Who were Sting & the Radio Actors?
In 1977 Harry became very concerned at the offhanded way in which Nuclear Waste was being handled by the authorities. This was after a dangerous incident involving the derailment of a train carrying Nuclear Waste in a special container though central London. Trying to visit Islington market, he was confronted by armed police at every turn, and discovered that an unlucky contractor had inadvertently weakened a railway support which led to the derailing of the train.
Camden, usually bustling, was a ghost town. Helicopters flew over head, while Police with automatic weapons stood nervously at each street corner. For a while no-one knew exactly what had happened. The vulnerability of a major city lead to this song and the exploits of Harry Williamson and Friends (which is a made up name since we were not a band). Harry’s ‘nature boy’ upbringing in Devon led to his involvement with the fledgling Ecology party. This later became the Greens. The crisis in London epitomised everyone’s worst fears.
Sting & the Radio Actors
The anti nuclear ‘crowd’ The Radio Actors featured Sting, Nik Turner, Steve Hillage, Mike Howlett, Harry and Steve Broughton.
Harry wrote Nuclear Waste at Sandridge during the time he and Anthony Phillips were scoring Tarka.
Simon Heyworth heard the demo and played it to Mike Howlett who liked it and offered to play bass on the recording. This led him to encourage his close friend, fellow Bassist in Strontium 90, Sting, to sing the song.
In a veritable blur of activity, Sting arrived at the studio on time and was able to easily knock the vocal take off in just a couple of passes. Then Steve Hillage came by and nailed a magnetic electric solo. Simon did a solid mix and soon it appeared on Virgin’s label to raise money for The Ecology Party.
Virgin vs Charly
The pressings from Virgin sold quickly and no mention of Royalties was made. Charly Records offered to re-release the single and sold 40,000 copies. Some time later Harry asked Charly Records about royalties for the records they subsequently pressed.
Charly kindly let him know that if he wanted to walk out of the office using his legs he should never ask those sort of questions again.
Charly had their accountants in Lichenstein and their brilliant sniffing lawyers in PANAMA! Ouch.