Left Hand drive- Part two

I was somewhat surprised at our early success. Most of the bands I'd played in were either mediocre or played to audiences that were too cool to clap. Captain Swing was more of a collaborative thing, we relied on the interaction with the audience and we generally got a good reaction wherever we played. Leaving London for Northampton was always a good thing for me. I'd had enough of the big city. After two or three years where you went and did all the tourist things you settled down into a routine and into a small local scene. In that one respect, Northampton was no different to Shepherds Bush. We atrted playing the local pubs, especially the Black Lion in St Giles St (sadly no more)I also got rid of my black telecaster. I kept ripping my plectum finger on the pickup surround and I'm sure that caused the onset of Bowens Disease many years later. I can remember that my finger always had an open cut or sore and a few years ago it had developed a horrible crusty scab which was finally diagnosed as a pre-cancerous skin condition called Bowens Disease. OK it was time to change my guitar. Jack also wanted to change his guitar and so we both went down to Denmark Street in London. He found a new left handed Gibson Les Paul deluxe. I couldn't afford a Les Paul then and it was a toss up between a Gibson SG or an Epiphone Crestwood. I'd only seen a couple and I thought they looked unusual while SGs were two a penny. So I bought the Crestwood. The next thing I did was to ditch the fancy tailpiece/tremolo unit because it was impossible to change strings quickly. Local luthier Barry Ford fitted a standard Gibson tailpiece and I continued to use the Crestwood until I left the band in late 1976. Soon after that we were asked to open for Leo Sayer at the County Rock venue (the indoor cricket school at the Cricket Club)I'd like to say that it was enjoyable, but it wasn't. Not really. It was a buzz to play to almost 1500 people squeezed into the venue, but it was not pleasant dealing with Sayer's road crew who insisted on taking up every inch of the stage and not letting us use the PA or lights. We finally negotiated a space on the stage for the drum kit and we perched our amps on the very edge of the stage. We stood on some heavy tables that we found in one of the offices. When it was time to go on we pushed our way through the crowd to the "stage" and clambered onto the tables. We fumbled in the darkness and managed to persuade the lighting engineer to put some lights on. Two I think. Anyway we played our set. We were very tight and well rehearsed, so playing in the dark wasn't a problem. All too soon our thirty minutes of "fame" was over and we finished our set, switched the amps off and without getting changed, managed to get a set of doors that opened on to the pitch open, lugged the gear outside and packed it away and into the van. Sayer was excellent and the audience loved him. I doubt if anyone spared a thought for the support act.