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OK, I've had a stinker of a cold all week and my voice sounds like I've  been snacking on the odd bag of gravel here and there, writes Krissy Elliott. There's a very special gig on tonight and it's called Tommystock. I may feel lousy but I am a guest, so crawl along with my 12 year old for moral support, armed with Lemsip, earplugs and voice recorder (not necessarily in that order).
Tommy Tee was a very special guy, well loved and sadly mourned following his death just after Christmas. Long term manager to New Model Army, and mentor and manager to The Almighty in the past, he helped musicians to carve careers in a dangerously complex business.
Tonight - for one night only - fans have flocked from across Europe to pay tribute to the man and to raise funds for his family, now sadly deprived of an important part of their lives. Notoriouz, fronted by Tommy's son and starring pre-teen boys of some considerable talent, are to open the bill, followed by the infamous Rev Hammer; The Almighty have reformed in a one-shot deal for this; New Model Army, hot from the studio after recording their new album, are primed and ready.
I met up with Justin Sullivan, vocalist and Army mastermind, to talk family, friends and a touch of politics, just before the show.
So Justin, can you tell me why you chose the Cheese and Grain in Frome to hold this special tribute night?
Justin: Actually, it's the nearest venue we knew of, to where Tommy lived in Templecombe. It was just a bit of a spur of the moment thing back in January. I thought we should do a benefit for his family. It was a kind of obvious thing for us to do in a way, and we chose this place because it was nearest to his family.
Everything seems to be running late! Have there been problems today?
It's an acoustic nightmare, this place! [Laughs]. It's a long way for us... We are still based in Bradford.
So what made you decide to give money to help out Tommy's family? It seems a bit impersonal.
Well, they are all kind of our family. We're close knit, we've all helped each other over the years. It seems a really obvious thing to do, Tommy looked after us, we were what he did. Suddenly he's not there. He was the family's main source of income, so it was an obvious thing to do.
What can you tell me about your time with Tommy as a manager?
Tommy joined us as tour manager back in '82. He was tour manager till '89. Then he left, and he went off to become manager of The Almighty for a few years, and then he was kind of doing various things. In the mid-‘90's we'd kind of lost our way a bit in terms of momentum and he came back and sorted us out! He became our manager from about '96. He and I decided that the internet was going to change everything, so we decided we should sit and rebuild the whole way the band was set up. So we started our own label, and our own publishing company. From about the mid-‘90's when Tommy came back we set up this model which now bands are following, and it's the best model to have in this day and age. Complete control over all your output.
So helping out Tommy's family seems the least you can do. It seems very noble.
No, it's not noble. It's also an event. There were a lot of people at the funeral, Tommy was a particularly loved man right across the music business. People liked him and people respected him because he was kind of old school. He would be happy to sit in a business meeting with New York suits talking about, you know, hundreds of thousands of dollars, but at the same time he didn't feel that was in any way different from packing the van at the end of the night. [Smiles in fond remembrance]. He liked packing the van! He was in lobe with the road, he was in love with the life, in many ways. But at the funeral, the family didn't want the place to be inundated with fans. There were a lot of fans who wanted to come and pay their respects but they weren't really able to at that point. So this is kind of for them - I mean, people have come from all over Europe, there's people come from America for this! It won't be millions, maybe about 800 people, we haven't advertised, just kind of done this on our own...
So it's a tribute, an opportunity to get together. I've met people from all over the place outside tonight.
 It's the event - his son's band [Notoriouz] is playing, Rev [Hammer] is playing, Joolz is playing... The Almighty are playing, they reformed especially for it. We're doing a sort of set, although actually our guitar player's cut through the tendon in his thumb so...
Erm, how will you manage then?
Well, we did some big shows in Germany last week and we managed as a four piece! We'll manage!
So what's goin to happen about management for the band in the future?
It's a difficult thing, it's impossible shoes to fill. He wasn't just any manager, he was a one-band manager, he was a part of our family and not just anyone can step into his shoes. Rather than try to find someone we've taken it kind of in-house, so we're basically managing ourselves. But we're farming things out as well. A number of people have approached us asking to manage the band...
So really, if someone who's part of the family kind of slides into the role, that will suit you better?
Yes, I think so. For now we're kind of doing it ourselves.
It's the spirit of independence that interests me. A thing came up in the press recently, about the rights of the BNP to sell music as patriotic, regardless of the political slant of the bands who created the music. The FAC fought back and stated that it went against the morals and ethics of its 31,00 or so members.[We covered this on Komodo Rock, both sides of the coin]. Can you comment as to whether the BNP as consumer should have the right to resell like this, and whether the musicians should have the right to asset that they can't?
Well, the issue is really about the BNP being distributors, and making a cut of out distributing.
But surely as that happens anyway across the industry, regardless of the polical leaning of the distributor?
Well, I have a problem with the very existence of the British National Party, let alone allowing them to make a penny out of music. I can't imagine that they would be distributing our records...
It wasn't particularly your records... more asking you about the principle of the matter.
Towards the end of the ‘70's and in the early ‘80's the National Front were quite a powerful force in this country. But they were stopped at every turn that they made because people just wouldn't fucking have it. Their bands weren't allowed to play at pubs because people would blockade the pubs. They couldn't rally, they couldn't march, because.... Well, that's the way to treat these people. Yes. They are the enemy.
Thank you. So - there is a studio album out in autumn?
Yes, called Today Is A Good Day. And a whole tour starting, in North America and in Europe.
Are you looking forward to hitting the road like that again?
 Well, we're playing in summer before the album even comes out. Yeah, I'm in love with the road. I think that's the one thing Tommy and I had really in common... I don't think we actually liked the same music, but we were both in love with the romance of the road. The whole thing about every day being different, waking up in a different town every day. He and I, we both loved that. And we'd always take chances! It's like, last year we had a tour in Eastern Europe which went all the way down to the south of Roumania. Well, one show got cancelled and we had to decide whether it was really worth driving a bus with all these people and stuff down there. Me and Tommy sat down and decided it was definitely worth going because we hadn't been there. That was a good enough reason to go to the south of Roumania. And we were sat there on the bus, praying that there wouldn't be just three people and a dog when we got there! As it turned out there was about five hundred people so it was fine! But he and I, we'd always plot tours, places to go, just because we hadn't been there before.
So, will there be any big presentations tonight?
No. As I say, what we're gonna do is quite a mish-mash, a couple of ex-members are coming along. Our old violin player's here because he wanted to pay his respects to Tommy, couple of friends, there's Joolz... Everyone just paying their respects really.
Well, thank you for taking the time out to speak to me. Have a great night.
Thank you for coming [shakes my hand... then shakes my son's hand too].
Krissy and her son Sam would like to thank Laura Farrow and all at DMF Music for managing to get them in in the midst of the chaos. A big thank you to all who attended and made the gig such a success.
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