{"id":7437,"date":"2026-01-05T13:55:52","date_gmt":"2026-01-05T13:55:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/?p=7437"},"modified":"2026-01-05T14:10:48","modified_gmt":"2026-01-05T14:10:48","slug":"issue-171-eddie-the-hot-rods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/?p=7437","title":{"rendered":"Issue #171 \u2013 Eddie &#038; The Hot Rods"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Fifty years on from their formation, EDDIE &amp; THE HOT RODS remain a band apart. Fiercely resisting labels, they turbo-charged pub-rock with raw R&amp;B energy and breakneck speed \u2013 bridging the gap to punk and proving that attitude, not artifice, could ignite a new era in British music. <\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>CLIVE WEBB<\/strong><strong> buckles up for the ride.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>\u201c<\/strong><strong>We were just doing it because we\u2019d got to. No other reason\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Eddie &amp; Hot Rods - Do Anything You Wanna Do(Top Of The Pops)\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/bQJ0R57k7HQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After more months of relentless touring, 1977 marked a turning point. Former Kursaal Flyers guitarist Graeme Douglas joined the band, making his debut at Finsbury Park in February. Douglas\u2019s position in the band came with a catch: CBS still held him to his Kursaal Flyers contract, so legally he could not be counted as a full member. Even so, his contribution in shaping their sound was crucial. \u201cHe was the right person to come along at the right time,\u201d recalls Gray. \u201cHe had a great ear. We\u2019d been gigging incessantly since mid-75 and I think Dave was struggling to come up with the songwriting goods. He and Graeme complemented each other so well \u2013 Dave with his extraordinary rhythmic intensity and Graeme with his pop sensibility.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The first release from the revamped band was the single \u2018I Might Be Lying\u2019, which narrowly missed the Top 40. While it confirmed that Higgs still had his creative spark, the B-side, \u2018Ignore Them (Still Life)\u2019, with lyrics inspired by the mayhem of a European tour, showcased the melodic touch Douglas brought to the band.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Eddie &amp; The Hot Rods  - I Might Be Lying (Get It Together) May 18th 1977 (Original Broadcast)\" width=\"640\" height=\"480\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kDWj94Q34V4?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A few months later came the <em>At The Speed Of Sound<\/em> EP, which featured four tracks including a wired cover of The J Geils Band\u2019s \u2018Drivin\u2019 Man\u2019. Although recorded live at The Rainbow, the record required studio overdubs from Douglas because his guitar didn\u2019t make it onto the original multi-track.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The band maintained their hectic touring schedule throughout the year, playing the Reading Festival and a North American tour where they shared bills with The Ramones and Talking Heads. \u201c<em>The New York Times\u00a0<\/em>was very disappointed that we weren&#8217;t preaching some sort of political revolution,\u201d asserted Douglas, \u201cbut after America&#8217;s initial surprise that we weren&#8217;t coming on in plastic trousers and once they found out that we could play a bit they started treating us like a rock \u2019n\u2019 roll band, and it went down pretty well.\u201d There were also some internal causes of friction. While the group scraped by in budget digs, manager Ed Hollis splashed out on luxury hotels, a situation that caused some resentment.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">By now Higgs had succumbed to writer\u2019s block, so Douglas stepped up as principal songwriter. In rapid order he produced two of the band\u2019s most iconic songs, \u2018Quit This Town\u2019, and what would become their defining anthem, \u2018Do Anything You Wanna Do\u2019. The first grew out of lyrics Hollis handed over with the instruction \u201cThink MC5 meets Iggy &amp; The Stooges\u201d, while the second took its inspiration from the notorious occultist Aleister Crowley and his dictum, \u201cDo what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-7438 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Artboard-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1878\" height=\"1790\" srcset=\"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Artboard-1.jpg 1878w, https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Artboard-1-300x286.jpg 300w, https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Artboard-1-1024x976.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Artboard-1-768x732.jpg 768w, https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Artboard-1-1536x1464.jpg 1536w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1878px) 100vw, 1878px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Released in July \u201977 under the abbreviated name The Rods, \u2018Do Anything You Wanna Do\u2019 became the band\u2019s biggest hit, climbing to #9 and holding its place in the Top 75 for 10 weeks. The song signalled the shift from the band\u2019s raw pub-rock roots towards a sleeker, powerpop edge. Opening with chiming guitars and a driving rhythm, its lyric (\u201cGonna break out of the city\/Leave the people here behind\u201d) was a defiant call to personal freedom that made the song a rallying cry for restless youth. Critics showered it with praise, naming it \u201cSingle Of The Week\u201d across the music press.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The band took their anthem to the nation via <em>Top Of The Pops<\/em> and Marc Bolan\u2019s television show, sealing its place as one of the year\u2019s defining singles. Not that their small screen appearances lived up to expectations. \u201cTiny studio, shit stage and sound, and you had to hang around all day,\u201d sighs Gray. \u201cWe spent most of the time between takes in the license-fee funded bar taking the piss out of \u2018celebrities\u2019. I remember being so excited at sneaking in to watch Legs &amp; Co, then watching them flop down after, fire up the fags and moan about their aching tibias. Welcome to reality!\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2018Quit This Town\u2019 appeared five months later, steeped in the same spirit of escape as its predecessor. Urgent guitar lines drive the track, with Douglas layering melodic flourishes over Higgs\u2019s raw, hard-edged rhythm to create a tense, propulsive energy. The single did not match the success of \u2018Do Anything You Wanna Do\u2019 but still broke into the Top 40, peaking at #36 and holding its ground for four weeks.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Coinciding with the single came the band\u2019s second album <em>Life On The Line<\/em>. Produced by Hollis and engineered by a young Steve Lillywhite, it showed how far they come from their pub-rock beginnings. Douglas now dominated the songwriting, his melodic sensibility shaping much of the record, while Higgs \u2013 once the band\u2019s main writer \u2013 contributed only one track, \u2018Beginning Of The End\u2019.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The album also marked the emergence of bassist Paul Gray as a writer. \u201cThe first thing I had the courage to present to the group was \u2018What\u2019s Really Goin\u2019 On\u2019,\u201d he recalls. \u201cIt was simply a pretty manic bass riff with some cobbled-together words about not being able to sleep from doing too much speed. My world view was still pretty limited at that stage!\u201d The album brims with energy, from the opening salvo of \u2018Do Anything You Wanna Do\u2019 to stand-out cuts like \u2018Telephone Girl\u2019. <em>Creem<\/em> captured critical opinion in seven brisk words: \u201c<em>Life On The Line<\/em> is a beaut!\u201d Charting at #27, the album remains their most enduring artistic statement.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Till The Night Is Gone (Let&#039;s Rock) (With Robin Tyner)\/Eddie &amp; The Hot Rods\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Lbi8iwKXLug?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nineteen seventy-seven was the year during which Eddie &amp; The Hot Rods were at the height of their critical and commercial success. Less celebrated \u2013 but no less intriguing \u2013 was \u2018Till The Night Is Gone (Let\u2019s Rock)\u2019, a single recorded with MC5 frontman Rob Tyner and released a month before <em>Life On The Line<\/em>. \u201cLovely fella. Absolute gentleman. The best voice in the history of rock \u2019n\u2019 roll, for me,\u201d enthuses Gray. Tyner had flown in from Detroit to write about the punk and new-wave scene, and the connection was instant: \u201cI think he loved the HRs as much as we loved the MC5.\u201d Gray still treasures Tyner\u2019s handwritten lyrics and remembers him strumming chords on an autoharp: \u201cI think we all rushed out to buy one after that!\u201d Tyner even joined them onstage at a Colchester festival, his voice cutting through the chaos as the crew stripped away monitors mid-set.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/widget.qobuz.com\/album\/0060251752840?zone=GB-en\" width=\"378\" height=\"390\">Your browser does not support iframes.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/widget.qobuz.com\/album\/0060075341229?zone=GB-en\" width=\"378\" height=\"390\">Your browser does not support iframes.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>To read the whole story order issue #171 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.silverbackpublishing.rocks\/product\/shindig-171\/\">here<\/a>. Subscribe to the mag <a href=\"https:\/\/www.silverbackpublishing.rocks\/product\/unlock-the-world-of-shindig-subscribe-today-and-access-every-issue-ever-published\/\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<span class=\"synved-social-container synved-social-container-share\"><a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-24 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-facebook nolightbox\" data-provider=\"facebook\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Share on Facebook\" href=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fshindig-magazine.com%2Findex.php%3Frest_route%3D%252Fwp%252Fv2%252Fposts%252F7437&#038;t=Issue%20%23171%20%E2%80%93%20Eddie%20%26%20The%20Hot%20Rods&#038;s=100&#038;p&#091;url&#093;=https%3A%2F%2Fshindig-magazine.com%2Findex.php%3Frest_route%3D%252Fwp%252Fv2%252Fposts%252F7437&#038;p&#091;images&#093;&#091;0&#093;=https%3A%2F%2Fshindig-magazine.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2026%2F01%2FArtboard-1.jpg&#038;p&#091;title&#093;=Issue%20%23171%20%E2%80%93%20Eddie%20%26%20The%20Hot%20Rods\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:24px;height:24px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px;margin-right:5px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Facebook\" title=\"Share on Facebook\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" style=\"display: inline;width:24px;height:24px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/facebook.png\" \/><\/a><a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-24 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-twitter nolightbox\" data-provider=\"twitter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Share on Twitter\" href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share?url=https%3A%2F%2Fshindig-magazine.com%2Findex.php%3Frest_route%3D%252Fwp%252Fv2%252Fposts%252F7437&#038;text=New%20post%20on%20our%20site\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:24px;height:24px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px;margin-right:5px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"twitter\" title=\"Share on Twitter\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" style=\"display: inline;width:24px;height:24px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/twitter.png\" \/><\/a><a class=\"synved-social-button synved-social-button-share synved-social-size-24 synved-social-resolution-single synved-social-provider-mail nolightbox\" data-provider=\"mail\" rel=\"nofollow\" title=\"Share by email\" href=\"mailto:?subject=Issue%20%23171%20%E2%80%93%20Eddie%20%26%20The%20Hot%20Rods&#038;body=New%20post%20on%20our%20site:%20https%3A%2F%2Fshindig-magazine.com%2Findex.php%3Frest_route%3D%252Fwp%252Fv2%252Fposts%252F7437\" style=\"font-size: 0px;width:24px;height:24px;margin:0;margin-bottom:5px;margin-right:5px\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"mail\" title=\"Share by email\" class=\"synved-share-image synved-social-image synved-social-image-share\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" style=\"display: inline;width:24px;height:24px;margin: 0;padding: 0;border: none;box-shadow: none\" src=\"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/social-media-feather\/synved-social\/image\/social\/regular\/48x48\/mail.png\" \/><\/a><\/span>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fifty years on from their formation, EDDIE &amp; THE HOT RODS remain a band apart. Fiercely resisting labels, they turbo-charged pub-rock with raw R&amp;B energy and breakneck speed \u2013 bridging the gap to punk and proving that attitude, not artifice, could ignite a new era in British music. CLIVE WEBB buckles up for the ride. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7438,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1009,7,1172],"tags":[1229],"class_list":["post-7437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-magazine","category-music-videos","category-qobuz","tag-eddie-the-hot-rods","post_format-post-format-video"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7437"}],"version-history":[{"count":-3,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shindig-magazine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}