Adam Ant Roadmender Northampton 25th April 2015

 

A few posts back and in connection with the '51' I was beoaning the fact that The Stranglers have been slow and inconsistent on the uptake when it comes to retro album themed tours whilst many of their contemporaries have fully embraced the concept. One former punk to do so has been Adam Ant. For him I would say the approach makes particular sense. A look at the back catalogue of Adam & The Ants and its easy to see that his/their albums were so different. I can think of no other artist/band that underwent such a huge transformation in their short existance.

1978 saw the Antz as a band with a hardcore cult following within the punk scene, a band with a penchant for fetishism and a willingness to flirt with fascist themes.When a mentoring scheme with Malcolm McLaren went awry and resulted in the departure of his band to form Bow Wow Wow, the direction of the band changed radically. In came Native American and pirate themes backed by driving Burundi rhythms. At some point in 1980, 'Kings Of The Wild Frontier' entered the mainstream and 'Ant Music ' was everywhere. 

In just four years, Adam and the Ants had 'graduated' from the pages of New Musical Express to the front page of 'Look-In'. You could even get Adam and the Ants school stationary sets in Superdrug! For this reason I would go and see Adam do the 'Dirk' album (and I did) but would side step a tour that focus on 'Prince Charming'.... actually I saw that back in 1981!

Here then is a recording from one of those Dirk Wears White Sox dates, which couples the album with other very early Ants material, one of which has only ever surfaced on bootleg albums of unreleased demos (Madame Stan, Decca Demos etc) and others as rerecorded B-sides of the big hits.

I appreciate that Adam and the Ants (the punk or the panto versions) are not everyones cup of tea, but me the '78/'79 version was highly original and completely out there.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-bcOHc0KlxO

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-HlDV1mUYK9

Intxaurrondo San Sebastian 5th April 2014

 

What fun we had at this gig 14 years ago... the European leg of the Ruby tour. An account of our trip to Spain can be found here.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-cV0fXrx8dM

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-0lLO4VXMfA

Badge of the Week #1

 A couple of weeks ago Ombudsmen, the band that my daughter sings/shouts for had their album launch with a gig in Manchester. I thought it might be a good idea to produce some old school pin badges that they could sell/give away whatever on the night, so I bought myself a badge maker. And its great!! Here I am at 56 making button badges. Many moons ago, the badges that you wore told someone else pretty much everything they needed to know about you... your taste in music and/or your political stance especially. 

At the school I went to there were strict rules about badges, they weren't to appear on blazers, so we wore them behind the lapel. To flip someone's lapel was to reveal an array of bands. From about the age of 10 or 11 it was a bit of a treat to visit the Sunday Market in Haywards Heath where there was a stall that only sold band badges. I would spend ages peering at the offerings whilst my parents went of in search of what ever it was thet they were after. My problem was one of limited funds so I had a choice of one or two per week.

I still have them, and looking across Facebook, so do a lot of people, old punk badges are coveted items in the collection. Some are highly sought after and command a high price, others are just crap, poorly produced (yet still of significant monitary value). What I have is of little value, run of the mill S.I.S. stuff, but I always liked the idea of being able to produce my own. I still sport band badges on my jacket now, but just the one at a time these days.

The badges that I will post on here will not be for sale. Nothing on this site makes any money on the back of The Stranglers or any other band that I post about. At some point though I may give a few away I dunno.

The first one I fancied was a Celia badge. I have a very vivid memory of seeing a chap at the Reading Festival in '87 sporting a T shirt with the cover of 'You Better Believe Me' on it and I was green with envy. It is still the only 'Celia and the Mutations' T shirt I have ever seen... I am assuming that it was self printed.

I love two singles on which The Stranglers/JJ collaborated with the mysterious Celia Gollin.

Archive Interviews 1978 - 1980

 

Here's a great little collection of radio interviews conducted in the 1978 to 1980 period which covers the most interesting period of the Mk I career. Skipping through it prior to posting I noted two notable interviews were both conducted for Tommy Vance's 'Rock On' Radio 1 show. Hugh talks about Nosferatu, how Devo got involved and Robert's unique percussive contribution to the album. There is also an interview with Hugh and Jet on their Raven 'rebirth' prior to the Wembley gig, in which they also discuss the 'Rock Goes to College' incident. Seems to cast some doubt on the idea of a BBC blackout of the band post Top Of The Pops and RGTC.

WAV: https://we.tl/t-cC9tMolwqM

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-eeTevN6NbI

Hugh Cornwell Kulturzentrum Schlachtof Kassel 28th March 2024

 

Here's one that I intended to post yesterday (on its birthday) but unfortunately work intervened. Hugh returned to this venue in this central German town to play the 'Totem & Taboo' almost on its entirity (9 of 11 tracks) along with a similar number of Stranglers' tracks (I wonder whether he s contractually obliged by promoters to include Stranglers' songs in the set these days?).

Anyway this one sounds great and Hugh enjoys a good report with the audience. An all round good gig I think.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-af91WpHmQE

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-jHhJMpyacy

The Vapors Cruel World Pasadena CA 20th May 2023

 

Following on from last weekend's northern adventures with The Vapors here for your listening edification is a short festival set from 2023's 'Cruel World' event, a West Coast celebration of New Wave music, a type of festival that seems to be very popular at the moment in the US.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-BcOxBz9Lp2

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-KOQwUg4wCK

Spotlight on Andrew Lauder (New Musical Express 3rd March 1978)

Here's a brief insight into the world of Andrew Lauder, the record company executive, who when with United Artists signed The Stranglers, and along with the acquisition of Buzzcocks, made UA one of the big league independent labels behind punk.

This piece comes from the time when, having left United Artists, he was setting up Radar Records that really got behind Elvis Costello & The Attractions.

I found it interesting what he said of the punk scene as it existed in early 1978.

"In 1977," he theorises, "a new generation of kids discovered rock 'n' roll for the first time. This year many of them will learn how to play it and those who've already learned to play it are now learning how to write it".

He hit the nail on the head with that opinion I thought. Those bands that had survived the madness of punk could within 18 months play their instruments and were therefore free to produce some very exiting and totally diverse material... the reason why 1979 can be considered to be the best year for British misic ever!