When we started playin" in London, we were just walkin" onstage in our street clothes," said Wilko Johnson. "We didn't have any special clothes to play in, we were just goin" on playin". I mean I knew at the time it wasn't the "done" thing for bands to go on wearin" suits, denim was more popular...so I realized we looked a bit different. I mean after all, they were just ordinary clothes. You could see thousands of bank clerks dressed exactly like that in the city of London every morning. Why should people think it's so weird? I think we're one of the straightest lookin" bands on the road.. .Yes, we believe in all the home virtues..."

Cleveland: In the middle of the afternoon Wilko Johnson sat in his immaculate hotel room dressed head to toe in my favorite color. Black pinstripe suit, shirt, tie, socks, shoes. There really isn't anything strange about that; but when you've seen dozens of rockstar hotel rooms strewn about with scarves, satin jackets, patchworked denims and shoes made of indeterminate fabrics, Wilko's starkness is surreal.

Dr. Feelgood had only been in America two weeks when people began describing their look as "dangerous," "dark and vulgar." Some said they were punks (they're not) and one said Wilko (who doesn't drink) looked like a wino. I loved the reference to their "pre-Beatle haircuts." (Does that mean Gerald Ford and Robert Redford — say nothing of Robert DeNiro — have "pre-Beatle haircuts"??) I don't know, to me they looked right.

"There was a time when I used to walk around lookin" like a workman," Wilko laughed, "I had big boots and industrial clothes. But I suppose quite often I've ended up lookin" like this."

Wilko Johnson is one of the truly charismatic; he moves across the stage like a manic, wind-up robot. You watch him half hoping, half fearing that he'll crash into an amp. And while there is always the possibility of the unexpected, the underlying tension, about Feelgood's concerts, they also can be a good laugh. They play Sixties R & B with a Seventies vengeance, and their

In the Same Vein Aithough It Won't Seem Immediately Clear:

I've wanted to write an anti-disco Eleganza for some time but by now it seems so.. .so what. I still care, but I think Punk Magazine said it best in their classic first issue. So, with the kind permission of the folks at Punk, we reprint John Holmstrom's brilliant editorial:

DEATH TO DISCO SHIT! LONG LIVE THE ROCK! Kill Yourself. Jump off a Fuckin" Cliff. Drive nails into your head. Become a robot and join tlfie staff at Disneyland. OD■ Anything. Just don't listen to discoshit. I've seen that canned *** crap take real live people and turn them into dogs! And vice versa. The epitome of all that's wrong with western civilization is disco. Eddjicate yourself. Get into it. Read Punk.

While an "underground" publication, Punk's distribution is envied by some of the mags I write for. John Holmstrom (who is a great comic artist and has done two educational comic books on geodesic domes) hand letters much of the magazine to save money. Watch for #3 to be a special Ramones issue in magazine format as 1 opposed to tabloid, with a slick cover.

My all time favorite interview is in Punk #2 — with Jonathan, Top Dog at CBGB. That's right, CBGB's mascot is interviewed. Sample dialog:

attitude has helped to restore my faith in rock and roll.

They are quite possibly the first British band I've met in five years to come here For The First Time and not be anxious, eager, or afraid. I honestly think that they really don't give that much of a shit about Making It. Surely their business representatives care, and their record company cares deeply, but I believed The Figure (the drummer) when he told me, "We just want to play our music. If people like it, fine. If they don't, we can go home." Home is England — where they are already big stars.'Who else would willingly split on seven Kiss dates and pass up tne "exposure" because they felt the conditions weren't right? Slade? T. Rex?

Punk: What music do you like Jonathan?

Jon: Well, as far as what I hear on the juke goes, I'm partial to dog songs. I can't help it. ..Like Iggy, he's got the right idea... When Iggy sings "I Wanna Be Your Dog" I get an erection. I feel like humpin" someone's leg and I'm never into that shit.

Punk: How embarrassing.

Jon: Yeah, but nobody notices. Roger Daltrey's nice too. "Walkin" The Dog" has a nice beat. I can wag my tail to it.

Punk: You remind me of Lou Reed.

Jon: He used to own me but I ran away...

Punk: Did Lou influence your music?

Jon: No, but he was a good fuck.

The Punk kids (GED, John Holmstrom, Legs McNeil, Pam Brown and more) are familiar and enthusiastic inhabitants of the New York rock and roll family and 1 can't recall a more welcome addition to the "rock press." This has by no means been a comprehensive critique, that follows elsewhere in this mag. Consider this a fan letter.

[See review in Creemedia — Ed.]

Steve Harley?

"Obviously were keen to put our stuff across to a lot of people," Wilko said, "but we want to do it properly. If you were coming here just to make a lot of bread, it's one thing. But without sounding bullshitty, we aren't into that.

"I hope we won't have to contend with those huge stadiums," he continued. "I don't think that's a very good scene for gigs. It's a terrible way to put rock and roll on. I hope no one talks me into it." Can they? "Well, I'm as stupid as the next person, people pull you into things. But as far as I'm concerned, I have more money than I ever thought I would have in my life, I just don't know what to do with it. I mean by rock standards I'm an absolute pauper. But now I can buy a house and I never thought I'd be rich enough to buy a house." I venture that Mick Ralphs once said the very same thing to me, and now he can't live in England. "But he can live in England..." Wilko laughed.

"I'm very glad to be in rock and roll," he said, "but I don't want to end up like some embarrassing old idiot just living on past glories. I don't want to go on chat shows or advertise black suits. If you really believe in rock and roll, then you believe in — you know, live fast and die young. Metaphorically speaking, please"

I first really observed the band in Cleveland. Wilko, who has a reputation for being sensitive'and moody, was articulate in our interview and extraordinary onstage. After the gig he managed'to sit through one of those

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rock and roll banquets (when it's too late for room service so if you're* starving you have to eat with fifteen people) and not say one word to anyone for over an hour. Just stared into space and ate his dinner. Why should this strike me as odd? When exactly was it that rock and roll became a business for the musicians, when they had to become their own publicists? Surely it's always been more in the rock and roll tradition to just say "piss off"...

And so I thought about having shlepped to Los Angeles and Phoenix two weeks earlier to talk to that thin white duke who a) had such contempt for his audience, b) says exactly what he thinks you want to hear in an interview, and c) can be the life of any party with his perfected performance. Feelgood's total rock and roll approach — onstage and off — contrasted to Bowie's charade was like breathing fresh air.