Pinky on Punk By The Sea

After chatting at the wake for recently departed Secret Corners guitar hero Tom Graham,Pinky asked me if I would post something on the blog.
This is it... 

( written June 2012)

Punk by the sea ...an inside story from Pinky, event manager at the June 2011 show ( Buzzcocks) and the 2012 four day show up to 7.30pm on Thursday the 14th June.
@ 7.30pm on Thursday 14th June I walked out on the promoters Darrin Cook snr & Darrin Cook jnr ( alias Daz & Sid) I was not responsible for anything after 7.30pm on 14th June except putting on facebook the gig was to be cancelled due to a cock up, and later on the Sunday when the DIY in the Barn organisers asked my band Night of Treason to play ( well, Jon asked me ).Some may say I jumped ship etc etc... but I had put months of effort, and worry into this ..it was to be the best punk show in the south. I was relishing being involved. I was excited at the prospect of seeing and meeting some of the biggest names in Punk Rock, and loads of my friends were going, my band was playing, it was gonna be ace!!

I first met PBTS promoter Daz Cook along with his Son ‘Sid’ at a gig and they started coming to many gigs and ended up driving my band around over the last 3 or 4 years. A bit of a ‘quirky’ family but generally seemed honest and in fact never asked for petrol money, and Daz often went out of his way to give lifts or help with anything he could. ‘Sid’ ( Daz jnr ) tagged along and as he got to about 18 he started becoming involved more. Then after coming to, and then helping me run Punkfest they hatched a plan..called Punk By The Sea.

Here it is, I hope you are sitting comfortably!!

History PBTS
The PBTS ‘Buzzcocks’ show in 2011 was a huge amount of work, organisation and effort..but a great team effort and very much run by ‘three punks’ with the help of many people along the way and on the day.. it was a brilliant day.. those that went will confirm this. The only bad thing was the crowd barrier nearly collapsed under the weight of revellers.
THE BUZZCOCKS GIG , June 2011... and why me manager? Well firstly I was told it was a birthday/charity gig for Great Ormond st Hospital because Daz said his daughter was ill & needed treatment there. On a personal note, my Son had a heart transplant there when he was 14 and I had raised money for them before at my Punkfest so I was happy to be involved. I run/have run Gosport Punkfest since 2005 and managed many smaller shows and band nights... and I love a challenge... and I saw this as a good test for me, and to be honest, meeting and dealing with the bigger named bands was a nice prospect. The ticket money was collected by the Promoters & their family... I never saw or knew exactly how many tickets were sold. All along I asked about ticket sales, like how it was going and if we were making enough to cover the outlay and the messages were good, although all three of us had to work very hard to get the word about. On the day the biggest shock and personal trauma for me, along with the stress of running this massive day, was on the morning of the show at about 10am Daz told me they were £2000 short of being able to pay the bands in cash on the day...I flew off the handle at Sid & Daz because they had told me the money was there. I didn’t think they lied, but maybe were just stupid not to know this!! People were arriving, fans, bands, PA men, Lighting techs, Bouncers, bar maids I was stressed to say the least and I could not operate knowing bands might not get paid...So I went home and took out a bank loan to cover this amount as the promoters assured me the money was there, but it was held up in the gig gigantic ticket account until 3 days after the event... I trusted and believed them. I took it they were just a bit daft not letting me know earlier. They told me the money would be here by the Wednesday ( 3 working days after the show)...Ok...Fact.. I can categorically state that I did get all my money back!! . The charity got allocated £1,750 (as far as I remember)... which I thought was a very good result. ( Daz gave me a letter confirming the donation, which I displayed to the watching public at the December 2011 show headed by UK Subs). I could go on and on... lots of funny, scary, worrying, crazy, fantastic things went on that day in June 2011... for me personally it was hard work, mainly it was hardest dealing with the promoters & the family at times but over all a brilliant day/night, and after all, they did a fantastic job to help make it all happen.

 

 

Punk by the Sea 2012
OK... I have tried many times to write this... but I decided to wait until the dust settled as I didn’t want the facts clouded by the disappointment, anger, deflation I felt when I walked out at 7.30pm on Thursday 14th June 2012.... just as the show was starting. You reading this might say I walked out .. but believe me I had my reasons... & here they are> I worked my ass off to try make this the same or even better than last year ( Buzzcocks 2011 PBTS).. I was more organised, we had more helpers, more teams, better barriers, the same PA man & his crew, more bands etc etc... it was going to be the greatest show on Earth... but still run with the Punk Rock ethos... otherwise I would not be there. I must say that Darrin Cook snr worked extremely hard promoting this event.. he drove all round the country putting posters up, flyering etc etc all year!!Between them they had got some great bands , a brilliant PA man, a really good crew, ‘proper’ crowd barriers, 2 stage managers and even got me an assistant manager.... it was looking brilliant!! I truly believe they had no malicious intentions of ripping anyone off because I was told all the main bands had been paid deposits of half their fee, hotels were paid for... everything was in place... they wanted it to happen!! Now, After my personal traumas from last year I insisted that this year there MUST be cash to pay all the bands what they required on the day, and I rammed it home that I was no way using my overdraft or bank loan like last year,in fact I was nothing to do with the cash whatsoever except that I kept asking all year “ hows tickets going? Will we have the cash on the day to pay for it ?” Big Daz said “yes” on every occasion . I was a bit annoyed as they wouldn’t let me have any tickets to sell to my friends like last year. They told me it was “all done online via the PBTS website” I was again a bit concerned that they were booking too many big name bands that cost money ( I will not and never will discuss what any bands do or don’t get paid... it’s private between bands & promoters ). I was also getting more and more concerned at the involvement of the rest of the family, mainly Daz’s wife Vicky, who seemed to be allot more involved, and in my opinion she was not able to do this kind of job, she had no experience and her people skills lead allot to be desired. I would also get random strange messages from the punk by the sea facebook site but I was not sure who from as many people seemed to be using it. As the show got closer & closer I was getting more and more concerned about the ‘non involvement’ of young Sid (Daz jnr).. someone I considered the only one I could rely on to get sense out of. I still kept messaging the phone and the facebook site ( they were inconsistent answering the phone) to make sure things were ok and money was there to pay for it all. I still got “yes” as an answer. I was told that well over 300 tickets were sold online & the money was in the gig gigantic account...same as last year, but I was still told everything is fine, they just needed to sell 80 tickets for cash on the weekend. Seemed OK to me.
Then alarm bells... about 2 weeks to go and Daz told me they were paying bands by cheque only... I was flabbergasted!!! I told him they won’t accept that but he insisted ‘most’ of them were ok with it and he’s contacted all the bands. Only two bands wouldn’t take cheque & they had enough for that!! I was a bit curious but again I trusted him & I know he trying his very best to keep it going... he really was.. I saw his face, I saw the strain he was under. I told him “OK” lets do it!! So, All was kind of looking fine but now contact started getting less and less, they would not answer my calls and I would just get vague messages , meeting arranged and not attended... but generally when I did get through I was getting told all was ok...that was until a week before the show they phoned me because they had a ‘problem’ with the barriers. I didn’t know what the problem was, they told me the company had pulled out. So we rallied around, found a new company and problem sorted. It was still vague why the company pulled out.. if they did at all! I want to make it clear.. I was never given any info about bands, PA , barriers etc etc,,, they would not let me have any info on anything to do with the gig except arranging the team of Marshals ( though even then, Sid dropped 3 from my list as he didn’t like them!!) . This all meant I could not/was not allowed to contact any bands on their behalf to smooth any possible problems out like I had to last year. I was told they were ‘sorting it all’.. it was all ‘under control’. Last year it was only my last ditch email and phone call to the Buzzcocks manager that saved the day as far as getting them to play PBTS on the pier. Buzzcocks management had been sent multiple badly spelt emails and didn’t believe it was a real gig... also many of last years other bands thought the same.. I had to conform it was actually real to almost all last years bands.
It’s Now a week before the gig I actually get a meeting with big Daz.. he looked knackered. No Sid? No Sid? So I asked where he was and Daz said he was being a brat and not doing anything at all. He was leaving it all up to Daz... I was getting very annoyed by this time. Daz then gave me a black sack full of hi viz vests for my marshals and left... I was really getting worried but I thought ‘it’ll be alright on the night’ kind of thing, plus I had all this drama last year. I had to real them both in a few times, and them me! When problems arose Daz has a habit of blaming Sid and Sid blames his Dad! Between them all they sometimes fabricate problems and invent or even fantasise meetings they’ve had with top bands or managers. I think On the whole they are honest, but seem to need to feel important. But, you kind of put it down to them being a bit ‘different’ so to say. But This situation was now getting bad!! On Monday the 11th June I rang up as I was now getting an increasing amount of texts & calls from bands about criteria for the day, costs etc etc... no one was talking to them, Daz & Sid seemed to be ignoring all calls!! I got hold of Daz & he assured me everyone had been told everything.. Sid confirmed this to me!! I asked why were bands contacting me then? They said “dunno”!! I think it was Tuesday when the final hammer blow to my sanity hit me... Vicky, Darrins wife phoned me and in a barely understandable way informed me the PA man had “double booked and pulled out”!!! Whaaaat???!!! I insisted on talking to Daz..Vicky said “ hes driving”.. I asked for Sid... Vicky said “he’s asleep” ( it was about 9pm).. I was getting angry with them as I needed Daz or Sid to explain!! Then I got a call from someone that knows the PA man.. he gave me his number.. I phoned the PA man... he informed me that he had NOT pulled out and NOT double booked... all was fine except... his firm did not accept cheques!!!!!!! I had been lied to. I rang up Daz & Sid... again it was Vicky that answered!! Arrrgggg!!!!!! Im now going mad!! I told them Im out of it!! Im leaving them as they lied to me!! She said “don’t shout at me... it’s not my problem”!!! Arrrgggggg!!!! I Phoned my assistant manager & said I’m out... he said..if your not there, I’m out too mate!! Fair play! It was going pear shaped big time!! But.. then Sid phoned me..yes he actually f*cking woke up to say it’s all a misunderstanding... “ahh.. a misunderstanding?” I said...he insisted the PA man was lying, and spreading roumers!??! I did not believe him at all...what a load of Bollocks!! I was very angry with them all!! Then A call from Jon ( a stage manager in PBTS) calmed me down... they’d got another PA and all was fine... I only stayed in at this stage because of Jon.. and I started thinking of all the people that were now getting an ‘unknown’ PA man!! But, the gig was still on.
Then came Thursday the 14th June... I had been working all week doing 4.30am til 6.30pm on shifts to cover the hours needed to take off to be at punk by the sea.. I was tired, very tired, but upbeat ... this was a roller coaster ride from hells f*cking gates!!! But then, I popped out of work and I noticed I’d got a missed call on my mobile from a guy involved the management of the Damned................ and next one down was a text from Daz saying “phone me URGENT” ... panic stations!! I tried phoning Daz... but yet a ‘f*cking’ gain I got the bloody answer machine!! Arrrrrgggggg!!! So, I phoned the Damned management guy ( no names) a very decent conversation, very polite and professional explain they’d just been informed they were to get a cheque and not cash , but, they do not accept cheques.. as the CONTRACT stated!! I tried desperately to call Daz but instead I got texts ( & kept them) from Daz saying (quote) “I can’t do this any more” ..”I leave it up to you”....” cancel it cancel it cancel it” ... “ive made a mistake with paypal”.. “ ive dyne (done) ever (every) think (thing) else”...”I’m sorry, Im giving up”.... By this time I was asking my boss if I could take 4 hours unpaid as it was about 2pm now. I got to the pier at about 4pm, tired, hungry & stressed.. I went in and saw all the stall holders, bands arriving, punters outside... I was very upset at this stage. I Asked for Daz but he was not there.. I was angry, he was still ignoring his phone... when Vicky asked “where have you been”?? I admit, I lost my temper a bit and shouted “ it’s all your bloody fault.. you lot have messed it all up”!! On this the Daughter ( aged 23) dragged her Mum away then the boyfriend started threatening me with physical violence and was being held back as he thought I’d spoken to his girlfriend badly...???? It was getting madder & madder by the minute ! I finally got to Darren in a nearby car park... I shouted at him.. and only now did he finally admit... HE DIDNT HAVE ENOUGH MONEY TO PAY THE BANDS!!! They had heads firmly in the sand all day..ignoring all calls, hoping it would all blow away!! Jon was very kind and said ‘lets keep it going’.. Jon had good ideas about keeping it on by playing bands that turned up that would accept a cheque, or just wanted to play...in my view Jon kept it going, he was doing his very best! !!! I went back to the pier... I told Sid to tell everyone the score on facebook... I said “people are travelling from around the country/world... they must be told before it’s too late”... he did nothing!!!!!!! Daz was still lying to me and everyone that the Damned would accept a cheque... THIS WAS A LIE!!!!!!!!!! I was no longer able to look at Daz, Sid, and especially Vicky... I was sick to the teeth of them all!! I had to explain to the stall holders, bands, bouncers that it was looking bad & the main bands would not be here. The head of security agreed the Cooks should announce it before it was too late.. it would only get worse. I believe to this day that the money ( how much I just don’t know) was as they said, tied up in gig gigantic... this is where I was told by the Cooks the money from ticket sales was being held until 3 days after the event.... I told them to go get a load of cheque books and hand out cheques to all the fans that turned up and spent good money on this thing... it was dream too far... it nearly came off, but ultimately punk by the sea was a bridge too far...but they lied to me, and hid the truth from me so I would not pull out . This is why I WALKED AWAY ... I had no bearing on anything anymore... I was not prepared to stand there for 4 days and nights trying to explain to 1000+ punks that the gig was effectively off.. I was not prepared to ‘smooth out’ this one... the Cooks were to blame... that was now they’re job!! RIP? Nah...... the DIY at the barn was nothing to do with me... I had gone... but when Jon phoned me telling me he’s been up all night Friday talking to Tara and making it happen I was very very happy and very glad people like that are in this world..our punk world... the way EVERYONE RALLIED... I really wish I could have stayed (I missed sham69 in the barn ffs!!!!!) but I just could not face the Cooks after all this ... when I knew they’d bolted I came back on Sunday and Bubba was rushing about like a mad man... Tara gave me a hug & Jon was looking knackered but happy.. and rightly so.. in my view he was the one that kept it going at the crucial, decisive moment...Jon Lamb deserves a punk rock medal!! No excuses from me, but I just could not take the strain anymore...my bolt was shot, feeling really unhappy....until Sunday anyways... But the DIY people showed what can be done when the chips are down.. punk rock spirit won through in the end!! I do not believe the Cook family intended for all this to end this way, Daz & Sid did what they thought was right, but they lost control, clammed up, panicked and to make it 100 times worse never gave any explanations at critical times, to the people that were trying to hold it together and help them!! They took on too much. I do not know where they went , and where any money went after the pier show. There are lots of stories going about and lots of angry people who got there after spending money on tickets, hotels & travel. The Cook family seem to mean to do the ‘right thing’... but in my opinion, they lie and try to blame others when things go wrong.. maybe out of panic, or maybe they are just allot more astute than they are giving out. That’s for you lot to work out I suppose. Pinky

Sorry for any typos, I'm not a writer . This is just my angle on events. On the facebook DIY punk site there are many many opinions and comments about just about everything. I do believe authorities have been informed and investigations are on going. Some people have got 'some' money back. Also, it seems The Cook family are still unavailable. I sent a text last week and was told I am nothing to do with what they do.

All the best , Pinky