1980-08-30 Crocs, Rayleigh, Essex, England, UK

Notes

DM was the support act for Soft Cell. In 1999, Marc Almond wrote an autography called 'Tainted Life' in which he recalls this evening. Below is the excerpt from that book found on some obscure site, translated from English to Russian back to English:

"I was hoping that things would get better after our most unfortunate performance at pseudo-chic Crocs Nightclub in Rayleigh. As the opening act for us played Depeche Mode, who were at home in Essex. A crowd gathered for Depeche Mode, and they came out with new equipment, high-quality samples, in perfectly shiny New Romantic suits, in cosmetics and styled hair. It embodied the dream of Daniel Miller - a perfect, one-piece, professional pop group. They played very well - one could hear every word Dave Gahan sang. The audience behaved violently, cried and demanded more. Then we went out. I crawled out onto the stage, dressed in black, disheveled, drunk, staggering from cheap speed... We started more or less well, but then a disaster struck. I suddenly stopped hearing myself and a tape distortion sounded like vacuum cleaners and washing machines competing one another with hydraulic drills. I had not heard of monitors back then, and I was continuously turning off the microphone. So I clumsily continued to sing. And then, as if through a veil of ice, I saw them. Luminaries of the British electronic pop music slowly swam in my field of vision. Members of Ultravox, Spandau Ballet and Visage were looking at us. I could not concentrate. I only saw their faces. First they were talking vaguely, then began to grin contemptuously, and then - laugh. Louder and louder. And then the crowd began to throw coins at us. And in addition, to cause more pain and humiliation, they just threw pennies. A coin hit me, and I finally wilted. My voice faltered and trailed off, but that did not matter, because I had forgotten all the words. There was a painful pause. Well, actually, it wasn't just a sudden stop, it went slower and slower, like a frustrated old gramophone. I removed from the stage, Dave [Ball] followed me. Depressed, spat upon, we felt like poor northerners from godforsaken backwater. Afterwards, Tony Mayo from Naked Lunch came up and laughed in my face. "You are not able to write a decent dance track," he said. I hoped that his sarcasm at least partly explains [Stevo Pearce]'s choice, who signed us. I hoped that [Tony] was wrong. Later I found out that Rusty Egan, Visage drummer and promoter of the club, advised Stevo to give up on us. By a twist of fate, less than six months later Rusty had become one of our most ardent fans and had put our "Memorabilia" in a thirty-minute club mix. A charming fellow nowadays, at one time he was even a representative of our publishing group. However, I must admit that on this night we were disgraceful, and if I were in his shoes, I would also advise Stevo to ditch us. After the nightmare at Crocs, we tightened."

Marc also said the same thing to 'Sounds' magazine at the time, when journalist Beverley Glick mentioned the club's name, Croc’s Glamour Club.

“Glamour? There’s more glamour in a fried egg! I think that was the worst gig we’ve ever done. Our backing tapes sounded awful, it was so cold you could see your breath, and when the bloke on the mixing desk turned us up really loud. Unfortunately, members of Spandau Ballet and Visage were there to check us out and they immediately rushed around and started slagging us off. They said we were ‘an oblique northern industrial band’. They were right – we were awful. But what a start to a career – me limping around the stage with aching legs.”

Gary Numan also attended a Composition Of Sound gig at Crocs. This could have been one of the 1980-08-16 or 1980-09-20 gigs, but judging by the info above it seems that the 1980-08-30 Crocs gig was the most hyped, and therefore it would be most likely that Numan attended this gig. Numan said to Jonathan Miller for his "Stripped" biography:

"They [CoS] were on the edge of the dancefloor - no stage, no risers. I thought they were brilliant, but didn't talk to them at the time as something happened and I had to leave. I had an idea that Beggars Banquet might be interested in them, and thought it would be cool to try and get them a [record] deal. Unfortunately, I can't remember now if I ever mentioned it to Beggards, although I think I did."