More about 'Lying by Water'...

I have been asked if the band in this story are someone famous, and have had someone incorrectly infer the identity of the singer. I feel I must correct it now, should anyone be interested enough to read this.

I'm sure there are several who share the proclivities of the character in the story, and each punk, goth and metalhead may have their own guess. I will say right out that the singer is not based on Dave Vanian of the Damned. It pained me when someone thought this, so I feel the need to state that although the clothes may match, the man does not. I've been around Mr. Vanian on several occasions, and he was always extremely polite and kind to the ladies, nothing like the nasty piece of work that is the singer in this story. The idea for one scenario is actually based on fact though. Back in the 80's, a band mate related a story to me about him. If you are familiar with the Damned, you will know that David looks exactly like you would expect a vampire to look, and at the time, his wife Laura handstitched lovely Victorian clothing for him to wear on tour. He cut quite a striking figure, especially at night.

Apparently one time when the Damned were on tour, he had found a theatre prop coffin somewhere and decided to bring it back to the hotel. In full costume and streaked hair, he dragged it out into the street and attempted to flag down a cab, not realizing of course that his appearance might be inversely proportional to his success in getting a ride. The mental picture of him in his vampire gear holding a coffin by the side of the road struck me as very amusing and years later, it sparked a story line.

Keiron in the story is based on a childhood hero of mine, the (in)famous Johnny Rotten aka John Lydon. As a teenager suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, and internalizing a lot of trauma, I was fascinated by the whole premise of punk rock. You mean you could actually tell someone to fuck off? How liberating. My first punk cassette tape was 'God Save the Queen', albeit many years after the Sex Pistols had come and gone. As a bullied teen prone to depression, I would listen to punk rock music when I was feeling beaten down. I credit punk rock with saving my life, actually.  "You mean I don't have to put up with peoples' shit?", I would marvel when listening. The music turned self hatred and despair into anger and energy.

Many bands I met in the 80's were extremely exploitative of young teenage groupies, and I witnessed many abusive, predatory and even illegal scenarios. These were not teen boy bands going wild with kids their own age. Signed bands were older, should have known better, and should be ashamed for the things they did to young underage children. Even with all the outrage today about Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein and that vile pedophile Epstein, musicians somehow get a pass for their behavior. I felt a need to drop old JR into the scene in the bus, to stick up for a girl, at least in conversation.

In the middle of writing the story I realized that copyright laws for lyrics written after 1978 can not be used without permission, so I had to try to work in the lyrics I wanted without explicitly stating them. My favorites appear here, although somewhat awkwardly. 'Lagartija Nick' by Bauhaus perfectly syncs to the bumps of the tires going over seams in the highway, by the way. Try out the playlist sometime, if you're taking a drive.

But unless you're stout of heart, and have looked in the seat behind you, try not to think of the other aspects of the story if you're taking a short cut through swamp country at night...