Tony Van Frater RIP

“I went to school with Tut nearly 40 years ago…we ran with different gangs and weren’t particularly big mates at the time, but we both played guitar so there was some common ground between us…
We occasionally ran into each other in later years when he was in Red Alert and I was in the Toy Dolls on the same bills and stuff, and we began to be closer friends…
Much later he joined the Cockney Rejects as bass player, and that sparked off many a heated conversation when we ran into each other, which was becoming more and more often…I could never be a Rejects fan…oh no…but he took it all with good grace and we always ended up laughing…
He came to see the Stranglers in Newcastle last year with his lovely girlfriend and was gobsmacked…He came up afterwards and hugged me, telling me how much he’d enjoyed it…I loved him for that…he’d always wear his heart on his sleeve…a lot like me…
I saw him just hours before he passed away…he drove me home from the pub in his cab…and when I got the news the next morning I was stunned…I’d literally just seen him…He was my age…
I’ll miss him…
Rest in peace my old mate…”  Baz Warne