Savage Stooges

Last night I went to see Iggy and the Stooges supported by Savages at The Royal Festival Hall as part of the Yoko Ono-curated Meltdown Festival. If ever a night promised much, it was this one. If ever a night delivered much, it was this one...

I'd heard a lot about Savages, not least from Segs who had posted 'Shut Up' on the Ruts D.C. Facebook page and raved about them generally; the four black-clad figures who made their way onto the stage just after 7.30pm might have been boys, might have been girls, a quick 'Hi!' and we're into the first number, jagged bass and guitar lines colliding with syncopated drums with a solitary vocal soaring above, below, within you and without you. An hour later it ends and what a long strange trip it's been, where The Velvet Underground met Siouxsie And The Banshees at Joy Division's house for white light, speed and cupcakes. I think I liked them although I could be wrong; if I ever find myself with a bit of spare cash I'll buy their album and see if I can decide either way. It feels like it's the least that I can do.

Suddenly James Williamson's guitar is the loudest thing that any of us has ever heard - the opening riff of 'Raw Power' roars out as the rest of the band scramble into place, desperate to get their instruments fired up as Iggy Pop sprints across the stage, dancing to the beat of the living dead as the band that never bit the weenie soars into orbit around him. 'Gimme Danger little stranger' - the pace drops as the intensity rises, new songs follow old songs follow new songs follow old songs, huge slabs of sound ricochet around a room that can hardly contain what's happening within. Tonight 'Search And Destroy' isn't just the best song title ever, it's the best song ever, a tumultuous celebration of rock 'n' roll at it's most potent and powerful. Iggy wants the whole audience to join the band on stage for 'Fun House' and suddenly everybody wants to be in The Stooges, but surely everybody who's there is in The Stooges anyway - at least that's how it feels, it's us against the world and the world doesn't stand a chance. 'Joanna' and 'Beyond The Law' slam into 'Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell' and 'No Fun', 'I Wanna Be your Dog' is heavier than heavy, louder than loud, greater than great. After 'Sex And Money' from the new album 'Ready To Die' Iggy sneers 'you'll all like it in 40 years time' - but suppose we all like it now? Suppose the world finally caught up with The Stooges at last? What A Wonderful World this would be, as someone once sang. Meanwhile 'Open Up And Bleed' and 'The Departed' take the mood down below sea level before a bone-crushing 'Louie Louie' bombs out the last pockets of resistance. It's all over - or is it? No one leaves the stage - 'better play another song then' says our leader and an outrageous 'Cock In My Pocket' brings an unforgettable evening to a close. Meltdown expected, the wheat is growing thin, and The Stooges rule - ok?

Vive le 'Vive Le Rock'

Issue 12 of the always-worth-getting 'Vive Le Rock' magazine is about to be unleashed on the unsuspecting general public - this edition features a 4 page piece on Ruts D.C. as well as a rave review of our (our!) new album. As I say the mag is always worth a read but obviously this one is pretty special for me - I'm still trying to work out how I feel about seeing my name in the same publication as articles on Wilko Johnson, Iggy And The Stooges, The Adverts, Bruce Springsteen, The Godfathers and many more. I'll let you know if I ever come up with anything... and talking of Ruts D.C. we (we!) are playing at The Brook in Southampton this coming Thursday 25th April before an appearance the next night at The Great British Alternative Music Festival in Minehead. That should be something to write home (or indeed to write here) about...

Back to basics this weekend with two local pub gigs - The Upper Cut in Uxbridge at The Dolphin on Friday and Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks (you know, that name sounds madder and madder every time that I type it!) at The Rowan Arms in West Drayton on Saturday. Friday's show took a while to get going - we'd had a rehearsal at RnR Studios on Wednesday evening at which we ran through quite a few potential new numbers, most of which we decided to try at the gig. Maybe we tried too many or maybe it had just been a bit too long since we last played a show - either way our first set was all a bit scrappy, although that said it went down well with the audience. The second set was a different matter entirely - the band hit top gear from the first song, and with the extremely rare sight of Noel the guv'nor dancing we finished well after time due to the audience literally not letting us stop playing. In the end the second half more than cancelled out the first, but it was all a bit odd there for a while. Saturday on the other hand went very well indeed, especially considering that it was a short notice show - I'd not been to the venue before but anywhere that has a wall of photographs of glam rock heroes The Sweet is alright by me! - with everyone playing on top form and a great reaction from both the punters and the pub guv'nor. The Blistering Buicks is turning out to be a really good band to be in, and I'm already looking forward to our next show on May 3rd at The Swan in Iver. And that show falls between the first two gigs from Back To Zero - but more about them next time.

Adam raised a Cain

Another rock casualty - Michael Davis of The MC5 has died. Like The Stooges, The New York Dolls and The Velvet Underground the MC5 are a band that were derided when they first appeared in the 1960s but that were later held up as heroes by the punk rock fraternity in the 1970s. One listen to anything from 'Kick Out The Jams', 'Back In The U.S.A.' or 'High Time' will show why their radical politics and their association with the likes of John Sinclair meant that the American establishment marked them out as enemies at the time of their release. Their extraordinary combination of anger, frustration and intelligence make them some of the most remarkable rock records of all time, and Michael Davis made a hugely valuable contribution to them. Click here for an amazing clip of the band playing live in 1970 - that, my friends, is rock 'n' roll...

In the meantime it's been another gig-less weekend for your humble narrator, although I did spend Sunday with F.B.I. Band / Utter Madness keyboard maestro Richard Whennell recording guitars on two tracks for Glee Club UK. There wasn't a lot of rock 'n' roll rebellion in the tracks in question (since you've asked they were 'We Built This City' by Starship and 'You're The Inspiration' by Chicago) but it was still a hugely enjoyable experience, and a real challenge to attempt to recreate the guitar parts on the original recordings. I'm not sure that I was completely accurate but even though I say so myself it sounded pretty good by the end of the session. Let's hope it still does!

Thankfully I've got some gigs this coming weekend (thank Gawd!) so I can't sit here talking to you as I've got songs to learn - but in the meantime it's my Dad's 80th birthday today and I'm off to see him. I've considered writing a hopelessly over-emotional, intensely personal account of our relationship here in these hallowed pages, but have decided to just say that more than ever I realise that I wouldn't be the person that I am today (for better or worse!) if it wasn't for the way he and my Mum bought me (and indeed my brother Terry) up. They could be hard on us sometimes which at the time seemed difficult to understand but nowadays makes a lot more sense. He remains a tough man, albeit with a somewhat softer centre these days, which is no bad thing if you think about it.

I've bought him a framed Heggarty coat of arms - in doing so I've discovered that our family motto is 'they neither bend nor change'. That'll do for me, and I suspect it'll do for him too. Happy birthday Dad.

Do you feel lucky, punk?

I spend a fair bit of time in these hallowed pages musing on the subject of punk rock, and rightly so in my not-so-humble opinion. Whilst it would be churlish to suggest that early-to-mid '70's rock music had nothing to recommend about it there can surely be no doubt that it needed shaking out of it's complacency by a music and an attitude more reminiscent of the early days of rock 'n' roll rebellion than by that shown by bands wearing capes and singing about goblins. I've been lucky enough to see two shows this week - one featuring one of the foremost figures of the British punk scene and the other from a band without whom that scene might never have existed - that have reminded me just how much that music, and indeed that attitude, can still mean to me...

Tuesday it was time for T.V. Smith's 'Best Of The Adverts' tour to come to London - to be precise, The Underworld in Camden Town. Backing him on these dates are Italian punk heroes The Valentines, and judging by this performance they're doing an absolutely brilliant job - but more about them in a minute. As we (myself and Dave from Balcony Shirts) walked through from the bar into the venue Condition Dead were roaring through their set - well, most of them were, as one of the guitarist's guitar strap came off his instrument just as the song started. Get some strap locks young man! They sounded ok if a bit 'identikit punk' to my old ears, although to someone hearing this type of music for the first time they probably sounded wonderful. The Hi-Fi Spitfires were up next, with a set that won over most the people who had bothered to come through from the bar. They reminded me of Stiff Little Fingers which is no bad thing in my world - and let's face it, any band that finishes their set with a rendition of 'I Got A Right' by Iggy And The Stooges have to have something going for them haven't they? Worth keeping an eye on for the future methinks.
Opening with 'No Time To Be 21' and Safety In Numbers' T.V. Smith and the Valentines were clearly in no mood for anything other than getting on with the job in hand. Adverts songs are tricky to play (trust me, I should know! Which reminds me, I'm playing with T.V. at The 100 Club on Saturday 16th April, which I'm sure I'll mention again between now and then!) but the band handled them brilliantly, and it was wonderful to see T.V. fronting a band again. They featured all the songs from the first album, quite a few from the second, and in doing so they reminded everyone just what a criminally underrated band The Adverts remain. The last encore of 'Lord's Prayer' and 'Good Times Are Back' bought everything up to date, and when the lights came up more than a few people looked almost shell shocked by what they'd seen. And rightly so, as they'd seen a fine show by a great band fronted by one of the best songwriters of all time. It doesn't get much better than that does it?

Or maybe it does, as last night I saw The New York Dolls. Rather like The Sex Pistols any number of words have been written about The Dolls, many to their detriment and often along the lines of 'they can't play'. And, rather like the stuff that gets written about The Pistols alleged lack of ability. it's all absolute rubbish. Of course it is. Somewhere in the last 30-odd years The Dolls have been somewhat re-evaluated, and their influence and importance in the grand scheme of things has been acknowledged - these days surviving original members David Johansen and Sylvain Sylvain lead a band whose current line-up features the mighty Earl Slick on guitar, and if last night's performance is anything to go then the best from the band may be yet to come. That said the venue didn't do them any favours - The Old Vic Tunnels is an extraordinary labyrinth of (you've guessed it!) tunnels which provided a clammy, dank atmosphere that no doubt reduced anybody unfortunate enough to suffer from asthma or a similar respiratory complaint to a pile of clothes on the floor. It also contributed to a muddy, indistinct sound mix that rendered the opening number 'Looking For A Kiss' almost unrecognisable. Fortunately by the time they'd got to 'Cause I Sez So' the sound had improved sufficiently for it to be obvious that the band were playing brilliantly, and that we were all present at a classic gig. An almost casual rampage through 'Who Are The Mystery Girls?' stood out in the middle of the set among songs from their latest album 'Dancing Backwards In High Heels' ('Funky But Chic' and 'I'm So Fabulous' from said album were also real highlights, showing that they're certainly not finished as songwriters) and the set ended with 'Jet Boy' re-confirming it's status as one of the greatest rock 'n' roll songs of all time. They encored with a careering, chaotic 'Personality Crisis' before 'End Of The Summer' finished a unforgettable show. Two fabulous, inspirational performances - like I say, it doesn't get much better than that. Now, where did I put that guitar..?

Hard to beat

So - Iggy and The Stooges play their seminal album 'Raw Power' plus assorted tracks from their back catalogue at The Hammersmith Apollo. Do I think :-

(a) that it's one of the greatest things that I'm ever going to see and drone on and on about things like 'the power of rock 'n' roll' before eventually descending into the usual over-emotional pretentious nonsense that I normally get sucked into at times like these?

OR

(b) that they're a bunch of talentless chancers that shouldn't ever have made it out of the rehearsal room let alone to the stage of such a prestigious London venue, and then damn them all to hell for contributing to the destruction of 'decent' music like early '70's prog rock?

Well obviously the answer is (a) or something like it - but why?

When I first heard of Iggy Pop you couldn't actually hear Iggy Pop; pretty much every punk band name checked him and The Stooges as a major influence along with other near-mythical names like The New York Dolls and The MC5 and some even played their songs, but their records had only sold in very small numbers and were long since deleted (the same criteria applied to The Dolls and MC5) so there was no way of actually hearing anything by them. I remember Iggy teaming up with David Bowie to record 'The Idiot' and 'Lust For Life', both of which I heard and enjoyed although they didn't sound anything like the way people described The Stooges sounding; when I eventually got to hear them I realised that nothing - nothing! - actually sounded like The Stooges. You could hear how they'd influenced the likes of The Sex Pistols and The Damned (who respectively covered 'No Fun' and '1970') but you could only wonder how their primal riffing had sounded to people at the time of it's release, when self-obsessed naval-gazing 'musos' seemed to be more concerned with playing in an unusual time signature and singing a song about goblins than doing anything that might actually be relevant to what was happening in the real world, all the while looking down their noses at anyone who dared to suggest that what they were doing might be soulless and, let's face it, boring. Meanwhile Iggy and co. rallied the soon-to-be punk foot soldiers for the fight that lay ahead of them as when all else failed there was always The Stooges, the world's forgotten boys or as Iggy himself later put it, 'the band that never bit the weenie'.

Eventually it seemed like the whole world caught up with Iggy, who went on to have great solo success and to star in the odd (very odd!) insurance advert... and everyone caught up with The Stooges too as they reunited the best part of 30 years after they split up to perform and record together again - and of course people everywhere came out of the woodwork to say that they were the greatest, most influential rock 'n' roll band ever, that 'Fun House' is the best album ever released, that Iggy is the greatest front man of all time... yeah right, they'd have sold millions of albums and played in stadiums if that was true wouldn't they? Or would they? Leaving aside the fact that many of the people saying that they'd liked them all along actually had liked them all along (for example I spotted Nick Cave, Bobby Gillespie and Jarvis Cocker in the bar, all of whom are long-standing Stooges disciples) I personally think that bands like The Stooges remain outside of the mainstream for the very reasons that they were never there in the first place, there are just more people able to find them these days - and of course in The Stooges case Iggy's popularity hasn't exactly harmed their chances of reaching a wider audience. And anyway, The Stooges are one of the greatest, most influential rock 'n' roll bands of all time - right?

Last night support came from Suicide whose pulsing synthesiser drones and half-spoken vocal rants probably sounded even less palatable when they emerged in the early '70's that The Stooges had in the '60's. Frontman Alan Vega seemed to be having trouble with the smoking ban whilst keyboardist Martin Rev presided over a wall of throbbing noise whilst wearing a neon lit headband; as far as I could tell they played their first album through although I'm not sure how much difference the material made as the overall effect was akin to having someone tapping your entire body for 30-odd minutes whilst you're watching a strobe light, although it was actually much better than that description might imply. Probably.

9.30 and from nowhere The Stooges are on the stage and we're into 'Raw Power' almost before you can say 'that looks like Iggy Pop over there'. Guitarist James Williamson (replacing the sadly deceased Ron Asheton) looks like a rich bloke who's bought himself some nice guitars and amplifiers (probably because he is and he has!) but sounds like, as Johnny Marr brilliantly put it, 'how you would imagine Darth Vader would sound if he was in a a band'. Mike Watt and Scott Asheton hammer the bass and drums home, Steve Mackay adds the jazzy bits on the saxophone and Iggy, the street walkin' cheetah himself, spends almost as much time in the audience as on the stage and redefines the word 'hero' in the process. They play the Raw Power album through and it still sounds like nothing and no one else, just as 'Fun House' did in the very same venue 5 years ago; they follow it with 'I Wanna Be Your Dog', '1970', 'I Got A Right', 'Kill City', songs that sounded so out of place when they were first released - should that be unleashed? - all those years ago but now sound like the very definition of punk rock in all it's gory glory and in the process show why they were right all along. There are rock 'n' roll songs as good as 'Search And Destroy' but if there are any better then I can't think of them just at the moment, and if there's a more chilling line in the whole of popular music than 'there's nothing left alive but a pair of glassy eyes' (from 'Gimme Danger' in case you were wondering) then I've yet to hear it. Idiotically loud and intense from start to finish, it's among the best live performances that I or indeed anybody present will ever witness. That's how good it was, and that's how good rock 'n' roll can be. I'll stop now before I run out of superlatives. There - is that over-emotional and pretentious enough for you?

And, maybe best of all, no goblins were harmed before, during or after the performance.