24 AUGUST 2005: RAT SCABIES

(THE STATION CAME BACK IN DURING THE INTRO!! A coincidence OR THE HAND OF THE INDIE RADIO GODS????????? You decide...)

"What is a portal?" And Shovel, god love him, has no idea what Jonesy's talking about... Jonesy wants to know if portal is like porthole or just a fancy new age word. Is it a "portal in another dimension?"

 (I think what he means is: is there an actual entrance, like a black hole, that takes you to another dimension? In fairy and fantasy stories and science fiction the portal is always like a cave, or underwater, or a plane will fly through some clouds.)

Joney's talking about Doctor Who and the telephone booth. That was a portal!

"There should be a portal that's a porthole, a toilet in the new Doctor Who series instead of the telephone booth," Jonesy says.

PORTAL, noun: a doorway or gateway, especially an imposing one. "portal to portal pay" wages that include allowances for the time a workman spends in going from the entrance of his factory, mine, etc. to his work station and back to the exit at the close of the work day.
However, it is actually used in Internet terminology more these days than anywhere else. It's definitely not a "new age" word. And really, a Web Portal is a entry point for a user to enter that much loved other dimension: the Internet.
Jonesy's Jukebox is a portal to my youth and also to new worlds where good music grows like leaves on trees.

The guest is there, in the hallway, about to step through the portal, but Jonesy's going to play a song first.

New Pornagraphers, USE IT
Cockney Rebel, HIDEAWAY
Mr Big, I AIN'T BEEN A MAN
"Hello this is Budgie, and you are listening to Jonesy's Jukebox. If you would like a nice cuppa tea, this is where you should be."
Damned, MORNING BIRD

Rat Scabies, drummer from the Damned, is here as the guest! He's pretty funny and has this great sexy accent!

His real name is Chris Miller. He doesn't mind people calling him Rat and Jonesy only knows him as Rat.... FUCKING STATIC...And back in the day Mick Jones used to come down and he had long hair and looked like Johnny Thunders from the Dolls. And how they all used to hang out together....

Now Jonesy wondered how Miller got scabies, and Miller says it's from shaking hands, or wherever, because it's a parasite that lives under the skin. He's was scratching himself a lot on stage. So he got the name for how he got the scabies, and for then capitalizing on it and acting very Rat like on stage. He didn't think it would last longer than a few weeks!

Steve Jones came up with Johnny Rotten, because he had rotten teeth.

(I remember when I was younger how we delighted in these punk names, the more insulting and/or rebellious the better they were!)

"It's a London thing, coming up with names... Names like rat scabies and johnny rotten, haha."

Jonesy thinks Miller should sue The Damned because he's not being properly credited on the tours and re-issues. He wasn't playing on that last track! But Jonesy didn't know that.

They are talking about touring and break-ups and where is everyone and I just couldn't get it all down fast enough!

"Whatever happened to Brian James?"
 "He's living in Brighton."
Miller wouldn't say James is rolling in it, but he ain't broke.

Roddy Thomas (?) is living in Brighton as well. (I'm listening again during the rebroadcast, but the static is still pretty bad.)

Someone is brilliant... Roddy Thomas?... Then The Heavy Metal Kids came out with an album but had rotten timing...There was a lot of reggae in something (HMK record?). And Jonesy plays it all the time, whatever it is.

The Heavy Metal Kids! They were the best for Millar! They were very rebellious with the biker thing and the chains and all that bit.

"They were acting, and we were the real thing," says Millar.

(Here's an interview with Millar from 1976:
http://thunder.prohosting.com/~naznomad/vamp2.htm)

A clip from some movie, I think...

The Duke: HB Toyota ( and the dog moved...lost my reception... static....)

The station comes back in when they are talking about NEW ROSE, in preparation for spinning it.

They were also talking about his book, RAT SCABIES AND THE HOLY GRAIL, which I haven't read but sounds great. (See the end of this posting for the review and link.)

Miller's talking about the book HOLY BLOOD, HOLY GRAIL, and how his father followed all of this and the Knights Templar... or did he say Masons?...Scabies' book, actually written by Christopher Dawes, is available on Amazon, and it's a trade paperback, which Jonesy wondered about, about what it meant for a book to have it's First Printing as a paperback.

(A trade paperback is a large paperback instead of a hardback, which in the publishing world means that they thought it would sell but not to a wide enough audience, or that the readers would not want to spend the extra cash for a hard back...That doesn't mean it won't stay in print and that it won't come out in a mass paperback, which is one of those little paperbacks. This is how I understand it.)

"Have you ever thought about doing an autobiography?"

"Well, yeah, but then I realized I'd never done anything, really."

Jonesy laughed his funny laugh but then disputed this. "You recorded one of the greatest punk records ever! NEW ROSE!"

Damned, NEW ROSE
Status Quo, PAPER PLANE

Was Scabies a Status Quo fan? Only in private, not publicly. Jonesy was a closet Boston fan, and asked was Scabies a closet fan of anyone else? King Crimson. He says that's nothing for Scabies to be proud of...Miller also like The Who and Cream...more static & less hearing of the interview...

They are discussing the favourite from Woodstock--- but who was it? I think it was Free.

The Duke: Dish TV

"We're here with Rat Scabies, drummer, author--"
"And Grail Hunter--" Scabies interjects.
"And thief of old antiquites," finishes Jonesy.

He was on the Anarchy tour with Clash, Thunders, Pistols, and he wouldn't travel with "you lot." There was "all this" between Jake and Maclaren... "Jake Riviera! With that name you know right away you can't trust him!"

The tour bus was really crowded, according to Jonesy, and Miller said he was in the van, and even if they were jealous at the time, he was probably better off in the van.

(This is one of those shows that really needs to just be listened to...Especially if you were a big fan of the Damned, Pistols, or the early British punk scene.)

He's going to write a film about the Anarchy tour, Miller is. He hated one night-- I couldn't hear-- the bands were brilliant but they hated the audience because it was all skinners and critics. And the cancellations... did Maclaren like the publicity?

He wasn't happy about the Grundy show (???). Queen had to go the dentist that day. According to Jonsey, "since Freddie Mercury had a toothache, the Pistols swore on TV!"

Millar said after that The Pistols were just everywhere and very famous. But all was not sunshine for the young punks. Jubilee Day made the whole country mad with patriotism, and if you had spiky hair the whole country wanted to kick your ass. Especially the Teddy Boys.

Jonesy loves to fart.

Scabies is remembering a story about Jonesy and Jonesy wonders who is going to write his (Jonesy's) autobiography?

What was the story that Millar wanted to tell about Jonesy?

A pub they used to go to on Saturdays, and once, after something, Jonesy pissed (drunk)-- or actually pissing at the bar, sorry, I couldn't hear clearly---ordered a bunch of drinks and then took off without paying for it, but first he had the bartender climb way up to fetch some bottle (? this might not be accurate transcription)... but either way, the story was not considered (biography) book worthy by Scabies, oh well...

Did Miller like the Faces? Jonesy does. Jonesy loves this song he's about to play.

Rod Stewart, TRUE BLUE
Rubettes, I CAN DO IT

They were phony Teddy Boys according to Millar and Jonesy. They used to tuck their long hair up under their caps. This song was played by Millar, it is an old favourite of his.

Jonesy remembers seeing them with Alvin Stardust and Suzi Quattro.

With that perfect dry English wit, Miller goes, "Stardust and Quattro-- that must have been, er, something." (That's not an exact quote, but it properly conveys the tone.)

Jonesy was like, uh yeah, it was, and they discussed the details of Stardust's death...(I think... I can't read some of my notes because I hadn't even had any coffee yet.

Little Jimmy Osmond, LONG HAIRED LOVER FROM LIVERPOOL (an artist who Millar said was "irritating" when Millar was younger)
Queen, KEEP YOURSELF ALIVE

The Duke

"Do you talk to any of the lads from the Damned?" and "Do you get along with the singer?"

Now, I have to say, there was some hemming and hawing here, honestly. That is what it sounded like, and the nicest possible answer, when it was made. In a long roundabout way, that there's no animosity left, as far as he knows, but that they would all need to get together.

 And, at this point, Jonesy began crusading for a Damned reunion, and Miller thought he'd do it if the band could do it and it would be fun.

Jonesy said do it cuz it's "an earner." Plus, Damned and Pistols are like the only bands left where all the original members are still alive.

Then Miller said it was like a divorce and he'd have to see what it was like all of them back together in the same room.

Jonesy said it's great because there have been so many years, that all the stuff doesn't matter. At the Pistols Reunion once they played the old songs --and the band was back together again--it was fine.

Millar sounded seriously soothed by this.

Jonesy laughed, "The Pistols [Reunion] was to prove that we could play!"

But you don't want to act like you did when you were 18, they agreed. Miller hates those old punks you see on tv saying "I'm still a rebel." It's phony.

"They aren't being themselves," Jonesy chimes in.

Millar lives in West London...okay, they are talking about footbal again...Cook's Mash-up is being discussed and I think this is the place that Jonesy joked to Fry yesterday that Paul Cook owned. (Don't you love a music show that has Martin Fry of ABC on one day and the next has Rat Scabies of the Damned?!!!!!)

Jonesy does miss London! Yes. He misses football and walking. He misses how in London you can walk everywhere, and it's great. But Jonesy does love it here, too. The heat and the palm trees, and all the young birds. He belongs here. "Lots of phony people! I fit right in!" He jokes.

(Sometimes the guests kind of interview him and it's so sweet-- and they are all always saying "it's an honour to be here" even if I forget to write it down, they do all say that at some point at least once.)

They are going to perform and Jonesy is like "sound check? when did Rat Scabies ever do a sound check?"

And Miller laughs, "sorry, pretending to be the consummate professional." Anarchy, punk rock radio, this is. What did the Weekly say about the show and Jonesy? "It's punk and Jones invented it." I think that was it.

The played together, with Scabies doing drum solos on the table top,
Rolling Stones, LIVE WITH ME

Gave away three pairs of tickets for Devo.

The Duke

Jonesy is trying to talk Scabies into a reunion tour again. He's charging $200 for his consultation services-- "to be paid in paperback books" hahahaha!

He ended the show with the Stones track.

I hope you didn't miss this show!!!!!!!! GOD SAVE JONESY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Amazon will probably sue me or something but:
Book Description

Christopher Dawes lives in a quiet English village. His neighbor is Rat Scabies, former drummer with the Damned, best noted for setting his drums on fire while still playing them at a live concert. Life with Rat as a neighbor isn’t run-of-the-mill, but things turn even stranger when Rat announces that he (and Christopher) are going on a search for the Holy Grail.

The saga begins in Rennes-le-Chateau in France, where in 1891 a local priest discovered a treasure whose mystery remains unsolved. Once Christopher and Rat have written a list of things to do ("Buy metal detectors!"), they need only unravel a tale involving the Cathars, the Knights Templar, the Man in the Iron Mask, and Louis XIV—and along the way, visit Paris, Rome, Glastonbury, and Tintagel—and perhaps join the Masons (Rat thinks they know something).

The legend of the Holy Grail is far from unknown, but this is the first time the quest has been given the punk rock treatment. Rat Scabies and the Holy Grail is a psychedelic, Pythonesque road trip, a testimony to the sometimes odd nature of friendship, and a rich historical yarn.--This text refers to the Paperback edition.