Back to the future?

Well at least one good thing has come out of all the recent gig cancellations - I've had chance to watch the recent season of 'Punk Britannia' programmes on BBC4. (Yeah, I know, that's scant consolation for not playing, loss of earnings, feeling as though months of work on the 'Cool Britannia' show has gone to waste, sleepless nights and probably lots of other bad things as well - but I'm trying to find something good about the last few weeks ok?!?) Generally I've found them to be excellent - it always seems to me as though everybody involved has a a slightly different take on the same story, but I suppose that's inevitable if you think about it. It goes without saying that it was wonderful to see the T.V. Smith documentary 'We Who Wait' at last (it's been many years in the making) and I thoroughly enjoyed 'Evidentally... John Cooper Clarke' and the reshowing of the 'Arena' documentary on Poly Styrene and X-Ray Spex which I don't remember seeing that again since it's first showing all those years ago. But the best show for me has been 'Punk Britannia At The BBC', a compilation of various appearances between 1975-80. Highlights were many and varied, but seeing The Lurkers on 'Top Of The Pops' performing 'I Don't Need To Tell Her' had to be the best moment for me, not least because like the X-Ray Spex programme mentioned above it's a clip that I don't think I've seen since it's original broadcast. (I can't find it on YouTube so instead here is the same song live on 'Revolver' around the same time - great stuff!) The Ruts looked pretty good too!


Once again some Cool Britannia shows bit the dust this week - this is getting depressing! As so often happens in life when something new starts to go wrong you find yourself going back to something old (maybe I should take up philosophy full time?!?) and this weekend saw your humble narrator gigging with The Chicago Blues Brothers for the first time since January, and with Dave Finnegan for the first time since way back in 2010. 
They (whoever 'they' are) say that you should never return to the scene of a crime and maybe 'they' are correct, but the fact that the only two CBB shows this year have been at The Pizza Express in Maidstone is a measure of how little work there is around at the moment. Friday's show can't quite be described as a crime but it certainly wasn't one that I for one will look back on particularly fondly. With the venue less than half full (it's often sold out when we appear there) and the band (I'm on guitar with Pete and Mike as Jake and Elwood, Ian on keyboards, Squirrel on bass, Marc on drums and Dave and Richard on trumpet and saxophone) suffering from a severe lack of match practice it was a less-than-classic performance - but realistically it could hardly have been much else.
Last night was a bit more enjoyable, in a tent in the back garden of a very - make that very - big house somewhere near Kings Langley. We (Chris on keyboards, Richard on sax, and myself) were playing over backing tracks, although that was a long way from my mind as I went to plug my amplifier in and found that the allotted plug board was soaking wet. Having been lucky enough to survive the Jubilee gig earlier this month I wasn't taking any chances, and another board was found; whether a similar situation caused the power to fail completely during 'Try A Little Tenderness' is unclear, but thankfully it was the only negative moment in a great set from Dave. Matt and Mike had provided backing vocals (along with Pete) throughout, and they returned with us backing them for an hour of Blues Brothers and beyond - an good performance all round. 


Right then - no gigs this weekend because, you've guessed it, they've all been cancelled. 
Let's see what happens next...

'I'm playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order...'

Robin Gibb died last Sunday - I can't claim to have been the biggest Bee Gees fan in the World (my mum loved 'em which probably put me off a bit when I was a lad!) but there's no denying that he was a great singer and that he and his brothers were brilliant pop songwriters, although maybe not quite as good as the likes of Paul Gambaccini have since claimed? Still, it's a shame to see him go - and their '60s stuff really was rather good wasn't it?

Would you use this dressing room?
We didn't!

In the meantime it's commercial time - 'Punk Britannia' starts on BBC Four this coming week, and one of the featured artists in the season of punky programmes is the one and only T.V. Smith; the documentary 'We Who Wait - T.V. Smith and The Adverts' has been in the making for several years now, and it's great to see it finally appearing on mainstream television. There's also 'Evidently... John Cooper Clarke', a vintage 'Old Grey Whistle Test' featuring Siouxsie and The Banshees and more - great stuff all round.

Cool Britannia finally made it to the stage this weekend - Friday we made the epic journey up to Barrow-in-Furness for a show at The Forum, while on Saturday we played at The Roses Theatre in Tewkesbury. Both shows were good if rather under-attended - speaking to other musicians this seems to be a familiar story at the moment although that doesn't make me for one feel any better about it all. Oh well - there are more shows this week so I guess we'll see how it all goes... The Roses is famous - maybe that should be 'infamous' - for being the place where Eric Morecambe suffered a fatal heart attack backstage after a show there; I wonder how many times the staff there hear jokes about 'dying on stage'?


There's not much time for blogging today or indeed this week as in addition to there being some Cool Britannia shows (hopefully!) it's also Ruts D.C. rehearsal time once again before the band's first show of this year at The Last Jubilee Festival next Saturday - now that's definitely something to look forward to!