The wizards return with another bumper show that has more pop culture references than you can shake a stick at*, introduces a new musical genre that everyone has been waiting for (if only they knew it), and, without getting anywhere near the bottom of the bowl, takes an in-depth look at soup in rock music.
We also have some seriously good music from Wales, Scotland and very much elsewhere, played on all sorts of modern day formats. So, what are you waiting for? Tuck in right here and there…
Hopefully god’s furniture isn’t crashing too loudly over your heads as you settle down to work out what could possibly link Lanarkshire harmonisers Teenage Fanclub and Californian rebel, Darlene Love.
If you think you know, better get yerself clad in denim and get some records by Status Quo, perform a heads-down boogie with the answer and force Rebel Rikkit’s head into the bass bin. Now, THAT’s a concept.
Isn’t is fantastic when you discover a great new band totally by accident? This is exactly what happened to a couple of us wizards recently when we witnessed the Merseyside band Oranj Son supporting The Saints at The Kazimier last month.
(pic courtesy of Cath Bore)
So impressed were we that ever since the gig we have been hounding them to answer some of our intrusive questions. Finally, Kieran Linford of the band relented and told us all this…
The band Oranj Son is a four piece. Can you tell us who is in the band and how you started to make music together?
There is me and my brother Matt, Lew Yii on drums and Brad Welch Harley on bass. Ellesmere Port is quite a small place so we kind of sniffed each other out because we had similar music tastes. The band just sort of evolved out of nothing really; it wasn’t a decision – it just happened.
We saw you play what I believe was your second only gig supporting The Saints, how did that come about and what was Chris Bailey like? He seems fairly intimidating.
Chris was great, as were the other two lads. They seemed to like our stuff. The gig came off the back of people liking us at our first gig at Sound City, which Carl Hunter (bass player for The Farm) sorted for us. Carl has been very supportive, he knows his stuff and people know that. It seems mad that our first ever gigs were Liverpool’s premier festival and then supporting total punk legends.
sound city (pic courtesy of Nadine Shanahan)
The band name and sound clearly show you are fans of the Fall – what are your three favourite Fall songs?
I reckon the DJ playing the Fall all night at the Kazimier may have clouded your perception a bit there! However, I’d go for their cover of Lost In Music, Lie Dream of a Casino Soul and I Am Damo Suzuki. (We apologise for the gratuitous use of Gary Rowley in the following video – TTW Ed.)
You are obviously more than just Fall copyists – how would you describe the band’s sound?
Loud, tuney and twisted.
Who else has influenced you musically?
We’re all into different things. Krautrock is something I like, Lew’s a big punk head, Brad is into his folk and Matt is a real ‘Soul Man’. Everyone brings their own dimension to the band. For reasons I won’t go into here(!) I spent a day with George Clinton and his band recently and that was a big buzz. But we listen to anything and everything and play the same. Velvets, Pink Floyd, Jesus and Mary Chain, Chic, Massive Attack, The Clash, Walker Brothers. There is so much that you hear that is good that is bound to influence what you write. Brad and Lew are like chameleons when it comes to music – they can switch on to absolutely anything.
You played a song rather brilliantly entitled Psycho Disco Face that we really liked. Can you describe your own psycho disco face for our listener.
It’s hard to say… Brad’s is like the drill sergeant on Full Metal Jacket.
We also really liked the song you opened your set with – what was it called? Do you think Rebel Rikkit was right in describing it as ‘tuney’ (I think he meant tuneful)?
It’s called “Who needs the meaning. Yeah?” Yeah, it’s one of our more melodic songs.
The song we played on our podcast #44 was another standout from your live set called Tape Deck. Can you tell us a bit about it?
This is the one you think sounds like the Fall isn’t it! It’s been around for a while and has changed ‘shape’ a bit but it never used to sound like Big New Prinz (in the same way Start never sounded originally like Taxman) but because there’s very little ‘new’ in the world then eventually all good stuff gets done again. Everytime we write something new my arl fella says ‘that sounds like….’ and it will be something we’ve never heard of.
It borrows quite clearly from Big New Prinz – do your fear retribution from Mark E Smith?
No – I met him at Sound City. He’s a pussycat.
miaow
When will we see any Oranj Son records for sale?
As soon as anyone wants to put them out there! (Get ’em signed up! Boys, if you’re reading, we need to talk! – TTW Records Ed.)
As a band breaking into the live circuit, what are the biggest challenges?
There aren’t enough venues and the media’s obsession with ‘established’ acts can be damaging.
Who would you ideally like to play with in the future?
I’ve got George Clinton’s number so the pestering in that direction will be starting very shortly! I also saw the reformed Ride recently and that long break seemed to have done something good.
Which band would you have liked to have been a part of? Why?
The Beach Boys. They lived on a beach!
life’s a beach
Which other current bands should we be listening to?
In terms of global artists, I think Father John Misty is well worth listening to. I also think Liverpool-based Bathymetry are a real class act worth getting into.
Cricket – cool as fuck or a load of old bollocks?
Cool as fuck – I love Lancs and Ashwell Prince is my hero.
officially cool as fuck
Can you tell our listener where he/she might be able to catch you playing live next?
We are on at the ‘Liverpool Loves…’ Festival, August 8th at the Pier Head. Hopefully we will sort something before then as well- we will keep you posted.
Thanks very much for talking to us. What are you off to do now?
We’re off to Glastonbury and Barcelona…
oranj son over barcelona
You can hear more Oranj Son tracks on their soundcloud page and we suggest you do.
Once again the wizards dig deep to bring you a show that manages to take you to the root of popular, and frankly, unpopular, music.
Amongst the usual eclectic mix, this time there’s a double album review, where the sparks really fly, the introduction of an exciting new feature, and a surprisingly classic punk rock quiz. We also showcase a couple of new musical finds and provide a definitive guide for how you should live your life. What more could you ask for?
You can hear it all by downloading from this link or by making good use of the soundcloud player below.
Some of the physicality we talked about on the show:
Not an instrumental to start this month, but rather a timely story of how things kick off in Wrexham from the Writing The Wrongs release by Poundstore Riot, a beguiling combination of Ash Cooke and Stu Kidd (The Wellgreen Derrero, anyone?).
there’s a riot going on
This then launches us into the opening track from my favourite noisy LP of 2015 from Stockholm punk kids, Lucern Raze, appropriately entitled Stockholm One. This in turn eases us into the droning tones of Garbanzo faves, Moon Duo, with my pick from their excellent Shadow Of The Sun collection. Next up it’s New Zealanders, Opposite Sex, with a track taken from a wonderful compilation of contemporary ‘Dundedin Sound’ bands called, er, Temporary. Anyway, you can get it here, and you should. Sadly, this wonderful track is not on Spotify so here’s a live version – click on the link in the track listing for a version with no twats talking all over it.
Primitive Parts put out a single on the always reliably ace Faux Discx at the end of last year, and unsurprisingly it really is rather good. You need to hear this powerpoppostpunkpop hit and then you need to rush to buy the one remaining copy of it here. Old favourites next with Swearing At Motorists and a lovely little song about a lost art taken from last year’s While Laughing, The Joker Tells The Truth that the band tells us “will sound best when played at 3/4 to maximum available undistorted volume level on stereophonic equipment”, so do that then. Going back even further, all the way to March of 2014, saw Stiff Little Fingers release their tenth studio album called, ahem, No Going Back. Ah. Well, in any case, it’s got this great song about the banking crisis that is definitely worth 4 minutes of your time. Then it’s time for more Welsh magnificence from the Cardiff band Wrongs, who might not be on Spotify, but are on bandcamp. These fellas came to my attention via the ludicrously underused Pulco Forum (an anagram of Cup Roomful, rather pointlessly) that you could do a lot worse than join. This song has an oblique reference to QPR that should please at least one wizard and includes the line ‘my kingdom for a mixtape’, which, frankly, is genius.
Talking of genius, Doug Gillard guitar genius next on an unsung track from Guided By Voices first final LP, Half Smiles Of The Decomposed that has recently caused some debate in some circles about exactly what Pollard is singing at the start. What do you reckon? While you mull that over, here’s this month’s Tex Pick, which features an offshoot band from the wonderful Islet in the form of the pleasingly named Them Squirrels. There’s a lot to like here, especially if you are fans of the Islet bass player, and who isn’t? Check out their Exchanging Sayings album toot sweet. Another old favourite next, this time from from the mists of 1996 and a Sparklehorse B-side from the Someday I Will Treat You Good EP that makes use of the words of William Blake, but still sounds very Mark Linkous. A great, much missed artist. To cheer us up after that, how about some Italian pop from Brunetta E I Suoi Balubas with another song you’ll just have to watch…
More Faux Discx delightx next with Teardrop Factory, “a messy indie rock band from Brighton” who put out their Thrash In The Heart debut LP at the end of 2014. For the GBV fan inside all of you, there is much to like here. Back in the day, poet Benjamin Zephaniah teamed up with Humberside legends Back To Base to record a number of great tracks. One of these, Electric Eye, got played a lot by the late John Peel as I discovered last week when, having restored my tape deck, I started listening to old JP programmes. It still sounds pretty great to these ears. The track after that was apparently a hit, but I must’ve missed it. It only came to my attention recently via the aforementioned Lucern Raze who do a cracking cover of, yes, Teddybears…
Next up is a track I discovered on the Stewart Lee curated The Topography Of Chance compilation that amongst the likes of Derek Bailey and Giant Sand also featured the intriguing sound of Daniel Patrick Quinn and the voice of Duncan Grahl outlining an Edinburgh based ritual. Perhaps unsurprisingly this too is not on spotify…
Sydney band The Moles dominated much of my listening experience in the early 90s and it is always a pleasure to dip back in to their small, but perfectly formed back catalogue. On the self-titled EP from 1992, you will find 4 blistering tracks including the one picked for this mix. A band I have to confess to having missed until now are the bravely named The New Lou Reeds. From the heartland of all good music, the state of Ohio, this lot are a definite favourite of Julian Cope as I discovered on reading his collection of album reviews, Copendium. Happily the partner CD to this tome featured The Reeds (as nobody calls them) and I am happy to share them with you. As I am the sound of more Aussies, this time Pond with a track that stood out for me from this year’s Man It Feels Like Space Again. This is an album that has proved to be a real grower and that I probably underrated on first listens. Talking of underrated, how about the music from Joe Strummer’s lost years? In particular the Earthquake Weather LP and Island Hopping single from the late 80s? Well, I reckon there’s much that has been overlooked here and finish this month with a track from the EP that needs to be heard. Of course, Strummer was busily working on a number of soundtrack projects at his time including this masterpiece…
Those all important tracks in full:
1. Poundstore Riot – Roll Tape
2. Lucern Raze – Carana
3. Moon Duo – Zero
4. Opposite Sex – Supermarket (can be heard properly right here)
5. Primitive Parts – TV Wheels
6. Swearing At Motorists – Wrote You A Letter
7. Stiff Little Fingers – Full Steam Backwards
8. Wrongs – Imagined Homes
9. Guided By Voices – Gonna Never Have To Die
10. Them Squirrels – Echo Chant
11. Sparklehorse – London
12. Brunetta E I Suoi Balubas – Baluba Shake
13. Teardrop Factory – 3am Coke Dream
14. Back To Base – Electric Eye
15. Teddybears – Yours To Keep
16. Daniel Patrick Quinn feat. Duncan Grahl – The Burryman
17. The Moles – Going Down
18. The New Lou Reeds – Stranded In Ashland
19. Pond – Sitting Up On Our Crane
20. Joe Strummer – Cholo Vest
House of Sparrows
Playlist
Previous monthly mixes
All twenty-four previous mixes are still available for free! Why not follow us on Spotify to avoid missing out?
Yes, it’s time once again to do your very damnedest to work out what links two tremendous tunes. This time we present the matching mole himself, Robert Wyatt, and a rocking four-piece from beside the Mersey, who we wizards think might just make a name for themselves.
So, what’s the connection pop pickers? If you think you know, hire yourself a brightly coloured coach and drive round yelling yer answer through a megaphone for Rebel Rikkit to note down.
This year sees the release of the rockumemtary by Wes Orhoski for the band The Damned entitled “I Bet You Wish We Were Dead” and just looking at the trailer shows what an amazing group they were.
In fact, it built a case in my mind to suggest that The Damned may have been the best punk rock band of all time to such an extent that I wondered if the Internet would confirm my suspicion. Amazingly, the Internet did not confirm this. In fact, it suggested the polar opposite.
And wait for it, according to the Internet, the best punk rock band of all time is …GREEN DAY! YES THAT’S RIGHT. GREEN DAY!!!!
I know! I know! but look for yourself here, here and here. The cartoon power pop copyists with their punk by numbers music, black leather jackets and spikey black hair without an original idea throughout their sorry decades of whoring their corporate sanitised version of punk around the stadiums of the world. Yes, them!
Not only that, but The Damned didn’t even make the top ten! Even in this slightly more scientific poll they only made number 21!!!
Damned and Confused
Well obviously something has gone badly wrong, so we must clear our thoughts and set clear criteria for deciding who deserves this accolade. So, here are the scientifically approved criteria.
Originators not followers
To be the greatest at anything you can’t be a follower, you must be the ones who imagined how things could be different and had the courage and will to see the vision through. Who made the definitive first punk rock record?… that’s right, give yourself a New Rose.
Punk was a moment in time. All music movements have their moment in history and let’s face it “Punk” was not “Punk” until 1976 and its moment had definitely ended by the beginning of 1980s. That’s not to say that punk music and bands don’t still evolve and make great music, but it’s in the first surge that the greatest ride the snake. Let’s face it, if you were to name the best blues guitarist of all time you would be groping for Muddy Waters or BB King not Tab Benoit or Susan Tedeshi (no, I don’t know who they are either and they might be great, but the point stands).
Who is really “Punk”
Let’s be honest London Calling, the wizards’ favourite album of all time, is not punk rock. It’s an amazing Rock and Roll record that embraces a load of styles and had the Clash personality, but punk? What is punk rock? Well, it’s three chords and the truth! Fast! Chaotic! Anarchic! Noisey! Angry! A vortex of Wild Energy to give voice to your inner screaming id. An example? Have a look at this…
OK. It is a myth that the music scene was boring in 1976. The ten years before it have gone down in history as the most exciting musical decade ever, but punk was important because it smashed the idea that musical success was down to artistry and musical competence. It said to anyone, anywhere “you can do it”, if ,as Jonny Rotten wailed, you would only “Get Off Your Arse” (so true Jonathan).
So am I saying that you can be the greatest punk group of all time unless one member grew up on a Council Estate in the 1970’s? Yes I am! I am saying exactly that!
Let’s set the record straight!
Let’s set the record straight and fight back! Here is a poll of the groups who measured up to this exacting scientific criteria. Now is our chance to vote to stop these revisionist and interlopers from rewriting history in favour of the pallid mediocre initiation of a movement of rebellious game changers who took the world by storm and challenged us all to give free reign to our creative impulses and say to anyone who didn’t like it, and many who did, that they could FUCK OFF! because WE DON’T CARE!
Vote now to save the world from Green Day being crowned the Kings of Punk
Oh well, never fear, the popcorn double feature is here. This week teaming up the singular Sea Of Bees and the musically pluralistic Magnetic Fields. Yes, them again. The question, as always, is what connects these two oddball acts.
If you think you have an inkling, video yourself doing an appropriate waggle dance for our own Queen Bee, Rebel Rikkit, to translate.
Just brilliant. I’m not going to do a full review because it would just be a list of superlatives! Long story short: If you’re any kind of David Bowie fan, you need to go and see this band when they come your way.
Tony Visconti @ Liverpool O2 Academy 18th June 2015
The deal is you get two original members of Bowie’s band from 1970 (Woody Woodmansey on drums, Tony Visconti on bass) performing the whole of “The Man Who Sold The World” and other classics from 1969 – 1973 (all the best stuff then!)
“I gazed a gazely stare”
The rest of the band is made up of fantastically talented musicians, including on backing vocals Visconti’s daughter Jessica Lee and the daughter and niece of the late great Mick Ronson. Two excellent guitarist Paul Cuddeford and James Stevenson. Then there’s the multi-talented multi-instrumentalist Terry Edwards who seems to pop up playing with loads of the wizards’ favourite musicians. (Tindersticks, PJ Harvey, Robyn Hitchcock, Gallon Drunk)
Glenn Gregory & Holy Holy @ Liverpool O2 Academy 18th June 2015
Taking most of the lead vocals is Glenn Gregory (ex-Heaven 17). Not someone I know much about beyond the big hit “Temptation” but bloody hell, he was good. And then there’s the wonderful Marc Almond, a born performer, a master interpreter of any song and a man who just belongs on a stage.
Marc Almond & Tony Visconti @ Liverpool O2 Academy 18th June 2015
If I had to pick some highlights, it’d be “All The Madmen”, “After All” and “The Supermen” for the first half.
Every song in the second half was fantastic. Almost impossible to pick the best bits but it was great to see “Watch That Man” when both Glenn and Marc sang together. They looked like 2 lads who grew up as huge fans of this music and now they get to have a ball singing it in front of a passionate crowd. Another highlight was Glenn singing “Life On Mars”, not an easy song to sing but he has mastered it.
Woody Woodmansey & Holy Holy @ Liverpool O2 Academy 18th June 2015
Here’s the second half setlist as well as I can remember it.
Five Years, Soul Love, Moonage Daydream, The Wild Eyed Boy From Freecloud, All the Young Dudes, Oh You Pretty Things, Lady Stardust, Watch That Man, Life On Mars, Time, Ziggy Stardust, Rock & Roll Suicide, Changes, Suffragette City.
Now that’s what you call a back catalogue!!
Here’s a playlist based on the songs they played with a few other personal favourites thrown in.
A very busy day for the Wizards yesterday. Whilst Rebel and Kicker went to this, I set off into rural Cheshire to gorge myself on indiepop. Not only was I accompanied by my gig-going accomplice The Lancashire Toreador but we also took offspring, Chorizo Junior and Chico Toreador, along for their first ever festival experience.
We arrived too late to see The Hobbes Fanclub unfortunately but here’s a rundown of the bands we did see.
THE CATENARY WIRES
Being former members of Heavenly and Talulah Gosh, Dr Amelia Fletcher OBE (yes really) and her partner Rob Pursey are bonafide indie legends. Last time I saw them, they were supporting The Magnetic Fields as The Tender Trap, an under-appreciated band with great melodies and girl-group harmonies who featured in my best of 2012 podcast. Amelia explained that becoming a duo is a result of them having re-located to the countryside. Amelia’s voice sounded as wonderful as it always has done, backed by Rob’s gentle acoustic playing and vocals and occasional melodica.
The new songs are fantastic, often with quite melancholy lyrics but there’s nothing wrong with that. (As a t-shirt I saw on sale yesterday says “sad songs make me happy”) I particularly liked “When You Walk Away “with its lyrics about the end of a relationship and selling stuff on Ebay. Another highlight was “The Things I Love” which mentions Bridget Riley and The Lemonheads and whose chorus was inspired by a totally different Amelia Fletcher who tweeted the words “why do things I love remind me of someone I don’t” Oh and this song “Intravenous” was great as well.
The Catenary Wires at Going Up the Country, 13th June 2015
“Doing It For The Kids” verdict:The 2 kids chose to stand on a table near the back to watch this one. Chorizo Junior is a big fan of “the apple pie song” by The Wedding Present so during the first song, I told him that Amelia had sung with The Wedding Present and was “nearly as famous as Katy Perry.” That seemed to impress him enough to keep him quiet and attentive, athough he appears to be looking at the car park in this photo.
THE WOULD BE GOODS
Anyone remember those Él Records compilations called “London Pavilion”? Volume 1 was where I first heard the twisted genius of Momus but Volume 2 was my favourite. Your life is not complete until you’ve heard “Curry Crazy” by Bad Dream Fancy Dress and foul-mouthed classic “Whoops What A Palaver!” by The Raj Quartet. My other favourite on that album was the Kinks-y tale of commuter life “The Hanging Gardens of Reigate” by The Would Be Goods. I bought and loved their album The Camera Loved Me. But I had no idea they were still a going concern until a few weeks ago when I was thrilled to see them on the line-up for this festival!
The Would Be Goods at Going Up The Country 13th June 2015
They certainly looked the part, dressed in matching Breton shirts. They didn’t look old enough to have been making records nearly 30 years ago, must be the magical rejuvenating qualities of indiepop. And they sounded great. The lead guitarist is clearly a very capable fella, he played some lovely twangy guitar, particularly on the song “Pleasure Island” where he went a bit Luther Perkins. It was amazing to hear “Pinstriped Rebel” from the album I own but some of the other songs were even better. There was a gentle one with a chorus that said “she doesn’t deserve your love” where the singer’s voice reminded me a bit of Nico, but more in tune. Another song had some brilliant doowop-py “sha la la”s from the drummer. There was also a great song about getting old which contained the great line “I’ll be your mirror but you might not like what you see.” (there’s Nico again) There were also lines about being too old for long straight hair or sexy underwear. Speak for yourself, I watched this gig whilst sporting my favourite crotchless thong.
“Doing It For The Kids” verdict: The 2 kids discovered that inside the tent at the back there was a table laden with blank paper, stickers, crayons, chalk and coloured pencils. They missed the whole of The Would Be Goods set but they did produce some very nice pictures of bees and butterflies.
BODYHEAT
We watched this one in shifts because it was time to go into the pub and get some food. The Lancashire Toreador watched the first couple of songs and reported back quite positively and informed me that all 5 bandmembers were wearing glasses. Then we got sidetracked into a discussion about whether the band had got their name from the William Hurt film or Tina Turner’s “Steamy Windows” lyric. I went out to watch the rest of the set and discovered that only 60% of the band were wearing glasses which makes them 16-eyed. Regular readers of my live reviews (hello to you both!) will know that I like to comment on bands’ footwear and it was good to see one of Bodyheat sporting something other than the seemingly compulsory DMs or Converse. Kudos to the lady on keyboards for wearing a pair of bright turquoise shoes, undoubtedly the best shoes seen onstage all day.
The last song, sung by the guitarist on the left, was my favourite but another highlight was introduced as a cover of the only all-female band to write their own songs and have a US number 1 album. You’ve got until the end of this review to work out who that was.
Bodyheat at Going Up The Country 13th June 2015. Turquoise shoes not visible unfortunately.
“Doing It For The Kids” verdict:They didn’t see the band but the ham baguette and bacon oatcake were very well received.
COLOUR ME WEDNESDAY
Next up was the punky poppy fuzzy sound of Colour Me Wednesday bashing out a lorryload of short sharp sweet tunes. A bit like Ash’s early EPs if they’d been female. Some great choppy rhythm guitar here and another melodica playing singer. It was also their first gig with their new drummer apparently but you wouldn’t have known. My favourite songs were “Half a Life” from the split release with Spoonboy and the title track from the “I Thought It Was Morning” LP which is the slowest song they played and little bit Sundays-y. Why aren’t these girls massive? They’re full of energy and their songs have more hooks than a J.M. Barrie fan convention. They should be proper pop stars with a string of number 1 singles to their name.
Colour Me Wednesday at Going Up The Country 13th June 2015
“Doing It For The Kids” verdict:The 2 kids did a bit of pogo-ing down the front for a while and then returned to their earlier vantage point standing on a table near the back. Much excitement near the end of the set when someone handed them a bottle of bubble mixture. Chorizo Junior said “I liked the new drummer. She’s learned quite fast” and both kids agreed that this was their favourite band so far, especially the fast songs.
THE SWAPSIES
I’ve only heard a handful of songs from Liverpool’s The Swapsies but I’ve absolutely adored everything I’d heard. You may have heard “Who Needs The Bureau de Change” on my “best of 2014” podcast. That was a collaboration with Jam On Bread (a lo-fi version of Beans On Toast?) and it’s the best song you’ll ever hear about hiding foreign currency in your underwear.
Elaine (drums & natty hat) is leaving the band soon so the front four were all wearing t-shirts with her face on them. Incidentally, here’s a graph about drummers.
Drummergraph
The front row were all comedian lookalikes. From left to right, Jack Whitehall, the Irish bloke off The IT Crowd, Simon Pegg and Karl Pilkington. Appropriately enough, lots of humour in the songs too. They started off with a song about relegation which intrigued me because whether they’re LFC or EFC, they wouldn’t have any experience of that. Maybe they’re Tranmere?
They like to namecheck other bands in their songs, Stevie Jackson and The Magnetic Fields both got a mention tonight. As did The Just Joans in a magnificent ode to the Scottish accent and how Scottish singers sound really cool. There was also a great song about Lee Mavers.
The Swapsies at Going Up The Country 13th June 2015
The final song was about a love affair that started the same night as England scoring 4 against Croatia and somebody got a hat-trick. I thought that they must be singing about Rooney in Portugal 2004 but Google tells me that Theo Walcott also got a hat-trick against Croatia in 2008. Maybe that’s why some people actually rate him?
So many highlights in this set but if I had to pick one then one song is desperate to be picked and that’s “Pick Me”, an indecently catchy tune which is going to be the next single. Speaking to “Simon Pegg” afterwards, they’re hoping to have an album launch gig in Liverpool over the summer so count me in for that.
“Doing It For The Kids” verdict:A strong start from The Swapsies because they played a song that Chorizo Junior actually knows!! “Hi-5: Eardrums Pop 5 year anniversary compilation” has been played a lot in my car recently and so he recognised the song “Oh Me” and even sang along with the chorus. Chico Toreador was so into it she went and stood right at the very front which I think the band found equally endearing and intimidating.
Chico Toreador vs. The Swapsies
THE JUST JOANS
I’ve been wanting to see these live since 2009 when I bought the “Love and other Hideous Accidents” EP because I liked the title and the novel packaging, a 3″ CD single in a little brown envelope courtesy of the much-missed WeePop Records. The song “Hideous Accident” is hilarious and possibly the most passive-aggressive song ever written. (We opened our podcast number 29 with it)
This was only half of the band here today as singer / guitarist David explained. He’d brought along his sister Katie on vocals and a bass player who didn’t seem to find it that funny when they joked that he was their grandad.
The Just Joans at Going Up The Country, 13th June 2015
They played a few songs from their debut album “Buckfast Bottles in the Rain.” These included “Friday Afternoons” which recontextualises and improves a Wonder Stuff song I’m not too keen on and “What Do We Do Now” which recontextualises and improves a Sleeper song I’m not too keen on.
“Five Beer Bottles” was immense, a wonderful tale of a one night stand with a jolly singalong chorus of “pregnancies, STDs.” I also loved “Baby’s a Boy Racer” which is basically “Leader of the Pack” relocated to 21st century suburbia.
But the real highlights were the slower sadder songs “Bellshill Station” and “Every Heartbeat” that showcased not only Katie’s voice (Motherwell’s very own Tammy Wynette!) but also how David’s lyrics can be more universal. These songs are, or at least should be, standards.
No “Hideous Accident” but even so it felt like it was worth waiting so long to see them. But it’s left me wanting more. There was a fantastic new song “If You Don’t Pull” so another album coming I wonder?
“Doing It For The Kids” verdict:They were in the play area and they missed it all, the fools.
MJ HIBBETT AND THE VALIDATORS
Another band I’ve been wanting to catch live for years. Despite announcing that “we’ve all had a drink” as they came onstage, they were still Professional, Competent, Rocking and Tight!
The democratically selected setlist was about 50/50 new songs and old favourites. The new songs all seemed to be about aging in one way or another and as usual Mark’s lyrics touch a lot of nerves, tickle a lot of ribs, ring a lot of bells and hit a lot of nails on their little steely heads. “That Guy” and “20 Things To Do Before You’re 30” (complete with lyrics written on Dylanesque cardboards placards) were both laugh-out-loud funny. There was also “Can We Be Friends?” which addresses the awkward issue of middle-aged people meeting new potential pals and the punch-the-air anthem “You Make Me Feel Soft Rock.”
“We’ve all had a drink” MJ Hibbett & The Validators at Going Up The Country 13th June 2015
Democracy may not work for choosing our nation’s leaders but it worked out well with this setlist because they played some of my most favouritest tunes: “My Boss Was In An Indie Band Once”, “Being Happy Doesn’t Make You Stupid”, “The Lesson of the Smiths” and the life-affirming song that could be MJ’s mission statement “Easily Impressed.”
Rather than me trying to explain the majesty of these songs, you’d be better off going to the official website and clicking on the song titles where Mark himself will explain to you what the songs are all about WITH lots OF words CAPITALIZED.
“Doing It For The Kids” verdict:Chico Toreador was in bed by now but Chorizo Junior loved it. The lyrics were a bit too fast for him to pick up on them, probably a good thing really because some of the lyrics are not really aimed at 5 year olds! But he said that these were his favourite band of the day because “they had the fastest songs.” Using that criteria, I’d better take him to see Slayer next.
By the time The Validators had finished validating, it was waaaaaaaaaaay past Junior’s bedtime and he was keen for me to drive him home. We missed The Tuts but I’ll be seeing them at Indietracks next month (as well as The Catenary Wires and Colour Me Wednesday, can’t wait!)
I picked up 5 CDs on the day, so when I’ve listened to them all, I’ll do a review blog post to follow up on this.
In the meantime, huge thank yous and well dones to Kevin and Linda who organised this whole festival. It’s a wonderful thing they’re doing there and you can’t argue with £15 for a weekend ticket.
Quiz answer:
The all-girl band who wrote their own tunes and had a number 1 album in the US were The Go-Gos. Bodyheat played a great cover of their song “We Got The Beat” complete with handclaps and it reminded me of what a bloody great tune that is!
Some additional MJ Hibbett related links on our website:
Gude. Yu stap gut? As they say down Port Moresby way.
Here we have a couple more musical delights to tax your mental strength. This week sees the pairing up of Nottingham’s favourite sons, and particular favourites of Chorizo Garbanzo, Tindersticks with the pride of The Tay, and particular favourites of Kicker of Elves, Spare Snare.
If you know what links them, all you have to do is start a story with the words “It was a dark and stormy night” and finish it off with the correct answer and send it in for Rebel Rikkit to read (probably moving his lips as he does so).
* In September, the mighty Snare are playing a gig in Liverpool to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release of their debut album and a couple of wizards will be on hand to fill the airwaves between bands. Hurry and get your tickets here.
All 3 wizards recently read, loved and identified a bit too much with a great new book called “I Blame Morrissey.”
The author Jamie Jones is an indie music afficcionado and a Peterborough United follower. Have a listen here to our exclusive interview with the man who’s just one letter away from being an actual Clash song title.
So this week we have poor old Syd with a track from his debut solo album and the legend that continues to be Robert Wyatt in a rare live performance with the standout song from his Shleep album. As always though, we need to know what links the two.
If you think you know, crawl up the side of Rebel Rikkit’s house and whisper in his ear. And if you fail, just try try to forget you even bothered.
A new venue tonight and 3 cosmic bands for just 11 of your Earth pounds.
My good pal The Lancashire Toreador accompanied me tonight and outside the venue, we saw 3 young lads with long hair and simultaneously said to each other “I bet they’re in a band!” They were and they’re called The Floormen. They made good use of their flanger, reverb and delay pedals and have clearly given Boss a few quid over the years. The guitar sounded great, to those 80s-raised ears sometimes a bit John McGeoch, sometimes a bit Robin Guthrie, sometimes a bit Vini Reilly. One song reminded me quite a lot of this epic from 80s psychedelic heads Dr Phibes and The House of Wax Equations.
As the next band Barberos set up, we couldn’t help but be intrigued. Not just by the 2 drumkits placed facing each other at the front of the stage, but also by one of the bandmembers’ choice of trouser. Being a bit of a closet metal fan, I think The Lancashire Toreador was far less alarmed than I was by the white spandex we beheld in front of us, last seen being worn unironically sometime around 1992.
Down with this sort of thing
But I’m relieved to say that before playing the gig, the band got changed. Into even more spandex! Covering their whole bodies! Spandex onesies! Even over their faces! Oh yes!
They beckoned the audience to come closer to the stage and some of us braver ones did just that. Good job too because this is the kind of music that needs to be loud. At first the 2 drummers were playing in unison but then it got really interesting and they created more complex rhythms in combination. The keyboard player was just as busy as they were, both hands constantly moving playing bouncing basslines with the left and weird chords with the right. If you took away the drums, some of what he was playing could’ve come off a 70s Weather Report album or even Frank Zappa mixed with a bit of Squarepusher. At one point I even heard a bit of a J.S. Bach influence when there was this repeating triplet arpeggio thing shifting around. But whilst it sounded a little bit like all of those, it also sounded nothing like any of them.
(If you think I’m talking bollocks about the Bach thing, take a listen to this.)
The human brain likes to make sense of things and put things in order. It doesn’t like unstructured chaos. This is why things like this work. Music is the same, the brain tries to make sense of the sounds it hears and to organise them into familiar patterns or rhythms. The interaction between the 2 drummers and the way they played in Steve Reich-esque phase patterns really started to play tricks on my brain after a while. My brain started creating its own patterns and telling me I was hearing things that I wasn’t. Fascinating. You don’t get any of that at a Beady Eye gig I’d wager.
It really was all about the music but every now and again there were also some vocals. These were either totally incomprehensible words from the drummer on the left who had some kind of distorted helium voice effect going on. Or total gibberish from the drummer on the right who at one point made a long and impressive series of burbling oral excretions, the kind of thing that could’ve got him put in a cell for the night if he didn’t happen to be on a stage.
Here’s a bit of video I took at the gig but really this is a band you need to see live. I bought a CD from them afterwards but it’s difficult to imagine when will be the right time to stick that on. I am going to make a point of playing it in the car to Chorizo Junior just to see what he says. (Watch this space)
Barberos at The Live Rooms Chester 3rd June 2015
Don’t know what any of their songs are called but my favourite bit was when the keyboard bloke messed around with the tuning on one of his keyboards so it was some-fraction-of-a-semitone out of tune with the other one. Rock and fucking roll.
Follakzoid at The Live Rooms Chester 3rd June 2015
Headlining tonight were a young band from Santiago, Chile called Follakzoid. They are labelmates of the wonderful Moon Duo and they plough a similar musical furrow. I first heard them a couple of years ago when they released their second album II and they’ve just released their third album called, unsurprisingly, III. (Those numbers seem appropriate in this city originally built as a Roman garrison town)
Visually they were no comparison to Barberos but to be fair neither are most bands. The rhythm section were brilliant and kept things chugging along motorik-style. Incidentally, the bassist looked like a young Diego Forlan and the drummer was James Hetfield / the Cowardly Lion.
Lions and tigers and beards, oh my!
Their heavy psychedelic mostly-instrumental songs had The Lancashire Toreador nodding approvingly and repeating the word “Sabbath” to himself. They played for about an hour which meant 5 or 6 songs, at least 2 of which were from the new album. The highlight for me was the last song they played and the song that got me into them in the first place. Check out the fantastic guitar riff on “Trees”.
They’ve still got a few dates left on this UK tour so get yourself along to one of these if you can:
Jun 5, 2015:
London, UK
ATP Pop-Up Venue
Jun 6, 2015:
Leeds, UK
Wharf Chambers
Jun 7, 2015:
Birmingham, UK
Sunflower Lounge
One last thing: a shoutout to the DJ for the night, the wonderfully named Spaceships Over Deeside who played some very interesting stuff and have some great bleepy droney stuff available here as “name your price” downloads.
Kicker lifts a finger… and a mixtape is there… Yeah, fuck you, Yoffi, what good is a mouse anyway? Ahem.
that, my friend, is a very natty scarf
Yes, welcome to this month’s mix, which kicks off with the band Moth Effect and their track, Fingerbobs, which once again has come to me via the wonderful Active Listener series. Then we have Sir Vincent Lone, the alter-ego of the late lamented Jackie Leven, with a track from the noticeably electronic heavy Songs For Lonely Americans album. I am still of the opinion that you really had to see Jackie live to fully appreciate his stuff, but this track is pretty neat in any case. It is followed by a track from Broafield Marchers, a band from Kentucky who have definitely heard both Guided By Voices and Big Star. No real surprise then to learn that I really like their stuff and particularly this When The Lifted Connive set. Up next is a track from erstwhile Mynci Euros Childs’ 2013 solo album, Situation Comedy, which takes underselling your own product to a new level, and is more loveable for that. Unfortunately it is not yet on Spotify, but here it is in video form being performed live from a couple of years ago.
Continuing the Welsh theme, the next track is one of many excellent sounds on the compilation of singles released on the Peski label, Peski 20 that I snaffled along with that great Gwenno LP I have featured before. This one is from the band Radio Luxembourg and is real singalong treat. After them, we have the queen of Italian Beat, Carmen Villani, with her terrific Questa Sinfonia single from 1968. Bellissima. An artist relatively new to me is up next. It’s Nat Lyon, self-styled alternative experimental pastoral punk thrash merchant, hailing from Connecticut, who came recommended via the wonderful Ash Cooke of Pulco fame. So taken was I with Nat’s stuff on first listening that I went and bought up his back catalogue and am still enjoying it tremendously. This track is the title track from his New England Paradigm Shift collection. If you like it (and you will) go and check out the rest of his stuff right now. Next we have a supergroup featuring musicians from Hula Hoop and Boyracer that came to my notice on a sampler of sounds from the Emotional Response label. Amongst a number of cracking tunes the pick for me was Hulaboy, which you’ll have to click on the link in the tracklisting to hear. In the meantime though, whet your appetite with the sound of Boyracer with a fantastic song of their own in the video below.
The Spook School are next with a track from their wonderful 2013 release, Dress Up, which really should have featured in my best of the year list. Sadly, I didn’t get round to listening to it until last year. My bad, I’ll be honest. Another single that I listened to a lot comes from the band Table Scraps who are pleasingly raucous all over this blast of a song. Halfway through the mix, it’s time for a bit of a chill out with the always listenable Thievery Corporation, here with a track from their Radio Retaliation release. After them it’s big favourites of Chorizo Garbanzo, I, Ludicrous, with a song that I was reminded of when putting together a mix of ‘number songs’. It really is everything you’d want from an I Ludicrous song, so check it out on the video below.
Lost your phallus? Who hasn’t? The Phallus Band certainly have and here they are to tell us all about it. Yes, it’s time for some rough and ready Belgian punk taken from the pleasingly titled Everything Is Shit: Punk In Brussels 1977-79 collection. Rather more erudite are the band Monkeys In Love, who seem to perform mostly in owl costumes, or at least one of the band does, which is clearly a good thing. Here’s a track that had me recalling how I learnt German watching dubbed versions of Der Mann das immer noch ein Frage hat. It is taken from the band’s The Monkeys In Love Will Pet & Cuddle You album, which is as comforting as that sounds. A bit of soul for you after that with an oldie from John Williams & The Tick Tocks that is still tremendous to these ears. Former Mole and Cardinal, Richard Davies has made a load of excellent solo records too including the album Telegraph – the next track is my favourite, which you’ll have to enjoy in video form. Unless you own the record yourself, of course.
This month Tex Pix a track from a band he and I saw at last year’s Liverpool International Psychedelic Festival, September Girls, taken from their Veneer release. This is much darker than I remember them being live, but it is undoubtedly a great sound. I follow this with another artist Tex and I enjoyed seeing together. We came across Daniel Knox supporting pod favourites The Handsome Family earlier this year and his generally bluesy take on John Grant won us both over. So impressed was Tex that he bought both of Daniel’s albums on the spot. This track was the one that really stood out for me, the very Magnetic Fieldsy Don’t Touch Me from the Daniel Knox self-titled LP. Our Argentinian amigo Billordo recently posted some early Caetano Velsos on his Facebook feed and had me going back to the records I brought back from my time in Brazil. One of these, the fanatstic Transa, features the next track on the playlist, mostly sung in English, it is just timeless. As, of course, is the whole of the massive back catalogue of Robert Pollard. The final track here has Pollard performing under the guise of Lifeguards with one of the longest songs in his repertoire taken from the legendary Mist King Urth album and also featuring the guitar genius Doug Gillard. It’s sounding pretty not bad on purple vinyl as I type.
Ready to go again? Excellent. This week we have the combined talents of a Stooge and a B52 up against both Difford & Tilbrook. Great talents all, but what is it that connects these two songs?
If you think you know, you’re going to have to shout loudly in the face of Rebel Rikkit to wake him up. Then whisper the answer in his shell-like and hope he doesn’t pull a muscle.
The wizards’ first podcast of this post-election Tory-led apocalypse features tracks from Brisbane, Bolton and, er, Slough as well as the wonder of an impromptu quiz. We also squeeze in an album review, the return of Kicker’s Question Time and the wearing of the best music related hat ever.
You can hear all the fun and games before someone loses an eye, right here…
or indeed here!
Stop press! It has come to our attention that due to a perfect storm of incompetence and lethargy, we managed to omit the Magnetic Fields song Rebel Rikkit chose. So, here it is. You’re welcome.
Some of the physicality we played on the show (click on the pictures to find out more):
Next week at The Borderline, the magnificent Thousand Yard Stare are playing a gig for the first time in 22 years. I spoke to Sean McDonough (bass) and Stephen Barnes (vocals). Here’s what they had to say illustrated with various bits of Thousand Yard Stare ephemera from my collection.
What was the music you heard that made you want to start a band?
[Sean] The first band I was really into was The Police and I thought Sting’s bass playing was great so that, I think, sowed the seed for me Then I saw them at Wembley Arena in 1983, I still have the t-shirt, and that was my mind made up that I wanted to be in a band although I didn’t play an instrument. I found myself listening to a real mix of music throughout the 80s, I still have a real penchant for the pop of that time, and the bassline to Two Tribes by Frankie Goes To Hollywood in 1984 cemented the idea of being a bass player, I got a second hand bass for my birthday around that time and that was it.
[Stephen]I was pretty much obsessed with music and bands from a very young age, being introduced to punk by a neighbours older brother at about 12 fixed a path away from the mainstream. I wasn’t angry enough to be a punk though…so it was the era of the Smiths, Wedding Present, early James being all poetic that made me want to be in a band.
Like you, I also grew up in commuter-land in the shadow of the M25. There was nowhere around my way that put on any decent bands so we had to travel to Aldershot, Brighton or London. When you started trying to get gigs, how did you convince the venues to put you on?
[Sean] We had a stroke of good fortune in that a Slough based promoter, Jim, started putting gigs on at a venue in Windsor, the much missed Old Trout. Stephen and I went down to the first gig, Diesel Park West, with the intention of trying to blag the support on the next gig which was Eat, who we were all huge fans of all. We also persuaded Jim to allow us to DJ in between bands and to have our own indie dance night. Jim went on to become one of our managers so that first trip to the Old Trout was pretty eventful for us all in all.
Your lyrics seem to show a love of the English language, so many examples but just off the top of my head… Woe betide, any way shape or form, world weary and all those compound word songtitles Standoffish, Seasonstream etc. What are your favourite words or phrases that you managed to get into one of your lyrics?
[Stephen] Yes, words and phrases are still very important to me. I was always more interested in the great lyricists more than the musicians growing up, guess thats why I ended up fronting the band. People who could conjure pictures in my head, and the music acting as a soundtrack – the maudlin poetry of Morrissey or Lloyd Cole, the direct but intelligent leftist sloganeering of McCarthy or Redskins, the day to day life observation of Strummer, Lou Reed and LL Cool J or the psychedelic imagery of Wayne Coyne or Julian Cope… when words and sound are in harmony, it’s magic. I know alot of people don’t pay much attention to lyrics, its just another sound in the sonic mix, but they have always meant alot to me.
For whatever reason, I always liked one word titles. Same with books, don’t know why. And to use words that aren’t often used – make people think, “what the hell does that mean?” – might make them pay attention.
I hadn’t looked at any of these lyrics for a very very long time. A few made me squirm a bit, but on the whole I still think there’s some good ones. “You want to get what’s yours, any way shape or form” was a lyric I had for a long time that just needed the right ‘soundtrack’, and obviously that came along with Comeuppance. As soon as I heard the riff I knew what the chorus had to be.
Looking back though, my favourite word is still Wonderment. I still love that word, and when I wrote the lyrics I always wanted it to be like a ‘positive poem’ – still proud of that.
And what are your favourite words or phrases that you wished you had put into one of your lyrics?
[Stephen] I think I put plenty words in at the time so don’t think there’s any I didn’t put in that I wish I had. I think there were more than enough. Always one to over elaborate!
How much of the music was written with all the band together playing in the rehearsal rooms?
[Sean] The usual way we wrote was that Giles would bring a bunch of ideas and riffs to rehearsals and we’d jam them into some sort of shape. Giles was the driver in respect of the music for the most part but we’d all add to what he brought in and layer it up. We drew some influences from what was happening at the time but I think we also had something that set us apart a little bit. We never had much in common, musically or otherwise, with the other bands from the Thames valley area that broke through around that time. For the second album Giles often had more fully formed ideas but we still bashed them into shape in the rehearsal room.
To this day Stephen is the only frontman I’ve ever seen eating an apple during a gig. You still managed to give off some attitude whilst doing so which is not an easy stunt to pull off. Was that a regular part of the gig or were you just really hungry?
[Stephen] I realised quite early on that I didnt like playing guitar and singing/frontman duties, so the guitar was ditched. I never thought I was a natural front man, so looked at the likes of Morrissey and Tim Booth, who had their trademark movements to fill in the instrumental gaps onstage. I wasnt much of a dancer either, and we had long sections of instrumentals in most of the songs, and the apple idea was born. One apple equals about 2 minutes… And, they’re good for you!
As well as seeing you support Five Thirty & James, I also saw some great bands supporting you, particularly The Frank & Walters and Pulp. Did you have much say in choosing support bands and who were the best/worst you played with?
[Sean] I don’t recall that we pushed massively for bands to support us. I think bands would contact our management and it went from there. In the case of Pulp that would have been down to the venue promoter. The Frank and Walters were great fun to be around with, just lovely blokes who were very funny and entertaining. I also enjoyed Spitfire who supported us supporting Chapterhouse, they were good guys. I don’t recall anyone supporting us being a pain in the arse particularly although we supported The Railway Children at the Old Trout and there was a shitload of attitude from a not very good band on that occasion.
How was it different working with Stephen Street from the self-produced earlier EPs?
[Sean] Up until that point we’d had our very able soundman Nick supporting us. What I recall most from working with Stephen Street is that he would offer other ideas around structure and arrangements which would have come from hearing them with a fresh pair of ears. We’d lived and breathed those songs from the moment Giles had come in with the initial riff and Stephen would be able to provide a much more objective view on them. That said I don’t recall that there were many big changes to them.
This business of naming the EP after a song that was on the subsequent release, did you get the idea for that from this Two Ronnies sketch?
[Stephen] Ha! one of the great comedy moments… guess I’ve always liked little quirks like this around band releases, finding unusual patterns. Julian Cope was very good at it. Also, guess we were trying to say ‘another chapter is coming soon’, always wanted to be looking forward, not back.
I saw you play at Reading in 92, what are your memories of that? Were you around for the whole weekend? Everything was alright when you played on the Saturday but it all got a bit apocalyptic after that.
[Sean] I think we were only there for the afternoon and then headed off early evening. I remember being told that MCA from the Beastie Boys was checking us out from the side of the stage with a particular interest in the bassline to Comeuppance. I always hoped it would turn up as a sample on one of their tracks but don’t think it ever did.
What happened after the 2nd album? You just seemed to disappear, I don’t remember any official announcement of a split or anything like that?
[Sean] We got dropped in a nutshell!! Didn’t sell enough and Polydor didn’t take up the option for a third album. Most of the people who’d been at the company when we signed had moved on and I don’t recall us being too disappointed. The band just came to a natural end a couple of months later.
A little while after that, I was pleasantly surprised to turn up to see the late great Kirsty MacColl at the Borderline and find Stephen singing with a new band Click. How did you end up working with Billy Bragg’s band?
[Stephen] A mutual friend put me and Wiggy in touch a few months after TYS. I wasn;t sure what i wanted to do, but had some song ideas and Wiggy was great to be around, a gentle, thoughtful and talented chap. I’d go to his house in Turnham Green and we’d lay down ideas on his 8 track, eat countless digestive biscuits (always and only digestive biscuits) and smoke pot. I was in quite a mellow phase at the time and it felt comfortable for a time. We had two or three really good tunes emerging, and it was amazing to play with these great musicians, but ultimately, my heart wasn’t really in it and new opportunities in the biz were taking up all my time
When you look back now, what are your best memories? What are the bits you’re going tell your grandkids about one day?
[Sean] For me I always remember the week we got in the Top 40. Playing Glastonbury was a real highlight, touring America was one of those things I’d dreamt about but never thought would happen. I also just loved being in a real studio, working with someone we’d all read about over the previous few years. And of course being naked on the cover of Melody Maker, I have a framed copy in my hallway!
In your glamorous rock’n’roll showbiz lifestyle, did you get to meet many of your musical heroes?
[Sean] We supported The Jesus and Mary Chain around Europe in 1992. Stephen and I had both been huge fans since the mid 1980s and I was really excited about this tour and hopefully hanging out with them. We never saw them at all until the very last night although one of our crew told us that he saw Jim Reid going to do his laundry which just shattered the rock and roll image for me!
[Stephen] We got to hang out with Tim Smith (Cardiacs) and toured with JAMC and James. Thats good enough for me.
We have a regular spot on our podcast “bands from the late 80s or early 90s who should’ve been massive but weren’t”. Some bands we’ve included are That Petrol Emotion, Five Thirty, Stump, Kitchens of Distinction, 1000 Violins and you. Who else should we feature?
[Sean] Eat. Their first album, Sell Me a God, is still one of my faves and as a live band they were amazing. I saw them supporting Spaceman 3 without knowing who they were and they blew me away. Bought the two EPs they’d released so far the next day and then proceeded to bend everyone’s ear about them all the time!
[Stephen] The Sandkings. I used to go to as many of their gigs as possible, just great, joyous guitar pop. Sadly, doesnt really stand the test of time but back then, they should have been as big as Wonder Stuff
Similar question, which more recent bands should’ve been massive but weren’t?
[Sean] The Besnard Lakes. Check them out, in album order, and you’ll see why.
What have you and the other bandmembers been doing since TYS ended?
[Sean] I’m a social worker now living in Brighton, been knocking around in various bands over that time. I also spent a lot of time travelling between 1996 and 2001. Dom is a chiropractor, he still lives not far from Slough, Kev lives up in Scotland and Giles is down in Hove near me. He’s also been in bands down here.
[Stephen] I still work in the music world… had alot of great experiences like DJing for Oasis at some of their stadium gigs, being part of promotion teams for the likes of Muse, Fatboy Slim etc. I moved to Bristol 4 years ago and started developing young bands and artists such as Oliver Wilde around the Howling Owl records family, and recently The Jacques, who are 16-20 and already going places. It feels very much like it was back when we started – making DIY releases, a real independent spirit, so hopefully I can offer them some useful experience.
How did the reunion gig come about?
[Sean] Dom’s been pushing for it for the past few years, he originally suggested it in 2009 as it was twenty years since our first demo cassette, but it never came off for one reason or another. Sad circumstances last year, when someone we knew passed away from cancer, got us talking on Facebook about doing a charity gig. We hooked up in Brighton in December, it was the first time all five of us had been together since 1993. We had some food and a few drinks to catch up properly and a rehearsal the following day. Everyone felt good about it so we thought let’s do this.
How have you decided what’s going to be in the setlist for 6th June? Have you had any arguments about it?
[Sean] It was all done through Facebook conversations to be honest. Given where we all live now, Brighton, Hove, Cookham, Bristol and Scotland we can’t just hook up for a drink so easily. There were no arguments at all. The general rule was that if there was a song that someone felt very strongly about not playing then we wouldn’t do it but there were very few that came up. In fact I think there was just one that I wasn’t keen on. Tragedy Number 6 if you’re wondering!
Next we have the questions that we ask everybody we interview. We can’t disappoint our audience by not asking you so here goes…
You’re in a caff ordering a breakfast. You can have toast and your choice of tea or coffee and then you’re allowed 4 more items. Go.
[Sean] Veggie sausages, fried eggs, mushrooms and beans. Can’t beat the classic. Although there’s no bacon so I may need to rethink this!!
[Stephen] Think I’d have the same to be honest.. with a piping mug of builders tea
Cricket, is it any good or is it just bollocks? (the Thisness lyric has already answered this one I guess? “odd bye-laws and cricket scores possess me”)
[Sean] I’m not a huge fan myself but wouldn’t say it’s bollocks either!
[Stephen] I’m a huge cricket fan. Its the best sport in the world, could bore you for hours on it. I remember once – we were DJing the Oasis aftershow at Lancashire County Cricket Ground, and the room was full of manc celebrities – Stone Roses, Mike Joyce, Corrie stars all over the place etc. but at the bar I saw Angus Fraser, my bowling hero at the time, and was beside myself. Spent half the night badgering him about his bowling techniques when I should have been playing records to the glitterati, the poor guy couldnt get away fast enough!… guess I’ve never been that cool.
If you could magic yourself into any other band, past or present, which would you choose and why?
[Sean] The Beatles. How immense would that have been?!
[Stephen] Super Furry Animals. The best band ever.
Many thanks to Sean and Stephen for taking the time to answer my geeky fanboy questions.
Here’s a Spotify playlist of my top 50 (excluding 3 b-sides that aren’t on Spotify)
Some interesting(ish) facts to come out of this exercise:
14 new entries but only 5 of those are songs that weren’t out last time around
Biggest movers up the chart: All Is Vanity (no.42 to no.11) and Donkeys (no.46 to no.8, definitely helped by seeing the band perform it live at Manchester gig last year)
Biggest movers down the chart: Kevin Carter (no.10 to no.35) and Autumnsong (no.4 to no.27)
Those we have lost: Dead Passive, Archives of Pain, Some Kind of Nothingness, Facing Page Top Left, Nostalgic Pushead, The Convalescent, Empty Souls, She Bathed Herself In a Bath of Bleach, Solitude Sometimes Is, This Is Yesterday, A Billion Balconies Facing The Sun, Born A Girl, We Were Never Told, Pretension / Repulsion
Notable trends: A surge in popularity for the “This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours” LP which has doubled its number of songs from 3 to 6. Mostly at the expense of “Journal For Plague Lovers” and “Postcards From A Young Man” it seems.
Not many changes at the top of the list, except number 3 and number 1 swapping round. Probably as a result of seeing the Holy Bible 20th anniversary gig.
Two wizards and a Scouse cowboy walk into a bar… not so much the start of a joke, but rather the factually correct beginning to a top Thursday night of musical entertainment in the heart of Liverpool.
Yes, Kicker, Rebel and Tex made their way to the wonderful Kazimier venue only to find it closed. A round of beers later and we successfully made it inside to catch the first of three bands performing. We were told what they were called, but didn’t catch it. They may well be Lime Bastards. Or not. In any case they were excellent. So good in fact that Rebel Rikkit suggested we should form a TTW record label purely to release their stuff. The opening song was all jangly guitars and soaring vocals (‘tuney’ said Rikkit), but the two highlights for me were the song that shamelessly stole from The Fall’s Big New Prinz (as Tex said, it shows class to steal from a band when they were at their peak) and a really funky ‘disco’ number that sounded unbelievably good. So, boys, if you’re Lime Bastards, or even if you’re not, get in touch!
Stop the (word)press! Thanks to fellow gig-goer, Cath Bore, we have discovered the band in question are Oranj Son and they look like this:
(pic courtesy of Cath Bore)
A second support band, who may have been called Lime Bastards… (you get the picture), were also highly entertaining with their pleasingly distorted vocals and a swamp rock sound reminiscent of the best bits of Gallon Drunk. Sadly, we were all too preoccupied with planning our inaugural release to take any pictures of either of these two new exciting bands. I hope our paths will cross again.
We did though get ourselves sorted for the main act of the evening, legendary punk/post-punk/punk soul/blues rock/rock band, The Saints. Still led by the enigmatic frontman, Chris Bailey, the band now operate as a three-piece with be-capped guitarist Barrington Francis and drummer Peter Wilkinson making up the formidable numbers.
The band were formally touring last year’s King Of The Midnight Sun release (itself a roughed up version of the 2011 King Of The Sun LP), so it was no surprise that the set started with three songs from the new one. With a band now nearly 40 years into their career, this might not necessarily bode well, but the strength of the new material here shone through. Opening with the title track and then the laconic ‘la-de-bloody-dah’ of A Million Miles Away, the band were right at it from the off.
The band also took an early dip into the underrated Spit The Blues Out LP for standout track Waiting For God (Oh!), introduced by Bailey as a chance to bring some highbrow culture into our lives. I’m not sure it did that, but it certainly rocked. To be fair though, all the songs so far were about to be overshadowed by a muscular rendition of Kicker’s all-time favourite Saints song (and one he regularly drops in any top songs of all time lists he’s asked for*), the mighty This Perfect Day. With the ferocious guitar line cutting back through the ages and Bailey still snarling in a way only a fucked-off Aussie really can, this was a definite highlight.
* you’d be surprised how often this happens
Wizard excitement continued to rise as the set continued with two songs from Rebel’s favourite Saints release, the Paralytic Tonight Dublin Tomorrow EP – here inevitably dubbed …Liverpool Tomorrow. Both Call It Mine and the wondrous Simple Love were clear crowd favourites too.
At various points Bailey engaged the crowd in discussions about Mars Bars and Bono and was happy to shake the hand of anyone who had blanked the latter. But more to the point he was happy to play some, perhaps, less well known tracks from his immense back catalogue, like the slow burning Messin’ With The Kid (from their (I’m) Stranded debut), a rousing Know Your Product (how did Barrington play the guitar riff, rhythm AND brass parts?!), and a great version of In The Mirror (from The Monkey Puzzle).
We were also treated to both Ghost Ships and Just Like Fire Would – the latter, in particular, featuring a much more aggressive guitar sound than on record. The band were called back for numerous encores and despite not playing (I’m) Stranded, sent everybody home delighted with an extended version of their cover of River Deep Mountain High that really showed off Bailey’s bass playing, and a rousing No Time (another of Kicker’s favourites from their debut).
All in all, a fantastic night was had by the small, but enthusiastic crowd (Bailey commented that ‘you may be small in number, but you are large in heart’).
The Saints, then, they’ve still got it. Nous fuckin’ t’aimons.
A Saintly Playlist
Some more pictures from the night (the good ones on the page are by Tex)
Yes, it’s that time of the week when you have to work out the connection between a little Davey Jones number from the late seventies, or is it the early eighties, I’m not sure, perhaps it’s not important, and, er, another monster track from that Dayton, Ohio band you must love nearly as much as I do by now.
If you can tell us what links these songs, why not dress up as a clown, bury your answer deep inside a custard pie, and thrust it forcefully into the grateful face of Rebel Rikkit. Or send us a tweet. Your call.
All three wizards are joined by gig-going pal Texas Paul as they take in a night of furious and frenzied music and Ted Chippington. A night that they were hoping would also include new sensations, Faerground Accidents, but unfortunately they weren’t able to make it. Luckily, they were still in for a treat.
Having negotiated the labyrinthine walkways of the Manchester’s Northern Quarter to find the exclusive venue, this is what befell our intrepid reviewers. Have a listen to their wise words (and factual errors) and discussions of what colour lamé was being worn right here or there:
The setlist
In the cold light of day, it’s clear that the set was made up of the hit singles that shoulda been from the last two LPs, plus a couple of new songs: Booze & Broads & Beauty and I Am Shame. Can we expect another LP hot on the heels of this year’s? Let’s hope so.
A playlist of Kicker’s favourite (older) Nightingales tracks
Yes, it’s time for a Welsh flavoured Popgorn Dwbl Nodwedd (or something) this week featuring the always wonderful Super Furry Animals and pride of Garnant, John Davies Cale. But, apart from their shared homeland, what links these two tracks?
If you think you know, don’t just stand there waiting for Rebel Rikkit to show, we honestly do need to know.
Alright then, time for two more musical visual delights.
This week we ask you to check out this crazyass video sprouting from Brussels from La Chiva Gantiva, who, we are reliably informed, make a frenetic carnival-punk racket. They are paired up with one of Chorizo Garbanzo’s all-time favourite videos (so it says here) from Hull’s Marxist Christians (or Christian Marxists?), The Housemartins. It’s a damn shame more people didn’t take their advice last Thursday.
As always, you need to tell us what connects the two. Don’t tell Rebel Rikkit right away, think for a minute…
TRUST THE WIZARDS 
