Liverpool Eric's: Eric's

Friday 1st April Generation X

Saturday 2nd April Plummet Airlines

Monday 4th April The Western Kirby Cowboy

Tuesday 5th April The Western Kirby Cowboy

Wednesday 6th April The Western Kirby Cowboy

During the Everyman Theatre's 13th season the rebuilding project forced the company out and into a year of touring, playing school gymnasiums, pubs and working men's clubs throughout Merseyside. one of the most popular shows was The Western Kirby Cowboy starring Bob Mason (a Mersyside version of Shane Connaughton's Weston Coyney Cowboy). The play opened in Eric's before touring around Merseyside. Shane Connaughton was an Irish actor and writer who played Gipsy John Smith in Coronation St (1970) and co-wrote the Oscar nominated screenplay for My Left Foot (1989).

Friday 8th April Roogalator

Saturday 9th April Tyla Gang

Wednesday 13th April Jazz Night with

Chris McGregor's Blue Notes

+ Kenny Shaw

+ Will Gaines

Friday 15th April Wayne County
+ The Destroyers

Ian Barry from the Destroyers writes:

Hi Phil. in a nutshell, on an afternoon in late March early April 77 Roger held a battle of the bands. there was us, the spitfire boys and half a dozen others. Roger told the spitfire boys they were history and we opened that night for Wayne County. From then on we played pretty much every thursday, friday, twice on saturdays and many sundays until around October 78, by which time we had outgrown the place. We played Erics well over a hundred times.
I will get you the first date as the wayne county bill is on your blogspot. for some reason BMG are blocking the youtube links to our records on the detour label, in the UK. It's not like they'll retire on the publishing rights haha. We did appear on some posters as headliners at Erics but we were mostly billed as "plus support".
When we got concurrent residencies at the swingin apple and (much to our shame) Thursdays at the Wispa in Litherland Roger was a bit pissed at us. But as he'd never paid us more than 4 bottles of beer each he'd had his money's worth out of us. Unfortunately we were young and nieve. we didn't pose for photos or give interviews. That wasn't punk. The Echo did a full 2 page centre spread about us in early 1978 and none of us kept a copy. I will give you more concrete dates. Ian

The Destroyers

Submitted by Ian Barry for Eric's - all the best clubs are downstairs

March 77, Gibbo and I had been refused entry to a club off Dale street as I didn’t look old enough (I wasn’t), but Gibbo who was 6’4” had heard of a rock club” The Revolution” where they weren’t so choosy” “You wont like it in here lads its punk night” the bouncer said, but we blagged entry anyway. The stage was in complete darkness except for John Foxx 12 string in hand singing “I want to be a machine” It is still difficult to express the emotions that ran through me that night, stunned senseless yet alive and tingling in a way I imagined only a tab of acid could make you and all this on brown bitter! Next week we were there in ripped shirts 2nd hand shoes and of course safety pins, our memberships for Erics said “does not guarantee entrance to “The Revolution” we were of the first and we knew it.

Doreens lasagne Coming from Kirkby and before that Everton, having never been abroad and my mum working in the Birds Eye, our diet at home was somewhat restricted to fish fingers, pies and “boil in the bag beef”, so Doreens Lasagne was the first real foreign food I had tasted. It was fantastic, about 4 inches thick and gave your stomach a really good lining god bless you Doreen wherever you are!

Lads would dance on their own, Julian Cope in Nylon boiler suit and altogether too much blonde hair looking slightly deranged, Holly Johnson too in overcoat and red shoes although he wouldn’t be alone for long as Wylie wouldn’t be far behind he was at the uni but desperate that no one knew he was from Norris Green! Pete Burns was a really scary looking bloke him and lynn (which was which?) all in black, but he was a really nice and genuine bloke if you plucked up the courage to speak to him (books, covers)

By August we had formed “The Destroyers”, Roger liked us we played a Saturday afternoon and then stayed over to support Wayne County & the Electric Chairs, now that was odd! Roger saw something in us we didn’t, to us it was just a laugh (and we had no talent) he put us supporting some of the best, Clash, Black Slate, Ultravox The Slits, and tried to give us advice which we never took. He would introduce us to people randomly, one night at the bar he brings up this tall skinny Irish bloke, who looked and smelled like a pikey,”you two should talk he said” would you loike a derink the pikey says “fuckoff nobhead Gibbo says” (people usually did what he said) years later the pikey earned a few quid for charity with a shit xmas song and some open-air gigs!

We never got paid, he would give us a mixed crate, lager (our kid got these he was older) brown (gibbo got these he was bigger) Pale Ale (fred got these he was faster) and I got the cider I’ve never been able to drink it since! Roger lent us “Trout Mask Replica” and told us this was our future we gave it back the next week we liked “falling ditch” but the rest was shit to our young ears, god bless the Captain. We would walk to the front of the long queues in Mathew street and never paid to get in we were “The Destroyers” from Kirkby we thought we were fucking ace! I could go on but you’re probably asleep.

it was me (Ian Barry), our mark, tony Gibbo gibson on mouth noises and Fred Palethorpe on drums. yeah resident band in the Swinging Apple at the same time as the resident band in Erics. made for some late nights in the apple as we played there after erics. after we opened for the clash they walked over to the apple with us to watch us again.

Saturday 16th April Gorillas (aka Hammersmith Gorillas)

?did they even turn up?