‘One last chat about music, cricket and bands I’ve never heard of’: Paul Jackson remembered
MUCH MISSED: Paul Jackson. Picture credit: Anna Bean
Adelphi founder Paul Jackson died today aged 71. Journalist Phil Ascough looks back on some memorable encounters with the Godfather of Hull’s independent music scene
It was in 2017 when the Adelphi Club became a Community Interest Company that I asked Paul Jackson if, 33 years after opening the venue, this signalled he was now looking for the investment which would take it to the next level.
He replied that it was merely a case of him becoming more conscious of his own mortality. A CIC would have a better chance of securing the future of the club.
Much more recently, lying in his bed at Dove House Hospice, Jacko revealed: “I’m on my way out after 55 years of living with type one diabetes.”
At that point he’d been in Dove House for four weeks. I tried to lift the mood by chatting about his passions. Fishing has always been one, but I know nothing about that so we stuck to cricket and music, sometimes both at once.
Jacko expanded on a social media exchange in which one poster asked Paul Heaton about the time the Housemartins singer was recruited for the Fenners cricket team.
INTIMATE: Kaiser Chiefs at The Adelphi. Picture credit: Ian Rook
“We were about three players short and Paul said he would come along so we put him down to bat at 10 – in a 10-man team,” Jacko recalled.
“We needed 179 to win. I was batting at eight and when I was out we still needed 60 or 70. Paul scored about 25 not-out and hit the winning run. He’s still got the scorecard somewhere.”
I joined the Adelphi cricket team for a match in Jacko’s home village of Cottingham. He turned out for our media cricket team, which included broadcast legend Burnsy and future national newspaper journalists Andrew Buncombe and Martyn Ziegler. Jacko brought a touch of class and tradition with his floppy cap and orthodox forward defensive – taking the longest stride down the wicket and maintaining the straightest bat.
Turning to music, I congratulated Jacko on his vast and encyclopaedic knowledge, which he demonstrated by running through some of the tracks – most of which I’d never heard of – planned into the playlist for his funeral.
We didn’t dwell on that too much but spoke of some of the bands and performers I featured when, as music writer for the Yorkshire Post, I placed the Adelphi at the heart of our coverage. From Hull, the Gargoyles, Pink Noise, Milkfloat, Von Trapps. Hope Street from Scarborough, God’s Little Monkeys from York, the Snapdragons from Leeds, and big names including Pulp, The La’s, The Shamen from the national scene.
Conscious of the Adelphi’s hand-to-mouth existence I paid my way and didn’t request press tickets. I also threw a few parties there over the years, paying Jacko the band costs and inviting a load of people down. Incredibly in 1988 it cost just £60 for The Shamen. Four years later we got Cast for the same price.
PAW PATROL: Paul with his beloved Yosser
A box of records under my desk is full of classic Adelphi vinyl from some of those stars of the local scene as well as regular visitors from the national circuit including The Godfathers, Camper Van Beethoven, They Must Be Russians and The Dubious Brothers. There are dusty old cassettes by International Rescue and Yah Boo Politics, plus a compilation tape featuring half a dozen local favourites, released by the Hull, Hell & Happiness football and music fanzine, and intriguingly titled There’s Something Stirring In King Billy’s Bogs.
Adelphi stalwart Chris Dimmack designed a T-shirt which featured some of the headliners from the first decade or so and reminds me I’d moved on before the arrival of Radiohead, Oasis, Stone Roses and more.
Lately, Jacko had chided me for being stuck in the past, challenging me to celebrate the new talent. But you have to write what you know. As time moves on and bands change, so too must the audiences and media. Without that live connection you lose the relevance and authenticity which Jacko worked so hard to build and maintain.
His concern was merely another sign of the frustrations he has faced since opening the Adelphi in 1984. There was no shortage of local and national industry contacts ready to slag off a live music venue operating from a converted house in a residential street and patrolled by Yosser, Jacko’s beloved Spaniel .
In the early years the club was blamed by the city council for fly-posting by bands. World Party cancelled at the last minute. David Gray came on all prima donna. Police were called after one band was caught messing around with a replica pistol in the car park. But these were one-offs and Jacko’s zero tolerance policy on drugs, fighting and any other antisocial behaviour enabled him to build up strong reserves of trust and goodwill.
HAPPY HOUR AGAIN: Paul Heaton and friends perform at The Adelphi’s 30th anniversary celebrations. Picture credit: Ian Rook
Lack of money was a more serious issue, as it is now with other treasures of the local music scene. There’s uncertainty about the future and format of Trinity Live and Humber Street Sesh, where organisers put on last year’s festival without getting paid.
Cover band-creep is another problem, with venues claiming more commercial value from putting on “play summat we know” tribute bands rather than local creatives writing and performing their own material – and in many cases for less than the £60 fees of years ago.
But when Paul Heaton and Ian “Stan” Cullimore walked into the Yorkshire Post’s Hull office more than 40 years ago to request coverage for their tour of Germany they were building their Housemartins audience by busking in the city centre – not bashing out hits from the sixties in between the pies and the bingo.
Three teenage girls from Willerby found their way to the Adelphi in the late eighties to seek advice on developing their band which, as Cheap Day Return, had a set of catchy pop songs. They played a few gigs and in the years which followed slimmed down to a two-piece, changed their name to Scarlet and reached number 12 in the UK singles charts with Independent Love Song.
It’s not just musicians who benefit from a vibrant, original local music scene. We spoke about Adelphi alumni who went to the club as children and are now making their mark in the industry – one as a member of Nick Cave’s crew, another who worked on the tech for this year’s BAFTAs.
And then there are the social and community benefits. I found my future wife at the Adelphi. Our eyes met across a crowded Gargoyles gig. We invited Jacko to the wedding. He said he didn’t have a suit. I said it didn’t matter. He turned up on the day wearing a T-shirt from one of the visiting Adelphi bands – The Band of Holy Joy.
There have been calls for a Jacko statue. He’d be the first to ditch that idea but he seemed genuinely appreciative of the visit to his bedside by the Lord Mayor to appoint him as an Honorary Burgess of Hull. The best tribute though would be a lasting commitment to provide meaningful support to our city’s live music scene from the grassroots up. The CIC is the perfect vehicle to drive that, so please get behind it.