Enter Doug Hamilton, into Stevie Buckerfield's small world.

 

Another fine time was had by all present at the ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP Acoustic Afternoon at The Libertine this Sunday. Tributes to John Lennon, who would have been 70 had he not been in the Beatles, were delivered by nearly all the acts who, as well as knowing John Lennon, not personally of course, all seemed to know Stevie Buckerfield of Live Wires, Bourbon Street Revival and acoustic duo Waterfield, the latter bringing him and his cronies to South East London on ths sunny Sunday afternoon. Thanks god for Stevie Buckerfield and his musical promiscuity!

Opening act Not Just Any Tom, Nick & Harry, brought two generations of the family, son Harry, aged just 15, playing bass in support of dad and mum team, Tom and Nick, on guitar/bvs and lead vocals respectively. And what a bass player Harry already is.

When they get together with two acoustic guitars and their shared love of 70s new wave music, Stevie Buckerfield and Paul Waterman call themselves Waterfield. On Sunday, they delivered a perfect mix of new wave covers and original Waterman songs of lost innocence and nostalgia.

RTYD member Doug Hamilton had come all the way from Frome near Bath in Somerset with his repertoire of funny songs about crashing computers, spam - not the processed meat - and Christmas - not the religious festival but the consumer-driven one. A real pleasure.

The afternoon was capped off by four-piece, the Acoustic Cavemen, who played a refreshing  mix of 90s/00s covers including the Pixies, Echo & The Bunnymen and Arctic Monkeys, kept buoyant by some great percussive accompaniment.

A short review: PUNK-ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP at The Dublin Castle

Wednesday night was PUNK-ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP night at The Dublin Castle. 14 Carat Grapefruit, Punks Not Dad and The Stabilisers came out to play, plus post-punk, new dads on the block, Live Wires.

14 Carat Grapefruit were first on stage and attracted the biggest crowd of the night, delighting them with their mix of filth (I refer specifically to their new song Porn Star), insult and bigotry. I'm still laughing! And I've lost count of the amount of times I've seen them play. It's got to be more times than Pavement now.

Last Christmas Punks Not Dad had to cancel appearance at PRTYD because of snow storms in Wales, where 3/4 of the band live, so it has been a year or so since we've seen them in London. Tonight they are less than ten days away from their Glastonbury debut, which is really exciting, as is the news that the Times article is due to be appear in the paper the same week. They played new material including a song about Tescos, their new single the IKEA-inspired I Can't Get It Up, and a cover of Jeff Beck's (correct me, if I'm wrong) Hi-Ho Silver Lining, re-titled Hi-Ho Silver Surfer! Always a pleasure to have them down from Wales, and in Johnny Cardigan's case, up from Brighton.

The Stabilisers, who have already played more gigs than Quo this year - you didn't realise Quo were still touring did you? Well, they haven't stopped since 1968. And it is they, of course, who have an album called Rock 'Til You Drop. Good name for a mature musicians' network, that). Where was I? The Stabilisers. As professional as ever. With that 'Jimmy' song, not Page or Hendrix or Pursey or Choo or Young, but White, no less. And why not?

And so, Live Wires. I haven't mentioned that, by now, we are running late and Live Wires are understandably anxious to get on stage. I am not Mr Popular, as I lose myself in the enjoyment of the evening, as well as, sight of stage times. Also, as each band leaves the stage, a small-portion of the audience leaves the room never to return. Live Wires are left with the dregs: Tox, Otto, Matt Russell (Outbursts), Istvanski, Simon and Jon Stabiliser, and me, and an enthusiastic handful of curious indie kids from the bar, who they proceed to impress enough to get an 'encore'. I like these guy, Live Wires, I mean. They bring a flavour of Wire and early Magazine to the punk club, as well as one word song-titles like Sublimate and Attitude. In one word song title - Brilliant.

To view videos from the gig go to: http://www.youtube.com/user/RockTilYouDropVideos, where you will also find a couple of songs by The Outbursts, represented on Wednesday night by bassist Matt. These two new original songs were filmed during their appearance at Peter Parker's Rock 'n' Roll club, a few weeks back. All I'll say is: don't play 'em to the kids!

Cheers, T.

14 Carat Grapefruit close the Xmas-Punk-Rock-Til-You-Drop gig

So we opened with the Stabilisers, then came the presentation of the 2009 RTYD Awards (news of this in the next post), which was followed by The Outbursts and that punch. Punch of the year. There's a new category of award for 2010; along with Man of the Year, as suggested by Colin Gillman, who of course aims to win that one.

And last up, finally, at gone 11pm comes the patient and slightly gig-weary 14 Carat Grapefruit. No band likes this slot, but they have to play it 'cos their bass player Lem has another commitment that evening which means he can't play an earlier slot. Whenever they play, they never disappoint though. According to Otto's recent blog on the gig, he forgot the words to the opening number, which was their very own Christmas song. Hilarious it is, of course. I didn't notice any cock-up. I, like many around me, was probably too busy laughing.

The audience has shrunk to a meagre ten or so people, but 14 Carat always don't seem to care. We don't either. We feel lucky.

This is the end of a busy year for The Grapefruit. Word is that they're gonna play a little less in the new year. But they tell me the experience of working so hard in 2009 has been beneficial to the band as a whole, and has also served to strengthen the commitment and conviction of those who may have felt any ambivalence about being a part of it.

The band run through all the faves. And try to leave the stage without Otto doing a rendition of I Got A Little List. He is not allowed to leave the legendary basement venue without delivering. And I am honoured to be included in his list of the loathsome, in my capacity as the promoter who puts his band on long after the majority of punters have begun their journeys home.


Otto kindly gives me an inflatable pink guitar that I bring home for my daughter. She is delighted. She takes it to primary school the next day and begins spreading the word about 14 Carat Grapefruit in the playground there. Imagine them doing matinee performances like The Pistols used to do for the school-age kids! There's a thought.

Punches fly as the spirit of '77 returns to the Hope & Anchor

Trouble broke out last night during The Outbursts' set at the Xmas-Punk-Rock-Til-You-Drop gig at the Hope & Anchor, recalling the days when young punk bands, such as the Stranglers and X-Ray Spex, dodged spit and beer glasses, playing in the same room to audiences of amphetamine and lager-fuelled teenagers. This, however, was grown men, mature musicians and music fans getting a little too carried away by the punk-Christmas-spirit of the occasion.

Not long into The Outbursts' set, some fairly good natured pogoing quickly developed into a bit of antagonistic argy-bargy, with members of 14 Carat Grapefruit being knocked around like pinballs by the Essex contingent who had clearly travelled to the gig to cause trouble. Where's Jimmy Pursey when you need him?

The tension built steadily during the performance but when the Outbursts' singer Ian Breslin's Persil-white bondage punk outfit was doused in red wine by one drunken member of the Trouble-Makers. This was the straw that broke The Outbursts' bass player's back. So, mid-song he calmly lifted off his bass, stepped down off the stage into the audience and made his way to the heart of the Trouble-Makers and lamped the culprit full in the face.

He then calmy returned to the business of making punk music, as if nothing had happened. Insults continued to fly between the band and the trouble-makers. Some further argy-bargy carried on, and looked like boiling over, until the Outbursts' bassman threatened to remove his instrument once again. This was enough to frighten the Trouble-Makers to retreat into a dark corner where they stood continuing to hurl harmless football terrace-style abuse, and to make jokes about red-red wine, until the end of the show.

'Tonight we're gonna party like it's 1977' declare The Outbursts on their MySpace page. They're not kidding.

More reviews and reportage from this excellent night of music, featuring The Stabilisers and 14 Carat Grapefruit, as well as news of the winners of the first ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP AWARDS 2009 in the next blogpost, coming shortly.

A band down

Batten down the hatches.

Unfortunately, a moment ago the skies were clear. It was bright and sunny. Now, though, the skies have darkened, the wind is up and there is a flurry of snow. Snow storms are forecast for the evening and morning. As is travel chaos, of course. The first casualty of this bad weather is the bill of tonight's Xmas-Punk-Rock-Til-You-Drop special at the Hope & Anchor, which will no longer include the wonderful Punks Not Dad, three-quarters of whom would have had to travel from Wales.

Still, as both Esther Rantzen and Sham 69 once said, "That's life".

The show will go on, thanks to The Stabilisers, The Outbursts and 14 Carat Grapefruit, and DJ Dog-Headed men. KO 8pm.

TV Smith and Gaye Advert at the punk ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP gig

There was a rumour that Tim Smith (AKA TV Smith, former front-man for The Adverts) and Gaye Advert (former bassist) were coming to watch Punks Not Dad at the punk Rock-Til-You-Drop gig at The Dublin Castle last night.

This rumour became a likely event about 8pm when I added their names to the guest list. And the likely event became a reality, when they walked into the pub about 9pm.

The Adverts are my favourite punk band. At secondary school, just before I belatedly discovered The Doors and decided I wanted to be Jim Morrison, I wanted to be TV Smith. I prized myself into the tightest drainpipes, bought the skinniest black ties and made my own badges like he did from newspaper headlines, in order to think, and feel something like I thought TV Smith did - which was probably quite uncomfortable, especially around the groin.

I wanted to write songs using the kind of imagery that TV Smith did. I was into all things apocalyptic back then and his lyrics always really inspired me to write more songs about, what in the early 80s appeared to be, inevitable Armageddon. And this was before I could even play guitar. I didn't have to know what his words meant, I just knew they sounded cool. I even called my first band and proper song, which included a bar-chord progression, 'Subterranean', after this line in The Drowning Men from 'Crossing The Red Sea with The Adverts'.

We're the subterranean vandals,
Tying air lines around door handles.

I like this one too:

The mutant freaks fantastical.
Knife's edge, unreal or actual.
Ambition stunted, the future fated.

(© TV Smith)

Having once before stood only six feet away from Tim at a back-stage bar, and on that occasion not plucked up the courage to say hello, I wasn't going to miss the opportunity last night. Anyway, this time I had a good reason, as promoter of the act he and Gaye had come to see, to introduce myself. Which I did.

Both Tim and Gaye we're lovely and were happy to pose for a photograph with me, which was sweet, and also meant I didn't need to Photoshop one up this morning.

The gig:

The gig itself was a real hoot and another great opportunity to socialise with active members of the RTYD network. The night opened with a storming set by South London three piece Probing Cranks, whose sound seems to owe something to the likes of The Stranglers and Killing Joke. They were followed by Punks Not Dad, who did not disappoint. They played all the faves, including In Me Shed, We Are The Dads and of course, Gaye Advert's Eyes, as well as their newest song I Can't Get It Up. They even bought a piece of IKEA furniture for the audience to assemble and graffiti during the latter song, which was a nice touch.

Although Punks Not Dad would have been a hard act for most bands to follow, 14 Carat Grapefruit managed to equal the entertainment value of their comic-punk allies. They unveiled two new songs My Mate Dave and a two-chord wonder, written especially for the occasion, and Otto Pthrugg had us in stitches all over again, ranting and raving his way through songs from the band's album Long Time Coming.

The Outbursts also put in a fantastic performance playing their own brand of garage punk with menace. Lead singer and keen fisherman Ian put in a suitably snarling vocal performance, and new-boy, guitarist Neale, played like he had been in the band for years.

DJ Dog-Headed Men entertained us between bands with quirky cover versions of punk classics, like To Drunk To Fuck and Gary Gilmore's Eyes, in bossanova and easy-listening styles, which added even more humour to the ocassion.

Great night, great bunch of people.

We must do it again, before too long.