The Del Strangefish Inexperience
Empress Ballroom
Day Two
Day two dawns and it is out of the blocks early for a 12.45 start, meaning time for one livener before entering the Gardens for a set by The Del Strangefish Inexperience. Del is of course Del Greening of Peter & The Test Tube Babies (in)fame. I don’t know much about the band but I am guessing that it is something of a vehicle for Del who now has entered the literary circle of punk musicians turned writers. I suppose if you are showing your face up there on the literary stage it makes good sense to have something to put up on the musical stage too. Keep the profile up whilst the Test Tubes step back for a while.
Whatever the rationale for the Del Strangefish Inexperience, it suits me fine as it offers Del a chance to play Test Tube songs that can now be legitimately be described as obscurities. Opening with ‘Intensive Care’ (‘Watch him play one note so well!’), the set also included ‘Excuses’, another early one from the ‘Loud, Blaring, Punk Rock’ album, and ‘Boozanza’ (‘Anyone remember Trapper?’ Del asked). From memory, ‘Banned From The Pubs’, ‘Blown Out Again’, and ‘My Unlucky day’ were also in the set.
Some ours were then spent wandering and taking in the atmosphere of the weekend before there was a musical parting of the ways in that The Vapors were playing in the Opera House whilst Subhumans and Neville Staple were on in the Empress Ballroom - Melksham punk and Coventry ska of course won the Day for me.
Subhumans
Empress Ballroom
The Subhumans were brilliant as indeed they always are.
They were followed onto the stage by Neville Staple. The last few times that I have seen them I have been very impressed, but the loss of Terry and with it the final demise of The Specials still smarts. Nevertheless, Nev, Sugary and band made a very good account of themselves.
Neville Staple From The Specials
Empress Ballroom
Somewhere in between whilst giving my battered ears half an hours respite I saw a few bits from Attila The Stockbroker who was doing his thing in the Spanish Hall.
Attila The Stockbroker
Spanish Hall
What followed was my highlight of the festival, missed by most, but given the original band's history, that situation seems right and proper. In the Pavilion was TV Smith and Paranoid Visions Replaying Cheap. I'll skip over them here as an extensive post and gig will follow. Make do with a photo for now!
TV Smith puckers up at the prospect of reviving 'Cheap'!
Then last but not least for a weary punk... Steve Ignorant's Crass set.
I follow a Crass Records Facebook page and I am always amazed at the stick that Steve comes in for on the page... Crass sell out, merch slave etc etc. He has the blessing of Penny and the band to go out and play Crass material. Crass are popular around the world, but not so many every got to see them. I was 15 and down in Sussex when they split in 1984 so my first Crass experience was at the 'Gathering of the 5000' in April 1987.... a night of chaos with a handful of Crass songs thrown in.
I don't think what Steve does with the band now is Crass by numbers or Karaoke Crass as some have suggested at all. Certainly when it comes to songs like Bata Motel' and 'Poison in a Pretty Pill' Carol's vocals are faultless. There is great love and respect of the original in what they are doing with this material. Fair play to them.
Steve Ignorant Band
Club Casbah
And so to bed with Carol Hodge's dulcet tones ringing in my bleeding ears!
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