Here's another offering from Rebellion 2023, this time from Peter. Cheers! I must admit I am largely ignorant of Brix Smith and her band. I know from whence she got her surname and I did once see her play with The Fall at the Reading Festival in 1987, which to my continued shame I walked out of! I do know also that this set from the Opera House features '2 By 4' and 'Mr Pharmacist' both by The Fall.
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-2AHhFbDZLcuobe4C
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-LsimGeYNQgA1zrAL
Zounds were one of the many bands that I discovered during many hours of snooker playing in the bedroom of my late mate Matt Sands. Matches played over tens of frames were always soundtracked by the latest in his punk record collection. 'The Curse of Zounds' was one such album. Typically for me Zounds were one of a number of bands that called it a day at the point where I was discovering them. Crass were another example of this frustrating trend!
The aforementioned 'The Curse of Zounds' album included their first single, a three track EP in fact comprising 'War', 'Subvert' and 'Can't Cheat Karma' which went to number one in the Independent Chart. This may or may not have been at least in part due to the fact that the EP was released on Crass Records. Whatever the reason for its indie success, its a great record.
Before getting involved with Crass, Zounds were something of a feature on the free festival scene with the likes of The Mob and Here and Now. As the '70s gave way to the '80s things generally became bleaker and bassist/late guitarist, Steve Lake's writing took a more political turn.
Originally, disbanding in 1983, Steve Lake returned in 1998 with a new version of the band.
Thanks to Chatts for this one.
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-74hWFGOMVnjAd501
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-3OBEfkccyACaXuDL
The irrepressible Rezillos here, performing at 2023's Rebellion Festival and captured by Chatts. Cheers! A smattering of 'newer' material in this set.
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-Ch82DQFBCPFoGzQF
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-jDAreTgMMZRmWs3U
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-FuE9ABXfzg71geMG
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-FRu0EEgo6Sj4Okoy
In response to my posting of The Meffs recently, Krisinblack requested that I continue to post more music by new bands. This I am happy to do and courtesy of good friends of Aural Sculptors I have a clutch of lesser known bands, if not necessarily new bands, from Rebellion 2023 and 2025.
Here's another set from the wonderful Ramonas (thanks Chatts), this time 'Almost Acoustically'. Their electric set from the following Day (4th August) in the Empress Ballroom is on here and can be located from the right hand side bar of the site.
Good to see original material in amongst the Ramones songs.
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-u7JPnqTncrykKE5N
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-wGEsbyp87dLZfjAu
I am slow on the uptake these days. I have been aware of the name 'The Meffs' for a while, but they have crept up on me a bit. In mid-2025 they seem to be everywhere. From the front cover of 'Vive Le Rock' to a very high rotation on my Facebook feed. I can also see they have hosted a couple of home town festivals under the banner of Meff-Fest with some great bands on the bills. Things do indeed appear to picking up in Colchester. My son Rudi spent there years there (University of Essex) and the only acts I think he saw whilst living in the town were Ian McCullough and Chuckle Brothers!
I have no idea whether there is much love for The Meffs on here... give them a listen. This is a good sounding recording of the bands early doors gig in the Empress Ballroom on the Thursday by Peter... many thanks to him as ever!
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-Xkj2YpVBqo6JNn9o
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-NuqXCO1WSVfbpHOW
Billy Idol is not well represented on these pages as neither he nor Generation X for that matter have ever appealed to me. It always seemed to fly in the face of all that punk stood for to disband and high tail it to the US in order to become a bona fide 'rockstar'. There is also the other consideration that I really don't go for their material.
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-NhuC5eurxo
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-wz8MhgofrS
Okay, like him or loathe him, John Lydon's name is pretty much as synonymous with the term 'post-punk' as it is with 'punk'. We can argue into the middle of next week whether Lydon was responsible for punk and/or post punk but whichever side of the fence that you sit on it is undeniable that the bands that he was in, the Pistols and PiL, were a huge driving force behind these two musical ideas. Between them, Lydon, Wobble and Levine laid down something of a road map in 'Metal Box' that set the direction of British independent music for several years of the 1980s.
Like many bands Public Image Limited have suffered their trials and tribulations and there have been less than great albums released over the years. But when on form, the band have shone. This was repeated to a certain extent (at least in my opinion) with 'This Is PiL' when a version of the band (essentially the 'Album' era formation minus John McGeogh) reformed, buttered by the proceeds from some TV advertising that Lydon had been involved with.
Thanks to Chatts!
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-uCG6rivUBD
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-9STu4HDEw9
A rather poignant one this one, being as it was Geordie's last gig. As yet a gig not released and nothing on the cards. I did go to this gig and it was great but I was still miffed to have missed the warm-up gig at the 100 Club. In a foyer area I remember hearing something behind some manner of display. On peeking around it threre was none other than one Paul Cook and a mate, no doubt he was avoiding multiple requests for selfies etc.
Were it not for the loss of Geordie, I am sure that Killing Joke would have had a few more years/albums in them and who knows what we could have enjoyed, but I could never envision it without that guitar style of his.
Many thanks to Chatts for the share.
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-w2H3z7kaoQ
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-9NIUYmcxXf
Following on from last weekend's northern adventures with The Vapors here for your listening edification is a short festival set from 2023's 'Cruel World' event, a West Coast celebration of New Wave music, a type of festival that seems to be very popular at the moment in the US.
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-BcOxBz9Lp2
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-KOQwUg4wCK
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.
Gunta and I had the highest of hopes to get to this gig (or any of the European gigs for that matter, but this one in particular). We are fairly regular visitors to Cologne but have not paid a visit to Dusseldorf for quite a few years now, since Gunta's aunt Margot died and we had to sort out her 'estate' as well as funeral arrangements. A word of advice to all those people of my age and above... get a will sorted. On the occasion of her aunt's passing Gunta had to negotiate all of the necessary arrangements under German law which was a challenge and a half for a relative without a will! Here, all of these years on, we are still extremely grateful to a guy called Peter who also happens to be the person responsible for the sharing of this great record of the band's gig at Der Hof.
I have said it with every post I make on Ruts DC, but they are like a gigging machine and when they are not on stage they are preparing their next release in rehearsal or in the studio. It is an impressive work rate that this trio have going. It makes the UK Subs look like slackers!
A great career spanning set and I just love 'Despondency' being in the set.
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-8Xe5fTUBRx
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-aVndqOaqKO
According to Wikipedia the Shepard Risset Glissando (the Shepard tone) is an auditory illusion where a tone appears to continually ascend or descend in pitch when in fact it goes no higher or lower.
The Shepard tone is used quite extensively in the film industry as an auditory device in a cinematic score since it is understood to create a feeling of unease or tension in the listener.
Listening as I was recently to a radio documentary called 'The Ghost In The Machine', when at a point approximately 27 minutes in, the narrator gives an example of the tone both ascending and descending, something struck me. Now, I am no sound engineer but listening to these two tones, I hear strong similarities with some of the noises that Dave was making in the studio at around the time of 'The Raven' and 'The Gospel' albums, specifically the departure of the alien craft that closes the latter album and the run out on 'Genetix' on the former album.
The band always said that there was a bad or negative 'vibe' going on at the time. Was it the case that Dave and the band were aware of the Shepard tone and along with the heavy substances in use at the time, aspects of the music they were surrounding themselves with was a contributing factor to the perceived negative atmosphere within The Stranglers' camp at the time?
Just a thought.
The 'The Ghost In The Machine' documentary can be found here.
Right on the back of the news of Geordie’s death, the punk fraternity were hit with another huge loss. Shane MacGowan, original punk ‘face’ (Shane’s ears graced quite a few early photos of The Jam and The Clash), singer with the Pogues and later The Popes. Shane had been hospitalized with encephalitis for some time and things were not looking too hopeful for any kind of recovery. Then, there was some on-line pre-Christmas cheer with the news that he was out of hospital and homeward bound. I cannot say what happened next, whether he suffered a relapse or in fact his doctors and family knew that the end was near and he was discharged to allow him to be at home in his final days. It does not matter of course because either way the voice of the ‘70’s and ‘80’s London Irish has left the bar for the last time.
At the same time that Shane was starting to make a name for himself, on stage rather than off, with his band The Nipple Erectors, The Specials were melding the music of an earlier generation of immigrants into England with punk. A couple of years later, Shane’s next band, The Pogues, were doing something very similar. For The Specials it was the Blue Beat rhythms that the Windrush generation brought with them from the Caribbean that they so brilliantly combined with a punk energy/attitude. For The Pogues it was traditional Irish folk music that they again stunningly warped with punk. For me, the comparisons of the two bands can be taken a step further. Both bands formed during dark times in England… individual members of The Specials and the band itself existed at a time when the far right had a following that had not been seen since the Blackshirts of the B.U.F.. Their gigs were dogged by the National Front and British Movement hell bent on disrupting their gigs. Similarly, The Pogues came to prominence at a time when the IRA were very active in England. I cannot speak from experience, but London Irish life in the early ‘80’s could be unpleasant at times.
I saw The Pogues several times in the mid to late 1980’s thankfully. How can you adequately describe a Pogues gig….. a drunken party executed with the intensity of a pitched battle. I have been to hundreds of punk gigs over the years but I have never witnessed drunkenness on such a magnificent scale! And on each occasion I too was one of those drunken good natured combatants.
Off stage, I used to see Shane occasionally in Camden where we decamped to every weekend from where we were living in Kilburn, but I never spoke with him unfortunately. As I write this, Shane’s funeral cortege has passed through Dublin. Photographs indicate a huge outpouring of love and emotion for the man and his music.
Many bands, especially Stateside have adopted the musical style of The Pogues, but not have managed to achieve poetry, passion and sheer fun of the original.
Thank you Shane MacGowan (& The Pogues).
We were hoping to make it over to Germany for this one. We haven't been to the area since Gunta's aunt died in Dusseldorf some years ago and we have yet to see 999 abroad. However, she has just embarked on a degree course and is having to study for the first time in 40 years, so leisure time is a little restricted for now! Sadly, Ruts DC in Dusseldorf went the same way this year too. Next year we will do better!
Enjoy!
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-6qFy9lPbVT
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-9GK8W7LZZW
Couldn't bring myself to purchase The Telegraph, but for anyone who missed it here's Liz Kershaw's interview with JJ from 19th November 2023.
You know you’re getting on a bit when your pop idols become pensionable – and that’s if they’re lucky. In recent years, so many of mine have sadly slipped off all too soon to that great gig in the sky. Others have simply slipped on stage. Bruce Springsteen, 74, took a tumble during at least two gigs on his recent 50th anniversary world tour and had to cancel a few nights because of a mystery illness. Earlier this year Madonna, 65, (who also famously had a fall at the 2015 Brit Awards) was hospitalised due to a bacterial infection and had to postpone her 40th anniversary tour. Mick Jagger, 80, meanwhile, takes a preventative approach and travels with a mobile gym and a physiotherapist.
Clearly it’s a perilous business being an ageing rock star. So what does it take to ensure you’re stage-ready at 9pm when your peers are settled on a sofa with a cup of tea? Bassist Jean-Jacques Burnel is now the last man standing from the Stranglers’ original line-up.
Next year, at 72, he’ll notch up half a century as the driving force of one of our most innovative and enduring British bands. He lives with his partner in Provence, in his French parents’ old house, but was recently in the UK for the launch of his autobiography, Strangler in the Light, and to rehearse for the band’s Golden Anniversary tour, on which he’ll once again be thrashing his bass, karate-kicking at the crowd and ripping off his soaking shirts to get his pecs out. Fifty years on, Stranglers’ gigs are still mostly sold out – and an energetic business. So how does Burnel stay so fit?
“Touring is exhausting. You have to keep in good shape. It’s all down to respect for the people who’ve paid good money to see us. How many bands are still going strong after 50 years and can sell out the Royal Albert Hall in seconds? I used to be a punk and, as an angry young man, I was very anti-authoritarian and always getting into punch-ups. But this tour won’t be Last Night of the Punks. These days I’m much more disciplined. And I’m not ready to retire yet!
I’m a seventh dan in karate – [one of] the highest rated in the UK – so I’ve always worked really hard on keeping myself fit. I’m always busy with band stuff but I never miss exercising, indoors or out. My “religion” dictates that I do at least one training session every day. I do up to 100 press-ups and sit-ups and work on kicks and exercises to work the different muscle groups – whether I’m in a hotel room or at home, where I also do cold-water swimming in my pool or a nearby lake. Or I walk a mountain trail. But I don’t run because it’s bad for the joints.
The best exercise is to be on my feet on stage. Moving about on stage stops my backache for a couple of hours. I try to give it my all and I lose about two litres [3½ pints] of fluids during a gig – by the end I’m completely drained.
These gigs will be more than three hours long, and mainly in seated venues, with an interval… or rather a comfort break – a lot of our fans have been with us since 1974.
All the playing and travelling is gruelling and it’s so easy to let yourself go. So as well as making time for exercise, I insist on eating healthily: mostly protein and greens. I always eat breakfast – usually eggs, sometimes with bacon and brown sauce, but no bread and always fresh coffee. I’ll have a salad for lunch and in the evenings, at home, I like to cook fish, lobster, meat and veg. I’m partial to truffle oil and a dollop of crème fraîche. On tour we have a couple of cooks with us. If I do have to grab any junk food I’m filled with self-loathing!
Being French I like a small glass of rose with my lunch, home or away. But there’s no other booze before the gig. The band do enjoy a well-deserved drink while we chat through our post-match analysis. If we’ve had a really good night we might pop a bottle of champagne and then a couple of bottles of red. But nobody needs a hangover, just plenty of sleep. I’ll usually get to bed by 1am wherever I am and fall asleep to Debussy. And I don’t get up until 11 unless I have to be up and on the road early. I know it doesn’t sound very “sex and drugs and rock ’n’ roll” from the guy who was NME’s Stud of The Year in 1977! But still, I hope I’m not your standard septuagenarian.
I was only 21 when I met the other guys from the band. I’d just dropped out of uni when I picked up a hitchhiker near Guildford one night and met his mates, and next thing I was invited to replace him in their band. We all lived hand to mouth above the off licence owned by our drummer, Jet Black. By 1976 we were getting 200 gigs a year in pubs. Jet would collect our 25-quid fee and then treat us to Kentucky Fried Chicken, which I loved back then – though I wouldn’t touch it now.
I had no fat on me but I wasn’t scraggy. I was a little kid in London in the hungry 1950s, when food was still rationed. But my dad was tall and muscular, from Viking stock, and my mum was tall and beautiful, so I had good genes. So I was already over 6ft at my all-boys grammar school. I played rugby and as I was always getting into fights I’d taken up boxing, so I already had muscles when I discovered a karate club at uni.
As a student I had no idea how to talk to girls. Six years later, when the Stranglers were on stage there for the first time, I was an absolute babe-magnet! There’d be girls queueing up outside my hotel room door. And then top models are all over you and you’re invited to fashion shows and Grace Jones jumps out of a cake for you at a party and famous rock stars’ wives are blatantly chatting you up… It all got so weird. How did I cope? I was like a kid in a candy shop – I just went for it! I’m told I’m still cute, but actually I’m not that bothered about sex anymore. Lower testosterone – it’s a fact of later life.
On this tour we’ll be playing songs from our catalogue of around 200 from 18 albums. We’re playing some of the more obscure ones live for the first time. Back in the day we were trying to be clever and they’re quite complex arrangements and hard to play now. I’m having to get my head – and fingers – round all the notes and regain muscle memory. To be honest, we were off our heads on mind-altering drugs back when we wrote them.
For one whole year, me and some of the other guys decided to take heroin to see if it inspired us creatively. We’d inhale lines of heroin (for a high) mixed with coke (for energy). It did produce a different kind of album! But I was going to bed at dawn and sleeping all day. I was 30 and in a pathetic physical state. As thin as anything, just skin and bones. Dave [Greenfield], our keyboard player, took charge. I went cold turkey, which was grim, and after two or three days I vowed I’d never touch the stuff again.
What saved me was that I never injected anything. That and karate, which has helped me hold back – though getting injured goes with the territory. I’ve torn cartilage, muscles and tendons, broken bones and had two screws in my leg and done a whole Stranglers tour on crutches. But karate has kept me on an even keel and, as well as keeping me physically fit, it’s a much-needed coping mechanism. A way of life. A philosophy. “Never give up. Persevere. Remain faithful. Respect yourself and others.” I now share this with the students at my Shidokan karate school in London, which I set up more than 30 years ago.
Emotionally, the last six decades have been a real rollercoaster and at times I have struggled with my mental health. At my lowest point I tried to top myself. Our fifth album, [The Gospel According to the] Meninblack, came out in 1981 and went straight to number eight in the charts, but the next week it had disappeared. We were skint. I thought it was all over, so I took myself off to my garage… Luckily I really was a failure!
Hugh Cornwell, our singer, called me after a gig in 1990 and said he was leaving us. All the band’s assets were then frozen. I had no money. I had to sell my motorcycles to feed my kids. The highs have been getting my pride and the band back on track.
The Stranglers have never been seen as soppy, because we’ve never written love songs. But on our last album, Dark Matters, in 2021, two songs are about love. One [And if You Should See Dave…] for my friend of 45 years, Dave Greenfield, who we lost to Covid. Plus The Lines is about still being able to love yourself when you look in the mirror and have to face up to ageing.
Some of my peers are having Botox and dying their hair. I think they look ridiculous. I just accept the wrinkles and white hairs – as well as a bad back, detached retinas and hearing loss. I’ve yet to write a song about incontinence!
One thing that I’ve learnt over the years is that you can’t go on stage wasted. If I am tired one morning, that’s a pain, but if it gets so that I wake up every morning knackered, then I’ll think about packing it in. But I have to be doing something. I can’t bear lying around on beaches. I’d still be revving up my motorcycle or hiking with my dog in the mountains. And jamming in a local blues band with a founder member of the Yard Birds. Oh, and enjoying the Telegraph crossword every Saturday! And my little grandkids, aged two and three, who are the real stars now. Don’t tell anyone, but I’m a big softy really.”
