Stripped Bare / Up Close And Personal

My first ever interview took place in a Covent Garden boozer and playing the part of Jonathan Ross was punk journalist Garry Bushell.

He wrote in Sounds music magazine...

The geezer in the shabby combat jacket with the speedfreak frame and impish smile knocks back his lager and pulls a bundle of tatty A4 exercise books out of the plastic bag at his feet.
They`re choc-a-bloc with poems, all painstakingly written out in longhand.
"I`ve got 300 of `em" he laughs, "I reckon about 50 are good"

Honest, self-effacing Garry Johnson. It`s hard to picture this skinny herbert who lists his likes as `lager, football, rebels, gangster movies and the opposite sex`, as a potential voice of a generation.

Yet those who`d criticise New Punk as having nothing to say could do little better than check out his verses, proud prole manifestos that pull no punches, tolerate no hypocrisy and tell no lies.

And that`s not just my opinion. Listten to Time Out`s review of Garry`s Boys Of The Empire collection.

"A pamphlet of ballads, street-wise, anti-militarism and fascism, anti-police and fiercely defensive of working class pride. Very impressive"

Natch they omitted to mention his dislike of trendy lefties too.

"I didnt think they`d even read it, a bloody posh paper like that" Gal laughs "What do they know about kids on the street?"

Born in Hackney. Johnson grew up in London`s East End getting a comprehensive non-education (six schools, one expulsion) and clocking up DC and borstal with convictions ranging from robbery to burglary via such naughtiness as taking part in a riot and bunking fares, though he`s not been nicked since he was 17.

Despite a promising starts as a schoolboy footballer, he began working life as a builder`s labourer.
"I was originally inspired to start writing by a Janet Street-Porter TV show" Gal reveals laughing "That and then the `New Breed` bit in Sounds last year"

Despite his hatred for the Tories, police harassment et al, Johnson remains equally dismissive of The Labour Party, as illustrated by poems like `Labour MPs Ain`t Working Class`.
"I think in some ways Labour are worse than the Tories" Gal opines "Cos you expect Tories to be the enemy, they always have been always will be, but I hate Labour more because they`ve let us down the most.
They`re supposed to be for working class people but once in power they`re just as anti-working class as the Tories"

Boys Of The Empire is his only `product` at the moment though he`s working on a collection of songs with Cock Sparrer`s Garrie Lammin, and a skinhead book of prose provisionally titled `How To Live In A Police State`.

He made his record debut on Strength Thru Oi (to high praise from punk visionary Valac Van Der Veena) and began live performances with a short well recieved recital at The 4-Skins Deuragon gig the other week.

Now The Business are putting a couple of his hard-hitting poems to music too. I`ve heard a demo of Suburban Rebels and its got `hit` written all over it.

There`s little doubt in my mind that Garry Johnson will develop from the Linton Johnson of Oi into a much wider recognised figure, spraying words like machine gun bullets to tear through class injustice and establishment cant.

Poetry in Motion was the headline for my second Sounds interview with Johnny Waller. He was not impressed with my shambolic lifestyle and liberal use of drugs.

The way of life for celebrated Oi poet Garry Johnson seems to be one of glorious chaos, rarely sleeping in the same place time twice in a row and taking as much speed as possible.
"Got any Wrigley`s, John?" he enquires as I question him on the beginnings of Oi and New Punk.
Were all the bands friends before the `movement` came into being?

"Nah, not really. Like The Business are from the other side of the water - the posh side (he means south of the Thames) - Johnson himself hails from the East End.
"none of the groups knew each other"

Garry became involved through his song lyrics which he`d beren writing ever since he was in a group called The Buzz Kids, "I was the only one who wanted to take it seriously" he complains "At school, English was the only thing I was any good at besides football.
Now when I write, I do two versions - one as a poem, the other is a song version with a chorus"

It`s one of those song versions `Suburban Rebels` which is currently part of The Business`s set and under consideration as a future single.

Johnson meanwhile has his own plans to go into the studio with a backing band to record a couple of songs for single release,
So how does he see things developing?

"Most Oi songs are about keeping hold of what you`ve got, holding on to what you have already gained, cos if Thatcher had her way, we`d lose it all and they`d bring back National Service.
The lyrics are representative for those who take Oi seriously, those who were into punk.
Perhaps there`ll be a new Sex Pistols or Clash coming through soon...perhaps The Buzz Kids might be it"

The Buzz Kids it should be explained, is Johnson`s own fledgling group!

Describing himself as an `ex-skinhead", waiting for something else now"

He occasionally seems disenchanted with Oi already. reckoning that `Glam Rock` might return.

"I hope so, if it was like Mott The Hoople, it would be great - Ian Hunter`s lyrics are brilliant"

His favourite albums of all-time are `Never Mind The Bollocks` and `The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars` and his infatuation soon becomes even more obvious "Just call me the Bowie of Oi" he says "I used to write a hundred different versions of `Ziggy Stardust` but I`m holding them all back until the revival"

Are you a talented instrumentalist like Bowie?

"No - he`s a genius. I `d just like to be. I can mime to all his records though"

It`s doubly ironic that this immensely likeable unemployed `Jack the Lad` has both the talent and respect of others to become the focal point of the Oi Movement, but fritters away his time and energy on drugs and daydreams.

He`s virtually retreated to his world of words and abdicated his right to any position of prominence he might have attained.

His marvelous book of lyrics `Boys Of The Empire` is full of biting sarcasm aimed at social injustices and if they occasionally seem cliched and riddled with a quaint class consciousness , that can be overlooked since - for him - IT`S ALL TRUE.

But for all his rabble-rousing and brave intentions, it amounts to nothing more than empty words if Johnson doesn`t back it up with action.

He should be actively encouraging new bands, speaking as a passionate yet rational leader of a Movement that desperately needs to focus on positive attributes before it crumbles under the weight of its own doubts and contradictions, with its detractors waiting to bury it - alive, if need be.

Johnson - with the comparative freedom of being an individual - one might say a celebrity even - rather then a member of a group - should be prepared to make a stand, to clarify media misconceptions, to organise Oi benefits and to speak out against violence.

He should be attempting to right some of the wrongs which he so bitterly despises, instead of merely complaining.

Do you vote, Garry?

"No, never. I suppose I`m a working class Liberal. I like old TV programmes like `When The Boat Comes In` when the working class were united.
I dont like party politics or the Royal Family. If I was in charge of this country I would break-up the United Kingdom, give England its own parliament and legalise speed"

Its a crying shame because Punk poet Garry Johnson could have been a contender. He could have been a spokesman for a generation...but prefers having a laugh to storming the barricades.