‘Can’t take his drink, that’s his problem.’
‘He knows that, that’s why he stuck with beer and took it slowly. And yet despite that, he seems somehow to have ended up in one hell of a state. Do you know how that happened?’
Cormac cackled. ‘Couldn’t rightly say.’
‘You spiked his drinks, didn’t you, you evil cunt?’
‘It was just a prank. Bit of fun, you know?’
‘No, I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me. Eh?’ Johnny pushed Cormac in the chest. ‘How much fun was it to make the kid ill on his birthday?’ Johnny pushed him again, kept on until his back was up against the wall. Cormac was worried; he was pissed and unsteady on his feet, and Johnny was both angry and very much in control of himself. Tom saw them and strode over.
‘What’s going on?’
‘Brains here decided it was funny to spike Andy’s drinks.’ Johnny spat the words out. ‘Kid’s in a right state. Isn’t he?’ This last he directed at Cormac, giving him a dig in the ribs as he spoke.
‘Oh, Christ, tell me you didn’t.’ Tom looked disgusted.
‘It was just for a laugh,’ Cormac wailed. ‘No harm meant, just a bit of fun. I slipped voddies into his beer—’
‘You’d better sort yourself out, or you’re out of the band.’ Cormac looked shocked. ‘In fact, if Andy wants you out, you are out. It’s his call. Is that enough fun for you?’ Johnny turned on his heel and walked off.
‘You fucking fool.’ Tom followed him, leaving Cormac Boyd propped up against the wall, bewildered, wondering why no one but him could see the funny side.
Chapter 15
‘Next time I saw Andy, I asked him if he wanted Cormac out of the band. He said no, in a funny way Cormac had done him a favour. He and Tiff never had any privacy, their parents were always around, so when he’d been feeling a bit better they’d made the most of having the flat to themselves. We all just assumed they’d been at it for ages, they’d been going out for years, but it turns out that was their first time. It seems quaint now to think of people waiting so long, but that was Andy and Tiff all over. They were made for each other.
‘Anyway, despite stunts like that, we kept that line-up until February ’73. By then Cormac’s drinking had got totally out of hand. It had been getting gradually more of a problem for some time, but he started turning up pissed for gigs and then drinking even more while we were playing. In fairness, we all usually had a pint standing, but he kicked the arse out of it. A couple of times he fell off his drum stool. It was embarrassing and it was damaging our reputation. It had to stop.’
Johnny rubbed his eyes. ‘At least with Helix, though, Tom and I felt we were heading more in the right direction. We were starting to put some half decent songs together, too. A couple of the ones on Heartbreaker’s first album were written by Tom and me during the Helix period. And Andy was fantastic. Even in those early days, he had something special.
‘We replaced Boydy with Paul Scott. We couldn’t understand a word he said for the first month. He had a broad Geordie accent and he’d not long since moved down to London. Paul had already teamed up with Colin Carson, you know he plays keyboards and guitar, but they weren’t very happy with the band they were in. We all got together in the back room of the pub we practised in just to see what would happen.’ Johnny smiled. ‘It was amazing when we all played together that first time, pure magic. Paul and Colin got what we were trying to do immediately. We jammed some songs and the sound we made was incredible. We just grinned like idiots and turned up the volume. The difficult bit was coming up with a name we all liked.’
***
Tom was building a joint, layering Rizlas on the Faces flexi-disc that had come free with the previous issue of the New Musical Express . ‘What about …’ he squinted at the track listing. ‘What about The Borstal Boys? Then
‘He knows that, that’s why he stuck with beer and took it slowly. And yet despite that, he seems somehow to have ended up in one hell of a state. Do you know how that happened?’
Cormac cackled. ‘Couldn’t rightly say.’
‘You spiked his drinks, didn’t you, you evil cunt?’
‘It was just a prank. Bit of fun, you know?’
‘No, I don’t know. Why don’t you tell me. Eh?’ Johnny pushed Cormac in the chest. ‘How much fun was it to make the kid ill on his birthday?’ Johnny pushed him again, kept on until his back was up against the wall. Cormac was worried; he was pissed and unsteady on his feet, and Johnny was both angry and very much in control of himself. Tom saw them and strode over.
‘What’s going on?’
‘Brains here decided it was funny to spike Andy’s drinks.’ Johnny spat the words out. ‘Kid’s in a right state. Isn’t he?’ This last he directed at Cormac, giving him a dig in the ribs as he spoke.
‘Oh, Christ, tell me you didn’t.’ Tom looked disgusted.
‘It was just for a laugh,’ Cormac wailed. ‘No harm meant, just a bit of fun. I slipped voddies into his beer—’
‘You’d better sort yourself out, or you’re out of the band.’ Cormac looked shocked. ‘In fact, if Andy wants you out, you are out. It’s his call. Is that enough fun for you?’ Johnny turned on his heel and walked off.
‘You fucking fool.’ Tom followed him, leaving Cormac Boyd propped up against the wall, bewildered, wondering why no one but him could see the funny side.
Chapter 15
‘Next time I saw Andy, I asked him if he wanted Cormac out of the band. He said no, in a funny way Cormac had done him a favour. He and Tiff never had any privacy, their parents were always around, so when he’d been feeling a bit better they’d made the most of having the flat to themselves. We all just assumed they’d been at it for ages, they’d been going out for years, but it turns out that was their first time. It seems quaint now to think of people waiting so long, but that was Andy and Tiff all over. They were made for each other.
‘Anyway, despite stunts like that, we kept that line-up until February ’73. By then Cormac’s drinking had got totally out of hand. It had been getting gradually more of a problem for some time, but he started turning up pissed for gigs and then drinking even more while we were playing. In fairness, we all usually had a pint standing, but he kicked the arse out of it. A couple of times he fell off his drum stool. It was embarrassing and it was damaging our reputation. It had to stop.’
Johnny rubbed his eyes. ‘At least with Helix, though, Tom and I felt we were heading more in the right direction. We were starting to put some half decent songs together, too. A couple of the ones on Heartbreaker’s first album were written by Tom and me during the Helix period. And Andy was fantastic. Even in those early days, he had something special.
‘We replaced Boydy with Paul Scott. We couldn’t understand a word he said for the first month. He had a broad Geordie accent and he’d not long since moved down to London. Paul had already teamed up with Colin Carson, you know he plays keyboards and guitar, but they weren’t very happy with the band they were in. We all got together in the back room of the pub we practised in just to see what would happen.’ Johnny smiled. ‘It was amazing when we all played together that first time, pure magic. Paul and Colin got what we were trying to do immediately. We jammed some songs and the sound we made was incredible. We just grinned like idiots and turned up the volume. The difficult bit was coming up with a name we all liked.’
***
Tom was building a joint, layering Rizlas on the Faces flexi-disc that had come free with the previous issue of the New Musical Express . ‘What about …’ he squinted at the track listing. ‘What about The Borstal Boys? Then
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