Scratch

I’ve tried before – But this is the first time I’ve managed to get to see the living reggae legend that is Lee Scratch Perry (he’s 80 later this month) and I sincerely hope it won’t be my last. A fantastic backing band for him to chatter over….a perfect combination.

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The night started with the Mad Professor playing reggae tunes new and old whilst dubbing them up to full effect. Digger and I lookwd at his mixing desk in a box, turned to each other and said “I want one!” He played the drums for one track and said the first one to guess could have a CD. It was Stevie Woders ‘Superstition’ which I shouted out but no one heard – then a girl behind me shouted it out and he did here. “Come on up” so up she got – he hands her the mic “now you got to sing it”…….thank goodness he didn’t hear me!

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What can you say about Lee Perry that hasn’t been said already. Master producer in his Black Ark studio, responsible for some of the best loved reggea songs ever, and mad as a box of frogs. He came on clutching a teddy bear, with bling on every finger and mic decoration that included mirrors and feathers. He greatly recieved a rubber duck off someone in the crowd and put it in his pocket like a prized possession. At 80, he was still spliffing it up on stage causing the potent smell of ‘erb filled the place…..

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They did a fantastic set including “Happy Birthday’ (nice as it was Martins Birthday) ‘Police + Thieves’ and ‘Curly Locks’ finishing with ‘Exodus’. The band were tremendous, especially the bass player who looked to be doing not much, but was making some amazing rhythms. Lee would start the first line of each song oftenchanging the words (so “I’m gonna put on an Iron Shirt” became “I’m gonna put on my Iron Boots”) then drift off into a word association ramble about ‘my fans’ or war or…I don’t know…but it was fantastic! Shaking hands with those at the front he asked one large chap who’s partner he’d just hugged “Do you love her?” “yeah” “Then why don’t you do hexercise?”…..Top night

Bob the Chiropodist

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Bass

A couple of years ago I heard a Mavis Staples song on Gideon Coe’s 6Music show and the bass on it (played by Jeff Tweedy) just blew me away. I came across the track again a few weeks ago and it inspired tonights topic…..some of the regulars couldn’t make it but Matt was able to join us for the first time. Fine cheese and then a fine cake to celebrate Si P’s birthday as he made a late appearence with a cake and a CD….with a bass…made from a bass on it…..Si E managed to get the most bass guitars in one band (5….yes 5!)……it was a heavy night….

 

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https://open.spotify.com/user/sjeast/playlist/7u8otnRcmFxcjU5TDiPI8z

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Having never got to see the Ramones live….and now never will as most of them aren’t alive……I’m happy to say that The Ramonas are a great second best and do an excellent job of bringing their tunes to life……..in their full “1-2-3-4” glory! Went with Sledge who did get to see them on more than one occasion – once with The Fall and John Cooper Clarke in support….what a night that wouls’ve been!

Nervous Twitch

Support tonight was from the fabulous Nervous Twitch who play punky pop that the Buzzcocks would be proud of – every one was a winner! Got there first cassette and have just ordered the second. Previously saw them supporting Kid Congo and can’t wait to see them on their own – Great stuff!

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I’m not normally one for tribute bands but The Ramonas were different – playing Rocket to Russia and Road to Ruin back to back (they did the first 2 Ramones LPs on their last tour) with only a “1-2-3-4” between the songs with energy, attitude and attention to detail that had everyone in there smiling and singing along……how could you not love it. Made you realise how many ace songs they had

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Nice to bump into Daniel on his birthday and we’ll make sure Helen’s at the next one!

Bob the Chiropodist

PS Enjoyed the Nervous Twitch tape so much that I emailed Marc Riley on the Wednesday and sent him a link to their Bandcamp page – he read it out saying he hadn’t heard of them but would give it a listen. Thursday he played a track and on the following Monday had them live in session on his show……what a top bloke!

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6 buzzcocksKhalid and Lucy got me tickets for the Sunday of this years 6Music festival Even at £40 a day, they’d sold out in minutes so I was much obliged. Only problem, it was on St Valentines day……so Lee and I did something special on the Saturday instead and went to see ‘Wit’ at the Royal Exchange in Manchester (admiring her mum and dads memorial plaque whilst getting the tickets). An AWESOME performance by Julie Hesmondhalgh who never left the stage and was barefooted in a hospital gown throughout – It deserves to picked up for a London run for sure!

01 witPOSTERIMAGEwebsite532The Sunday of the 6Music festival was a great day. Shook hands with Gideon Coe, chatted  with Chris Hawkins and Liz Kershaw, made some new friends and saw some great stuff…..Lucy organises ‘Window Wanderland’ on good will and a zero budget. The idea is to get everyone on the street to make their window into a work of art. Walking the street at night is then like walking down an art gallery. A great idea that spreads a real community spirit – it’s coming to a city near you – It’s on next weekend in Bristol – check out the web-site  She was a bit shy of giving out the cards she’d had printed up so I took up the challenge……cropped-ww-website-bannerTo kick the day off, Lucy and I heading for the Trinity centre where ‘This is the kit’ started off the music in a laid back Sunday morning kind of way…..1 this is kitOne of the best things I saw was the film about ‘DJ Derek’ that Don Letts has done – there was a rough cut of it and a discussion conducted by Gideon Coe about the Bristolian legend that made you wish you’d known him…..a 72 year old white reggae DJ with an obsession for Wetherspoon pubs – something to aim for I recon. He suddenly disappeared in July last year. The film won’t be finished til we know what happened to him….Screen Shot 2016-02-16 at 13.55.51Cerys Matthews interviewed John Grant as part of her Sunday morning show and what a lovely bloke he was – dead funny with a passion for Cabaret Voltaire “All my bass lines are stolen from them”. He speaks 5 languages and his last LP was called ‘Grey Tickles (Icelandic for Mid-life-crisis) and Black Pressure’ (Turkish for Nightmare).2 John GrantThe big curtain was then drawn back to reveal a lovely stain glassed window and we were invited to watch a recording of Mark Radcliffes Folk show for Radio2. We ducked out quite early on to get back to the house to feed kids and pick up Khalid.3 Mark Rad showThe evening session was across 2 venues in the same building and started at 4pm with a set by Guy Garvey in the bigger Colston Hall. By all accounts he’d been rather tired and emotional the night before but it didn’t seem to hinder him – quite enjoyed it but we were in the mood to Rock……

Khalid and I left before the end to catch the beginning of Moonlandingz – the Most Rock’n’Roll thing we saw all weekend! The sound quality wasn’t great but the volume was – what a performance!MoonlandingzLias Saoudi and Rebecca Taylor were like and anti-Nancy and Lee – if he wasn’t off his box, Lias (dressed only in skimpy undies which allowed his meat and 2 veg to escape on several occasions) made a great impression of someone who was. Great fun and a much longer set than last time I saw them thank goodness.Moonlandingz2We saw a bit of ‘Julia Holter’ and a bit of the ‘Blue Aeroplanes’ but spent most of that time gabbing to K+L’s friends on the comfy seats in the bar area whilst giving out more Postcards to interesting looking passers by. There were lots of DJ’s playing ‘banging tunes’ in the lobby to keep up the party atmosphere….4 foyerHe was so entertaining earlier and having previously missed John Grant I was keen to see him – and was so glad I did. Great songs and a great sound as he shimmied about the stage – great stuff!4 John GrantWe popped in to see the Pop Group but once again the sound wasn’t great and there was a mass exodus which was a shame. We got chatting to Lucy’s friends, one of whom was the girlfriend of ‘Chris’ – the Buzzcocks bassist. Lucy was exhausted so Khalid and I got her home and returned for Bolton’s finest who were an inspired Valentine choice. ‘Love You More’ ‘I Don’t Mind’ ‘Ever Fallen in Love’ ‘What Do I Get?’ The sound was excellent and they were obviously enjoying themselves. Pete Shelley was looking rather Gnome-like (I’d buy a Shelley-Gnome with a guitar instead of a fishing rod if the Merch people are listening…..)5 buzzcocks

Post Script

Was in the kitchen telling Lee about the week end….
Me: “..and I got to shake Gideon Coe by the hand”
Sally (aged 10) looks up puzzled: “Is he one man?”
Me: “….er…..yeah….?”
Sally: “That’s his name?”
Me: “…yeah….First name ‘Gideon’…second name ‘Coe’”
Sally: “Oh, I thought it was a group – ‘Giddy and Co’…”

Bob the Chiropodist

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Public Service Broadcasting, particularly by the BBC, is a wonderful thing (see last post) and Public Service Broadcasting are a wonderful band. We’ve been big fans for a few years in our house, watching them grow from a quirky indie band, to festival regulars (I happily missed Dolly Parton to catch them at Glastonbury) now able to fill much bigger venues. Leeds Uni Refectory is steeped in musical history, but is an awful place to watch a gig if you’re under 6ft tall. From halfway back in the hall, Lee (who is 5ft ‘not very much more’) couldn’t see a thing so went forward, weaving her way through the crowd. Ended up a lot closer – but still unable to see much (and half the fun is watching J. Willgoose, Esq. somehow managing to play everything at once). To add insult to injury, the merch desk had no small womens T-shirts to add to her collection – the small mens just doesn’t fit the same……Maybe  it’ll shrink in the wash…..all very height-ist.

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Support band ‘All we are‘ had a mellow dance sound going on – kept on wanting them to rock out and crescedo but they kept an even keel with groovy bass lines.

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For this tour, PSB have expanded the band (all still wearing school teacher tweed jackets and big specs) and expanded the stage set (which now includes a model of Sputnik centre stage). All their crowd communication is still via an electronic BBC 1950’s voice “Yes!” There was a very funny animated video at the start with a story of 2 friends, one who quickly took the odd photo at gigs thereby respecting those around him, and one who took long videos of poor quality on his huge bright phone that annoyed everyone around him and didn’t get any hits when put on YouTube. He eventually dies when rejected by all his friends because of it – “Don’t let this happen to you!”. Their latest LP samples old voice clips from the ‘Race for Space‘ in the 50’s and 60’s and the new stuff blended in seamlessly with the old favourites. ‘Valentina’ (first woman in space) was gorgeous and The Other side brought the house down – goose bumps and holding back the tears as communication is re-establised with Apollo 8……how do they do that!

My poor quality but quickly taken (thereby avoiding an early grave) photo of PSB

My poor quality but quickly taken (thereby avoiding an early grave) photo of PSB

Their concession to making the big time? For the encore, Wrigglesworth wore a silver tie and J. Willgoose, Esq. a silver Jacket – “I know what you’re thinking – he still has his corduroy trousers on underneath.” I’m intrigued to see what they come up with next. What ever it is – it’ll be worth checking out!

Bob the Chiropodist