Aural Sculptors - The Stranglers Live 1976 to the Present


Welcome to Aural Sculptors, a blog aimed at bringing the music of The Stranglers to as wide an audience as possible. Whilst all of the various members of the band that have passed through the ranks since 1974 are accomplished studio musicians, it is on stage where the band have for me had their biggest impact.

As a collector of their live recordings for many years I want to share some of the better quality material with other fans. By selecting the higher quality recordings I hope to present The Stranglers in the best possible light for the benefit of those less familiar with their material than the hardcore fan.

Needless to say, this site will steer well clear of any officially released material. As well as live gigs, I will post demos, radio interviews and anything else that I feel may be of interest.

In addition, occasionally I will post material by other bands, related or otherwise, that mean a lot to me.

Your comments and/or contributions are most welcome. Please email me at adrianandrews@myyahoo.com.


Monday, 7 November 2022

'Berlin's Burning With Anxiety' Ruts DC S036 Berlin 27th October 2022

 


It was fantastic to be on our much COVID delayed East German road trip that finally brought us back to Berlin, via Leipzig and Dresden. It was a double pleasure schedule our travels such that we could have the opportunity to see the wonderful Ruts DC for a third time in the equally wonderful S036 club in the district of Kreuzburg in the company of mates, Nick and Steve.

As usual when Ruts DC are in town I contacted Leigh to try to interest him in a beer. A while later he was waiting outside the venue for Gunta and I and we got to enjoy the band’s sound check which is easy to forego a beer for! Sound tweeked and sorted to the band’s satisfaction, they headed to the hotel and we headed off to locate Nick and Steve.

The clock quickly rolled around to show time. We saw about half of the set by the second support, ‘More Kicks’, who sounded good and tight before the lights dimmed for Ruts DC. 




Opening with a new song, ‘Faces in the Sky’ which will be on the soon to be released album ‘Counter Culture’, it was clear that the night was going to be a great one. In Leigh’s words earlier, approaching the end of this German tour, the band were ‘beyond tired’ but there was no evidence of that from the stage! Ruts DC delivered a powerhouse set that made time for material from their entire career from 1979 to 2022…. Almost. If I have one criticism and it’s more of a selfish observation really, I absolutely miss some of the material that the band used to play from ‘Animal Now’ and ‘Rhythm Collision 1’. But, that is the price that you pay when a band refuses to sit back on its laurels (impressive though they unquestionably are) and survive on past glories. New material pushes older material out whilst of course the hits have to stay. Three new songs were aired tonight, the aforementioned ‘Faces in the Sky’, ‘Counter Culture’ and ‘Born Innocent’ and I have to say that all three sit very comfortably in the set.

The band played an energetic set at the expected urgent pace making a noise that belies the fact that there are just three musicians up there on the stage.

The good thing is that Ruts DC are still angry and railing against the inequalities that exist in this world. And I thank them for that. It’s just a shame that it is men in their sixties and seventies that are making all the noises of dissatisfaction. Where are the angry hordes of young people whose futures really are on the line? I have never know young people to be so disengaged in politics, at a time when there is so much to fight for and too many things are going in the wrong direction.

On that point is was good to see the S036 stance on the far right spelled out so clearly on each and every wall. Such a contrast to tome of the stuff we had seen on walls in other cities earlier in the week!

‘This music must destroy’… they said it!



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