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NewsLetter 7 Wednesday, June 29, 2005 Planet Rezillo NewsletterTOUR OF DUTY The thundering roar of the four great Merlin engines which had been our soundtrack for the last seven hundred miles, was at last pierced by the jolting thump and screeching rubber that announced safe landfall. Flight Lieutenant Tim Matthews eased back the throttles and coaxed the battered Lancaster off the main runway towards the dispersal bays, the relief of a safe return from the final mission of the tour swept through the cramped cabin like a spring breeze.
The old "home town" looked the same as we stepped down from the plane, and there to greet us was the C.O. and his adjutant; "Jolly good show chaps, and ..er you Fife. All safely back then, all present and correct?" "All except Paterson sir" piped up Squadron Leader Reynolds, walking towards the group after inspecting the damage to the underside of number two engine. "Paterson?" echoed the C.O. "Yes Sir, Paterson Sir" said Reynolds half mockingly "He bailed out over Bremen" "Bremen?, bailed out over Bremen you say? ...What the bally hell did he do that for? Did he think the kite was going down?" The crew were nearly in convulsions now at the sight of the C.O’s flabbergasted face, when Flying Officer Fife (Ms. and bar) chipped in; "No Sir, I think he just likes it there". The C.O. was speechless, he turned to his adjutant who nervously shrugged his shoulders in response, but could say nothing either. "Och, c’mon youse lot" urged Pilot Officer ‘Terminator’ Brady in his thick Glaswegian brogue, breaking the awkward silence "lets get the de-briefing o’er an’ done wi’. Ah’ve got a pressing appointment in the Oafficers Mess, -an’ ahm no talking aboot tea and biscuits!" "Hurry along then" groaned the C.O. teasing his impressive handlebar moustache, "de-briefing room, pronto, - and you’re all an absolute bluddy shower!" THE DE-BRIEFING
We had an eventful little tour as always, with the usual highs and lows. After the opening night at the funky "Dundee Reading Rooms", a terrific little venue, we headed down to Durham for a double header with "The Damned" at the local university, this "combined operation" seems to have been a successful evening for all concerned, and what a splendid bunch of chaps The Damned are, and a damn fine band to boot. Things took a turn for the worse the following day however, when we discovered that some bunch of thieving huns had stolen all our equipment from the group van in the early hours of the morning, they’d shanghaied the lot, bar a couple of boxes of merchandise. So after reporting the theft to the local Constabulary we headed on to Leicester, where we were due to play at "The Charlotte" that night, to see if we could beg or borrow some instruments and equipment to do the gig. Everyone concerned at The Charlotte couldn’t have been more helpful, i’ve never seen the milk of human kindness flow so freely. So a big thank you to local band "The Pokers" and "The Zodiac Killers" from the good ol’ USA for the loan of instruments and drums, and thanks also to promoter Andy Wright for procuring a left handed guitar and showing a lot of patience and understanding. Thanks again everyone. The following morning, to our ecstatic surprise, we received a phone call from the police informing us that our equipment had been recovered and was awaiting us in Sunderland. So a huge thank you and well done is in order to the boys and girls in blue from the Cleveland and Northumbria Police Divisions for their expedient result. Great work, and ..be careful out there. The next leg of the tour treated us to a weekend by the seaside, albeit in coastal resorts at opposite ends of the country, firstly Brighton (The Concorde 2) then the Wasted Festival at Morecambe, what with all the travelling there wasn’t time to get the bucket and spade out, but I did manage to achieve a personal ambition in Morecambe by visiting the statue of Eric Morecambe on the sea front, and paying my respects to the legendary comic genius. Finally, The Bristol Bier Keller, Manchester Academy and The Leeds Cockpit rounded off a by and large very enjoyable string of dates, where without exception we experienced courtesy, professionalism and the committed attitude of all those who worked alongside us at the various shows; the other bands on the bill, the promoters and the venue and stage crews. It’s good to see that the sharp end of the live music scene in this country appears to be in mostly good hands. THROUGH ADVERSITY TO THE STARS
So now it’s back to base, the post tour blues and time to take stock; not that we’ll be resting on our laurels mind. License has finally been administered by the BBC for the release of our vintage John Peel sessions, which along with archive "Barclay Towers" recordings and outakes, will comprise a compact disc album now to be entitled "Thirteen Cuts". The Beeb objected to the use of "Radio Times" in our originally intended title of "The Rezillos Radio Times" so we had to change it, but as we are now including archive studio material on the CD, a title change would have been relevant anyway. We’d best keep quiet about our 1978 single "Top Of The Pops" though ‘eh! More news on a release date for this much delayed item as it comes in. Look out for a CD re-release of our debut "Can’t Stand" album in it’s original format from DBK Records in the next month or two, DBK is an American label, so the album may appear over here as an import. http://shopping.yahoo.com/p:Can't%20Stand%20the%20Rezillos:1921013385 http://shopping.yahoo.com/p:The%20Rezillos:1927004535:page=discography:subp We are also now actively pursuing a couple of hopefully interested parties with a view to getting a new single out at some point, and we’d still like to put out a compilation of our old singles, although trying to communicate with Warner Brothers Records, who own the rights to those recordings, is proving rather difficult. Why, you’d have to
have been living on the Moon not to have heard about all the activity in
Edinburgh surrounding the G8 summit of world leaders at Gleneagles in July.
Well, we’re keen to do our bit and help put the world to rights, so the www.thebongoclub.co.uk/content/programme.php Elsewhere on the live front, we have a couple of dates lined up later in the year, December in fact, at the "Wasted @ Christmas" festivals in Wolverhampton and The Astoria in London. These will be co-headliners with "The Dickies", more of our American allies, anyone remember their blitzing version of the "Gigantor" theme from the TV cartoon. Until then, even though the offers to do more live shows come in thick and fast, we must concentrate on the recording issue and get some fresh ammunition out to the front line!
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Still bored? If you’ve been watching the new "Dr Who" series on BBC 1, then you should enjoy this little diversion, which features our all time favourite alien invasion threat; www.bbc.co.uk/doctorwho/games/index.shtml Hope to see some of you local residents, and those visiting town to add their presence to the various G8 related activities, at The Bongo Club on Wednesday the 6th of July. Keep checking in at the website for further news, and a site revamp in the near future. We’ll put a new batch of song lyrics up before too long aswell, so please send in your requests to
Tally Ho!
Roger and Out
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crew have volunteered for a mission at 
