Maidstone Music Museum

Q & A with Graeme Grant

We are kicking off the Maidstone Music Museum with a q&a from bassist (double-bass player) and punk-rockabilly and psychobilly vocalist Graeme Grant....a Maidstone 'old boy'......who has had his fingerprints firmly implanted on the bass-lines of DEMENTED ARE GO!, THE KREWMEN, FRANTIC FLINTSTONES and many more bands besides. He has also played bass for UNLUCKY FRIED KITTEN, THE SONNY RAY BAND and THE RONNIE DAWSON BAND and his current projects include his very own CAPTAIN DRUGBUSTER persona with Doyley and Ginger Meadham as co-horts. There's a lot of Captain Drugbuster meets The Zorchmen stuff about...including a cracking little EP featuring the songs 'Kick Her Butt' 'Chase The Girls' 'Whoops Sorry' and 'Will You Still Miss Me'. Other cast-iron crowd-pleasers from the band (acronimically known as CDB) include 'Kipper Trench' 'Spawny Git' and the pretty damn legendary 'No More, No Less' which has incidentally become a catch-phrase soundbite for the whole CDB ethos

Graeme Grant...above...at the headquarters of the Maidstone Music Museum

So...without further ado...Graeme...your questions:

NO MORE...NO LESS!

1) Please tell us a little about yourself and about how long you've been associated with the Maidstone area ?

I've lived in Maidstone since I was 3 years old. Raised along Milton street. I moved to London when I was 21,but came back in '97

2) What's your favorite memory of Maidstone?

Old Maidstone Market...there were animals for sale as well as clothes,toys and fruit and veg.

3) What's your favourite Maidstone building?

Archbishops palace. A beautiful building

4) Where's your parish? Loose, Allington, Bearsted, Elsewhere?

Barming...up the top end of town

5) Have you some favourite bands or solo acts from past and/or present?

The Outer Limits, The Milkshakes...amongst others

6) Any great memories of wild nights out to share?

Rockin' at the Corn Exchange...Wednesday night disco at the Maidstone Art College..

7) What's your favorite pub? (clubs and bars do count)

The Royal Albion...also known as...and forever remembered as...The Bin!

8 ) If you were to show a visitor around Maidstone for a day...where would you take them?

The Archbishop's Palace...that, my son, is a no-brainer

9) Is there a landmark that you instantly think of for the town ?

The Old Town Hall, Andy

10) If you could live in any building in Maidstone where would you choose?

I have to plump for the Archbishop's Palace again....such a majestic building....AND...it's haunted

11) Any particular shops that you think are worth a mention?

The salamander,under the Market Buildings....I love that shop...bought loads of wonderful stuff from there.

12) Which famous people...real or fictional...do you immediately associate with Maidstone?

The late great Graham Chapman from the Monty Python team.

13) What's your very earliest memory of being here in this town?

Being taken to the market by my mum every Tuesday morning

14) Any sad memories of Maidstone?

Only the closures of great pubs,clubs and the wonderful Sharps sweets factory.

15) What's your favourite local music venues...past or present?

The Druids...Earls...and the Corn Exchange.

16) Do you enjoy the current Maidstone music Scene?

Yes I do...it seems to have picked up rather a lot recently...and I've still been back to play within the scene of late..despite moving out of the country

17) Do you think the town will change drastically...on the entertainment front...over the next 20 years?

I hope so!

18) What would you change about Maidstone if you had the chance?

The councils attitude towards their own residents...which never ceases to amaze me!

19) If you were asked to design a snappy logo for Maidstone....perhaps for an ultra-modern coat of arms...what item or items would you have on it?

Iggy the iguanadon playing a Fender precision and the White Horse warbling away in the background

20) Lastly...on the tail of the last question...what would be a great SLOGAN for The Medway Towns?

Maidstone....love it or lump it....lol

Well...there you have it ladies and gentlemen...a little glimpse into the mind of a man who is inextricably linked to our county town...even though he now lives with his wonderful wife, Amy, in Sweden. I have enjoyed quizzing you about this fine town and I whole-heartedly concur with some of your sentiments...particularly the feeling that the suits in high places should understand... and align themselves to the people amongst our public...who pay the bills and who make this town what it really is. Thank you for being the first Q&A subject in this new Maidstone Music Museum.

I salute you...no more...no less!!!!

(and thanks for not squashing Ollie!!!!!)

I would love to hear your thoughts on this article...so if you have any opinions to offer...or experiences or examples to share...please put them in the 'comments ' section below.

Perhaps you have your own story to tell ?

What do you think ?

How do you feel ?

What is your opinion ?

Are you working on something similar ?

I will respond to all comments and I look forward to hearing from you

Thank You

Andy

Dan is an legendary DJ and club promoter....originally from Maidstone...but one who moved his effects and 'nowadays workings' to London. I don't need to say much more about him because he says it himself within the answers he gives for this Q & A. My role is merely to get him to talk.

I should point out that Dan is also a well-respected and vastly experienced figure in the field of illustration and original pop-art. He must have nurtured his style in our county town. Click on links below the article to see his work

Here goes...Dan Avenell

1) Please tell us a little about yourself and about how long you've been associated with Maidstone?

A) I grew up here, first in Loose Valley, then Shepway til I was 18. Then I lived the other side of the river for a while, then moved to London when I was 20 (1988). My family are still in Maidstone so I come back every so often.

2) What's your favorite memory of Maidstone?

A) As a kid, making swings, climbing trees, freeing cows and playing around Loose Valley. As a teen, and having 'gone goth' (though of course never self-identifying as a goth) finding loads of good friends in the alternative scene of Maidstone. I started DJing and running alternative club nights here and in Chatham, something I continued to do after I moved to London. I did it for about 15 years, but am retired now as I like to be in bed by a reasonable hour

3) What's your favourite Maidstone building?

A) That little one in the middle of Mote Park.

4) Where's your parish? Bearsted, Barming, Town Centre? Elsewhere?

A) Loose Valley, Shepway, other side of the river where all the criminals live

5) Have you some favourite bands or solo acts from past and/or present? (Maidstone Acts)

A) Oh that Andy Fraser, he's good. I remember Go With The Flow, but not much else

6) Any great memories of wild nights out to share?

A) The most infamous time is when me and some others stole and crashed a bus that was parked outside the Albion. The police caught us. As for clubbing, before I started my own clubs I went to ones run by (the late great) Andy Hooper and Paul Butterworth. If it wasn't for them I probably would never have become a DJ/Club Promoter. (editor's note...rest in peace Andy Hooper...lovely guy)

7) What's your favorite pub? (clubs and bars do count)

A) The Royal Albion, The Druids, The Minstrel, mostly the Albion, an awesome pub in those days.

8 ) If you were to show a visitor around Maidstone for a day...where would you take them?

A) Loose Valley & Mote Park.

9) Is there a landmark that you instantly think of for the town?

A) Not really, though it has plenty of nice old stuff.

10) If you could live in any building in Maidstone where would you choose?

A) There was/is a spooky old Adams Family style house somewhere over the river, off Tonbridge Road, forget exactly where. (editor's note....that would be the folly in Reginald Road)

11) Any particular shops that you think are worth a mention?

A) Baileys newsagents in Shepway where I discovered Marvel comics.

12) Which famous people...real or fictional...do you immediately associate with Maidstone?

A) Graham Chapman out of Monty Python lived here, my friend was his gardener, so I went round his house a couple of times. He's my favourite Python too.

13) What's your very earliest memory of being here in this town?

A) The chimney at Hayle Paper Mill, where my parents used to work and live by. The rent was a pound a week, the cottages go for half a million now.

14) Any sad memories of Maidstone?

A) Just people that are dead now.

15) What's your favourite local music venue...past or present?

A) I'll say above Trotters (as was) because that's where I first ran a club...The Twilight Zone.

I played anything from My Bloody Valentine to 60's garage.

16) Do you enjoy the current Maidstone Music Scene?

A) I'm digging the Hendon scene these days.

17) Do you think the towns will change drastically...on the entertainment front...over the next 20 years?

A) Rock & roll is dead.

18) What would you change about Maidstone if you had the chance?

A) Wish they wouldn't vote Tory. Get the Granada cinema re-opened.

19) If you were asked to design a snappy logo for the town....perhaps for an ultra-modern coat of arms...what item or items would you have on it?

A) A bus (editor's note...lmfao)

20) Lastly...on the tail of the last question...what would be a great SLOGAN for the town?

A) 'Medway Aggro Forever, F*** Off Chatham You Pikey C****.'

Hope that helps.

That concludes the Q & A with Dan Avenell.....do check out his links below

NOTE FROM ANDY (AUTHOR)

IF YOU LIKE THIS ARTICLE OR FOUND IT USEFUL OR ENTERTAINING IN ANY WAY WOULD YOU PLEASE SHARE IT FOR OTHERS TO SEE...AND PLEASE MAKE A COMMENT BELOW TO LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK OF IT....GOOD OR BAD