David Smith | Guitar Player / Songwriter / Producer

Clive Sarstedt and Dave Smith

Clive Sarstedt

First met Clive after he and Derry Wilkie borrowed a PA System from me for a gig at The Load of Hay in Belsize Park.

I ended up playing with them and slowly but surely and after several personnel changes the line-up became : Clive Sarstedt on guitar and vocals, Tony Muschamp on bass, Bernie Hotzl, Harbans Srih, Mike Sturgis, Jamie Connell or Johnnie Gunsell and sometimes Thomas Lang on drums, myself on lead guitar.

The Robert Peel in Kentish Town run by the great Seamus Dolan provided a venue, not only for us, but also for a whole wealth of live bands.

These included: The Runner Brothers, Johnny Johnson and the Shuffling Hungarians, Wicked, Barcode, Charlie's Blues Band and a host of others.

This was complimented by a regular gig every Sunday afternoon at The Sir Richard Steele's in Belsize Park,which lasted for over five years courtesy of Kirk and Paul who run probably the best pub in London. It became something of an institution with guest musicians sitting in on the gig for fun.

The assortment of fantastic special guests included: Danny Rivers, Arthur Lewis, Johnny Gunsell, The Simon Cookson Band, Brian Connell, Chris Wilson, Derry Wilkie, Tony Ashton, Peter Sarstedt, Johnny "Snakehips" Johnson, Paul Francis, Ed the Duck,John Murray, Beverly Martin and Johnny Elstar to name but a few.

Of course it could not last with Camden Council's terrorist tactics preventing live music in pubs because of a so-called safety issue.( Crowd control ? People gathering in one place to enjoy themselves, whooo ! Scary ! )

Well done Camden Council ! Kill off live music at the grass roots level and bring us back to a banning of live music unheard of since Oliver Cromwell's time.

This goes for you too, Tony Blair ! A shameful banning of musicians playing in bands at a local level, depriving Britain of the next generation of musical talent. Cool Britannia ??? F****** hypocrites !

The " two in a bar rule" is killing live music !

OK rant over !

We played an eclectic mix of rock, blues, jazz and country to out and out improvisational mayhem and if Clive returns from his sojourn in Spain maybe we will do it again………..watch this space !

Mp3s taken from the album “ The Strange Case of Bernie’s Collapsing Drumkit ” courtesy of Dr. Dick's Backlash Records with a special thanks to Robert Hodson for helping with the live recordings.

Mp3 of "Excited" from Paradise Productions.

Mp3s of Gandalf's Toy Guitar, Spooky and Reprieve taken from Tony Muschamp's album "More Bass Please" featuring the amazing Frank Gambale on guitar.

Clive Sarstedt Band at The Peel NW5