It was 20 years ago today. Oh hell.My first ever gig - That Petrol Emotion

Gone gone is the love of my youth.

A little googling, a little you tubing and suddenly I'm looking at what happens to one of my favourite bands of my youth.
More specifically what happens to the young, lithe, sexy frontman of That Petrol Emotion; Steve Mack.

Then:

& now: This is Steve Mack today:

Since the break up of the greatest band never to have made it big. Steve Mack has become heavily involved in streaming media, worked as a higher up at Real networks and is now head of his own company. And although older, you can still imagine him on a stage somewhere.
Lux Media

Steve Mack's Lux Media bio

And all this from the man who so enchanted me at my first ever gig at Birmingham's old Powerhouse (now some shitty superclub) on 29th September 1987.
I must admit, when I started writing this post it was a few weeks ago and I had no idea (terrible memory remember) when the gig was, no idea that it was 20 years ago. 20 years ago! 20 years seems so horribly far away, yet I can remember it as if it were yesterday. Which is strange really, because these days I'm hard pressed to remember what happened yesterday.


I went with a group of school friends. Four of us on the 126 bus from Dudley, excitedly practising out fake birthdays to get into the venue. Turning up at the Powerhouse and being so scared they'd not let us in the building.
Then the gig. It was truly amazing. I'd loved That Petrol Emotion for a couple of years at that point since hearing Manic Pop Thrill. But Babble had just come out and I was in love with it; Big Decision, Swamp and every other damn track had me up and moving whenever I heard them. I'm sure I'd seen them play Big Decision and Swamp on the Tube before the gig (edit - August 87) and was amazed at the performance.
The actual gig was everything a first gig should be. So loud, so packed, I danced my ass off that night and went home with my ears ringing, ecstatic and happy. Thinking about it now makes me so wonderfully nostalgic and so happy as I sit here with Big Decision playing in the background.

I was fortunate enough to see them another couple of times and followed every move avidly, continuously wondering when they were going to make it big. Sadly they didn't. Although if they'd have been around post grunge instead of pre grunge the story may have been completely different.

So thanks Reámann O`Gorman, Ciaran McLaughlin, Steve Mack, Damian O`Néill, Sean O`Néill. Thank you for that night and thank you for some spectacular music.

That Petrol Emotion websites: fansite, wiki, amazon for Babble,
And finally, that Tube performance that I'm sure I saw. Still makes me go slightly tingly now: