That's New York for ya

So, I'm on the Subway in New York and my wife sits down with my daughter next to a guy that turns out to be Richard Lloyd, guitarist and founder member of Television. I have a brief chat with him 'cos he gets off at the same stop as us, and for what it's worth, I mention RTYD and give him my card. He says he's recording for a Jimi Hendrix tribute record that is coming out soon and that he is due to play a show at the Borderline in early Oct.

How cool is that!

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.

Live Wires at The Hope

Went to meet Live Wires and see them play at The Hope & Anchor last Thursday night. They are making their RTYD debut at the next PUNK-ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP gig at Dublin Castle on Wednesday 16th June.

They are: Nick Cooke - vocals and guitar,  Paul Waterman - guitar & vocals, Stevie Buckerfield- bass and Greg Ball - drums.

It also turns out that I have booked Paul and Stevie to play an acoustic slot at The Libertine, but I hadn't made the connection, so that's cool. Nice blokes. Offered to buy me a drink and gave me a copy of their new CD, which is great.

The gig was not well attended but the band put on a show anyway. Nick Cooke was energetic and suitably manic in his role as front man, stepping out onto the floor once free of his Telecaster. Their music was definitely the post punk end of the genre. Not Gang of Four, but maybe earlier Magazine or Wire. And a bit Good Vibration label, Belfast punk.

Before their performance, Nick had to make comfortable his mother and her friend, who proudly and loyally attend Live Wire gigs with some frequency. And why not?

I am proud to have Nick and co. as members of this family too.

The Stabilisers open the Xmas-Punk-Rock-Til-You-Drop night

It was a pleasure to have the Stabilisers open the Xmas-Punk-Rock-Til-You-Drop night on Thursday at the Hope & Anchor. Led by the charismatic Jon Stabiliser, they were playing for the first time in ten years or so with RTYD member Steve 'Istvanski' on guitar. Playing though a ginornous Line6 & Trace Elliot guitar rig, Istvanski played like his ten year solo career had never happened, and came on like a feedback-toting, Tooting and Mitcham-supporting Pete Townshend.

They kicked off with the hilarious I Feel Like Jimmy White, and 30 or so energetic-minutes later closed with the wonderful Piss. Their sound seemed to borrow from late-70s/early-80s US punk/new wave bands like the Ramones and the Dickies, as well as some of their British counterparts such as (early) XTC, and those legends of the Hope & Anchor, The Stranglers.

They bought a loyal following and generously handed out copies of their current 5-track CD. I hope to have them back in the New Year. Don't miss that show.

Rock-Til-You-Drop-Radio Show #5 (A punk special featuring 14 Carat Grapefruit, Punks Not Dad and The Outbursts)

Have flyers, will flyer

18 years ago you would have often found me, and my very supportive partner at that time, standing outside the Camden Falcon in all weather, handing out A5 photocopied flyers to promote my band's gigs around town.

In the next few weeks, you may well find me again with hand outstretched, bearing a flyer (full colour, these days! - Ed), though not outside The Falcon, 'cos like many venues of the early-90s, it has since been turned into flats (that's another blog - Ed again).

This month I'll be mostly flyering the Punk-Rock-Til-You-Drop gig at the Dublin Castle on Wednesday 16th September.

Now, there's a series of punk gigs at the Underworld in the next couple of weeks, which would be good to flyer. There's one tonight, but the wife's out, so that ain't gonna happen. Never used to have that problem, of course, 18 years ago; the 'wife' then would come too. That 'wife' and I, though, didn't have a 6 year old daughter.

I'd like to get out to see more gigs, flyer more gigs, meet more people, and bands, but there just isn't the time there used to be to do such old fashioned things.

Did get out to see The Gowletts the other night in Willesden, and I'm going to see Magic Ship at the Half Moon in Putney on Saturday night. But more often than not, I am duty-bound to stay in and forced to promote Rock-Til-You-Drop to the outside world, like this. And I fucking hate the pressure to blog, too. That Colin Gilman is a natural. Not me.

I will have already spent bloody hours doing god-knows-what and appearing to achieve very little, before I get round to the matter of the blog. I also feel too guilty to spend too long at the computer. I spend a lot of time with my daughter at home, and I don't wanna give her the impression that being on the computer is most of what I do. Or more importantly, what she should do. I'm sure that's a modern-parenting hang-up; it used to be watching too much TV, now it's spending too much time on the computer that is the concern. It's probably my fault that my daughter is already working on her own website and .com business. Thankfully, though, she also likes drawing, and is already showing an interest in making music.

So I get back on it (the computer, that is) when she's in bed, and by 11:00pm, my hands ache, my back aches, my eyes are burning, my head is spinning. Like now. I have to stop. But there's still so much more to do. Like the links on this blog. Then the wife comes in, in a loquacious mood after a few too many, and wants to chat. And I can't listen, cos I just wanna get this fucking thing finished.

I'll shut up about it now.

Anyway, the next punk gig at the Underworld that is worth flyering is on a night that I am rehearsing with my band - so that's out, too. Another is on a Sunday night. Great! Going out at 10:30 on a Sunday night to flyer a fucking gig.

I hope you enjoyed the blog, anyway.