Young and Barnes met at
Cathays High School in Cardiff, and started writing and playing songs together. They performed together from 1971 in the band John Stabber, and formed Do You Want This Table (later shortened to The Table) in 1972. The band was named after an overheard random comment by a stranger, and originally intended being a studio-only recording group. rapidly becoming a cult favourite. According to Barnes: We [were].. not Punks, not hippies, just too arty-probably-for-our-own-good writers primarily. And certainly not disco either. ...When the single came out to good reception [we] got offers for a few gigs and tours. Trouble was the sheer cost of paying for the PA equipment and crew and all that. We were offered tours but Virgin wouldn't back us which we felt aggrieved by as it would've promoted our material on their label, so we were kind of stuck in a Catch-22. There wasn't exactly pressure from Virgin to tour but they had signed the
Sex Pistols and
XTC so probably lost what little interest they had.... That's where the legend of us having no gear must have come about. Basically we had our instruments and attendant amps, but nothing else, so when we played we were in the hands of whoever was running the PA and who of course wouldn't know our songs. That said, we made a good fist of it despite essentially not being showbiz types. There were memorably good gigs with XTC and us swapping top spot and using their PA. Others, not so good, with
The Police heckling us! Getting management was a problem too, and as we didn't connect with anyone we deemed legitimate that became a hassle too. ==References==