The late John Peel with John Sicolo, two important figures of alternative music.
The owner of The Legendary TJ's nightclub in Newport, South Wales, John Sicolo, passed away yesterday. He was 66.
I first met him in 1995 when I first moved to the area. I soon came to realise what an important figure this man was, not just in terms of how important he was to the alternative music scene, but also in how greatly he was known and respected across all age groups.
I got to know him as I frequented TJ's, which was host to my first ever live gig where all of 15 people attended (Honeycrack, supported by Reverse, neither of whom exist any more; Honeycrack have been absorbed back into The Wildhearts, and Reverse... um... when I find out, I'll tell you. They were good, though) on October 15th 1995. He acted as door staff, bar staff, general host. On a normal TJ's night, he was ever-present, avuncular gentleman on one instant, no-nonsense business owner the next. He didn't put up with any trouble; he cut an imposing figure, as did his door staff. If they recognised you, you were okay.
As I was studying photography as part of my degree, I asked John if it would be okay to try out some band photography. He was more than willing to let me, allowing me to stand on stage with Therapy?, Snuff, Girls Against Boys, Brainiac, Voodoo Glowskulls and many more, as well as the chance to go backstage with each of them. This he did in exchange for putting my photos around TJ's, some of which are still there. He posed in photos for me with the bands. One of my favourites was with Brainiac. It was one of their final gigs before the untimely death of lead singer Timmy Tyler. Seeing John and the band all sticking their tongues out at the camera still makes me smile, and now holds a great relevance to me. I'll try to find the picture and attach it to this post if I manage to track it down this week.
Wherever you go, you'll find many stories attached to TJ's. You won't be able to avoid the oft-told tale of when Kurt Cobain proposed to Courtney Love there during a Hole gig. It was a story John told often, but he told it well.
On the night that Labour got into power in 1997, I was the victim of assault outside TJ's. I'll go into detail with this in another blog soon (it's one massive soap opera, you wouldn't believe the flow of events. It's like Diedrick Santer wrote it), and I vaguely remember John hoisting one of my attackers off of me. Later, my face streaming with blood, he told me that he knew who did it, and he would testify in court for me against him should it get that far. He was true to his word. Weeks later, he stood up for me, and helped me prosecute the person in question.
Since moving away from Newport and around the country, I've barely had a chance to visit TJ's. Last time I went there was about 3 years ago. I saw John, said hello, and he said, "Hiya, butt," patted me on the shoulder, and went on his way. I was one of thousands of people he would have dealt with, but he always remembered you. He was a thoroughly fantastic bloke, and the world is poorer for his loss.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment