In these days of information overload where is does not seem like there is a spare second to yourself, it does, in way make you wish for a past time when you found "new to you" music in the only place that such treasures lived. Yes back to a time of weekly music papers and those monthly glossy tombs of cool we all lived for. KERRANG! was the epicentre of what to look out for.  We hung on every word a certain journalist said because we all knew he had that feverous attention to cool that we all wanted in on and wanted to know more about. Mr. Ray Zell was our main man! Every time and all the time that he shared his findings we lapped them ALL up!

Mega Metal KERRANG! issue number Thirteen, THE GLAM SPECTULAR ISSUE. A simple one page feature with one old photo but did that one page resonate deeply and lastingly.

The Hollywood Brats were the band and we needed to know more but, this was 1989 alas, however that is where the trail started for me and many many others. 

Flash forward to 2014 and Ray was at it again......

Ray Zell ; "Andrew first emailed me outta the blue in September 2014…that very evening we were annihilated in Camden’s World’s End!!!!! He wanted some blurb from me about a new Brats re-release, and eventually a graphic, too. An honour , considerin’ the BLANTANT influence on my band MARIONETTE".

 In Colour

and In Black and White

Ray's old magic was still there, in spades (natch), but also in the meantime SUITSANDTHEPLATFORMBOOTS.com was born and Andrew had always been on my "most wanted" list so, finally starting in 2019 we talked (still feel incredibly lucky to have done so!) ;

Hi Andrew, firstly many thanks for joining us here today I just know this is going to be one hell of a read, talking of which your book "Sick On You" is one of my favourite books full stop and it seems to have caught the eyes of the greater public too and I am super pleased that more people get to know you and the Brats. So, one point in the book I wanted to go into a little more was your growing up in Canada working in the tin mine. Could you take us through a day there and in turn was it just the endless dredge of the job that made you bolt or was it one particular event that set the fire in your belly roaring?

Andrew Matheson ; I was seventeen years old and I had come to detest music. Music had rotted to denim and drum solos. It was gongs, joss sticks, hippies in kaftans. It was naff guitarists wincing and grimacing their pathetic licks out into the cloth ears of an insipid, ill-informed, pathetically dressed audience. Something had to change and I decided I was the reprobate to change it. But here’s me, marooned in the colonies. In order to get back to London Town (King of the World) I had to earn some coin.

The day I turned eighteen years old I went down the mine. That’s where the money was. Iron-ore, nickel, gold, copper. I gouged it out of the ground for ten nasty, muddy, disgusting months.

Then I had a shower, Picked up my wages, And bought a ticket to ride.

 So, you bought a ticket to ride and set about setting the world a light. Was the London Town you longed to get back changed from when you first left it and if it was was it for the better or the worse?

A . M ; London in 1971 to my jet-lagged eyes was a bare copper wire shoved into an electric socket. It was sparking, on fire, dandified yet dangerous. Every breath you dragged into your lungs was equal parts diesel fuel, cigarette smoke and "eau de pub" carpet. Skinheads, dolly-birds, bovver-boots, micro-skirts, Union Jacks, and bobbies that dressed like policemen instead of jacked-up storm troopers. London was a great English city, a great capital city of a great country. That was then, this is now.

Eloquently put Andrew, you really are dragging us back to the time and excitement mixed with danger, the perfect mix for true rock n roll to be spat forth from I think. OK so you are in London and you do talk us through the search for right guys for the band so well in your book so, let us go past that and onto when your first dragged everyone up. I take it it was you and Casino who were the instigators of the glam look was there anything that was off limits or was it "let's stare this damn place up"?! Was it also called glam at this point or was it more just anything goes?

A . M ; Casino and I ran the show. We considered so-called ‘Glam Rock’ to be utterly stupid and risible; a puerile excuse for Cro-Magnon bass players from Neasden to finally flaunt their inner girlie selves, paint on the slap and prance around on Top of the Pops. We thought they looked pathetic. And we were right. We were delinquents dressed in junk-shop chic. We wanted to capture the nihilism and decadence of Berlin in 1936. And we did. Weimar? Why not?

And you did. Junk shop chic indeed. Now before we move on can you tell us about how the infamous huge feather boa you had that adorned the cover of your record, front and back (when it finally came out that is) came into your possession? Is it a tale of all the spirits coming together and they guided that piece of chic couture to you on the wings of the rock n roll angles or did you just buy it?

A . M ; It was a freezing cold day in February 1974. The office had booked us a photo shoot with the fabulous Gered Mankowitz. Gered had shot some of our favourite album covers (Including 'December's Children' and 'Between the Buttons' by the Rolling Stones) so we were not our usual cynical selves. We were excited. We were primped and preening. We were perfectly coiffed. As we were walking through Piccadilly Circus a dive-bomber pigeon shat a huge, wet, greenish-white splat onto the beautiful fluffy hair of `our drummer Lou Sparks. We were a five-piece band and eighty per cent of us immediately fell to the streets of Soho laughing hysterically. As Dean Martin sang, 'Memories Are Made of This'.

Wandering around Gered's fabulous studio I spied a couple of things. One was a stack of fur in a corner that looked like either a pile of buffalo hides or a dead grizzly bear. And I've seen both. It turned out to be a fur coat as from a Grizzly Jones/Jeremiah Johnson, mountain man movie so I tried that on. It didn't suit. It added four hundred pounds to my sleek physique.

The next thing I spied was a perfect, twelve foot long, pink boa. Of course I commandeered it. I found out later it was made exclusively from the breast and tail feathers of an exotic endangered bird species Coral Para Katoa from the deepest Amazon. That boa suited me and it suited the photo shoot perfectly. I've still got half of it. The other half I donated to the Natural History Museum where the feathers are preserved for eternity beside the fabled Great Speckled Bird (of bible and Grand Ole Opry fame) and the Dodo.

Stuff of legend indeed and hey it looked great too! OK so most of the Brats story was covered in your book so let's move on to just after that time period. How did the whole "Monterey Shoes" record come about. Take us if you will into that time right from the conception to manifestation of the record and indeed the tour.  

A . M ; When the Brats were dead and buried (in a pauper's grave, funeral attended by nobody) I wanted nothing further to do with music. I had offers to do this and that with various musicians (and pseudo-musicians) in London, all of which has been documented in a hundred interviews and is far too tedious to re-visit. I wanted to get as far away from music as possible. I actually wanted to play football. I was in my mid-twenties and knew that the sands were running out as far as football viability was concerned so when I received an offer from across the pond I signed immediately and was on a plane the next morning. I played for two seasons, not at the top level of course but a decent level the next tier down. That was enough for me. I would have regretted not doing it and I have great memories of that time. Then a phone call came that a couple of record companies in London wanted to know what the hell I was up to. The season had just ended (I had scored sixteen goals in twenty one games. Pardon me for mentioning that fabulous strike-rate.) so I got on a plane and flew back to Swinging London. It had long ceased swinging, but it was nice to be back. I roped in a few pals (Casino Steel, Brady, Geir Waade, Tom Evans from Badfinger and others), recorded a couple of songs in a demo studio on the Kings Road and, with the aid of the Hollywood Brats manager Ken Mewis, took it to market. The first company we visited said yes, reached in a desk drawer and gave us £600 for incidentals and away we went. To the Warrington pub in Maida Vale. For incidentals. On the completion of that deal I bought a house in Fulham, a Lotus Europa and a fistful of guitars. Then I recorded "Monterey Shoes “and threw a hand grenade into my life.

So you went on to record the “Monterey shoes” album for Ariola records, can you take us into what those sessions were like and was it the same debauchery levels as before with Casino and Brady being there or had the discipline of the football time calmed you a little before heading back into the muddy waters of rock n roll?  Also did having that house in Fulham ground you also, were you thinking, “This is next level here”?

A . M ; "Monterey Shoes" as an album title was suggested by His Excellence, the greatest photographer ever, Gered Mankowitz. It comes from a line in 'St. Catherine's Wheel', "...In your sailor suit and your side-button Monterey shoes". And Gered plucked it out as an album title. Many thanks Sir Gered. I recorded that album at Townhouse Studios in London, the Manor in Oxford, and the Record Plant in Los Angeles. The record company put me together with an American producer (Mistake number one) whose claim to fame was that he had just recorded Split Enz. Funnily enough, years later I caught an interview with them wherein they said it was the worst album they ever recorded. So, there you go.

They were brilliant recording sessions though and great musicians showed up, knocked on the door and wanted to play (They demanded extortionate payment of course, the mercenary cunts). Off the top of my noggin I remember, among others, Howie Casey on saxophone. C'mon, Howie Casey was in Hamburg with Derry & the Seniors when the Fabs played there. And he worked with Macca and Wings. Imagine that.

And Raphael Ravenscroft who played that great opening riff on 'Baker Street' by Gerry Rafferty. Also some strange Irish chap named Brady, an obscure guitarist from an even more obscure band named the Hollywood Brats, dropped by to lay down a guitar solo.

All in all it was an interesting time during which I downed a pint or ten with, among others, Van Morrison of Them, that noisy drummer from Genesis, Bill Nelson (Was that his name?) from Duck's Deluxe, the delectable Kate Bush (who drank mint tea from a china cup but had a half-bottle of Jack Daniels in her knitted purse, Nona Hendryx (From Labelle of 'Lady Marmalade' fame)...actually Nona and I shared a bottle of bubbly, nude in a hot tub in the Record Plant in LA. Imagine that at your peril. That's enough.  

Darren mon ami; Good to hear from you again. This project is in danger of turning into a novella. Kindly let me know what the wrap-up question will be. I don't want to bore anybody to tears. It has been an absolute pleasure dealing with you sir. You seem like a complete gentleman.

Where are you in the world? I am in North London. So how shall we come to a natural conclusion of this project? One more question p'raps?

 Firstly many thanks for doing this, it has been a total joy and yes I could talk to you forever hence the questions, ha-ha. However yes we can finish it off with one last question I shall set out below, once again thanks for your time!

I am in Nottingham here in ole blighty and I did have tickets for your first comeback gig in Derby that fell through before your triumphant gig in Kensington.

I have been a fan for years and years so to get more insight into you outside of the book has been great to say the least and hey if I dig it then the people who look at the site will dig it too, talking of which I have all your releases but do you have any photos you could let me use at all?

 Ok sir once again thank you from the bottom of my Cuban heel boots and here is the last question below, you sir are a gent no doubt! Keep me up to date with all Brats news in future if you would be so kind too? 

(Last question)   So Andrew you have taken us on a rollercoaster of a ride with your insight here and I am sure there is much more for people to find out about you however, for now let’s go back to after the solo lp, you got back together with the Brats for what was going to be “whatever happened to the...” record but that never saw the light of day until you released your book, “Sick On You” and the accompanying cd many years later (2016). So, from that it seems you seemed to have come full circle almost, so take us to where that circle closed. The comeback show you did in Kensington and how that was after all those years and indeed where are you planning to go with the Brats and indeed your own life?

A . M ; D; "...from the bottom of my Cuban heel boots" indeed. Good to hear from you and also to get a bit of information about you sir. This needn't be the last question Darren I just wanted to get some notion as to where we were wrapping up. So by all means if you have a follow-up question after I do this one please feel free to ask. I am currently working with Hollywood regarding 'Sick On You' and it is a time (and brain) consuming process so please give me a few more days and then I'll be able to give your question the attention it deserves. And yes, I can furnish you with an image or two. I'll try to find something that hasn't been used. All the very best A.

Time passed and life went on...

Dear Darren; Just a short note to let you know that I certainly haven't forgotten you. I am currently putting a deal together and I want to let you be the first to know, to give you the scoop as it were. Please bear with.

Back soon.

A.

Alas, he never did. 

However in the meantime enter, Tom Kristensen 

"PLEASED TO MEET YOU" 

By Tom Kristensen

  Hanging out with Andrew Matheson was always good fun. My association with Andrew began as a working relationship. He was in Norway to record an album for MCA, and as luck would have it – working for Revolution Records at the time – I was given the responsibility for showing him around Oslo’s West End. One morning the phone rang around 10:00. I was sprawled out on the sofa in my apartment, wearing jeans and a t-shirt, watching the news on TV, and smoking a huge joint of excellent Cheeba. «Tom! It’s Cas.» My old friend Casino Steel sounded a little out of breath, and from the background noise I guessed he was in a caff somewhere. «Andrew is coming to town to work on his new album … I want you to sort it out,» Cas said. «Oh, great,» I stammered, struggling to decide what to say next. Very quickly, my tongue began to enlarge, and a loud humming noise rang in my ears. «Listen, I’m going to pick him up at Fornebu Airport, and you have to come down tonite and meet him.» I was dumbstruck. Time was passing extremely slowly, and I could hardly say a word. I felt like a public-school boy who had been caught by the headmaster for truancy, the first day of the new term. I had no idea how to react. My mind was spinning out of control. I felt – awkward. That was the word. Totally awkward. Cas sneaked Andrew into town without anyone knowing. No one except MCA, the session men, me, and the people that were distributing Revolution. When Andrew arrived I went downtown to meet him along with Cas. I was a bit nervous about what Andrew was thinking and if I was «keeping it together» as far as he was concerned. The next morning there was a production meeting held in Casino´s office and I got my list of equipment to hire and assorted odds and ends to get. The actual recordings took place in Bell Studios during the spring of ´93, and the album (Night of the Bastard Moon) was co-produced by Casino. The studio in Oslo was top of the line. The engineers were on top of it. Since guitar slinger E.S. Brady was in town, Cas and Andrew roped him in for the sessions as well. Andrew Matheson was a giant, a really funny guy, and a lovely bloke. One of the smartest people I have had the good luck to have known in my life. We first ran into each other in 1980, and it was always a total pleasure. His sense of humour always shone through in everything he did and his devotion to his art was supreme. We had so many enjoyable times together through the years, but when the time came to be serious, he was unsurpassed. We did a handful of records together and I ended up as executive producer on the posthumous "Hung Like Stallions". Not only did he help me considerably in my business matters but as a friend he was hard to beat. Andrew passed away in May 2025. Although I took the news of his death very hard, I wasn't really that surprised. There is so much more that can be said of his incredible qualities, but words can hardly describe his passion for life and my affection for this amazing man.

He will be sorely missed but always held dear in the hearts of those of us who knew and loved him.  see ya, squire!

Here's Ray....

As an aside and footnote. When we were at the unveiling of the Bowie stature in Aylesbury (for feature click HERE) at the after show gig type thing i saw a photographer and decided to talk to him as I had done all day to everyone for any information that was going. My opening gambit was, "you don't half look like Andrew Matheson from the Hollywood Brats y'know" at which point he looked but did not register nor did he offer the smallest of acknowledgements. Was this because he was Andrew or he had no clue who he was. Me? I would like to think the former.⁠

Photographs and artwork courtesy of Ray Zell , Andrew Matheson , Tom Kristensen and the Suits vaults.

C.WWWSUITSANDTHEPLATFORMBOOTS.COM 2026

HOME