We started rehearsing in the sitting room of Magenta’s house. I felt that Sid Vicious had left a lot of vibes in that house, God, three people had died there and Thunders, Nolan and Steve Jones still all stayed there on and off at that time. This was becoming Rock and Roll holy ground and we absorbed and were absorbing that history.
I remember one day we went to our local pub and Bowie was standing there. They were filming part of his video with Julian Temple at our local. Bowie didn't realise that the Bastard Sons of Ziggy were staring at him from across the road. The band with no name was coming alive...
We rehearsed over long weekends, Degville coming down by train from Birmingham where he still lived on the Dudley Road. He’d shared a flat with Boy George there and was part of the Rum Runner club scene that spawned Duran Duran. I went to his flat once with Neal. It seemed like a vision of hell to me but he probably thought the same about where I lived. Fortunately, he and Yana, his business partner, were already coming to London most weekends to bring their newly designed and created clothes to the shop. I used to go to Euston station on a Thursday or Friday night to pick them up in my little Fiat 500. It was easy to find Degville in the crowded station because everyone on the concourse was staring in his direction.
They were fun times and Magenta and I loved Martin’s company, we would go clubbing together hanging out, somehow already looking like a band. Martin was great in those days, sweet enthusiastic and still with a fresh creative attitude and energy, although his singing was terrible. I remember being unsure at the time whether he was too ‘exotic’ for the group, but Mick Jones, always my musical confidant in times of indecision, convinced me to persevere, he was sure that ultimately Martin would come through and in a way he did.
Rehearsals at that time consisted entirely of covers. Personality Crisis, versions of The Girl can't help it, Stones songs. We tried Memo from Turner. Old Tamla Motown. A song from the movie The Loveless. We had an initial foray into songwriting and we wrote a song ourselves called Wang Wang Wang. A horrendous racket which told me without any doubt that we weren't quite ready just yet!
