“Part of the attraction for Lou Reed was that I had an ample supply of hash”: how a British 70s cult hero became a member of famously grumpy Lou’s crew

Peter Perrett in 2024 — (Image credit: Steve Gullick)

As frontman of The Only Ones, Peter Perrett was one of the most captivating singer-songwriters of the mid-to-late 70s. The band only ever released three records, between 1978 and 1980, and Perrett’s career was derailed as addiction took hold. But he has come back roaring creatively in the past few years and released a sprawling double-album titled The Cleansing towards the end of 2024.

It featured guest appearances from Johnny Marr, Fontaines D.C. and Bobby Gillespie but Perrett’s rock’n’roll credentials were already cemented decades ago. In an interview with The New Cue last year, for example, he recalled his encounters with Lou Reed in the early 70s, unwittingly becoming his supplier of hash.

“I was a big Velvet Underground fan, but the original incarnation never toured England,” Perrett explained. “In 1972, Lou had a band called The Tots and we went to every gig south of Cambridge. Eventually they started talking to us after the shows. They had a holiday let on the corner of Beaufort Street and the King’s Road in Chelsea, and they invited us back there. We’d just go there after every gig and hang out. A part of the attraction was that I had an ample supply of hash, which they didn’t get in New York. They’d never seen such large lumps of it. That was an icebreaker.”

Perrett stated that Reed, alongside Bob Dylan, was the greatest influence on his work but he was determined to put his own stamp on his music. “For ages in the ‘70s I tried my hardest not to sound like Lou Reed,” he continued. “That’s why we were called The Only Ones: I’m an individual! So, once I’d lost my mid-Atlantic accent people compared me to Syd Barrett. Really, we’re influenced by everything that happens to us every day of our lives from the moment we’re born. I’m hoping that this new double-album goes to places that are unexpected.”

He's still going his own way. Listen to one of best cuts from The Cleansing below:

Peter Perrett - I Wanna Go With Dignity (Official Video) - YouTube

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Niall Doherty is a writer and editor whose work can be found in Classic Rock, The Guardian, Music Week, FourFourTwo, Champions Journal, on Apple Music and more. Formerly the Deputy Editor of Q magazine, he co-runs the music Substack letter The New Cue with fellow former Q colleague Ted Kessler. He is also Reviews Editor at Record Collector. Over the years, he's interviewed some of the world's biggest stars, including Elton John, Coldplay, Radiohead, Liam and Noel Gallagher, Florence + The Machine, Arctic Monkeys, Muse, Pearl Jam, Depeche Mode, Robert Plant and more.