As I wrote about last week after his sad death, Gary Johnson, highly skilled master of the fretless bass and integral member of China Crisis through their terrific 80s run of albums - Working With Fire & Steel, Flaunt The Imperfection, What Price Paradise, Diary Of A Hollow Horse - is the man who also once bought sixteen year old me a beverage prior to their gig at Surrey University. They were, without doubt, one of the most important bands for me through that mid to late 80s

Another day, another article I'd rather not have to have written. It was May half-term, 1989, and I had just turned 16. My second ever ‘proper’ music gig, and I was dropped off, just me, at Surrey University for this one. One of the beautiful things about music is the connections you make, both with the music and with other fans. As if to prove that, I was a very shy teenager, yet I got chatting to another solo attendee in the queue waiting for the venue to open. They were ol