7:40pm Tuesday 7th July 2009
By Nick Churchill
REPLACING the irreplacable is a tall order for anyone, but standing in front of The Blockheads in the place of Ian Dury needs a person of proper stature.
Step forward Derek the Draw, you’ve made the job your own.
“To be honest with you, because of Ian’s vocal style, it’s a doddle as there’s no singing involved!” laughs Derek in his kindling-dry west London accent not that dissimilar to Dury’s own mashed up Harrow-via-Essex elocution.
“I was lucky enough to work with Ian for a few years towards the end of his life and we became good friends, so I was part of the family as it were, which helped. I’d done a few bits on stage with Ian, helping him on and off and doing the ‘hit me’ part in Rhythm Stick – just a little bit of theatre.
“So when it came round to looking for a vocalist I had bags of encouragement from the boys. It started off doing a few numbers here and there, while Johnny [Turnbull, guitarist] did the big hits from the catalogue – and we still share them today.”
Derek will be back in town to front the band which, alongside Elvis Costello’s Attractions and Graham Parker’s Rumour, is the most accomplished, tightest and rudely talented outfit to come out of the punk/new wave explosion of 1976-77, at Mr Kyps, Ashley Cross on Friday.
And wrapped around the mic stand will be a scarf that belonged to his late friend.
“I definitely get a little bit of something from having that around. I get onstage, warm into the mood a bit then have a little rub, put the scarf on and get cracking. I feel there’s something of him in the air.”
Ian Dury died in 2000 from liver cancer, although he lived with the effects of childhood polio all his life. An uncompromising character, but it’s rare to hear a bad word said about him and the influence of songs like Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick, What A Waste, Reasons To Be Cheerful, Spasticus Autisticus and Sex & Drugs & Rock & Roll continues to be heard in the lyrics of young singer songwriters – particularly the lyrics.
“Ian’s lyrics are incredible and it’s a lot of words to learn, but what people won’t realise is how powerful it is to be stood in front of that band. They are great players and that’s the thing about Blockheads – you have this amazingly slick funk-soul-rock stew and this rough vocal over the top of it.
“Ian was never one to be seen to be wagging the finger, he prefered to write about characters and be a bit ambivalent. So when it come to starting writing new songs with Chaz [Jankel, guitarist] I had to write about what I know and some of those songs on our new album Staring Down the Barrel, about money and greed and that are actually from a couple of years ago but they seem very prophetic now – so maybe the credit crunch is all Derek’s fault!”
Derek’s arrival in the Dury camp at the end of the 1990s signalled a new era of peace and love. Previous minders such as ex-con Fred ‘Spider’ Rowe and Pete ‘The Sulphate Strangler’ Rush, who was also known as the Bournemouth Buckaroo as he was brought up in the town, had, well, a bit of a reputation, shall we say.
“Funny thing was people used to look at me like I was a bit handy and it never kicked off – those guys must’ve done the groundwork for me!”
Indeed. Pete Rush was also known to Dury insiders as The Bournemouth Buckaroo and had previously worked in Bob Dylan’s road crew.
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