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.
So this is the first (the next will follow in a few days as I will not have access to my PC for a couple of days) of the recordings that I have from the 100 Club Punk Festival that took place on the 20th and 21st September 1976. As mentioned earlier, the sound is rough, but I think that it is important that you hear this at least once... and maybe even give it a second go given how unusual it is.
People talk endlessly about the DIY ethic of punk, and in the Banshees appearance, here was that ethic in its purest form on show in front of a paying audience. The band just wanted to get up and play and probably more to the point preen up on a stage. The set? Well there was no set as such, other than a 24 minute improvisation of the 'Lord's Prayer' interspersed with bits of 'Twist & Shout' and 'Deutschland Uber Alles'. According to the story, what Camden rehearsal time they did set aside, a bored Sid cut short. The band produced something of cacophony, an experimental jam fully intended to put people's backs up. The interesting bit is that Sid was pinning it all down effectively with a regular drum beat (despite only having one day's familiarity with the instrument). It is fair comment to say that he was a better drummer than he was a bass player!
So whilst NME dropped the ball review-wise with these 100 Club nights, the man with the real inside punk know how, Mark P, was on hand to offer a review in a Festival special issues of his 'Sniffin' Glue' fanzine.
Over to you Mark...
Yes, it’s the 1976 100 Club Punk Festival!
Monday: What a fucking great night, anybody who was anybody was there, it was an occasion not to be missed. A bunch of Discos and ageing hippies popped down to see what was happening as well as the regular punk fans posing and liggering in the fun. There was a bit of a rumble but it wasn’t too violent, it was a great night.
Suzie & The Banshees
After the Sect’s set the buzz was going round about the Pistols follower, Sid, who was gonna play drums with the next band up – Suzie and the Banshies (sic). Everybody was exited and thought that Sid was gonna pull out his chain and madly lash out at the poor drums. When they finally made it onstage, Sid was terrific, he kept a real clear drum tempo going which really lifted the band a cut above a few other punks currently on the scene. The amazing thing was, that Sid had only been playing the drums for one day. I spoke to Sid afterwards and he was really pleased and told me he enjoyed himself.
A few people spotted in the bar after Suzie’s set were, Paul Weller, the Jam’s guitarist and Mike Spencer, the New Yorker who reckons that the London punk scene is very far superior to the scene in New York. Very true.
There were other, earlier key gigs that feature in the punk rock creation myth.... the Pistols at the Marquee in February 1976 'Don't look over your shoulder, but the Sex Pistols are coming', the Lesser Free Trade Hall gigs in June and July which carried the punk torch that ignited Manchester, The Black Swan in Sheffield on 4th July with the Pistols and The Clash, not forgetting the Screen on the Green gathering in Islington in August. The list is quite a long one.... the bans had yet to arrive!
However, the Daddy of all of those seminal early gigs has to be the two night 'Punk Rock Festival' hosted by Oxford Street's 100 Club. Other gigs to date had paired two or even three of these 'new music' bands, but until the 100 Club event no gig had pretty much gathered together under one roof all of the punk talent as it existed in the Autumn of 1976. There is of course a notable exception, but bear in mind that this event occurred just a few weeks after the trouble flared at Dingwall's.
The line up ran as follows:
Monday 20th September Sex Pistols The Clash Siouxsie (billed as Suzie) and the Banshees Subway Sect
Tuesday 21st September The Damned Buzzcocks Chris Spedding & The Vibrators Stinky Toys
At the 50th anniversary gig a couple of weeks ago, during the John McKay's Reactor set, Jen (the JMR singer) asked whether there was anyone in the audience who had been there back in 1976. A couple of people shouted yes (and it wasn't TV Smith or Marco who shouted... I believe that Gaye was also in the venue... she didn't should either). They were very lucky.
Witnesses to these two legendary nights are few, the venue is small with a capacity of about 400 tops. However, despite the primitive (not to mention bulky) nature of audio recording equipment that was available in the mid-'70s, at least five of the bands on the bill had their sets recorded by members of the audience. The Pistols, The Clash, The Damned, The Banshees and The Vibrators were captured on tape for posterity.
Admittedly, all of those recordings fall some way short of pristine. Can you imagine it, bodies launching in all directions, the heat generated by 400 bodies in a confined basement space in what was the hottest UK summer on record (air conditioning was something to only be experience by the millennial generation much later!). These conditions are not compatible with good sound capture. On top of it all there is the unusual configuration of the venue, the stage is long and shallow such that the band occupy a small part of the stage around the central part of the venue. Oh, and the supporting pillars don't help either. Another 'Who: Live At Leeds' was never on the cards!
With all of that said, these gigs were worth recording. I mean this was the Banshees first ever gig... and the only one with that line up (Sioux, Severin, Pirroni and Vicious).
In preparation for the posts that will follow, I looked to hunt down some contemporary reviews of the gig and found one from Sounds written by Giovanni Dadomo. New Musical Express seemed to miss out on this one, whilst Caroline Coon wrote an extensive piece for Melody Maker (but I don't have it unfortunately).
It is clear from his review that Dadomo was bitterly disillusioned by the scene, or more accurately, the violence that it attracted, to the extent that the music did not feature in his copy. Indeed, the Festival gained infamy, it being marred by an incident in which a girl was blinded in one eye after a glass, believed to have been thrown by Sid Vicious, shattered against one of the aforementioned pillars. Vicious was subsequently arrested and punk bands were banned from playing the venue, even before Dadomo's article reached the printers.
Sounds (2nd October 1976)
High dummy count flunks punks
Punk Rock Festival
London
By far and away the most discordant sounds to be heard during the 100 Club's two day 'Punk Rock' festival last week were the crunch of bone on bone and the clatter of broken glass. Violence, in other words, was the hideous keynote.
Monday's flow of events was interrupted about half-way through when simultaneous brawls broke out on both sides of the stage. Things were quickly brought under control – however and had it stopped there – with the major casualties being a broken table and a score or so of beer mugs - one could have dismissed the night's least enjoyable spectacle as unfortunate and almost inevitable at an event where lots of kids drink a little too much in a cramped and darkened room. No fun, to be sure, but hardly unique.
Unfortunately, this was not to be, Tuesday bringing with it an even nastier outbreak of violence which resulted in at least three people receiving hospital treatment and a number arrests. A side effect of the two nights' events was that the club's directors have now banned groups like the Pistols from ever playing the 100 again, therefore reducing the number of central London venues available by some hundred percent.
A great pity, right? But then who can blame them really – like attracts like and the chances of such incidents ultimately resulting in a fatality must have been a major factor in the club's decision. Result? Everybody loses club, bands, and audiences.
So, who's to blame and, even more important, how can such unpleasant events be avoided in future?
Considering that their set on Monday night was exemplary in its professionalism, it, seems almost unfair to lay most of the blame at the Pistols' door. Unfortunately, it happens to be true that most of the band's current notoriety stems directly from their image as young villains, something their PR has exploited to the hilt (consider only the staged punch-up photo which appeared on the cover of 'Melody Maker' a few weeks back). Almost inevitable therefore that they should attract all manner of fringe psychopathics and that this idiot minority (like those people who've made insecurity an integral part of the live reggae scene) should screw things up for everybody.
What it boils down to is this: it's all very well to preach the causes of nihilism and anarchy and wear armbands -marked 'chaos' as long as all it is is the latest fad. Trouble with 'anarchy' though is it's no hula hoop – it hits back. I'm sure John Rotten no more relishes the thought of having his head split open at his next gig than I do. But the terrifying truth of it is that right now it's a highly likely probability for both of us.
My apologies therefore to all the people who played good rock 'n' roll those two nights (and I'd include the Pistols alongside Chris Spedding, The Vibrators, Damned and Clash) but the truth of the matter is I just don't feel up to reporting it. Because all I can think about is a girl with an eyeful of broken glass. A tragedy is what it Is, a fucking tragedy.
Christ knows if it'll help by saying this but I'm sure the pressure would cool considerably (and remember - the bands are in as much danger as those people on the floor) if the aura of aimless violence surrounding the Pistols and, their followers were eased out. Maybe they could concentrate their energies on something constructive – like fucking or destroying the BBC, for example. Because if all the indignation about the mess the world's in only results in some poor chick getting her eye chopped up then count me out, I just don't want to know any more.
And I know I'm not the only one. - GIOVANNI DADOMO.·
Having posted a Toronto radio interview with JJ and Baz earlier, it seems as good a time as any to post the gig that occurred later on in the day (or at least what exists of it). The fact that 'No More Heroes' appears twice makes me think that this is in all likelihood pieced together from mobile phone captured audio. A quick listen to 'Heroes' shows it to be the one and the same i.e. both are from the same gig, but the audio is different, possibly due to it being captured by someone located in a different part of the auditorium. As they say, it is what it is.
I was sent this interview yesterday evening (many thanks to Mark for the share!). It's a pretty comprehensive interview that JJ and Baz conducted with Equalizing-X-Distort CIUT 89.5FM, which (according to Wikipedia) is a Toronto based, independent radio station with a strong leaning towards punk. Maybe it is their independent status along with the station's musical tastes that resulted in a more in-depth, open interview. In contrast, when the band interacts with more mainstream stations who have not done their homework and enter into discussion armed only with pre-conceived notions of what the band are about the results are telling.
Much of the content is admittedly going over well trodden ground, but the insights into the meanings behind some of the tracks on 'Giants' their then newest studio offering.... near fisticuffs in Southend and Birmingham.... are welcome.
Asked about bootlegs of the band, JJ is all in favour, which is good to know! What's more, whilst he makes reference to losing a couple of dollars on these things, no money is lost to the band due to the activities of the Aural Sculptors site, simply because no money is made!
At the closing of the interview, Baz says to the interviewer 'See you tonight at the gig' meaning that the interview was conducted on 31st May 2013, the day of the band's gig at the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto, the opening gig of the band's North American 'Giants' tour. It would have been the second date were it not for the fact that visa issues resulted in the pulling of the previous night's gig in Detroit. The file label states 2nd June 2013, which I am guessing may tally with the date on which this interview was broadcast.
The download file contains two versions of the interview, the full broadcast and an shorter version in which the music has been edited out, leaving the talk only.
Still buzzing from last week's gig in Berlin with 'Rabenschwarz' reverberating in my head, here is another example of Anja Huwe live. Once again a good mix of solo material from the 'Codes' album alongside older Xmal Deutschland material. Here she is in Denver earlier this month in what was her second set of dates in the US this year if my memory serves me correctly.
I was in big trouble booking the events of this past weekend! A Saturday night in London town followed by another gig… in Berlin town. Two gigs in the space of 24 hours was not the problem per se it was the sparrow’s fart flight to Germany that was the issue. We live close enough to Stansted airport such that our car and windows receive regular dusting of spent aviation fuel, so it is our airport of choice, but this means Ryanair and whilst their flights are cheap, they tend to depart with the coming of the dawn! Still by my reckoning, if the bands that we follow (the musicians in which are almost always older than us) can do it, then so can we.
Saturday night’s entertainment was a celebration punk’s ‘Year Zero’, 1977, that was set up to coincide with the 50th anniversary of one of the most notable punk gigs of them all, the ‘100 Club Punk Festival’ of 1976. On this, the second night, the proceedings were kicked off with a Q&A with Marco Pirroni, best known for his work with Adam Ant in Adam and The Ants and beyond, however, for the purposes of this gig he was present as someone who had played at the Festival on 20th September 1976.
'So I was standing 'ere and Sid was over there.'
(Marco on the night he played with the Banshees)
The Q&A held promise for a while, as people realised that a discussion on stage was in progress, the chatter ceased. However, the interview did not go well. Marco is the real deal, to steal a term from the Dictionary of Mod, he was a ‘Face’, one of a handful of witness from within of the most exiting few months in rock history. As such there were 1001 questions that could have been fired at Marco. Unfortunately though, the interviewer struggled to get past ‘Did you ever expect to be talking about punk 50 years on?’, ‘Did you know something significant was happening?’ and ‘Marco, you were more into the clothes than the music, correct? To which he responded several times ‘Yes, because there was no punk music then’…. As this loop of questioning went on the audience were lost and the chatter returned quickly reaching a volume that drowned out the Q&A anyway. A missed opportunity indeed. Luckily, his book was available on the night and that I’m sure can fill the gaps that the Q&A failed to address.
No time was wasted before TV Smith took to the stage to deliver a blistering set that was effectively an almost complete rendition of the ‘Crossing The Red Sea’ album. For a man of 70 he still ‘means it maan!’ He left an audience in no doubt that the songs that he wrote as a 20 year old still mean the world to him now. We were located stage left and for the early part of the set a very tall bloke looked on appreciatively. I thought that bloke looks like Richard Strange and indeed it was and Tim invited him onstage for ‘Back From The Dead’ from 1978 (as an aside Tim and Richard recorded an album together many years ago which only saw the light of day in 2021 under the title of ‘1978’). Another notable in the set was ‘Quickstep’, a song only attempted (and ‘fucked up’ in the opinion of TV) once at Rebellion this year. This, a second, attempt sounded fine to me. TV and his Bored Teenagers crashed out of the set with a thunderous ‘One Chord Wonders’.
TV with Richard Strange
The Punk Festival theme continued with the headliner’s ‘John McKay’s Reactor’. In keeping with anniversary, the set was made up of early Banshees material that John McKay would have played in the studio or as part of live sets…. Much better that than another 20 minute version of ‘The Lord’s Prayer’!
A Reactor-less John McKay
It was indeed great to hear that very distinctive, angular guitar sound grinding out of his amp. If I had a criticism (and it isn’t one really) it would be that Jen’s vocal is a bit higher than Siouxsie’s, something that could be remedied by a strict cigarette diet… but then again the means would not really justify the end! It was actually a great set, made all the more memorable by the involvement of one of punk’s most noted guitarists. Their set closed with ‘Love In A Void’, ‘Hong Kong Garden’ and ‘Helter Skelter’.
Back home at 12.30 I opted to lie on the bed for a while, but sleep did not come, probably due to nervous anticipation of a volley of phone alarms set to go off in quick succession at around 2.30. Hey, who needs sleep when you have rock ‘n’ roll!
The flight was on time and trouble free, although both Gunta and I decided that in general the experience of air travel is just awful these days. The real frustrations started at Passport Control as we entered Germany. 90 minutes to get through, even after registering my biometric details for a third or fourth time in recent months. Another Brexit gift to the nation!
At about five o’clock I was feeling a little hyper, either through mild sleep deprivation or due to an adrenalin rush caused by a Virtual Reality experience that took me around and over the top of the iconic television mast in Alexanderplatz. Funnily enough whilst the VR experience triggered my fear of heights the actual experience of scaling the tower and viewing Berlin from on high had no effect on me… thankfully the ‘evacuation platform’ as they call it remained unsullied!
'DDR Calling!'
Back on earth we checked in and headed to the gig. Anja Huwe was playing at in the Betonhalle (concrete hall) within the Silent Green cultural complex on the site of a former crematorium serving the Berlin-Wedding area. The setting was perfect for this a ‘Sonic Morgue’ club event.
'Welcome to the Sonic Morgue'
Berlin 20th September 2026
The venue was amazing. From what I can gather, this industrial space was created in the early 1990’s by building onto the former crematorium. A concrete tunnel leads down into an area containing the bar and gathering space before another set of steps leads down into the auditorium. Overall it was a great setting for a gig.
The somewhat barking Das Kinn
Support came from an act (one person cannot really constitute a band… and to call him a one man band would conjure up all the wrong ideas). This guy played a set of electronic music with his own vocals that drew heavily on Devo, the early Human League a bit of Numan and The Normal. It was weird, very visual and very good to watch. He was also very humorous and self-effacing in his interaction with the audience… or so Gunta told me.
The Rhythm Section plus Raven
And so to the main attraction of the night. I have plugged Anja Huwe’s solo album, ‘Codes’ on here a couple of times, the material from which makes up approximately a third of the set. The other two thirds of the set being made up of Xmal Deutschland material. The new and the old are easy bedfellows despite a 40 year separation. The ‘Codes’ tracks are perhaps a little more reflective than those Xmal songs but it all works together – take a listen to the mash up track ‘Polar Forest’ to see what I mean. The band opened up with an instrumental before Anja took to the stage wearing a shrug of black plumage, a nod to the raven. She was showing no effects for having just returned from dates in the US. The set is well established but that was just fine for me. I was impressed by her vocal. This stuff is not easy to sing (like I would know!!), especially the Xmal Deutschland songs. Caterwauling Owen once described it as, all I can say is that she can still caterwaul with the best of them. Throughout her career she has had a lot of cameras pointed at her so it was interesting to see her turn the tables when she armed herself with a Polaroid and took shots of keen members of the audience. Needless to say my miserable boat was not picked out for such treatment.
It was a brilliant night of expected and unexpected pleasure.
.png)
.png)
.jpg)
.png)
.png)
.png)
.png){kind=link}