Aural Sculptors Passes the 5,000,000 Mark

 

Okay, so it's not going viral Gangnam style, but today Aural Sculptors passed the milestone of 5 million hits. True in the last 12 months much of the monthly visit tally has been courtesy of bots living in a the Nevada desert or on a Beijing industrial estate. I'm okay with that... I can sleep all the better with the knowledge that if Xi Jinping wants to know what kind of punk rock was going down in Wolverhampton on a rainy February night in 1978 he knows exactly the place to come!

Seriously though, whilst its not a huge number, given the years that the site has been up and running, this hit rate has been achieved thanks to a loyal core of visitors that have stuck with the site for many years now. It is the contributions and comments from many of those visitors that keep my interest in Aural Sculptors up and encourages me week in, week out to keep putting stuff up that I hope is marginally stimulating, both to the ears and the eyes.

As always, these milestone posts are an opportunity to encourage sharing with anyone who is minded to do so. The intention was/is to keep a majority focus on the Stranglers, but as highlighted before, the sewer is near drained...

Thanks again for your continued support of the site and I hope that you keep visiting such that we (with maybe a bit of a helping hand from some tech savvy folk in Beijing and Moscow!) hit 10,000,000 at some point in the not too distant future.

Cheers,

Adrian x

Top Secret 30 (July 1991)

 

Next issue of the Top Secret fanzine. Here in PDF.

The Courettes 100 Club London 4th September 2026

 

Another 100 Club night for Gunta and I last night in the company of the eternally touring Courettes, the noisiest couple on the street! Described as the Ronettes meets the Ramones, I would add to that the fact that The Cramps occasionally pop in for tea! The Courettes appeal is not just in the music they play... which is very different... very niche, visually they put on a hell of a show. Martin's drumming ruthlessly pins down Flávia's garage rock guitar as he spirit channels Ringo Starr into the famed Oxford Street basement. I know that technically Ringo's spirit is not yet available for channelling, but you get the point. He plays the kit hard!

The band have so much energy they are exhausting to watch! Whilst the awkward configuration of the 100 Club stage may have restricted Flávia a little bit it did not stop her doing her crowd surfing guitar bit.

'Boom Boom Boom'/'Trash Can Honey'

100 Club, London 4th September 2026

A great night... the support were good to, the punchily named 'Bruno and the Outrageous Methods of Presentation' who we were informed by Mo this morning that we had seem previously (or at least elements in the band) previously at the Lexington in London when they played with Ombudsmen.

'Boom Dynamite'

100 Club, London 4th September 2026

Unfortunately, I cut off the tremendous 'Boom Dynamite' before the end.

Boom... Dynamite!

Espace BASF Paris 29th September 1983

Back to Feline and another French gig from that marathon European jaunt. This gig sees the band back in the capital for the second time in '83. The resumption of the aborted 'Down In The Sewer' required an edit as my original recording broke into some unexpected dance music (now removed). Not the greatest of recordings, but hey, it's Feline in Paris!

WAV: https://we.tl/t-ncdAwHtNxnH6uh8V

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-eF1x74Us9C0gqUWh

Ramones Roundhouse Camden London 4th July 1976

 

This iconic set from Ramones cropped up on 101 Guitars recently. It is from a gig that is steeped in the lore of the early Stranglers. Punks were on parade over the 4th July weekend in 1976 as the bicentenary of American Independence was marked at the Roundhouse.  24 hours later Ramones were in action again with a headline gig just down the road at Dingwalls. It was here where some semblance of punk pecking order was established in a brawl that effectively ostracised The Stranglers from the punk scene even before it took off. More can be read up on that here.

So this is a lossless* recording of the Ramones set. The NME review in the earlier post on this gig described Ramones as a comedy act more than a rock 'n' roll band. However, whist this is not the greatest of recordings, the band sound pretty good, albeit a bit slower... they speeded up in later years. Rather than being bemused, it is clear that at least a section of the audience were familiar with the first album (released in April 1976) as chants of 'Hey Ho Let's Go!' and 'Beat on the Brat with a Baseball Bat' can be heard.

I was prompted to post this tonight since I received an email tonight alerting me to a post that has recently been made on the Burning Up Time Forum that indicates that the recording of The Stranglers from this gig has surfaced. Whilst such a recording may not be the Holy Grail of bootlegs... an accolade still held by the NOB gig, it would be pretty special, not least because it includes 'Tomorrow Was (The Hereafter)' in the set. Let's see what happens.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-vYZENHi9GFUccfCU

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-KCVpuN0Y3xjDJvSU

Note: An analysis of the files indicates that this is in fact not truely lossless as the files are of MP3 origin.

Siouxsie And The Banshees The Left Bank Mount Vernon New York 24th October 1981

This is a really nice recording (soundboard?) of the Banshees promoting JuJu in the US. How's that for a desirable set! With John McGeogh on guitar, for many fans of the band this was the zenith of the Banshees' career, if not the classic line up of the band. Listen out for some interesting effects on 'Happy House'. This gig too has a rare appearance of 'Love in A Void' in the set, a song that suffered early on due to some lyrical content, later amended.

I have Mark to thank for the share of these files (cheers, much appreciated!). 

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-5X8EZocf48oCiqSE

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-W6nCRY4eXUa8Trin

 

Hugh Cornwell Interview on WFDU 89.1 FM New Jersey

Here's an old promotional radio interview with Hugh from the time of 'Hi-Fi'. Hugh appeared on WFDU 89.1 FM, a New Jersey public radio station licenced to Fairleigh Dickinson University in Teaneck, NJ. I guess that this constitutes 'College' radio... I find the radio broadcasting set up in the US a bit baffling I'll admit.

This 30 minute telephone interview interview took place ahead of his appearance at the Loop Lounge in Passaic on 14th October 2001. In it he talks of the genesis of The Stranglers, his time in both Emile and the Detectives and Johnny Sox. Also on topic are his film and musical influences, especially Arthur Lee of Love, at that time incarcerated but due for imminent release after serving five and a half years of a twelve year prison sentence.

MP3: https://we.tl/t-FHVqe2Yspr7hiXsC

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-0AJUG3WdquJqWm8o