So there I was, minding my own business on the main stage at Butlins in Skegness as Ruts D.C. were in the process of closing this year's Great British Alternative Music Festival - to my left Segs is flanked by Jake Burns and Kirk Brandon, behind me Dave Ruffy is on the drums and steering the ship in customary fashion while Stan Stammers is with me at my microphone; we're all singing 'if you're in a rut, you've gotta get out of it' - as the song ends Stan throws his arms around me and I shake hands with Kirk and Jake before the three of them leave the stage. We're about to slam into 'Babylon's Burning' when I allow myself a moment's thought - 'how the bloody hell did that just happen?' followed swiftly by 'and didn't Richard Jobson say that he was going to join in too?'
All in all it was a suitably surreal end to a wonderful run of Ruts D.C. shows. In the last month or so we've played all over Britain and Ireland and barring the odd mad moment or two it's been an absolute pleasure from start to finish. Our new friends Harry, Adam and Mike from Riverjuke have shown devotion above and beyond the call of duty (well I think that they have, they'd probably say that they're 'just doing their jobs') which has made the band's job immeasurably easier, and even though I say so myself we've played some really great shows. After a batch of gigs like these there's often one or two that stand out as being better or indeed worse that the rest, but I can honestly say that's not the case this time. Ok, maybe Aberdeen (where we were to say the least concerned that the P.A. system wasn't up to the job but which turned out to be a classic evening) and Cardiff (which saw my Marshall amp go wrong again meaning that I was in a less-than-cheery mood; thankfully the Riverjuke boys had thought to bring a spare and the show saw one of the best audience reactions of all) stand out, but not by much. Incidentally my amp's back at the factory for repair and I'm looking at buying the spare - there go the wages. Again. But maybe nothing tops the 'crikey, I'm on stage with members of Theatre Of Hate and Stiff Little Fingers' moment. Strange days Indeed. Most peculiar mama.
So - what now? Well Ruts D.C. return to the stage at the start of November so it was back to basics on Friday night when I rejoined Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks for a show at no lesser venue than Hayes Working Men's Club. Al was recovering from a minor operation on his left hand and so wasn't playing acoustic guitar (we usually start the evening with a few acoustic numbers) and so Pete and myself split the duties on his very nice Martin HD 28 - I really must get myself a good acoustic guitar one day... I'd spent a while revising the songs as I'd not played with the band for over a month and had restrung my Stratocaster accordingly - shame I'd neglected to try it through an amplifier as the volume pot had developed a fairly serious-sounding crackle when used. This sort of thing can happen when a guitar isn't played for a while, and hopefully will be cured with a squirt or two of switch cleaner when I get five minutes. (Thinking about it I should perhaps be doing that instead of typing this? Hmm...) And last night I went to The Hope And Anchor in Islington to see the debut performance by RiVeR who feature Matt on guitar - he writes the excellent Elvis In The Clouds blog and attends many of our gigs so it was good to go along and give him a bit of support. A highly enjoyable night saw your humble narrator chatting to quite a few people who had seen and indeed enjoyed Ruts D.C. on this tour, and one gentleman who recognised me as a member of Big Al's band. As I say, strange days indeed... but proof were it needed that you don't get something for nothing in this godforsaken life comes with the news that this coming Friday's Upper Cut gig at The Dolphin in Uxbridge looks like being the band's last ever show. Shame - but nothing lasts forever (sadly!) and we've had a good run so hopefully we'll go out on a high. What was that line that Michael Stipe said when REM split up? A lofty comparison perhaps, but a comparison nevertheless - let's we don't leave our dignity at the front door eh?
Showing posts with label Islington. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Islington. Show all posts
Sunday, October 15, 2017
Monday, August 28, 2017
No Sleep 'til Belfast
Well - there you have it. It's all too rare that something lives up to it's promise quite as much as the weekend just gone, but I'm very pleased to say that this one did. It's good when that happens isn't it? Two Ruts D.C. shows supporting Stiff Little Fingers would be an exciting enough prospect at the best of times, but these really were great events to be part of. Friday night we supported them at The Academy in Dublin where our breathless 40 minute support set saw an amazing if unexpected amount of audience participation - we regularly see audience members singing along with songs like 'In A Rut' and 'Babylon's Burning', but to see the people joining in with 'Music Must Destroy' and 'Kill The Pain' really was a sight to behold. It set us up for an extraordinary night in Belfast where SLF celebrated their 40th anniversary with an open air show in Custom House Square. The Stranglers and The Outcasts were also on the bill, and with Terri Hooley of Good Vibrations Records DJ-ing it was an unforgettable evening all round. Well I say unforgettable - with poteen on the menu and our good friends Paranoid Visions on hand to help us, erm, celebrate the occasion things got a little hazy by the end. Still judging by the conversations we had with people at the airport on the way home we definitely did something right. Several people went as far as to say that it was the best night of live music that they had ever attended, and from what I saw and indeed felt I'm certainly not going to tell them that they were wrong.
Having played mostly festivals and support shows in the last few months we now set out on a series of headline gigs starting in Exeter on Thursday and Bristol on Friday - more shows have been added since this poster was produced (and indeed are still being added) so keep your eye on the Ruts D.C. Facebook page for more information. Sadly the Islington Academy show on September 2nd has been postponed until next year (!) but there is still plenty to look forward to. Well I'm certainly looking forward to it - if you're coming to a show then please say hello, and as always I'll be updating my Facebook page as regularly as possible as we wend our merry way up, down and around the length and breadth of Britain. See you up there, as someone once said...
Having played mostly festivals and support shows in the last few months we now set out on a series of headline gigs starting in Exeter on Thursday and Bristol on Friday - more shows have been added since this poster was produced (and indeed are still being added) so keep your eye on the Ruts D.C. Facebook page for more information. Sadly the Islington Academy show on September 2nd has been postponed until next year (!) but there is still plenty to look forward to. Well I'm certainly looking forward to it - if you're coming to a show then please say hello, and as always I'll be updating my Facebook page as regularly as possible as we wend our merry way up, down and around the length and breadth of Britain. See you up there, as someone once said...
Monday, April 17, 2017
Losing My Religion
So - as the Stranglers / Ruts DC tour recedes into the dim and distant past it's back to 'real' life. But what is 'real' life exactly? Playing gigs with The Upper Cut and with Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks? Working in Balcony Shirts? Looking forward to playing with Ruts DC this coming weekend and beyond?
Well I guess it's all of these things and more. Some are more enjoyable than others (the gigs with Al and the boys have all been great, the solitary Upper Cut show sadly was not) but that's inevitable isn't it? The Neck gig supporting Ferocious Dog at The Garage in Islington was something of a classic, and it's been busy in the shirt shop too. Oh and I went to see The Who give a great show in Birmingham, with PT on fine form and playing brilliantly (were they mini - humbuckers on his Stratocaster? Ooo!) throughout. Life - 'real' life - goes on.
All well and good - but I don't mind admitting that I'm feeling a bit... er... lost. I suppose it was always going to be hard to come back from a tour like the last one and be able to slot straight back into things, and I will say that for the most part it's all been ok - but there's a nagging in my head. And it won't go away.
I often get asked how I go from playing bigger shows to smaller pub gigs, often within a day or so of each other - I've realised over the years of doing it that they all basically amount to the same thing. There will be someone who attends a small gig with a covers band who enjoys themselves as much as people who go to the big shows and vice versa. A case in point - my first show back after the tour was at The Dolphin in Uxbridge with Al and the boys, and was a pleasure to play as was the Sunday afternoon appearance at The Horns in Watford a couple of days later. In between them was the afore-mentioned Neck show where we bought the proverbial house down. However as we all know you don't get something for nothing in life, and it must be said that all of this has made the near-catastrophic Upper Cut Dolphin show on Good Friday so hard for me to stomach - even though we play together relatively rarely these days we're usually a good tight band, but on this occasion (and despite having had a rehearsal on Tuesday evening) all of our collective ability appeared to desert us as we floundered our way through an excruciating show. I sat up much of the night pondering the band's future (my oh my it was a long day in the shop on Saturday!) and came to the extremely upsetting conclusion that we might not have one, which is a great shame. But nothing lasts forever does it? The next night's Buicks's gig at The Three Steps in Cowley went at least some way towards restoring my faith in my ability to play in a band (I'd seriously wondered about it around 4 am that day!) so maybe it'll all be alright in the end. Let's hope so anyway.
In the meantime Ruts DC are playing The Grand in Clitheroe as part of the Into The Valley festival this Saturday night. Oh there you go - I feel better just for typing that. It doesn't take much sometimes does it? Happy Easter y'all!
Yeah I know, it's all a bit garbled, too much whining self pity, non-crisis after non-crisis - but you should see what I've left out! Fear and self loathing in West London - back to 'real' life indeed...
Well I guess it's all of these things and more. Some are more enjoyable than others (the gigs with Al and the boys have all been great, the solitary Upper Cut show sadly was not) but that's inevitable isn't it? The Neck gig supporting Ferocious Dog at The Garage in Islington was something of a classic, and it's been busy in the shirt shop too. Oh and I went to see The Who give a great show in Birmingham, with PT on fine form and playing brilliantly (were they mini - humbuckers on his Stratocaster? Ooo!) throughout. Life - 'real' life - goes on.
All well and good - but I don't mind admitting that I'm feeling a bit... er... lost. I suppose it was always going to be hard to come back from a tour like the last one and be able to slot straight back into things, and I will say that for the most part it's all been ok - but there's a nagging in my head. And it won't go away.
I often get asked how I go from playing bigger shows to smaller pub gigs, often within a day or so of each other - I've realised over the years of doing it that they all basically amount to the same thing. There will be someone who attends a small gig with a covers band who enjoys themselves as much as people who go to the big shows and vice versa. A case in point - my first show back after the tour was at The Dolphin in Uxbridge with Al and the boys, and was a pleasure to play as was the Sunday afternoon appearance at The Horns in Watford a couple of days later. In between them was the afore-mentioned Neck show where we bought the proverbial house down. However as we all know you don't get something for nothing in life, and it must be said that all of this has made the near-catastrophic Upper Cut Dolphin show on Good Friday so hard for me to stomach - even though we play together relatively rarely these days we're usually a good tight band, but on this occasion (and despite having had a rehearsal on Tuesday evening) all of our collective ability appeared to desert us as we floundered our way through an excruciating show. I sat up much of the night pondering the band's future (my oh my it was a long day in the shop on Saturday!) and came to the extremely upsetting conclusion that we might not have one, which is a great shame. But nothing lasts forever does it? The next night's Buicks's gig at The Three Steps in Cowley went at least some way towards restoring my faith in my ability to play in a band (I'd seriously wondered about it around 4 am that day!) so maybe it'll all be alright in the end. Let's hope so anyway.
In the meantime Ruts DC are playing The Grand in Clitheroe as part of the Into The Valley festival this Saturday night. Oh there you go - I feel better just for typing that. It doesn't take much sometimes does it? Happy Easter y'all!
Yeah I know, it's all a bit garbled, too much whining self pity, non-crisis after non-crisis - but you should see what I've left out! Fear and self loathing in West London - back to 'real' life indeed...
Tuesday, April 04, 2017
'Whatever happened to..?'
So. That's that then.
Except of course, it's not. Not while any of us are lucky enough to have a memory anyway.
The Stranglers / Ruts D.C. tour was everything that I / we hoped that it would be i.e. a thoroughly enjoyable experience from start to finish. If I ever get time to decipher the barely - legible notes taken sporadically throughout the three-and-a-bit weeks of motion and music then a fuller version of the story will appear here but in the meantime I'll just say that it was definitely one of the best tours that I've ever been part of. Both bands played well every night, but as always that's only part of the story - The Stranglers were absolute gentlemen, their crew were fantastic, Bittersweet Catering provided some of the best food that I've ever been lucky enough to taste and I feel almost as though I've shaken the hands of every audience member at every show. Something like that anyway. Great stuff!
There are quite a few reviews of various shows appearing on blogs and beyond, Louder Than War and Retro Man among them - the Ruts D.C. Facebook page will no doubt have links to most if not all of them at some point in the not-too-distant future. There are plenty of YouTube clips too, although I wonder if 'Kill The Pain' from the Manchester show will ever appear - did Baz and JJ really invade our stage dressed as scantily - clad Victorian strongmen wielding inflatable dumbbells..?
So - what now? Well Ruts D.C. return later this month but more about that then - in the meantime I've got gigs with both Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks and The Upper Cut as well as a guest appearance with my old mates Neck this Saturday supporting Ferocious Dog at The Garage in Islington. It's also back to working in Balcony Shirts. Business as usual? Maybe. Until next time.
Except of course, it's not. Not while any of us are lucky enough to have a memory anyway.
The Stranglers / Ruts D.C. tour was everything that I / we hoped that it would be i.e. a thoroughly enjoyable experience from start to finish. If I ever get time to decipher the barely - legible notes taken sporadically throughout the three-and-a-bit weeks of motion and music then a fuller version of the story will appear here but in the meantime I'll just say that it was definitely one of the best tours that I've ever been part of. Both bands played well every night, but as always that's only part of the story - The Stranglers were absolute gentlemen, their crew were fantastic, Bittersweet Catering provided some of the best food that I've ever been lucky enough to taste and I feel almost as though I've shaken the hands of every audience member at every show. Something like that anyway. Great stuff!
There are quite a few reviews of various shows appearing on blogs and beyond, Louder Than War and Retro Man among them - the Ruts D.C. Facebook page will no doubt have links to most if not all of them at some point in the not-too-distant future. There are plenty of YouTube clips too, although I wonder if 'Kill The Pain' from the Manchester show will ever appear - did Baz and JJ really invade our stage dressed as scantily - clad Victorian strongmen wielding inflatable dumbbells..?
So - what now? Well Ruts D.C. return later this month but more about that then - in the meantime I've got gigs with both Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks and The Upper Cut as well as a guest appearance with my old mates Neck this Saturday supporting Ferocious Dog at The Garage in Islington. It's also back to working in Balcony Shirts. Business as usual? Maybe. Until next time.
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
'There is no future in England's dreaming...'
So - we're leaving The European Union. Or are we? Forced to choose between the conceited opinions of podgy right-wing toff David Cameron and podgy right-wing toff Boris Johnson the Great British public chose the latter rather than the former, presumably because for some unfathomable reason they think that he's a 'character'. They even feel as though they can call refer to him by his first name. Why do people do that? It makes it sound as though he's their mate or something, and the last thing he is is their mate. Funny that. But there's nothing funny about what's happened since the referendum result was announced. It seems that all those promises made by the Vote Leave camp were not actually promises at all. Politicians lying? Who'd have thought it? All the people that voted for them and so presumably wanted to curb immigration, free up money for The National Health Service and whatever the hell else that they thought they were voting for weren't actually voting for those things at all. Anyone would think that it was all a load of - let's be polite here shall we? - nonsense wouldn't they? Why that 'nice' Mr. Farage (I assume the people that supported him thought that he was nice?) isn't even an MP is he? He like Johnson is often portrayed as a 'character' or even a figure of fun when in reality he's a part time politician and full time millionaire who somehow managed to galvanise the fears of millions of people into inadvertently voting for his cause and, since Cameron has taken the coward's way out and resigned, also voting for a new, presumably anti-EU Prime Minister. There's talk of another referendum, which would be unprecedented not least because the main reason given is that this one didn't go the way that some people think that it should have - but surely that makes a complete mockery of 'democracy'? As it happens I can think of quite a few General Elections that didn't go the way that I thought that they should have, but there was no talk of rerunning them… and if that wasn't bad enough the England football team has been knocked out of the European Championships by lowly Iceland. A bunch of multi millionaire prima donnas are beaten by a gang of unfancied part timers for the second time in a week. Oh dear.
Let's cheer up a bit shall we? GLM - the band formed by ex - Lurkers Pete Stride, Nigel Moore And Pete 'Manic Esso' Haynes and now renamed The Lurkers GLM - have released their second album 'The Future's Calling' and it's a cracker. It's popper than their debut 'Chemical Landslide' but no less powerful, with everyone on top form throughout. Full details of how to obtain a copy are on the band's website along with videos, downloads and more. Great stuff!
The Upper Cut played two private parties - cue 'none for ages and then two come along at once' gags - on Friday and Saturday. The first was at Terry the singer's workplace in London - literally, we played in one of the offices - and the second was a birthday party at The Dolphin in Uxbridge. The first show included a very pleasant but rather drunk young lady asking to have a go on the drums with the words 'I don't know how to work them but I like dancing' - she was correct, she didn't, and she did - while Geoff Nicholls depped for Roger on drums at the second show where repeated requests for 'Simply The Best' saw us managing to stagger through one verse and multiple choruses to scenes of audience hysteria and mayhem that wouldn't have been out of place at an actual Tina Turner gig and which took even the hardiest members of the band by surprise.
Two ex - Sex Pistols were on the same stage (although sadly not at the same time) on Thursday night when The Rich Kids and The Professionals co-headlined The O2 Academy in Islington. Both band released underrated singles and albums back in the day, and as all of said records are big favourites of mine the evening was pretty much unmissable from my point of view. With Tom Spencer taking the place of the sadly absent Steve Jones The Professionals were on first - opening with 'Just Another Dream' they sounded strong from the word go, and by the time they finished with 'Silly Thing' it was clear that we'd just seen a great band play a fine show. The Rich Kids were excellent too although I thought that they took a couple of songs to get going - that said it was definitely a case of 'all's well that ends well' with the encore of 'Rich Kids' all but taking the roof off. Paul Cook was always a great drummer and Glen Matlock's a brilliant bass player - who were those fools who said that they couldn't play? - and it really was something to see both of their post - Pistols bands together. A cracking evening, although it did take me over four hours to get home. Well, it had been raining, so all the trains were off and the roads were jammed. That didn't used to happen when we were in The EU did it?
Oh, hang on...
The Upper Cut played two private parties - cue 'none for ages and then two come along at once' gags - on Friday and Saturday. The first was at Terry the singer's workplace in London - literally, we played in one of the offices - and the second was a birthday party at The Dolphin in Uxbridge. The first show included a very pleasant but rather drunk young lady asking to have a go on the drums with the words 'I don't know how to work them but I like dancing' - she was correct, she didn't, and she did - while Geoff Nicholls depped for Roger on drums at the second show where repeated requests for 'Simply The Best' saw us managing to stagger through one verse and multiple choruses to scenes of audience hysteria and mayhem that wouldn't have been out of place at an actual Tina Turner gig and which took even the hardiest members of the band by surprise.
Two ex - Sex Pistols were on the same stage (although sadly not at the same time) on Thursday night when The Rich Kids and The Professionals co-headlined The O2 Academy in Islington. Both band released underrated singles and albums back in the day, and as all of said records are big favourites of mine the evening was pretty much unmissable from my point of view. With Tom Spencer taking the place of the sadly absent Steve Jones The Professionals were on first - opening with 'Just Another Dream' they sounded strong from the word go, and by the time they finished with 'Silly Thing' it was clear that we'd just seen a great band play a fine show. The Rich Kids were excellent too although I thought that they took a couple of songs to get going - that said it was definitely a case of 'all's well that ends well' with the encore of 'Rich Kids' all but taking the roof off. Paul Cook was always a great drummer and Glen Matlock's a brilliant bass player - who were those fools who said that they couldn't play? - and it really was something to see both of their post - Pistols bands together. A cracking evening, although it did take me over four hours to get home. Well, it had been raining, so all the trains were off and the roads were jammed. That didn't used to happen when we were in The EU did it?
Oh, hang on...
Monday, December 14, 2015
'Monday I have Friday on my mind...'
I've just bought myself the new Bruce Springsteen box set 'The Ties That Bind'. It's a whopping 4 CD / 3 DVD collection that tells the story (or at least as much of it as The Boss wants us to know) of the sessions for what became 'The River', and from what I can tell so far it's absolutely amazing. The live show from Tempe in 1980 is playing in the background at the moment and is making it very difficulty to concentrate on this blogging lark - I saw the band in this tour a few months after this show and can honestly say that it changed my life. It's still probably that greatest live show that I've ever seen, and I've been lucky, I've seen some very good live shows. I must find some time to watch and indeed listen to all all 'properly' one day...
'Twas a roaringly good night on Friday, when your humble narrator journeyed up to The Academy in Islington to see The U.K. Subs supported by The Ramonas. I met up with ex - Jim Jones Revue guitarslinger Rupert Orton before the show (he doesn't drink so was having a green tea in the local Pret a Manger!) for a catch up before getting to the venue in time to catch much of The Ramonas show. They were as energetic as ever and went down splendidly well with the rapidly-arriving audience. In the interval there was time to say hello to a Sub or two as well as Darren from Crucial Talent and several audience members, many of whom seemed to be getting involved in the current Ruts D.C. PledgeMusic campaign. Excellent!
(Incidentally all the relevant campaign information is here if you fancy being part of it. Go on - you know you want to...)
At 8.45 The U.K. Subs took to the stage to the proverbial hero's welcome and proceeded to blast their way through a set of classics to the general approval of all concerned, although talking to them afterwards I got the feeling that they themselves weren't too happy with it. It's strange - sometimes you can stand on stage and think that it's the worst show that you've ever played while everyone out front thinks that it's brilliant. Ah well - I guess it's better that it's that way around... talking of which on Saturday evening I played with Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks for the first time in a while, at The Riverside Club in Staines. After a busy day in Balcony Shirts I don't mind admitting that I was feeling rather tired (nothing to do with drinking with various Subs and Ramonas, honest!) and I didn't feel as though I played well, although everyone assured me that it was all sounding good. Then again a chap came up to me afterwards with the words 'has my wife heard of you? She thinks that she might have heard of you, has she heard of you?' I thought that he meant the band as Al had introduced everyone at the end of the show as he often does but no, he meant me 'not the rest of them'. I didn't really know what to say so I just said something like 'I doubt that she has' and attempted a cheery smile. 'Oh' said the chap in a rather disgruntled manner, before walking off with the words 'So she hasn't heard of you then Oh well... anyway, you were too loud'. A strange evening, although the next day more than made up for it as I spent much of it going through songs for the afore-mentioned new Ruts D.C. album with producer James Knight. A very productive few hours saw us drink coffee, make notes and generally rant and rave about how great the album is going to be. I also got to play a 1913 Martin parlour guitar that used to belong to Peggy Seeger and Kirsty MacColl's Gibson Dove. How cool is that? But now the work really begins - we're rehearsing all day tomorrow and Friday, then recording on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. There's lots to do, but I'm really - make that really - no, REALLY looking forward to it...
'Twas a roaringly good night on Friday, when your humble narrator journeyed up to The Academy in Islington to see The U.K. Subs supported by The Ramonas. I met up with ex - Jim Jones Revue guitarslinger Rupert Orton before the show (he doesn't drink so was having a green tea in the local Pret a Manger!) for a catch up before getting to the venue in time to catch much of The Ramonas show. They were as energetic as ever and went down splendidly well with the rapidly-arriving audience. In the interval there was time to say hello to a Sub or two as well as Darren from Crucial Talent and several audience members, many of whom seemed to be getting involved in the current Ruts D.C. PledgeMusic campaign. Excellent!
(Incidentally all the relevant campaign information is here if you fancy being part of it. Go on - you know you want to...)
At 8.45 The U.K. Subs took to the stage to the proverbial hero's welcome and proceeded to blast their way through a set of classics to the general approval of all concerned, although talking to them afterwards I got the feeling that they themselves weren't too happy with it. It's strange - sometimes you can stand on stage and think that it's the worst show that you've ever played while everyone out front thinks that it's brilliant. Ah well - I guess it's better that it's that way around... talking of which on Saturday evening I played with Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks for the first time in a while, at The Riverside Club in Staines. After a busy day in Balcony Shirts I don't mind admitting that I was feeling rather tired (nothing to do with drinking with various Subs and Ramonas, honest!) and I didn't feel as though I played well, although everyone assured me that it was all sounding good. Then again a chap came up to me afterwards with the words 'has my wife heard of you? She thinks that she might have heard of you, has she heard of you?' I thought that he meant the band as Al had introduced everyone at the end of the show as he often does but no, he meant me 'not the rest of them'. I didn't really know what to say so I just said something like 'I doubt that she has' and attempted a cheery smile. 'Oh' said the chap in a rather disgruntled manner, before walking off with the words 'So she hasn't heard of you then Oh well... anyway, you were too loud'. A strange evening, although the next day more than made up for it as I spent much of it going through songs for the afore-mentioned new Ruts D.C. album with producer James Knight. A very productive few hours saw us drink coffee, make notes and generally rant and rave about how great the album is going to be. I also got to play a 1913 Martin parlour guitar that used to belong to Peggy Seeger and Kirsty MacColl's Gibson Dove. How cool is that? But now the work really begins - we're rehearsing all day tomorrow and Friday, then recording on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. There's lots to do, but I'm really - make that really - no, REALLY looking forward to it...
Thursday, September 03, 2015
'The hope that springs eternal...'
The word 'legendary' get overused these days doesn't it? It seems to me that you only have to get through the opening stages of a television talent programme to find yourself referred to as a genius, and if you get through to the final you're a legend within minutes, maybe even seconds. Ah well - at least that means that it'll never be applied to me...
The Hope And Anchor in Islington is, I think it's fair to say, a legendary venue. The Stranglers, Madness, U2, - they and many more played there back in the day, although you wouldn't know it from the pub's website. Have a look at it here - unless I'm missing something (which let's face it is more than possible!) there isn't one mention of it being a live music venue. In a way I suppose you could say that this is a good thing - there are so many people and places that have talked up what they've done to the point that it's either barely believable or just plain embarrassing - but I can't help but think that it's a shame that a place like this seems to be all but unaware of it's history. That said the walls of the staircase down to the basement venue are adorned with reproduction posters and tickets so perhaps I'm reading more into this than I should. Imagine that eh? I saw a few shows there over the years although oddly enough the only band I can really remember seeing there were The Gas; the last time I was there was to see Ipanema who featured former Mega City Four mainman Wiz and who played upstairs rather than downstairs - I'd never played there myself and so it was indeed a pleasure to play there with The London Sewage Company last night. Apparently the official capacity of the venue is only 80 people - sadly we didn't get near to that figure, but those that were there certainly made a lot of noise. With the Ruts D.C. Autumn schedule looming it'll be my last gig with the band for a while although there's talk of a single release in the not-too-distant future - more news as and when I have it, as they (whoever 'they' are) say.
Talking of Ruts D.C. we've been gearing up for this month's European gigs (full details on the Muttis Booking website) by spending some time at The Music Complex in Deptford. Tour rehearsals begin next week, but part of this year's PledgeMusic campaign involved us offering drums, bass and guitar lessons - nobody wanted a guitar lesson (!) but bass and (especially) drums proved to be popular, and as a band we decided to go a bit further by all turning up for the last hour of the session which gave the pledger a chance to play with the whole band. Somewhat inevitably this also involved us all visiting The Little Crown for some Guinness - it's a tough old life sometimes isn't it?
In the meantime Big Al and The Blistering Buicks played at The Kings Arms in Harefield on Saturday evening, an odd show which was marked by an unusually high amount of equipment malfunction. As we went to start the first number Pete's guitar amp refused to make any sound at all - fortunately Al had a spare but it wasn't a good way to begin the show. Chris's keyboards then mysteriously turned themselves off, and when he turned them back on he'd lost his pre-programmed Hammond Organ sound - and then my overdrive pedal went wrong. Towards the end of the Bournemouth gig earlier this month the overdrive sound had stopped working even though the indicator light was still lit - this, a classic case of 'the lights are on but no one's home', usually means that the battery has nearly run out so changed it believing that to be the problem. However it happened again at this show, something which I chose to attempt to remedy by jumping up and down on it in an increasingly futile (and indeed childish) display of anger. Not big and most definitely not clever, although it did give Al something to laugh at! Closer inspection revealed that the power switch on the back of the pedal was set for 18V rather than 9V (it's an Ibanez Tube Screamer TS808DX - this review tells the story should you wish to indulge) so I've since taped it in the 9V position which should hopefully sort things out. We shall find out this weekend as Big Al and Co. play at a private party in Uxbridge on Saturday night... and The Upper Cut return to showbusiness with a gig at Ye Olde George in Colnbrook on Sunday afternoon - which means that I've got from now until then to re-learn the songs. I'd better stop sitting here typing and listening to 'Album' by Public Image Ltd (it is bloomin' good though isn't it?!?) and get on with it then hadn't I?
The Hope And Anchor in Islington is, I think it's fair to say, a legendary venue. The Stranglers, Madness, U2, - they and many more played there back in the day, although you wouldn't know it from the pub's website. Have a look at it here - unless I'm missing something (which let's face it is more than possible!) there isn't one mention of it being a live music venue. In a way I suppose you could say that this is a good thing - there are so many people and places that have talked up what they've done to the point that it's either barely believable or just plain embarrassing - but I can't help but think that it's a shame that a place like this seems to be all but unaware of it's history. That said the walls of the staircase down to the basement venue are adorned with reproduction posters and tickets so perhaps I'm reading more into this than I should. Imagine that eh? I saw a few shows there over the years although oddly enough the only band I can really remember seeing there were The Gas; the last time I was there was to see Ipanema who featured former Mega City Four mainman Wiz and who played upstairs rather than downstairs - I'd never played there myself and so it was indeed a pleasure to play there with The London Sewage Company last night. Apparently the official capacity of the venue is only 80 people - sadly we didn't get near to that figure, but those that were there certainly made a lot of noise. With the Ruts D.C. Autumn schedule looming it'll be my last gig with the band for a while although there's talk of a single release in the not-too-distant future - more news as and when I have it, as they (whoever 'they' are) say.
Talking of Ruts D.C. we've been gearing up for this month's European gigs (full details on the Muttis Booking website) by spending some time at The Music Complex in Deptford. Tour rehearsals begin next week, but part of this year's PledgeMusic campaign involved us offering drums, bass and guitar lessons - nobody wanted a guitar lesson (!) but bass and (especially) drums proved to be popular, and as a band we decided to go a bit further by all turning up for the last hour of the session which gave the pledger a chance to play with the whole band. Somewhat inevitably this also involved us all visiting The Little Crown for some Guinness - it's a tough old life sometimes isn't it?
In the meantime Big Al and The Blistering Buicks played at The Kings Arms in Harefield on Saturday evening, an odd show which was marked by an unusually high amount of equipment malfunction. As we went to start the first number Pete's guitar amp refused to make any sound at all - fortunately Al had a spare but it wasn't a good way to begin the show. Chris's keyboards then mysteriously turned themselves off, and when he turned them back on he'd lost his pre-programmed Hammond Organ sound - and then my overdrive pedal went wrong. Towards the end of the Bournemouth gig earlier this month the overdrive sound had stopped working even though the indicator light was still lit - this, a classic case of 'the lights are on but no one's home', usually means that the battery has nearly run out so changed it believing that to be the problem. However it happened again at this show, something which I chose to attempt to remedy by jumping up and down on it in an increasingly futile (and indeed childish) display of anger. Not big and most definitely not clever, although it did give Al something to laugh at! Closer inspection revealed that the power switch on the back of the pedal was set for 18V rather than 9V (it's an Ibanez Tube Screamer TS808DX - this review tells the story should you wish to indulge) so I've since taped it in the 9V position which should hopefully sort things out. We shall find out this weekend as Big Al and Co. play at a private party in Uxbridge on Saturday night... and The Upper Cut return to showbusiness with a gig at Ye Olde George in Colnbrook on Sunday afternoon - which means that I've got from now until then to re-learn the songs. I'd better stop sitting here typing and listening to 'Album' by Public Image Ltd (it is bloomin' good though isn't it?!?) and get on with it then hadn't I?
Sunday, May 10, 2015
' 'Smell The Glove' is here...'
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| Ruts D.C. with 'Love In Vain' - at last! |
The previous evening The Upper Cut played at The Dolphin in Uxbridge. We'd rehearsed at Bush Studios in Shepherd's Bush the previous evening - this coupled with the fact that we've been playing regularly lately (well, regularly by our standards!) and that it was Big Al's birthday (he bought down quite a few family and friends) meant that we were on fine form throughout. Such was our enthusiasm that I managed to cut a finger by windmilling and being silly - I really should watch things like that shouldn't I?
Once again there's a busy week in prospect, meaning that once again blogging time is limited. The London Sewage Company play The Dublin Castle in Camden Town on Thursday, I'm joining Neck at The Curcus Festival in Dorset on Sunday and there are a couple of Buicks gigs in between - how on Earth am I going to find time to read Roland's book?!?
Wednesday, May 06, 2015
Islington... and on... and on...
There's not been much time for blogging this week, what with the Bank Holiday ensuring that none of us know what day it is - or maybe that's just me?
I had three gigs to keep me out of mischief over the weekend - The Upper Cut played The Salmon And Ball in Bethnal Green on Saturday night (the audience included several cheery gents who went to school with members of The Small Faces and two very good-looking young blonde ladies who indulged in some rather, er, exhibitionist dancing) whilst Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks played a private party in Wendover on Sunday afternoon (the marquee in the back garden just about kept the torrential rain out, to the immense relief of all concerned) and a Bank Holiday Monday early evening show at The North Star in Iver where the layout of the pub meant that most of the band played to a substantially-sized pillar. I also managed to get along to The Feathers in Rickmansworth on Sunday night after our gig to see another splendid performance from The Razors, and worked in Balcony Shirts on Saturday and Tuesday - but now all roads lead to Islington where Ruts D.C. are playing a show at The Islington on Saturday evening as part of our successful PledgeMusic campaign. Well to be pedantic, not all roads lead to Islington as I'll be at The Dolphin in Uxbridge the previous evening with The Upper Cut, but you know what I mean I think... the band will be playing acoustic and electric sets, there'll be a Q & A session with the band (which will also include Roland Link, author of the about-to-be issued-at-last book 'Love In Vain - The Story Of The Ruts And Ruts D.C.') chaired by Paul Trynka and it has all the makings of being a night to remember. I'd tell you some more about it but to be honest that's all I know. No, really, that is all I know about what we're going to do - which is why we're rehearsing tomorrow...
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
The calm after the storm? The calm before the next storm?
Well there we are then - a few weeks of intense activity (by my standards anyway!) and suddenly I'm back in the real World. Ooo! Still it's been good to have a week-and-a-bit to get things in order (I didn't half have a lot of clothes to wash!) and working at Balcony Shirts before the next batch of gigs begin.
The long-awaited (by me at any rate!) book 'Love In Vain - The Story Of The Ruts and Ruts D.C.' by Roland Link is due out next month - we'll be playing The Islington in (you've guessed it!) Islington as part of the PledgeMusic funding campaign on Saturday 9th May which should be a night to remember. We're also about to release a 7'' single featuring a re-recording of the Ruts classic 'Jah War' which even though I say so myself has turned out really well. (I know you wouldn't expect to say that it's terrible but you know what I mean I think!) And myself and Segs are getting together tomorrow to go through yet more ideas for new songs - exciting stuff!
Although I wasn't out gigging myself last weekend I did manage to see a couple of shows, starting on Friday night with The Secret Police at Tropic At Ruislip. The Police were never exactly the coolest of bands to like, to the extent that they almost fit into the 'guilty pleasure' category for many. For what my opinion is worth I think they made some great records and having seen them play a couple of times back in the day can say that they were absolutely brilliant live. Much of their material is notoriously difficult to play, and I thought that The Secret Police made a very good job of things despite backing tracks malfunctioning as early as the first song. It looked as though they were running them from a somewhat temperamental iPad, and if this proves nothing else then the old adage 'always carry a spare' comes to mind... still once they got going it sounded excellent, and I for one had forgotten just how great songs like 'Bring On the Night' are.
The next night it was off to Sub89 in Reading to see Adam Ant. A packed house witnessed an energetic performance from The Ant Man and his band (with Tom sounding splendid on low-slung Les Paul) who performed the 'Dirk Wears White Sox' album to the approval of all concerned. The show then continued with a selection of B-sides and early less-than-well-known material - you could all but hear the collective sigh of relief from the audience as 'Kings Of The Wild Frontier' began the encore, and 'Antmusic' caused predicable hysteria before a medley of 'Get It On' and 'You're So Physical' bought a highly enjoyable evening to an end.
This coming weekend there's a London Sewage Company recording session and The Upper Cut play their first gig since January, at The Halfway House in Barnes. We've not played their before so it'll hopefully be a good night. Before that I'm intending to see The Cockney Rejects at The 100 Club on Friday - well, I haven't been there for a couple of weeks...
The long-awaited (by me at any rate!) book 'Love In Vain - The Story Of The Ruts and Ruts D.C.' by Roland Link is due out next month - we'll be playing The Islington in (you've guessed it!) Islington as part of the PledgeMusic funding campaign on Saturday 9th May which should be a night to remember. We're also about to release a 7'' single featuring a re-recording of the Ruts classic 'Jah War' which even though I say so myself has turned out really well. (I know you wouldn't expect to say that it's terrible but you know what I mean I think!) And myself and Segs are getting together tomorrow to go through yet more ideas for new songs - exciting stuff!
Although I wasn't out gigging myself last weekend I did manage to see a couple of shows, starting on Friday night with The Secret Police at Tropic At Ruislip. The Police were never exactly the coolest of bands to like, to the extent that they almost fit into the 'guilty pleasure' category for many. For what my opinion is worth I think they made some great records and having seen them play a couple of times back in the day can say that they were absolutely brilliant live. Much of their material is notoriously difficult to play, and I thought that The Secret Police made a very good job of things despite backing tracks malfunctioning as early as the first song. It looked as though they were running them from a somewhat temperamental iPad, and if this proves nothing else then the old adage 'always carry a spare' comes to mind... still once they got going it sounded excellent, and I for one had forgotten just how great songs like 'Bring On the Night' are.
The next night it was off to Sub89 in Reading to see Adam Ant. A packed house witnessed an energetic performance from The Ant Man and his band (with Tom sounding splendid on low-slung Les Paul) who performed the 'Dirk Wears White Sox' album to the approval of all concerned. The show then continued with a selection of B-sides and early less-than-well-known material - you could all but hear the collective sigh of relief from the audience as 'Kings Of The Wild Frontier' began the encore, and 'Antmusic' caused predicable hysteria before a medley of 'Get It On' and 'You're So Physical' bought a highly enjoyable evening to an end.
This coming weekend there's a London Sewage Company recording session and The Upper Cut play their first gig since January, at The Halfway House in Barnes. We've not played their before so it'll hopefully be a good night. Before that I'm intending to see The Cockney Rejects at The 100 Club on Friday - well, I haven't been there for a couple of weeks...
Monday, February 16, 2015
Now you see him, now you don't
Well that was a highly enjoyable weekend's gigging :-
On Saturday night Department S played at Electrowerkz in Islington. I'd not been to the venue before, and it's certainly worth a visit - good stage, sound and lights (even if they did overdo the smoke machine here and there!) although the promoter and door staff were a little, shall we say, over-enthusiastic - when I tried to go out for food and drink before the show I was told that I couldn't leave as I didn't have a wristband on. I attempted to joke about it with a comment along the lines of 'but you'll recognise me, I'll have the same face and everything' the promoter - well I think it was the promoter, I'd all but stopped caring whether the silly little man lived or died by that point - started whingeing about, er something or other... let's hope he hasn't got a really sad little life or anything like that eh?
Anyway aside from that oaf's pathetic antics the evening went swimmingly, with Jonestown kicking things off in style and Spizzenergi as entertaining as ever. Our show was well-received by the good-sized audience (I'd wondered if it being Valentine's Day numbers might have been down but there were plenty of people in attendance, even despite the clearly-incompetent promoter. Good!) and if anything was a better performance than our December gig. It's a great band to play in - they're looking for a permanent guitarist but I'll be happy to be there as often as they want me to be.
And here from Saturday night is 'Going Left Right' by Department S and 'Where's Captain Kirk?' by Spizzenergi. Watch out for Spizz falling off the stage at the end of the song - fortunately he wasn't seriously hurt but as the caption says, blink and you'll miss it!
That evening was bookended by two Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks gigs - on Friday night at The Halfway House in Rickmansworth, and on Sunday afternoon at The Horns in Watford. Both were good shows, with Sunday's gig being a particularly good one in my not-so-humble opinion. Mind you when the venue is as good as The Horns you've only got yourselves to blame if you don't play well! After our gig fellow guitar man Pete and myself stayed to watch a few numbers from Spiderbites, and very good they were too.
This week Big Al and Co. visit Hillingdon and Hoddesdon on Saturday and Sunday while The London Sewage Company play The 12 Bar Club in Holloway with The Bermondsey Joyriders and The Phobics on Friday. This night is to celebrate the first release on 12 Bar Records, a 7" single (remember those? Of course you do! Ruts D.C. are going to release one soon...) from the afore-mentioned Bermondsey boys entitled '12 Bar Beat'. Now that should be a good night! And all three gigs are in places with names that begin with the letter 'H' - what can this mean? Answers on a postcard please, usual address...
On Saturday night Department S played at Electrowerkz in Islington. I'd not been to the venue before, and it's certainly worth a visit - good stage, sound and lights (even if they did overdo the smoke machine here and there!) although the promoter and door staff were a little, shall we say, over-enthusiastic - when I tried to go out for food and drink before the show I was told that I couldn't leave as I didn't have a wristband on. I attempted to joke about it with a comment along the lines of 'but you'll recognise me, I'll have the same face and everything' the promoter - well I think it was the promoter, I'd all but stopped caring whether the silly little man lived or died by that point - started whingeing about, er something or other... let's hope he hasn't got a really sad little life or anything like that eh?
Anyway aside from that oaf's pathetic antics the evening went swimmingly, with Jonestown kicking things off in style and Spizzenergi as entertaining as ever. Our show was well-received by the good-sized audience (I'd wondered if it being Valentine's Day numbers might have been down but there were plenty of people in attendance, even despite the clearly-incompetent promoter. Good!) and if anything was a better performance than our December gig. It's a great band to play in - they're looking for a permanent guitarist but I'll be happy to be there as often as they want me to be.
And here from Saturday night is 'Going Left Right' by Department S and 'Where's Captain Kirk?' by Spizzenergi. Watch out for Spizz falling off the stage at the end of the song - fortunately he wasn't seriously hurt but as the caption says, blink and you'll miss it!
That evening was bookended by two Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks gigs - on Friday night at The Halfway House in Rickmansworth, and on Sunday afternoon at The Horns in Watford. Both were good shows, with Sunday's gig being a particularly good one in my not-so-humble opinion. Mind you when the venue is as good as The Horns you've only got yourselves to blame if you don't play well! After our gig fellow guitar man Pete and myself stayed to watch a few numbers from Spiderbites, and very good they were too.
This week Big Al and Co. visit Hillingdon and Hoddesdon on Saturday and Sunday while The London Sewage Company play The 12 Bar Club in Holloway with The Bermondsey Joyriders and The Phobics on Friday. This night is to celebrate the first release on 12 Bar Records, a 7" single (remember those? Of course you do! Ruts D.C. are going to release one soon...) from the afore-mentioned Bermondsey boys entitled '12 Bar Beat'. Now that should be a good night! And all three gigs are in places with names that begin with the letter 'H' - what can this mean? Answers on a postcard please, usual address...
Sunday, February 08, 2015
'Oooh look, it's that DJ bloke...'
I have just - just! - returned from rehearsing with Department S. Having depped with them back in December at The 229 Club supporting The Members I'm pleased to say that I've been asked to play a show with them this coming Saturday at Electrowerkz in Islington. We're supporting Spizzenergi with Jonestown on first - I first met them around 30 years ago! Doesn't time fly when you're having fun eh?
Talking of time flying, my mum died 14 years ago yesterday. I don't mind saying that it seems like only yesterday. I wasn't playing many live shows at the time as I was involved in looking after her, but I went on to work with quite a few people in the next few year, including Dave Finnegan's Commitments. Dave played Mickah Wallace in the film 'The Commitments', and I don't mind saying that the shows that I did with him were some of the most enjoyable that I've ever been part of. Last Tuesday I saw Dave at Ain't Nothin' But... with his new band Mighty Mustang - they also feature John Sorrell aka Johnny Squirrel on bass who I first met while we were both playing in Dave's band. I'd not been to the venue before, and it was great to see somewhere that successfully puts on live music ever night of the week. And it was great to see Dave and John on a stage together again too - it was the band's first gig and although there was the odd rough edge here and there if this show is anything to go by the future looks good for Mighty Mustang.
And the future looks good for Ruts D.C. too - we met up on Wednesday to work on some perspective new material, and by the end of our time together we'd roughed out five new song ideas. We've got at least as many again to look at this week, and gigs are starting to come in for the summer and beyond which has got to be good news if you think about it.
Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks have been out on the boards again too - Thursday evening saw our first show at The Riverside Club in Staines while on Saturday we returned to The Wishing Well in Hayes for the first time in quite a while. Well it's the first time I've been there in a while - I think the band have been there with Pete on guitar in my absence a couple of times since my last visit. Ironically Pete didn't make this show as he wasn't feeling too well - it was a good gig although I felt that we played a bit better a couple of days earlier. This week we're in Rickmansworth and Watford, and the band has over 40 shows booked already this year - the Buicks roadshow rolls on!
Friday night I returned to The 100 Club (I really have spent a lot of time there this year haven't I?!?) for another Human Punk night. I missed the first band Skurvi (I saw a bit of their performance at last year's Rebellion, they're very good so I must catch them again sometime) but arrived in time to catch a few songs by The Angry Agenda - again I've seen them before, and judging by what I saw they're still angry and they still have an agenda... but with no disrespect to these bands (or the excellent Control who closed the evening) for me the night was all about The Newtown Neurotics. Been-there-for-a-while bassist Adam Smith and returning-for-the-first-time-in-ages drummer Simon Lomond joined ever-present guitarist / vocalist / songwriter Steve Drewett to give a show that although a little under-rehearsed in places bought the proverbial house down. I saw the band many times back in the 1980s when their openly left-wing stance was such a necessary part of the times - as they swung into 'Kick Out The Tories' it was impossible not to think that (a) things sadly haven't changed, and (b) we need bands like them more than ever these days. After the show I spoke to Steve Lamacq for the first time in ages - we were both regulars at the band's gigs back in the day, and there we were again nearly three decades later. The more things change, the more they stay the same...
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| The mighty Mighty Mustang |
And the future looks good for Ruts D.C. too - we met up on Wednesday to work on some perspective new material, and by the end of our time together we'd roughed out five new song ideas. We've got at least as many again to look at this week, and gigs are starting to come in for the summer and beyond which has got to be good news if you think about it.
Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks have been out on the boards again too - Thursday evening saw our first show at The Riverside Club in Staines while on Saturday we returned to The Wishing Well in Hayes for the first time in quite a while. Well it's the first time I've been there in a while - I think the band have been there with Pete on guitar in my absence a couple of times since my last visit. Ironically Pete didn't make this show as he wasn't feeling too well - it was a good gig although I felt that we played a bit better a couple of days earlier. This week we're in Rickmansworth and Watford, and the band has over 40 shows booked already this year - the Buicks roadshow rolls on!
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| Spot the ex-Top Of The Pops presenter! |
Monday, October 27, 2014
'We're a garage band, we come from garageland...'
In a week that saw the extraordinary news that Wilko Johnson is 'free of cancer' the music world lost reggae singer extraordinaire John Holt, glam rock hero Alvin Stardust, Chas & Dave drummer Mick Burt, 'Baker Street' sax man Raphael Ravenscroft and Cream bass legend Jack Bruce. Talk about not getting something for nothing eh?
On Saturday night Ruts D.C. headlined The Garage in Islington. We gathered at The Music Complex in Deptford on Friday to rehearse for the show - our time together began in the cafe opposite for what Segs dubbed a 'bonding breakfast' and a tactical discussion. Sometime in the next few hours we also found time to visit a secondhand clothing shop (I bought a black jacket which I wore next night at the show) and a Vietnamese restaurant (sweet and sour tofu - excellent!) as well as putting together a 75 minute set which included 'Different View' for the first time since 1982. I remember seeing them play the song several times and have always thought it to be one of the band's best songs so it was great to see it on the setlist at last. Needless to say we then repaired to The Little Crown for a couple of pints of their always - wonderful Guinness, during which Segs and myself suddenly remembered that we'd had a conversation with U.K. Subs guitarist Jet a few weeks earlier when we'd discussed the idea of him playing with us at the gig; text messages were sent, phone calls were made and a plan came together...
4.30pm the next day and we've just soundchecked with the afore - mentioned 'Different View', it's sounding great and spirits are high. We've got Bob behind the mixing desk, Owen is stage managing the evening and we've finished well within our allotted time. But surely we've forgotten something... as if by magic another guitarist appears, plugs into my spare amplifier (a Fender Blues Junior in case you were wondering; I'm using my 'usual' Blues Deluxe) and within seconds we're blasting through 'In A Rut' and sounding, well, like we usually do but with Jet joining us on guitar - in other words, pretty good!
After meeting up with various people at The Wig And Gown (an excellent punky pub just along the Holloway Road) it was back in time to catch most of the set from opening act The Duel, who sounded the best that I'd seen them for quite a while. Evil Blizzard were up next - with only 30 minutes to work with (I'm sure that they've got songs longer than that!) they got straight into things and left many - an audience member looking bewildered by the end of their first song. Surreal moment followed surreal moment - at one point they even had someone mopping up on the stage! - and I'm sure they had five bass players instead of the usual four at one point. Great stuff, and not an easy act to follow. We'd better get on with it then... and get on with it we did. Even though I say so myself we started well and got better as the show went on, with the only hiccup being a fault with Segs's bass during 'SUS' (Dave stated 'I bet you never thought you'd hear a drum solo at a Ruts show' then proceeded to play one!) Once that was fixed we carried on where we left off, with 'Different View' going down particularly well. In no time at all we're at the end of the set, and Jet joins us for a thunderous 'In A Rut' that brings the proverbial house down. We're on a curfew (there was a club night after our gig) but there's still time for an encore of 'Something That I Said' and 'Society' to finish a truly memorable show. Afterwards there time for a few drinks and to chat to quite a few people, after which we return to The Wig And Gown for, er, a few drinks and, er, to chat to quite a few people - which explains why I didn't get this written up yesterday. Well, I wasn't feeling too good...
But I felt better after reading this review from the always - excellent Elvis In The Clouds blog. Thank you Mr. Presley!
On Saturday night Ruts D.C. headlined The Garage in Islington. We gathered at The Music Complex in Deptford on Friday to rehearse for the show - our time together began in the cafe opposite for what Segs dubbed a 'bonding breakfast' and a tactical discussion. Sometime in the next few hours we also found time to visit a secondhand clothing shop (I bought a black jacket which I wore next night at the show) and a Vietnamese restaurant (sweet and sour tofu - excellent!) as well as putting together a 75 minute set which included 'Different View' for the first time since 1982. I remember seeing them play the song several times and have always thought it to be one of the band's best songs so it was great to see it on the setlist at last. Needless to say we then repaired to The Little Crown for a couple of pints of their always - wonderful Guinness, during which Segs and myself suddenly remembered that we'd had a conversation with U.K. Subs guitarist Jet a few weeks earlier when we'd discussed the idea of him playing with us at the gig; text messages were sent, phone calls were made and a plan came together...
4.30pm the next day and we've just soundchecked with the afore - mentioned 'Different View', it's sounding great and spirits are high. We've got Bob behind the mixing desk, Owen is stage managing the evening and we've finished well within our allotted time. But surely we've forgotten something... as if by magic another guitarist appears, plugs into my spare amplifier (a Fender Blues Junior in case you were wondering; I'm using my 'usual' Blues Deluxe) and within seconds we're blasting through 'In A Rut' and sounding, well, like we usually do but with Jet joining us on guitar - in other words, pretty good!
After meeting up with various people at The Wig And Gown (an excellent punky pub just along the Holloway Road) it was back in time to catch most of the set from opening act The Duel, who sounded the best that I'd seen them for quite a while. Evil Blizzard were up next - with only 30 minutes to work with (I'm sure that they've got songs longer than that!) they got straight into things and left many - an audience member looking bewildered by the end of their first song. Surreal moment followed surreal moment - at one point they even had someone mopping up on the stage! - and I'm sure they had five bass players instead of the usual four at one point. Great stuff, and not an easy act to follow. We'd better get on with it then... and get on with it we did. Even though I say so myself we started well and got better as the show went on, with the only hiccup being a fault with Segs's bass during 'SUS' (Dave stated 'I bet you never thought you'd hear a drum solo at a Ruts show' then proceeded to play one!) Once that was fixed we carried on where we left off, with 'Different View' going down particularly well. In no time at all we're at the end of the set, and Jet joins us for a thunderous 'In A Rut' that brings the proverbial house down. We're on a curfew (there was a club night after our gig) but there's still time for an encore of 'Something That I Said' and 'Society' to finish a truly memorable show. Afterwards there time for a few drinks and to chat to quite a few people, after which we return to The Wig And Gown for, er, a few drinks and, er, to chat to quite a few people - which explains why I didn't get this written up yesterday. Well, I wasn't feeling too good...
But I felt better after reading this review from the always - excellent Elvis In The Clouds blog. Thank you Mr. Presley!
Sunday, October 19, 2014
Are you experienced?
Well it's been a relatively quiet week in mad-guitar-World, although given what's on the horizon (and indeed what's happening over the last few weeks) this may not be a bad thing. Still I managed to play a couple of gigs, the first of which was with Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks at The Three Mariners in Bagshot. It's a good little venue but it does have a very low ceiling with even lower beams, meaning that anyone approaching six feet in height has to watch themselves for fear of bumping their head. Well the clue is in the name - Big Al had more than a few near misses before eventually banging his forehead halfway through our first. 'I'd just took my hat off as well' said the man himself before putting said hat back on - but it was a good gig, as was last night when The London Sewage Company played at The 12 Bar Club. Considering that we've only played a few shows we're really starting to sound good, and with new songs being added all the time and recording being planned the band is developing well. Most of all it's good fun, which means a lot in these troubled times - talking of which it seems that the days are numbered for The 12 Bar Club as Denmark Street is due to be redeveloped in the near future. This is a terrible shame - the area has so much musical history, not to mention some of the best instrument shops that you're ever likely to visit. Knocking it all down seems like madness to me - mind you, there's a lot of that about sometimes isn't there?
On the subject of musical instrument shops myself and Big Al guitarist Pete (sometimes he deps for me, sometimes we play the show together, sometimes I do them on my own) found ourselves at Charlie Chandler's Guitar Experience in Hampton yesterday morning. Simon Bishop from The Good Old Boys works there teaching guitar and had recommended that we paid the shop a visit; I'm pleased to say that we weren't disappointed to the extent that we both said words to the effect of 'we'd better get out of here before we start buying things'. Mind you I suppose that's the idea of a shop... still it was great to see such an excellent selection of guitars and gear, and I have a feeling that we'll be there again before too long.
A busy Saturday also saw Flying Squad singer Andy celebrating his 50th birthday with a party at his place. Myself and Squad sticksman Andy went to see him late afternoon as we both had gigs in the evening (he was depping with Big Al and co!) and it was good to catch up with him. We all agreed that we really must get The Flying Squad back onto a stage as soon as possible. And we really must!
This week all roads lead to Islington, as Ruts D.C. are playing at The Garage this coming Saturday 25th October with Evil Blizzard and The Duel. To this end myself and Segs got together last Thursday to discuss tactics, and with rehearsals booked for this week it's looking like being a fine evening. Well, I'm certainly looking forward to it...
On the subject of musical instrument shops myself and Big Al guitarist Pete (sometimes he deps for me, sometimes we play the show together, sometimes I do them on my own) found ourselves at Charlie Chandler's Guitar Experience in Hampton yesterday morning. Simon Bishop from The Good Old Boys works there teaching guitar and had recommended that we paid the shop a visit; I'm pleased to say that we weren't disappointed to the extent that we both said words to the effect of 'we'd better get out of here before we start buying things'. Mind you I suppose that's the idea of a shop... still it was great to see such an excellent selection of guitars and gear, and I have a feeling that we'll be there again before too long.
A busy Saturday also saw Flying Squad singer Andy celebrating his 50th birthday with a party at his place. Myself and Squad sticksman Andy went to see him late afternoon as we both had gigs in the evening (he was depping with Big Al and co!) and it was good to catch up with him. We all agreed that we really must get The Flying Squad back onto a stage as soon as possible. And we really must!This week all roads lead to Islington, as Ruts D.C. are playing at The Garage this coming Saturday 25th October with Evil Blizzard and The Duel. To this end myself and Segs got together last Thursday to discuss tactics, and with rehearsals booked for this week it's looking like being a fine evening. Well, I'm certainly looking forward to it...
Tuesday, October 07, 2014
Jonesing for Jones
Post tour psychosis has all but worn off, so it's back to the real World - sort of...
'Twas an interesting evening on Wednesday, which began at The Islington in, er, Islington where Word In Your Ear presented a live show by Duncan Reid and The Big Heads and an interview with T.V. Smith. I remember The Word magazine being a good read so was interested to see how the evening would go - when I arrived T.V. was readying himself for his slot. He was interviewed by Alex Gold (who is also in DR and the BHs) and also read a couple of stories from 'Book Of The Year' his latest volume of tour diaries, and very entertaining it was too. After a short break Mr. Reid and co. took to the stage, and I must say that they were absolutely excellent. With two very good-looking young ladies on guitar and drums they blasted into their set with great energy and aplomb - such was their brilliance that I considered not leaving early to go to The 12 Bar Club, but in the end the lure of The Fallen Leaves proved too much. However I will be doing my best to catch Duncan Reid and The Big Heads again as soon as possible.
I arrived at The 12 Bar Club just as The Transients were finishing with 'Another Girl, Another Planet'; after catching up with club manager Mark (who of course is also the singer in The London Sewage Company - we're playing at the club on Saturday 18th October) it was time for The Fallen Leaves whose blazing performance might well be one of the best shows I've seen them play. A terrific night all round.
And it was a terrific night on Friday when The Upper Cut played at The Dolphin in Uxbridge. Sadly there haven't been too many shows for the band lately, which is a real shame as when we do get together it's pretty much always an enjoyable experience; with no time to rehearse we could have been a bit tighter here and there but that aside it was a fine gig with everyone on top form. Perhaps rehearsing would have ruined it?!?
Saturday night saw The Jim Jones Revue play their farewell show at The Forum in Kentish Town. I got there just as Walter Lure was taking to the stage with 'One Track Mind'. As the sole surviving member of Johnny Thunders and The Heartbreakers he waved the New York rock 'n' roll flag with great aplomb - and it was great to Darren from The Black Bombers up there on bass too. Next up was 'surprise guest' Nick Lowe who played a solo set on acoustic guitar - I've always been a big fan of Basher, and I'm pleased to say that he sounded as great as ever. An already excellent evening then took off into the stratosphere as The Jim Jones Revue gave an astonishing performance that served as both a masterclass in live rock rock 'n' roll and a fitting end to one of the great bands of the last few years. It's a shame that it's all over, but I for one will keeping an eye out for what the various members do next.
While The Jim Jones Revue were raising the roof in Kentish Town the first night of Polyfest II was happening at The Half Moon in Putney. Ruts D.C. headlined the second night on Sunday - we were due to play '3 or 4 songs' but in the end played 7, and a splendid time was had by all. With all proceeds going to The Teenage Cancer Trust it was I feel a fitting way to honour the memory of Poly Styrene - let's hope it happens every year.
And here is a review of the event courtesy of the excellent Elvis In The Clouds blog which pretty much sums up proceedings...
Last night the afore-mentioned London Sewage Company had a rehearsal in preparation for the afore-mentioned 12 Bar Club gig. With new songs to work on and old songs to revise everybody got on with the job in hand, and with another rehearsal booked for next Monday we should be in good shape for the show. In the meantime there are Big Al gigs to play and Ruts D.C. gigs to prepare for, so it's back to the real World - sort of...
'Twas an interesting evening on Wednesday, which began at The Islington in, er, Islington where Word In Your Ear presented a live show by Duncan Reid and The Big Heads and an interview with T.V. Smith. I remember The Word magazine being a good read so was interested to see how the evening would go - when I arrived T.V. was readying himself for his slot. He was interviewed by Alex Gold (who is also in DR and the BHs) and also read a couple of stories from 'Book Of The Year' his latest volume of tour diaries, and very entertaining it was too. After a short break Mr. Reid and co. took to the stage, and I must say that they were absolutely excellent. With two very good-looking young ladies on guitar and drums they blasted into their set with great energy and aplomb - such was their brilliance that I considered not leaving early to go to The 12 Bar Club, but in the end the lure of The Fallen Leaves proved too much. However I will be doing my best to catch Duncan Reid and The Big Heads again as soon as possible.
I arrived at The 12 Bar Club just as The Transients were finishing with 'Another Girl, Another Planet'; after catching up with club manager Mark (who of course is also the singer in The London Sewage Company - we're playing at the club on Saturday 18th October) it was time for The Fallen Leaves whose blazing performance might well be one of the best shows I've seen them play. A terrific night all round.
And it was a terrific night on Friday when The Upper Cut played at The Dolphin in Uxbridge. Sadly there haven't been too many shows for the band lately, which is a real shame as when we do get together it's pretty much always an enjoyable experience; with no time to rehearse we could have been a bit tighter here and there but that aside it was a fine gig with everyone on top form. Perhaps rehearsing would have ruined it?!?
Saturday night saw The Jim Jones Revue play their farewell show at The Forum in Kentish Town. I got there just as Walter Lure was taking to the stage with 'One Track Mind'. As the sole surviving member of Johnny Thunders and The Heartbreakers he waved the New York rock 'n' roll flag with great aplomb - and it was great to Darren from The Black Bombers up there on bass too. Next up was 'surprise guest' Nick Lowe who played a solo set on acoustic guitar - I've always been a big fan of Basher, and I'm pleased to say that he sounded as great as ever. An already excellent evening then took off into the stratosphere as The Jim Jones Revue gave an astonishing performance that served as both a masterclass in live rock rock 'n' roll and a fitting end to one of the great bands of the last few years. It's a shame that it's all over, but I for one will keeping an eye out for what the various members do next.
While The Jim Jones Revue were raising the roof in Kentish Town the first night of Polyfest II was happening at The Half Moon in Putney. Ruts D.C. headlined the second night on Sunday - we were due to play '3 or 4 songs' but in the end played 7, and a splendid time was had by all. With all proceeds going to The Teenage Cancer Trust it was I feel a fitting way to honour the memory of Poly Styrene - let's hope it happens every year.
And here is a review of the event courtesy of the excellent Elvis In The Clouds blog which pretty much sums up proceedings...
Last night the afore-mentioned London Sewage Company had a rehearsal in preparation for the afore-mentioned 12 Bar Club gig. With new songs to work on and old songs to revise everybody got on with the job in hand, and with another rehearsal booked for next Monday we should be in good shape for the show. In the meantime there are Big Al gigs to play and Ruts D.C. gigs to prepare for, so it's back to the real World - sort of...
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