“I am happy to report that I had too much fun making this album,” Pearl Gates reveals. “I moved to London from San Francisco in May of 1980 at the suggestion of my friend Kosmo Vinyl, who was the personal manager for both The Clash and Ian Dury & The Blockheads. I had just finished touring with my San Francisco band, Pearl Harbor And The Explosions, and I wanted a change. I wanted to sing rock and roll songs, but they weren’t up for it. So off to London I went to pursue a solo career and meet and work with some of London’s greatest rock and roll musicians.”

“My record label, Warner Bros, changed the spelling of my last name from Harbor, to Harbour, as that is the British way of spelling the name. Kosmo made all of the arrangements for members of both The Clash and The Blockheads, as well as a cast of other talented characters, to record this album with me. I had a blast! Sex and drugs and rock and roll.....Yah Hoo!”

“I hadn’t been to London since I was eleven years old, so I had a lot to learn. I wasn’t familiar with the pub scene, where you arrive at the pub at lunchtime, have a few pints, go home or back to work, and then return to the pub at dinner time. It was great! I conducted all of my music business in various pubs in the East and West Ends of London. Very civilized, if you ask me!”

“I met all kinds of interesting characters in London, including Nigel Dixon, front man of the rockabilly band Whirlwind. Rockabilly was popular in certain old school circles and I thoroughly enjoyed going to those clubs and watching everyone in their ’50s clothes, line dancing and jumping about like Jerry Lee Lewis on speed! What a culture shock...., I’d never seen anything like it. This scene had a big influence on me and the making of this album. The rockabilly scene was still more of an underground scene back then.”

“This was before the Stray Cats arrived and it, like punk, was fresh and exciting. There were amazing ’50s record stalls in some of the flea markets that had the best, most obscure records I had ever seen. I was impressed! Nigel’s band Whirlwind were one of the only rockabilly bands playing and recording at that time, so when Kosmo introduced me to him, it was a dream come true. We got together a few nights a week to write songs for this album and talk about ’50s music. I told him I wanted to “speed up” old school rock and roll and rhythm and blues to create a new sound.”

“After we had enough material to record an album, Kosmo and I put together an amazing group of some of the best rock and roll musicians in London. The result is what I would call a new version of old school music, three-minute songs with minimal overdubs and rehearsals, and all recorded and mixed in only three weeks! This was at a time when most people took months to make an album. We all felt that real rock and roll should be short and sweet with little or no frills attached.”

1. ALONE IN THE DARK
2. FUJIYAMA MAMA
3. EVERYBODY’S BORING BUT MY BABY
4. YOU’RE IN TROUBLE AGAIN
5. DO YOUR HOMEWORK
6. COWBOYS & INDIANS
7. LOSING TO YOU
8. FILIPINO BABY 9. LET’S GO UPSTAIRS
10. ROUGH KIDS
11. OUT WITH THE GIRLS
12. HEAVEN IS GONNA BE EMPTY
13. AT THE DENTIST
14. NERVES
15. YOU GOT ME ALL WRONG
16. VOODOO VOODOO
17. YOU DON’T FOOL ME
18. WHAT I SHOULD HAVE SAID
19. I CAN’T TELL YOU ON THE PHONE

This emphatically-charged live set opens on the hauntingly rambunctious ALONE IN THE DARK, the alt-punk rocker FUJIYAMA MAMA and the horn-driven EVERYBODY’S BORING BUT MY BABY, and then come the rhythmic hipsway of YOU’RE IN TROUBLE AGAIN, the sax-driven rock of DO YOUR HOMEWORK, the countrified twang that flows throughout COWBOYS & INDIANS, before we are brought forth the languishing heartbreak sewn within LOSING TO YOU, the upbeat FILIPINO BABY, the drum-led rocker LET’S GO UPSTAIRS and then the propellant ROUGH KIDS.

Up next is the guitar fest that drives OUT WITH THE GIRLS, the melodic finger-snapper HEAVEN IS GONNA BE EMPTY, the fun storytelling within AT THE DENTIST and then we get the frenetically-charged NERVES, which are in turn backed by the alt-pop-rocker YOU GOT ME ALL WRONG, the southern blues rock that drives VOODOO VOODOO, the recording rounding out on it’s B-side, the foot-tapping YOU DON’T FOOL ME, the emphatic WHAT I SHOULD HAVE SAID, coming to a close on the free flowing alt-pop I CAN’T TELL YOU ON THE PHONE.

Continuing her story, she also makes it clear that each musician added their own personal style to make Don’t Follow Me, I’m Lost Too a very special album and that she is truly thankful to have had them play on this album.

Indeed, these following six musicians were the core of the band that played on every song:

Wilko Johnson (Dr. Feelgood/Ian Dury & The Blockheads), provided steady, machine gun rhythm guitar
Nigel Dixon (Whirlwind) played rockabilly twang and rhythm guitar
Steve New (Rich Kids) played some of the weirdest, off the wall guitar solos
Paul Simonon (The Clash) played his signature simple, bouncy bass lines
Topper Headon (The Clash) played some of the best drum beats in rock and roll
Steve Goulding (Graham Parker and The Rumour), who along with Topper, played pounding simple beats that complimented each other. Minimal cymbals and heavy on the toms!

Some of the special guests that played on this album were: Mick Jones (The Clash) on lead guitar; Geraint Watkins (Nick Lowe, Dave Edmunds) on keyboards; BJ Cole on pedal steel guitar, and Gary Barnacle on saxophone.

The album was produced by Micky Gallagher, the keyboard player with Ian Dury & The Blockheads.
“I loved making this album, but unfortunately the record company wasn’t happy with it and, as a result, only pressed a minimal amount of records and provided little to no promotion.”

“Therefore, I am super thankful to now have this opportunity to re-release Don’t Follow Me, I’m Lost Too. Play it LOUD, and ENJOY !!!”

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