The following stories and memories regarding Tymon Dogg were either sent to me via email, or taken from various websites (which unfortunately I have now forgotten). Thank you to everyone who has sent in stories and memories over the last two years - it was very much appreciated.
Dee Xtrovert - June 2008
"Tymon Dogg has a great song about an archaeologist who has a theory about the construction of the pyramids in Egypt, except this one particular entranceway's measurements are off just enough to cast his whole theory into doubt. The archaeologist was later caught trying to sand the doorway to make it bigger, so as to "prove" his theory. In other words, some will go to great lengths to cling to a falsehood rather than admit - even to themselves - their mistake. I've never understood what is gained by being an ignorant cuss while in full view of well-reasoned arguments, complete with numerous explications and citations to the contrary. And adhering to a "that's how I was taught, so it must be so" rationale must be the cause of more human misery than any other line of thought out there. But I've been around, and I have had some heavy experiences and I do recognize that people with very little tend to cling to it very strongly."
Zionist Conspirator - June 14th, 2008
"Many years ago (I won't give the exact number) I was a college student, and for a while worked in the college radio station which at that time concentrated on jazz and instrumental music (it was a religious college and many contemporary song lyrics were problematic). Each weekday morning there was an hour of what is conventionally called "new age" music.
"One of the new age albums was entitled New Age Songs and was by a duo named the Frugivores ("fruit eaters"). It appeared to be a man and a woman (though the pic on the front of the album was a bit androgynous) and, by their thick accents, Brits of some variety.
"You've heard of "so bad it's good?" Well, this stuff was so bad it was fascinating. Weird, jangling drones hummed in the background as the twosome warbled, "This is a tale for a nuclear age" or celebrated "the optimist." The final song on the album was actually quite pretty ("So close to the edge of my heart / Where no one comes near / You got so close to the edge of my heart / Then walked away out of fear"). But the one track that was most often played on the air was the "train crash" song ("You died inside a train crash / A fate of twisted rail / Now people call you dead / But your engine doesn't fail").
"Despite, or perhaps because of, my own anti-new age prejudices, I found them fascinating. I'd love to borrow the album from the station again and listen to it . . . except the album long ago mysteriously disappeared, and no one knows what became of it.
"I have done web searches galore for "The Frugivores" and "New Age Songs." As you know, it isn't easy to do a web search for something and come up totally empty. But any time I do this search I always do.
"There is one exception. A few years ago I found a copy of the album online in a European record store. I believe they had one copy left. I actually bought it . . . gave them my credit card number and every thing . . . and for a while I was happy as a lark. Then they contacted me to say that their only copy had disappeared and I would not be receiving it. That is the last evidence I have ever had that the Frugivores and their album ever even existed. They seem to have conveniently dropped off the face of the earth, as if they had never existed.
"What is going on here? Were these two loopy people beamed up to the mother ship? Did The Man send out his "Men In Black" to destroy all evidence they had ever existed because otherwise their weird jangling would have ushered in a nirvana of peace and justice and made the "military/industrial complex" obsolete? Just what is going on here?
"I'm serious: has anybody out there heard of the Frugivores or this album?"
Mike (aka 'mbessler') - February 2008
"I discovered Sandinista! late in my high school years and I have always thought of it as The Clash's most outstanding effort. The album was an early political education for me, for sure. It might seem kind of strange that the only song by The Clash to make it into my top 25 list features a front man other than Joe Strummer, but Tymon Dogg is just great on this track. "Lose this Skin" never fails to lighten my mood, because even though the lyrics are a little dark, they seem to speak a bit on self-empowerment and struggling on when things are tough. Joe Strummer, who is one of my all-time heroes, will make it into the countdown later."
Wendy Grossman - January 30th, 2008
“Hello there after such a long time. I remember when we met at CBGB's sometime during the heyday of the best music...It may have been a Nico concert. I took you home and let you stay for a few months in Hells KItchen in NYC> We had a lot of marathon nights, me drawing bowie portraits, you playing as quietly as possible all night. I remember those days fondly. All the best, Wendy"
Gary T. Meek - January 18th, 2007
"This wild Irish rose of a song ("Lose This Skin"") has been one of my favorite pieces of popular music since I first heard it in 1980 or so, on The Clash's Sandinista! LP. Mr. Dogg wrote this mysteriously wonderful song & sings it with a commitment & abandon that have never ceased to charm & touch me."
Mac Wilson - September 3rd, 2007
"Lose This Skin" is the point where I think Sandinista! veers into a universe of its own. I also happen to think it's an utterly fantastic song. Everyone has their favorite oddball track on the album – this is mine."
Laura Harris - May 19th, 2007
"I love 'Guantanamo'! You have a fabulous website, and I'm so glad you've made it because I've been very interested in hearing more about Tymon Dogg. I love the Mescaleros as well and I really wish I could've seen them live. Unfortunately, I'm several years too late and I live in the USA, so the opportunity to see Tymon Dogg any time in the near future isn't looking too promising either. I am still absolutely fascinated by Tymon and his work and your website has been a wonderful resource for keeping up with what he's doing and what information is out there regarding him. I have to admit that I have been very curious to know more about Tymon as a person. I bought Vision of a Homeland, hoping he would talk a little bit more about himself (his influences, his philosophies of the world and politics, his likes and dislikes) but I was a bit disappointed. I'd love to know, for instance, if his ancestry is actually Irish, or if the Irish sounding music is just something he is fond of. Listening to and viewing some of Tymon's work recently inspired me to have my grandma's old violin refurbished and to try to learn how to play it a bit. I'd love to tell him that. Is he really at all accessible for correspondence, either through his official website or otherwise? I still want to see the lyrics to Guantanamo! Lol Hope I'm not coming off as too fangirly. I'm just intrigued by someone who appears so talented and yet so completely uninterested in gaining a traditional sort of fame through his music. It's unusual and refreshing and makes me wonder what his views are on other issues."
Joan Lockwood - May 14th, 2007
"Tymon Dogg filled this mother's heart with beauty and glorious sunshine on a day ending in San Francisco on Mother’s Day listening to him playing on Joe Strummer and the Mescaleros last recording - Minstrel Boy. Simple elegance, beauty of which not many could replicate. Visions of fields and hills so high, surrounded with fog and perhaps the first glimpse of morning -- the morning sky. It's the one morning you may feel like spreading arms wide and with air surrounding you with bespoken will to dance and spin round shouting thanks for this day. Many thanks for that."
June Peters - April 13th, 2007
"I’ve been digging through old cassettes made from vinyl from 30 years ago as I always have from time to time, but this time there’s the Internet. Marvellous site. Great to hear one of my favourites blast out at me. And so lovely to see that old line drawing by Cherry. Tymon Dogg’s music shaped my life in some way but I haven’t heard him live for decades. I do have a memory from the 70's. I was studying at Roehampton Institute (then Froebel college). My much-loved friend Pete set up a folk club in the bar. It had a makeshift wooden stage. We heard Tymon do a floor spot in a Putney Pub. Never having seen or heard him before, we booked him on the spot to do an evening at our club - fee paid on door-money and a percentage of the bar. My three memories of the evening were these: 1. The evening was electric, 2. Pete hunched over the bar counting out the pennies and halfpennies that were our percentage for Tymon, and 3. Overhearing a discussion at the end of the evening - long haired music student talking to an equally long haired Tymon - 'Did you know that when you stamped on the left plank and then the right, the sound that came out was E sharp and then G?'"
Ian Anderson (fRoots Editor) - April 11th, 2007
“I booked him (Tymon) for Bracknell Folk & Roots Festival 1989 where he did an inspired set (may have a photo). Maggie Holland did an interesting cover of Locks & Bolts & Hinges on her "A Short Cut" mini album around then, which may get re-issued this summer.
"I spoke to him (Tymon) on the phone back in the autumn and promised to get together for an interview for fRoots that I haven’t done yet as have been impossibly busy. Must do soon. Global A Go Go is one of my top 5 favourite albums ever.
"After all these years I'd never noticed before that Dawson Miller played on Battle Of Wills - and I've known Dawson since mid-80s when he was in 3 Mustaphas 3. Amazing how paths cross and mingle... Modest chap that he is, I had no clear idea of his extraordinary tale in the music biz in his early career until somebody else did the research, nor of his vital role in the early musical life of Joe Strummer until the highly recommended Chris Salewicz Redemption Song Strummer biog came out this year. From what I can figure out, his influence on the Mescaleros' Global A Go-Go - one of my Desert Island choices for sure - may well be crucial. He told me that the skinny bloke who used to come with him when he regularly showed up to do floor spots at mid-'70s Hot Vultures gigs at the Rising Sun in Tott Ct Rd was Joe Strummer."
Dan Asher - March 15th, 2007
"I’d known Tymon in NYC in the early 80's when he played quite a few solo gigs opening for Nico, who was living with my Hungarian friends of the squat theatre at the time before returning to London, etc. She was in a pretty ragged shape then - alcohol/drugs/depression etc. I remember very fondly the Tymon concerts of the time and speaking with Tymon who was a very spiritually and politically aware individual and an excellent under appreciated (by the general public) musician/human being."
Anna Lasim - May 27th, 2007
"I went to the Notting Hill premiere (May 8th, 2007) of Julien Temple's new film about Joe Strummer, 'The Future is Unwritten' with Tymon and Muz from his new band, the Quikening. We were late (naturally) and arrived to find ourselves in the middle of an undignified media scrum as vied to photograph various celebrities… how many pictures does this world need of Keith Allen or Damien Hirst? Because we were late we were put in the 'overflow' screen next door to the big screen where the film had already started with the pounding beats of 'White Riot' shaking the gentile structure of the old picture palace. The overflow screen was a bit like the back of the bus when you're at school where all the naughty kids sit and from the beginning the atmosphere was resolutely irreverent. The appearance of Bono - who managed to get more 'I's into ten sentences that were meant to be about Joe and the Clash than you would have believed linguistically or psychologically possible - was greeted with a loud chorus of snores and someone (I won't say who!) shouting 'pass me a duvet will you.' Poor Johnny Depp (who I must admit I have a soft spot for ever since I heard he gave a poetry reading of his own verse at my lovely local, Filthy MacNasty's) fared no better. His be-pirated appearance - he was interviewed a break from filming - prompted Keith Allen to announce, ‘There's Edna Everidge!’.
"But on to the film... it's great. Julien Temple had been filming the Clash over the decades since their inception, initially on black and white super8 and there's masses of totally original, brilliantly shot and previously unseen stuff here which is fascinating for fans and more objective viewers alike. The Clash footage is niftily edited into a fast-paced powerful and compelling rock saga and the portrait of its hero, Joe, is fully fleshed out, emotionally intelligent and truly touching. Tymon features at the beginning and the end, part of the neat narrative device that completes the circle of Joe's life although perhaps the significance of the two men on each other's lives and music is understated.
"Maybe a few too many talking heads for the unitiated (especially as they're not captioned) but there are probably enough Clash aficionados and old mates in its potential audience to justify this indulgence.
"As a 'rockumentary' it's sensitive and gutsy at once. Julien Temple was a close friend of Joes and it really shows. You can sense that it hurt as much as it fascinated the director who is now working on a film about the Kinks."
Jason Pittock (The Camden Slags) - March 2007
"On Thursday night (March 1st, 2007) I had the pleasure of meeting Tymon Dogg. Tymon was performing with his new band, The Quikening, who gave a spirited performance. I was there as part of The Camden Slags DJs and could "hang" with the other artists backstage. Tymon approached us and said he liked what we had been playing, he said it was “nice to hear DJs that weren’t all clever boy stupid” – which I take as a great compliment! Tymon was great to talk to, a really nice man, full of stories - quite poetic in his choice of words. At some point in the evening we were telling him about a terrible gig we did at The Troubadour Club, "I know" said Tymon, "I've played there, the one in LA”… we had to admit we meant the one in Earls Court."
Dave Symonds (former BBC Radio presenter) - February 20th, 2007
"Last time I saw Timon he was living in rural Hampshire, married, and seemed very happy. That was some years ago.
"He was originally discovered by Paul McCartney and signed to the Beatles' Apple label around the same time as James Taylor. He embarked on an album produced by McCartney & Peter Asher, but it was never completed. Then he was signed by the Moody Blues to their Threshold label and made an album produced by Justin Hayward. I don't think that was completed, either. He toured with the Moodies as a support act, alongside Trapeze who were produced by John Lodge. I always went on those tours as compere.
"Timon was dropped by the Moody Blues over artistic differences. They were keen to exploit his commercial potential (some of his songs were very catchy - 'There's An Eye In The Pond' and 'Buy Her Something New Every Day'), but he had developed an interest in ethnic instrumentation and wanted to use harmonium and various Indian & Asian instruments on his songs, keeping the production very simple. I was producing several acts at the time and Timon joined our stable. We spent a lot of time rehearsing at the Clarendon Hotel on the Isle of Wight. Recording projects went nowhere, however, and we eventually drifted apart. Interestingly, one of the other acts I was looking after - the Purple Gang - have just resurrected their career. I heard from Joe Beard the other day and he told me they have signed new recording & publishing deals and are about to go back into the studio.
"Timon Murray is one of the best British artists never to have received major public recognition."
Palmolive (The Slits) - January 17th, 2007
"Tymon Dogg had helped Joe Strummer to learn the guitar and he was with him at the end before Joe died and had started working together. He was a very strong influence in the whole squat scene. I stayed friends with him and his girlfriend. What I like about Tymon is that he was able to stand his grounds whether it was convenient or not. I like that in a person! When Woody become Joe Strummer and was going around the squats saying hippies are 'old farts' and 'you need to cut your hair' Tymon in reply cut half his hair and half his beard on the opposite side! Quite a sight. I was glad Joe and him got back together to play music in the end. He is a great guy, a good friend but... he still needs Jesus!"
Mark Turauskis - January 3rd, 2007
"I was playing the acoustic music and folk venues around Reading in the early 1980’s when several people, all at about the same time, mentioned to me that I ought to check out Tymon Dogg. Many of them described him as a punk fiddler…Intriguing.
"A short time later, whilst browsing in a record store I came across his LP ‘Battle of Wills’ – which I was so excited about that I wrote and asked the Folk magazine ‘Southern Rag’ (later to become fRoots) if I could review it. They said yes! The editor Ian A. Anderson had also seen Tymon live and compared him to the ‘Holy Modal Rounders’… Even more intriguing.
"Several months after the review was published I saw that Tymon was playing at the Jericho Tavern in Oxford. So myself and my girlfriend, Sue, drove up to see him. It was a terrible night. Heavy rain was followed by a drop in temperature to around five below zero. The roads were completely iced over and we eventually arrived to find Tymon playing to a room of about twelve people, huddled together and nursing their whiskeys for warmth - sounds bleak but it was brilliant.
"Tymon put every thing into his performance – you’d think he was playing for his life. He had a small keyboard which he used mainly to produce a drone whilst he played a fiddle held at chest height producing a mixture of secondary drone and melody line. It all sounded very Indian. Occasionally he added some harmonica, sometimes he played guitar. His voice was clear and powerful sometimes melodic as in the song ‘It’s the Way of a Man to Take All He Can’ sometimes cackling and frenetic as in ‘ Get Your Hands Off Me Satan’.
"He regularly stamped his large working boots as he paced back and forward across the floor like a caged lion. The power of his performance was immense and I learned something really important about performing that night; that a gig can be your statement, your self expression and your universe for a couple of hours – so make the most of it –weather you are playing to ten people or ten thousand.
"Me and Sue were so impressed with the gig that we were buzzing all the way home. We decided had to put him on in Reading! He had to be heard! We linked up with another Tymon Dogg enthusiast in Reading called Chris Parr and put him on at the Horse and Barge, which used to be near the canal. That night he played to about eighty people and if my memory serves me right he did a couple of songs with Helen Cherry too.
"After that I kept in quite regular contact. His ‘phone calls were amazing – often going on for a couple of hours – one of life’s great communicators - talking about everything under the sun.
"I continued to support Tymon in fRoots, when I could, and got further reviews and an interview published.
"In the early nineties I was up at the Cambridge Festival and had managed to secure a much sought after spot in the festival club tent. Whilst killing some time I bumped into Tymon and Rory McLeod who were chatting. Tymon was a bit fed up because he had not arrived early enough to secure a slot at the festival. I was happy to share my four numbers with him – it would be good fun and I was looking forward to hearing him play again.
I did two numbers, he did a solo song and then we did one together. We got a fantastic reception and I got a paid booking out of it for the festival the following year. I wanted them to book us both – but, unfortunately, they would only pay for me solo.
"The last time I saw Tymon play was in Reading, again, about two years later. A guy called Roger Watson from an organisation called TAPS were putting on a songwriter evening at the newly opened South Street Arts Centre. He already had Robb Johnson booked and I suggested Tymon to him.
"Tymon was in transition, musically – less fiddle, less frantic, more measured. He now had an expensive looking midi programmable keyboard which he used for a few numbers. It gave him more power and presence, in a rock sense, and his sampled pan pipe arrangement was really memorable particularly on a predicted single which, I think, was about civil rights worker Chico Mendez and his efforts to slow down the destruction of the rain forest in South America.
"After that I lost contact with Tymon Dogg – I was busy raising my family, and he was too between gigs. I left the music scene completely for ten years, only returning last year, 2006 – and its good to see he is still around."
Richard Dudanski (The 101'ers, Public Image Limited) - November 28th, 2006
"As you know, back in '74 Tymon was living in a squat in Chippenham Rd, just round the corner from 101 Walterton Rd - the 101'ers squat. There was a very close squatting community in that part of west London centred around Elgin Avenue and Tymon became a close friend of ours.
"As you mention in your site (excellent site by the way!) Dogg taught Joe his first chords on various busking expeditions and was definitely an influence in the early formation of the 101'ers, which by the way wasn't, as folk legend has it, a Strummer -only project. Simon "Big John" Cassell was maybe even more instrumental in pulling it together - he was the first singer and sax player, and Antonio Narvaez on drums, and Pat Nother (my brother) on bass were equally involved, (I came in temporarily!! for the 1st gig 'cos Antonio was away at the time).
"Tymon was a regular at the Charlie Pig Dog Club which was a weekly residence at a local dive that we organized. He would occasionally join us for a jam on his violin, and this collaboration continued at our next regular venue - "The Elgin" pub on Ladbroke Grove, that started in spring 1975. In fact, at some of these gigs we would sometimes back Tymon on 2 or 3 of his songs. I remember us doing manic versions of Elvis's Money Honey, and versions of some of Tymon's songs ("Suffer Our Way to the stars" and "Sick as a dog") that were to appear on his Outlaw album. Although after the Elgin I can't remember the 101'ers actually backing him, we certainly continued sharing the bill with him on a number of occasions... especially at benefit gigs for the squatters community...
"When in early summer '76 Joe decided to break the 101'ers and form the soon-to-be-called "Clash" I was well pissed off. There certainly were personality probs in the 101'ers, but my idea was to keep the basic set up, change personnel as necessary but no way did I want to join the Bernie Rhodes set up. So in one blow I lost one of my best friends, my musical cohort and a band that had become a huge obsession! I went off to Sicily for a few months and came back Xmas '76. I quickly met up with Tymon and we decided to form a band - Tymon Dogg and the Fools in January '77. Called it the Fools 'cos we knew we were being Fools (in commercial terms) in not toeing the current fashion line - ie de rigeur Punk... as A&R men were then scrambling like mad to sign leather-clad guitar bands!
"For me, and Tymon, Punk meant being an individual, so we went our own way. Must say for me it was great to be playing with Dogg (the punkiest of punks) - not only for his take on things, but also for the music. We kept it as a trio with "Ron the Tassel" on bass and a basically acoustic set up with Dogg's violin and acoustic guitar. Ron would also get out his home-made one string bass for a couple of songs. Did a never to be forgotten gig (amongst others) which we organized in the Crypt club with the Slits - I had to literally bail out Ron from Brixton prison.... 2 hours before show was start as he'd been nicked for nothing the night before!
"We recorded a few things on a TEAC 4 track, including a version of Loose this Skin - very different, I might say, from the Sandinista! version. After about a year the band broke up.
"I played with Tymon again (with Helen and Chick) at the Enterprise gigs around the time of Battle of Wills, and then in 82 got another band together, this time with Ralf Schmidt on bass. Again, we did a few gigs and recorded the sessions down at Glyn Johns. Had a great time with Joe and Tymon for a couple of weeks, but the results weren't what Tymon had hoped for. Even so, Joe paid for me to fly over to NYC to try peddling the tapes around a few publishers there... to no avail.
"I was so happy that Joe and Tymon got together again in the Meskies. They were great together on stage. The last conversation I had with Joe (we'd argued in '76 but within a couple of years were back to being mates) was here in Spain, Sept 2002, and he was emphatic that he wanted to keep going with Dogg, whatever happened with the rest of the band... in fact had a project that he mentioned more than once, for the 3 of us to drive South into Senegal/Mali on a bus kitted out as a recording studio!!
"I have kept in regular contact with Tymon over the years... he even lived here in Granada for a year or so. He played live with my present band "El Doghouse" a couple of years ago and also put some violin tracks down on an a couple of tunes that we are currently recording for a new album. About time someone came up with serious info on Mr Dogg, for me without doubt one of the essential characters to come out of late 20th cent British rock/pop, and still relatively unknown!! His songs are sublime and his performances... dynamite!
"About time someone came up with serious info on Mr Dogg, for me without doubt one of the essential characters to come out of late 20th cent British rock/pop, and still relatively unknown!! His songs are sublime and his performances... dynamite!"
Robb Johnson - November 27th, 2006
"Well.... it's a while ago, so my memories are a bit ... impressionistic. What I do remember is being very excited to be having a gig with Tymon, for two reasons - 1sty, obviously, ‘cos of his history - I mean, this is a bloke who is not only ferocious on the violin but who knew the Clash & had a track on Sandinista!… 2ndly, more subjectively, my friend Maggie Holland, who was playing bass in the band at the time, knew Tymon from folk clubs past, & had said that she had only ever seen a folk club audience visibly shrink away from a performer as fast as Oxford Folk Club shrank away from me one particular night, & that was one that was being terrified by Mr Dogg!
"The gig itself... I remember thinking Tymon was an absolutely lovely bloke, & enjoyed his set, but we were particularly... miserable that night... there was one photo I had where we were all looking utterly bleak. Everybody in the band was either having a bad time / night or a dark night of the soul that night... Maybe it wasn't as bad as that, but that's what it felt like. Someone said the building used to be the local dole office, & the misery had seeped into the walls & still haunted the place...
"Anyway - more interesting perhaps is meeting Tymon again last year at (another) naff gig in Lewes. I was standing in for Rory Ellis, whose plane was delayed from Australia or something, but it was the sort of pub that wanted eagles covers etc, & gradually, whatever I did, the punters drifted to the upstairs bar, apart from a couple who stayed, oblivious to the exodus, & who seemed to quite like it. I knew I knew the bloke from somewhere - & when I staggered to a halt, he came up & asked if I remembered doing a gig in Reading.... it was Tymon. Lovely to see him again, lovely bloke as ever - top chap, we talked about the sort of things musicians usually moan about, & he helped me load the PA into my car! Coincidentally, I had just been reading a Strummer biog where he was all over the place in the narrative too. Stupidly, I never got his number - afterwards I thought we should do a folk Clash covers album together..."
Rupert - Not The Same Old Blues Crap) - November 27th, 2006
"NTSOBC promoted a show (October 28th, 2006) with DM Bob & Jem Finer at The Brass Monkey in Hastings and Tymon (who as you no doubt know is a Hastings resident) jumped on stage for an encore. It's over a year ago and I can't remember what the songs were, but it was suitably anarchic!"
Claire Hamill - November 26th, 2006
"Tymon was his usual amazing self! Many people there had never seen him perform before and were completely blown away by his passion and ability. He made many new fans that night (November 18, 2006 - The White Rock Hotel - Charity Event). He first played on his own and opened the set with one of his songs on guitar playing in a Spanish style. Then he sang "Something To Prove" and things started to take off. When you see him play for the first time it's awesome! No one plays violin like that. He finished the evening accompanying singer/songwriter Jonathan Martin. It was a great evening and we raised £361."
Chris Brook - November 23rd, 2006
"We used to see him play lots, notably at a Residency in a pub in Kings Cross
and became friends with him and Helen. It was a fascinating period. I do hope to re-establish some contact with Tymon sometime in the future and pleased he's performing again post-Strummer. Well done for putting so much work into this project!"
Richard Strange - November 20th, 2006
"I think we did a week of "Cabaret Futura" nights at the Masonic Lodge in Edinburgh (August 1982). The Bill was myself, performance artists The Event Group, a dance troupe called Pulse, the stand-up comedian Oscar McLennan, and Tymon. I seem to remember him being a very enthusiastic performer, sawing away at an electric violin and haranguing the audience with a very physical in-your-face delivery."
John - November 14th, 2006
"Hey! I love the Tymon website, and if I weren't doing about 8000 other things I would have beat you to it! I know a wee bit about that unreleased Tymon album, from Joe Strummer himself, gleaned during a conversation in which I did my best to talk Joe into getting Tymon into the Mescaleros, only to see him on stage with the band a year or two later! (And Joe laughed when I pointed to Tymon with the biggest grin on my face and said, "See!""
Bernard Towers (aka Boz) - October 9th, 2006
"I used to know Timon when I squatted round the corner (101 Walterton rd, just after 101ers had left) and have many memories and stories about him (and Joe). I went mad on acid and ended up in a seminary in county Durham and he was living just down the road with Helen in North Bitchburn! Last dealings I had with the great man was when I got him to headline a CND benefit in Harlow, about 1984, the power went off but he yodelled and fiddled right on. Not seen him for years, lovely bloke and total inspiration. I used to be called Boz in squatting days and often worked in the squatted cafe, That Tea Room where all these guys hung out."
David Whiteman - October 17th, 2006
"I first heard of Timon from the Sandinista! album and then spent the next couple of years trying to track down any of his albums. I think it was 1982 or '83 (it seems so long ago) I remember going to Elephant Fayre at St. Germans Cornwall. They had a second-hand record stall and to my delight they had a copy of "Battle of Wills" which I purchased immediately. After strolling through the various stalls very pleased with myself, anticipating the return home to listen to my new acquisition. However, I started to here some music coming from one of the music tents which sounded strangely familiar. When I looked inside I was astounded to see Timon starting a set of the album under my arm finishing with "Lose This Skin" which as I recall was received with great enthusiasm from the audience. I still have my copy of the album in the loft but haven't listened to it for many, many years (my record player died years ago!). I have since tried searching the Internet for CD versions, and was astounded to realise that his old albums have never been re-released. When I then listened to a few of the tracks on eSnips it brought back many fond memories. One of my favourite albums of the eighties (for the songs and the memories)."
Mark Stafford - August 7th, 2006
"I've been looking for the song by Timon, "And Now She Says She's Young" for 35 years. I first heard it in 1971 and record a very poor quality copy onto my very old reel-to-reel recorder from the radio, with deejay talking all over the intro and outro! Then for 35 years I've been looking for a copy. Now I've found it. Thank you so much for making my day, my week and my year!"
Tim Benge - July/August/September 2006
"I got to meet Tymon briefly in 2001 when the Mescaleros were doing a tour of in-store appearances. I wish I'd asked him about reissues, but was just content to shake his hand and say how much I liked his music and how great the band sounded that day. There are so many re-issues that I know some label would love to do a collection of his early stuff at least. I'd like to have all of his albums on CD, but a collection of those early singles and any other recordings from the era would top my wish list. All three tracks on the site (www.myspace.com/tymondoggandthequikening) are amazing; with Oil being my favorite, though both it and Guantanamo both give me goosebumps. "It's fascinating to hear a 3rd version of this Indestructible. So far it's incredible. It'd be great to hear any other Rambling Boy-era stuff. That stuff really should be re-released, though I'd say the same for all of his albums."
Liam Genockey - April 30th, 2006
"I've known Tymon for about 4 years. I did play on the "Guantanamo" EP in 2006 and I've only played one gig with the Quikening band and a duo set with him at the Black Horse Festival near Battle in 2004. I've just remembered that we did meet at a party very briefly about 14 years ago so I don't really have any stories as such to add to the site other than our brief encounters recording which we did on 3 or 4 occasions and the gigs that I mentioned earlier. We always had a great time working together but unfortunately when more gigs where made available for the Awakening band I couldn't make the gigs because of other commitments so therefore Tymon had to find a replacement and we've not worked together since."
Dan Sumner
“I am indeed the proud nephew of Tymon Dogg - as regards memories of Tymon, it's hard to say without sounding like a sentimental old bat. There's a nice story about him being given money when he was a kid to buy some shoes but he came home instead with the 1st Leonard Cohen album. His mum flipped out but his dad sat and made the family listen to the whole thing... that's perhaps more a story about my granddad than Tymon but it's all that presently springs to mind, sorry. Tymon's always been really encouraging with my music and has inspired me a great deal. I'm sorry to have missed the gig at the Rhythm factory in march- Tymon and I spoke about a duet, which would be pretty fantastic.”
Chris (The Infidels)
"Me (Chris) and Keith from The Infidels came down to London especially for Tymon's gig. We were placed on the guest list by Bianca (which was cool). We met up with the very charming Celine from the excellent Babylondon and as we were waiting outside Tymon arrived with his good lady. We had a chat with Tymon and told him we had travelled down from Lincoln to see him. He was taken aback by this and quite pleased that we had come so far to watch the Gig! We chatted for a little while and discussed the Mescaleros and the fact that we The Infidels had recently played at the fantastic Strummercamp in Manchester, which had included us playing a couple of Mescaleros numbers with Pablo Cook, Percussion and groove master and obviously Tymon's former Mescalero bandmate. We mentioned that we had performed Mondo Bongo and Tymon went on to tell us that he had written the music to it with Joe Strummer (one of my all time favourite songs).
"Anyhow the gig began (on the third floor?) in Monkey Chews, it was one of the hottest nights of the year and must have been 100 degrees plus upstairs which meant we had to drink lots of beer to stop us dehydrating Lol. We saw Tymon again and bought him a Guinness. Apologies for not remembering all the acts that night, but all were very varied in style, and all were excellent! I do remember Mr Barry Ford though and he played some great songs that really got the audience going! Barry is clearly visible in several of Celine's photos (the distinguished Dreadlocked gentleman behind the Mixing Desk). Anyway during our conversation with Tymon, Keith suggested that I should sing Mondo Bongo with Tymon! Tymon seemed a little wary of this and kind of checked that I knew the words, which I confirmed I did. Tymon played a great solo set and demonstrated his virtuosity playing Violin, his own amazing World Harp, Guitar and obviously singing in his own unique and inimitable style; he played Lose This Skin from Sandinista! much to the crowds delight. Then at the end of his set he began to play the beautiful opening Arpeggio Chords to Mondo Bongo and nodded towards me!!!!! I joined Tymon on stage and we performed Mondo Bongo, it was great because the whole audience seemed to join in on the La la la la la's at one point Tymon's Guitar Pickup failed and in one of Celine's photo's you can see me holding one of the Microphones to the Sound Hole on Tymon's Guitar!!
"Anyhow it was a memorable night and a great honour for me to join such a talented musical journeyman on stage and perform one of my all time favourite songs with a member of one of my all time favourite bands! Cheers Tymon you are a Gentleman, thanks Celine for capturing the night in Photo's and cheers to Keith for having the front to suggest I sing with Tymon!!"
Tom Lardner (El Doghouse)
"I loved playing with Tymon. His approach to music and his energy fit in so naturally with what we were doing. At first he was just going to play a few tunes with us in the Dogs of Paradise, but ended up screaming away for literally hours. By the end of the gig, his violin bow was in tatters."
Peter Daltrey (Kaleidoscope, Fairfield Parlour)
"Through the Moodies we’d met a guy called Timon. Justin (Hayward) had signed the young Donovanish singer- songwriter to their Threshold label. Timon had a unique, child-like voice, showcased on his first (and only?) single, "And now she says she’s young", a beautiful, delicate song with a flowing melody. The record was helped by Justin’s contributions on guitar. Timon became a fixture at Dave's (Symonds) house where we would sit around all night playing songs together. On 12th June Timon supported us back at Mothers."
Fetzer Mills, Jr. (Journalist, Documentary Filmmaker)
"I am a journalist and interviewed Joe Strummer one afternoon before a Mescaleros show in Seattle in October 2001. It was supposed to have been a short ten to fifteen minute interview but it turned into an afternoon long pretty wild conversation about everything under the sun. We were sitting in these chairs with wheels on them in his dressing room and he and Tymon Dogg and I started having chair races around the room. Joe put Tymon's chair up on a long table and made Tymon sit in it and told me to go stand by the door. Then Joe said, "Right, now I'm going give Tymon's chair a big shove and when I do, Fetzer, you open the door and we'll launch Tymon out into the hall. Tymon started turning pale. I said, "We can't do that, Joe." Joe said, "Why the fuck not?" And I said, "Suppose we break Tymon before the show?" Joe said (sounding pretty disappointed), "Well, I suppose you're right."
Phil Longes (aka ‘Drac’)
"My then name was Drac. I was a mate of 'Woody' (at Palmers Green) and became friends with Clive Timperley. After I left ‘Vomit Heights’ I flatmated with Clive in Knightsbridge and then went to Australia returning in '76. Completely lost touch with everyone. I remember you (Tymon) as a really good guitarist, and you hated James Taylor! What a tip was Vomit Heights! Hope you've had a good life."
John Keenan - 2002
"I booked the Leeds Grand Theatre. The support provided, which I had to take, was Lamplight, a proficient harmony rock band containing, I believe, Alan Price’s cousin. In order to spice it up a bit, I gave the opening spot to a friend of mine from our teenage years in Formby, Tymon Dogg. Under the name Timon he had recorded with the Beatles and The Moody Blues, but in between he had lived in squats with Joe Strummer, Sid Vicious and Ari Up, he taught Joe Strummer to play guitar and was a major mover in that London punk scene (You can now find him in Joe Strummer’s Mescaleros). It was classic to see the faces of the theatre audience, dressed up to the nines, confronted by this folk-punk busker accompanying himself on manic fiddle with his sardonic ditty 'Dog Dirt On Your Shoes (It's The Latest Fashion, The Latest thing To Do)'. The Yorkshire Post sent an aged journalist (who, I was reliably informed, had spent most of his time in the backstage bar) to review the show, he commenced his piece with a comment that ‘Mr Price had entered from the wrong side of the stage’…it was downhill from thereon."
