Another thing that slightly sours Rick’s memories of The Jam is that he has not spoken with Paul Weller for almost 30 years.

“Over the years I’ve managed to stay in touch with Bruce one way or another. But after he left Paul didn’t want to know, no matter how much we tried to contact him.

“He had an impenetrable barrier around him. In 83 and 84 myself and Bruce made a lot of attempts to meet just for a coffee or something but he wouldn’t.

“When I was in Time UK I was driving by his studio and I went in to say hello but he wouldn’t come out. After a while you get fed up and think maybe I should take a hint.

“Last time we spoke was in 1983. I bumped into him at Hammersmith Odeon – we were both there to see a gig. He said hello and then walked off and I haven’t seen him since.”

But Rick still has very fond memories – especially of the early days in Woking when the band formed at Sheerwater School and started playing covers in local pubs and working men’s clubs.

“I first started playing music just mucking around with friends,” he recalls. “My twin brother Peter was a bass player but we never got out of the rehearsal room.

“Later I got together with Paul and Steve Brookes when we were at Sheerwater School. A guy called Neil Harris was the drummer but he was more of a jazz drummer and wasn’t that keen, so I stood in.

“We started playing working men’s clubs and anywhere we could. We were a club band doing covers at weekends and the money wasn’t great. I was about 18 or 19 then.

“I kept getting sacked from jobs because I would turn up late on Monday mornings and leave early on Fridays. Sometimes I just used to leave. I worked in a drawing office, I was an inspector at an electronics company, anything I could get my hands on – I wasn’t very career-minded.”

The band started earning decent money playing covers in places like Michael’s club in Woking, Woking Working Men’s Club, Woking Liberal Club, and Sheerwater Community Centre, but he says: “We were fed up with playing to people who weren’t there for us.

“Then we started playing what was the pub rock scene in London, playing pubs like the Greyhound in Fulham along with bands like The Kursaal Flyers, Bees Make Honey and The 101ers, which was Joe Strummer’s band before The Clash.

“It was a good scene. But there were problems – a lot of venues would book two bands because they couldn’t afford not to have a live act on, so the first one to turn up got the gig. We turned up one night and The 101ers were playing.

“We got paid about £5 or £10 between us for those gigs but we’d get £25 a night playing the working men’s clubs. We once played at Chelsea Football Club – I can’t remember why but there was some link with Woking FC.”

The press started getting interested in the pub rock scene, especially when Dr Feelgood started selling plenty of records – but things took a real upward turn with the advent of punk.

“When the Sex Pistols came along and started getting loads of attention, the press and record companies started looking at other bands,” says Rick.

Although The Jam were always slightly separate from the punk scene, Rick says the Pistols were an inspiration.

“It was great to see them because for the first time there was a band the same age as us playing to an audience the same age as us. We had grown up with megabands like Deep Purple, that prog rock thing – plus there was a huge divide between street level music and what you saw on Top of the Pops.

“To find there was a stepping stone was great for our morale. We decided we’d stick with that and drop the working men’s clubs.”

He also recalls one early gig supporting the Pistols.

“The Sex Pistols rang us and said they’d just been signed by EMI and had to do a warm-up show in Dunstable. They said if you can get there and support us we’ll pay you £10, so we got in the van and went. It was about a 1,500-seater and there were about 12 people there…

“They still went out and did it and were great.”

Driving to Dunstable to play to 12 people was not unusual for The Jam either.

“We were playing loads of gigs,” said Rick. “If somebody offered some work we would do it. The opportunity to play? We’ll have some of that.

“The first tour for In The City was 48 dates non-stop back-to-back gigs with no time off and driving from one show to the next.

“It was really hard work but we were doing what we loved doing.”

Rick’s life since The Jam has taken many turns – including 10 years as a restorer of antique furniture.

“I formed Time UK immediately after The Jam but then I just wanted to get away from the music industry,” he said.

“I’d always been quite interested in carpentry and making things – I made my first drum kit based around bass drum that I cadged from Guildford YMCA.

“Anyway, a cabinet maker I knew taught me how to do restoration and I loved it - the old stuff is really all you can find nowadays that’s made by hand. I thought I’d do it for a while and ended up doing it for 10 years!”

The lure of music did eventually prove too strong and Rick got tempted back – by the songs of The Jam.

“I wanted to get back into playing and had this thought in the back of my mind. There were all these Jam songs that I’d never play again and I felt I wanted to. I got in touch with Russell Hastings who was a big Jam fan and used to do a tribute act called Weller Explosion, and I put The Gift together with him and we did it for a bit of fun. I never viewed it as something long-term.

“Then Bruce found himself out of Stiff Little Fingers and formed a band called the Casbah Club. They supported us at Guildford and I rang him up and said ‘Why don’t you join us for a couple of numbers for a laugh?’

“We soon realised there was still a strong following for The Jam and everybody still loved the songs so we started going out as From The Jam.”

It was a popular move with the fans but Rick has since left the band.

“I got fed up with it, it wasn’t going anywhere,” he said. “We were in danger of turning into a tribute band to ourselves. When I read Paul had criticised it, I thought maybe he has a point!”

But Rick will never turn his back on The Jam completely.

“It will always follow me about, which is to be expected I suppose. Sometimes you get a bit fed up with the attention but I have some very fond memories. I’m amazed people still have an interest.”