Famed for flamboyantly short performances and blisteringly quick single-note solos, Bedsits guitarist and founder member Tet Gilroy may have opened the door for pub rock but was already back out through it (and halfway up the street) by the time punk arrived.

At 5 foot 2 the diminutive cockney, or the ‘Basildon Bopper’ as he was known locally, signed to Bootlace Records on Monday, 12th August 1974 at midday and was promptly dropped at just before half three that afternoon. Gilroy had, by that time, already recorded two albums’ worth of material and was well on his way to completing a third at the legendary Suitcase Studios when label boss Alvin Bishop realised it was, in fact, velvet-throated folk-droner Ret Galway he’d intended to sign. Bishop immediately made his way to Suitcase and confiscated the tapes.

However, bootleg copies of the material were already in circulation that evening and with five shows under his belt by closing time, a ‘fourth album’ of outtakes from the Suitcase sessions was promised by the end of the week. ‘End of the Week’ was a sweat-drenched, instant coffee-fueled sensation. With most of its songs clocking in at well under the minute mark it was released on Gilroy’s own label ‘Busted’ – a company that folded within hours of the album’s release. So eager was Gilroy to get his LP into the shops that the covers were shipped before the records were pressed. So keen were his fans to get hold of copies that most of them left the shops without even paying.

Undaunted by financial difficulties Gilroy set about his next project ‘Undaunted by Financial Difficulties’. This would be the working title for a major, new, nine-minute offering, blending music-hall tradition with rock opera. Gilroy’s ‘pub-eretta’ told the tragic tale of an East End tradesman giving door-to-door quotes for an assortment of small building jobs. Despite bringing him to the attention of manager Tony Slutt-Lewis, it became apparent that Gilroy was, in fact, hawking his own services and tracks such as “Tarmac Your Drive for a Score” and “It Looks Like Your Windows Need Doing Love” were little more than crude attempts at soliciting short-term employment.

The road beckoned as Gilroy was quickly asked to leave many of the establishments he tried to play. This didn’t prevent him recruiting rhythm section Chris Meritt & Terry Timms in his local pub one Sunday night. ‘One Sunday Night’ and it’s follow-up ‘Lunchtime Monday’ were both released on Tuesday but by Wednesday, Gilroy, growing tired of Meritt’s ‘sensible’ shoes, had sacked the drummer. Tensions over footwear grew and Timms quit later that evening.

With auditions for prospective new members taking place in his Basildon bedsit that Thursday, the definitive line-up of The Bedsits can be traced to this period (around 10:53 that morning) with the arrival of Rob Clegg and Dave Toad. Clegg had only just plugged in and ‘Toadie’ was still unloading his kit from the van when they heard the news they’d both been fired. Gilroy, sensing things were already ‘growing stale’ ahead of the audition, was promptly off in another direction by eleven, poaching Sally Pratt and Molly McGuire from all-girl glam group The Novices later that afternoon.

By Friday Gilroy had decided his future lay in the North of England but was dismayed to discover, halfway up the A1 (also the title of The Bedsits eleventh album) that a band from Daventry were also known as The Bedsits. They were to learn of other Bedsits in Wolverhampton, Liverpool, Wilmslow and Stockport as well as a Room to Let from Knutsford. Undeterred the group, now announcing themselves as The London Bedsits, spent the rest of the weekend playing gigs wherever they saw Bedsits advertised, in one instance even signing a short let tenancy agreement that, despite the hefty rental deposit, proved more lucrative than any recording contract the band were ever offered.

Motorway white lines
Service station coffee grinds
Sweat-drenched, teeth clenched
Nothing on the subs bench
Running on adrenaline
A pack of ten and Benylin
Transit engine overload
I’m gone before I get there…

from ‘Gone Before I Get There’, London Bedsits