Weekend warriors

What follows was indeed written when it says that it was written - it appears here unedited except for a bit of tidying up here and there, especially the bits where I couldn't read my handwriting...

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Hello from the 11.36 train from Glasgow to London. It's Sunday 7th July and I've got a headache. And I feel like going back to sleep. I won't though - not for a while anyway - as I'm going to write up my memories of the last two weekends of Ruts D.C. gigs for the blog page that I keep saying that I must get around to writing more for, but never actually do... here we go then - stop me if you've heard this one before...

Friday 28th June, Greenwich 

Hot in every sense of the word, both physically and emotionally. Like an idiot I decided to wear a jacket for the first couple of songs - when I tried to take it off I discovered that it had stuck to me. Ah well. I knew I'd be a fashion victim in the end. And nothing had prepared me for (a) seeing a t-shirt with my face on it (Dave and Segs are on it too, but I think you know what I mean) and (b) people not only buying it but wearing it too. 

The show itself was to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the 'Babylon's Burning' single being released - since we were unable to ascertain a definite date for this we chose one that it had been in the singles chart on four decades earlier. Any excuse eh? The Pelton Arms in Greenwich is a splendid pub, and it was suitably packed for our show which we streamed live on the band's Facebook page (ooh - for a minute there I sounded almost like I knew what I was talking about didn't I? Anyway here is the footage if you'd like to see it) and which went fantastically well. People travelled far and wide to see us, which was a very humbling experience from our point of view. We really must do an acoustic album one day mustn't we?

Saturday 29th June, Glasgow

Rain of near-biblical proportions held off right until the moment that we got out of our taxi from the train station and discovered that we were at the wrong entrance to the park. Bugger! As the world-weary security guard put it, 'welcome to Glasgow boys'. You have to love somewhere that they leave a traffic cone on the head of a statue over the weekend as 'there's no point in taking it off until Monday, they just put it back up there if we do' though don't you? Still the Kelvingrove Bandstand is a remarkable venue, and it was great to see the familiar faces of the Stranglers road crew as we arrived for our soundcheck. At showtime the rain had stopped, the sun was shining and all was right with the world - until Segs sang the words 'thunder and lightning' in 'Jah War' and the proverbial heavens opened. Poncey English people (like me!) ran for cover while every Scots person just carried on watching - as one chap put it to me afterwards, 'I was more worried about my beer getting watered down'. A great gig, and The Stranglers were pretty good too. Mind you, they usually are.

Homeward bound we changed trains at Crewe where we spotted a rainbow t-shirt-wearing  Cliff Richard boarding our London train. Within seconds we were all texting each other with unrepeatable variations of his hit single song titles. Well, we couldn't say them out loud…

Friday 5th July, Caerphilly

Well I'm lucky enough to do some pretty amazing things with an electric guitar in my

hand, and playing at Caerphilly Castle is definitely among them. Possibly the most stunning venue I've ever been lucky enough to play in, our dressing room was up a seemingly endless stone spiral staircase - the word 'room' doesn't do it justice, it was a stone hall with, among other things, a tapestry of a hanging on one of the walls. And if that wasn't enough, The Tommy Cooper Walk Of Fame was across the road. Earlier we had a meal in the Volare Italian restaurant, where in addition to the magnificent food we were given complimentary limoncellos (being the heathen that I am I'd not had one before. I guess I need to get out more?) while fans came in off the street to ask for photographs with us. Our gig was even better than the previous week's show, with plenty of Ruts t-shirts in the crowd and smiling faces all round. Afterwards I went up onto the viewing area above the right hand side of the stage, where the unexpected excitement of audience members waving caused me to give what might best be described as a rather peculiar impression of The Pope. They went completely mad when Dave and Segs appeared. The Stranglers were excellent once again, but as I said last time, they usually are.

Saturday 6th July, Dunoon

After the C.C. show we drove to The Britannia Hotel in Bromsgrove in an attempt to break the near-astronomical distance that we had to travel to the next gig. On arrival sometime around 2 a.m. we were sternly informed that breakfast didn't start until 8 a.m. - when we arrived at the allotted time it looked as though it had been open for ages and was packed out. First world problems eh? A few hours of fitful sleep in the bus followed (aided and abetted by Mott The Hoople and The Tom Robinson Band on the headphones) before we eventually arrived at the ferry port to Dunoon. Our journey across was enlivened no end by Segs's tales of his adventures sailing in the area, and when we arrived in Dunoon it was impossible not the think of The Wicker Man. Well, it was impossible for me not to think of it anyway. As we drove to The Queens Hall for our show as part of The Punk On The Peninsula Festival the picturesque tranquillity of the surrounding area contrasted with the assorted multi-coloured mohawks and punky t-shirts - when we arrived Fire Exit sounded good, Ian the promotor has provided a large bag of haggis-flavoured crisps (not for me thank you!) and Jennie from Rebellion and her pal Jo were cheery and friendly to all concerned. We played to an audience which sounded as though they'd been drinking all day or indeed all weekend - either that or they liked us (no one left as far as I could see) but they couldn't be bothered clapping. They treated The Cockney Rejects in much the same way, which I would imagine is something that their doctors wouldn't necessarily recommend - we missed the end of their set as we had to leave to catch the 10 o'clock ferry. This was a shame as we also just missed T.V. Smith who was arriving for his show the next morning, but it was still light and the bay and surrounding area looked absolutely amazing. From there it was back to Glasgow for much merriment and a bottle of red wine (or two) in Dave's room with Reservoir Dogs on in the background. At least that goes some way towards explaining this morning's headache.

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So there you have it - four great shows. And we're looking forward to more next week when we play both electric and acoustic shows at The Rebellion Festival in Blackpool where I'll also be appearing with Alvin Gibbs and The Disobedient Servants among others. I will be attempting regular posts from the festival on my Facebook page, and if you're going I'll see y'all there...

'Didn't you used to write a blog Leigh?'

Yes. Yes I did.

And I will again, honest.

'Well, why don't you write it at the moment?' 

It's... er... it's just that... I've... well, I've been really busy. God knows how and at what, but there doesn't seem to have been time to do anything other than work in Balcony Shirts and play the guitar with Big Al Reed and the Blistering Buicks. I must have done something else?

Yes, of course I have - I've been to The 100 Club a few times. I saw Glen Matlock with the mighty Earl Slick on guitar, and The Chords UK with Chris Pope on fine form among others.. and last month I played at The Gwyl Pontardawe Festival with Neck, a splendid if rather rainy event in Wales. Of course I've done things. Of course I have. Haven't I? 

Hmm... I guess we all have times when we feel as though things are passing us by? And this, my friends, is how I've felt lately. Strange. However...

This week Ruts D.C. return to the stage. Thank Christ for that. We've got three gigs in Germany (Hannover, Hamburg and Berlin) and we're playing in Denmark at the Atlas Paere Punk 40 Festival in Aarhus, all courtesy of our good friends at Muttis Booking. And I for one can't wait - I've never been to Denmark before, and the Berlin show is on a boat going up and down the River Spree. That's more like it!
Usual rules apply - I'll update my Facebook page as often as I can, and I'll take a load of scribbly notes that might or might not get transcribed here one day. And by the very act of typing this here I appear to be back blogging again. 

As I say, that's more like it.

The new Ruts D.C. single 'Kill The Pain' is released today!

The new Ruts D.C. single 'Kill The Pain' comes out today on Westworld / Sosumi Records - it's certainly one of my favourite songs on 'Music Must Destroy' (incidentally Pete Sargeant has just published a splendid review of the album on Just Listen To This which you can read here - thanks Pete!) so I for one am well pleased that it's out in it's own right. And after what seems like an age of anticipation our tour with The Stranglers finally kicks off in Lincoln next Tuesday; it then winds it's way up and down England, Scotland and Wales (no Ireland sadly, but more about that in a minute) before finishing in Manchester on (gulp!) April 1st. It promises to be an absolute classic, and if you're coming along to a show then do please say hello. Blogging opportunities are likely to be few and far between but I will be attempting to update my Facebook page on a regular if not daily basis so if you're interested in following how it's all going that's the place to be.

And if you are interested in following how it's all going then you can find my Facebook page here. See you in Cyberspace!

As I say it's a great shame that we're not going to get over to Ireland this time - but we are playing with Stiff Little Fingers in Dublin on Friday 25th August before a very special show in Belfast the next night with SLF, The Stranglers and The Outcasts with Terri Hooley DJ-ing. Crikey! Did I really just type that? Yes, incredibly, I did. Hurrah! 

Ska-diff!

My last gig of 2011 was with Utter Madness in Cardiff headlining The Calennig New Year celebrations. It's a yearly event (obviously!) held outside The City Hall - the band played it back in 2001 when according to Ian the saxman there was 'horizontal rain' and freezing temperatures; he suggested 'a hat, long coat, fingerless gloves if you've got them' as stage wear... in the event the temperature was a lot higher than freezing and the rain had stopped earlier in the evening. Good!

We'd soundchecked at 5 pm - lots of echo from the cold concrete in front of us. 'Don't worry' said Matt the stage manager, 'there should be thousands of people here by midnight'. And there was - when I left the stage with my amp and guitar after the show an impressively long conga line was. er, congaing to 'Enjoy Yourself' by The Specials. And why not?

We were all staying at The Holiday Inn (I dread to think how much 7 rooms on New Year's Eve cost the organisers!) where food was served at 7.30; as I made my way up to room 329 Batman and Robin were haranguing guests in the bar while scantily-clad young ladies mused on the festivities to come. I got changed for the show then met everyone (Tony on vocals, Jon on bass, Dan on drums, Richard on keyboards, Ray on vocals and the afore-mentioned Ian on sax) in the lobby to head back to the City Hall. When we arrived Botown were halfway through their set; they mix soul classics with Bollywood songs which is an interesting idea although the audience reaction generally consisted of recognition for the soul song ('Sex Machine' for example) and confusion for the Bollywood song (sadly I've no idea of the title) that it morphed into. The massed dancing and singing along that accompanied their last number 'Valerie' was all dissipated by 30 or so seconds into the unidentified song that it became. Like I say it's an interesting idea but I'm not sure how it will work in practical terms, although now that I've said that they'll no doubt now sell millions.

'Don't watch that, watch this!' Tony started 'One Step Beyond' to a huge cheer from the rapidly-swelling crowd; I dropped my plectrum a few seconds into the song which suggested that my hands may well have been colder than I thought that they were. I wonder if my moment of madness (sorry!) was seen on the big screens that were either side of the stage? It's probably on YouTube by now... (well if it is I haven't found it yet - but I did find this!) As the clock at the side of the stage showed 6 minutes of 2011 left we swung into 'Baggy Trousers' - when the song ended we downed tools as chap from S4C and the compare (sorry I didn't catch either of their names) came on stage and counted down alternately in English and Welsh; fireworks heralded the start of 2012 as band members made good use of their mobile phone cameras. It all went out live on TV - you can see it here on the S4C website for the next month, we're on from about 16 minutes into the clip and the picture you can see me taking at midnight is the one at the start of this posting. Really!

We came back on to a jammed version of 'Auld Lang Syne' (I found this and the countdown on YouTube too - there are more clips appearing all the time!) and few more songs before 'Our House' ended a great gig. I'm told there were around 10,000 people there at midnight - now that definitely counts as a happy new year! I hope you have one too.