The endurance race pioneer has since turned his full attention to creative endeavours. He discusses his first album, I’m A Slut For A Beat, his upcoming novel and the harrowing trip it is based on with reporter Kees Chalmers.
Robin Judkins suffered his 15th heart attack at the end of last year, but it is not enough to curb his drive to create.
The 77-year-old released his first album, I’m A Slut For A Beat, on Friday. The 16-track compilation is adapted by Lyttelton musicians from Judkins’ poetry, some of it dating back more than 50 years.
The Loons hosted the release party on the opening night of the annual Lyttelton Arts Festival.
Judkins suffered his first heart attack in 2007, which required a quintuple bypass and five stents. The experience gave the Sumner resident a new perspective on life.
“I came out of the hospital and I started drawing, painting and sculpting which I had stopped when I was 19,” he said.
“Then I started writing again and it just went on and on, it’s been a huge impetus when you know that you’ve got bugger all left in you, you might as well use what you’ve got.”
He said the heart attacks have just become part of his life, but admitted there were times he wished he was a “dead man.”
He is no longer able to undergo surgery due to his low chance of survival.
Judkins sold the Coast to Coast event, which he founded, to Queenstown-based Trojan Holdings in 2013, allowing him to pursue more creative ventures.
“No more sporting events, I’ve had enough of those,” he said.
He has since written four books, produced two documentaries and one musical. He is now completing a thriller novel called The Butcher, The Sniper, The Journalist, plus working on its sequel.
Judkins initially started plotting the book on Christmas Day in 1999. The following September he decided to go and experience the places for himself.
“I didn't want to write a novel about a place I’d never been to, I wasn’t going to rely on anybody else's ideas of what it looked like or felt like,” he said.
“Everywhere we go in that story I’ve been, everyone I met, the hotels you stay at, how you get treated and how dangerous it is,” he said.
“(It was) very f**ing grim, I tell you, it (Bosnia) was just shattered beyond belief, I’ve never seen anything as devastating in my life.”
He wrote 20 pages upon his return to New Zealand before his marriage fell apart.
“I had to put it all aside, I just couldn’t concentrate on that.
“As it turned out I put it aside for 25 bloody years.”
He is now re-editing the novel and is 40 pages into writing the sequel. He plans to release the novel as an E-book in September, but is also looking for a publisher.
The birth of his album came while filming a documentary about the making of a musical he wrote, produced and starred in, Free Bus to God.
During a rehearsal, musical director Adam Hattaway asked everyone why they got involved in music.
Documentary director Al Tie responded, “Because I’m a slut for a beat.”
"I took it straightaway, wrote it in my diary right there,” said Judkins.
It formed the basis for the album’s titular track and opening song at Friday’s show. Judkins performed it as well as the closing track The Hitman.
To his surprise no one has made any comment to him about the album’s provocative name.
“I thought I’d get heaps of shit but, yeah, not a thing,” he said.
At the conclusion of Free Bus to God’s run at the town hall two years ago, Hattaway asked him if he had any other songs.
Judkins rifled through his writing workshop in his Sumner home, which has diaries dating back to 1975 that are full of short stories, poems, songs and real life dialogue.
He put together a book of 40 poems and gave it to a group of Lyttelton musicians in December last year with the instructions to pick one each and make it their own.
The book was whittled down to a 13-track album, each one a reimagining of Judkins’ written work through a range of musical styles.
The album features performances by Adam McGrath, Adam Hattaway, Janice Gray, Tess Liautaud, Lindon Puffin, Lucinda Whiteley, Tom Trevella, Al Park, Abi Chessum, John Sanchez-Lloyd and Dan Heatley.
It is supported by a backing band comprising Michael Kime, Thomas Isbister, Reuben Derrick, Brendan Gregg, Ryan Fisherman and John Sanchez-Lloyd.
Judkins has been promoting artists from the Lyttelton music scene since the late 1990s and has been collaborating with Park and Sanchez-Lloyd for more than 40 years.
The artists who worked on the album own half of the copyright.
“The song belongs to them, I love the way they take ownership of it,” he said.
The medley of artists entered the studio individually in January to play their song and figure out the arrangement, with Hattaway at the helm as the producer.
“I listened to every track being put together and the only comments I would ever make are, that’s fantastic, that’s absolutely superb,” Judkins said.
The album was engineered by Christchurch musician Ryan Fisherman, a frequent collaborator with Marlon Williams.
Judkins is now working on adapting the album into a musical of the same name. It will be a two-man show starring himself and Lyttelton actor Tom Travella.
He expects it will show at either The Court Theatre or at the Isaac Theatre Royal at the end of the year.
The album is available on Bandcamp and Spotify, while the CD can be purchased at Penny Lane.
