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herman history

Herman Asteroid recorded demos of songs and performed live in London. These were distributed as tapes to various people. No record ever came out, but of Oliver Wright one “record company  ... said it was an interesting mix of Ian Dury and somebody else I've forgotten: they added that a payment of two hundred ackers would guarantee a place on their free LP,” as Herman later recalled.

These tapes have now been remastered by George Madison and can be downloaded.

Herman in Cambodia

He wrote his songs walking to and from work, possibly about the time he worked in a bookies shop near Old Street. The tempo of the song written depended on how fast he was walking, as his paces acted as a metronome. Thank god he never managed to break into a trot, or the Ramones might have had some competition! Anyway, despite a total lack of any musical training the results were memorable.

What about his band you may ask?

Well here are the details -

Guitar - Neil Thompson (The Carpettes/The Only Alternative)

Bass - George Maddison (The Carpettes and The Outer Limits, which featured guest appearances from Herman, dressed as a vicar!) Also responsible for the wicked gazoo solo on My Paradise.

Guitar - Wilf Turnbull (a veteran of many cabaret bands)

Drums - Tim Wilder (The Carpettes/The Young Bucks) ** Neil Thompson also played drums on several tracks.

Guitars on Oliver Wright - Peter Balmer (ex - Fad Gadget) and John "echo" Waters.

Herman Asteroid's first live performance was at The Clarendon in Hammersmith for which he received a rave review from Mick Mercer in ZigZag magazine (honest!)

He later did a series of gigs in the northeast, which certainly made an impact on the people who witnessed them. He was actually a cult figure in Hartlepool for a while!

Links

The Carpettes

www.mickmercer.com