially when a few lads jumped on stage to sing with him.

A funny moment was when the hulk man who I told you about got onto the stage. Lee just looked at him and went ….. “ Fuck me … Do you want to sing???? “

Other gems went out to a wonderful reception such as “policeman” Saints N Sinners” and of course “people” …. A good time was had by all, and the fans were only deprived of a longer set due to the management, as crunch would have played much longer if Given the chance, But despite this , The Gig was a success and one of the best I have been to. So if you are browsing through the play listings in the future and you see a crunch gig is on, I urge you to go because you wont ever know what a musical Earthquake is until you have…………………………………..

(after the Gig)

Now I thought the Excitement for me was over when the gig was over but I was wrong, Because when

Swanny is in a giving mood that man is like a saint, “ Do you want to come back stage Graham??”

He asked, to which I just nodded as I was Dumbstruck.. down the back stairs to the Crunch dressing room where I was greeted by Chrissy boy leaving in a hurry and   a bottle of spiders famous whisky being shoved into my hand by the man Himself., Chest on fire Swanny introduced me around to spider, sexy Steve, Lee`s wife Debbie then over to John Hassler ( one Time singer/drummer/manager of Madness) then to Si birdstall ( friend of Madness/ Thompson/foreman)

Everyone was very nice and I was made very welcome –but more was to come when it was announced that we were all off to a house for the after show party, My tongue rolled out of my mouth and my Jaw hit the floor  as you can well imagine…

Not long after ( Thanks to swanny`s better half) we pulled up to a House  in North London , and what a house , I especially loved the Giant Juke box of Chris’s with Great ska/reggae songs although I had a smile at his copy of   “ Last Christmas” by Wham.

I sat in his garden with Swanny , spider + more whisky, Steve and Tad   talking about everything from

Bladerunner to acting,

Later Thompson arrived and spent the time taking the Mickey out of Swanny who took it right back,

Ending up with the two wrestling each other when Swanny courght Thommo  in a corner of chrisy boys garden, only to stop for Lee to point at me with a huge grin on his face and ask

“Whats that Anorak doing here??”

Much more drinking and Swanny was off , Leaving me on my own talking in the kitchen. Although I did take it as my cue to leave at about 330am when Chris Pointed to me and said “who the Fuck is he??”

A fantastic day and an even more amazing night, I actually went to the loo in Chriss house.

Something I will treasure for ever, Thanks Go to Sawnny for the introductions / Friendship/ Being a top bloke, to Tadd for making me feel welcome and for the advise on Acting, to Spider and friends for the whisky and general good chat, and of course to Mr. foreman for allowing me into his house and for being a great host…

Graham Hewson

17.07.00

Crunch!

       On the 14^th July 2000 I made my way up to Camden Town from Brighton on my own, I finally made it at about 12.15pm after some frantic texting to Nutty Bex making sure everyone was still in the meeting place; ‘The Spread Eagle’. I went in and was greeted by a select few fellow members of the TMML, the others would be getting there later on, as some had work and other various commitments (of course I had the day of school for this event!) I was so relieved to actually find myself once more in Camden, as the night before I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it I had no where to stay, but the next morning I decided that I’d tell my parents that I’d found somewhere and go up anyway! (ooh aren’t I a rebel) I didn’t care about not having anywhere to stay all I cared about was not missing my first ever Crunch! gig. 

          After a couple of hours the Spread Eagle was full of life, almost everyone had arrived, there were loads of hellos etc… it was really great to see everyone again, this was to be my second ever madmeet and just as I had loved the first one (the Uncle Ian Tribute gig) I was determined to enjoy this one, I didn’t have to work hard on that it’s very hard not to enjoy yourself when you’re in such great company.

          Anyway after a while one Mr. Swandale had to leave to help out Thommo and the lads he left with Mikel (who had come all the way from Spain) and Graham, Swanny had told us to meet them there in about half an hour.

          At about 5.30 Nutty Bex, Sarah Barso, Jerney, and I (Madame Barso) decided to leave and make our way to ‘The Underworld’ we were slowly followed by all the others, when we got in we managed to find Swanny and the others in the downstairs seating area in the pub, we sat down and talked for quite a while.

          Kix actually turned up at one point; it was great to see him again! Poor guy seemed really nervous, although I’m not surprised, after all it was the first gig for three years! Jerney (Lee’s biggest fan!) went off to have a chat, she came back telling us that he was nervous about forgetting his lines, well he can always count on us! (and he did… more on that later)

          After a very interesting chat with Simesy (cheers mate I’ll always remember that! haha) Scatty turned up it turned out he’d been having a quick drink at the Spread Eagle, and by the time he’d got to the Underworld… well lets just say he was a bit ‘happy’ heh, it was a big ego boost to be told “I loovvee yoouu” around twenty times in half an hour though!

          There was also an appearance made by Louis! He came and sat with us whilst he had a drink before the gig, which was great of him!

          A few of us at around 9.30pm decided to make our way to the stage, when we got there no one was down front by the stage, so we presumed we weren’t allowed there yet, we asked to make sure and yeah we were allowed so we went and got our place right at the front, we sat on the edge of the stage and chatted for a while, before Nutty Bex called us up and told us that Chrissy Boy had just walked through, I was gutted that I’d missed him, but realising he’d gone went back and sat in front of the stage we waited for quite a while but all of a sudden the place went dark, the stage lights came on and on came the band minus Lee, Chris had a lovely hand print on his back made by grey powder… hmm I wonder who that could be…eh Kix!? 

          I took a few photos of Chris showing off and posing for my pics, before Kix came on; when Thommo finally came on he was wearing full make-up i.e. Grey face, eye patch over one eye the other painted black.

          They sang loads of numbers…. All really well sung, a few lines were forgotten but that was hidden very well! everyone was singing along anyway, I was singing along to each song I knew (I only own the twelve inch single of ‘It’s Ok-’) but then it came to my all time favourite Crunch! song ‘Birthday Girl’ what can I say I was singing along with all my heart to this song, now by this point in the concert Lee had been standing right in front of me for a while and I looked up at him whilst singing this song and I realized that he was in fact looking at me singing along so I smiled at him and carried on singing… as you do, hehe.

          All of a sudden Thommo started to struggle with the words, and much to my horror he stuck the mic in front of me, he wanted me to sing for him! at first I panicked and backed away, but I soon changed my mind and started to sing! I loved it, all that was going through my mind was “Oh my god I’m singing for KIX!!!” it was great, after I’d sang the second verse he took over again, for a while it all went back to normal, but Lee started struggling with the third verse so once again he got me to sing for him, but this time it was with Nutty Bex as well we were just standing there not believing that it was actually happening!

          Later on after a few pints consumed (or thrown at the audience) by Thommo someone obviously thought he needed to be healthier they reached onto the stage took the pint out of his hand and replaced it with a bottle of water! everyone including Kix just laughed.

          After the gig had finished everyone left and all us members of the TMML were standing outside the venue chatting, when unexpectedly the band started making their way out onto the street with us, first out was Tad I congratulated him and asked him to sign my ticket, which he did, I looked up and standing next to Tad was Louis! so I got him to sign my ticket too! I was just on cloud nine, I didn’t think the evening could get any better … but I was so wrong! out of nowhere out came Chrissy Boy!! Bex Sarah and I went over to him warily not knowing whether he would mind us talking to him but before we got the chance to say anything Chris walked towards us and said a very warm “Thanks for coming ladies hope you enjoyed yourself!” I couldn’t believe it he was just so lovely! I got my ticket signed by Chris too from that moment on I was clutching onto the ticket for dear life I wouldn’t let go of it! Sad? Yeah probably! I had to get my photo taken with Chris but I was too nervous to ask him so Bex did it, of course he agreed straight away Bex was first then me then Sarah, I was just standing not able to believe that Chrissy Boy Foreman had just put his arm round me… I am sad aren’t I!? but after 15 years of idolising these guys I’d finally met some of them, so what do you expect me to be like?? it was my first time meeting Chris and second time meeting Lee (I’d met him a month earlier along with Mike) after the photos had been taken, he thanked us again we told him we’d see at the next gig, and he said definitely! 

          We waited a while for Thommo to come out, we waited until the venue had been locked up just in case, but he never showed up.

          Well that’s about it for this review… sorry it’s been so long but I had so much to say!

          Well a massive THANKS has to go to the lads in Crunch! I enjoyed myself so much!! You have to do another gig guys and you can be sure I’ll be there for it!!

          Also Thanks have to go to the wonderful Swanny! Cheers mate!!

Thanks go to everyone who made the day possible!

          Emma Southerby

                    xxxxx