A gig at the iconic Dublin Castle pub in London could be the big break Madness needed, but there was one problem – the Camden venue was known for booking country and western bands, not ska.
Frontman Suggs and his group came up with a cunning plan to get on stage.
Suggs says: “We decided to lie a little bit and say we were a country and western band, because the Dublin Castle was an Irish pub and that would make you more likely to get a gig.
“It was ridiculous. One of us even put a cowboy hat on to make it look more authentic.
“But when seven teenagers started dancing around and playing ska, the Irish regulars were bemused.
“Getting our first gig was a real highlight, and it took off from there. Sometimes people wouldn’t dig what you were doing, and you’d get bottles thrown at you.”
The 61-year-old singer says: “Some of the acts that have come from shows such as X Factor wouldn’t last five minutes in the pubs we used to play in.”
But he remembers those pub gigs at the beginning of his career fondly, as a time filled with fun and laughter.
He says: “It was such an explosive and creative time in the late 1970s. You would squat in a building in the daytime and play a gig in a pub in an evening, and that’s why so many great bands came out of that period.”
Pubs have always played a major part in the musician’s life as his mother Edith Gower worked behind a bar. And now Suggs, whose real name is Graham McPherson, is on a mission to find out why Brits love their pubs so much, presenting the second episode of Sky History series Britain’s Greatest Obsessions.
On Monday, viewers can see Suggs travel the country, digging into the history behind our beloved pubs, enjoying a pint or two along the way.
Laughing, he says: “When I told my wife Bette I was going to be presenting a show about pubs, she replied, ‘That’s going to be a struggle for you, isn’t it?’
“Doing the programme was great fun. I was really pleased to be presenting it because pubs have always been a massive part of my life.”
He says: “My mum worked in pubs all her life, so I grew up in them, and like a lot of my generation I spent a lot of time waiting in a car outside pubs with a bottle of lemonade and a packet of crisps.
“They were the firmament of our culture. Everybody met down the local on a Sunday afternoon, people would go and sing and dance there and play darts.
“I met my first girlfriend in a pub and it’s where the band started out playing. I wouldn’t have had a career without them, I would have been a busker. Pubs have always been important to me.”
After recent figures showed 70% of pubs face closure due to the cost of living crisis, Suggs believes it’s more important than ever that we protect them.
He says: “They all really suffered during the lockdown, then there was a real upsway after, with everyone wanting to go back to drink in them. There were some great stories coming out about communities getting together to keep their local pub open.
“Pubs are the focal point of our towns and villages. Even if you’re not a big drinker, you can go and find out what’s going on locally.
“They’re also crucial in helping to beat loneliness, as they are places where you can go and sit for a couple of hours to spend time talking to other people, so it’s all utterly depressing what’s going on with energy bills and the price of everything putting some at risk of closing.
“They’ve been part of British culture for more than 1,000 years – they’re not the same abroad – so hopefully they won’t die out just yet. Anything we can do to promote pubs is great with me.”
In Britain’s Greatest Obsessions, different celebrities investigate the things we love. Liza Tarbuck, Lorraine Kelly and Chris Packham delve into topics such as the weather, the Second World War and pets, with all the presenters coming together at the end of each episode to share their findings.
Suggs had a great time working with them, and has even found a new friend in Springwatch presenter Chris.
He says: “It was really lovely, it was a really eclectic mix, but they’re all really nice people. Chris especially was hilarious and we really got on.
“I know he is a bit of a new wave punk fan and he’s a very funny bloke.”
Born in Hastings, East Sussex, Suggs was raised by his mum Edith after his heroin addict father William McPherson left the family home.
The young Graham got his nickname from randomly sticking a pin into an encyclopaedia of jazz musicians to find a new, non-Scottish name.
After hitting on Peter Suggs, he took the surname and refused to answer to anything else. Suggs found fame in 1979, when the first Madness album, One Step Beyond, made it to No2 in the charts. With singles such as Baggy Trousers, It Must Be Love and Our House, the band has sold more than six million records.
Suggs has also moved into the world of theatre and is set to perform his one-man show Suggs: What a King Cnut around the UK, kicking off in Horsham, West Sussex, on September 27.
He says: “It’s all about what it’s like to be famous and how that can make you feel more important than you really are. Fame can be a dangerous substance and a lot of my generation did die of it.
“In the show, I tell stories about my career, and sing a few songs with a pianist. It can be a bit nerve-racking as you’re doing a two-hour monologue and there’s none of the band to distract you, but it’s very rewarding when it goes well.”
After a successful run of gigs this summer, Madness have another album on the way later this year.
While Suggs jokes that the band have been going on for “too long”, he puts the secret to their longevity down to the fact that Madness is very hard to get into, but “impossible” to leave.
He says: “It’s this train that keeps rolling on. We are friends from school and we had a lot of hits, more than a lot from our generation.
“People just like what we do, which is a privilege. We have done so many festivals over the summer and we even get young people coming to see us.
“I don’t know why.
“We get on with each other, and just really like what we do.”
- Britain’s Greatest Obsessions continues on Mondays at 9pm on the Sky HISTORY channel.
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