JOHN EARLS
When Midge Ure recently interviewed Gary Kemp for a documentary about the 80s, he was taken aback when Spandau Ballet’s songwriter pointed out how influential Rich Kids were. Rich Kids was a punk band formed by Glen Matlock when he left the Sex Pistols; their drummer was Rusty Egan, with Midge Ure singing. At the time the band wasn’t taken seriously, partly because of Midge’s past in proto-boyband Slik – but their later music featured the synthesiser Midge bought, much to Glen and guitarist Steve New’s disgust. “Gary told me he sees Rich Kids as the bridge between punk and electronic,” says Midge, with an air of baffled pride. “Gary saw Rich Kids in 1978 at the Nashville, trying to incorporate technology with traditional instruments. I can see what Gary means… though having a synth is what split Rich Kids in two!” Although Rich Kids ended in disarray, the singer and drummer stayed friends. “We’d walk around the streets of Notting Hill, skint but enjoying the fact we were in London,” says Midge. “Rusty was starting to earn money as a DJ, so he’d buy us cheap chicken pilau, always throwing out ideas.”
One of those ideas was gloriously simple. “Rusty said ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we had a band with our favourite musicians?’,” Midge recalls. “Before he had the chance to come up with another mad scheme, I said ‘Woah! Stop! Let’s think about this…’”