Although the interview itself fragmented into a rapid interchange of jokes, questions and very occasional bits of information between the trio, Ted Milton finally dropped the funny act while walking back to the pub where he was set to play that night with Section 25 - and spoke briefly but earnestly about himself and his long bitter struggle against narrow-minded bigotry, especially in the theatre-going classes.
Given his bizarrely intense appearance, he's utterly convincing as both comedian and tragedian. His gaunt features are highlighted by a ridiculously severe haircut that's shaven halfway up his temples pushing the rest of his hair into a fledgling eraserhead crop. His face is as malleable as his many voices, capable of dropping from a sharply etched expression to a complete blank within a split second. He's deliberately unnerving, and immensely moving, as a constant jumble of ideas pour forth, both practical and highly inflammatory.
`In performance, Milton's work begins as soon as he takes the stage. The very act of walking on and removing his saxophone from his box, adjusting his two microphones to a suitable height and muttering incomprehensibly but meaningfully into them, is a charade in itself, mocking the conventions of preparation and tuning up.
Onstage, Milton refers to his guitarist Pete as the Human Loop, which seems an accurate enough description of his steady, single-minded style. Milton himself overlays it all with furious bleats, short, sharp shock phrases and bursts of lyricism, accumulating in emotional impact, while the Loop and Jake's relentlessness starts tugging the feet.
When he's not blowing, or, more closely, over-blowing, Ted blurts rapid streams of words into the mike, using his sax as prop one minute like a machine gun, the next like a doll. On one song, he lets loose a series of precision salutes of every description. Only problem is, it's almost impossible to hear what he is saying - deliberately so.
"You'd like to know some of the words?" asks Ted, during the interview. "Well, one song, eh-hum, that's on the B-side of our new single 'Get' on Test Pressing, goes: "Peter put your chocs out. Let your aeroplanes fly free. Get them back on the shooting lot, re-tape 'From Here To Eternity! So pull hard down on your joystick! your nose will lift off the ground. Because when you're only half way up, you're neither up nor down! Peter pull your chocs out! Let your little aeroplanes fly free! they want to get back to World War Two! They don't want no World War Three."
Continuation