Lee Brilleaux

by Zoe Howe

  Chapter 7

  20.

  Down By The Jetty was ‘not off the turntable’ during a certain New York loft party later that year, attended by members of Blondie, Television, the Ramones and the New York Dolls. ‘This isn’t folklore,’ said Chris Fenwick. ‘It definitely went down, and they were all driving into their careers at that point.’

  21.

  Managed by the infamous Jake Riviera, who had conceived the idea for the tour in conjunction with Chris Fenwick, and would swiftly be employed as the Feelgoods’ tour manager.

  22.

  Strummer had his own pub rock band, The 101ers, and he, like many future new wave ‘pioneers’ would be taking plenty of notes from the likes of Dr Feelgood, the Hot Rods, and Kilburn and the High Roads. Another figure who managed to amalgamate both Lee Brilleaux and Wilko Johnson into his persona is Paul Weller; it certainly worked for him.

  23.

  Chris Salewicz was present at the Led Zeppelin party and observed that ‘they seemed as big as Led Zeppelin. Generally with “the entertainment”, people don’t pay much attention, but people were standing, rapt, just watching them.’ Word was that this appearance was something of a showcase for Atlantic boss Ahmet Ertegün to check out the Feelgoods and give them their chance in the US, but they would move forward with CBS instead.

  24.

  Even during the Keith Morris photo shoot for the Malpractice album artwork, which included shots of the group outside various local Canvey Island high street establishments, (such as Discount Furnishings, 191 High Street, and Phil Moss’s barber shop on Maurice Road, as featured on the cover), the towering Lee, in his mirror shades and white suit, allowed for one costume change before cutting proceedings short because he had ‘some business to attend to’.

  Chapter 8

  25.

  One could draw a connection with Ealing Studios film The Man in the White Suit; the titular outfit, conversely, never becoming dirty at all.

  Chapter 9

  26.

  The reason behind this sobriquet has been subject to some mythologising, but the real story is that Shirley used to work at the Dog and Suds diner in her hometown of Hammond, Louisiana, serving hotdogs and foaming tankards of root beer. ‘I was nicknamed Suds, and it stuck. Everybody called me Suds. I called me Suds.’

  Chapter 10

  27.

  Lee Brilleaux, come 1977, would be heard dismissing The Clash as ‘a bleedin’ skiffle group on speed’, although to be fair, one could say that wasn’t something that had particularly held back the Feelgoods, who would often refer to themselves as ‘skifflers’, and they were no slouches when it came to amphetamine consumption either. Lee wasn’t threatened by punk; far from it – he was interested in it, and was also quietly proud of his own position as one of the movement’s galvanising forefathers. ‘[Dr Feelgood] played a large part, or was perceived to have done, which is almost the same thing,’ Lee would tell Paul Jones. However, he felt punk ‘broke its promises, like any revolution’ and ran out of energy all too quickly.

  28.

  Joan Collinson once remarked that Lee ‘wanted to bring New Orleans to Canvey’, so it’s neatly serendipitous that he would indeed bring New Orleans native Shirley Alford to Oil City, even if she wasn’t too keen on the place at first.

  29.

  The following story nicely illustrates Lee’s kindness towards fans. Lee was always more than happy to speak to Feelgood fanatics, but before shows, if he wanted a bit of peace, Lee would go to the pub on the third block along from the venue – that way the band could always find him, but he was less likely to be mobbed. However, the pub on the third block along could sometimes be quite a long way away. One evening Lee realised he was a little further from the gig than he’d initially intended, and time was moving on. Due to an absence of cabs, Lee decided to catch a bus – but it was a bus filled with excited Feelgood fans on their way to the show. Rather than spending the journey hiding behind his paper, he chatted to them all and even paid their fares.

  Chapter 11

  30.

  From the poem ‘Maud Muller’ by John Greenleaf Whittier.

  31.

  ‘Sneakin’ Suspicion’, ‘Paradise’, ‘Time And The Devil’, ‘All My Love’ and ‘Walking On The Edge’. Covers selected for the record were ‘Lights Out’ (written by Seth David and Mac ‘Dr John’ Rebennack), Willie Dixon’s ‘You’ll Be Mine’, ‘Nothin’ Shakin’ But The Leaves On The Trees’, the menacing ‘Hey Mama, Keep Your Big Mouth Shut’ and the contentious ‘Lucky Seven’ by Lew Lewis.

  Chapter 12

  32.

  Wilko explains that things could have been different. ‘This guy I knew said, “I’ve been talking to Lee Brilleaux.” This was about a year after I’d gone. He’s going, “He’d have you back in that band. I’ve fixed up a meeting with you and Lee in the Ship [in Soho] tomorrow.” I was thinking, wow, yeah! It was close enough to do it and I knew what I’d got wasn’t as good as that. But, well, I’d just met someone, I spent the night with her and I never went to the meeting. We never did meet again.’ Even in the late 1980s, Lee, on being asked as to whether he had ever seen Wilko again (living, as they did, less than a mile from each other), said, ‘[I] hardly clap eyes on the man. I sometimes bump into his missus in Southend, that’s the closest we get.’

  33.

  ‘Jonesy’ was definitely a Feelgood kind of guy: when he wrote to Melody Maker seeking employment, his letter of application concluded: ‘Melody Maker needs a bullet up its arse. I’m the gun – pull the trigger.’ And so they did, and it would be far less painful than it sounds.

  34.

  Shirley took some bar work at Bardot’s, a pivotal Canvey landmark on the roadmap of Dr Feelgood’s trajectory. Also known for its fights. ‘Buckets of claret’, in Lee’s words, were often spilt there in the name of a top night out.

  35.

  ‘Basher’ was a nickname given to Lowe by the Feelgoods in tribute to his penchant for ‘bashing things out’ in the studio.

  36.

  And talking of conservatism, just a few short years down the line – despite having been brought up in a staunch Labour household – Lee would be voting Tory, hailing Margaret Thatcher as ‘the best thing since sliced bread’, said Shirley, who did not share his political stance to say the least. ‘I found that shocking. I could never figure it out.’ Maybe it was connected to Lee’s view of Dr Feelgood as a ‘business’. As we know, there’s no business like show business. Two parts business to one part show.

  Chapter 13

  37.

  On the subject of threads, the Brilleaux stage look had expanded considerably, so to speak, from the white suit/white jacket look. Lee had jackets made for him by a seamstress in Westcliff-on-Sea, one of which boasted a loud palm-tree pattern. On the other hand, the white suit, Feelgood fans will be dismayed to learn, is no more. It would be disposed of when, Shirley Brilleaux informs, ‘it became too disgusting to hang on to’.

  38.

  Cockney rhyming slang for Yanks, as I’m sure many of you already know.

  39.

  Mandrax, quaaludes, sedatives. You get the picture.

  40.

  If Steve’s Cabs weren’t available, a slurred call would be received by the chirpy operators at Trio. After a few close shaves with the police on Canvey, it was prudent not to drive oneself home, even if it was just around the corner. Shirley remembers an evening when the police spotted Chris, Lee and Shirley weaving their way back to Rainbow Road in Chris’s car. Lee rushed Chris inside and immediately started pouring drinks in him, in a bid to fox the police and make out that the alcohol in his system was merely from the hurried succession of beverages he’d just downed – as one does – after getting inside. ‘I mean, the police were at the door, and the door was open,’ Shirley says. ‘They were like, “Come out here …”’

  Chapter 14

  41.

  A title possibly inspired by The Dice Man by Luke Rhinehart (pen name of George C
ockroft), a book the Feelgoods loved and were inspired by, often rolling the dice to make a decision and see where it took them.

  42.

  Clash tour manager and raconteur Johnny Green gets yet another nod, in ‘Take A Tip’, although this mention is perhaps not the most flattering kind. ‘Oh Christ,’ groans Lee as ‘Johnny’ approaches the imaginary bar. ‘How many more times do I have to listen to this bloke burble?’ We are also treated to Lee’s oddly convincing ‘lady voice’ in his imitation of a predatory groupie. ‘Bend Your Ear’ is, as Lee put it, ‘very unusual’.

  43.

  Shirley’s first foray would be making pots of chicken liver pâté, working from a Delia Smith recipe, albeit using what can only be described as ‘Feelgood measures’ when it came to the more interesting ingredients (brandy, for example). ‘I’d made this pâté and I thought, that’s good. But if a little of this is good, then more is better, right?’ She was clearly the woman for Lee.

  Chapter 15

  44.

  The Feelgoods had also covered Rush’s ‘Love Hound’ on A Case Of The Shakes – and Lee would also buy and treasure a portrait of the bluesman painted by none other than Malcolm Wilkinson, Lee being the first person Wilkinson had ever sold a painting to.

  45.

  The video was directed by Charles David Whiting, Adam Ant’s stylist for the ‘Stand And Deliver’ music video and artwork in 1981.

  46.

  Barney Bubbles was the radical British graphic artist often employed by Stiff Records and very much associated with the UK new wave scene. He also directed music videos, including ‘Ghost Town’ by The Specials. Paul Gorman’s Reasons to Be Cheerful – The Life and Work of Barney Bubbles is a recommended tome.

  47.

  In a bizarre coincidence, when I first moved to Leigh on Sea myself, it turned out the flat we’d chosen to rent was next door to The Proceeds. (I didn’t know about The Proceeds at the time, so the sign outside hadn’t caught my eye, nor would I have understood the reference if it had.) One afternoon Wilko came round to visit – we weren’t sure what his reaction would be, but when we told him about the synchronicity, his response was initially heartening. ‘Oh!’ he said. ‘Well, that makes me very happy.’ ‘Why?’ I asked. ‘Because my house is much nicer than his.’

  Chapter 16

  48.

  The Grand, now derelict, is awaiting refurbishment at the hands of TOWIE star Mike Norcross at the time of writing, although works have been delayed due to a virulent bout of Japanese knotweed. Many former Grand drinkers have migrated to The Broker on Leigh Road, which hosts an excellent pub quiz, by the way.

  Chapter 17

  49.

  ‘Ideally, I’d be pleased to sing for a humanitarian cause,’ said Brilleaux. ‘But I believe that those who [do that] can be condescending and few are sincere; it’s easy advertising.’

  Chapter 18

  50.

  After Brilleaux’s untimely death in 1994, Chris Fenwick organised yearly memorial walks and charity shows on Canvey Island, raising funds for the Southend Community Extended Nursing Team, who cared for Lee when he was ill, and the local Fairhavens cancer charity (2014 was the last year the memorial event was held).

  51.

  From New & Lingwood of Jermyn Street, in case you were wondering. And on the subject of ‘foot furniture’, Lee would surely have approved that the shoemakers Jeffery West have made a series of reassuringly expensive ‘Brilleaux’ shoes and boots – all with slim, squared-off toes and righteous heels.

  52.

  Gypie Mayo died from cancer on 23 October 2013.

  53.

  Lee’s love of the French peasant dish cassoulet, a hearty stew containing beans and sausages, grew to the point that he formed The Royal Belton Hills Cassoulet Club, Belton Hills being situated by Marine Parade overlooking Old Leigh. (I think Lee might have added the ‘Royal’ himself, presumably enjoying the juxtaposition of the idea of being a toff but chowing down on cassoulet – a ‘poor people’s food’, as he described it.)

  54.

  With the Feelgoods, that is – he’d make an appearance playing slide guitar and providing backing vocals on the 1991 release Escape From Oil City by the Canvey Island All Stars – a group made up of local musicians featuring the likes of Dean and Warren Kennedy, Paul Gray from Eddie and the Hot Rods, Ian Gibbons, The Damned’s Roman Jugg, Phil Mitchell and Larry Wallis. The CIAS are still going, with a flexible line-up (including Lew Lewis and Pete Zear), to this day.

  55.

  ‘One foot in the water, one foot on the pier’ – the lyrics of ‘Down By The Jetty Blues’ are a little prescient; with hindsight they seem almost indicative of someone who is stepping between two worlds and is soon to move on, which, it would sadly transpire, he was.

  Chapter 19

  56.

  ‘I started a second portrait in 1993 after he was diagnosed with cancer – his idea,’ says Farrell. ‘I don’t show it. I would have been happy to not carry on but he insisted. It was very painful. He last posed on the tenth of March 1994 and he died on April the seventh.’

  57.

  Shortly before Christmas 2012, Wilko was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, and, having refused chemotherapy (wisely, as it turned out), he was given eight months to live. After a farewell tour during which Wilko felt no ill effects (other than the increasing size of ‘Terry the Tumour’, as Wilko called it), he had his case reviewed, underwent major surgery and was declared ‘cancer-free’ in 2014.