A POCKET HISTORY OF WISHBONE ASH

By: STEVE UPTON

 

December 1985
Boarding a flight out of India can be as eventful as the stay itself. 
This departure was no exception. The check-in area was full of people 
desperate to get their worldly possessions on board the plane, but 
trying to get from that area into the departure lounge was a fight. 
Six people wide squeezing through a one person hole. At first we thought 
it was a joke and someone would control the flow to get to the planes, 
but that was not to be and so we joined in the fight or miss the flight. 
Four hours late and we eventually were airborne. Our high spirits were 
to be short lived. We refueled at one of the Persian Gulf states and took 
off at dusk, fully laden ready for the next leg of the journey. We were 
heading due West into fading ball of sun when I noticed the sun was to 
the right of the plane, indicating that we were southbound. A short time 
earlier I had felt what I thought was turbulence. The Captain then came 
on the P.A. system and explained that he had shut down one engine and was 
dumping fuel to prepare for an unscheduled stop at Kuwait. We arrived at 
midnight and were told we had to stay on the plane while they inspected 
the engine. Eventually, the flight crew left the plane for a hotel, leaving 
us to the mercy of Immigration. When we were finally allowed off the plane, 
the Arab guards took all passports and treated us like hostages, separating 
the women and children from the men. After several hours of there posturing 
and intimidation's, we were allowed to be driven into the desert where we 
were confronted by the biggest, most elaborate Holiday Inn we had ever seen. 
The next day we boarded another plane, which had sent from India to 
take us home. 

30 December 1985  
Laurie Wisefield telephoned to say he had quite the band. It was not a 
surprise of him leaving but the surprise of him finally doing it. He had 
acted in a very negative way for a long period up to that phone call. 
Laurie joins Tina Turner. 

1 January 1986
Jamie Crompton (Susie Quatro) takes over for Laurie on guitar. We spend 
a few days rehearsing before our forthcoming tour. 

7 January 1986
Played first date with new line-up in Southern Germany.

25 January 1986
Played last night in Stockholm, Sweden. It was also the last gig that 
Mervyn Spence played with Wishbone Ash. After our show we went to a famous 
disco, which is in the old opera house, still complete with classic 
paintings on the walls and ceilings. There we met up with our long lost 
buddy Ian Copeland, another chance meeting of the unexpected.

February - March 1986
Rehearsals with Andy Pyle (Savoy Brown, Rod Stewart, Kinks).

17 March 1986
Flew to America to start tour. Arrived in New York, drove to Philadelphia 
and played gig in the evening. The best way to launch new musicians, 
in at the deep end.

14 May 1986
Flew back to U.K.

May / December 1986
Writing, recording and doing one-off gigs in Europe.

12 December 1986
Flew to East Berlin and traveled by road to Leipzig for TV show. Our first 
for East Germany.

January 1987
 Miles Copeland telephoned late one night to put forward his idea that we 
 get together the original band to make an instrumental album. He spoke to 
 all of us independently and we agreed to get involved in the project later 
 on in the year. 

26 March - 2nd May 1987
U.S. Tour.

11 May 1987
Started working together again with Martin Turner at his studio in London.

24 May 1987
We Decided to go to South Africa based on being told that we would be 
playing to a 50/50 multi-racial audience, the promoters were black and 
ticket prices were low. The reality was not as expected. We were due to 
play a further gig in Cape Town after Sun City, but, after a band meeting, 
we decided not to continue our tour and return to England. On our return we 
wrote to the United Nations expressing our sincere regret at playing 
South Africa and that we had no intention of returning under the regime that 
existed then. A reply from the U.N. thanked us for our views and support of 
the anti-apartheid cause.

1st June 1987
Flew back to London

July 1987
Started recording "Nouveau Calls", our first instrumental album with the 
original band, for Miles "No Speak" series. The return of the original band 
working together was a very poignant time. There we were, Ted, Martin, Andy 
and myself all sitting together in a studio. We all looked pretty much the 
same as we did fifteen years earlier - just a few more wrinkles and a little 
less hair. We all had traveled different paths and our experiences had 
forged much stronger characters than we were boys. Not just musically, 
but now we were men and had our own formulated ideas. It was fascinating 
seeing how we had all developed, both as people and musicians! The latter 
point, however, was like putting on a well worn glove - it fit perfectly!