The weekend before last, we caught up with Chas Hodges in his dressing room just before the Chas ‘n’ Dave gig at the Ventnor Winter Gardens.
He was a lovely bloke to chat to and more than happy to tell us about how he started out as a bass player in The Outlaws before going onto work with the legendary Joe Meek.
The second record that Dave played on went to number one in the charts, Johnny Remember Me by John Layton. And when he was with Cliff Bennett and Rebel Rousers, he toured with The Beatles no less.
As if that wasn’t impressive enough, he was also on tour with Jerry Lee Lewis, where he learnt to play the old Joanna.
After that he toured with Gene Vincent, recorded some more music with Jerry Lee Lewis and then toured the states with Heads Hands and Feet.
What a CV he had, even before he got started with Dave in 1972.
By that time Chas had started writing his own songs and once he got together with Dave, he could fulfill his desire to sing in his own accent. Something that Chas feels is extremely important and hands out praise to the Arctic Monkeys for on the podcast.
Being dubbed the original cockney rappers was a credit that Chas took well. He explained that their ambition wasn’t to become famous, all they wanted, was to do something they loved and make a living from it.
There’s loads more to hear on the podcast, so get yourself a cuppa tea and put your feet up. [audio:http://otw-audio.s3.amazonaws.com/chas-hodges-interview.mp3]
