So, I've been participating in another (E)x-Twitter 'countdown' these past couple of weeks, songs, artists or lyrics featuring a colour.
I've played this one straight and stuck with song titles (goodness knows there are plenty of them) and today's Dubhed selection coincides with my 10th or 20 choices, which seemed like a good point to round things up. It also comes in at just under 41 minutes, which is handy.
I didn't bother with the whole 'countdown' thing so no, I don't consider Yellow Balloon by Jan & Dean to be better than Soldier Blue by Julian Cope (as if!) or a My Life Story B-side superior to one of Madness' finest songs committed to 7" vinyl.
There was a little bit of method, though: in a very cack-handed way, I did try to think about the subsequent colour complementing the one that had preceded it; the fact that I managed to then find songs that (I think) didn't jar when placed in sequence was a happy accident.
Possibly the only compilation today that will take you from The Arch Drude and Lenny Bruce to Roni Size by way of Lawrence and his Mozart Estate and the Icelandic-Bulgarian-Russian triptych of GusGus, Metodi Hristov and Maksim Dark aka Maxim Surzhik.
Oh, and check out the video for Ruby Red by Marc "Mohican" Almond for a reminder of the good old days when his songs and visuals were routinely banned, to the disappointment of his chart-hungry record label(s).
1) Soldier Blue (Album Version): Julian Cope ft. Lenny Bruce (1991)
2) Indigo Eyes (USA Single Edit): Peter Murphy (1988)
3) Yellow Balloon: Jan & Dean (1966)
4) Grey Day (Album Version): Madness (1981)
5) Pink And The Purple: Mozart Estate (2023)
6) Orange Trees (Claptone Extended Remix By Christoph Göttsch & Daniel Brems): Marina (2019)
7) Magenta (Maksim Dark Remix By Maxim Surzhik): GusGus & Metodi Hristov (2018)
8) The Return Of Emerald Green: My Life Story (1997) *
9) Ruby Red (Album Version): Marc Almond ft. The Willing Sinners (1987)
10) Brown Paper Bag (Full Vocal Mix): Roni Size Reprazent ft. Dynamite MC (1998)
1966: Save For A Rainy Day: 3
1981: 7: 4
1987: Mother Fist And Her Five Daughters: 9
1988: Indigo Eyes EP: 2
1991: Peggy Suicide: 1
1997: Strumpet EP: 8
1998: Brown Paper Bag EP: 10
2018: Magenta EP: 7
2019: Orange Trees EP: 6
2023: Pop-Up! Ker-Ching! And The Possibilities Of Modern Shopping: 5
* I tweeted the original version of Emerald Green (B-side to 1997 single Sparkle) but I didn't have a digital copy to hand for this selection. To the best of my knowledge, there have been at least 4 other variations/sequels which appeared on various B-sides between 1997 and 1999, namely The Return Of Emerald Green, Emerald Green Strikes Back, Paint It Emerald Green and Emerald Green Blah Blah Blah. I've gone for the first one as it segued nicely into the next song.
It's fair to say that I didn't make a significant contribution to keeping live music alive in 2023. Even if I'd make it to all the gigs I'd bought tickets for, I wouldn't have hit double digits. In the end, I managed three and a half music events, one poetry performance and one stand up comedy gig.
But I enjoyed every second of every one that I made it to, revisiting some great venues, seeing artists I never thought I'd see, sharing the experiences either with family or friends (a shout out to Mike here).
Here's a rundown what I could've - and did - see in 2023, the hits and near misses.
The year should have got off to a cracking start with a chance to see Luke Haines (The Auteurs) and Peter Buck (R.E.M.) at Strange Brew in Bristol in February.
Unfortunately due to a family illness I had to skip the night but managed to find someone else to go in my place. Mike was also there and shared his thoughts on the night:
"The good news is it wouldn't have changed your life. I think it is in that category of 'glad i went but no real revelations to speak of'.
What I hadn't realised was Scott Macaughey would be playing as I imagine you know he was essentially a member of REM's touring party for 15+ years. Both Buck and Scott had aged quite a bit since i saw them with the minus 5 at the Fleece but two great musicians nonetheless.
[...] the songs were pretty much the Haines/Buck 2 albums [...] and I thought the songs from the first album stood up a bit better than the most recent.
Other observations - there was a point where the 50+ male brigade wanted a photo of Mr Buck for their collection and if we had been on the Thekla it might have tipped the boat over but normal service was resumed pretty quickly.
The beauty of last night was the fact that a music legend at 66 is still happy to play small venues."
So my first gig of 2023 ended up being a trip to Cheltenham with Clan K in March to see comedian Dave Gorman. It was a matinee show, something of a novelty for us, at the Everyman Theatre in the town centre, a lovely old building. We were up in the gods, with a great view of the main stage.
Mrs. K and I have enjoyed Dave Gorman for many years, including his show on TV channel Dave (what else?) called Modern Life Is Goodish. Which was handy as Powerpoint To The People is essentially an extended version of that, only with plentiful effing and jeffing from the outset. Lady K didn't know of Dave Gorman at all but had a great time too. And home in time for tea. Win-win.
I was especially gutted to miss The Anchoress at Gloucester Guildhall in May, not least because Catherine Anne Davies had been forced to postpone and reschedule dates a couple of times in the last couple of years.
My only consolation was that I got to see her (on TV at least) join Manic Street Preachers on stage at Glastonbury in June where, frankly, she smashed it. She also released the superb Versions album, collecting covers that she'd recorded and released individually during lockdown and beyond, including a sublime rework of Bizarre Love Triangle by New Order.
In August, I managed one and a half gigs. The half measure was a Clan K excursion to Bristol's legendary venue The Fleece to see Bad Manners.
Well, two thirds if I'm being pedantic, as I got to experience 10 of the 15-song setlist. You can find the full sorry story here. Great support from local band Belishas. Mrs. K and I contemplated heading back to The Fleece on Boxing Day to catch Bad Manners' annual festive show. Considering that yesterday was spent trying not to succumb to a food-induced coma, I'm glad we decided against it.
For our second gig in August and someone I never expected to see live in concert, Mrs. K and I spent an evening in the company of John Cale and band. The fact that we also got to experience it in the intimate surround of the Subscription Rooms in Stroud was a real pinch me moment.
Another opportune gig - and my first in 2023 with Mike - was Mozart Estate and Half Japanese at Strange Brew in Bristol in September. Two very different but compelling acts with charismatic front people in Lawrence Hayward and Jad Fair respectively. Not in the least bit daunted by this, local support act Bruno & The Outrageous Methods of Presentation more than met the challenge, led by 17-year old Bruno Bof-Wilkinson. My only regret is that we missed most of the latter, arriving just in time to catch the tail end of their set.
As I wrote at the time, a slightly mad - if slightly under-attended - night out in a great venue which I hope to spend more time in next year.
Another missed opportunity was GLOK (aka Andy Bell) playing an intimate gig at Moles in Bath, which would have been my first time for both artist and (incredibly) venue. Unfortunately, fate intervened and I was unable to go on the night.
As if that
wasn't gutting enough, 43 days later on 5th December Moles announced that they were closing their doors with immediate effect. After 45 years
of hosting everyone from Wolf Alice to King Crimson to Sleeper to James
to Laura Marling to Daniel Avery to Pulp to Katy J Pearson, it's a sad
end and a reminder of how much the incumbent government has shafted
grass roots music, particularly in the last few years.
My final gig of 2023 was Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart featuring Jon Klein performing Metal Box Rebuilt In Dub in the bowels of the Thekla, a cargo ship-cum-venue in Bristol's central harbour area.
Of course, Jah
was a founding member of Public Image Limited and recorded the original
album so if anyone is qualified to rework the songs, it's him. And he and the band played a blinder, peppered with some truly hilarious asides and anecdotes throughout. It was another great night in Mike's company, a surprisingly punctual set and early finish (due to the Saturday club night straight after) but I can't think of a better way to have ended my gig-going in 2023.
Without wishing to tempt fate, Clan K already have tickets for three gigs in March, July and August 2024, and there's an impressive line-up of artists performing in Gloucestershire, Bath and Bristol from January onwards, so I am hoping to get over the line into double figures this year, whether with family, friends or solo.
Last Friday (22nd), Mike and I ventured into Bristol to see Mozart Estate and Half Japanese co-headlining at Strange Brew in the city centre. It was a blast.
It was a real throwback to my twenties, when I would go to gigs just for the experience of live music without necessarily a clue or a care about what the artists were about or whether they were any good. I wasn't especially familiar with any of the acts performing on stage at Strange Brew. It was also the first time I'd been to the venue, so everything was fresh, new and without preconceptions on my part.
I know about Lawrence, of course. Regardless of when you were born (I was a 70s kid), an interest in alternative/indie music will inevitably lead you to his legendary 1980s band, Felt. I've a few but not all of their albums and singles but, collection-wise, it's a case of diminishing returns for his subsequent bands: I've an album and a couple of singles by Denim (1990s), a handful of songs by Go-Kart Mozart (1999-2022) and absolutely nothing by Mozart Estate.
Likewise Half Japanese, although I am more familiar with Jad Fair and recently acquired the album he did with Teenage Fanclub, as part of my belated deep dive into the latter's catalogue. Half Japanese have been around even longer, self-releasing cassettes circa 1974/75 and indie label releases from 1980. As at last Thursday, I didn't have a single Half Japanese song in my collection and, if I had heard anything by them, I didn't know or remember it.
None of that compares to the support act, who Mike and I had never heard of before arriving at the gig. Sadly, due to the logistics of working in Gloucestershire, getting to Bristol, what turned out to be a very early running show and arriving at Strange Brew around 7.45pm, we only got to see the last one-and-a-half songs of Bruno & The Outrageous Methods Of Presentation's half-hour set. Despite the so-so name, they were fantastic in the brief burst that I saw.
A few words about Strange Brew, which boldly opened in September 2020. It's a former shop and everything's on ground level, stage included, bar on the right as you enter, tables and chairs around the side and a big space in front of the stage. It's about as intimate as you could wish but I could imagine that even a packed gig wouldn't feel overly claustrophobic. And I had to imagine, because sadly I don't think capacity for this show got above a couple of hundred, criminal given the quality of the music on offer.
As Mike and I approached Strange Brew, the blasts of music from within were both an indication that something special was happening but, in retrospect, an indication of why there was a 10.00pm curfew in place. Given the ground level placing of the stage, as we entered the venue, we couldn't see much of the band at first but it quickly became apparent that both musically and physically, Bruno & The Outrageous Methods of Presentation (BOMP) are not your typical band.
Frontperson Bruno Bof-Wilkinson is 17 years old. At a guess, BOMP's guitarist, bassist and drummer are at least three times that but the energy and synergy between the four in that brief 5 or 6 minutes was fantastic. The band were solid, steady, providing a foundation for Bruno's wired, full-throttle performance. Jumping off stage into the crowd (well, arguably a hop as it was the same level), at times all we could see was Bruno's hair (shaped into an Elvis Presley quiff) and/or guitar head as he bounced up and sank low. And then it was all over, finishing more or less bang on time.
When pulling together bits for this post, I came across this tweet about another BOMP gig in Bristol last year, which indicates the kind of next-level commitment Bruno gives to his art.
Bassist Delia Sparrow also posted the entire gig on YouTube. Watch out for the brave soul who tries to negotiate around Bruno to retrieve his pint from the mixing desk. Not the best band name ever, but I'd definitely part with cash to see Bruno & The Outrageous Methods Of Presentation again.
Half Japanese appeared on stage shortly after. My only visual memory of Jad Fair is that he looked a bit like Lou Barlow in the 1990s, tousled black hair and big, thick-rimmed round glasses. No more.
As the photo (thanks, Original Smokin Jon) shows, the band are mostly all in their late 60s now. Guitarist Mick Hobbs may have spent the entire set seated though the songs themselves carried all the energy that was needed. Jad Fair's voice is arguably an acquired taste but it had lost none of it's quality and personality with the passage of time.
Being completely unfamiliar with any of their songs, I can only say that the band played about 15 songs in just under an hour, including a mid-set acapella rendition by Jad of a Daniel Johnston song/poem. I can tell you that the set included the songs Firecracker Firecracker, Red Dress and Charmed Life because Jad introduced them as such. I can also tell you that it was a great set, which gave me that wonderful sensation of hearing songs for the very first time, without prejudice or judgement about 'favourites' or how the live performances compared with the studio versions.
My abiding memory if of Jad's tiny guitar (ukelele?) which he twisted, turned and flipped over throughout the gig. The diminutive size of his guitar created the optical illusion of making the bassist's instrument seem ridiculously large by comparison. I'm not sure the photo quite captures that but it made me smile.
Here's a performance of Round And Round from a show a few days previously in France.
And so to the Mozart Estate. Lawrence celebrated his 62nd birthday in August and celebration is probably the right word. There was a real sense of fun and mischief from the outset, with the show opener Lawrence Is Taking Over.
Again, it was a brisk set from a super-tight band, sixteen songs in just under an hour, finishing promptly at 9.54pm. A half-and-half mix of songs from the current Mozart Estate album and Go-Kart Mozart classics, the (should have been) hit rate was astonishing. A shame that there were relatively few people there to witness it.
"Come closer", Lawrence urged the audience at one point, "I can't see you!"
I'm not one given to impromptu and random acts of improvised and arrhythmic dancing but songs like I'm Gonna Wiggle are hard to resist and the aural treats just kept coming and coming. Until suddenly, Lawrence announced an encore ("We're not gonna leave the stage and come back again") and then that was it, all over. Brilliant, though.
Thanks to NUM for tweeting the photo of Lawrence below, setlist strapped to his wrist, and said setlist which opened up this post.
Here's an audience-filmed clip of I Wanna Murder You from about a third of the way through the set. The recording is a bit ropey, sound-wise, but you get the gist.
Needless to say, I bought the Mozart Estate and Half Japanese albums post-gig and am currently exploring the vast back catalogue of Bruno Bof-Wilkinson, all available on Bandcamp.
And Mike, Bruno was apparently singing about a stoic tree rather than a tree stump, but who's counting?!
