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Unbeknown to us, our Kensington debut was witnessed by Chilli Willi drummer, Pete Thomas, who brought along his manager, Andrew 'Jake' Jakeman, the following week. A crucial chain of events was then set in motion: Jake liked us and told Paul Conroy of the Charisma agency, who offered to get us gigs; Conroy told Zig Zag's Pete Frame who told CBS press officer John Tobler who told Clive Selwood of UK Records. Selwood told his boss, hit-maker Jonathan King. Melody Maker's Geoff Brown also witnessed our early London dates and was quick to write about us. By October of 1974, we were playing at least twice a week in London, plus distance gigs at the weekend and our weekly Blue Boar residency. It was the work rate we had always wanted, but for those of us holding down full-time jobs it became impossible. It was obviously time to 'go pro'. I was working in Barking, and spent most of my lunchtimes either in Guy Norris's record shop or the Brewery Tap where I would slave over cash flow projections for the group. Could we afford to chuck in our day jobs? The married members of the group needed £40 a week, whilst the rest of us could exist on £25. After adding in van hire and petrol, I came up with the magic figure and told Paul Conroy that if he could 'guarantee' us £235 a week, we would turn professional. Paul soon responded with a solid date sheet. Then there was a sort of Davy Crockett at the Alamo scene, where I took out my imaginary sword and said we would be turning pro in six weeks time. Those who 'wanted in' should cross the line now. Richie had no hesitation - he was already a professional musician with a lucrative session career. There was a bit of hesitation from the others, but I must have talked a fairly good talk, because only Dave, who ironically had been Mr Energy a year earlier, didn't fancy it. He left the group and the rest of us 'went pro' on 1 January 1975. |
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