from book 'Ten Imaginary Years'
On 31 December, Easy Cure played at Orpington General Hospital.
Robert: "It was hilarious - something Michael's brother-in-law set up. He decided he was going to be our manager, had all these cards printed up saying 'Easy Cure For All Occasions' and got us this gig paying £20. Well, we thought, 'we'll play anywhere for £20' but when we arrived, we realised it was full of 40 and 50 year olds and trainee managers who, by 11 o'clock, were getting pretty belligerent because we were playing songs like 'Killing An Arab'."
Michael: "They wanted a dance band and we really had no grasp on anyone's tunes but our own. We were also expected to play two sets but we knew right from the outset it was dangerous because we played our first set to a lot of booing and hissing. Luckily they weren't sufficiently drunk at that stage to be anything more than vocal."
Robert: "Porl had a history of playing in cabaret bands and so, during the break, we were wondering what we could do and Porl said he sort of knew how to play 'Tie A Yellow Ribbon'. So we went back and started playing it and this roar of approval went up but, after bashing away at the chorus for six or seven minutes, this bloke threw a bottle and we ended up in the car park getting beaten up by several punters who wanted their money back!', 'Michael's brother-in-law immediately destroyed all 500 of his Easy Cure calling cards and we realised then that we couldn't just go and play any old place. We didn't want to learn loads of other people's songs just so we could because, that way, we would have become yet another pub band."
Michael: 'I think we got paid. I'd remember if we hadn't!"
