Putting up that link reminded me that in the ten years or so in which I worked with Dave Mitchell I only once saw him sing in front of an audience and that was with the Surfers (mind you, he sang everyday at work).

Anne, might remember this. It must have been around 1985 or 1986 and the venue was The Gatehouse pub in Highgate. The Surfers were top of the bill which otherwise consisted of a dreadful performance poet and a lumpen folk-rock band whose name escapes me, but I do recall that the bass player had a tobacco pipe stuck in his mouth throughout their set.

In those days The Gatehouse was more usually known for its trad jazz. John Chilton's Feetwarmers (with or without George Melly) played there regularly, and on other nights there was often a band featuring a clarinetist who also happened to be a High Court judge (but for some idiosyncratic reason always wore a pacamac of the DOM variety).