Issue 23 September 2014 In this edition of The Sticks Exclusive interview with Chas Hodges of Chas & Dave fame Win tickets to see Viva La Drag Our new Hero Cheese of the Month BBC Radio 2’s Janey Lee Grace’s Platinum Awards We review The Swan at Salford We road test the Ford’s Fiesta-based EcoSport SUV And much more Plus pages of events listings across Herts, Beds & Bucks - 1 - 22 Welcome to the September edition of The Sticks Magazine! The most talked about magazine in Herts, Beds & Bucks With over 16,000 readers a month In this issue: Page Exclusive interview with Chas Hodges 44 Curwens Column 77 Win tickets to see Viva La Drag 88 Better and Better, Higher and Higher 99 Art Column 1111 Reflections on Spiritual Developmentt 1212 Car Test – Ford’s Fiesta-based EcoSport SUV 1515 Janey Lee Grace‘s Platinum Awards 1616 The Swan at Salford 1818 Big Barn Food Column 2222 Hero Cheese of the Month 2323 Listings – Herts, Beds & Bucks 2424 Contributors: Janey Lee Grace, Terry Sullivan Donna Obstfeld, Andrew Merritt-Morling, Julie Sale, Sharon Struckman See you in October! Editor & Sales: Terry Sullivan Tel: 07756 274444 Email: [email protected] www.the-sticks.co.uk Follow us on twitter @thesticks9 www.facebook.com/sticksmag Listen to The Sticks Radio Show at 10am on Mondays on Secklow Sounds www.secklowsounds.org 33 Exclusive interview with Chas Hodges Chas Hodges is a musician and singer, probably best known for being one half, and lead vocalist, of the musical duo Chas & Dave. He currently lives just outside Stevenage in Hertfordshire. What did you do before joining up with Dave as Chas and Dave? They recently did a nice documentary on BBC 4 where they went all through my career, right through from the early days when I was with Mike Berry and the Outlaws and touring as Jerry Lee Lewis’s bass player, and Gene Vincent. Then I joined Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers, toured with the Beatles, then joined Albert Lee’s band “Heads, Hands and Feet” - so quite a bit! I knew Dave for about 8-9 years before we decided to get together and all that time I was doing all that. I did a show just on my own recently at the Borderline in London, it was a show with all the acts that recorded with producer Joe Meek that included playing with Cliff Bennett. I also go gigging as Chas and his band. You must have some great stories about Jerry Lee Lewis etc? I wrote my autobiography called “All About Us” and the first part is Chas before Dave - all the stuff I had done up until me and Dave got together, the other one is the Chas and Dave story. I really enjoyed writing that and you can read read all the tales in there. You also played in a band called the Rockers along side Roy Wood, Phil Lynott and John Coghlan? Yes that’s right and I have become a friend of Roy’s, I think I first met him when I was with Cliff Bennett and he was with the Move. Roy told me the story of their song Flowers In The Rain (the first record ever played on Radio One) - it was during Harold Wilson’s government and the tax laws and he gave the royalties away so he makes nothing out of that song. Is it true you learnt to play the piano by watching Jerry Lee Lewis? Yes I had started to learn before that. I was a bass player and had started to learn on me mum’s piano by watching her, I learnt a couple of bits and I made a start on the piano and when I was on tour with Jerry Lee just watching him everynight and then I used to try it out as soon as the gig had finished - I used to jump on the piano and think that’s how he does that bit. So I always say he taught me the piano which he did but he did not know he was - it was just me watching him, what a great teacher! A lot of people don’t realise how good a piano player he is. Are you still a Spurs fan? Yes I was born a Spurs fan as I was born almost outside the ground and in those days you suported the team that was local to you. You’re back on the road again after deciding to retire from touring together? No I never decided to retire, I am never going to retire, feel like I am going to live forever. Dave packed up when his dear wife died in 2009 but I carried on, as Chas and His Band and I still do the odd show, in fact I did one last Saturday for Charity in an old place my mum used to play in Edmonton, as time’s gone on Dave has felt a bit easier and he has come back to do a few gigs, it all works well together. 44 You did a charity single for the Premier League Darts recently? That’s right, Barry Hearn who we met years ago when we did “Snooker Loopy”. He rung me up and said “let’s have a meeting somewhere I’ve got an idea. I now manage all these darts players” and to cut a long story short I wrote this song “I Got My Ticket for the Darts” - it done alright and the royalties are for the children’s hospice in Woodford, had some fun doing that. Which is your, passion the darts or the snooker? Neither, I just like the music we did for it! There is an old myth going round that you were involved in the Fools and Horses theme tune, is it true? There is truth in it; John Sullivan originally wanted us to do the music for it, but at the time we were in Australia. “Ain’t No Pleasing You” was number one and just everything was happening, but in those days, unlike today where you through the internet could record it anywhere, in those days the communication was not so easy. Basically, we said we would do it if we could write it but it was already written so that’s the main reason we did not do it. It turned out to be John himself singing on it. We met John later on and he became a good friend and we actually did a version that was played on Capital Gold and he rung me up afterwards and said “that’s the way is should had been done”. On a Fools and Horses episode “The Jolly Boys Outing” John wanted to use our song Margate so we took Del Boy and Rodney in to the studio and recorded a special version which they used on the show. You have recently recorded a solo album? Yes, I went to the Western Star studios in Bristol, it features tracks from all the people I have worked with over the years, it is titled “Together We Made Music” it has songs in tribute to Cliff Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis and Gene Vincent. How would you describe your musical style? Well it is honest, unlike early in my career when I was singing in an American accent and I changed and that was the beginning of the “Rockney” style and I write songs about things I knew and when I got together with Dave I said to him, I have an idea about writing songs, so it is honest, good entertainment and we pride ourselves on being good musicians so it can last forever which it has. We have never been fashionable or unfashionable we have never gone with the trends. I do have affection for the music hall as mum played the piano and my uncle Alf singing all Harry Champion songs and that was one of the things me and Dave had in common when I first met him. Away from the music business what do you do for a hobby? I have an allotment and have written a book about keeping one called “Chas and His Rock and Roll Allotment” See Chas and Dave on tour at Watford Colosseum on Saturday 13 September Bedford Corn Exchange on Thursday 16 October Aylesbury Waterside on Thursday 20 November www.chasndave.net 55 - 6 - DOES DIVORCE ALWAYS MEAN ATTENDING COURT? Family breakdown is unfortunately a common occurrence. There is no way of completely eliminating any stress or cost from the process. However, it is possible to deal with any issues in an amicable and cost-effective way without attending any court hearings. What are the options ? To obtain a divorce, there has to be an order of the court (Decree Absolute) made at some point. However, this can be a paperwork exercise with no-one having to attend any actual court hearings. To resolve any issues regarding children and finances, there are plenty of alternatives to ending up in court:- (1) Mediation You and your ex-spouse meet with a specially qualified Family Mediator who helps you find a constructive way in which to talk through the issues, and try and find an agreed solution. There can be as many meetings as needed, but usually you would expect 3 or 4. (2) Collaborative Approach You and your ex-spouse each instruct a specialist Collaborative Lawyer and everything is discussed at round table meetings. Instead of lengthy letters between solicitors, minutes of the meetings are agreed and circulated, and if there are any urgent matters, the lawyers would usually try and resolve them quickly by telephone.