Then & Now

Tall Tales and Top Tunes from 50 Years in the Record Industry 1975-2025

Tom Robinson presents an evening of songs and stories from fifty years wandering the wilder shores of the Record Industry. Classic hits such as War Baby, Up Against The Wall, and 2-4-6-8 Motorway rub shoulders with a Radio 1 ban for being Glad To be Gay, rocking against racism with The Clash, writing songs with Elton John, headlining Glasto with Peter Gabriel, drug smuggling in East Germany, two nervous breakdowns and a year in tabloid hell after falling in love with a woman. Plus fan favourites from his vast back catalogue, spanning Café Society in 1975 to his acclaimed 2015 comeback album Only The Now

Tom Robinson's first record release was in 1975 as one-third of Café Society: an acoustic harmony trio discovered by Ray Davies at The Troubadour folk club in London's Earls Court. The album sold just 500 copies.

After seeing an early Sex Pistols gig at The 100 Club, Tom made a rapid change of direction and formed the Tom Robinson Band with rock guitarist Danny Kustow. TRB were early supporters of Rock Against Racism and soon enjoyed Top 5 success with their debut single for EMI: 2-4-6-8 Motorway. Brief notoriety followed in early 1978 with the LGBT anthem Glad To Be Gay, and a few months later the band's first album Power In The Darkness entered the charts at No.4.

Over the last 50 years Tom's been mentored by Alexis Korner and Martin Carthy, written songs with Elton John and Peter Gabriel, toured with The Police, Red Wedge and The Undertones, and Rocked Against Racism for a crowd of 80,000 - alongside The Clash, Steel Pulse and X-Ray Spex. He's been banned by Radio One, exiled in East Berlin, and hounded by the tabloids for being in love with a woman.

More recently he's given over ten thousand artists their first national airplay on his BBC Introducing shows for 6 Music and served for ten years on the Ivor Novello Awards committee. At age 75 Tom still enjoys a reputation among his punk contemporaries - and in the world of acoustic/roots music - as both a master songsmith and a funny, ferocious live performer.

Desperate Dan

You might also like...

SIGN UP TO OUR MAILING LIST