Charlie: “Are you satisfied so far with the reaction you’ve been getting from the audience and the press and such like?”
Ted: ”I knew Blurt would get a strong reaction, but I wasn’t really prepared to find any number of people who might actually react in a way that you could actually call positive – I mean – actually like it, vaguely, enough to come back for a second dose. I mean – we played in Cheltenham Art School a few nights ago and a guy there said to me that he was very amused because of the way people reacted there. They sort of rushed from the room screaming “No, no, what is it, let me out”, you know, drown their heads in umpteen pints of beer, or else they stood about and reasonably enjoyed it. But I’m talking about pleasure. I’m surprised that the pleasure I get in it is shared by some other people as well.”
Charlie: “So does that mean that if you don’t get really successful you’ll keep on?”
Ted: “We’ll keep on as long as it’s possible, that’s all.”
Charlie: “So if you stay with the same sort of crowds you’re getting now, which is possible, will you keep on playing?”
Ted: “You mean if the crowds don’t get bigger will Blurt carry on?”
Charlie: “Yes.”
Ted: “I don’t know, it’s really in the hands of the receiver.”
Charlie: “The official receiver?”
Ted: “We’re all so skint…the main thing is, if as you suggest the crowd stays the same size, and we don’t become any more popular than we are now, it’s really difficult to say. Well if half the crowd disappeared regularly until there was no crowd at all we’d never get a booking anywhere so we would dissapear. It’s very unlikely that we’d just sort of stand still, we have to change.”
Charlie: “some groups keep on going with a dwindling audience.”
Ted: “You sort of carry on but you’d wear sandals and beat yourself with thongs, you know. Thing is, Charlie, I beat myself with thongs.”