THE MODERN BEATS

'Too fast, too loud and fifteen years too late', The Modern Beats were more-or-less a New Wave Pub Rock band.       Left to Right: Max Hutchinson (Guitar), Judge, Martin Pottinger (Drums - hidden), Ian Fordham (Bass - ex Imperial Storm Band). Max and I were involved in writing musicals at the time, and both Martin and myself worked in Max's architectural practice in Islington. The band was supposed to be a relief from all this, so, to avoid having to take the thing too seriously, we had a policy of doing no original material whatsoever. Instead, we drew our repertoire from hit songs of the Beat group era of the early to mid '60s, which we played very fast in a punky mode. We kept going for several years, playing round the rock pubs of North London, and we got pretty good at what we did.

Photographer unknown