It began with the song "Shake some Action'. In 1978 Wednesday nights at the Tiger Lounge in Richmond was the place to be. It started off with the Keith Glass band or KGB having a residency and inviting some of the new punk bands like the Boys Next Doors to support. This was one of the few places we got to see all the new bands and it was pretty exciting waiting to see who would turn up as the scene grew. Not just bands but punters too, Eventually Keith's band finished their residency and Laurie Richards began running something similar called the Beat Club with a poster that copied the early Who Marquee posters from the sixties. All the punk bands played there. For some reason The Fiction never did.
With KGB we went for the punk bands but we stayed for Keith Glass cos he had a great rocking band and we were not that far along the path that we had outgrown our Pub rock roots. The Sports were still popular as one the early Jo Jo Zep. The one song that stood out in Keith's set was "Shake Some Action" I had to find a copy.
I couldn't find the song anywhere until they released a punk compilation with some guy spitting beer at the camera. (Actually, there were a lot of great tracks on the album) It kind of satisfied me until I started hearing about the album. With the same title as it's prime cut.
Luckily I stumbled upon a second-hand copy in the basement of a record store in the city. Still can't recall the name of the shop. The record was in that delicious thick cardboard the Americans use. The song's parent album was fantastic with the Groovies really digging into their sixties roots and playing a cross between the Beatles and the Stones. A strange way to go in the era of punk but just great to listen to and it became a source of inspiration as my band moved into Mod and power pop. Shake Some Action was on constant rotation at my place. And it is still a regular on my turntable after 40 years.
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