Heart of a Punk Soul of a Rasta

What Wilko did next.

Well Wilko kept on keeping on, with the Solid Senders and the more than decent "Solid Senders" album. He kept on keeping on playing live and all; he had a couple of tracks commited to posterity on the "Front Row Hope & Anchor" LP (which you can hear a track from HERE). And then one night Wilko went over The Rainbow and the rest is history.

It was the 4th April 1980, The Rainbow Theatre, Seven Sisters Road. Hugh Cornwell had been banged up for possession and The Stranglers instead of cancelling the gigs they had booked lined up a cavalcade of replacements for uncle Hugh including Mr Wilko Johnson. From the book "Sex and Drugs and Rock 'N' Roll - The Life of Ian Dury" by Richard Balls here's Wilko telling it how it was:

So Wilko went over the Rainbow and instead of finding The Wizard of Oz and a load of munchkins, he found the Upminster Kid and became a bleedin' Blockhead; and the rest is of course history.

Here's my piece of history from the night - a flyer, cum programme, cum roster.

But in retrospect his was not an altogether happy night for me; on the 4th the support band at the Rainbow was Joy Division, and as everyone who knows me knows, I never saw Joy Division live! Eh? What? Why? Yes I'm afraid I was across the road at the George Robey getting myself f**k faced. Ahhhh those days of youth when thirst was unquenchable. Of course I could shit you and say Ian Curtis was amazing and Joy Division were truly one of the greatest live bands of all time. But in truth I never heard a note or saw a glimpse. "To live a life free of regrets is to not have lived at all". I don't know who said that, but before someone with a big nose who knows finds out I'll take it as my own.

Anyway a big Black & White effigy of Hugh hung from the rafters at the Rainbow, and the multitude including Wilko performed a gig the like of which we are unlikely to ever see again. A couple of years later I went to The Rainbow again (for the last time) and they had that cut out Black & White effigy of Hugh stuck up in the dressing room. I wonder what happened to that?

Anyway now we know what happened to Wilko, he became a Blockhead. Wilko will be doing an "Oil City Confidential" Tour later in the year - GO HERE FOR DETAILS - Bilston looks good to me - No that is a bare faced lie, Bilston has never looked good!

And finally here's a bit more from the man himself: