Finding Metamatic has been one of my most enjoyable web experiences, it has allowed me to revisit my memories as a teenager who could not get enough of seeing John in Ultravox at the Marquee Club.
I also saw them at North Herts Tech & a couple of other venues that can not remember the names of. at the moment , but by far & away my favourite times were seeing them at the Marquee in that small but vibrant & most impressive venue for a kid escaping the suburbs in 1977.
I seem to remember having seen them on a new years eve there once (but maybe that is age playing games on me) but definitely remember going to see them for a few nights in a row there as well as other dates.
I was playing around with photography at the time & thought I could become the next big thing in rock photography for the NME & other such publications. On a couple of occasions I was able to get onto the stage & even managed once to get into what was a very narrow & small dressing room at the back of the stage.
I always remember John being very gracious towards me at the time especially as I probably came across as some sort of immature idiot trying to live out my dream.
I still have my original albums of Ultravox, Ha Ha Ha & Systems of Romance and have over the years been able to pick these up on CD in Australia.
It was with utter horror that I can recall being in Camden Town to see the “new” Ultravox unveil the new line up with that poseur Ure.
I do not believe it is age playing games with me but I have memories of standing near John that night at the Camden Palaise when Ure decided to make some disparaging remark about John’s presence there that night to the assembled fans (& remember at that time they all would have been fans of Ultravox with John)
I can remember turning to John & saying something to him about what a tosser Ure was for doing it & refused to stay & see the rest of the gig, I think some others left too.
But I remember feeling that John remained a man of class at that moment (the quiet man).
Needless to say I never bought another Ultravox record after that night, I did get Johns Underpass but then left England to embark on 6 years of travelling the world before settling down in Australia so needless to say I lost touch with the music that was happening in the U.K then just bits & pieces on foreign radio.
So it is with a great deal of disappointment that I was to discover that John had been in Australia earlier this year & so missed the opportunity to get to see him.
But now I have discovered Metamatic I am able to find out what John has been up to over the ensuing years & look forward to re-discovering John’s music.
