An interview with Chas Hodges of Chas and Dave, who died in 2018. Interviewed a few months before his death, he talked about an illustrious career that included touring with The Beatles and Jerry Lee Lewis

BY BEN WEST

So which musician has played and recorded with Jerry Lee Lewis, was in the band supporting the Beatles on their last ever European tour, opened for Led Zeppelin at Knebworth, played with Gene Vincent, and had a string of UK top ten hits in his own right?

The answer? Charles Nicholas Hodges, better known as Chas from Chas and Dave, which he formed in 1974 with Dave Peacock.

They became household names in the 1980s with rollicking cockney – ‘rockney’ – hits like Rabbit, Ossie’s dream, Ain’t No Pleasing You, Sideboard Song, Margate, and Snooker Loopy. They have managed to remain one of those iconic acts that still consistently perform to sell-out venues, and find themselves busier than ever.

Over the last three years they have had a new hit album, That’s What Happens on Warner Bros. Records, headlined The Royal Variety Show, sold out the Royal Albert Hall, supported Status Quo and performed at the VE Day Concert televised on BBC TV.

That all abruptly stopped early this year, while Chas received treatment for cancer of the oesophagus. Despite such a setback, the duo made a triumphant return at British Summer Time in Hyde Park in June alongside Phil Collins and Blondie.

“No-one knows how they will feel when their doctor tells them they’ve got something like cancer,” Chas tells me, on a rainy morning in October. “I immediately thought of Ian Dury [who died of cancer, aged 57, in 2000].

“My first words were, ‘how long have I got?’ Fortunately, the doctor said they could do something as they had caught it early enough. So I just carried on, and we’re now back on the road.

“I’d advise people to check out any symptom, if they see any changes. My symptom last Christmas was trying to drink a glass of water. The water wouldn’t go down. It had happened before. So if you have any new symptom see a doctor, don’t go down the pub, have a pint and tell your friend, who’ll just say don’t worry about it.”

I ask him whether he knows the Blackheath and Greenwich area at all.

“I know it very well,’ he says. “My old mate, guitar player Albert Lee, lived in Blackheath, so I’d come here a lot in the past.”

He doesn’t have any particular favourite places when touring worldwide, but enjoys travelling around Britain, discovering the little towns and villages.

“When touring is well organised, it’s great, relaxing not taxing. But in the old days it could be too busy. You’d do tv shows, a radio show, then the gig in the evening, day after day.”

Not that he’d necessarily see much of the locality when touring.

“You typically arrive at the hotel, go to the venue, go for a soundcheck, do the gig, get something to eat after and then back to the hotel. The next day on to the next place.”

Chas’s initial musical inspiration probably came from his mother, Daisy, who would play piano in pubs and clubs around north London in order to feed Chas and his eldder brother, also called Dave, after their father, Albert, committed suicide a day before Chas’s 4th birthday.

Chas and Dave have been associated with a number of musicians over the years, but some are surprising – such as Enimen. He sampled a Labi Siffre song, I Got The… for his first single, My Name Is, which the guys played on.

Pete Doherty of The Libertines has said that Chas and Dave were a big influence on him when he first started to play, and the band invited Chas and Dave to support them on a couple of gigs, including one at the Brixton Academy. It ended up with Libertines fans asking when they could next see Chas and Dave live, a scenario that could possibly have been difficult to foresee beforehand.

“That’s how I get my first buzz, when kids pick up on our music,” says Chas. “Quite often people come up who have been influenced by my piano playing, they say things like because of seeing me play, they went to music college. That gives me a big buzz. It’s the same as me being inspired by Jerry Lee Lewis all those years ago.

“And it’s great when someone Tweets something like ‘my four year won’t go to bed until they’ve heard Rabbit. It’s great how kids pick up on what they like and what they don’t, they’re not influenced by anything.”

“It was great playing with Jerry Lee Lewis. I saw him live in 1958 and then ended up playing for him as his bass player. It was great to be on tour with the greatest rock and roller in the world. What more would you want in life?”

Chas also briefly became a member of the Beatles at Eric Clapton’s wedding. Eric had arranged a marquee with full backline and drums, and Chas got up and started playing some rock’n’roll on the piano. One by one Paul, George and Ringo got up and joined in.

“I looked around me and thought, ‘hang on, I’m the fourth Beatle’,” he says.

Chas has seen lots of changes in the music industry, from vinyl records to cassettes and CDs, and to downloads. Some have been good, some bad.

“There came a time in the 1970s when bands became reliant on a record company for an advance. If they go down the pan, so do you. It’s changed, and that’s good. If you’ve got a live act you can be independent. One thing is that there is a revival of vinyl. I’m not a fan of vinyl, I was always bad at putting my records away and they got scratched. In the 1970s I was buying things like The Band, Ry Coder, a lot of American-style stuff. There was some great music coming out.

“One thing that hasn’t changed is that people will always like to see live music, a live act. Live shows are still selling out. If you want to make music as a career, just go out playing anywhere: schools, village halls, old people’s homes, anything. Learn to entertain and you’ve got a job for life.”

Another thing that hasn’t changed is the enduring popularity Chas and Dave enjoy.

“Some DJ said to me the other day, ‘from what I can feel, you’re bigger now than you ever were,’” he says.

“I’m very fortunate, I’ve had so many great great moments in my career. It goes back to when I started playing. At one of my first gigs, when I was about 13, someone gave me a pound note after I’d played and I thought, this is the life for me. That tour with Jerry Lee Lewis, selling out the Albert Hall, touring with The Beatles, being featured on This is Your Life, Glastonbury…all were high points and there’s loads more to come.”

This article was published in the November 2017 issue of Black + Green Magazine