1991 07 Ian Dury Record Collector

INTERVIEW: IAN DURY

WARTS THIS WAY

Now approaching his half century, Ian Dury has been there, seen it, played it and acted in it. With a nostalgia-imbued live album released and a possible comeback in the offing, Don Peretta notches up the reasons to be cheerful

There was a brief period when Ian Dury and the Blockheads were the biggest act in the British music scene. For those few weeks in 1978 when ‘Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick' was top of the charts, New Boots And Panties was the album for sixth-formers to be seen carrying around and the phrase "sex and drugs and rock'n'roll" was warmly welcomed to the English language.The world, momentarily, was a better place.

The Blockheads were one of the hottest and most proficient live acts around, and Dury himself garnered great respect and admiration for his unique mastery of rhyme and his devastating simplicity of expression. But that was a long time ago and since then a great deal of water has passed under Hammersmith Bridge, in front of Dury's graffiti full riverside flat.

The intervening years have seen the role music plays in Dury's life diminish, and other business, most notably acting, taking up more of his time. Even so, the end of last year saw the Blockheads on stage at the Brixton Academy, together for the first time in three years, playing one of their benefit shows for late Blockheads drummer, Charley Charles. The gig was recorded for the new live album on the Demon label, Warts 'n' Audience, containing some of the band’s finest musical moments, such as ‘What A Waste’, 'Reasons To Be Cheerful, (Pt 3)' and a trouncing, audience participation version of ‘Rhythm Stick’.

"I leaned off the mic a bit for the last verse and the Brixton Academy choir took over, which was really nice. There are plenty of warts on the album, and we weren't as tight as we would like to have been, but I have heard of live albums taking two years to re-dub and remix and it definitely ain’t one of those. This is straight out of the frying pan.”

Dury’s first band was Kilburn and the High Roads, formed in the late-'60s after ill-fated careers in the art world as both a painter and teacher.

When they disbanded, Dury went solo, signed to the legendary punk label, Stiff, and released 1977's New Boots and Panties album.

“Those were great times. All of us at Stiff used to wear badges which said ‘We were washed up by the New Wave'. We was all has-beens and f***-ups back then!"

Two years later, he formalised his association with the Blockheads on a second album, Do It Yourself. By then, he had notched up three Top Ten singles, including the chart-topping 'Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick’. Still the riches did not exactly flow In. “In 1979 we did 80 gigs in a row and lost £40,000. I couldn't believe it; I was knackered and had nothing to show for it.”

In 1981 he signed to Polydor, a move that didn’t bring in the worldwide record sales anticipated. Dury recorded what turned out to be a controversial, and eventually banned, single, 'Spasticus Autisticus', to mark the Year of the Disabled. Crippled with severe polio since early childhood, he is mellow about the subject on the surface, but deep down you can sense his righteous indignation.

“It’s my subject in a year designated for me and people like me. I thought it might offend a few people, but spastics really digged it. A person like that should be free to be angry."

Whatever the rights and wrongs, the single irreparably damaged his relationship with Polydor and his commercial potential. The Blockheads were still a popular live act, but the record sales never matched the success they had enjoyed with Stiff.

Music's loss was acting’s gain, with Dury taking parts in such productions as Polanski's Pirates (with Walter Matthau) and the BBC's King of the Ghetto (with Tim Roth), as well as regular appearances in the theatre. He admits to getting a real buzz out of acting and loves being around actors.

"In my experience they have always been really interesting and helpful - as long as you haven't got a bigger part than them. Walter Matthau was fantastic, telling me stories all the time. He told me about James Stewart being his colonel during the war and about being at drama school with Tony Curtis. His stories were great."

But music still appears to be his first love. A prolific songwriter - he claims to have written more than 800 songs - an Ian Dury and the Blockheads comeback is certainly a feasibility. It's something he would consider trying, but on one condition.

"The only way we're ever going to get going again as a band is if we’ve got new material. I don't want to end up on the Batley Variety Club circuit. Demon’s operation might be too small if we wanted to achieve what we call chart success. But I like being with them better. I’ve been with big companies - they’re bloody horrible, just revolting, never know anything there. But with Demon it’s just a matter of going down to Brentford and seeing the chaps, people I've known for years. You never know, it could work out."

Stranger things have happened.