Ross Lomas - City Baby

City Baby

praise for City Baby:

Unmissable...

an uplifting story of the survivalof friendship, principles

and a whole way of life againstsometimes overwhelming odds. Ross Lomas and Steve Pottinger havecombined to produce a fascinating and essential read.

Louder Than War

Always compelling

Record Collector

Absolutely captivating

Vive Le Rock

Fits perfectly on my bookshelf nextto White Line Fever

Trust (Germany)

City Baby

Ross Lomas

with

Steve Pottinger

Ignite Books

2013

Copyright Ross Lomas & StevePottinger 2013

Ross Lomas & Steve Pottingerhave asserted their rights

under theCopyright, Designs and Patents Act

to be identified asauthors

of this work.

All rights reserved.

Without limiting the rights undercopyright reserved above,

no part of this publication may bereproduced, stored in, or

introduced into a retrieval system,or transmitted, in any

form or by any means (electronic,mechanical, photo-

copying, recording or otherwise)without the prior

written permission of both thecopyright owner

and the above publisher of thisbook.

To Charlotte, Samantha, andBridget.

This book has been a long time inthe making.

I first met Ross when we worked onthe Birmingham crew. A little after that, I stage-managed a punkall-dayer. There was Ross, playing bass in GBH. They werebrilliant. The crowd loved them. Everyone I knew loved them. No-onehad told their story.

So I asked Ross if hed like totell his.

He said yes.

The interviews for this book wererecorded sitting in the back of my camper van whenever the two ofus were both in Brum and had a free day. That was harder toorganise than youd think. But it was worth every minute. Its beena pleasure to work with Ross, he has some great tales to tell, andI hope you enjoy reading the book as much as I enjoyed putting ittogether.

all the best

Steve Pottinger

If you want to see what else I getup to, you can find more of my work, blogs and short stories, atstevepottinger.co.uk

My original gratitude list wastwice the size of an average towns telephone directory. PeopleIknow and have met, and thousands that Ihavent. Steve suggestedIgo away and try again. Iwant you all to know you were on theoriginal list.

Thankyous, apologies, and love tothe following:

Nikki Lomas Barbara Cargill Barbara Lomas Donald Lomas Auntie Pauline John & JaynePhipps Alex Phipps Daz Barnes Andrew Simmonds HelenSimmonds Kim Lomas Dan &Jason Auntie Margaret RoyCrowton Tony Quinn Stephen Fellows Karen &Ross Johns BigGraham Bannister Paul Fudge Rudge Carol Coombes Sharon Maher Sue McCarty Avril McCarty Helen Charles DellaCharles Ybet Molina John Fletcher Sharon Fujimoto SuziFujimoto Linda Aronow Toscan Elrod Michel Cook Juan Jiminez Kevan Wilkins Big Mick Hughes Alan Whitaker JohnHuggyHughes Harry Davenport Richard Tomo Thompson DannyAbrahall Sally Mason Hudley Flipside Frank Visone Mr&Mrs Visone Jason Miller Danny Bianco Anthony Galetto StageDiving Daisy &Steve Richie & Jesse from Machete Pete&Sally Wakefield Pinch Pinching Matt Graham Nigel Green Stuart Simms Lynn MacKinnon Adam &Eves Lamp Tavern Market Tavern the good people of Vlaardingen Deb Pagell RobJasper Eddie Tatar Dave Perkes Grace Kennelly Alan Campbell Tokyo Hiro SeanoHill Chris Fretwell Cheryl Geary Lee Dave Woodard David Holm Amy Nicoletto Satoki Fujita MoeHolmes Stagecraft John Pedro Ennis John Purcell HenryZanoni Lia Blyth Thalia Harithas Jill Bruce, Holly and Lily Tammy Lees, Jack and George Sean McCarthy Andy WilfWilliams Joe Montanaro Kai Reder Karl Morris Micky Coyle DrongosForEurope Colin Abrahall Jock Blyth Scott Preece CJ UnionChurch of Honolulu Michele Stanger.

To all Punks, Skins, Rastas andMetalheads, bang on Brothers and Sisters, bang on.

Ross Lomas

snapshot

I knew I was making the biggestmistake of my life.

All day, out on the milk float,doing my rounds, Id hoped thered be a message from Jock when Igot in, letting me know that hed got the flu, that the pub hadburned down, that aliens had landed in the middle of Birmingham,that something had happened, and that the gig was cancelled.Because right now, the idea of getting up on stage was terrifyingme.

See, the only times Id done anyperforming were all back at school, at Mapledene Juniors. Id beena knight, Id danced round the maypole with the other kids, and Idbeen one of the three kings - the black one - in the schoolnativity play. Normal kids stuff. I couldnt see how any of thatwas going to help, and I really wished I hadnt badgered Jock tolet me join his band, because now I was going to get up in front ofa room full of punks and play bass, and just thinking about it mademe want to throw up, or do a runner.

We were in the pub onBirminghams punk scene, The Crown on Station Street, upstairs inthe little gig room which could squeeze in 150 people on a goodnight - maybe 200 before the floor gave way and youd find yourselfdrinking downstairs in the bar - and we were headlining. I thinkthere were eighty people there. Maybe a hundred if youre generous.Most of them were mates, which made it worse, because playing tostrangers is a thousand times easier than doing it in front ofpeople you know. I looked out at the audience and recognised Fudgeand Mouse and Baby Mark and all the skinheads. I saw Carol, andGary Critchley, and my mate Roy Crowton. The Drongos had justfinished playing, so they were there, of course, and so were allthe old heads, all the Birmingham punks. All paid 80p each to getin, all waiting for us to start our set and finish the nightoff.

Id practised, and I knew I couldplay. If I wasnt the best bass player in the world, at least Icould bang out some GBH. That wasnt the problem. But I was quietand shy, and no way used to being a performer, and I was sure I wasgoing to screw things up. All the way through the first song I wasshitting myself, waiting for it all to go wrong. Then I lookedacross at Colin, and he looked really confident, and that inspiredme to think Come on! What the fucks the matter with you?And after that it was fine.

We had ten songs, and we playedthem all, and threw in a really long version of Great Balls OfFire and our take on Wild Thing as well, and there was stilltime for more. So we played some of our songs again, and everyoneloved it, even the dodgy characters by the bar. Even me - which waswhat surprised me most.

Id been in GBH eight days when Iplayed that gig at The Crown, and by the end of the night I knew Iwanted more. Id loved it. But I never thought it would goanywhere. None of us did.

Its strange how things work out.By 1982 we were touring the UK. The year after that we went toGermany, America, and Canada. Thirty years later, and GBH is stillat it. Weve never stopped gigging, and weve kept the sameline-up, and were still mates. Still getting up on stage and neverquite making a living at it.

This is the story of how we spentthirty years making it up as we go along. Its the story of mylife, too. Its about writing songs, travelling the world, andhaving fun. Its about living without a safety net and - mostly -its about getting away with it.

All without anything resembling aplan.

city baby

It all started in the AddamsFamily house.

In a street of classic suburbanhouses, inter-war semis with bay windows and pebble-dashing up theoutside walls, ours was the one that wasnt really looked after,the one that let the whole street down. This was where I lived withmy dad, who worked for the council as a paver, my mom, whod been aseamstress when she was younger, then worked at Rover, and ended upas a nursing auxiliary in Solihull maternity hospital, and mysister.

It was out in Sheldon, on the edgeof Brum, and to be honest, you wouldnt rush to Sheldon if itwasnt home. I mean, theres not much there - just the Wheatsheafpub, a few shops, and lots and lots and lots of houses. In 1938,the local paper reported Sheldon had