Nick Lowe - Clapham Common 1979
I seem to have known Nick Lowe for as long as I can remember, first coming across him in the early 70's when he was a member of Brinsley Schwarz, he then produced LP's by Elvis Costello and Dr Feelgood amongst many others. His first LP, Jesus of Cool was renamed Pure Pop for Now People in America by the powers that be, he followed that up with Labour of Lust whilst at the same time appearing in Rockpile, a band he had formed with Dave Edmunds in 1975.
One time when we were at Top of the Pops I spied Andy Williams on the other side of the studio, Nick was wearing his famous Riddler Suit and we went over and ambushed Andy in order to get a photo of the two chaps together. The photo that appeared in the NME is legendary although Andy had absolutely no clue who we were.
This photo was taken in the back of a small van, Elvis Costello had just played a gig for Rock against Racism at Clapham Common. Nick and I were wandering back to the tube station when the van pulled alongside, the back doors opened and we bundled in to a van already full to the brim with EC and the Attractions, it was used on the cover of his compilation album 16 All Time Lowes.