I REMEMBER….

I remember, well actually I don’t, not really, only bits, images rather than chronologies….

The other plan in the Ultras heads (see It’s Alright, Isn’t) was to become a recording band.  We were writing our own stuff - what better way to enrich the waiting world than by making records?

Easier said than done, of course.

I remember somebody called Graham turning up.  He wanted to manage us, and I think he helped us get more gigs.  He wrote to record companies.

At one session, Al said, Graham’s got us a deal.  A single and a tour of Europe.  A pause.  Then he added….I expect it’s for a pop song cover and a pub in Switzerland….

But we weren’t going to say no.

I remember….driving to a studios in Wembley, I think it was De Lane Lea.

Maybe this was where Al was training.  We met a junior engineer he knew called Richard Whaley, who was interested in producing us.

I remember Al on his drums in a sort of booth.  Were we recording?  It might have been the backing track to the single.  Can’t remember which song.

I remember coming back to Beaconsfield from Manchester at the beginning of the summer holiday, ready to go back into the studio.  I was at my father’s house - and I went to make a phone call.  

I can remember this….His father answered….

Hello?

Hello, can I speak to Al please?

No, you can’t….

Um…?

He’s dead.

What, hang on, who is this?  Is this Al?  Are you joking….? Al…?

I can’t talk to you at the moment….

But, it’s Robert…what’s going on?

I’m sorry, Robert, Al was killed in a car crash today….

I’m sorry, I have to go….

I went completely numb.  I was twenty-two and had absolutely no idea what to do, what to say, how to feel.  So I ran away back to Manchester.  

I did write to Al’s parents a couple of weeks later and got a reply from his Dad describing Al’s passion, how their house had always been full of young men, full of music, and how they missed him.

As did I.  And still do.