The Blockheads, Ian Dury's former backing band, celebrated their twenty-fifth anniversary with two nights (October 8th and 9th) at Camden's Jazz Cafe in London. Guitarist John Turnbull handled the lion's share of the vocal duties, with Dury's longtime friend Derek the Draw also helping out. Dury, the Blockheads' charismatic singer and lyric writer, died of cancer in 2000 at age fifty-seven.
"I feel very self-conscious," admitted Turnbull after the sound check. "Ian liked the way the words tripped off the tongue. That meant the tempo had to be just right."
Among those in attendance on the second night was Dury's son Baxter, who was the young boy on the cover of his father's band's 1977 signature debut album New Boots And Panties.
The Blockheads now feature longtime members Turnbull, Norman Watt Roy on bass, Chaz Jankel on guitar and piano, Mick Gallagher on keyboards, and newcomers Dylan Howe (son of Yes guitarist Steve Howe) on drums (original drummer Charlie Charles succumbed to cancer in 1990) and Gilad Atzmon on saxophone. They are in the midst of recording a new CD for release early next year, and they dedicated half of their set list to road-testing the new material. At Camden's, the new dance-friendly funk sat well with the extended versions of earlier nuggets like "What a Waste" and their U.K. Number One single "Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick."
The band finds the task of carrying on without their charismatic leader a natural one. "I don't find it intimidating," says Jankel, who was Dury's frequent co-writer in the Blockheads. "We've always felt comfortable playing together, we still enjoy it and will keep doing. But we're also proud of our past, and Ian will always be in our DNA."
GIANLUCA TRAMONTANA
(October 16, 2002)