He wrote his songs walking to and from work,
possibly about the time he worked in a bookies shop near Old Street. The
tempo of the song written depended on how fast he was walking, as his
paces acted as a metronome. Thank god he never managed to break into a
trot, or the Ramones might have had some competition! Anyway, despite a
total lack of any musical training the results were memorable.
What about his band you may ask?
Well here are the details -
Guitar - Neil Thompson (The
Carpettes/The Only Alternative)
Bass - George Maddison (The Carpettes
and The Outer Limits, which featured guest appearances from Herman,
dressed as a vicar!) Also responsible for the wicked gazoo solo on My
Paradise.
Guitar - Wilf Turnbull (a veteran of
many cabaret bands)
Drums - Tim Wilder (The Carpettes/The
Young Bucks) ** Neil Thompson also played drums on several tracks.
Guitars on Oliver Wright - Peter
Balmer (ex - Fad Gadget) and John "echo" Waters.
Herman Asteroid's first live performance was at The Clarendon in
Hammersmith for which he received a rave review from Mick Mercer in
ZigZag magazine (honest!)
He later did a series of gigs in the northeast, which certainly made
an impact on the people who witnessed them. He was actually a cult
figure in Hartlepool for a while!
What about now?
Herman's missionary work in Armenia makes it difficult for him to
tour nowadays , but he did manage one appearance in Springwell
Workingmen's Club, near Gateshead in July 2000 , where he was spotted
doing a spirited Karaoke version of the Cab Calloway classic "Minnie the
Moocher". The audience were in awe!
Information
provided by George Madison
