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| BETTER OFF CRAZY: AN INTERVIEW WITH GRINNY FROM SKREWDRIVER When I first started typing out this interview, I had written a long and boring intro about journalistic objectivity and context, given the controversial nature of the band, which I don't think I need to go into at any length here. Interestingly enough, my computer neglected to save this introduction, which might be a sign. Let the material speak for itself, the reader can make up his or her mind. We all know the story of Skrewdriver and Ian Stuart at this point. The punk era of the band however is often overlooked, given the associations that the group later developed. It's impossible to write any kind of comprehensive or authentic piece on the group without addressing these issues on some level. However, to the best of my ability I tried to stick with the '77-79 period where politics other than punk anti-authoritarianism (always healthy, to my way of thinking) did not exist. The album "All Skrewed Up" and the singles "Your So Dumb" and "Antisocial" constitute some of the best punk music of the era, and all the more interesting since the din was emanating from the rather bucolic--or so I'm told--Blackpool/Poulton-le-Fylde area. It shouldn't come as any surprise that this article was already becoming a huge headache for me before the ink was even dry. The website that had tentatively agreed to carry it decided not to. Several other sites either wouldn't take it or didn't even get back to me. For a brief moment it looked like the whole thing would languish at the bottom of my desk drawer, before Pete from "Nihilism on the Prowl" agreed to run it. So, many thanks for printing this, Pete. I tracked down Grinny almost by accident after several months of fruitless searching for members of the original line-up of the band. Grinny was extremely affable and answered all the questions with complete honesty and candor, which is what any interviewer hopes for. So, of course, a massive thanks to the sticksman behind not only Skrewdriver but The Nips as well. The interview was done on 10-22-03 by both phone and mail. Incidentally, this piece is copyrighted under my name and as part of "Nihilism on the Prowl" as well. So don't fucking steal it. I welcome feedback and constructive criticism on this interview. For those of you from any side of the political spectrum who feel like haranguing me or Pete, please save your breath and find something else to do with your time. Alex Gottschalk at razor1776@hotmail.com |
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| AG: Alex Gottschalk G: John "Grinny" Grinton. AG: Here's a question you must get tired of. How did you get your nickname? Do people still use it? G: My nickname "Grinny" comes from my surname, Grinton. I have been called Grinny for as long as I can remember, and yes people still call me that all the time. AG: Was the first band you were in "Warlock" (a teenage rock band Grinny was in just prior to Tumbling Dice who became Skrewdriver-AR) or did you play music before then? G: The first actual band I played in was Warlock. But before that I played at hotel, clubs and pubs, usually with just a keyboard player. We would usually play the popular tunes of the day and old stuff like waltzes and quicksteps. This obviously was not the thing I wanted to do, but it paid well and gave me experience. |
| AG: How did Tumbling Dice come to exist? I heard you had a deal with Chiswick under this name but it fell through before the band could record anything. G: Tumbling Dice came out of the remains of Warlock, while Warlock were playing. Ian had asked me to ask Phil Walmsley, the Warlock guitarist, if he would teach him guitar. So Phil was teaching Ian, who was writing songs at the time. Ian in turn got Kev and Sean McKay, twins who had been friends for years, to learn guitar. They were both good pianists and picked up guitar quite quickly. When Warlock split up in 1975 it was logical for Ian to ask if me and Phil would join him, Kev and Sean to make a band. We agreed and started to rehearse at Ian's Dad's factory every Saturday and Sunday afternoon. |
| Tumbling Dice did get a chance to record with Chiswick. I continued to play with in Tumbling Dice for about seven months then I had a break up with a girlfriend and hit the bottle, which ended up with me getting sacked and being replaced by a guy named Steve Gaulter. I went back to occasional gigs with Warlock, with a new guitarist, Huw Melt. Ian continued working hard for Tumbling Dice, rehearsing, sending tapes to record company's etc. He got them regular gigs on the Northern circuit with an agency. Finally, great joy, the chance of a record deal with Chiswick. Ian got the band together and proudly told them they had a record deal with Chiswick and would have to move to London. When the band heard this Sean said "I'm not moving to London, I'm going to University". Then Steve said he would not move because he had a job and a girlfriend. Ian went mad and broke up the band. Not much point having a band that does not want to leave home. Ian came round to my house the next day and said "Them wankers had a record deal would not move to London so I have broke up the band". Then he said to me "You would have gone, wouldn't you?" and I said "Yes, course I would". AG: Where did you know the rest of the band from, as you didn't go to Baines Grammar with them? G: I knew Ian from the age of one since he was my next door neighbor. I knew Kev from the age of six as we all went to the local Carleton C of E primary school (pre-eleven years). At eleven you took an exam the eleven plus. If you passed you went to the local grammar school "Baines". If you failed, as I did, you went to the Hodgson High School, which was mixed. They were both in the town of Poulton-le-Fylde, about a mile and a half apart. So most of the pupils at the schools knew each other. I met Phil when I was about thirteen when we played football against each other. AG: Prior to punk, what music did you listen to? Any particular influences? G: I listened to and liked most types of music. Particular influences were THE ROLLING STONES, VAN MORRISON, FREE CANNED HEAT, LED ZEPPELIN and THE BYRDS. AG: Did you have any formal drum training or was it something you learned as you went along? G: I did have some formal training. My family is all very musical and my dad had his own jazz band. When I wanted to learn drums, my dad said he would get me some but I had to learn them properly. I went to a teacher named Ted Hardy for two years. Then another, Bill Scott for six months. And finally, in 1977 when we were in London I had lessons off an Irish lad, Gerry McAlduff, who played drums on the first PRETENDERS single "Stop Your Sobbing". |
| AG: What did you think of punk when it first came out? G: I liked punk. It was going back to the basics; drums, guitar, vocals played live in small venues. Up until '76-'77 most bands struggled against DJ's and the discos. There was not the work, most places just hired a DJ for the night and that was very bad for live bands at the time. AG: Is it true the band had no name when you sent your punk demo to Chiswick and that the label named you? |
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| G: We didn't have a name when we sent the demo. I'm not too sure if we had a name when we played our first gig as a punk band at Manchester Polytechnic in January '77 supporting LITTLE BOB STORY, another Chiswick band from France. I think we got the name off a list of possibles that Chiswick supplied. The boss of Chiswick, Ted Carroll, wanted to call us "The Nervous Wrecks". We didn't like that, but we settled on Skrewdriver. AG: Was the band a "democratic" organization or as frontman did Ian have the most say? G: Ian, as leader, had almost all the say. There are many stories of things photographers, producers and managers wanted us to do but…Ian would not do some of them all down to cool and street cred. Ian could most certainly be stubborn when he wanted to be. |
| AG: Do you recall your first few gigs as Skrewdriver? G: Yes, I remember the first gigs. The first, as I said, was at Manchester Polytechnic. The first gig in London was at The Roxy in about March of '77, supporting JOHNNY MOPED. I remember this gig well. The day before the gig on a Friday I was at work as a sheetmetal worker, when I cut my hand on a piece of metal. I had to go to the hospital and had four stitches put in the wound, which was across the palm of my right hand. As soon as I got home Ian came running round and said: "Shit, what have you done to your hand?" I told him I'd cut it. He said:" We've got a gig tomorrow at The Roxy". I said: "Don't worry, I'll tape it up". So we hired a van, loaded it with equipment and off we went to London in good spirits. Trouble was, when we got to about 40 mph the drive shaft on the van started squeaking loudly so it drove us mad all the way there. The gig went well and I got my minute of fame by getting my picture in New Musical Express. The picture was taken in the grotty dressing room with me all sweaty and the drumstick taped into my hand. The picture had the headline "Whose Skrewing you, John?" |
| AG: Locally, as punks, did you get a lot of abuse or were the people in Blackpool somewhat tolerant? Were you the first punks in the area? What this situation even worse when you went skinhead? G: As punks we really did not get a lot of abuse, though I was banned from two local pubs, The Bull and the Thatched House in Poulton for my dress sense. Most of it was funny looks, but as we knew most people and those others didn't fancy a punch up with the band and our friends, we were welcomed. Especially when we moved to London, we had a good fan base at home. As for the skinhead image, probably even less trouble and looks at home, but it became a lot harder to get gigs. AG: What punk bands of the time did you like? G: My favorite punk bands to see live were SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES, 999, THE JAM, SEX PISTOLS and DR. FEELGOOD. AG: How were the gigs in London at the time? G: The gigs were good in 1977. There were plenty of them to go to, and they weren't expensive to get in. You could see good bands down the road at the local, "The Brecknock" in Tufnell Park. Or travel fifteen minutes to The Roxy or the Music Machine in Kentish Town. There would be two, sometimes four bands on. AG: Famously, some Teds attacked you guys after a gig and you lost some teeth. Did you ever get revenge? Was the Punk vs. Ted rivalry as bad as some people say it was? G: Yes, we had a punch up with the Teds after a gig at the "Railway" in Putney. We were support to THE POLICE before they were famous, Sting etcetera, not the law. All night at the gig people were talking about the Teds coming down from a nearby Ted gig featuring SHAKING STEVEN & THE SUNSETS. Near the end of the night punks and THE POLICE began to disappear rather quickly. We hung about packing away gear. We started loading the van up when we heard this noise, I looked up and there was this gang of about twenty Teds coming towards us shouting, "Get the bastards!" I was at the back of the van, outside it with the back doors open. I thought, well, I'm not going to run as I grabbed a cymbal stand and decided to battle it out. I saw one Ted approach and I swung the stand at him. I caught him somewhere high on the arm. But next thing I knew I was surrounded by Teds, one of them picked up a mic stand--It was one of those heavy ones with the cast iron feet--and wham! Straight in the mouth. I saw flashes and stars and ended on the floor in the middle of the road. My head was spinning and everything was going in and out of focus. I could not pick myself up. Next thing I remember was Police and Ambulance men picking me up and putting me in an ambulance. I was taken to Queen Mary Hospital in Roehampton where I had 36 stitches put in my mouth. Two of my teeth had been knocked straight out, never to be found again. Revenge came quickly, though not from me. I was patched up and leaving the hospital with Effie, our manager at the time, when I saw a Teddy Boy coming in on a stretcher with facial wounds. Apparently, after I had been taken to the hospital, the band all got back in the van, minus it's windows. Kev was driving, Ian was next to him in front, then there was Phil and Kev's brother Sean, who had come down from Blackpool to see the gig. As they were driving back Ian spotted a group of Teds walking on the pavement towards the van. He told Kev to get close to the pavement and then put his foot down. The van had sliding doors, so as they got near, Ian slid open the doors and went whack! with a mic stand. A couple of things came out of this. The van was later nicked in Covent Garden with all the gear in. And Ian's constant piss-take out of Phil for running away and hiding behind some dust bins when we were attacked. Phil, whose not used stage name was "Ronnie Volume" had to listen to Ian playing the guitar and singing the song "Working Class Hero" by John Lennon. The words became "Ronnie, Ron runaway, where have you been, hiding behind the bins from the Teddy boy's boots". Also, a couple of days after the attack we were interviewed by Janet Street Porter for a TV program. The interview went along the lines of a rant from Ian about what the punks were going to do to the Teds. |
| The interview was shown a few months later, when all the trouble had calmed down. This set it all off again and Skrewdriver became Public Enemy #1. The Punk vs. Ted rivalry could be bad if you were in the wrong place at the wrong time. There was definitely trouble between the two. |
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| AG: Why did you switch to the skinhead image? Was it important to you or just something you felt like doing? G: All of us had grown up with the skinhead, suedehead and bootboy fashions of the early '70's. I decided in 1977 that I had always been happier with the skinhead thing than the punk thing. So I got my haircut, boots, Levi jeans and jacket and away I went. Later, when Ian saw me--this was the time between Phil leaving and Ronnie joining--he decided the band should become a skinhead band. Ian was always well into the skinhead thing, he loved the violence. Kev was not too keen but went along with it. |
| BETTER OFF CRAZY INTERVIEW PART TWO >>> |
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