Ira Glass
Act Two. Punk in a Gray Flannel Suit. David Philp is the president of a mortgage brokerage firm in Beverly Hills. As you might imagine, in Beverly Hills they handle rather large mortgages. He dresses neatly in beautiful clothes. He has clean-cut hair. But in the 1970s, in his native England, he was in a punk band called The Automatics, which was never really a big commercial success, but known and respected in the history of the punk movement there by people who care about these kinds of things. And last year, through an odd set of connections, he ended up revisiting his teenage years for the first time by going back on tour in a version of his band in Japan. Here’s how something like that happens.
David Philp
I mentioned it to a client, and I said, “well, you know, I’d played in a punk group when I was a kid.” And he said, “oh, really?” He was interested. And then the next day he sent me a copy of an eBay auction and said, “is this you?” And it was. And I watched this auction, and I watched this price shoot through the roof. And then I began to realize, wait a minute– I’m collectible.
Ira Glass
Let’s get down to brass tacks, here. How much were you guys worth?
David Philp
I think that one actually went at $48. I particularly liked looking at all those other groups that were going at $0.25. You know, music business offerings along punk lines that I thought, what a load of nonsense, at the time. And it was good to see that their records weren’t valued here until later. It was–
Ira Glass
That history came out on the right side.
David Philp
Yes. That there is a sort of Darwinism in record collecting.
Ira Glass
What happened next?
David Philp
I went to go and see Ricky, the drummer. And Ricky collected everything. And he very kindly lent me these two scrap books. So I took pictures and things out of there. I just put it up, had a friend put it up on a website. And then I got an email from Fi-Fi, in Japan, saying, “I play in a Japanese punk rock band and–
Ira Glass
Fi-Fi is a name of a person?
David Philp
Yes. And, “your record changed my life.”
David Philp
And he found out through the website that there was an unreleased album, so he asked if he could put me in touch with Toshio Iijima, of Base Records. We struck up a deal. And then they said, “well, would you come over here and play some gigs to promote?”
Ira Glass
So you go to tour. How old are you at that point?
Ira Glass
45 years old. A little bit of gray hair coming in, perhaps?
David Philp
A little bit of gray hair coming in. And I really wasn’t sure whether I’d still be able to do it because I hadn’t played those songs in 22 years. Not in my shower, not to anyone. I mean, prior to being married, I remember dating women for a year who never knew that I played, that I had ever played.
Ira Glass
It wouldn’t even come up?
David Philp
It wouldn’t come up, really. I mean, I’d have a guitar hanging around, but lots of other guys did, too.
Ira Glass
Would you ever pick up the guitar and play for yourself?
David Philp
Yes. I wrote a lot of songs for my dog during this period.
Ira Glass
Really? Some of the titles would be?
David Philp
“We’re Going to the Park” was a big favorite.
Ira Glass
To be followed by that, “Who’s a Good Boy?”
David Philp
“Oh, What a Good Boy” is actually–
David Philp
[PANTING SOUND] “What a, what a good boy.”
So we went over there October 6. I took my wife, which possibly was a miscalculation, but– no, it was a good thing to take my wife because–
Ira Glass
You were approached by dozens of teenage girls?
David Philp
I was getting stopped on the street.
Ira Glass
So what happened the first night you went on stage?
David Philp
Well, there was just the announcement, the light, and a moment’s silence which lasted forever.
[SOUNDS OF CROWD]
[BAND STARTS]
And then out at the back I heard the opening riff of “When the Tanks Roll Over Poland.” And there was just this whole ignition of energy from the club in front. And all these kids just started going mad, and it just clicked right in.
[BAND PLAYING]
It felt like I was in an Automatics cover band or something like that because it was so long ago I didn’t feel that association as the writer. Even though I wrote the material and all, I didn’t have that association as the writer anymore.
Ira Glass
See, but I would wonder if as you sing the songs the conviction of the writing returns to you, and you remember all the feelings of it. Did that happen?
David Philp
It was a muscle memory. It was there. You know, the movements are all locked in the lyric and the beat and the parts. And as I played them, they all started to come out and it was just like being a marionette or something. Here you’d punch the air, there you’d remind the drummer to come down, and there you’d point at the guitarist for the solo.
Ira Glass
Had you forgotten the thrill of being on stage?
David Philp
Yes. I’d forgotten what it was to have the audience right there.
Ira Glass
Before this, had you ever performed a punk show sober?
David Philp
Never. Well, unless I was taking the antibiotics.
Ira Glass
There’s so much information contained in such a brief sentence.
[LAUGHTER]
David Philp
No, actually, it was one of the great paradoxes, really, I suppose, that it was great to do it sober.
Ira Glass
Were there moments on stage where you feel your age? Where you just thought, ugh–
David Philp
Towards the end, you really feel yourself– because it’s like a sauna up there. I mean, there’s so much energy going around and it’s louder than bombs.
Ira Glass
So your wife had never seen you do this before. There must have been a part of you that felt so pleased that she could see it.
David Philp
Yes. I felt kind of like I had become this other person. And when I was over there, my life over here seemed to have a sort of almost dream-like substance. And then, of course, as soon as I got back, the events in October in Japan just began to assume that sort of mantle of dream.
I did three shows– two in Tokyo and one in Kyoto.
Ira Glass
And all three just great.
David Philp
All three sold out. In Kyoto, we set a club record for the largest attendance ever. And it was so packed we couldn’t actually get off stage. The only way out was over. I had to sling myself over the audience and they carried me on their hands back through the crowd and gently deposited me at the stage door.
Ira Glass
So this is your last gig? That was your last gig?
Ira Glass
And it ended with the entire audience lifting you up and passing you bodily out and gently depositing you out of the club?
David Philp
Well, not out of the club, but to the stage door, yes.
David Philp
It was amazing.
Ira Glass
I don’t think I’ve ever really been lifted by a mob of teenagers and people in their twenties. What exactly is that like?
David Philp
Well, in Kyoto I felt pretty good about it. I’m not sure how I would have felt about it in London in 1977 where the scene was incredibly violent. You know, whenever you played, you were just as likely to get beaten up as you were to get paid.
Ira Glass
Describe what it was like to come back after the tour.
David Philp
It was hard for me to get motivated again to do my business after the tour.
Ira Glass
It just wasn’t as thrilling as being on a stage in front of cheering–
David Philp
Well, not many things are. And it was a bit like my dad’s generation, you know, after growing up as a kid being fired on in World War Two and all that kind of stuff, it was kind of hard getting it up for working in the shipping industry again.
Shortly after I got back, Steve Lillywhite was in town.
David Philp
He was the original producer, and he was also my roommate at the time that all The Automatics’ stuff was going on. And now he’s incredibly successful. He does U2, Dave Matthews, and all that stuff. And anyway, he was in town and he had some time, and so we hung out together for a couple of days– and Hunter was off.
Ira Glass
Hunter, your wife.
David Philp
Yes. Hunter, my wife.
So we got to hang out, and we talked a little about the old days. And he told me Big Paul from Specs does catering. And Nigel from The Members is in Australia now. And Walter from The Heartbreakers, he’s a stockbroker in Manhattan. I think I got to see we don’t get what we deserve– you know, we get what we get, and we have to be OK with that.
Ira Glass
David Philp, the lead singer of The Automatics. Though he hasn’t quit his day job since we did that interview a few years back, he has released several albums. And a couple of the songs have actually become number one hits on the UK charts. His next album, Jukebox of Human Sorrow, comes out later this year.
