Alex and the Robbers
MY favourite Alex Harvey story is of the time two masked men burst into a Glasgow record store and held the staff at knifepoint.
They demanded the day’s takings and made their escape.
Suddenly, one turned on his heel and said: “Oh, and two copies of the new Alex Harvey album.”
His unique sound helped pave the way for punk rock.
The singer suffered from insomnia. He once phoned me at 4am – “for a chat” about Sid Vicious.
The controversial Sex Pistols’ bass player – who died of a heroin overdose in 1979 – had set him thinking.
“What Sid did was brilliant. The voice, the look, the attitude – he’s got everything,” Harvey told me.
“I want to find a kid – maybe somebody who’s just come out of borstal – and write songs for him. Can you imagine some tough kid, with nothing going for him, making great records. I could do it.” The idea sadly never came to fruition. Alex Jr said: “His mate ran The Vortex in London, so he’d go down there and hang out with all the punks. He was serious about finding a young guy and turning him into a star.
“But I used to say: ‘You wouldn’t have the stamina to do that’.
“He’d have loved the music side of it – but he’d never have been able to do all the organisational stuff needed to make it happen.”