Adge - King Of The Wurzels - John Hudson

 ADGE - KING OF THE WURZELS - JOHN HUDSON

There's an anecdote in John Hudson's Adge - King Of The Wurzels about the time Adge Cutler went to London with his friends to watch a football match at Wembley Stadium and whilst in the foyer of the hotel they were staying at he was approached by a girl who, curious about his and his friends' accents asked Adge what nationality he was? "Nailsea." Adge replied, and this one anecdote speaks volumes in regard to who Adge Cutler was and what he was about. 

Nailsea, a town near Bristol, was where he was from and like all places in the West Country it has its own specific peculiarities and foibles as distinct, unique and as separate from any other town or place. Just as distinct, even within the confines of Bristol itself, there are huge differences between areas within a town or city as for example between Bristol's Clifton area and the Southmead or Easton areas. With this in mind, it's always been problematic to talk of something like 'the Bristol Sound', which is what Massive Attack's style of music is referred to as.

The only meaning this term 'the Bristol Sound' has is when referring to a specific time, a specific period. Therefore, if Massive Attack's style of music is 'the Bristol Sound' then it's only applicable to when they were active during the Nineties and then only for a few years. In this light, 'the Bristol Sound' of the Noughties was arguably Drum 'n' Bass along with its undertow of violence, for a period during the Eighties it was hardcore punk rock in the form of Disorder and Chaos UK, and for a few years during the Seventies it was the cider-fueled songs and lyrics of Adge Cutler and The Wurzels. From these it's easy to see which one would make for the best soundtrack to gentrification.

"If Chuck Berry can write about Memphis, Tennessee," Adge is quoted as saying "then why can't I write about Easton-in-Gordano, Somerset?" And there you have it. The impetus for him singing the songs that he did was the manor to which he was born, and with such rich material to inspire him, the sky was the limit.

Adge Cutler's influence upon the culture of Bristol and the West Country as a whole is immeasurable though if you were to ask people in Bristol nowadays about it a lot of them would probably be perplexed but only because a lot of them wouldn't be Bristolian born and bred, with 'Virtue et Industria' meaning nothing to them. If you were to question the members of Massive Attack and their fellow travelers about it they would probably guffaw and deny it wholeheartedly. On the other hand, if you were to ask members of Chaos UK they would without any doubt nor hesitation say 'yes, absolutely' and then probably raise a glass to him. Or a tankard.

Could Massive Attack ever have existed were it not for Adge Cutler? Of course. Could Chaos UK? Of course. These bands, however, didn't just appear out of nowhere and if Massive Attack haven't been directly influenced musically by them, The Wurzels were still a stepping stone toward their formation however subtle. 

An obvious characteristic of Adge Cutler was his sense of humour, one that is also shared by the likes of Chaos UK and with any luck if you dig deep enough Massive Attack have the same even if it doesn't show in their music or lyrics. Again, it's a very distinct sense of humour very local to Bristol and the West Country. As one of his friends relays about a time when Adge was in a pub in Clevedon and he ordered a pork pie: "Mustard?" asked the barmaid. "No, I'll have it straight," Adge replied.

John Hudson's book tells the story of Adge Cutler and in a way it's an attempt to re-raise the Cutler flag and have it flying again high and proud over Bristol's cultural history. Does it succeed? Only in as much as a book published by a not-for-profit book publishing house with a small print run might be expected. What it does very successfully however is to remove Adge Cutler away from only being associated with places like Nempnett Thrubwell and going to Barrow Gurney (to see his brother Ernie), and events like the World Cider Drinking Championships or the World Muck Spreading Championships and puts him right at the heart of Bristol.

There's a whole slew of Bristol pubs and street names that are mentioned, even at one point the 'world-famous' Dug Out Club on Park Row where Adge met his wife. There's Tyndall's Park Road and Pembroke Road where Adge used to live, the pawnbroker's on Old Market where Adge first bought the corduroy trousers that the band wore, the bench on the edge of Clifton Downs just across from Christ Church that's dedicated to the memory of Adge's wife, Yvonne; and even South Bristol Crematorium at Bedminster Down where Adge's funeral service was held.

Were you aware that The Wurzels were named after Wurzel Gummmidge? Were you aware that Adge was very interested in the Spanish Civil War and for a time actually lived in Guernica? Did you know Adge spoke Spanish fluently? Did you know that when Adge's Wurzel stick went missing it was on the television crime reporting programme Police 5? Did you know that by their manager simply phoning up promoters and clubs and telling them he's got a band that sings about "cider and manure and stuff" that it got them a load of gigs? It's the stuff of legend. You couldn't make it up. 

And Adge Cutler was the man. The man, the myth, and the legend.

John Serpico