RIP Tailz

**rhythmtech** · 13-01-2009, 08:12 AM

Tailz passed away recently. anyone that was anywhere near a squat party in the late 90's will remember him. skinhead, facial tattoes and about a million piercings. total unintelligable scots accent:lol: lovely guy!

i hadnt seen him in years and then ended up bumping into him twice in the last two years, needless to say on both occasions things got drunkenly messy!!

sad news.

**davethedrummer** · 13-01-2009, 06:33 PM

Tailz was a wonderful man.
We will miss him deeply

I met him the first time in Edinburgh in about 1997 when I was playing at a club called “Purple Moon” in the cow gate area of Edinburgh
It was pretty empty, apart from the smoke!
That’s all I can remember, the dry ice and the black-lights , and the smoke!
it was everywhere, so thick you could barely see your drink!
And out of this smoke this huge bloke appeared !
He had all this day-glo make up all over his head and his bare-chest and he was dancing like some crazy florescent nightmare.
He came up and said “ **** me ! a ****in’ DJ that dances !”
And gave me that famous toothless grin I’ll never for get as long as I live.
I have to admit, I was attempting to dance a little on the dance-floor, and Tailz mercilessly made me look like a complete amateur.
(a situation I endured many times, about many things, after that!)
we got on famously.

A couple of months later I get a call
asking me to come and play in Edinburgh again, for someone’s birthday.
Of course, it was Tailz’ birthday, and we filled up a club in the centre of town with all his mates and many more people and had a wild time!
Tailz danced the entire night on the stage with his mad day-glo make up on and our friendship was sealed from that point onwards.

Tailz soon started coming down to London to party with all of us in the Stay Up Forever collective, the record label with a name that was synonymous to Tailz’ life and which was full of the music he loved so much.
At the time I was living in a big place in North London with Stay up Forever’s main acid techno DJ’s who all new the Irascible Tailz well
He would drive down at a million miles an hour, In the car, sound system pounding with soul mate Gypsy at his side, come to the party, play some records (Henry man!!! I’ve got some great new German Hardcore!!) , pierce anyone who wasn’t careful enough and then disappear back up north in a cloud of smoke, with the music blaring.
Heady days indeed.

I also got to know the softer side of Tailz over the years
And although much of our time together was taken up partying
and playing music, I learnt that he was kind, generous and big hearted, intelligent and staunchly independent, and after learning something of his past with his bike club I realized that he was quite guarded about that side of himself in case he was thought of as a bit soft.
To be honest he never had me fooled for one minute, and I don’t think he fooled anyone else either, and that, of course, is why we all loved him.
As soon as we got together we would be laughing about all kinds of stupid stuff, playing music, watching movies, and the hard man side of Tailz would just dissolve into laughter and fun and that famous grin.

I always enjoyed going out to his place in the hills, where it was quite and calm.
The absolute opposite of him, you would think, but in reality, there was a man in Tailz, who needed the calmness of the countryside, appreciated the sunrise and the sunset and the movement of the seasons and understood the natural world around him.
Sure, it would all get tossed aside as “ hippy shit! ”
Or “ thats something that gypsy’s into” but you could see he was happier outside the big city and away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, and
especially he was glad to be away from the intense everyday life of his world famous piercing clinc.
With a line out the door most days, tails was responsible for pushing little pieces of metal into people for many years
And his stories could be shockingly gory, but what would you expect?

I have so many fond memories of Tailz
That it’s hard to know where to stop writing about him.
So I’ll leave it here.

With the deepest respect and Sympathy
Henry Cullen

**dirty_bass** · 13-01-2009, 06:45 PM

Crikey:upset:
The man was a strong presence, and had the ability to spark life into the deadest dancefloor zombies.
Crazy ball of fierce energy.
An intense shell covering a big Teddy Bear.
I have a couple of bits of metal in me put there by tails, as I`m sure a lot of people in the scene do.

My respects.

**rhythmtech** · 13-01-2009, 07:01 PM

I learnt that he was kind, generous and big hearted, intelligent and staunchly independent, and after learning something of his past with his bike club I realized that he was quite guarded about that side of himself in case he was thought of as a bit soft.

100% true - we got invited over to play at the palgowen festival a few years back. tailz had lawrie's old rig out with him.

from the moment we arrived to the moment we left the guy kept the smile on my face. whether it was his jokes (that i never understood but ended up pissing myself laughing at anyway) or his dancing or his absolute insistance that if he was being naughty he was dragging everyone within 100 feet along for the ride!!

he knew we were kinda lost not knowing anyone and i dont think for one minute he let us feel left out.

we spent the whole weekend hangin out with him and gypsy (with her crazy pillarbox red hair) and her son.

as little as i knew him as soon as i read your facebook henry i felt sad.. i can only imagine how those of you that knew him well are feeling

**wrong** · 13-01-2009, 08:18 PM

I first met tails in london but got to know him more as i'd play quite often in the burgh and he'd always come out for it or when he couldn't i'd drop into the old piercing studio in co'burn st. Massively sad news and as Henry said; the guy was a legend. A fiery gentle giant. Big love and my thoughts are with Gypsy.
Edinburgh's definately lost one of it's larger than life characters. RIP

**rhythmtech** · 13-01-2009, 08:32 PM

anyone know what happened?

**xes** · 13-01-2009, 09:41 PM

I never met him,to the best of my knowlage,but it sounds like he was a very likable bloke,with a huge lust for life. My deepest condolences to all who knew him,his family and everyone he leaves behind who's been touched by his light.

RIP Tailz

**DannyBlack** · 15-01-2009, 12:28 AM

this is really sad, i never knew him or his but like all who posted my heart goes out to his family and his friends. May he rest in peace.

**dan the acid man** · 15-01-2009, 08:25 AM

RIP, my condolences go out to his family and friends, it's always sad to lose somebody who loves life and music so much.

**davethedrummer** · 15-01-2009, 11:47 AM

It was a heart attack and a seizure
he ended up on life support , but they turned it off after only a few hours
thats all I know.
It was very sudden , everyone's still in shock.
I called the other day , and spoke to gypsy's son steven
no funeral arrangements as yet , they'll let us know when there are.

Very sad indeed.

**djfilthmonger** · 15-01-2009, 11:59 AM

RIP, as said my condolences go out to his family and friends. Sounds like a great guy.

**Acidfairy** · 15-01-2009, 09:10 PM

I'm still gutted about this, I got a phone call Saturday afternoon telling me and i've been in shock ever since..

Henry, it's your fault that I met Tails and that he became such a great friend... When I played with you at D:Fuse in Dublin in March 2002 told you I was moving back to Scotland and you gave me Tails number and told me to get in touch with him... Which I did and the rest is history..

Barry...I remember that Palgowan well loved having you guys over...

I dunno what I'm gonna do without Tails constant piss taking.. his crap jokes and the way he just put me at ease before everytime i went on the decks.. his constant dancing.. i could go on and on.. i'm gonna miss him like hell...

I'll be at the funeral to say goodbye to one of the best friends a girl could have..

**Acidfairy** · 15-01-2009, 09:13 PM

Couple of pics i have of tails...

**nekro** · 20-01-2009, 11:43 AM

i remember that geezer from immersionand underground sound parties. r.i.p

**rhythmtech** · 20-01-2009, 02:36 PM

Originally Posted by Acidfairy

I'm still gutted about this, I got a phone call Saturday afternoon telling me and i've been in shock ever since..

Henry, it's your fault that I met Tails and that he became such a great friend... When I played with you at D:Fuse in Dublin in March 2002 told you I was moving back to Scotland and you gave me Tails number and told me to get in touch with him... Which I did and the rest is history..

Barry...I remember that Palgowan well loved having you guys over...

I dunno what I'm gonna do without Tails constant piss taking.. his crap jokes and the way he just put me at ease before everytime i went on the decks.. his constant dancing.. i could go on and on.. i'm gonna miss him like hell...

I'll be at the funeral to say goodbye to one of the best friends a girl could have..

hey missus. hope you're keeping as well as can be?

totally shocked when i heard about this.. how's gypsy holding up?

**steve mills** · 02-02-2009, 09:58 PM

R.I.P mate

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