Rarely mentioned in dispatches – Silverhead were a lot more influential than they are given account for.
The band fronted by Michael Des Barres were essentially a sleazy rock band that encompassed a bit of heavy, a lot more glam and a fine precursor to punk’s swagger.
They produced just two albums the eponymous Silverhead (1972) and the far more tighter and accomplished 16 and Savaged (1973).
If you like your rock on the Nazareth/Pistols/Zeppelin/Mott tip then Silverhead might just be the best band you have never heard.

Listen to them on grooveshark – and then try to track the vinyl copies of the albums down…

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THIS LOOKS ACE…

Press Release:

The story goes that five or so years ago a Chelsea inhabitant encountered Bob Dylan standing outside the dry cleaner’s which now occupies 406 King’s Road.
Dylan looked lost, puzzled. The Chelsea local plucked up the courage to ask what was of concern to the spokesman of several generations.

“Didn’t there used to be a great rock & roll clothes shop here?” wheezed Dylan. The answer is, of course, yes. And its name was Johnson’s. This fabulous fashion store operated on the site for more than two decades, and – with an equally impressive sister outlet in Kensington Market – provided popular music with a dazzling variety of visual identities from the 60s to the 00s.
Dylan is just one of the stellar cast who sported Johnson’s designs on stage, on the street, on film, on record sleeves and on the road. So also did Tom Waits, Rod Stewart, Sex Pistols, The Clash, Keith Richards, Chrissie Hynde, The Specials, George Michael, Jack Nicholson, Kid Creole, Fred Astaire…the list of Johnson’s fans is breathtaking.

Now the exhibition LLOYD JOHNSON: THE MODERN OUTFITTER celebrates the career of the man behind the facade. In recognition of Lloyd Johnson’s position as one of the central figures operating at the cross-hatches of popular music and fashion design, the exhibition is centred on his core archive of garments, textiles, artwork, personal effects and ephemera, and brings together key clothing from customers and collectors from around the world.

THE MODERN OUTFITTER also opens the door on a pre-digital world of shopping, retailing, production and design, one where Johnson’s boutiques became total environments which also told his own story, from Modernist beginnings in the seaside town of Hastings through hippy splendour in London and Paris in the 60s to new wave, post-punk and New Romanticism in the 70s and 80s to LA’s Tiki/lounge scene and Tokyo’s leather-clad rockers of the 90s and 00s.

http://chelseaspace.org

CHELSEA space

Opening Time
Tuesday – Friday: 11am – 5pm

Rod Stewart in his Lloyd Johnson/Colin Bennett jacket, 1970

Saturday: 10am – 4pm

Bus
Vauxhall Bridge Road: 2, 3, 36, 159, 185, 436, N2, N36
John Islip Street: 88, C10, N88
Millbank: 87, N87

Rail
Vauxhall Station is within walking distance.
Victoria Station is a short bus ride away.

Underground
Pimlico and Vauxhall (both Victoria Line)
Westminster (Circle, District and Jubilee Lines)

Taxi
There is a taxi rank directly outside of Tate Britain.

Parking
There is no on-site parking.

Address
Chelsea College of Art and Design
16 John Islip Street
London SW1P 4JU

phone: +44 (0)207 514 6983

Images courtesy Paul Gorman http://www.paulgormanis.com

DexysOfficial
We spent yesterday afternoon checking out venues – trying to find the right place for us to put on our live show
23 hours ago

YES!

photos courtesy of the wonderful http://heelsandcandy.wordpress.com/

or something similar…

Nowadays Armani’s pretty much a no-no for gentlemen with half a braincell but back then…

Early 84, Saturday morning. Hanover Square, London. Bar Remo for a sandwich or a panino if we are being all Venetian. Flogging the overtime, sitting in the square watching the girls go by. Having a mooch. Leather Armani jacket, Armani jumper, Armani jeans.
“Armani, Armani, A-A-Armani.”
Leather eagle on the arm, leather eagle on the jeans’ pocket. Bit of a chill in the air, wrapped up warm with an Aquascutum scarf pulled across my neck, Timberland shoes keeping out the cold.
A few months earlier: 10 September 83, Saturday morning. San Marco 989, Venezia. Emporio Armani for a polo shirt, a tee shirt, a pair of jeans… Then having a beer sitting in the square watching the girls go by. Having a mooch.
“Armani, Armani, A-A-Armani.”
My little gang from North London was hooked. The Lacoste and Fila BJ tennis shirts were being replaced with floral and striped shirts buttoned to the neck under the Giorgio Armani jumper. The iconic jumper. Beautifully designed in colours that were sombre and stylish, a white label stating
simply Giorgio Armani and there on the left hand sleeve the leather eagle with the two black letters: GA. We’d moved from Scottish golfing knitwear to Italian designerwear. From sport to fashion with one swing of a six iron.
Day trips to Venice for the shopping not the sightseeing. Daily lunch-hour visits to Woodhouse on Oxford Street. Our shop. It had always been our shop. London’s soul boys shop. A spin and pirouette away from Crackers nightclub. Every day – to check the stock. Little boutiques tucked
away in distant postcodes. Looking for the label. The label that says Made in Italy.
From Armani to Missoni knits. Ricardo Bini and Benetton. Ball jeans with the red label, Fiorucci jeans with the gold triangle. Gucci loafers and Bally Casuals. Bar Italia on Frith Street for cappuccinos and Villa Carlotta on Charlotte Street for lasagna. Made in Italy us North London
Boys…
September 86 Saturday morning. Shaftesbury Avenue and John Anthony’s shop. CP Company and Stone Island isola di pietra. Navy Arctic. Compass patches and Gucci watches. Ciao jeans and Paraboot shoes. Timberland boots and Best Company sweats and of course: “Armani, Armani, A-AArmani.”
Getting older moving on. Hugo Boss suits for weddings and christenings. Giorgio rather than Emporio. Then with Chipie, C17 and Chevignon crossing the channel we moved onto Bass Weejuns and Paul Smith. Vintage Levi’s and Burberry macs. John Smedley and Thomas Pink. Jermyn Street and Burlington Arcade and back to Covent Garden to Sam Walker and John Simons. But for a while from ‘83 to ‘87 we were Made in Italy us North London Boys. Strictly Made in Italy…
This article originally appeared in Issue 3 of Oi Polloi’s house magazine The Rig Out.
Issue 4 is in the shops now.

Meanwhile it would be rude not to