Some sad news today for fans of The Tourists – Paul Jacobs who ran Spanish Moon Records in Crouch End and was an important part of The Tourists early history has passed away

Very sad news to report for all fans of The Tourists – Paul Jacobs, who did so much to help get the band off the ground and become a fixture on the post punk London music scene, has died.

Mike Baess has kindly shared the following with us to share with you:

“Paul ran the legendary Spanish Moon Records in Crouch End, above which Dave and Annie lived in the late 70s and early 80s.

Born in Stamford Hill, Paul moved to Crouch End to open Spanish Moon Records in the mid-70s after having run a record stall in the early days of Camden Lock Market.

Spanish Moon had a fair sized basement which is where Dave, Annie and Peet Coombes originally honed their songs but which also hosted Paul’s legendary Christmas parties.

At one, I’d taken a turn for the worse, and remember a worried Dave and Annie suggesting they call a cab for me. Overhearing this, Paul stepped in, heaved me over his shoulder and kindly offered me a spare room to sleep it off. The next thing I remember is of Annie checking in on me early the next morning and making me a bowl of porridge.

I got to know Paul after I landed my first proper job, as a reporter just down the road from the shop at North London News in 1976 and spent many a lunch hour – and a lot of my wages – buying records there.

So it was a major coincidence when a journalist mate, Tim Cooper, who was working for Record Mirror, landed an interview with Dave and Annie and asked me to come along and take photos at their flat.

The band’s music totally blew me away and six months later Dave and Annie asked if I wanted to start up a fan club for The Tourists which led to going on tour with them, taking photos.

Paul had recently bought himself a video camera so filmed quite a few of the shows on the 79 and 80 tours.

But it was when we joined the band at George Martin’s Air Studios 2 in Montserrat in May 1980 that I recall my favourite memories of Paul, who filmed the band making their third album, Luminous Basement.

There were some riotous evenings spent helping diminish the studio’s ample supply of Mount Gay and Myer’s rum, but the best was saved till last for the band’s end of recording party when a local calypso band was invited to play and the celebrations went on for most of the night with some hilarious shenanigans taking place on the beach involving a well-known female reporter and subsequent TV personality. My lips must obviously remain sealed but I know Paul had a lot of fun that night!

I lost contact with Paul after The Tourists split in 1981 but about five years ago he contacted me out of the blue after looking me up on Facebook. He’s moved down to the Kent coast and we were due to hook up soon to discuss a project involving some of his films of the band and my photo archive from the fan club days.

God bless you Paul – you were a true original and a major factor in the success of The Tourists and the careers of Dave and Annie.

Photo of Paul and Annie, taken by Mike Baess, at Quainton Railway Station, in Jan 1981 during the filming of the So Good To Be Back Home Again video.