I was working in Stoke for the weekend and saw that ‘Working Men’s Club’ were playing at the Sugarmill – they’d impressed me last year, so I popped along to see what they were up to.

Support was from Lazarus Kane who did a good line in driving, drum machine led, indie pop tunes. The (?)American lead singer has no issues with self-confidence – like a shameless Ian McCulloch…..

Working Men’s Club do a lot of insistent synth led pop too and being from Manchester will get compared (not unfairly) to New Order – their sound has ‘Factory’ written all over it. Swapping instruments they are very accomplished at what they do. The 3 males are animated and obviously well into it, with the lead singer stripping off his T-shirt with dance fuelled sweat. The female in the band was either very cheesed off tonight or is cultivating that ‘I don’t give a fuck’ persona that worked so well for Poison Ivy in the Cramps. Hilarious.

Bob the Chiropodist

To Celebrate the release of their new CD ‘Untied Kingdom’ The Commoners put on a gig at the Wardrobe at which there was printmaking by the wonderful Helen Peyton, free cake that several of the choir had lovingly made, support from Harmony Choir and a hilarious set by Mark Thomas.

Harmony Choir are based in Burmantofts in Leeds and proudly support refugees amongst their members. Singing a wide range of songs that included lovely African harmonies, they had us all singing about love and hope ( and there’s a snippet of them singing at the end of the new Commoners album).

Mark Thomas had us all laughing as he talked about some of the suggestions that got voted for in his ‘Manifesto’ series of gigs (2 goats on the floor of the house of commons at all times that must never be referred to…..free class A drugs for pensioners….) and noted that on virtually every occasion, someone would complain about the British National anthem. He contacted Boff Whalley to see if a new one could be made which started a looooong process of write and re-write as choir members argued the toss about the focus and direction of the song. Eventually ‘Not the National Anthem’ was completed and finishes the new album.

The CD is available in this lovely tied box with booklet badge and sticker…..you know you want one…….it has a thread theme of ‘Home’ running through it and the tunes are linked with snippets of foreign songs, sung by friends of the choir, who are UK residents but don’t originally come from here – what does ‘home’ look like to them? Here’s a little film by Phil and Carolyn that sets the scene.

Commoners Choir performed their album from start to finish with just one false start (those ‘grits’ at the beginning of ‘True North’ can be a bugger) and the addition of the Boris Johnson song after singing his old school song. Mark Thomas joined them for ‘Not the National Anthem’ before a rousing ‘Citizen Shanty’ ended the afternoon.

None of the pictures are mine so I hope Bruce Dalgliesh and Quynh Luong and anyone else I’ve inadvertantly pinched from don’t mind………(happy to take them down if you do)

Bob the Chiropodist

Oh, and Catherine from the Choir did this cryptic crossword for the event too…..

Oh, and there was another short feature before the main feature…..

So, I arranged to take Marisa back to Cardiff where she was starting a new job in a new house with new housemates – exciting. We then see on Facebook that our Jamie was playing that night in Cardiff supporting his mentors ‘Wonk Unit’……result! Sent him a text saying we’d see him there “Food before? Beer after?? Guest list???” Whilst waiting for a reply we play some Wonk Unit and the first track we play goes along the lines of “ask me for guest list and you’re dead to me mothafukka!” – quick text “Je M’appelle Alex – Hahaha” to which he replied “I wouldn’t dare ask him – I even buy tickets to Wonk gigs….and he’s our manager!”

First up were BOTTLEKIDS who had energy to burn and made a great noise. Reminded me of a poppy Metallica with their gutteral guitar sound cutting through. Good Stuff!

Next was Aerial Salad who have come a long way since I last saw them. Tight as anything with a brace of new songs they rocked the Welsh Club. Jamie has adopted a manc swagger whilst wielding his guitar that has the Stone Roses stamped all over it (fitting as he has the Roses lemon painting tattooed on his arm).

Last up were Wonk Unit who are dead funny and happy to take requests from the crowd (except for a guest list obviously). Their albums are really catchy and have been on repeat since the gig. Punk was/is all about doing it yourself and Alex via Wonk embodies this philosophy to the hilt (they even put on their own ‘Wonkfest’ Festival). Great to see them!

The night had been put on by the Cardiff Punk Rock Bowling society which was coming to an end after 11 years – the trophies were brilliant, especially the Joey Ramone ten pin trophy for most strikes – ace!

Bob the Chiropodist

A new decade of music started with a fundraiser for those lovely people at Cloth Cat who do such stirling work. If you’re music-minded and looking for a charity to support – give them a look. A fabulous night of music was rounded off by the wonderful Mestisa who now have a brass section that fits their Latin American sound to a T.

There was a lot of brass on show from Tshok who made a gloriously upbeat sound that you couldn’t stay still to. They all took turns at taking the lead and all did a great job. Can’t wait to see them again.

Chinchilla Death Cult are a heavy ska punk outfit who got off to a great start before the lead singer/guitarist pulled his calf and spent the rest of the set hopping on one leg….

I last saw From East To East supporting the Ukrainians – was impressed then and again tonight. They got the crowd dancing with their East European tunes, performed with gusto

There was a definite festival feel to Mestisa’s set as they also got the Brudenell crowd dancing and shouting for more. It was singer Barbara’s birthday which added to the joyous atmosphere. Their expanded sound (including ex-Chumba Jude on trumpet) worked really well and their performances just get better and better – go see them if you can!

As an added bonus, I won a makeover in the raffle – well, two makeovers actually so one went to the volunteer manning the stall – you deserve it!

Bob the Chiropodist