Stiv Moves On

By 1979, Dead Boy Stiv Bators was doing solo stuff. By 1981, he had released a solo album, moved to England and formed a whole new band out of the ashes of Sham 69, called The Wanderers.

The Wanderers album was a concept record based on the writing of Peter Beder, "Only Lovers Left Alive," which suited Stiv's conspiracy theory heart. Of course, current events prove that conspiracy theorists are not all full of it.

The Wanderers were Stiv, ex-Shams Dave Parsons and Dave "Kermit" Tregunna on guitar and bass respectively. On drums was Ringo from the Bootleg Beatles, Rick "Rock" Goldstein, and on keyboards, Dean Klevatt, an American (like Rick) who Stiv recruited from Joan Armatrading's band.

This photo was taken during their only tour of America, in 1981, at their gig in Cleveland. Todd Rundgren was at the after-show party that night, and one of my more famous regrets is not having my camera with me then (I left it in the hotel room). I regret it only because Stiv hounded me for years afterwards that I missed a photo opportunity. The camera has been in my bag nearly 100% of the time since then. And people wonder why my shoulders always hurt. Nikons are heavy.