A Letter from Cleavsie

14D Dibden Court
Stoke-On-Trent

ST4 1PB

Hi Dave,

Hope it's getting better for you now, cos it certainly is for me. Last Thursday five of my mates came back to our room and we got a few crates of beer in and drank them all, then my friend had a bag of dope so we ended up smoking dope till four in the morning.

I woke up at about 7.30 and thought I was dead! You wouldn't believe the amount of dope in our flat, it's like 'Dope City'. We wake up in the morning to the smell of joints, it's incredible.

(Oh but I would believe it, because I know how much we smoked later.) David

Well Catherine wrote to me again, apparently she and Derek have split up. She was really pissed off as well as I went back home last weekend but I didn't go to the Mayfair and she was there. In fact so was Scott, Stu and Fiona!! and I didn't go!!! I went down to the "Green" on Saturday and she didn't turn up, so I rang her (silly thing to do) she was pissed off.

(Catherine was a girl Mark was fooling around with over the summer. I don't think it ever went beyond the platonic, however much she tried.

The Mayfair, is of course Newcastle's famous Mayfair Ballroom, where we went to the rock club ever Friday and Saturday.

The Green is Old Eldon Square in Newcastle. It was where most of the younger rock crowd hung out on a Saturday afternoon and got drunk. It was like one long outdoor party on the Green.It was a good place to meet cute young rock chicks on a fine afternoon. These days, the so-called Goth kids still hang out there, but the party atmosphere dried up a long, long time ago.) David

I was going to go home this weekend but I'm going to see the Pixies here this Saturday, so I might go home the following weekend instead of the 26th if that's ok with you.

So you'll have to get back in touch with me, and you'll have to tell me what you thought of 'Jane's Addiction', I'll say it again they were fucking excellent.

(I thought Jane's Addiction were a horrible band. Artschool fuckwits with no balls. I liked bands with long hair that knew how to rock. My attitude towards them has mellowed, but I'll never be a fan the way Mark was.) David

When I went back home I saw Sos and he went to see J.A., it turned out he was sitting crossed legged on the stage and the bouncers just left him alone. He was swapping cigarettes with Dave (Navarro) the guitarist, then Sos seen a drumstick on the stage and he told Dave to go and get it for him. Dave ran across the stage and got it for him, he also got the setlist (WHAT A BASTARD!!!)

(This seems unbelievable, but it does sound like Sos. He always had balls for anything. The bouncers must have been having an off night.) David

Have you seen Mark yet, the one who lives 1 tube stop away from you? And who's this Kelly girl, is she nice looking enough to shag?

(That would be Mark Crinion, one of the original Jolly Boys. I have absolutely no memory of who Kelly was. Probably a girl that I met at the Astoria or the Marquee Club.) David

So I heard you got rid of Niall out of the band the easy way, well at least he'll not kick your head in of you had asked him to leave.

The girls down here aren't too bad. My mate (and) me don't think the girls in our year are that nice, so we've been getting off with the second year's doing our course.

Guess what when I went home last weekend my mum said she wanted to move to another country and wanted to know how Michelle and I felt about it. Michelle said she would definitely go and I said so would I. So she been in touch with the American and Australian house to get information and forms sent out. If all goes well then we might be moving, next summer or sooner, so I'll just do one year of my course.

(Mark's mum has made plans to move abroad numerous times. It's still yet to happen.) David

Well I better get going now, so get in touch with me to let me know if you can come home a week earlier, and give me a phone number if you've got one.

Mark

Boots, Beer and Women

I recently came across a few letters from my best mate Mark 'Cleavsie' Cleave, which I just have to share because they really sum up our lives on the rock scene.

At the time these were written I was living in East Ham in a really grotty shared student house. I wasn't enjoying my course and I no longer saw the friends I'd made whilst living in Halls of Residence during my first year. London had become a lonely place, my band wasn't going anywhere and I wanted out. Mark was feeling the same way up in Stoke.

Cleavsie and I had become firm friends after meeting at a party over the summer. His letters give a taste of what our lives were like thereafter. Everything revolved around drinking, smoking dope, getting into fights and trying to meet women.

'Boots, Beer and Women' became our motto, the boots referring to the cowboy boots which were essential wear amongst serious rockers like us.

And that's pretty how things remained for the next 5 years. It's a miracle that we managed to survive, much less that we actually managed to get any women!

Once again, the letters are present as written. Punctuation was not Cleavsie's forte. Then again, I'm surprised he was able to write at all.