Richard Houghton: The Fans Are Alright

By Jason Barnard

Richard Houghton always had a passion for music and wanted to be a writer but spent years starting things and abandoning them until, with retirement approaching, he finished a book about Rolling Stones fans and got it published. Three publishers and a lot of unpaid royalties later, he set up Spenwood Books. It now has 25 titles, all of them telling rock history through the people who bought the tickets and stood in the crowds.

The latest to publish, as he tells me, is on Gary Numan, 500 contributors, nearly 500 pages, with Andy McCluskey writing the foreword. There is also Sandy Denny ‘A People’s History’ coming and many more.

You set up Spenwood Books in 2021 after retiring from social housing. What made you think a publishing company was the right thing to do rather than just continuing to write?

My first book was published in 2015. By 2021, I’d worked with three different publishers, all of whom ended up owing me royalties. And having worked with three different publishers I felt I’d learned enough about the publishing business to set up my own company.

Talk us through the concept of ‘A People’s History.’ Where did you get it and how has it developed over the years?

It started in 2014, when I went to see the Rolling Stones in concert in Stockholm. I’m a big Stones fan, and as part of that I collect books about the Stones. (I’ve got over 250 different titles, which is fewer than half of the books out there about them.) But I’d never read a book telling the Stones story in the words of fans, and looking around the audience that night I thought there had to be Stones fans with stories to tell from 50 years before that had never been told. When you go to a gig now, it’s all captured on smartphones and the YouTube footage and the setlist will be on the internet before you get home that evening. In the 1960s, cameras at concerts were not commonplace and so the memories of those shows would be in people’s diaries, or in their heads. They might have told their mates, or their family, what they remembered of seeing the band back then, but most of those memories were in danger of being lost when they passed on, or as their memories began to fade. I wanted to capture those memories while I could.

Did you expect that moment to turn into a publishing catalogue?

No, I only set out to record memories of the Brian Jones-era Stones, who performed from 1962 to 1967. But a lot of people who saw the Stones in that era also saw The Beatles and wanted to share their Beatles memories with me too. So by the time I’d finished the Stones book I also had enough material for half a Beatles book. I’ve been on something of a roll ever since.

You’ve covered punk, prog, Madchester and now electronic music. Which fanbase surprised you the most?

Possibly the Slade fanbase. Slade haven’t performed live since 1983 but all four members – Noddy Holder, Jim Lea, Don Powell and Dave Hill – are still with us and some fans still hold out hope that they’ll do one more show. That fanaticism is quite touching.

Gary Numan’s fanbase is famously devoted and very online. Did that make how you gathered stories compared to the Rolling Stones any different and was it easier?

With the Stones book, I was still learning the ropes in terms of collating the stories. Mostly I was writing to local papers around the country over several weeks and months, asking them to publish my letter that said ‘the Stones played your town 50 years ago this month – who was there?’. For the Numan book, Gary did a series of shout outs via social media so the stories came flooding in.

‘Gary Numan – A People’s History’ has over 500 contributors and runs to nearly 500 pages. How do you edit something that size into a coherent whole?

It’s like assembling a giant jigsaw puzzle, with lots of blue pieces that look very similar. Gary arrived in the public consciousness for a lot of people when he appeared on Top of the Pops with Tubeway Army performing ‘Are ‘Friends’ Electric?’. Understandably, a lot of people referenced seeing that show in their story, and it fell to Richard Bowes, who compiled the book, and myself as editor to interweave the different memories so that we preserve the essence of each story without repeating the same information again and again.

Andy McCluskey has written the foreword. How did that come about?

Gary took OMD out as his support act on his first national tour in 1979, and Andy and Paul Humphreys have fond memories of just how helpful Gary was to them at the beginning of their career. Gary’s mum even ironed their shirts for them before they went on stage!

You’ve said Andy pushed back on a couple of contributor memories in the OMD book and then thought better of it. Did Gary Numan have any similar moments reading through fan accounts of his own career?

Andy was very hands on when it came to the OMD book, but Gary hasn’t asked for any editorial changes at all. I think when you’ve been in the business for years you’ve probably been on the receiving end of people sharing memories with you about seeing you perform and you realise that how they remember it won’t necessarily correspond with what actually happened, but it’s their memory at the end of the day.

‘Shaun Ryder’s Book of Mumbo Jumbo’ could have had stories about crack smoking in Jamaica and Peter Hook anecdotes but they didn’t make the cut. Where do you draw the line on what goes in?

Don Letts did provide a story about Shaun doing drugs in Jamaica which made the book. But Shaun didn’t want Hooky’s story about taking heroin at a Factory party to be included. I don’t know why, as it’s hardly a book about a sober, clean-living kind of guy. My attitude is put it all in, polish it up and let the artist decide what (if anything) should come out.

I was surprised how supportive Billy Bragg was for his ‘A People’s History’, including sharing his memories in the book and actively promoting it. Is that level of involvement typical, or was Billy unusual?

Billy is one of my musical heroes so it was fantastic that he agreed to do a book. He was very clear that he wanted the stories of those around him on his career journey – his old next door neighbour and early doors roadie and collaborator, Wiggy, for example – to be part of the book. And he also wrote more than fifty stories of his own. So yes that level of involvement isn’t typical, but it has made for a much more interesting read. And Billy is very happy with the finished product and hasn’t been shy in saying as much. I still have to pinch myself that I’ve got to meet him and work so closely with him, and discover just what a truly nice bloke he is.

Jim Kerr rang you to say how much he liked ‘Simple Minds – Heart of the Crowd – A Fan History.’ Has any artist’s reaction surprised you?

One artist was less than enthusiastic about the book I did on them and I’m still not sure to this day whether his manager gave the go ahead to the project without the artist fully understanding what it entailed. But I can’t say who that was, only that I still think it’s a good book even if the subject doesn’t!

Your first music memory is Marc Bolan on Top of the Pops, and you’re now writing a people’s history of T. Rex. What took you so long?

Yes, T.Rex performing ‘Hot Love’ on Top of the Pops when I was in hospital as a ten-year-old is my first musical memory, and it stands out because it was on a colour television. We only had black-and-white at home and my dad wouldn’t have Top of the Pops on the telly.

Why has it taken so long? Marc is one of those performers who was sadly taken from us far too soon and so has been written about endlessly already. I wasn’t sure a ‘people’s history’ book about him would add anything to the picture, but I was lobbied hard by a T.Rex fan to do the book and so I relented. It’s coming out next year, around the fiftieth anniversary of his death.

What forthcoming People’s Historys’ have you got coming up – which ones have had their submission periods closed and which projects are you still seeking fan memories?

As well as Gary Numan, I’m publishing a book on Sandy Denny later this year and a book on punk. And there are books on Stiff Little Fingers, Throwing Muses and another book on Fairport Convention (I’ve done two already) all in the pipeline, plus one on Simon & Garfunkel. So we’re still looking for submissions for those. But I’m always interested in people’s concert memories, and if anyone has suggestions for further people’s history subjects, they’re welcome to drop me a line at iwasatthatgig@gmail.com

Further information

Gary Numan – A People’s History

spenwoodbooks.com

Paul Weller and Richard Houghton support raising funds for humanitarian aid in Gaza