Michael Hann

‘Cocaine addiction is time-consuming’: the rise and fall of Kevin Rowland and Dexys

Michael Hann talks to one of Britain’s greatest soul singers about the hits, the insecurity and the lost years

Dressed to kill: Kevin Rowland in the My Beauty era

When Dexys Midnight Runners reached No. 1 in the singles charts in spring 1980 with the song ‘Geno’, the band had to travel to London for their coronation appearance on Top of the Pops. For the first time they could afford the train fare. But Kevin Rowland — their singer, leader, creative director, boss, whatever you want to call him — insisted they continue to jump the barriers at Birmingham New Street.

‘I said, “Come on lads, we’re still going to bunk the trains.” And they went, “What?” “Come on, the inspector’s coming. We’ve got to get in the toilets.” And the drummer said, “Kev. We’re No. 1 in the charts and we’re bunking the trains…”. “GET IN!” I don’t know why. It was probably a control thing. I was insecure then. It made me more insecure, the success, in a funny way. I only enjoyed being a pop star for a few weeks.’

And at the heart of that story are two things that define Kevin Rowland. The first is the commitment to an idea of what a band should be — or, perhaps, the over-commitment to an idea. For example they might go out running each morning on tour, then appear on stage dressed in boxing boots and athletic wear (‘It wasn’t me dictating that we go training. But we nearly all started doing it. And it became a Dexys thing, so we decided to let people know about it’).

‘I was insecure then. It made me more insecure, the success, in a funny way. I only enjoyed it for a few weeks’

There would be different images for each phase of the group — the bedraggled tinker look that accompanied the No. 1 ‘Come On Eileen’ is perhaps most famous, though the idea started with the beanies and leather jackets of their first incarnation (‘We tried to create an image of being tough, but we weren’t that bloody tough.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in