Great news to see Segs on social media yesterday informing us that his intrepid trio are currently ensconced in a recording studio to put together the 'Bound In Blood' E.P. (I always liked an E.P. myself!). Looking forward to discovering the other two? three? tracks on the record!
In keen anticipation here are the band from Rebellion last year. I think this is one of Peter's, so thanks to him as ever!
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-A1nL92jKhZAqGcMt
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-T4nZRezzrDMq5UEO
Seeing that today is St Patrick's Day here's the craic from Belfast from back in the summer. Stiff Little Fingers hosting the 'Putting The Fast In Belfast' punk all-dayer, an event that has become an annual fixture in the city. This billing was interesting, what with PiL and Sham 69 sharing the stage. As I remember there was bad blood some years ago between Johnny and Jimmy, to the extent that they made some tabloid column inches after a couple of punches were thrown in London back in 2005. 6 Music reported the incident.... why didn't The Proclaimers wade in one asks?!
'Punk punch-up!
Handbags at dawn between Jimmy Pursey and John Lydon.
24 Aug 05 - Punk legends John Lydon and Jimmy Pursey came to blows outside the US embassy as they queued for visas.
There has been bad blood between the pair since the Seventies - and things came to a head this week as they waited outside the embassy at 0730.
Former Sex Pistol Lydon ignored Pursey's offer to shake hands and threw coffee over him, while the Sham 69 singer responded by kicking his punk rival. Bizarrely, The Proclaimers were also there and witnessed the whole thing before armed policemen intervened to calm the situation.
Pursey was waiting for a visa so he could travel to New York for a benefit gig in aid of the CBGBs club. He told 6 Music the scrap was like being back at school.
He said: "It would be like standing in the dinner queue with someone that you don't really get on with when you're at school. Suddenly, it just turned into him and his mate throwing coffee at me, then it just went from bad to worse with the armed guards luckily interpersing the whole thing. One of them, thank God, know knew who we both were."
He continued: "It's not every day you get a guy with a submachine gun round your head telling you he's a Sham 69 fan."
Lydon meanwhile dismissed Pursey's claims.
He told The Sun: "All the usual low-rent and lies. He's not fit to be in the same sentence as me. What do you expect from a low-rent fake mockney two-bob runt?"
Jody Thompson.'
The Sun
I have posted a few Xmal Deutschland gigs on Aural Sculptors in the past but this is the first post of solo material from Anja Huwe (although I have plugged her recent album 'Codes' a couple of times). Anja has only recently started touring again and her set is a mixture of material from 'Codes' and Xmal Deutschland songs.
I was trying to fathom what is is that draws me to Anja and Xmal and I came to the conclusion that what she/they do represents a hybrid of punk/post punk and electronic music that sits quite neatly in the midst of my musical preferences, although primarily, then and now their conventional band set up is augmented by keyboards, rather than them being an electronic band as such.
I also like the fact that Xmal material and much of Codes is sung in German. Songs sound better in the language that they were written in I think, more often than not, something gets lost in translation and the songs suffer as a result. I have all of Kraftwerk's albums in English and German but by preference listen to the German language versions. And the thing is I don't even speak German (despite having a half German wife).
I must get to see Anja Huwe somewhere soon.
This one is from Chatts, so many thanks as always for the share! Please note that this is a 24 bit version so will need to be converted to 16 bit if you want to burn it.
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-Zvahtu8eq1
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-i8H3XBADTY
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-8hxP6q6n0L
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-6SCCIHlDSN
Here's another gig from The Fabulous Courettes courtesy of Peter! As mentioned in the top 10 gig post earlier I had the pleasure of seeing the band twice late last year when they opened for Hugh. Following them now on Facebook they appear to fully deserve the 'hardest working band' title (wasn't this epithet once bestowed upon the UK Subs?). 110 gigs in 2025, fair play to them!
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-fPJaZzyNyI
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-VR1xmDlHir
A punk party in the park. 1977 in 2025, almost. All the punk rock you can handle in a day. I wasn't there but I understand that for The Rezillos at least the Scottish summer weather was predictable... it pissed down. I believe the weather did improve later on though. The Stranglers played a hit heavy festival set as immediate warm up for the headlining Pistols. This was the first of several events in which The Stranglers shared the bill with Sex Pistols.
The sound is good on this one, especially considering that this was an open air gig. Thanks as ever Chatts for sharing.
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-ism2j9wTyh
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-otCLyrqVOv
I said it in my earlier post related to the Cambridge date that the show has an edge that I thought, if not missing in previous classic album tours, was more pronounced this time around. Maybe is was an outward manifestation of the whole band's determination to rack it up even more than usual under such circumstances. Whatever the reason, it worked!
This then is from the night in Birmingham when the news broke within the Numan camp. It's a wonder he got through the night.
Thanks to the original uploader (emmanuel).
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-WvYDc3MULk
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-JQbPDZdLM7
This post should be read in conjunction with the review of the earlier gig that the band played at the Garage in London (here). Tonight's gig was the penultimate date of the current tour. The venue is an odd one, but I like it. MASH, tucked away in a corner of central Cambridge, is first and foremost a night club, one that occasionally puts on gigs. As such, the lay out is not so conducive to live gigs in the way the room is sectioned off. Nevertheless, get to the front of the tiny stage and you're laughing.
As I mentioned, this was a Saturday night in a student town, which meant club night! I love a club night because that means an early door time and a curfew that is significantly earlier than 11 pm. Call it a sign of getting old, I don't care! Tonight the doors were due to open at 6.30, the queue lengthened and 7pm came and went, then 7.30.... wait, the band were due on at 7.45 and there was a support. By this time, the queue included everyone that was going to the gig. No pun intended, but IT WAS COLD! The entertainment provided by groups of inappropriately dressed girls and gangs of young men in Christmas jumpers and skin tight trousers passing by enroute to the bar next door wore thin quite quickly as feet started to numb. Word travelled down the queue that multiple technical issues were keeping the doors to the venue closed.
Eventually we were granted access. Support came in the form of Chris Pope of The Chords, whose set was cut short in an attempt to claw back some show time for the headliners. On then with Ruts DC. Ruffy's new drum kit (of which he is inordinately proud) took centre stage... and most of stage left and stage right too, such are the proportions of the MASH stage!
This was no problem though really, it just meant that Leigh and Segs were a little more restricted in where they could go on the stage... nowhere basically. This did not have any impact on the music though. And, if there were significant sound issues then they were lost on this cloth-earned writer. My friend, Trevor (thanks for the photos!), mentioned in his Facebook post on the gig that the sound was good, but the lighting less so. I'll go with that then (the recording certainly sounds good!). As was the case with the London gig a week earlier, the set was unusually long for Ruts DC, this allowed then to acknowledge the 45th anniversary of the 'Grin and Bear It' album with renditions of 'Demolition Dancing' and 'Secret Soldier'.
I won't pontificate further on the set. Download it and hear it yourself. Thanks to Chatts for sharing this great very intimate gig.
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-gOSwZ8BbuR
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-56CfIQoGaV
Always a difficult choice at the end of the year, but one that is getting a bit easier as each year passes. Enforced abstinence does mean that whilst it is not stopping me from going to gigs, I have become a little more selective in what I choose to go to. Pre-gig meets in pubs have been part of the process for decades and still is. The problem really comes with the Festival type events where the beer is/was (for me at least) an integral part of the day's proceedings. That kind of rules some things out for me... Rebellion for example.
So, the pool of gig experiences this year is a little shallower than in previous years, but here goes... in no particular order.
1. The March Violets Oslo Hackney London 25th June 2025.
Reviewed in greater detail (here), this was my first time of seeing the March Violets after liking them for 40 years! Some bands somehow just slip the net like that. But, it was worth the wait as they put in a great performance to a surprisingly thin audience (in number terms... not a physiological observation) on a very hot summer's night. No hits as such, but all of the big tunes were there as well as tracks from their excellent 2024 album 'Crocodile Promises'. They have UK dates booked for 2026.
Of the back of the 'Nosferatu tour' Hugh travelled down to The Booking Hall in Dover to deliver this set. Thanks to Chatts for the great sounding recording! Happy New Year to all. I trust that 2026 will do better than 2025. Enjoy!
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-9bICRfickq
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-m0GdCpgmcv
Appreciate that it is very short notice for this one. I only knew that it was occuring 48 hours ago when I was contacted by Lee McFadden who will be amongst the ranks of The Swell Maps tonight. So, in the event that you find yourself in Paris tonight you could do a lot worse than to get yourself down to The Chameleons Christmas Party in Paris. Adding to the festive frollics will the the aforementioned Swell Maps and Hugh Cornwell.
It felt that this gig was slow to come round, the date that is, not the tempo of the gig! Gunta and I made our way across a freezing cold Islington (narowly avoiding being mown down be several hundred young folk streaking (not literally... not in that weather) down Upper Street on roller skates... quite a sight, last seen in Paris). We reached our rendevous, the Hen & Chickens pub to find a bar full of punk guitarists.... there was Leigh, and Jet (who was in the UK Subs for a time)... and is that Damian O'Neill over there? It was indeed, with two other former members of That Petrol Emotion, so possibly another guitarist. Segs was in the house too, representing the bass players.
It was due to be another one of those early gigs with Ruts DC taking to the stage at 8.30. I was a little concerned at first since that as of 8pm the audience was rather thin on the ground but the venue filled quite rapidly in the minutes before the band were due on stage. I don't think that it was a sell out, perhaps some were deterred by the idea of venturing out on a very cold Sunday night. In the end though the numbers were good. Opening with 'Vox Teardrop' what was to follow was an eclectic set and a long set to boot. Ruts DC have such an extensive back catalogue now that entire albums worth of material can be left out such that there was nothing from 'Rhythm Collision I' or 'Animal Now' to be heard tonight, which is always regretable, but for sure the replacement material in the set more than made up for the necessary omissions.
'Something That I Said' was up next followed by the ever brilliant 'Mighty Soldier', still the best song that the band have written since coming back (and that is in no way meant as a sleight on all the other stuff)... it came with a plea for peace, but I don't thing that Vladimir Putin was there on this night. The first surprise of the night (well I say surprise... but Andy Peart had let on after the Brighton gig.... but that's okay, I have never been one for ducking and diving to avoid knowledge of a set before a gig!) was 'Demolition Dancing'. Before the song, Segs mentioned that it was the 45th anniversary of the 'Grin & Bear It' album so it was time that this one got an airing.
A rousing 'Back Biter' and a brilliant 'Counterculture' racked up the tempo before it was slowed back down for very rare coupling of 'Love In Vain' and 'Give Youth A Chance'. Unfortunately, momentarily caught short at this point, I found myself up against the urinal as a bloke emerged from a Gents cubical shouting 'Are they a punk band or a reggae band? I don't get it. I HATE it when they play that reggae shit!' When there you go, the guy said it himself... he didn't get it... I mean 'Love In Vain'!!!
The night before the band had played in Norwich and on their journing down to London they had cause to pass through Harlow (the town next to me and where I have worked for many years). Segs stated that he had never seen so many flags and grinned without making any further comment.... I suspect like the reggae hating gentleman from the lavatory cubicle, Segs doesn't get it either.... the flag thing that is, and to that point neither do I! Such was the introduction to 'Born Innocent'.
The third 'treat' for the night and once again lifted from 'Grin & Bear It' was 'Secret Soldier' - have they ever played this one before this tour?... I cannot recall. Very, very rarely if they have.
'Bound In Blood' nearly saw us to the end of the first page of a two page set list! With the big hitters, 'In A Rut', 'Babylon' and 'Rude Boys separated by a couple of attacks on bad politicians in the forms of 'Poison Games' and 'Pretty Lunatics'.
It was an exceptional evening, 90 minutes of brilliant music that did much to reaffirm the fact that intolerance and hatred have not quite yet permeated every part ofthis country.
Yesterday I was extremely saddened to learn of the passing of Mully. Our paths first crossed on a long weekend in June 1989 when The Stranglers played a handful of consecutive dates across the UK and Ireland. I was 21 then and had never encountered anyone from Belfast, so Mully was quite exotic as far as my world view from Sussex was concerned!. Then as now I was fascinated by the Troubles and he in turn was always happy to accommodate my many questions on the topic. Of course our paths continued to cross on many, many occasions in the years that followed and it was always a joy to see him.
Two particular memories came to mind yesterday when I was thinking about Mully. One was in a hotel somewhere in the Lowlands. Mully had I believe enjoyed something herbal earlier in the day and when we met him in the hotel lift, he remarked that it was great that the lift announcements were made in a Belfast accent... the reality was that Mully was repeating the announcements floor by floor!
On another occasion we were enjoying a pre-gig beer in a pub garden in Frome, prior to a performance at the Cheese and Grain. It was a sunny day and most drinkers were in the pub garden. In such a location the announcement to evacuate the pub and garden as a result of a bomb-scare was very much unanticipated. As people complied, whilst moaning about lost drinking time, I remember an ebullient Mully running around amongst the bemused evacuees laughing in his unmistakable way and loudly declaring in his broad Belfast accent 'This has got nothing to do with me!'
Farewell then Mully, it was a pleasure!