You taught me a valuable lesson in life

Fascinated to read Dave Ball’s article regarding the founding years and creation of Soft Cell [MOJO 327]. He mentioned Kraftwerk’s Autobahn as an influence, and “a guy who had a cassette of it” at an ice cream factory in Blackpool. Well, the ice cream factory was called Naventis, and I was that guy! I don’t remember working in an ice cream van together, maybe we did, but we certainly sat in a crappy staff room on wooden benches. I was playing

Autobahn on a little portable tape recorder I used to take with me when I was working on the beach at Blackpool in the vans, selling the ice cream in the days when you had summer jobs. We got talking about music and discovered a lot in common. We even went to the same school, Arnold School in Blackpool, although he was slightly older than me.

He was blown away with Kraftwerk, but also loved Northern soul, and said he wanted to be a musician and form his own band. I think I remember smiling and saying to myself, ‘Yeah mate, course you will.’

And then as they say, the rest is history. He went on to form one of the greatest bands of the ’80s – and I went on to be a postman!