We usually did quite well with tickets for our shows with promoter 'Flatnose' John Trueman, but the novelty was beginning to wear off for some of our friends and family and we 'only' sold around 30 tickets for our next gig at the Rocket. Flatnose wasn't impressed and threatened to move us down the bill, as we'd sold less than D-Rail, who were meant to be on second. As mentioned before on this blog, John could be a bit of a dick and, when Winny pointed out that this would be a problem as we'd told everyone who was coming to see us that we wouldn't be on until 10, he busted out some bizarre karate moves. Win was understandably a but thrown by this and asked Flatnose what on earth he thought he was doing. John then got one of the bouncers over and claimed that he was being threatened! Said security bod was obviously familiar with John's ways though and told him not to be "so bloody silly" before walking back to the door. Things calmed down afterwards and we came to a compromise, whereby we agreed to buy an additional five tickets in exchange for securing the headline spot. Which sounds a lot worse than it was - we knew we could sell the tickets to people outside, undercutting the Cockpit's 'on the door' price by a pound.
I'm afraid I don't really remember anything about Masterthief, but I quite enjoyed D-Rail. They performed a set of proficient metal, influenced slightly by the likes of Korn et al., but with more than a hint of hardcore. They later developed into a really good band indeed and, thankfully, the nu-metal leanings melted away over the years.
Gig For Victory!: For all your backstage pass / flyer needs.
Our set went well, although I noted in my diary at the time that "Step To It" wasn't particularly well received. Mike and Sug's mate Bootsy came, and he was reasonably complimentary in between continually asking if we thought he was a wanker after our gig at the White Hart the week before.
As soon as we finished, John came over and started harassing us about getting our gear off the stage, as the Garage club night was on at the Cockpit directly after our show. Mike's Dad Paul was helping us pack the cars and John managed to piss him off so much that he said he'd hit him if he didn't get out of the way.
After Leigh giddily introduced me to a guy he'd seen in the bar upstairs who he thought looked like me (bizarrely this guy ended up getting a weekend job at my work several years later), we had a quick chat and decided that we didn't want to play for John again. We'd had issues with him before, but the problem with the tickets, and the way he treated us in general at this gig, proved to be the last straw.
Set list complete with ACTUAL foot marks from the gig. Wow.
An Aside:
'Flatnose'
There's no denying that Flatnose John was an infuriating knob. From his outlandish claims (he owned an E-Type Jaguar, he was personal friends with every record label boss you might care to mention), to his stealing of other people's thunder (he claimed credit for putting on Oasis and Nirvana at the Duchess, when it was in fact another promoter, John 'JFK' Keenan) and his obsession with money, he wasn't, on the face of it, a particularly likeable guy. But he gave us our first gig and seemed to genuinely love music. He could be really funny and, even when he was at his most pompous, he wasn't afraid to poke fun at himself. Although we didn't play for him again after our show at the Rocket in November 2000, we often bumped into John, propping up the bar/fruit machine at Joseph's Well, and he'd always say "hi" and tell us about his latest scheme. He'd obviously forgotten about the number of tickets we sold at our last show because he was forever trying to get us to play for him again and, years later when we formed The Voltaires, we even talked seriously about booking a gig with him at the Rocket. The Kaiser Chiefs thought enough of him that they allowed Flatnose to promote a 'secret' show at the Cockpit, just as their first album was just taking off, in order to help him out of some financial difficulties. Or at least that's what John told me...
He was always 'there' (with a pint of cider and some cheesy chips usually) and everyone on the Leeds scene had a story to tell about him. Tall tales, such as the time John was hung up from a crane at a stadium gig in Sheffield after he blagged his way in and ceaselessly pestered the crew, and the time he persuaded a girl to go back to his flat, woke up to find that she'd stolen all his clothes and had to walk down to the Duchess pub in his pants and socks for something to wear, were standard ice breakers for bands in Leeds at the turn of the century and beyond.
I was genuinely shocked when I found out he was in hospital with kidney and liver disease towards the end of 2007. He didn't have the healthiest lifestyle, but I thought he'd always be around. He passed away at New Years 2008 in Leeds General Infirmary. Some of his former colleagues at the Duchess tried, unsuccessfully, to locate his family members and ensured that an article about his death ran in the Yorkshire Evening Post. They also attended his funeral, along with a scattering of Leeds bands and promoters. Although he could be bloody annoying, I think Flatnose deserves his place in the history of the Leeds music scene, and the city has definitely been less interesting without him over the past few years.
RIP John Trueman (19??-2008)
- The Way She Talks
- Sibling
- Stick To What You Know
- Step To It
- One For The People
- Quick Release
- Gibbsy's Street
- End Of The World
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