Andy Blade and Buddies - Being Alive Is Fun

Andy Blade (born Andrew Radwan in London, UK to an Egyptian father and an English mother) was the front man of Eater, a first-wave London punk band of the mid 1970s, and one of the youngest – if not the youngest – band on the scene.

Eater appeared on the seminal “Roxy, London WC2” album singing Alice Cooper”s “Eighteen” with the title changed to “Fifteen” to reflect their schoolboy status.

Andy recently published his autobiography “The Secret Life of a Teenage Punk Rocker: The Andy Blade Chronicles”. Andy provides a vivid insight into the London punk scene from someone who was there. Eater typified the tidal wave of DIY ambition making the rules up as they went along. And what fun they had too. They were totally inspired by the most exciting band ever….the Sex Pistols. 18 months later it was all over and Eater had split up. Andy describes his “mid-life crisis” at 18. Amazingly he went straight from punk to becoming a hippy. Fantastic! It’s clear from reading this wonderful book that Andy remains a punk at heart despite now working as a part-time teacher. You have to read this book. It’s bloody brilliant. Andy is painfully honest, has numerous great anecdotes and it’s also very funny. This is the punk scene I experienced: cheap drugs, gobbing, sexy punkettes, and then BANG disillusionment and onwards and upwards to new adventures. His life after punk is almost as interesting as his account of the punk era. Do yourself a favour and read it!

Andy has recorded on and off since the demise of Eater in the late seventies.