5 JUST LIKE BOBBY D.

"Keep a good head and always carry a lightbulb"

A-Side Single- The Track And Field Organisation, April 2002
“LOVE”- The Track And Field Organisation, March 2004
“TRUE LOVE- THE MOST OF THE LOVES”- Daytrip Records, March 2024
“LIVE AT THE BBC”- Precious Recordings Of London, September 2025

(The cover proof of the 7” single. I drew that picture and then Steven Drew used a computer to make it look vaguely Warhol-esque)

Originally this was going to be a different person each verse. The first, Bobby D, the second, Elvis P, and the third, Jesus C. But in the end, I just kept it to the former Robert Zimmerman. I mention “Play fucking loud” from the “B LP” (bootleg LP) There’s also a few references to the film of his 1964 tour, “Don’t Look Back” by DA Pennebaker and, bizarrely Boyz II Men.

It was written at a time when I had a big problem with the 1970s. I wouldn’t listen to any Kinks albums after “Arthur” because their hair got too long and unkempt and they leaned toward country rock and away from catchy riffs. I truly used to believe that Bob Dylan should’ve died/stopped after his bike crash in 1966 as almost everything he did post-“Blonde On Blonde” was no good but then again, the line “I wouldn’t be folk, I’d be electricity” indicates that I didn’t much care for anything he did before 1965 either. I have since changed the error of my ways and love much of what he did in the 70s, less in the 80s (though “Brownsville Girl” is a monster of a song) and then back up to 70s levels of love for the 90s and beyond.

Musically it’s almost a standard A-D-A-E-D thing but there’s a C and a B after the second D. There’s guitar that sounds like bees in a bin, a constant cowbell and the bassline from “European Son” by The Velvet Underground that was also used by Yo La Tengo on “Octopad” I also played slide guitar on it. Sort of.

The recording was also the first to feature Dave Thomas on drums. After George left to go to Poland, our manager John said that he’d found the “perfect” replacement. I met this fellow once at Immtech and said, “Yeah we should get together for a rehearsal” He looked like a Sk8r Boi, with bleached hair, a goatee and one of those wallets on a chain. Luckily, Catrin said her friend Dave was a drummer and would love to join. We had a rehearsal with Dave one Sunday afternoon and from the minute he walked in, I knew he’d be the one. He looked great, was incredibly affable and when he sat down at the kit he was like a mini-Keith Moon. It being the first meeting he wanted to show us all of his special moves throughout every song but he was in.

After the use of the sample on “PATTY” (4) I started getting a taste for adding weird little extra bits to songs. This one has a motorbike revving taken from “The Leader Of The Pack” by the Shangri-La’s (for the album version our friend Ian Hodgekiss offered to bring his motorcycle to the studio but we feared we’d be gassed) and, after discovering what a few of the pre-amps things did in the Immtech studio, a sitar sound right at the end. Did Bobby D ever use a sitar? Probably not. His mate George H did though so…yeah.

James suggested starting it with some laughter like from the beginning of “Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream” on “Bringing It All Back Home” but I don’t think I’d heard that song yet and didn’t know what he meant. So instead I used a clip of Catrin laughing from a cassette that I’d made when we were doing 3 gigs in 3 days in late-October in that London a month or two before recording the song.

I lost my voice on the first night and on the second day we tried to do a radio session for John Kennedy on XFM but it got postponed because I was just squeaking. Then I ate a whole box of Strepsils in about an hour and got extreme diarrhoea at the Notting Hill Arts Club where the toilet doors were like saloon doors so tall people could see me having an awful time. I just about managed to get through the set (it was a Poptones night but Alan McGee wasn’t there) and then we called off the final show that was meant to be at the Betsey Trotwood with the American band Beulah but they’d cancelled because 9/11 had happened and they were too chicken to fly.

(In action at the Notting Hill Arts Centre, 2001. Photographer- Unknown)

My sister Becky had pretty much left the band by this point but had travelled to London to see the Corrs at the Royal Albert Hall expecting to get a lift home with us in the minibus. As we were heading home early though, she would have to miss them. She was bitching and complaining to me and everyone else, which lead to me hitting her about the head with a rolled up NME calling her a “cunting shitbag” before Liz stepped in and called our parents to tell them what was happening and that we’d make it up to her. In the end, we took Becky to London to see the Smash Hits Pop Poll Winners Party 2001 later in the year.

This song was recorded/played at every John Peel session we did. The first time because it was a brand-new song that we were excited to play, the second time because it was going to be our next single, the third time because it was our current single and the last time to remind people to vote for it in the Festive Fifty (people didn’t)

It also got reviewed and interviewed in various magazines which was nice.

(“Careless Talk Costs Live” June/July 2002)

(“The Fly”, July 2002)

We did an “actually we’re fine with being hated” interview for Honk Magazine. This was mainly because we were getting dogs abuse on the Boobytrap messageboard (it was the early 2000s- Craig winning Big Brother)

And, being “Wales’ most indie band” we did an interview with I’d Rather Be Fat Than Confused fanzine. When we played in Nottingham in 2003, they were all stood on the barrier and went mental when the first bass drum beats of “Boom-A-Bang-Bang-Bang” started. Lovely people. That show was supposed to be us, Buck 65 and Apples In Stereo headlining but I think the latter of the three couldn’t be arsed travelling from London (where we’d played with them the night before) so they cancelled. We still played to a half-empty (or full depending on your outlook) Rescue Rooms though because we’re ruddy troopers.

According to the blurb at the bottom of that interview, we were playing in London on the 8th of April 2002 with Spearmint which means that was at the Borderline and, because that was the club where the video for “Cigarettes And Alcohol” was filmed, I spent a lot of the soundcheck playing Oasis songs including the riff for “The Hindu Times” which must’ve just been released to the radio as it came out on the 15th of April. The lovely Andy Lewis, bassist for Spearmint that night and also for Paul Weller, stopped me mid-flow and told me that that riff was stolen from the mod band The Prisoners.

(The Loves by Ian Hodgkiss April the 8th 2002, at the Borderline, London)

Weirdly, we were also featured in Arena Magazine’s “It’s OK To Be Indie” feature alongside Baxter Dury, The Bees, Chris T-T, I Am Kloot, The Music and Fonda 500. The latter of these has a lead singer also named Simon Stone. When I used to pretend I was in a band in 6th form college, I would point to his name in live reviews of them and say it was me. No-one believed me.

I’ve just seen that someone from Arena magazine has written “Long day” with an arrow pointing to James’s eyes. That photo was taken from the back cover of “JUST LIKE BOBBY D” and was taken in mine and Liz’s flat in February 2002, a few days after Spike Milligan had died and Pnosni is reading the Penguin paperback of “Adolf Hitler: My Part In His Downfall” in tribute. Though you can’t really see it there.

Liz and I went to see Bob Dylan on the 6th of May (the day after his anniversary with Isis. Congrats Bob!) in 2002, armed with a copy of this single. Right before he and his band (featuring Jim Keltner on drums, we learned when Bob did the band introductions) came back on for the encore I threw it onstage. It landed cover side up and Bob spent all of “Things Have Changed” staring intently at it. I think he did anyway. He then beckoned a stage hand over who then threw all of the stuff that had been thrown onstage off stage. In the dim light I saw the vinyl leave the sleeve as it arced into the photo pit. I remember Liz crying out “Noooooooo!” and I’ve listened to several bootlegs but the wailing cannot be heard.

(nb- Not my ticket…)

You can purchase “JUST LIKE BOBBY D” as part of “TRUE LOVE: THE MOST OF THE LOVES”- a double vinyl “career” retrospective here-