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"An Alternative Derby"
'An Alternative Derby' - Johnny Vincent

Where Were You? (as the Mekons asked back in '78). If the answer is "Up the front at the Ajanta during its brief heyday", then Johnny Vincent's thrill-filled reminscence of gig-going, record-shopping, substance-abusing, drinking, playing, singing, star-spotting, star-spitting, pogoing, and dreaming in Derby during and after the punk years, is an essential read. JV was right there, shelf-stacker by day but working class hero by night, soaking up the sights and sounds on the Derby music scene and even joining in himself on a few occasions in front of bewitched/bothered/bewildered audiences. The region's legendary... More > names are here, almost all present and correct (barring a few casualties) - Anti-Pasti, Egyptian Kings, Scrincers, D Void, Room 101, and heaps more. This grand memoir takes you time-travelling back to the glory days of the Ajanta and the Blue Note, but is as much the story of one young man's struggle as it is about the 'scene' - fighting, as all true punks did, against boredom and apathy and the shit that life dishes out to everyone.

If you were part of this, you'll love reading about it again. If you weren't part of it, you'll sure as hell wish you had been. Let's hope for an expanded new edition somewhere down the line - I'd love to see more coverage of the Ajanta, more on the pre-punk days down at Cleos, more pics and posters, more on my mate Marc's band 'The Wayward Sons' (Derby's greatest hope during the early 1990s, and don't believe anyone who says otherwise), more on the record shops (especially R.E. Cords), more on the Long Eaton-based 'Ron Johnson' label; and hey, I'll even throw in a few extra stories meself (you can read my comments on everything from identikit punx to Liam Gallagher in scattered interview snippets in this edition, summat I'm very proud to have been involved in).

Cheers Johnny, and keep flying the flag for those of us who think in a different way to the rest.


Darrell Buxton

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