Biography
Later became known as Garrie and The Roosters for the second album, Shake It Down, before breaking up.
See also: Gary Lammin.
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When Joe Strummer went to see The Little Roosters play at the Hope and Anchor in Islington, North London some time in 1979 it turned out thankfully to be on an evening of one of the bands most legendary and highly charged raucous bar room gigs ever.
That evening would set a precedent for what was to come.
From that night on The Little Roosters proved themself beyond any doubt that when it came to bar room Rock'n'Roll they were one of the finest if not THE finest purveyors of guitar and piano based bar room Rock'n'Roll anywhere in London.
The Hope and Anchor, on that historic hot summers night, was packed to such an extent that people were having to pass their drinks and money over each others heads from the stage to the bar and vice-versa to the bar to the stage in order to get served. You literally could not move even if you wanted to. Girls were fainting. Blokes were getting edgy. By 8.45pm If you wanted to get in you couldnt. By 9.pm If you wanted to get out you couldn't and the buzz that had been gently simmering for about 6 months now was about to explode like a million shining particles of bursting energy.
Not everone was into Rock'n'Roll guitar music then, not in 1979, but in that sweaty condensation dripping cellar bar that evening there were about 180 people who were.
Along with Joe Strummer there was also Charles Shaar Murray, contibutary editor of The N.M.E. Wreckless Eric was also there and so was Boss Goodman, The Pink Fairies affectionado and one time booking manager of another fine Rock'n'Roll "Back street garage gig" known as Dingwalls. Infact Boss was to book The Little Roosters several times into Dingwalls very shortly after this gig at the Hope and Anchor.
When The Little Roosters finally took to the stage they had dressed in the style that prompted the French national newspaper "Liberation" to once discribe them as "Circus Clowns on Acid" A not all together unfair, fair appraisal actually, but on this night on first seeing the band, The Little Roosters really looked the part and more importantly they knew it. As The Little Roosters made their way onto the stage the crowd at The Hope and Anchor went totally bonkers.
There he was. Gary Lammin, The Little Roosters vocalist and founder member looking like he had just auditioned for a part in the remake of the film "Performance" His cartoonesque Ronnie Wood hair style Raven Black and a Johnny Thunders leopard skin jacket complete with laceless steel-toed hob nail boots and over sized crushed velvet pokka dot bow tie. Totally amazing. Also he is brazenly smoking on stage, in public, a rather large joint that someone from the audience had just handed to him and is grinning through a haze of smoke and rubbing his eyes as if he has just got out of bed.
Lammin casually asks the audience, "Anyone hot out there?" The audiences respond as one voice. "YEAH !!!" "In which case may I suggest you have a bite on this, This will cool you down" and Lammin hands the joint he was smoking back into the audience. Loud cheers and clapping and already before the first note is played Lammin was setting the scene for a night of true Rock n Roll passion.
He picks up his guitar.
Then suddenly, standing there right beside Lammin in the spotlight is Gary Eve "The Teddy Boy Mod Of Basildon" Gary Eve choosing to dress in the sharpest of Mod Two Tone Tonic Three piece suits but then opting not for a Stevie Marriott Mod haircut to finish the look off but instead going for the contradiction of a Teddy Boy quiff, just so typical of The Little Roosters refusal to acknowledge any one single trend or mode. Circus Clowns on Acid? Maybe, but The Little Roosters in full plumage were a sight to behold, a near hallucinagenic assault on the visual senses.
Gary Eve makes his way to his piano. A true Rock'n'Roll piano player and now it his turn to take a hit on the joint that has now been passed once again by the audience back up onto the stage. Gary Eve shakes the blokes hand who offered him the smoke. Most people could only look in fashion magazines to experience the style Gary Eve had, but the most important thing about Gary Eve is that Eve is Lammin's mate and Lammin's guitar work interacts with Eve's piano work like a dream.
Further to this it was Gary Eve who introduced Lammin to Alison Moyet who Lammin planned at some point not to just have as a guest vocalist but to actually have her take over the lead vocals wholesale.
Wow ! Alison Moyet singing lead vocals to England's finest Trash Rock'n'Roll garage guitar and piano band ? We can only now wonder what planet that might have taken us all to.
The Little Roosters steam through their set like a freight train almost de-railing. Guitars wail in pain. In parts it sounds brutal, like a amplified cement mixer falling through scaffolding. Other times its sonic beauty is unequivical, gliding as it floats. Yes indeed, Devil trombones and Angel trumpets my friends. Again typical of The Little Roosters total honesty and spontanaiety and their understanding of how to play Rock'n'Roll.
When the gig finally ends after several encores and the people have finally started to filter out into the surrounding streets of the area, Joe Strummer makes his way to the cramped dressing room where The Little Roosters stand slumped against the walls dripping in sweat and exhaustion and smoking the remains of their French duty free cigarettes. As the dressing room door opens The Little Roosters look up to see standing there in front of them, Joe Strummer.
A brief silence, until "What did ya reckon, Joe?" asks Gary Eve. "Are we still going to make a single with you producing Joe?" asks Gary Lammin.
"No" said Joe Strummer… "No…Lets try to do an album instead."
James Duggon.
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