GLASGOW VERSUS SYLVIAN

IN THE LATE 70s I MANAGED THE GROUP JAPAN. IT TOOK FIVE YEARS TO BREAK THEM IN THE UK AND DURING THAT TIME THEY PLAYED SUPPORT FOR BLUE OYSTER CULT. (EXCERPTED FROM MY BOOK 'BLACK VINYL WHITE POWDER')

One day David turned up in full make-up.

Despite his long hair and gentle manner, David had never seemed an effeminate person but wearing make-up changed that in a flash. I presumed he'd done it because he simply couldn't wait any longer to be a star. Wearing make-up on the train from Lewisham to London caused him to be watched - it was exciting - it put him immediately on-stage.

Before long, on David's instructions, Mick and Steve followed suit, and more reluctantly, Richard too. Only Rob managed to stay aloof from the group's new fashion.

At first the make-up was slapped on roughly, dollops of lipstick and mascara that made the group look like a gang of cheap whores. But when their girl hangers-on started to help them, the make-up became more sophisticated and they began to look like supermodels swinging down a catwalk. Only Richard continued to look like a tart, slashing his lips clumsily with thick magenta, then compensating by slouching around like a truckdriver.

Although their first album had sold miserably, their record company, Hansa, agreed to pay tour support for them to open for Blue Oyster Cult. It was a strange choice. Blue Oyster Cult were semi-occult heavy metal, and macho to the core. Japan were new wave, glam and androgynous. But it was the only tour available.

The first night at Bristol was disastrous. Blue Oyster Cult arrived late and by the time they'd sound-checked, the audience couldn't be kept outside any longer. In front of 2,000 people, Japan had to help their two roadies carry the equipment on-stage and set it up. They struggled through it, facing up to Blue Oyster Cult's belligerent audience as if they were undertaking some sort of college initiation ceremony.

The next night was Manchester where David completely lost control of the barracking audience and asked to pull out of the tour. With the next night being Glasgow I could understand his concern . But I came up with an idea.

'Play as much of the set as you can before the audience get totally out of hand. Then - just when you're on the edge of losing it - announce that you're going to sing the next song a cappella. For a heavy metal audience that will be the ultimate provocation. Then start singing. Whatever reaction you get, whatever noise they make, it will be you who've caused it, not them. That way it becomes you who's in charge.'

I wasn't sure my philosophy was sound but David took hold of it magnificently. In the middle of Japan's set, at the same point where he'd lost his nerve on the previous night, David walked to the front of the stage and waited quietly while 3,000 heavy metal thugs booed and catcalled. David stood silently, waiting for a hint of a lull. Then he started singing, completely unaccompanied.

The audience was taken aback. They let him get surprisingly far before the catcalls started again, but when they began they were phenomenal. I'd never heard such an incredible volume of hatred from an audience - shrieks, whistles, boos, wails, handclaps and foot-stomping.

When the cacophony seemed to be reaching its absolute peak, David stopped singing. He stood calmly at the front of the stage and turned his head slightly upwards towards the vortex of the noise somewhere near the middle of the balcony. As he did so an enormous smile spread slowly across his face. Distinctly happy, noticeably relaxed, he stood gazing at the manic, wailing audience.

Within seconds they'd quietened down. They'd been sent up and they knew it.

Japan got through the rest of the set with little more than the odd boo. David's a cappella performance was one of the most remarkable things I'd ever seen and he was never again fazed by anything an audience did to him.

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