6 - The end of the first period

As we saw in the previous episode, in the beginning of 1983 the future of the Stargazers didn’t look so bright.
However they kept gigging. In February 11th they crossed the channel and appeared on French TV in a show called “L’Echo des Bananes” performing three songs: Perdido/Caravan, Tossin’ And Turnin’ and True Love.

Disillusioned and conscious that the record company would not wait any longer for them to have some major success with the style they were playing, the band was ready to try anything. Several demos were recorded in January and February 1983. Among them were Rebound, Bounce Me Brother and Future in the Fire. Bounce Me Brother – an oldie once sung by the Andrew Sisters - is a good rocking number with a solid slap bass beat courtesy of Anders Janes and a piano (maybe played by Anders too). Rebound announces the new direction the band was heading to with a production similar to Ain’t Nobody Here but Us Chicken. Ricky also remembers that a funk influenced song called Stop (maybe the name was a sign) was demoed.
“Some of the band, in particular myself, John, and Marc wanted to experiment with some different ideas and types of songs, but to be honest the attempts were pretty terrible, certainly nothing to do with rock’n’roll, and no good at all as pop songs either” explains Anders nearly 30 years later. For Danny it was clearly “the beginning of the end - they just weren’t Rock n Roll”. Ricky agrees “We were getting pretty desperate for success and mistakes and poor decisions were made. (…) I went along with the session for a laugh and to be honest at that point I had given up and didn’t care anymore. The band was finished at this point in my opinion.” The possibility of a last single was talked about but it was too late. The sales weren’t high enough to keep a major label like Epic happy and at the end of February 1983 the record company decided to end the contract. A general weariness affected the band and everyone agreed that it was time to stop. They had some gigs booked at the Cruise Inn in Holland for April and played their final show on July 16th 1983 at Nottingham. Anders sums up the general feeling: “When the record company dropped the band, we were all very disappointed, of course…we had really given everything we could to try to make a big success, and although we had succeeded musically, we had not had the commercial breakthrough necessary to continue. At the time, none of us felt we wanted to continue the band just playing occasional rock’n’roll clubs, maybe to smaller and smaller audiences, so we felt it best to move on to try other things.”
Ricky: “I felt a mixture of relief, sadness and disappointment. I decided that I did not want my life to be dictated by other people in such a controlling way ever again. On a positive note, I felt that I had learnt a hell of a lot about the music business and felt proud to have formed a great Rock’n’Roll band!”

After the Stargazers
Each member then embarked onto separate projects. The first to move were Anders and Ricky who joined the Chevalier Brothers. Formed around Ray Gelato (real name Ray Irwin) who previously played in Dynamite, and Maurice Chevalier (real name Patrice Serapiglia) a French guitar player. They played a hot mix of swing, jump blues, Louis Jordan and be bop and by 1983 they started to make some noise on the London scene. Anders replaced their former bassist who was actually a tea-chest bass player and was the missing element they needed. In the process he gained a nickname: Clark Kent. Ricky only stayed with them for a month or two, his style being judged too “rock’n’roll” for their sound and he was replaced by John Piper a jazz drummer but Ricky can be heard on a John Peel session recorded on March 23rd 1983. The Chevalier Brothers released three albums and a couple of singles then split. Gelato formed Ray Gelato & the Giants of Jive still with Anders on bass, which later evolved into Ray Gelato Giants.
John Wallace joined the Skiff Kats, a rockabilly-skiffle, combo and then formed the Hatchetmen with Dot and Tony from Howlin’ Wilf’s band. Sadly this excellent combo only released a mini album with six songs. He also played with the Big Town Playboys for a while, appearing on their debut album “Playboy Boogie” in 1985. Still in the early 80’s he joined the successful band JoBoxers that had numerous hit singles and world tours.
And Danny? Well Danny took a much needed rest.

Absolute beginners

However they split in 1983, the Stargazers as a band weren’t totally out of action. They reunited from time to time to play gigs, with guest musicians filling in when John, Ricky or Anders were too busy with their other outfits. In 1986, they appeared in the movie “Absolute Beginners” directed by Julian Temple.
Anders “Julian Temple had directed our second video (Hey Marie!), so he knew about the band, and decided to find us and ask us to play with the legendary Slim Gaillard for the song ‘Selling Out’ featured in the film”.

Ricky with David Bowie on the set of Absolute Beginners

Though John, Ricky, Peter and Anders appeared in the movie, only John and Anders played on the record. To be honest one must admit that “Selling Out” wasn’t Slim’s greatest moment and the sound of the Stargazers was barely audible behind the heavy production but it was good to see the guys together again.
Ricky “I really enjoyed making this film. I loved the sets as they represented the British coffee bar scene from the 50’s, an era that I am interested in. I would walk around the Notting Hill set all day transfixed. We also had a good laugh with some of the stars of the film while we waited to be filmed. I spent a memorable hour talking with David Bowie on set, who is a fantastic guy, VERY knowledgeable about Rhythm and Blues and Rock’n’Roll. He told me quite a few stories, especially about his friend and neighbour at the time – Vince Taylor! Yes, one of the most memorable weeks of my life!”
John : “I had lovely chats with Slim, Bowie, (Patsy) Kensit, Freeman….”
If not a real comeback, this apparition proved at least that all the links weren’t broken between the boys. Even Peter was here.