https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SciRSL2mlhw

A LONG friendship where you both simultaneously encourage and learn from each other is a wonderful thing. 
 
Last Tuesday I watched the sold out premiere of Luke Baker’s brilliant documentary about the legendary socialist Harlow punk band Newtown Neurotics at the 100 Club in London. Not only have the Neurotics and I shared countless gigs together in the past 45 years, but lead singer Steve Drewett and I have just such a friendship — and to see it laid bare as a subtext of the band’s long history in this moving, warm, inspirational film was wonderful.
 
The band started out as a Ramones-inspired three chord three piece, and that is what I saw at their earliest gigs when I arrived in Harlow in the late 1970s. Always a bit different from the rest, not least because of Steve’s long Ramones-esque locks, but about to metamorphose into an articulate, powerful and tuneful sonic weapon of resistance who chronicled the devastation of the Thatcher years — with a number one haircut. 
 
The moment in the film where Steve talks about the way I helped him gain the confidence to give his natural intelligence, lyrical dexterity and anger full rein on stage was intensely moving for us both. He taught me a lot too, above all how to truly immerse myself in, learn from and reflect the community in which I lived, and through the ’80s we faced the world — and the fascists — together. 
 
For the Neurotics did indeed go from Harlow to the world, and their anthem Kick Out The Tories is even more relevant now than it was all those years ago. The segment about our incredible shared time touring in East Germany is fantastic, the miners’ strike recollections and tribute to recently departed bass player Colin Dredd so poignant, and the sheer youth of (superb) drummer Simon Lomond when recruited to replace original sticksman Tiggy Barber is still a thing of wonder after all these years.
 
The last part, where Steve talks about their recently released new album Cognitive Dissidents, and the way they intend to keep their music alive and relevant into the future, is a fitting conclusion. And the archive footage is mind-boggling. Well done Steve for keeping hold of so much and Luke for tracking the rest down! 
 
I can’t recommend this film enough. From next Monday it is showing at quite a few cinemas round the country plus some film festivals. I hope it gets the recognition it deserves, and gives the band the same. They have never been one of the most famous bands in their world, but have always been one of the most important.
 
And after the film was finished they served up a short, fiery set, introduced by their long time champion (and my one time roadie) 6 Music’s Steve Lamacq. A wonderful night.
 
My poem for this week is the one I wrote for my Uncle Maurice, whose funeral is next Thursday. He really did have the patience of a saint. 
 
THE WELL
 
I cleaned the church steps at their wedding 
With a nail brush, so I was told
It’s not something which I remember
For I was about four years old 
Then the trips in the Austin A40 —
But my Auntie and I didn’t gel. 
She’d say ‘Muriel! Why’s John so naughty?’
And I’d go and sit by the well.
 
There were shrimps, water snails and leeches
A secret and magical land
And Maurice would come and sit with me
As if to say ‘I understand’.
His accent would fill me with wonder: 
‘What did you just say, Uncle Mar?’
We’d laugh, then concoct an escape plan 
And go for a ride in his car. 
 
And the well stayed the same with each visit 
As the family slowly grew old 
Now Freda and Maurice have left us 
And soon the old house will be sold
New children will find it one summer 
And the brambles and weeds will be gone 
And the well will be as I remember
As the cycle of Life carries on.

Kick Out: The Newtown Neurotics Story is on tour. For more information: kickoutmovie.com 
For Attila the Stockbroker visit: https://www.facebook.com/attilathestockbroker and/or https://attilathestockbroker.bandcamp.com/merch