Part 3

Johnny is in London doing Exhibition stuff.  He's back tomorrow.

Part 3

If The Envelope was a watershed, then the next few years that followed were the mill race as Johnny battled with the grief and guilt surrounding the break-up of his marriage and family. Having broken the mould, he was still adrift and floundering in a world of possibilities, with as yet, no clear path.  He discovered beer and liked it a lot.  It provided companionship, diversion and frequently, a welcome oblivion.

Clockwise: Johnny, Paul, Gill, Phil

However, life does not stand still and although Johnny’s immediate world had collapsed, there were unexpected compensations and comfort, which arrived in the shape of his brothers, Paul and Phil and his sister Gill.  Having left home at sixteen, Johnny had not had the chance to forge relationships with his younger siblings: Phil the youngest was four and Paul was eight. Ten years later, it was Paul, the lynch pin, who found first Johnny and then later rescued an unhappy Phil from London, bringing him back to Leeds.  In spite of everything, the brothers discovered that the bonds were definitely still there and set about making up for lost time.

Through Paul and Phil, Johnny was drawn into their world of music and, in the spirit of the times, passionate protest.  His instrument?  Naturally, it was the drums, with a Don Quixote kit: a carry-on-the-chest bass drum, with a cradle specifically created by J, plus a snare and a range of bells, pans, tea-cups and dangling things to tinkle on.

And what bands did Johnny belong to?  Well, there were the Alarming Clocks, the Impossible Men and Johnny's favourite, the End, with brothers and son Perry. 'We never knew when we got on stage,' Johnny reminisces, smiling beatifically, 'what we were going to do.  I played drums and just battered away - we played Phil's songs.

'I wrote a piece of music you know,’ he remembers, with a faraway look in his eyes. 'It was called 'Industrial Revolution’, inspired by the time when I was painting and decorating in a steel works in a cacophony of noise.  I said to the band, "I've written a fantastic song - it'll go on for half an hour!"

‘We set up for 'Industrial Revolution' at the Cock and Castle pub in town.  We had a washing machine, hair drier, vacuum cleaner - and something that didn't work properly, but I can't remember what it was.  We charged 2/6 entrance.  Then we just turned everything on and stood at the bar.  Unfortunately, everyone demanded their money back.  Unfortunately, we'd drunk it.  "What do you mean, you want your money back?" we said. "This is avant garde!"

'The thing is,' continues Johnny dreamily, 'when they (instruments) all get going, if you're prepared to get into it, you will find a rhythm ...  While we were at the bar the Drug Squad - about seven of them, came in.  They came whenever we played because Phil had written a song called 'Pigs in Plain Clothes' - they loved it because it was about them.'

(I'm not so sure Johnny's reasoning here is correct.)

He came across Frank Zappa and resonated with Zappa’s attitude and artistic aspirations; with his uncompromising view and criticism of the values of American society; his irreverence and musical expression that both commented and pushed boundaries: politically; socially; creatively. Zappa sits alongside Matisse, Klee, Lear and Schiele (and Elvis) as a mentor. It’s Frank that encourages Johnny in his independent and at times provocative stances – to everyone, including his doctor.

Finally, in 1983 his divorce was finalised and taking his son Perry with him, Johnny was bound for Kashmir …

Part 4 to follow