A book about the Newcastle music scene in the 70s & 80s ‘Closest Thing to Heaven’ featured in a post back in December 2020 (link below).

Pages full of black and white photos of bands, venues, posters and flyers were put together by Mick Fielding and Simon McKay. I got in touch with Simon and asked him about working on the book.

“Working on this book took me back to my most enjoyed gigs in 1980-81 at Newcastle University, Polytechnic Union Buildings, Spectro Arts and the Guildhall. It was wonderful to be reminded of all that. Hopefully, it will stir some good memories for readers too”.

“Closest Thing to Heaven’ is a book evoking simpler times. I thought all I saw then was lost, but Mick and I did find photos of that time”.

“I was reminded that these bands, these times, seemed to come and go in an instant. It was fascinating to revisit it all and reconnect with the excitement of a glorious era and, of course, the hungry optimism of my own youth”.

“The bands that I loved; the bands that I thought would be huge. Sobering, that few got further than Stockton. But those nights spent waiting for bands to come on, watching them play, just being there and connecting with people was such a pleasure”.

Some North East musicians who featured in the book got in touch and talked about their memories of the photos.

‘My old band Sneeze (1969-1971) is pictured – at least the lead vocalist Rod Foggon is. Sneeze were regular performers at the Mayfair in the lifetime of the band supporting some top bands of the era’ said Roger Smith, author of music blog ‘Ready Steady Gone’.

‘A young Jimmy Nail was a Sneeze fan back then and mentions the band and one of its popular covers in his autobiography. He also refers to the ‘mighty Sneeze’ in a post on Ready Steady Gone. Coincidentally a picture of Jimmy Nail’s band The Prize Guys is next to the Sneeze pic in the book’.

Dance Class frontman Dave Taggart looks back at their picture…

’This is a still from the eponymous Tyne Tees Television’s live music show The Tube. When? I would say 1983 as we played a new song from the forthcoming second album’.

‘On that show were Steve Strange, Southern Death Cult – who later became The Cult – and The Stranglers. We finished the show and had our own fan base in the audience which created a great buzz’.

‘We were green as grass. For instance, every act had to supply their own PA system. We faced our speakers out to the audience which was totally unnecessary as it was for TV and The Stranglers just had a massive monitor system for themselves as they were seasoned performers and knew the score! But what an experience’.

‘We had a gig that night at one of the University Hall’s in Newcastle, Kid Jensen was DJ’ing and presenting added Dave.

He said on his radio show he had ‘just witnessed a band who performed not only on The Tube but also for a massive student audience and they are destined for great things’. What a damn shame’.

‘But that second album I was talking about, we have just got it back after all these years and its being remastered and we are thinking about putting it out on vinyl, CD and Apple tunes’.

The book is available direct from Tyne Bridge Publishing:

Tyne Bridge Publishing | Newcastle City Council

Link to first post about the book in December 2020:

CLOSEST THING TO HEAVEN – New Book on ’70s-’80s Newcastle Music Scene | ALIKIVI UK : NORTH EAST CULTURE (garyalikivi.com)

Alikivi   October 2023