Sham 69

Dave Parsons of Sham 69, standing on Madison Avenue in NYC, August, 2005.

Sham 69 had just played a couple dates during the month-long CBGB benefit. I hadn't seen Dave since 1980, and surprisingly, he looked just about the same. His hair is less blond, but he's got his hair... He is playing as well as he ever did, too. While I did see Sham back in the day, I didn't meet Dave until he joined The Wanderers with Stiv Bators. The Wanderers were basically Sham 69 without Jimmy Pursey.

In 1980, Sham had stopped touring and making records and I think Jimmy had gone into seclusion. Seizing the opportunity, Stiv recruited the band and added Dean Klevatt, an American keyboard player who was living in London and playing in Joan Armatrading's band to join. Their only album was called "Only Lovers Left Alive" and was a musical extension of the conspiracy theory stylings of Peter Beder, a writer Stiv was interested in. It was a dark record that proved to be the perfect harbinger of the Lords of the New Church which would include ex-Sham/then-Wanderers bass player, Dave "Kermit" Tregunna.

Kermit was not part of the Sham 69 reunion. Last I heard, he was teaching computer skills to people in London as part of a get-off-the-dole-and-learn-some-skills program.

Once I print some pictures of the Wanderers only US tour, I'll tell you some funny stories of that tour which included a few dates with the Ramones, Johnny Thunders' birthday party, participating in a Rolling Stones video shoot and many other interesting things that only Stiv could have rolled into one lifetime.