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Behind the scenes on Danny Baker's Tin Pan Alley documentary for Radio 2

Kellie Redmond

Radio producer

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On Monday 7 July at 10pm on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 2, Danny Baker takes listeners on a tour of Denmark Street, London's 'Tin Pan Alley'. Producer of the Guitar Season documentary Kellie Redmond explains how the programme was put together.Μύ

"As the Sex Pistols we ended up putting up net curtains here, which was odd."

This unlikely insight – courtesy of former Pistols bassist Glen Matlock - into the punk icons' homemaking touches when they lived and rehearsed in London's Denmark Street, is just one of the more colourful revelations that I've discovered during the making of this programme about this fascinating short stretch of road. It was behind those very nets that the band worked up some of their most iconic songs, including Anarchy in the UK.

Glen Matlock talks to Kellie in the old rehearsal space used by the Sex Pistols.

Other weird or wonderful tales include the now-famous female musician who tried out as potential lead singer of The Clash; the rock 'n' roll icon who often slept in a converted ambulance in the street; Pink Floyd and an incident involving an inflatable flying pig; a controversy-making band who secretly lived on a diet of home-made jam roly-polys and custard in the local café… and of a David Jones (later Bowie) who hatched plans in said café to form duo "David and Goliath" with a certain music figure of small stature before they both went on to big (no pun intended) success.

And that's just the quirkier side of Denmark Street aka London's Tin Pan Alley.

Think of an influential band or musician from the last 50 years and their career path would most likely have passed through this 100 metres or so stretch in the heart of the capital: whether recording or rehearsing here, living here, playing their first gigs here, or buying guitars here that they then wrote some of their most significant songs on…

The Rolling Stones? Check. The Beatles? Check. David Bowie? Check. Jimi Hendrix? Check. The Who? Check. Pink Floyd? Check. Led Zep? Check. Those net curtain-loving Sex Pistols? Check, check…

Behind almost every door is a fascinating story. Which is why, when we (independent production company Somethin’ Else) pitched the programme to Radio 2 last year as a part of its Guitar Season, I described it as an 'audio advent calendar'. In it, I wanted us to open a door and 'meet' the very people connected to each particular building where music history was made.

Thankfully, many of these names were keen to take part in the programme too and share their stories – from former Rolling Stone Bill Wyman and aforementioned Sex Pistol Glen, right through to Suede's Bernard Butler. There are also appearances from key behind-the-scenes figures such as guitar-tech-to-the-stars, Alan Rogan, who shares some real gems about George Harrison, Pete Townshend and Eric Clapton's connections with this very road.

And, of course, a street with so many tales to tell was deserving of a consummate storyteller to bring Denmark Street's colour and quirks alive. Danny Baker was the only presenter choice for us. I also knew that, rather handily, Danny has his own interesting link to the street, which if you listen to the doc, you'll discover.

Danny with Bill

Recording on location always throws up interesting challenges, and the script record with Danny on Denmark Street was no different. There was the small matter of the hustle and bustle of a central London location: the police cars, the road works, the constant stream of stop-start buses, the lorries carrying scaffolding rattling very loudly...

Thankfully, recording inside the different buildings – most of them now guitar shops – was a lot more straightforward. And a big shout out to the shop owners and managers who kindly allowed us to record on their premises.

There's always the odd surreal moment in this radio-making business. For me, on this project it includes Danny and Bill Wyman standing on the spot where The Stones recorded their life-changing debut record, comparing the size of their hands (in relation to an unnamed music icon having unfeasibly tiny ones).

Another was watching Donovan perform his specially written song (called Tin Pan Alley) on the busy pavement outside the local café at the unveiling of a blue plaque to honour the street's musical heritage… and when the ceremonial curtain got stuck so someone was sent up a ladder to uncover the plaque.

Then there’s the "punter" browsing in one of the music shops and whom I asked if he’d mind noodling on one of the guitars so I could record it for sound effects. No, I didn’t realise he was one half of chart-topping French duo, Modjo, responsible for the Number One hit 'Lady (Hear Me Tonight)'. Well, anyway, not until after he'd kindly obliged me with some guitar sounds. Keep an ear out to see if you can hear where he pops up in the programme.

It was also fascinating to see first hand the graffiti drawn by the Sex Pistols' Johnny Rotten that has been preserved at the back of one of the buildings where the band were based, or the indents in the ceiling left by egg boxes that were used for insulation at the studio where Jimi Hendrix and many others rehearsed or recorded.

Graffiti by Johnny Rotten in one of the buildings where the Sex Pistols were based.

There are now plans afoot to redevelop this area, which, nowadays, is perhaps seen as little more than a shopping destination for today's wannabe rock stars searching for that must-have instrument of their musical dreams.

But '' celebrates just how much of our music heritage owes its existence to the different layers of musical life that took root here over the last six decades.

I hope you enjoy this pulling back the curtain and also revealing perhaps some of the lesser-known musical history connected to this short, noisy, central London street.

And, talking of curtains, you'll have to listen to the programme to find out just why the Sex Pistols kept their own net ones firmly shut.

Kellie Redmond is a journalist and radio producer at independent production company .Μύ

  • is on Monday 7 July at 10pm on Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 2.Μύ
  • Kellie's next documentary is an alternative history of Walt Disney for Radio 4. She also producesΒ  on Radio 2 and .Μύ
  • Follow Kellie on .

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