Rockpile was a British rock’n’roll and power pop band, with elements of country and rockabilly. They were active from December 1976 to early February 1981. The band consisted of Dave Edmunds (guitar & vocals), Nick Lowe (bass & vocals), Billy Bremner (guitar & vocals), and Terry Williams (drums).

Apart from great studio recordings ⁽¹⁾, the band was an excellent hard-driving live band. They toured intensively and were almost always on the road which included five US tours. The concerts were short and very intense, the slow numbers were left at home, and lasted no more than around an hour. 

But, after almost 4 years of constant touring and recording, which also included production work for other artists, the band was coming to an end. In February 1981, to much surprise for the fans and people in the music business, Rockpile abruptly disbanded. The official explanation was mainly contractual disagreements, but probably Nick Lowe was correct when he later said the now-famous words: We got together for fun and when the fun all had been had we packed it in. 

I just wish that they had stayed together for a few more years! They really were that good. 

Rikard Bengtsson

We watched Rockpile at the Montreux Jazz Festival in July 1980 as the opening act for Elvis Costello.

---
⁽¹⁾ The fact that Dave Edmund and Nick Lowe were signed to different record labels (Dave to Swan Song/Atlantic and Nick to Radar/Columbia) meant that they - for the first three years - could not record under the Rockpile name. But Dave Edmund’s solo albums Tracks on Wax 4, Repeat When Necessary, and Twangin’ and Nick Lowe’s Labour of Lust are all with the full Rockpile line-up, apart from a few other guesting musicians such as Huey Lewis and Albert Lee. 

It would not be until 1980 – when Dave and Nick's contracts came to an end – that they could cut the first true Rockpile album, the much-awaited Seconds of Pleasure, which was released in the autumn of 1980. Rockpile also backed other artists like Carlene Carter on her 1980 album Musical Shapes (on all songs except two) and on Mickey Jupp’s Juppanese from 1978 (a-side). 

This project is something quite unique. Crawling From the Wreckage is the first book ever written about Rockpile, the British rock ’n’ roll band that was formed in London in 1976 by Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe. It contains more than 200 photos, including exclusive shots from the infamous concert at the Bottom Line in New York, 1978, when Keith Richards from the Rolling Stones joined the band on stage, and previously unseen photage from the Roundhouse in London the very same year. 

Devoted fans, as well as people in the music business such as Gregg Geller, former A&R at Columbia Records, shares their memories and stories. Interviews have been conducted with guitarist Billy Bremner and drummer Terry Williams, but also with Rockpile’s tour manager Andy Cheeseman and the band’s recording engineers Aldo Bocca, Roger Bechirian and Neill King. Barry Farmer at Pathway Studios also talks about the group and their very first recording – They Called it Rock. The foreword is written by the British musician, author and music journalist Will Birch and the afterword by the Swedish journalist and author Mats Olsson – both true Rockpile devotees by heart.

When Nick Lowe in recent years was asked why there never was a Rockpile reunion, he replied that it was better for people to remember Rockpile for what they were. And that’s the very essence of the book; memories of a band that is considered by many to be one of the best live acts that have ever entered a stage. 

As Will Birch puts it in the foreword: For lovers of up-tempo rock’n’pop, Rockpile were the dream ticket.

Rikard Bengtsson – co-editor 

>>> For book orders, please e-mail Rikard at: rikard@hammarsjon.se