'At The Hop', A Step In The Right Direction', 'Toe The Line' etc etc

Saturday 21st January at midday, in seat 9F on Eurowings flight 4U9467 at Heathrow Airport awaiting take off 

Well. Here we are again. Indeed here we go again, this time to Dortmund via Dusseldorf Airport for a Ruts DC show at The Ruhrpott Ska Explosion Festival. No, I'm not too sure what we're doing at a ska festival either.
It seems strange to think of flying to gigs as 'routine' - which is why I don't think of it as that or anything like it. There's still something exciting about it, even though I've done it a fair few times over the years. I really must grow up one day - then again I've got this far, so maybe not? 
I broke a toe this week. Silly me. Then again I didn't do it deliberately... I guess that at this point there should be some crazy rock 'n' roll story attached to the incident ('there I was in a New York hotel having a drink with Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood when Iggy Pop suggested that I swung from one of the chandeliers. I wouldn't have normally but gripped by the spirit of Keith Moon I though that I'd give it a go...') but no - I somehow caught my foot on a table leg in the front room. Gawd knows how - serves me right for not wearing shoes or indeed (gulp!) slippers eh? It hurt a lot when I did it on Thursday but it hurts a bit less now - then again I have taken some industrial strength Ibuprofen, as advised by the chemist that I hopped in to see not long after the frankly ridiculous table leg / toe equation took place. They also advised me to tape it to an adjacent toe (it's the one next to my little toe on my left foot) and to 'take it easy for a week or so'... as I limped my way towards gate A24 30-odd minutes ago I reflected upon how much we all take 'normality', or whatever 'normality' is in our world, for granted. Without wishing to tempt fate I, like most of us, am lucky enough to be reasonably healthy most of the time - and yet we all moan about the most trivial of things don't we? Well, we do don't we? 
I suppose that last night was a chance to 'take it easy' - so I of course went out to see a Led Zeppelin tribute band at Tropic At Ruislip. Led Zeppelin are revered both as a band and as individuals for a reason, and Hats Off To Led Zeppelin made a very good job of what is some notoriously difficult material - their two set show saw a good selection from the catalogue (finishing the main set with 'Wearing And Tearing' really was a moment for the diehards!) with the obvious classics getting the biggest audience reaction. A good night all round - I'd not been to the club for a while and it was splendid to see it continuing to thrive in these difficult times. 

Right - it looks as though it's take off time so I'm going to try to have a snooze. It's bloomin' tiring having a broken toe. Maybe I should have had a quiet night after all?

Sunday 22nd January at 2.25 pm, in seat 12D on Eurowings flight EW1466 at Dusseldorf Airport awaiting take off

Strange. Very Strange. Well, I think that it is. 
While I'm away doing these crazy jaunts around the rock 'n' roll world I usually take an iPod with me, along with a little battery operated device to play it through; this means that if I get my own room I can use it to play whatever peculiar song has somehow found it's way into my warped mind while I'm attempting to get some sleep. 

('But Leigh' - I hear you cry - 'what of the women? The drink? The drugs? The wilful destruction of hotel rooms? Whatever happened to the spirit of Keith Moon from earlier?' Good question...) 

Anyway last night - oh ok then, very early this morning - I thought I'd play a bit of, wait for it, Eddie and The Hot Rods. Oh it won't work. Flat battery. Very annoying, and strange since I charged it up yesterday. And for some reason it won't charge up now. Bugger!
That's the strange bit, but not the very strange bit. That's coming in a minute.
So I played a song or two on my phone before eventually getting tired enough to get to sleep. Good. After a while I woke up and, since it was dark I attempted to switch my phone on to check the time, like we all do these days. Well, we do don't we? It didn't work. Turn the bedside light on. Try again. Nothing.The battery was as dead as the proverbial dodo. But it was over 70% charged when I went to sleep. Weird. I was of course immediately wide awake, gripped with terror with the hideous realisation that there was obviously an enormous magnetic field (or something) in the hotel that was causing every battery in the building to go flat and so no one's alarm would go off and we'd all be there forever. Or something. A very strange moment- well that's how it felt at the time.

We'd arrived a Dortmund Airport after a pleasingly uneventful flight, and were met by Tony who drove us (at quite a speed, it must be said) to the venue where preparations for the evening were well under way. After checking the drums and amps we were all set to go to our hotel, but with our stage time less than two hours away we decided to stay at the venue. This proved to be a good move as it gave us chance to get something to eat and drink as well as to meet the other bands on the bill. 
Showtime was 7.15 - with things already running late (an unusual situation at events such as this) there was an unwelcome urgency in setting up which caused the odd fraught moment but we go there in the end.
Remember my broken toe? I'd almost forgotten about it too until a few songs into our show when I bought my foot down onto the stage just a little bit too hard - In a split second a heavy metal bolt of pain shot up my leg and out through the top of my head. I remembered it then. Absolute agony. The resulting, er, jazz chord hadn't appeared in 'Vox Teardrop' before, and I for one hope that it doesn't appear again - although a similar one turned up later in 'Psychic Attack' for the same reason. Argh! If you see these performances on YouTube then please cut me a little slack... having collectively wondered what on Earth we were doing at a ska festival we all reached the conclusion 'doing rather well' by the end of our set. A great gig, and it must be said a great evening all round. All the bands played well although I must give a special mention to The Valkarians who were simply brilliant. By the time headliner Roy Ellis hit the stage we were all flagging a bit (well I certainly was!) so we headed for our hotel during his set, but we all agreed that it had been a splendid event to be part of. 
With no more Ruts DC shows for a month or so it's now time to prepare for the Stranglers tour in March which should, to coin a phrase, be something to write home about - which if you think about it, is exactly what I'm likely to do here...    

Tuesday 24th January at 4.27 pm, back in Blighty and at home 

So there you have it - some great gigs and some (hopefully) interesting times. I thought that it might be fun to structure successive posts in a similar manner. There has been minimal editing - they really were written in the places and at the listed times, and this is reflected in the writing, which is sometimes scrappy but often oddly revealing. All good stuff!

Reading, working, peddling, jamming...

Well the busy times at Balcony Shirts continue, although I'm 'only' working four days there this week. Part of me is a bit relived - after all at times it's been far too much like having a 'real' job - while the other part of me has enjoyed it immensely. And I'd be lying if I didn't say that it's been great to earn a bit of money too. In a heroic attempt to not squander it all on beer and jollity I've bought myself a reassuringly expensive Carl Martin Quattro multi-effect pedal, the idea being that it should function as both a spare unit for Ruts D.C. gigs as well as being something that should fit into my luggage easier than my existing pedal board does and so should be useful for shows that we fly to. It could also be something that I might be able to use at Big Al and The Blistering Buicks shows, and with this in mind I took it along to our gig at The Battle Of Britain Club in Uxbridge last Friday. With Pete away elsewhere I was the sole guitarist for the weekend's gigs, which in some ways was unfortunate as the onset of hay fever had left me with a left ear full of wax to go along with the inevitable bunged up nose. Perhaps using an unfamiliar piece of kit wasn't the cleverest idea but I did it anyway - under the circumstances I thought that it went well although I don't mind admitting that I stood on the wrong pedal more than a few times. Well that's my excuse for the dreadful mess I made of the 'Whiskey In The Jar' riff anyway… by the time the next night's show at The Misty Moon in Northwood came around my ear had cleared a bit although it was still far from being 100%, which combined with England throwing away their one goal lead against Russia in The European Championships meant that I for one started our show with no little trepidation. Happily this proved to be unfounded - after a few songs people were dancing and our national football team's latest impression of The Keystone Cops seemed to have been all but forgotten by the end of our show.

The next night Big Al and myself ventured across to The Plough in Tilehurst near Reading where Ann and Steve from the covers band Hot Legs run a jam night. They've been badgering Al to attend for a while now so this seemed as good a time as any - when we arrived we were both struck with how friendly everyone was. This is not always the case at these sort of gatherings - they can be very cliquey - but here it bode well for a good evening. I was asked to play on an original 12 bar blues song with a couple of young ladies, after which Al and myself joined the house band for 'Willie And The Hand Jive', 'Sweet Home Chicago' and 'Let's Stick Together', all of which went splendidly well. From there a very varied evening saw performances of material as diverse as 'Ace Of Spades' and 'I Know What I Like' before I was cajoled into joining a couple of young lads for their songs - I'd had a few drinks by then but with Al's words 'what could possibly go wrong?' ringing in my ears I stumbled towards the stage. The two lads were very good - maybe a few too many notes for my liking but they certainly knew what they were doing. I chugged along cheerily on a funky version of 'Rambling On My Mind' hoping not to be given a solo. The guitar man smiled as he pointed at me and nodded - I played a lot less notes than him but it seemed to go down well. (Let's face it, I wouldn't be writing about it here if it hadn't!) Then he asked if I knew 'Little Wing' - yes I do although I've never played it in front of anyone. Then again I'd not met these boys until about 10 minutes ago so… after them the evening ended with a peculiar (and let's face it, very drunk) fellow who for want of a better word, dismantled 'Mustang Sally' and 'Money For Nothing'. I wouldn't have recognised them if he hadn't slurred the titles several times indiscriminately during his frankly astonishing performance. Yes I was on guitar, although I'm not quite sure what I doing there. Judging by the faces of the other musicians they weren't sure what they were there either. A suitably bizarre ending to a very enjoyable evening.

And I completely forgot to mention that at some point in the last few weeks I visited Tropic At Ruislip where I witnessed Stranglers tribute band The Dead Ringers (a last minute substitute for Straighten Out who I believe had to pull out when one of their members injured a hand) roaring through a set of Guildford's finest's songs and in my opinion doing a very good job. But don't take my word for it - the always-worth-reading Elvis In The Clouds blog has written this review of the show, summing the night up well and somehow mentioning me in the process. Strange - but true!

Hats off to Harefield

...except that continuation didn't quite continue in the manner that I thought it would - the Dollis Hill gig was cancelled. Bah! Al received a text from the landlord of The Ox and Gate saying words to the effect of 'the brewery isn't sure if the want us to continue putting on live music, we'll let you know about the other gigs that you've got booked with us later this year' which I for one suspect is landlord-speak for 'we've stopped having live music, but just in case we decide to start it up again we'll attempt to keep you vaguely interested in playing here'. Cynical? Me? Maybe... still at least the Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks gig at The Kings Arms in Harefield took place on Saturday night as planned - it's an interesting venue at the best of times, but I knew we were in for a memorable night when, if I might use a word beloved of Sherlock Holmes, a 'singular' gentleman parked his wheelchair-bound mother approximately half an inch away from my amplifier during the interval with the words 'I see that you have stolen my look'. He was wearing a spangly trilby-style hat - mine was spangle-free but that didn't deter him. 'I've been wearing this hat for over five years, how long have you been wearing yours?' In a brave but ultimately doomed attempt at humour I replied 'I put it on just before 8 o'clock this evening' to which he retorted 'see - you've only been wearing yours for a couple of hours, I've been wearing mine for over five years'. It almost goes without saying that he undid virtually all the buttons on his shirt whilst dancing wildly to the first song of our second set - after which somebody stole his hat. As he went off in pursuit of the criminal mastermind responsible I noticed that a chap sitting not two yards in front of us had fallen asleep sitting at a table. No, I can't think of an adequate punchline at the moment either - I'll let you know if I ever do. 

As we unexpectedly found ourselves with no gig on Friday night myself and fellow Buicks guitar man Pete went to Tropic At Ruislip to see noted Jimi Hendrix tribute act Are You Experienced?. Pete saw the man himself play several times and so was an interesting person to attend a show such as this with - it was clear that a lot of work had gone into putting the act together and their two sets featured all the hits alongside less obvious songs like '1983... (A Merman I Should Turn To Be)' and 'Freedom'. Guitarist John Campbell is obviously a big fan and managed to go a very long way towards recreating the legendary Hendrix guitar sound; we was also an excellent player (which helped!) and, yes, he set fire to his guitar at the end of the show. Well to be pedantic he set fire to something like lighter fuel on his guitar which then (thankfully!) went out within a few seconds but the overall effect was there if you know what I mean.  A good gig, as was the previous night's performance by The Ska Faces at The Horns in Watford. They feature my old Price band mate Huggy Harewood on bass, and as their name suggests they play a mixture of ska and mod material. On the surface this is an extremely attractive prospect, and for the most part it worked well although it did all get a bit disjointed in places - 'Won't Get Fooled Again' followed by 'Pressure Drop' anyone? Add to this the fact that the singer seemed to be having monitor problems throughout the first set (which disappeared as soon as he switched his radio microphone for one of the venue's - use a cable boys and girls!) and you have a show which Huggy described as 'not one of our best nights'. I suspect he was correct, but it was good to see him play.

On Sunday I went with my Dad to see Liverpool play Manchester City in The League Cup Final (ok, I know that they call it The Capital One Cup these days, but if you're my age it's The League Cup and it always will be!) at Wembley Stadium. Tickets for events such as these are of course very hard to come by - I got some via Bug / Department S guitarist and all round good guy Phil Thompson who is a Man. City season ticket holder, and bought my Dad his one for his birthday. (He was 84 last Sunday. 84!) It would of course have been a better day if Liverpool had won the game, but I thought City deserved the honours - and as our tickets were smack bang in the middle of 21,000 or so of their fans that might have been the best outcome if you think about it... and I'd not seen a penalty shootout before - ooh they're nerve-racking!

And it's been a busy week this week as although I've got no gigs I've been working in Balcony Shirts every day. I thought that I was getting a day off tomorrow but it's too busy for such behaviour so I'll be in the shop then and Saturday too. Hmmm... this is a bit too much like having a real job! But don't worry Leigh - it's back to the guitar next week...

'Transition... Transmission...'

Well it might sound a bit of a strange thing to say but I'll say it anyway - it feels as though I've just had the first 'normal' week for ages. Not that I very often do anything that deserves the label 'normal'... I've worked a couple of days in Balcony Shirts, played two gigs with Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks, been to see a band play at Tropic at Ruislip - as I say, a 'normal' week.

The shop has calmed down a bit since the Christmas blitzkrieg, although there's still more than enough going on to keep us all out of mischief. It's usually quiet at this time of year, but with school leavers, stag and hen parties and more waiting in the wings it's been a chance to clean the place up and re-do various displays. That said we had two very likely lads in and out of the shop for much of today - they were celebrating the taller one's birthday, and judging by their condition they certainly knew how to celebrate... t-shirts that featured Kermit The Frog and some 'adult' slogans were printed, and at some point in proceedings the smaller one bought five - count 'em, five! - Zippy wallets. They were last seen getting into a taxi to go to the taller one's nan's house. I wonder if they made it that far?

Big Al and the boys (once again with Dave from Red Box on bass who may well be turning up a fair bit more in the future...) returned to The Black Horse in Eastcote on Friday night for a raucous performance in front of an all-but-full house, while the next night we journeyed up to Dunstable for a very enjoyable show at The United Services Club. The early part of the evening was enlivened by a visit to the nearby Froth And Elbow, which I only suggested because of the name (!) but which turned out to have a gang of ridiculously attractive young ladies behind the bar; it also puts on live bands so Al swung into action with the business card - we shall see if we get a gig there. Further merriment came from the fact that the ITV game show 'Take Me Out' featured an appearance from Al which he'd recorded while I'd been away gigging last year. The band had been filmed (at of all places The Black Horse in Eastcote) but sadly none of that footage was used; the show itself was broadcast while we were playing our first set meaning that we were unable to watch it (shame!) but when Al switched his phone on in the interval it went crazy with text messages, Facebook postings and Twitter messages, many of whom were from ladies asking him out and indeed offering their, er, services. He didn't win on the show, but 'he who laughs last laughs longest' as the old saying goes... and no, I've never seen the show either!

And last night it was back to Tropic At Ruislip to see The Marrakesh Express - as their website puts it, 'a tribute to the music of The Byrds and Crosby Stills And Nash'. On the surface this was a rather odd event for your humble narrator to attend (both bands are far too hippyish for my not at all hippyish tastes, although it's impossible to deny the excellence of much of their music) but I was intrigued to see that they featured two members of Diesel Park West who were a band I saw several times back in the Eighties and Nineties and who I always thought deserved much more success that they achieved with 'Jackie's Still Sad' still something of an undiscovered classic. I went with Scott from Balcony Shirts who bought along friend of the shop (and indeed of Scott's) Iain Lee who turned a few heads in the venue - it's amazing what the presence of a celebrity does sometimes isn't it? Anyway we all agreed that the Byrds part of the evening was a bit disappointing - without bass and drums the songs didn't really come across as well as they might although the playing and singing was excellent throughout. However the Crosby Stills And Nash set was something else again, with stunning vocal harmonies and some superb guitar work from all concerned. An interesting evening, although inevitably still a bit too hippyish for me. Mind you it wouldn't have been right if it hadn't had been if you think about it.

And this should be another 'normal' week too. Let's see if it turns out that way...

'Oh no - don't say it's true...'

If I'm still alive on July 24th this year - and I really hope that I will be - I'll be 55 years old.

I can't remember President Kennedy's assassination; I remember Jimi Hendrix dying, and I've already written (here!) in these hallowed pages of the trouble I got in on the day John Lennon left the building. That was probably the biggest 'celebrity death' for me - Princess Diana's passing was a huge international event but I've never been a royalist, and I suppose Kurt Cobain's death was a big one for the generation below mine. My mum always used to say that something bad always happens around Christmas (I don't know why she used to say it, but she always did!) but 2015 had ended with Brad from The Specials and Lemmy dying so surely that was bad enough? So when I woke up on Monday morning to a text message that read 'I need hugs!' from my mate Dave I wasn't sure what to think; when a text then arrived from my friend Nicky that spoke of her feeling 'sick with sadness' I thought that I'd better check the TV news...

If you're my age (or indeed a few years older or younger than me) then David Bowie has, for want of a better term, always been there. Actually he's always been miles ahead of his many imitators and indeed all of the rest of us but you know what I mean I think. And he's still there now too isn't he? There has been so much said and written about him in the last week that I don't really feel as though I can add very much, other than to say that we were lucky, very lucky, to have been on Earth at the same time as he was. Musically my favourite part of his long and magnificent career remains those immortal recordings with The Spiders From Mars, but that's just me - fans everywhere will have a different memory of what a song means to them, of how they felt when they saw him and realised that they weren't alone anymore, or that it was ok to be different, or to feel like an outsider in a world that couldn't see them and didn't care anyway, or, or, or...

Who'll love Aladdin Sane?

By a twist of fate I found myself in Brixton (Bowie's birthplace) on Monday afternoon as myself and Segs were going to Jamm to work on the Ruts D.C. recordings that we began last month. As I walked up the stairs from the underground station it was impossible not to notice that there were rather more Bowie t-shirts around that there might normally be; across from the station a small crowd had gathered around the mural on the side of the Morleys department store, with people leaving flowers, pictures, messages and more - I'm not normally one for grieving over people that I'd never met but it was impossible not to be moved by the scenes. Meanwhile The Academy had 'DAVID BOWIE - FOREVER OUR HERO' in the place where it would normally advertise the evening's main attraction - and why not? Local boy makes good. Local boy makes very good indeed. About as good as it can get if you think about it. 
I like most people have been playing a fair bit of the great man's work in the last few days - I'd actually been listening to the Spiders stuff a fair bit lately anyway in an attempt to tune into Mick Ronson's guitar genius as one of the sources of inspiration for our recordings - and have been struck by just how bloody good Bowie was.

The Bowie Academy.

Well he was wasn't he? And it's easy to forget that - you don't accidentally get a 50+ year career at anything if you're not any good at it, or (as someone remarked to me while telling me that Bowie had been 'lucky' as he 'wasn't particularly talented'. Oh dear...) if all you do is rely on fashion, or gimmicks, or indeed anything other than making great music and giving brilliant performances. David Bowie did both of those things of course, but he also did so much more. I'm sure there'll be a backlash soon, where some jumped up two bit journalist or television presenter tries to make a name for themselves by starting a bit of controversy ('he wasn't that good', 'he stole all his best moves', 'he sacked all The Spiders' - you know the sort of thing) but that'll hardly matter - the last third of The 20th Century belonged to David Bowie, and there's a good chance that a fair bit of The 21st Century will be influenced by him and his work. And rightly so. It is unlikely that we will see his like again, but we should be thankful that we saw it at all. 

Somewhat inevitably the day at Jamm was tinged with sadness. Or was it? Greg the engineer said how proud he felt that Bowie had been from Brixton; I suspect he wasn't the only one in the area with that thought. Rob from The Alabama 3 was on hand, he said that we were there to make music and make music we would - his possibly rather controversial production methods (tins of Red Stripe, bottles of wine and, er, more besides...) coaxed some astonishing vocal performances out of Segs. Even though I say so myself the tracks are sounding great; there's a lot of work still to do and more tracks to record next month but I for one am very optimistic about how the album is shaping up.

After the session I walked back along Brixton Road to the tube station - there were hundreds of people at the mural singing, dancing and indeed crying, an amazing (and from my point of view absolutely unforgettable) outpouring of emotion. It really was quite a thing to see, but nothing less than the occasion deserved.

New boy band forms - 
see you on 'The X Factor'...

On Thursday evening Dave, Segs and myself had what I suppose could be thought of as a 'works outing' to see Henry Rollins at The Barbican. In addition to being a great fan of both The Ruts and Ruts D.C. he of course sang with the band at Paul Fox's last show - I first met him at a rehearsal for said show (you can read the story here if you'd like to) and have spoken to him several times since then, he's an absolutely extraordinary character who is completely unlike anyone else that I've ever met. His 150+ minute show saw him talk (and talk and talk and, er, talk...) about anything and everything that came to mind - although some parts were obviously scripted I spoke to people who had seen other shows on this tour which were apparently quite different in content. Incredible. He told me that he has to have a timer on stage with him otherwise he would 'go on all night'. I for one don't doubt that he could do exactly that.

Tropic At Ruislip hosted Who's Who on Friday evening - given my admiration (oh ok then, worship) for The Who it's always interesting to see a tribute band and Who's Who are probably the best that I've seen (not that I've seen that many!) They're more 'Live At Leeds' than Goldhawk Club, but they make a great job of honouring The Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Band In The World. And it was the first gig of 2016 for Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks last night, at The Dashwood Arms near High Wycombe. This was a new venue for the band and I must say that it's an excellent establishment with a good tradition of live music - with Terry elsewhere Dave did a great job on bass and the band began the year on high note.

This week there may well be more Ruts D.C. recording as well as another couple of Buicks gigs and probably more besides - but if you'll excuse me it's time to play 'The Jean Jenie' just one more time...

New Year's Resolution revisited

Nothing ever really changes does it?

2015 began with your humble narrator watching Martin Turner in Ruislip, playing a Sunday afternoon gig in Colnbrook with The Upper Cut and spending rather a lot of time at The Resolution Festival at The 100 Club. 

2016 began with your humble narrator watching Martin Turner in Ruislip, playing a Sunday afternoon gig in Colnbrook with The Upper Cut and spending rather a lot of time at The Resolution Festival at The 100 Club.

As I say, nothing ever really changes does it?

I hadn't been to Tropic At Ruislip for a while; having now seen two shows there within a week of each other (I saw The Rollin' Stoned there last Friday in addition to the former Wishbone Ash man the previous Saturday) it's great to see so many people at what clearly is a thriving venue. I know that some people locally criticise the booking policy - mostly tribute acts with the 'first Friday of the month' show featuring an artist or band performing original material - but if it attracts the sort of audience numbers that these shows did it surely can't be a bad thing. And both the shows were excellent, with Martin Turner and his band sounding every bit as classy as they did last year and The Rollin' Stoned playing a great set of songs from every era of the Stones's long career to a sold out crowd.

My first gig of the year as a musician as opposed to as a spectator was with The Upper Cut at The Queen's Arms in Colnbrook. I'd not played at this pub before although the band played a short notice gig there with Pete depping on guitar last month; it being the first Sunday of the New Year it wasn't as busy as it might have been but there were still more than enough people there to make it work. That said although it was by no means a bad show the band wasn't as tight as it can be so it might well be time for a rehearsal or two before our next gig.

The Resolution Festival opened at The 100 Club last Monday with spirited sets from The Ramonas and The Duel - booked by The Crucial Talent Agency and featuring artists and bands from right across the punk rock spectrum highlights have been many and varied, although I have to say that last night's U.K. Subs show and The Members gig on Tuesday night stood out for me. I joined T.V. Smith and Vom for a few songs during their excellent performance supporting the afore-mentioned Members, and Segs joined us for the set closer 'Gary Gilmore's Eyes' - with Gaye Advert in the audience he confessed to being nervous before the show, but it all went brilliantly well as this short clip shows. All in all a great event which will hopefully take place again next year.

And tomorrow Segs and myself will be in the studio at Jamm in Brixton reviewing and working on last month's Ruts D.C. recordings. 2016 then...

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...

Welcome to the house of fun

And the 'it's a busy week' theme continues, as rehearsals begin tomorrow for the Joe Strummer night at Koko next week. We've got a lot of work to do, compounded by the fact that we're not sure which songs we're going to be playing yet as we're still not sure who will be guesting with the band. I'm sure it'll all be ok in the end. Well, it'll have to be if you think about it!

On Thursday evening Ruts D.C. found themselves in Committee Room 15 at The House Of Commons. Now there's something that I never thought that I'd ever type... we were attending a launch event for 'Blacklisted', a book about blacklisting in the construction industry. You can find out more about the book here where you can also see a short film about it, the soundtrack of which is 'It Was Cold' by Ruts D.C.- let's hope the book gets the attention it deserves.

In the midst of learning umpteen Clash and Neck songs I also found time to attend two gigs, the first of which was on Friday evening at Tropic At Ruislip where Classic Clapton played a tribute show to (you've guessed it!) Eric Clapton. Some less-likely material featured next to the expected classics, and while it was often a bit laid back for my not-particularly laid back tastes they certainly made a very good job of things. And last night it was back to The 100 Club to see The Mick Ralphs Blues Band. Support came from Du Bellows who are managed by noted rock journalist Pete Makowski - I remember reading his work in 'Sounds' magazine all those years ago, and he's been in Balcony Shirts recently ordering among other things this t-shirt for his very famous mate... Du Bellows are an intriguing bunch, with a excellent young lady vocalist and many-an unlikely influence on display. The Mick Ralphs Blues Band played a great set of blues old and new, and I finally got to meet the man himself after depping for him several times over the past few years in The Repertoire Dogs. A splendid evening.

Right - there's just time to run through a few Neck songs just one more time before leaving for tonight's gig at The World's End in Camden Town. Busy busy busy... well as I said last time, I wanted to play the guitar didn't I?

'Third verse, different from the first...'

It was a busy week last week. It looks like being a busy week this week. It's definitely going to be a busy week next week. Oh well - I wanted to play the guitar didn't I?

Thursday's Neck rehearsal went well despite a few technical hitches here and there - I was pleased with my recall of the seemingly countless number of songs (actually about 30) that I'd been playing along with for the previous few days, and while we didn't get time to run through everything I feel ok about the upcoming shows (The World's End in Camden Town this coming Sunday 15th and The 12 Bar Club in Holloway on Tuesday 17th, with more possibly being added) although I intend to be playing through the songs as much as I can over the next few days.

And then there's the Cadiz Music-promoted Joe Strummer film night at Koko - as the accompanying poster shows guests are being announced with more names to be added to the already impressive list. I'll be playing with Ruts D.C. and in the house band - I'm slightly concerned that we don't know which songs the guest singers are wanting to play yet (!) but hopefully that'll all get ironed out in the next few days. Rehearsals are due next week - it's exciting but I don't mind admitting that it's a bit daunting too.

As for the wedding gig on March 21st - well I haven't really had time to have a go at the projected songs for that one yet. I'd better find time this week though hadn't I? And as for The Price - who knows?!?

I did find time to visit Tropic At Ruislip on Friday to see Roadhouse, and I'mm gald that I did as they were very good. Support came from the previously-unknown-to-me Red Butler, who went down well enough with the audience and promoter to be offered a return gig immediately. They certainly did what they did very well, and although it was impossible not to say that they were a good band it was all a bit, for want of a better term, 'tutored' for my tastes. Blues without the blues, if you know what I mean. And on Saturday night Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks played at The Wishing Well in Watford - with Dave away gigging elsewhere Andy from Back To Zero (whatever happened to them eh?) depped on drums for two highly enjoyable sets. What with everything else that's going on it looks like my next shows with the band won't be until April, but as previously discussed there's plenty to keep me out of mischief in the meantime.

Right - Balcony Shirts tomorrow then a couple of days going through all these songs. Well, that's the plan anyway...

Tea for one

Well it's been a while since we've had a caption competition in these hallowed pages but I think it's time for one now, as a new cafe called The Wonky Teapot has opened in Uxbridge. This in itself might not normally be cause for any particular excitement but it's been attracting quite a bit of attention locally - as the accompanying photograph shows the shop sign is, er, interesting... so see if you can come up with a suitable caption for the picture. Come on, you know that you want to - actually that's not a bad caption in itself is it?!

Anyway it's Sunday afternoon, and I was expecting to be playing with Big Al Reed and The Blistering Buicks at Ye Olde George in Colnbrook today - however we were told this week that a new landlord is arriving soon and all live music has been cancelled, apparently never to return. Bah! It seems strange to me that having built up a successful venue Sally the landlady is being moved to another pub (which apparently will also not be having bands) and being replaced by someone who won't be carrying her good work on. Hmm... I don't think that I'll never understand the grown-up world... but it was a good gig for the band last night at The Wishing Well in Watford, and the one on Thursday at The Sunningdale Lounge in Sunningdale was also fun despite there not being too many people there - I hadn't played with the band since New Year's Eve so I spent a bit of time that afternoon revising the material, and given the amount of 'how does this song go again?' moments I was very glad that I did.

On Friday night myself and fellow Buicks guitarman Pete went to see The Yardbirds at The 100 Club. Advertised as 'the last show with the current line-up' it featured original members Jim McCarty on drums and Tony 'Top' Topham on guitar alongside three younger newer members, and was a terrific show from start to finish. Topham may have been overshadowed in history by Clapton Beck and Page but here he showed himself to be no slouch on both rhythm and lead guitar (although I must mention Ben King who played some fabulous stuff on the other side of the stage) while McCarty was as reliable as ever behind the kit. Pete and myself had debated whether we would go to this gig or to Tropic At Ruislip to see Hats Off To Led Zeppelin - we eventually concluded that it was better to watch the current line-up of one of the bands that started it all (especially given the Zeppelin connection) and I'm certainly glad that we went where we went although it'll be good to catch the Led Zep boys at some point in the future.

And in the immediate future Big Al and Co visit Staines and Hayes this week, and I really must visit The Wonky Teapot. Well, you've got to hand it to them haven't you - after all they've made quite a splash... tea hee...

From The West End to The North Bank

January is normally a quiet month gig-wise, and while this one has been no exception in many ways it's been nice to have a bit of time at home. That said there are always a few musical goings-on going on...

On Friday night I returned to Tropic At Ruislip to catch a splendid performance from Like The Beatles. Being a big fan of The Fab Four (the less-charitable might use the term 'Beatle Bore') it was great to see them playing less-than-obvious material like 'Why Don't We Do It In The Road?' amid the expected hits; I was also very impressed with the accuracy of the vocal harmonies that are such a vital part of those amazing records. The all-but-sold-out crowd seemed to enjoy ever minute of it, and I don't mind saying that I did too. I was far too young to have been able to see the original band, and whilst it would be churlish to suggest that a show like this gets anywhere near the excitement of an actual Beatles show if nothing else it does reinforce just how good the songs are. As if we needed reminding?

Saturday saw your humble narrator journey to Holloway for a London Sewage Company gig supporting King Kurt at The 12 Bar Club. Yes, The 12 Bar Club. With Occupy London er, occupying the old club in Denmark Street many of the fixtures and fittings have been moved from the original premises to Phibbers on the Holloway Road - I must say that it was a rather surreal experience to see pictures, staff and indeed club regulars all transplanted from the old place in the new place. Not bad, but definitely surreal... anyway I arrived to find the rest of our band all present and correct and King Kurt setting up so I took the opportunity to visit the wonderfully-named Piebury Corner a couple of doors down for, you've guessed it, a pie. And very nice it was too.
Back at the club our soundcheck was somewhat tense affair, with feedback, monitor problems and everyone having trouble hearing each other. Still we got it all together in the end, and by the time we took to the stage at half past eight the place was filling up nicely. Our set saw a few of the aforementioned soundcheck problems rearing their ugly heads again, but despite it all we played well and got a great reaction from the audience. In the interval I caught up with John King, Sarah Pink, Lee from Infa Riot, Tara from The Duel and more - see what I mean about people being transplanted from the old to the new! - before King Kurt played a storming set. A great evening all round, right up to the moment that I got back to Holloway Road tube station to find the service in disarray and no chance of getting home by train. Bah! Oh well - I made it to Piccadilly Circus, Marble Arch and the night bus home - that used to happen at the old venue too!

And last night I joined Segs and Dave at Jamm in Brixton to work on Ruts D.C. material that should hopefully come out as a 7'' single in time for Record Store Day on April 18th. I'll keep the exact details to myself for the moment, but I did record some backwards guitar on one of the tracks. Great fun - I knew all that time spent listening to 'Tomorrow Never Knows' would come in handy one day... 

How much?!?

Well some things in life are worth waiting for, and from what I've seen of it the upcoming book 'Love In Vain - The Story Of The Ruts and Ruts D.C.' by Roland Link will definitely be one of them. It's been a while in the making but it's now due out this Spring, and to this end a PledgeMusic campaign has been launched to help fund it's independent release. All sorts of things are on offer (potentially including a guitar lesson with me! Oo-er!) so if you'd like to get involved then head over to the Ruts D.C. section of PledgeMusic here and see what you can see, and get Segs's thoughts on this subject and more here. Give generously my friends - you know you want to!

In the meantime this has been the first gig-free week for your humble narrator for quite a while, and I've spent what feels like far too much of it trying to put my accounts in order. This roughly translates to 'emptying out the contents of the carrier bag full of receipts and bank statements then attempting to make them all make sense'. I fear there's still a bit of work to do (not least writing the damn stuff up!) but I'm a lot closer to it all getting done than I was this time last week. One day I'll do this stuff as I'm going along throughout the year rather than every so often in this rather inefficient manner. Probably. Still with no gigs of my own I've had chance to catch a couple of excellent live shows, beginning with Who tribute band Who's Who at Tropic At Ruislip on Friday evening. A near-capacity audience - always a good thing to see don't you think? - saw a set that included relatively obscure tracks like 'Water' alongside the expected hits, and everyone there seemed to enjoy the band's efforts. The next night I returned to The 100 Club (I feel as though I've spent half of my life there recently - mind you, I guess that I have!) to see Eddie And The Hot Rods supported by The Guitar Gangsters. I remember the latter band from back in the late 1980s when I think The Price played with them although I can't for the life of me remember where. (Maybe at a weekend festival at The Sir George Robey in Finsbury Park, but maybe not. I really should have written all that stuff down you know...) Their agreeably noisy set warmed the audience up for Barrie and the boys who gave a suitably thunderous performance to the enthusiastic approval of all concerned. And it was good to catch up with guitarist Richard Holgarth and dep bass player Adam Smith (he also plays with The Newtown Neurotics who'll be appearing at The 100 Club on February 6th; The Price used to play with them in the 1980s too) after the show, both of whom are involved in running The Square in Harlow and both of whom were interested in The Price and indeed Ruts D.C. appearing at said venue sometime this year. This year it's (gulp!) 30 years since the first Price gig, and it would be great to mark that (ahem!) momentous occasion by returning to one of our favourite ever venues - so let's hope that we do!

And last night The London Sewage Company rehearsed in anticipation of a gig this weekend at the 'new' 12 Bar Club - following the sad demise of the Denmark Street venue no time has been wasted in securing new premises at Phibbers in Holloway, and it's there that we'll be supporting the legends that are King Kurt this coming Saturday 24th January. It should be a great night - I wonder if King Kurt still behave in the unhinged manner that they used to back in the day? Hmmm... an interesting evening is in prospect...  

New Year's Resolution

And so the new year begins. Oh hang on, didn't I say that last time...

Not a bad line-up eh?

My first gig of the year as an audience member was at Tropic At Ruislip last Friday when I witnessed a performance by original Wishbone Ash bass player Martin Turner. Apparently legal restrictions mean that he's not allowed to call it something like 'Martin Turner's Wishbone Ash' - hence the rather unwieldy 'Martin Turner and friends play the music of Wishbone Ash... and beyond' on the poster. Strange days indeed. I don't mind saying that musically it's not really my sort of thing, but I went along as I have good memories of my older cousins in Birkenhead playing their 'Argus' album (among many others) when we used to visit them during school holidays in the 1970s. I also think that it's good to support live music in our area on a night when I'm not out playing myself although that probably sounds a bit self-righteous? Oh well - maybe it is! Anyway they were very good indeed, with probably the best sound that I've ever heard in the venue. I may not be rushing out to buy their entire back catalogue, but it was definitely a good show to start my gig - going year with.

And Sunday afternoon's Upper Cut show at Ye Olde George in Colnbrook was definitely a good start to my gig-playing year - it's always a bit weird starting at 5pm but there were quite a few people in and there was dancing more-or-less from the word go; our two sets flew by and we were still playing well past our allotted end time of 8 o'clock. Great stuff all round.

This week all roads lead to The 100 Club, where Ruts D.C. are among various luminaries playing at The Resolution Festival. After the splendid 'The Clash - New Year's Day '77' show on BBC4 last week I for one am definitely in the mood for some punk rock, and it doesn't get much better than this does it? See you down the front!