The Generals

RR: "Suddenly, on 9th December 1980, Christine and I were devastated by the news of John Lennon's murder in New York City. We both got very, very drunk on gin and recorded a "John Lennon's Dead" tribute (I wonder just how many songs and poems were written worldwide after hearing the sad and tragic news?). I had forgotten - or taken for granted -just how much I loved and respected Lennon. Something was taken from me and maybe all of mankind that day... But I also realized that my own music had been suffering for too many years... How long had it been since I had sung anything other than cover versions? When was I going to start writing properly again? It had taken the murder of a brother, John Lennon, to break through the booze-barrier and make me write something for the first time in ages".
Meanwhile, living in The Freeth, their little cottage in the middle of the countryside, Rod and Christine were eking out a living, "we chopped the wood, baked the bread and grew the food that kept us alive; it was beautiful, but life was very hard~ we were too poor to appreciate the beauty as much as we should have. "On 20th February 1981, they were visited by Pete Biles (as you'll no doubt recall, he was a school mate of Rod, who'd followed The Pack around, lived with Rod in London and was on the J.P. Sunshine scene before becoming Magic Muscle's conga player) who told them there was a party m Calne at the "Bug And Spider" pub, with live bands playing. So they went.
RR: "At the party who should be playing but a trio calling itself The Generals and featuring Tony Orchard and Simon Bewley. Also on the bill were my two hard-drinking buddies from The Slaughterhouse Five, Hugh and Nigel, who had a band ca/led Damn Near 48 Wednesdays. Later on I got up and sang a number called "Dirty White Boy" with them and, later still, sang "Waiting for the Man" with The Generals and nearly lifted the roof off".
With The Generals, consisting of Tony Orchard (guitar), Simon Bewley (drums), and Graham Hall (bass) Rod went on to form a new Generals lineup, playing lots of gigs and recording a 4-song EP in a complex in Corsham called Pickwick Studios (on 18th September 1981). The songs were "No Thing", "5 Star Taker", "Come On" and "See-Through Tomorrow", all recorded, arranged and produced by the band in one ten-hour session.
RR: "All the songs were by Tony Orchard but I wrote the words to "See-Through Tomorrow" These recordings were never pressed onto vinyl as we had hoped and remained a cassette that was given to any record companies and promoters who showed the slightest interest in us. We played some prestigious gigs nevertheless: topping the bill at the Westwood Festival playing the great old Neald Hall in Chippenham (where I had once seen The Kinks play, the same week that "You Really Got Me " entered the charts) and gigging at the huge Golddiggers nightclub as part of the 'Sounds' magazine Atomic Rock Show with a band called More (this would probably be the guys that had albums out in 1981 and 1982, called "Warhead" and "Blood And Thunder"; they had Andy John Burton on drums, Kenny 'Mad Axeman' Cox on guitar and Brian Day on bass; the latter had also played on Woolly Wolstenholme's (of Barclay James Harvest) "Maestoso" album, L.) However, this new spate of live work had come at a time when I wasn't really recovered (health-wise) from my 'perma-binge" of '78/'79 and The Generals were probably doing more drugs and booze combined than any band I had previously been with!! They were over ten years younger than me anyway and the strain began to tell. When I wasn't actually gigging I was spending more time in bed (sick) than out. At this time I also began to exhibit the inevitable final danger signs: the Elvis look (maybe that's when all the rumours started; "I saw Elvis playing in a pub in Calne", L.) So, sick, bloated and unhappy (my doctor actually gave me just 6 months to live if l went on drinking) I 'retired' from the stage again for a while. I had already escaped from a drying-out clinic back in '78 (where I had been placed for my own protection) and so I thought there was little point in turning to the medical profession for help. I hit on the idea of buying up large quantities of codeine linctus from as many chemists as I could find and using that as an opiate with which to wean myself off of alcohol (I had explained to various doctors that my weakness for opium and its various relations was the only way I could foresee of me ever kicking the booze, but of course they always know best; don't they?). Anyway, by drinking 3 or 4 bottles of the filthy stuff every day I managed to kill the alcohol habit before it killed me".