The nice guys of rock ‘n’ roll

[RhysP]

[quote name='Marc S' timestamp='1455201282' post='2976980']
Back when I was starting out on bass the first time around (early 80's)
Me & a pal found out where Ex Eddie & The Hotrods, and current (then) bassist of the Damned, Paul Gray lived

One sunday morning, a mate & myself just cold-called at his house, and asked him to show us some Damned basslines - cheeky gits that we were! He showed us into his house, and sat us down in his music room, gave me a free bass lesson, let us play on his Rick, which had been on TOTP, OGWT, and several albums. He said it was time for his lunch, gave us his phone number and invited us back

Thing was, next time, instead of phoning well ahead & planning, we didn't give him much notice again (think it was about 2 days),
saying we wanted to learn a couple of Damned songs, and a Hotrods song for a gig next week,and the legend of a guy accommodated us!
Again, free lesson, and got invited back. Shortly afterwards, Paul joined UFO, and offered me tickets to see them live in Cardiff

Now, years later, I bump into him locally from time to time. He's always friendly & chatty, shakes hands, and even remembers my name
He was very ill a few years back, and I was gutted, and told him so. He said he was overwhelmed by the amount of good wishes he'd had from locals, and even facebook friends who he's never even met.

Still as nice a guy as anyone could ever wish to meet, and still one of my main influences years on. Great guy

PS. As someone else said earlier, so is Billy Bragg. I've met him & chatted a couple of times.
As suggested, I think the money secondary for him, he's a man of principles

Good to read similar stories from other BC'ers - Nice thread
[/quote]

Paul is a lovely bloke.

[bassace]

In my young days, starting out, I found a lot of kindness from musos, particularly world weary jazzers. We played support to the Tornados - yes, that long ago - and Clem Cattini was a really nice guy. Still is, I'm told.

Edited February 12, 2016 by bassace

[neilp]

[quote name='spectoremg' timestamp='1455236417' post='2977452']
You spoke actual words and stuff with Mike Rutherford. Envy.
[/quote]

Nice guy. Mike and the Mechanics were on tour. We had a chat about how it felt to be in a more "straightforward" - his word - band, he was interesting and engaging.

[Nicko]

As a spotty teenager I waited outside the stage door after a Saxon gig. There were about ten of us there. Biff and the boys opened the door, and invited us in for a chat. We were with them about 20 mins in total. They were just normal blokes having a laugh.

[spectoremg]

[quote name='neilp' timestamp='1455278699' post='2977702']
Nice guy. Mike and the Mechanics were on tour. We had a chat about how it felt to be in a more "straightforward" - his word - band, he was interesting and engaging.
[/quote]Did you quiz him about any technical stuff; how did you get that sounds etc.?

[Mykesbass]

[quote name='spectoremg' timestamp='1455236417' post='2977452']
You spoke actual words and stuff with Mike Rutherford. Envy.
[/quote]
[quote name='neilp' timestamp='1455278699' post='2977702']
Nice guy. Mike and the Mechanics were on tour. We had a chat about how it felt to be in a more "straightforward" - his word - band, he was interesting and engaging.
[/quote]

Was introduced to him by my old school mate who has been his drummer for last 21 years with "this is the guy I was in my first band with". His singer, Andrew Roachford was completely down to earth too.