Portsmouth Guildhall 6th February 1982

 

Righto, it's this one's birthday, so you have to be a little bit respectful, on the other hand, this one comes with a health warning, for your ears at least. I would suggest that this is one for completists only or otherwise if you were there in person sweating your nuts off the front down in Portsmouth on this night in 1982.

MP3: https://we.tl/t-LGOq76E3hP

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-550tnZZM9H

Pete Shelley Heaven And The Sea Demos

 

Not a live gig from the tour that promoted the release of the 'Heaven & The Sea' album, but the demos instead! Nice sounding tracks, some of them made the grade and formed part of the album. Thanks to Jim for sharing the files.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-NonSjSUMR6

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-QVzP9YeupE

Ruddy 'Ooligans (Part 3) Further Kidnap Capers in the Portugese 'Outback'

Even when embroilled in filming of the promotional video for 'Nuclear Device (The Wizard of Aus)', The Stranglers still found time to harangue those representatives of the music press who had seemingly drawn the short straw and landed the responsibility/challenge of spending time with the band with a view to filling a few column inches in their respective publications.

As always click on the image to enlarge to a readable size.

The ordeal experienced by NME's Deanne Pearson was described in the 13th October 1979 issue of the paper.

Whilst looking on line for further information on this incident, I came across Deanne's biography on the 'Rock's Back Pages' website, in which she mentions her Portugese brush with the Meninblack, along with some other highlights of life as a music hack in the 1970s. In much the same way as Barry Cain's books describe the humdrum, hand to mouth existance of music journalists, the career summary below really does illustrate that if you were prepared to accept a certain degree of shit from the musicians that you were contractually required to work with (and I don't extend that as far as a battering!), then, as a music fan, music jounalism sounds like the best job in the world... for as long as you can take the pace. Certainly, the likes of Deanne and Barry have many more tales to tell the Grandchildren of what they did in the punk wars than I have!

Deanne Pearson

When I left college in 1978, after having spent most of the previous 12 months seeing punk bands play live and recovering from said activity, I wanted to write for the NME. I ended up getting a job on Horse & Hound magazine. Still going to see punk bands in the evenings. Contemplating jumping into the Thames during my lunch breaks. One day, in late 1978, I walked into the NME offices in Carnaby Street, informed Gary Crowley, who did indeed personify the large sign hanging above his head which read, 'Here sits the world's loudest receptionist', that I had a news story of such magnitude that the editor, Neil Spencer, needed to see me straight away or I would cross the street and sell it to the Melody Maker. I was ushered into his office. On the way, I passed Nick Kent in the corridor, dressed head-to-toe in black leather, eating a loaf of bread by scooping out the middle with long bony fingers and cramming it into his mouth, his remaining bony fingers clutching scraps of paper (including torn-up cigarette boxes) on which were scribbled his latest opus for publication in that week's issue. This was the sort of journalistic set up I wanted to be a part of. I told Neil Spencer that I didn't have a story, but would like a job on the NME, please. He sent me out to review Adam and the Ants at The Marquee. I freelanced on a fairly regular basis for the NME for quite a while after that. 

It's all rather hazy from there on. Mainly, I remember it was a lot of fun, and an excellent way to earn a living (I use that term loosely from a financial and a work ethic point of view). Oh my daze. A few random recollections:

Interviewing Iggy Pop in the shower in Santa Monica because that was the only quiet place we could find to talk. That's what he told me, anyway. He was wearing a hand towel tied round his waist. I was fully clothed.

Being 'kidnapped' by The Stranglers in Portugal during the filming of the video for Nuclear Device, missing the plane home, flying across the Channel in a very small plane chartered by the band, supping Remy Martin. Ending up in Luton. When I lived in London.

Getting absolutely slaughtered in every bar and club in Liverpool with Frankie Goes To Hollywood on the night they went straight to Number One with 'Relax'. Then almost getting sacked from No.1 magazine two days later, after having phoned in sick, not realising that photographs had emerged of me dancing on the rooftop of a car with Holly Johnson that night.

Running my battered old Beetle into the back of a stationary car in the King's Road while giving Bryan Ferry a lift post Interview. 

Babysitting Dave Vanian's two black rats, Edgar and Allan, whenever The Damned went on tour.  

Doing a runner from The Slits tour after having put up with two days of them refusing to speak to me even though they'd agreed to an interview for The Face. Then being told I still had to deliver copy, so duly chronicling my observations and thoughts on The Slits and then carefully avoiding them for a while afterwards.

Having a stand-up row onstage with Siouxsie during a Banshees soundcheck in Manchester somewhere, having given the band a bad review in the previous week's NME. I actually loved the Banshees. One of the roadies later told me Sioux had asked him to drop a speaker on my head, but that The Cure's Robert Smith had objected as I was there to interview him.

John Lydon recording a message for my very first telephone answering machine: "Deanne's not 'ere at the moment, but if you leave a message, she might ring you back."

It was the NME and the early days of The Face that were the best, for me. The music and the people of that time, the thoughts, opinions and anti-establishment rants that were expressed, in music and in words.

From The Jam R Fest Blackpool 5th August 2022

 

Last week Bruce Foxton announced that due to ongoing health issues, the curretly booked From The Jam dates, marking the 45 anniversary of the 'Setting Sons' album, will be his last. Surprisingly, given my love of The Jam, this is the only occasion that I got to see FTJ (and no, I never saw The Jam). I would have gone to Cambridge last month (with Ruts DC also on the bill) were it not for a prior engagement.

So, good luck to you Bruce and thanks for being a part of the soundtrack of my life for over four decades!

And this then is the gig that I saw back in 2022. Thanks to Peter for the files!

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-tu9c2N0tB4

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-nKY3hPbfcG

The Raven Is On The Wing (Record Mirror 4th August 1979)

 

Pete Shelley 'Cue The Music' Live In London 1986 DVD

Looking for a suitable post for the ongoing 1987 thread I was dipping my toes into old music press from the previous year amd some stuff came up relating to this little chap. 1986 saw the release of a new Pete Shelley album, 'Heaven and the Sea'. I have talked about it before on these pages, about what a remarkable album it is, despite falling victim to a degree of the overblown production that marred many an album that appeared in the secong half of the decade.

This is a recording of an episode of the ITV series 'Cue The Music' hosted by Mike Mansfield and on occasion (as here) by the comedian Tony Slattery, who we lost last month. I have two versions of this recording, one that I prepared and authoured an another downloaded years ago from Punktorrents authoured by Bandit999. Of the two versions, my version I think my version has a slightly clearer picture and so that is the one I have chosen to share here.

DVD Image: https://we.tl/t-hj1cUFoae6

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-5rA83AvpBr

01. Intro

02. Waiting For Love

03. On Your Own

04. Never Again

05. My Dreams

06. Blue Eyes

07. If You Ask Me (I Won't Say No)

08. No Moon

09. Telephone Operator

10. Homosapien

11. Something's Gone Wrong Again

In addition, below is the announcement from Record Mirror of his tour.... I would have loved to have seen him play the Zap Club in Brighton! Do anyone have any recordings from this tour. The closest that I have is the shortened support slot that he played with The Damned at the 10th Anniversary gig in Finsbury Park.

Record Mirror 8th November 1986

Finally, here's a contemporary review of a gig from this period that he played at The Warehouse in Leeds.

Record Mirror 17th May 1986

20 From '87 (8) Peterborough Arena 25th March 1987

 

And another from 1987 and the second leg of the Dreamtime tour. This is a pretty good quality audience recording of the gig.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-qLCZn5ZI7g

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-DHAJR71DnO

The English Beat Buffalo State University NY 14th April 1983 (TFTLTYTD#16)

 

This is a gem of a recording of The Beat, or The English Beat as they had to be known Stateside for legal reasons. There was just something about this band, their songs were a mixture political protest ('Get A Job', 'Stand Down Margaret' and 'Two Swords') and songs about relationships ('Too Nice To Talk To', 'Jeanette', 'Hands Off... She's Mine') all delivered with a high level of positivity. Both live and in the studio they played out their 'Peace, Love & Unity' mantra. It was a mixture of killer material, Roger's charm and who knows what else that made The Beat the band that bands wanted to tour with. They supported some of the biggest bands of the late '70's/early '80s, The Clash, The Police, oh and some bloke by the name of Bowie. They were supported by some big bands too on the rise. On this tour support was provided by REM. The exposure that the band enjoyed from touring with big name bands ensured some degree of success in United States that continued for a while with General Public, the band formed by Roger and Dave Wakeling after the demise of The English Beat.

Legendary Beat saxophonist, Saxa, died in 2017, Ranking Roger died in 2019, whilst original drummer Everett Morton died in 2021.

A truely great and inspirational band.

Many thanks to the original Dime uploader.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-vwlqkXqueQ

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-6mbQ464k0s

TV Smith Soda Bar San Diego 15th October 2023

 

Here's TV Smith on his first tour of US back in October 2023 playing a brilliant set of Adverts' material. The Adverts' flame only burned for a short time but it burned intensely, two albums of brilliantly crafted songs that captured at least as well as the Pistols (as far as I am concerned) the relentless shittyness of adolescence in mid 1970's Britain. For my part I didn't share that frustration, on account of being seven in 1976!

Well, in 2025 Tim returns, once again reuniting The Adverts and The Damned in a manner of speaking. The first of three unholy partnerships, the two bands will forever be associated with the chaotic youthful exuberance of 1977 (The Ruts and the Anti-Nowhere League later stepped into The Adverts shoes in their close associations with The Damned). He takes his Adverts repertoire back out on the road with The Damned across both North and South America.

I would live to see the pairing in the UK sometime later in the year... let's see.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-a5vpGnFwQX

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-Cg9lJRLbXT

Thanks to the original uploader.

Hugh Cornwell La Belle Edinburgh 1st December 2022

 

Here is Hugh doing the solo part of one of the 'Moments Of Madness' dates in Edinburgh. Sorry, no idea where this came from or what happened to the second set. Apologies to the sharer!

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-Ws9yH1iOhG

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-ak4y37b61E

The Creatures The Palace Hollywood CA 14th July 1998

 

Staying with female fronted bands, here's one from Siouxsie and Budgie's semi-regular side project, The Creatures. Perhaps more of a vehicle for Budgie than Siouxsie, their material being heavily reliant on all manner of drums and percussion, they recorded some great material. Not least was 1999's 'Anima Animus' album, some of the songs from which were played here in Hollywood.

It was on their 1999 UK tour that I got to see them (the only time) at the Junction in Cambridge.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-idS1B6b45y

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-Angy6VcHhv

The March Violets The Chapel San Francisco 13th November 2024

 

This is a great gig from the March Violets tour of the US in the autumn of last year. A great sounding recording sees the Leeds band run through a set covering their early 1980's career through to last year's new album, 'Crocodile Promises'. Thanks to the original Dime uploader, loughney.

That new album made it to number 22 in Vive Le Rock's albums of 2024 and rightly so.

Here's what they had to say.

THE MARCH VIOLETS
CROCODILE PROMISES

(Metropolis)

The re-blooming of goth legends. 9/10.

After a flurry of archive releases over the last few years and well-received live dates across the world Rosie Garland and Tom Ashton are back with Mark Three of The March Violets and a brand new album in the form of the immensely alluring 'Crocodile Promises'. Joined by Mat Thorpe, the trio has set about making an entirely classic album that carries on the original sound they created but progressing it a contemporary feel and approach. With a crystal-clear sound they present nine tracks that see them flaunting their recognised sound, so you instantly appreciate it whilst forming the familiarity of an old friend. Whilst comfortably sitting in the dark recesses of goth, the genre is celebrated and projected forward through every facet of the album. The vocal delivery from Rosie is unquestionably transcendental; it could be the '80s again with past glories revisited but it's also wonderfully presented comtemporary goth.

Opening with the shining 'Hammer In The Last Nail' the album is immediately accessible and enticing, with Rosie's vocals playfully delivering the lyrics whilst its jaunty, upbeat musical accompaniment throws down an atmosphere that off-plays the darkness and light that goth dancefloor fillers pulsate with. From there on in the album doesn't let up for a moment, displaying a band at the very top of their game and loving what they are doing. Play loud, play purple indeed.

Lee Powell.

Pretty good then, a nine out of ten review. But don't be deterred by the reference to goth. It was never a scene I went for (aside from that Siouxsie look!). I never had the hair for ir and one eyeliner pencil does not a goth make! Goth means to me the slightly ridiculous bass rumblings of the Sisters of Mercy or Fields of the Nephilim (one of the few bands I have walked out on), but this is something very different.

Having missed them in London last summer I hope that they keep up the momentum and play again in the UK in 2025. I'll backcomb some nasal hair for the occasion!

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-yGIsuwPaxh

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-Yesgj0pyLs

The Undertones in The US of A (Record Mirror 6th October 1979)

 To accompany the previous post of The Undertones in NewYork, here's a feature on the band in the US (with Comandante Joe & Co.) that appeared in the 6th October 1979 issue of Record Mirror... remember in those pre-digital days, the writer would have brought the copy back with them, hence the time lag.

It's an interesting interview. Reflections from a band feeling the pressures of success. Certainly, the music press reporting on the band added immeasurably to this pressure. Articles variously decribing the band as 'the greatest rock 'n' roll band in the world' , or 'the most enjoyable rock 'n' roll band on the planet', or even, 'the only band that sums up the true teenage fervour and excitment of the early Beatles' would I imagine weigh heavily on the shoulders of bigger, more established bands, let alone a quintet of young lads not long plucked from the streets of Derry! 

An early disallusionment with the 'business' is very apparent, especially in terms of touring expectations. US tours have broken many a band to date!

More interesting still is John O'Neill's opinions on the band changing and his suspicions around musicianship. He didn't want to change, but change they did, and yes, the musical ability and songwriting broadened hugely over the following couple of years... I wonder what the band really made of that.

The New York gig gets a couple of mentions too... both as a highlight and a lowlight of the tour.

Apologies for some missing text in the middle of the article. This is due to a printing flaw. It is the same in two separate copies of the article that I have seen, so it must have been a problem that week at the printers. I hope that it doesn't detract too much from the content.

Record Mirror (6th October 1979)

AH, THE contradictions of rock ‘n' roll! Or as the Undertones would put it gloomily: " Whatever way you do it, it's 'Catch 22'." Meaning, perhaps, you can't ignore the business that's selling records the way you make 'em; but as soon as they start selling records the way you make 'em you can't ever make those sort of records again.

At least, it goes something like that.

And, whichever way you look at the impasse the music business Catch 22 represents, a band like the Undertones can't win.

Currently, to quote several reliable sources, they're 'the greatest rock 'n' roll band in the world' , or 'the most enjoyable rock 'n' roll band on the planet', or even, 'the only band that sums up the true teenage fervour and excitment of the early Beatles'.

Hot stuff. But to the Undertones that's only half the story. So much waffle and 'shite', so much a rehash of their first shaky and successful year, that they themselves are already disillusioned about what the next step is going to be.

A dynamic true-life rock band from Derry who're holding aces up their sleeve? A forceful new band with no pretensions and nothing to lose who'll play until the fun runs out? Or, more simply, a band founded in the punk spirit who aren't quite sure what the next step is?

For each step is a new pitfall, a freshly-laid trap set by the music business that has taken a hold of them. To make a new album with a big producer, perhaps? To tear Britain apart with a string of hit singles and a coast-to-coast SRO tour? To make the first attempt towards breaking big in America? To the Undertones it's a case of all... and nothing.

A year into the music business they're changed and affected, yet ever more determined to stay the same. As singer Feargal Sharkey puts it: " We've learned quickly, we had to learn quickly. And, if I'm honest, a lot of the fun has gone out of it - the real fun we had when we first started and it was something different from doing a job.

"Now you realise you're in a different kind of job. You can't go on and on about something you've got to accept for what it is." Which, for the moment, is what the Undertones have done. They survived the entrance from Derry - swapping an early disinterest outside Northern Ireland for what seems to amount to a savage backlash in their home town. They had their early hits - nothing too spectacular, but they 're happy because there's nothing to live up to.

And now... now it's still time to carry on. To prove that what was a good idea can still work, stepping aside the Catch 22's and contradictions that seem to decree that a band like the Undertones can only be as good as they are at present for only the most limited

period .

Why not longer? Why not better? Why not go to America and find out? Guitarist and songwriter John O'Neill is himself confused. For him, almost invisible on stage, yet the writer of the best songs to date, as much as Feargal Sharkey - performer par excellence - Catch 22 is the phrase he returns to. You 're in a band, you want to play and have fun. Then you have to make records and sell them and that isn 't fun. But in order to sell records you have to make it sound as if you are having fun. Try it, if it sounds so easy.

That's the business, and it just might be better than having a job. Inpenetrably shy, John isn 't sure. "I think it was about four months ago it happened," he says. "We'd told John Peel that Feargal and Dee were leaving and he said he was glad in one way, sad in another. Glad that we were breaking up when it was so good, before it got worse. Then sad for us because it was ending so quickly."

Before you wonder, the storm blew over. The agonies were spared , But it's a thin dividing line that the Undertones have been aware of ever since. 

“I used to think that rock ‘n’ roll was the be all and end all.” John adds, helpfully. “I certainly don’t think that now.” I’d still like to thrive in a brief flash and then disappear. Not struggle on and become a snob, a musician, spending huge amounts of time and money taking things seriously.

“And I hate all the hype that goes with ot all____ do.” 

So it’s not John Peel (?) doctrine, that you should go as quickly as you came? 

“Oh, shi____not at all. We’ve been to An___ for all the good it’s done_____ making another album, we’re_____ing, it all goes on.

“But I can’t take it as a cateer, never. The _____nes will still be there and I’ll still _____ liking records. But as soon as someone comes up and calls me a musician I won’t want it. I’m not a musician, I’m not any good at all. It’s a bad term to use.

“I still believe in that simple punk thing – anyone can do it. And we are. I’d feel very guilty if we went and made a good studio single and added loads to it. I’ll always prefer it if it’s simple and we can enjoy it.

" Like the first album, everything, the mistakes are part of it." And he adds, gloomily: "By the time we get to the third LP we won't want any mistakes… and I think that's

when I'll want out."

But it must affect you surely, must make you keep on writing songs? As before John virtually wilts. "I don't know, I never know what to say. If everybody thinks you have a charm because you 're naive - and that's what they think about us - how long can that

last?

"Of course you 're going to change, but it's usually for the worse. Look at most bands, most people. It's two or three good years then dry up, or change for the worse. I never thought it'd be like that.  It's disappointing to watch other people, even, putting on an

Act, a show, keeping going because they have to.

" I think I could stick it out a couple of years then ... "

Back to Derry?

"... yeah . Derry is home. I like it there. I'm engaged there and I'll marry there."

The conversation doesn't close, but darkness does. We're a very long way from home; something like halfway through the Undertones first• American visit as "specially invited support" to the Clash, sitting in a bar called Boot Hill, drinking beer. Too early to bury the spirit of the Undertones just yet, so ... back to the beginning?

Predictably, perhaps necessarily. America brought everything back to the surface. Back to the "wild, wild rows" that were part and parcel of the Undertones life a year ago. The vote in favour of going was 3-2, this following a summer build-up to the autumn British tour. "We had nothing to lose," Feargal insists. No matter how bad it was we could get an idea of what was happening. And at least the next time won't be the first time!"

Nor, by a narrow margin, was the first time the last. They went, they saw, they conferred. Everything from disasters in Detroit, to encores in Boston, From a triumph to a near disaster in two nights in New York, the added bonus of a night playing on their own at Hurrah's (rapidly established as the club to break new British acts to the American "new wave" audience - if indeed such a thing exists) and finally the long trek up to Toronto for the final nights with the Clash.

By and large it was a great way to start - although the general level of exhaustion and weariness was beginning to tell even after four nights. An unhappier and more dejected group than the Undertones waiting for the car to Philadelphia (no, they didn't travel in the Clash tour bus!) I've never seen. Yet the very next night the band played a two-hour set at Hurrah's including numbers nobody had heard for a year.

And the arguments…

"Two nights at home," John complained when he found out. "then we've got to start the British tour again."

Billy, saddled with a hired drum kit that consistently fell apart, saved his spleen for Philadelphia, disappearing for an hour and rescuing an injured pigeon. Mickey and Dee, and even Feargal, were quiet, happy enough but never ecstatic.

There were leassons to be learned, and they were learning them. The contradictions again; who was doing what for the band? What were they doing there? How soon before they could go home?

In New York, Feargal sits in a fashionable Little Italy restaurant, a few short yards from the bums on the Bowery. Another hundred yards away is the “site” where Mafia boss Joey Galliano bought the farm, cigar in his mouth and the world on his conscience,

The rest of the band, eyelids drooping, have left Feargal to take care of business, talk to Sire, who have unquestioningly hihj hopes for the band in the US. Amidst the lobster remains and the record business chat he’s happy, displaying almost a semblance of what’s been dubbed his “cockiness”.

“And any band like us wants to carry on playing the way we started off playing, being pleased about things like a good gig; and sod the rest. But you’ll always have yje business to contend with, always be pushed into things like big tours, interviews… even an American tour that might be pointless.

“It’s Catch 22 all the time, so what can you do about it? Nothing, except play.

“I’m the one who gets annoyed at the others on stage because that’s what they don’t try to do. They just put their heads down and its just another gig, they don’t try to cope. I have to. I have to get the audience going… even when it’s bad.”

A night later it’s pouring with rain in New York. When The Undertones hit the stage there’s barely a quarter of a drenched audience inside, a bad sound and an odd mood. Despite the inclusion of a few new numbers and enough tension to light up the Empire State Building Feargal runs through the set – no introductions, no talk, nothing.

And it’s the first night without an encore, the start of a row that lasts for hours and an incident best forgotten. Point taken.

Everywhere else it’s our favourite Undertones. The helter skelter set that tears through and changes every night; girls, girls, girls and rock' n'roll. And the inclusion of the aforementioned Gary Glitter song as an encore (along with 'Teenage Kicks') isn't lost on the American audience, pick one night out of any two and the character of the Undertones, their enthusiasm and their songs are enough to melt stronger hearts than mine. All this and Feargal Sharkey too!

Who else could have ad-libbed through Boston by leaving the stage and sitting in the third row, letting the band thunder on. Then Mickey, on stage, shouting: "We're the Undertones from Derry! Would anybody out there like to come up and sing a song with us?" Sharkey, of course, with the small added bonus that he knew all the words to 'Whizz Kids'.

It was flashes like these,the gig at Hurrah's maybe, the sightseeing in New York, that made America worthwhile. America could be fun too, and: "We were just taking the piss out of them in Boston the - whole set," Feargal grins. "What did we have to lose?"

Even 3000 miles from home they have a dynamism, a whole fresh new quality that doesn 't look as if it could ever be swallowed up by any record company, any producer, any contract.

Would that it were all as easy, or easy to write about.

"We feel guilty sometimes when we read some of the things people write about us," John later confesses. "You feel as if you ought to say more, try harder. It's like the photographs too, half the reason why we don't like doing photos is because they never come out an good at all."

Catch 22, yet again. But the piece that they had been waiting for – a cover feature in the NME printed when they were away was once again devoured, then dismissed. "Crap," says Feargal, a sentiment echoed by the others, "It's all the same old stuff I read about us a year ago."

All the stuff in Mickey's biography, in fact. Mickey has, to date, written two histories of the band... and doesn't intend to stop there as the Undertones' Boswell. Feargal allows himself a wry laugh of sorts: "We meant the biography for people to use, but not as much as that!"

While John is even more non-plussed, having already turned down an interview with an American music mag (leaving it to Feargal, naturally) requested on the basis that "he wrote the songs."

"If we do a song that's a good record, good entertainment that ordinary people can relate to, that's all that matters," he says.

"I don't even like talking about it, I don't even know why they want to talk to me about it at all. If they're writing it down I don't even know the things you're meant to say. "I mean, you couldn't write a 48-page special on the Undertones because the songs aren't even that good. Anyone that does is taking it all too serious."

And it embarrasses you sometimes?

"Yeah, of course it does." John doesn't smile exactly; rather a shy, disbelieving expression crosses his face, He knows, but he doesn't want to say it. Really.

"You're always reading good reviews, too-good reviews. I have to be embarrassed when somebody writes that Undertones are 'the greatest rock 'n' roll band in the world'. We're not, perhaps we don't even want to be.

"I mean, I can go back to Derry, a place where I want to live, a place I enjoy living in, and nobody knows me as 'one of the Undertones'. I can relax, and there's no pressure on me. It's different for Feargal, of course ... "

Being instantly recognisable?

"That. And the slagging Feargal gets at home is really wild. It's a very conservative place, and he's under pressure all the time. But it does take the pressure off us, and he copes with it in his own way." 

I wonder about the reliance the rest of the band place on Feargal, the almost unselfconscious way they push him to the front of any situation off stage as well as on. In the year they've been battling - since that first John Peel radio exposure - Feargal has emerged ready to take on most things, from reporters to roadies, with a self-effacing cockiness that might seem to represent the rest of the band. Not so.

"He's the best ever on stage," John insists, "and we do leave a lot of things up to him. I'm the complete opposite, I can be up on stage and my mind wanders, I can't concentrate. Instead of doing an act I find it really hard. I'll be thinking: 'What time are we getting home at'?'

"Sometimes I think it's so stupid just being on stage, and after about two weeks of it you're knackered and just want to get home. It's one of the things about being in a 'group' and providing 'entertainment' that I'm not so sure about. It's like some of the best records you hear, in discos back home, you'd never, ever want to see live - it 'd spoil the whole thing. Then, if no-one ever played live you might as well have records made by robots.

"I can't work that out at all. You want to have a bit of yourself on the record, in the songs. Ordinary songs that ordinary people will like, without selling your soul just to make money. Then to do it right you have to get up and play them, every night until you're knackered and just want to throw it all up."

But surely if you're playing 'Teenage Kicks ' and 'Jimmy Jimmy' every night, and that's the songs people are demanding, you're going to have to make some sort of compromise?

"You do. We do. But with Feargal at least we don't get up and play the same big 'show' every night. I couldn't stand that. I remember about six months ago in the Casbah I sat in the audience and watched the Undertones playing without me ... and it was brilliant! I'd been thinking how much I'd really like to see us play and that night Feargal was brilliant, he was the Undertones on stage.

"Anyway, I'd like to think we meant more than a show."

Then again, says John, that's the sort of thing a band have rows about now and again. Wild rows.

Part of the time, he explains, it's a coming-to-terms with the business they're in. Hence: "When I first heard about the tour in Britain I just said no way, I'm not doing the first lot of dates", says John. "Then it was pointed out to me that if we didn't we could end up losing money, something we don't want to do. I was persuaded - as long as we had a break back home in the middle.

"Two weeks is long enough for any band to be on the road, although not everybody would agree with that."

The other part of the time, I'd explain (or their manager would explain, or their friends would explain) it's simply because the Undertones are such a different band. They have a charm, and they don't capitalise on it. They have a talent, and they don't push it because they themselves aren't yet convinced of how good that talent is. And they're still new, wide-eyed, open to influence, open to praise ... and open enough to say and do what they like.

The progress is slow and, yes, innocent. The only way it could be, or so it seems. The gang of five is now filtering into five distinct personalities. Keeping going, having rows, playing the gigs. Just doing the work. .

"It's not as if we see each other all the time," says John. "We've all got our girlfriends back home, our own friends. Then, me and Dee are the only ones who drink.

"I mean, I like going out on a Friday to a disco, getting drunk and listening to good records. It's not that bad . People have already pointed out that we should consider us fortunate to be getting paid £40 a week even when we're not working, and there must be a point there."

And that's nearly that. John, Mickey and Dee write the songs, Billy drums, and Feargal sings them. They're touring now, there' s a new album coming in January and everything good that anybody says about the Undertones on record and on stage is (almost always) true.

Which leaves us with the new single - 'You've Got My Number (Why Don't You Use It?)' - and a toast to New York, only because that was the first place I heard it. Here's looking at you...

John answers, slowly: "You know a lot of people have asked us: 'Why are all your songs about girls? Why not the Troubles? Why not the business?' Well, it's just that that's what happens in Derry. It's a very conservative place. Girls are expected to be girls and boys are expected to be boys. That's the way it is.

"But even then they don't understand us. Even when we started playing, when we actually wanted to be Feargal Sharkey and the Undertones, a lot of people didn't even know they were our songs!"

The Undertones Hurrahs New York 23rd September 1979

 

Here's a great set from those scamps, The Undertones, from back in 1979. September saw then on tour Stateside with The Clash on the latter band's 'Take The Fifth' tour. Looking at the excellent 'Black Market Clash' web resource, it would appear that the Clash had the night off on this day and this gave The Undertones, being as they were on the east coast, the opportunity to squeeze in a headline date for themselves in New York. With a set representing the best of (well make that most of) 'The Undertones' and 'Hypnotised' albums. Great fun then as now! Thanks to the original Dime uploader.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-bI6Stzr7zt

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-c05uGmIpsD

Ruddy 'Ooligans (Part 2) Burnel And Finchleys In Hemel Kidnap Caper (New Musical Express 5th May 1979)

Here is the original reporting of a 'bad boy' incident that has subsequently passed into Stranglers' lore. The abduction of journalist Ronnie Gurr during JJ's 'Euroman Tour'. I think that he is over it these days (Ronnie that is), he is now in the photobook line of business with his 'Hanging Around Books'... see can't be so sore still with that name. Stranglers in Iceland are included.... take a look.

Archive Interviews 1977

 

Music aside The Stranglers always had a lot to say and were rarely lost for an opinion be it on the perception of the band and their material or on the wider world at large. Never the easiest in front of the microphones of the media, here is Volume 1 of a handful of band interviews, starting from 1977. Thanks to the original author for the files.

WAV: https://we.tl/t-sjHbFoWXQC

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-uyuf2qcHCo

999 Old Grey Whistle Test BBC2 28th November 1978

 

Back in the day when three TV channels were your entertainment lot, viewing choice was limited. This limitation was further exacerbated by a household pecking order where the viiewing was dictated by parents or older siblings. And something that Generation Z will struggle with... nine times out of ten, there was only one 'device' available for viewing in the house... imagine that! For all of those limitations though I think it was the case that music programming was better than it is today.

I do have some sympathy for television network music programmers that are tring to cater for a music consuming audience that is scattered to the wind, those that still buy physical forms of music, streamers to those that get everything from social media and Youtube. Televisionwise. what we are then left with footage of the Glastonbuty Pyramid Stage each year with people vying to get on television with the help of their oversized flags or yet another series of 'Later...'. Alternatively, there is a BBC4 music thread on a Friday night that seems to be for the large part reuns of the good stuff from the 1970's, the kind of programming that I am on about!

In the 1970s, Top of the Pops was there serving as The Rezillos put it so suscinctly as a 'stock market for your hi-fi' whilst on the other side and late at night, 'The Old Grey Whistle Test' offered musical entertainment for a slightly older audience. With 'Whispering' Bob Harris at the helm, the programme focussed on 'serious' music combos... bands that released albums not singles. The new music hardly got a look in and when it did Harris seemed to have a wry smile that seemed to say 'Sorry, this is shit but I have to feature it'. All that changed with the arrival of Annie Nightingale who had the gumption to realise that there was more to this music than a three chord thrash. 

Under her, punk bands were invited, Buzzcocks, The Jam, The Damned, Public Image Limited. Some of these OGWT appearances were pivotal in band's careers, 'Tubeway Army's' apperance in '79 being a case in point.

Here then is some very good quality footage of one such appearance from the winter of '78 when 999 (minus drummer Pablo Labritain) graced the Old Grey Whistle Test stage for storming renditions of 'Homicide' and 'Let's Face It' from their second studio album 'Separates'.

I hope that this is OK, it is the first authoring that I have done for a number of years and it was a struggle to remember everything!

DVD Disc image: https://we.tl/t-24pHKuD8xV

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-on9CSjIrzG

These Animal Men 'Brighton Rocks' Zap Club 5th September 1994

 

Agreed, it's not Britpop, but it was close. Roughly in parallel timewise, the powers that be within the music press christened another scene 'The New Wave Of The New Wave'. This scene such as it was seemed to coalesce around two bands, 'These Animal Men' and 'S*M*A*S*H'. The two bands were okay, but for some reason, the NWOTNW did not enjoy the enduring appeal that Britpop has held for many over the past 30 years.

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-e6kWSIcadV

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-250ll04aCT

Blur Aston Villa Leisure Centre 5th October 1994

 

Now, so arguably the second biggest band to be associated with Britpop, Blur. Early on I thought they were great. Certainly, 'Modern Life Is Rubbish' and 'Parklife' were great listens but I tired of them quite quickly. There were some good songs after those albums for sure, 'Song 2' is a classic, but other singles whilst OK did not live up to my expectations. 'Charmless Man' for example tried to borrow something from the Ray Davies penned 'A Well Respected Man' but not as well, whilst 'Country House', the song that went head to head with Oasis's 'Roll With It' in a race to be top of the pops had the feel of a novelty song to me.

Whatever my thoughts about Blur, I have to admire the diversity of projects that Damon has got involved with over the intervening years, Gorillaz, The Good, The Bad & The Queen etc. 

Anyway, here they are at their peak in my eyes, from a time when everyone was thinking about their 'Pork Life'. 

FLAC: https://we.tl/t-1rH8EcyEu8

Artwork: https://we.tl/t-zV8owMmns9