spotted us live and recommended us to Chris Dors. Chris could kick some arse & got us some great gigs & CD releases. When Mel decided to go back to Australia, (God bless him! I still get  Christmas cards) we signed management to Chris as well. Plus he actually liked Derek’s piano playing and wanted it featured more in our songs. But me & Debbie out voted him and we continued with our twin guitar/vocal attack. We got some better gear (he even bought me a Martin acoustic guitar), but Chris was a stickler for pre-production and the projects took about a year or more each to complete. We even had the luxury of having them professionally mastered at SRT. ‘Kingdom Come’ being my favourite. It was a 3 way split musically, with mainly my lyrics. Actually the free bus pass has gone up to 62 years, but includes the London DLR these days! So its quick & free to get into London these days ha! ha!

MM: When you found out we were soon to be producing the first Magic Moments At Twilight Time CD, eventually titled “Creavolution”, you offered to record us at Brain Dead, free of charge, presumably as a thank you for my numerous wonderful reviews of your albums. Well, we thought it was a fantastic gesture and, in spite of having heard much Thamesmead Rollers stuff you’d produced there, we graciously accepted. I think it was circa late spring 1994 when I began the regular, lengthy and congested drives from Frimley to Plumstead. Your help in getting me through the process of recording all the backing tracks was immense, you certainly knew your way around the studio. Which isn’t actually surprising as it was you that built it. What inspired such an adventure as constructing a recording studio at the top of your garden, and perhaps you can share with us a tale or two of shit that happened along the way?

MB: Apart from ‘Ghosts’, did we ever get a good review?

MM: Now I think of it, no.

MB: The latest one say’s something like, ‘It doesn’t matter who sings, it’ll still sound like shite’. The studio now is a lot larger & has been re-built at least three times since you came to record. It’s a long story but the council said we couldn’t build it under the house (like Mike @ Studio 99), but as we have huge gardens, they agreed it was OK to put it at the top of the garden.

So they put it at the top of the garden, et voila! As Marc said, three re-builds since I was there last, so it looks very little like I remember it...

MM: I seemed to almost live at your house over that summer, driving up after work on Friday, staying over two nights, recording all day, then back home late Sunday, quite a grind. But still nothing compared to your workaholic ways! As I remember, as we finished recording for the day, you’d stay up at the studio working and I’d end up spending the evening with your then wife, Jane, I virtually ended up feeling like one of the family, so many thanks for all the hospitality and feeding me and stuff. Of course, I was soon to find out what you’d been working on up there all hours of night; “Too Old To Rock?” (M&E 272, also released on CD by Candor), a delightfully self-mocking title if ever I heard one, and another no.1 on our M&E chart. Worryingly though, you were starting to sound much better and my review bordered on respectful. The track that really blew me away was “Fly Away”, so unlike anything I’d ever heard you turn out before. For those that haven’t heard it, Debbie takes the lead vocal on what I can only describe as a beautiful multi-layered piece of folk music. What were the influences that lead you to create something so not Thamesmead Rollers and were there any concerns it may alienate your usual fan-base? 

"One of the family"... Uncle Magic with little Heather, affectionately known as 'Zit', on me lap during the "Creavolution" sessions, 1994-95.

MB: At that time (until we had the major re-build in 2000), the weekends were mainly residential, we had so many great bands & great times! People were coming from all over the UK (now it’s Europe too)! Things started to take off around this point and I started taking percentages on production etc. I think the main reason for the jump in quality on ‘Too Old To Rock?’ was working with 2 people who had made hit records….. Chris Dors & Mike Westergaard. Chris helped with all the production and song structures, especially keeping the backing simple, focused and catchy. Mike worked on our vocals. ‘Fly Away’, was a prime example. It’s twin track Debbie, but, most of the backing vocals are actually mine….. which proves I can sing in tune if I want to! Ha ha! We were listening to a bigger variety of material than a standard TOTP 1973 show. Everything from traditional Folk to Metal. Chris Dors had a huge vinyl collection & used to lend me stuff. At time I had a soft spot for the music of John Cougar Mellencamp and the post ’74 Fleetwood Mac. Recently we have gone back to this approach, more commercial structures and are doing multi-layered vocals again. (Check out, ‘R.U Sure’). 

MM: An M&E Showcase track, so like I had a choice...

MB: All the original M&E albums were put out on Candor and sold well. I have recently re-mastered them and released them again on TMR Records, with all the non-album tracks & key out takes. See picture…. Currently only £5 each including P&P in the UK (Payable to Mr M. Bell). The entire Rollers M&E back catalogue is also available on an MP3 format CD format, it’s called, ‘Full Circle’, also only £5.

Do you have more money than sense? Do you have a bitter hatred for your ears? You could do worse than pick up this little treasure trove then...