Tommy Vance

[Tom Roche]

When I visited Peel in-studio around 1993 I showed up to Broadcasting 
House early and Peel came to the lobby and brought me to studio 2 or 
something. Vance was live in the adjoining studio doing his rrrrock 
show leading up to 11PM. Peel didn't talk to him and didn't have it 
on; he was auditioning his own records.

Even standing right at the glass, with Vance playing his monitors 
loud, I could not hear any of it.  I had to put on my FM walkman or 
go out in the hall to hear the in-house air system to here what Vance 
was doing. Peel finally put it on at 30 sec before 11. Vance's 
outgoing theme was that Dixie Dregs song recorded in Atlanta, made me 
feel right at home... from "What If" I think. Vance was so in 
control, so confident. He'd had this show on shortwave for a time 
with the silly name "Rock Salad" and at first I thought he sounded 
like a joke, a parody of a rrrrrock DJ. But over time I respected him 
cos he played some extreme stuff at times and seemed to really 
believe in what he played, even if some of it was comical hair-metal.

So this night he's wrapping up the show, he was talking over The 
Dregs a mile a minute, totally gritty-smooth and  in control. Vance 
had precisely dead-rolled the record early so just as he was done 
talking at 10:59:55 PM the Dregs ended cold and end faded at exactly 
10:59:59 and Peel smoothly took over. They never had to communicate 
beforehand, they just both looked at the studio clock as it swept 
past 12. Real pros those guys.