Always interesting

So, before ChopperTown and the realisation that Rico was one of the founding fathers (fury?) of The Sinners, he and I had a sudden, intensive to-ing and fro-ing across the ether by email, during which I realised I had met – or at least come across – him in the eighties. In London.



See, I used to drink quite often in the Devonshire Arms in Camden Town, and more often than not Shane McGowan would be whiling the evening away in a corner with friends. One of the characters often hanging around was this big guy with a bleached flat-top, who I used to see in there and at various gigs around the area: Rico.



Apparently he was a roadie for the Pogues in a previous existence, and I was a Camden barfly at about the same time. Did the fact we'd laid pints on the same Camden beermats and locked bloodshot eyes across north London dancefloors mean I was happy to stride up to him at Born Free last year and introduce myself? While he was having an intensive chat with the Hater? Well, what do you think? (He looked at me then with the same indifferent gaze he has in that shotgun photo with JJ, above.)



Anyway, he's an interesting character who does interesting work in an interesting shop, which now has an even more interesting website.