North Shore Sunderland 11th June 2011

 

I am very indebted to yesican for sharing this gig with me. Much appreciated!

I had not heard of this venue before and upon looking it up discovered that it was demolished late last year after standing unused since 2016. It was located in close proximity to the University of Sunderland's St Peter's Campus. I wonder how many venues, as a percentage, that the Stranglers have played over their 52 year career are no longer in existence, having been bulldozed or turned into flats... 

I think the number would be quite shocking. There's a project for someone!

Anyway, enjoy this decent sounding gig from back in 2011 when 'Sweden', 'Tramp' and 'Two Sunspots' lit up the set.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-V4FSzykLS8ZnKkFP

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-A6dDQu1cDvL4rj2P

Siouxsie And The Banshees Interview (Record Mirror 4th April 1987)

Here is an interview with Steve Severin and Budgie of the Banshees that was conducted by Record Mirror at around the time of the release of 'Through The Looking Glass'.

Record Mirror (4th April 1987)

It's gone one o'clock in the morning in the packed VIP lounge at London's mega-trendy Limelight club. In one corner, Mandy Smith is being enthusiastically chatted up by Ben from Curiosity, his eyebrows disappearing Gallically and flirtatiously into his cap as she whispers in his ear.

In another corner, Ray from SSS is serenading a giggling crowd of rockettes with his Billy Idol impersonations. It's wall to wall celebs (for once), and as I duck the flying champagne my eyes fall upon a strange sight. For there , shimmying on the spot with glass in hand and a dazzling grin on his face, is Steve Severin. He twirls around, coat flying, giggling, and disappears off into the darker recesses of the room.

Nothing odd about that, you may say. Maybe not, but only two days previously I had interviewed Mr Severin and fellow Banshee Budgie, and the person I met that afternoon seemed a million miles from the person I've just seen doing the dance of the seven champagne glasses.

Flashback to Monday: we meet in an Edwardian hotel off Oxford Street to discuss the Banshees' album and its second single, Iggy Pop's 'The Passenger'. Steven is formal in his greeting and offers tea. He's dressed in a plain black coat which covers a rather loud but tasteful peacock blue suit. Budgie smiles and leans forward to greet me. He reminds me of an après nose-job, leather-clad Barry Manilow. Both make me feel a mite uneasy.

The Banshees are a very private group. So private that even an afternoon in their company leaves you none the wiser about them as people.

"We have a notorious reputation that isn't really anything. You can't really put your finger on it."

Well try , Steven. "People are scared of coming to talk to us , we're hard to get along with, but then we know exactly what we want to do and that's a bit tough for some people."

The Banshees have just released 'Through The Looking Glass', an intriguing set of cover versions, some for better ('Hall Of Mirrors') and some for worse ('Strange Fruit'). It strikes you that any of them could have been Banshees originals, but as Steven says: "Everyone said we had brilliant taste!"

How did they decide which songs to record when so many just begged to be covered by them?

Steven: "Lyrics were important. There had to be a certain lyrical content that Sioux felt happy singing." 

Elvis songs were, apparently, considered, along with 'What's New Pussycat'.

"We also tried 'Paper Sun' by Traffic and again 'Arnold Layne' came up and went away," adds Budgie. Surely that's a difficult lyric for a girl like Sioux to sing?

Budgie: "Well, that's what we kept finding out! One of the main things that did keep cropping up was 'this lyric stinks'."

Steven: "Especially all the Tamla ones ... "

It seems strange that you should pick 'Sea Breezes' as your Roxy track.

Steven: "We tried 'Pyjamarama' and 'Street Life' for about two seconds, and we thought that it was too obvious to do. I think Sioux found it in the end, she really liked the melody."

Steven also mentions that they did consider a Bowie track (the most glaring omission) but when they tried 'After All' from 'The Man Who Sold The World', Sioux didn't want to do it - she didn't like the lyrics much.

"I think she thought they were too personal to him," offers Budgie. I keep forgetting about the Budgie/Sioux romantic connection, and the way Budgie speaks about her hardly belies the attachment.

In contrast to Budgie's effusive manner, Steven is so quiet and reserved that he puts me in mind of the Dormouse in 'Alice In Wonderland'. (In fact , did he not play that very role in their 'Play At Home' TV spot three years ago?) If he'd fallen asleep face down in his tea, I wouldn't have been surprised. Not that he's discourteous you understand , just distant, maybe feeling that this whole interview business is somehow an unnecessary tedium.

Aren't they worried that doing an album like this will be construed as an attempt to revitalise a career somewhat bruised by two relatively unsuccessful albums?

Steven bristles, quietly. "People can think what they like."

Budgie: "I think the reviewskind of say that, but it doesn't really seem such a clever career move. It's like laying yourself open to these kind of questions. If it hadn't worked within a week, we would've stopped it anyway."

Steven : "Some of the reviews have steered away from slagging it off simply because it's so obvious to do that, which is quite interesting. It's sort of a double bluff in itself."

Did you find that playing songs you loved gave you a new lease of energy?

Steven: "It gave us a chance to have a breather, and it was a really good exercise in itself to see how other people put songs together and maybe remember things you'd forgotten, like how simple things could be."

They both mention how making the album was less of a pressure as the songs had already gone through the process of being worked on . Their next studio album is already half written, and it would seem that the lessons learnt in 'Through The Looking Glass' have been borne out in more ways than one.

Steven: "We're now working as a three piece, so it gives us greater freedom to use the things we learnt from doing this last album ."

Up until this point, I've neglected the great question of John Carruthers' departure.  However, Steven is very forthcoming .

"We virtually did the last album as a three piece, because it was more to do with making decisions and the three of us are very good about that and know which way a Banshee song should go. John's contribution never really went into that area at all. He was just playing guitar."

So was that the last straw?

Steven: "It was one of the straws! There's a lot more involvement than just playing the guitar if you want to be in the Banshees. We had two and a half years of trying to push John into taking many of his responsibilities and it didn't really work in the end. Once we were halfway through this last album we started to get the inkling of an idea that maybe he was holding us back."

Budgie: "But to give him a bit of credit, each time it's been harder for someone to come along and fit in."

But did he jump, or was he pushed?

Budgie: "He needed a push and we gave it 'im!"

Steven reckons that the Banshees will stay as a three piece and just bring people in to highlight various instruments the way they do on 'Looking Glass', which is probably how it should be.  After all, Sioux herself recently admitted that she "Watched the group with the love of a jealous mother," and seeing how Budgie is her current lover and Steven her ex,

it's no small wonder that the unit of three is so tight and impregnable.

Does she treat them like sons and rule them with a cricket bat and a tawse? Budgie laughs and looks thoughtfully at the ceiling. "Well, she hasn't got a cricket bat!"

She's usually the one doing the interviews, though.

"That's why she says things like that!" says Steven . "I think it's that people tend to think that a woman in any commanding position would have to work like that. It's not true at all!"

"It's certainly different being in a group with men ," puts in Budgie. "I was with an all-girl group once and I got battered around a lot then!"

"We'd be the same if we were in a group with all men," protests Steven, as loud as he’ll ever get. "We wouldn't suddenly get in the tour bus and belch and fart all over the place!"

"Yes you would!" laughs Budgie. Well, I should've known that Sioux was an impregnable subject. The interview eventually dwindles to a close on a humorous note as Budgie, who's only recently given up smoking, finally cracks up in the face of Steven's puffing.  All of a sudden, sentences have no endings and he jumps up and down like a jack-in-the-box.

"I spent all last night cleaning the windows in my flat! See, this is what you do!" Ever tried knitting?

"My sister tried to teach me to knit but the needles wouldn't move 'cos the stitches were so tight !"

Steven suddenly loosens up and I glimpse a teeny bit of the person I'm to see two days later. "I was very good at embroidery at school." He smiles, and suddenly seems younger and not quite so damn serious.

"Yeah, I remember bringing the needle through and sticking it in someone's head by mistake!" He chuckles again like a conspiratorial seven-year-old . How I wish though, that I'd had my tape recorder at the Limelight. That evening told me more about Steve Severin than the interview ever could have. Ah well, the gates of Fort Banshee crash down yet again, and their true selves remain intact.

Siouxsie And The Banshees (Jannus Landing, St Peatersburg, FL 22nd August 1987) and Kraftwerk (Akasaka Blitz, Tokyo 10th May 2013) - Got It Covered #4

 

Siouxsie and the Banshees never ran away from a cover. It's how they started after all. Their debit gig at the 100 Club Punk Festival on 20th September 1976 entailed a cover of 'The Lord's Prayer' (if in fact that can count that as a 'cover version') interspersed with some other very familiar tunes. Eleven years on from the 100 Club they deemed it to be right and proper that they release an album of covers of tracks by musicians that influenced them. It's a tried and tested pathway that is as old as rock 'n' roll itself... the difference being that by the time that the '80's came around the original recording artists were getting just royalties(I hope!) With a nod to Bowie's 'Pin Ups' (and well, if it's good enough for David well then)... 

The Banshees released 'Through The Looking Glass' in early March 1987 which featured an eclectic selection of covers from some of the biggest movers and shakers within the underground music scenes of the '60s and '70s, including Iggy's 'The Passenger' and Bob Dylan's 'This Wheel's On Fire'. There were also a couple of curveball selections in there, notably 'Trust In Me' from the Jungle Book adaptation by Disney and the dark and deeply disturbing 'Strange Fruit' by Billy Holiday.

The subject of this post though is the track 'Hall of Mirrors', originally recorded and released on Kraftwerk's 1977 album 'Trans Europe Express'. Seemingly, Dusseldorf's electronic kings were aware of the Banshees' tribute to the song, which in turn celebrates the iconic, international train service that transected the European continent, ferrying its passengers in first class style for nearly 20 years. Of the cover, Ralf Hütter is on record as stating "In general, we consider cover versions as an appreciation of our work. The version of 'Hall of Mirrors' by Siouxsie and the Banshees is extraordinary".

The song did form part of the Banshees set in 1987 as in this example from St Petersburg in Florida.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-DYpXZ06TRx1YTza3

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-zkwvnZzySB1RjtBM

In contrast and perhaps unsurprisingly, Kraftwerk's 1977 original is rather different altogether to Siouxsie and Co.'s version. Reassuringly cold and precise, the song tells of a group of shop mannequins who seemingly tire of posing for the public and instead break through their shop front windows and enter the city (presumably their home city of Dusseldorf). And having gained their freedom, what do these free-thinking showroom dummies do? Well of course they head for a nightclub in order to dance through the night to some of the latest tunes (avantgarde German electronica for sure!). Looks like Ralf and Florian had a premonition 49 years ago of our AI reality today. Whatever, the song paints a brilliant picture that could have come from the imagination of Philip K. Dick.

Kraftwerk did not tour in 1977 and 'Showroom Dummies' never got much in the way of live exposure until the band started their album retrospective tours in the 2010s such as this nice sounding gig from Tokyo in 2013.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-5pazUvfgzfnjASN0

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-bncG4LRfedE5jy2V

Yet Another Stranglers Linoprint!

 

Jean Jacques Burnel (The Stranglers)

20cm x 40 cm lino print

Black ink on ivory card.

The sewing machine thunders downstairs into the wee hours of the morning, as Gunta enters her final university week in a billowing mass of black cotton and calico. For my part I am keeping a low profile, offering occasional words of encouragement, food and drink to the best of my ability and doing the odd bit of modelling! To this end linocutting/printing is pretty unobtrusive whilst keeping me on the spot in case emergency biscuits are required to be fetched.

So here is JJ Burnel up on one leg in what... 1983? Thanks to Mick A for the image.

It was a great image from which to do a linoprint. Despite the fact that the facial features are reduced down to part of his nose and his cheek, the rest being lost in shadow, there is no room for doubt as to who the subject is. I would go so far to say that even when featureless you know that expression on his face behind the shadow!

Hugh Cornwell Grend Essen 28th October 2006

 

Here's for your listening pleasure is a nice sounding full band recording from one of Hugh's many gigs in Germany. This one comes from Essen in 2006 and comes courtesy of Peter... thanks again! 

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-WJyrZwbnBQbbopA3

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-e1nNUb4Lho04r95v

The Boys Interview (Record Mirror 29th April 1978)

So then, The Boys. I'll be honest here in that they are a band that I have never paid much attention to. I knew 'First Time' and 'New Guitar In Town', a collaboration single from The Boy's Honest John Plain and Pete Stride of The Lurkers. Not much is it. In fact whilst transcribing this Record Mirror interview I have heard more of the Boys on Spotify than I have heard in the last 45 years of listening to punk!

Now I can certainly see some similarities with The Lurkers, both bands drawing contemporary comparisons with Da Brudders from Queens. The Boys supported The Ramones at one point over here.

The early involvement of founding members Casino Steel and Matt Dangerfield put them on the spot at the birth of the British punk scene and yet they rarely feature in the established creation accounts! Likewise, they never enjoyed the kind of success that came the way of their '76 contemporaries.

I was going to post a great sounding gig that the band played in Vienne in France in the Summer of 2016. But I then realised that I posted it 9 years ago. I have however supplemented that post with some artwork and both the artwork and the gig can be found here.

ARRIVING at the pre-arranged meeting place I find The Boys have exited for liquid refreshment to a pub a few streets away. They're all there except Jake (the drummer) and they're trying to pass off another reporter as their new drummer; no chance Boys.

That ploy having collapsed they try the old kidnapping stunt but soon realise that RECORD MIRROR wouldn't pay much ransom. And anyway wouldn't they rather abduct Blonde - on - Blonde? Immediate agreement, and they reminisce over the RM cover when the aforementioned beauties adorned it.

While on the subject of RM, Kid talks about his unrequited love for his cat. He once wrote to the problem page about his undying passion but no reply was forthcoming. He moves onto another subject - so you'll never get to find out how the affair ended, maybe they just drifted apart.

The Boys talk about their last gig at the Music Machine, where they kindly laid on a bar for the boys and girls of the music business, they played a really good set, including an appearance by The Yobs. The Boys are rather indignant that nobody reviewed the gig, at this point Cas (the organist) joined the conversation.

Cas is fed up, Cas is bored, Cas is annoyed, Cas is down, (this sort of talk could cause problems), the rest of the band dive on him, strapping him to the table and gag him, metaphorically speaking of course. But there is no trouble, Cas is just depressed because he's been up at NEMS (their record company) putting mailing shots into envelopes, sticking them down and attaching stamps, all without the help of even a sponge to wet the stamps, no wonder he's feeling like he does…

The rest of the band divulge that he's having a piano made with a built in cocktail cabinet so he has something to do with his other hand while he's playing.

They're off to Europe soon and I ask Kid if there are any particular countries he's looking forward to.

"Holland especially, but also Scandinavia although we've never played there, France we're not so crazy about… all they want is rock 'n' roll. They're so conservative".

Cas pipes in: "Their TV's awful as well". Cas likes TV…

The Boys have a new single that should be out by the end of may titled ‘School Girls' and they're really hoping that this will be the, one that gets them the recognition they're trying so hard to get. And if it doesn't?

"Well the next one will, or the one after or the one after that, were not going to give in," says Kid.

The Boys know that records not as good as theirs have made it but as Elton John said not so long ago: "You don't have to be good to make it, you just need good promotion".

The Boys don't have that promotional bulldozer behind them so they're going to have to make a record that will stand out alone, and that ain't easy.

Conversation about their record company gets them near to throwing themselves off the table so an attempt is made to steer the conversation to more cheerful subjects.

"What about the girls, Boys"?

A stunned silence greets this question initially. Then Matt offers: "But we're only boys. Kid does have a number of young girls amongst his fans, but that doesn't mean all our audiences are very young or very female".

What about audience reaction so far?

"Our ultimate gig for audience reaction was in Swansea," continues Matt. "We'd finished the set, and we never do an encore unless they really want us back, that's not through any ego trip, it's just that a lot of audiences seem to think that they're under an obligation to ask for an encore. But these people at Swansea looked like they were going to pull the place apart so we went back on only to find that Kid's bass amp had bust so the audience had to wait 15 minutes while it was fixed. Yet ' they were still clapping, stamping and shouting for us. That's what you call a good reaction!"

Do The Boys have a devout following like the Depressions?

“Sure," counters Matt, "they're mainly female and like Depressions fans go to a lot of trouble to see us. Unfortunately, they very rarely have anywhere to stay and usually ask us if we've any room, but it's just not possible to put them all up and it's not fair to look after a couple of them no matter how much we'd like to. What can you do"?

"No idea," I reply: "Never had such attention. How about taking me on in the Yobs"?

"Oh yeah the Yobs. " Matt again "You know, one of the Yobs' songs was our best selling Single? We really want to do another Yobs' thing maybe The Yobs do Jim Reeves or even Dean Martin, that would, be really great"!

Cas stops mumbling about rather being at home watching TV and joins the conversation.

"Dean Martin, now there's somebody with style. You gotta be at least 35 and been through hell to be anything".

"What?" (that's me).

"Sure" says Cas getting into the stride of things. "Thirty-five, I can't wait to be 35, then I'll really be a musician - an artist with a right to do and say as I want, I'll have some authority, I'll have suffered and that's what it's an about. You've got to be 35, tired, unshaven, have a drink problem and your wife's got to have left you. I'm nothing, I'm just a kid, I've got to suffer".

Oh Christ, bring on the cross and nails. Okay Cas we'll come back to you in a few years time. His feelings are understandable, but not the manic determination behind them. And he looks so young for his age, maybe that's half the problem. Keep up with the scowls Cas, you'll make it.

Cas leaves, crawling over a trail of broken glass to get to the door. What that Boy will do to get home to watch Coronation Street!

Kid and Matt stay a little longer and we talk about life, books, films, etc that I'm sure you lot don't want to read about. Then we parted with Kid passing the final remark.

"You can never accuse The Boys of being hyped".

He's right, but they really, do need a good push in the right direction.

999 - Molly's Chambers in Birkenhead this Friday!

 

A quick plug for 999 who will be playing at Molly's Chambers in Birkenhead this Friday!