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
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.
I do not supposed that the reggae repulsed, gentleman in the Gents at The Garage last week (see previous Ruts DC post) will be shelling out on this gig to mark the 50th Anniversary of 'Rock Against Racism' taking place at the Electric Ballroom in Camden on 5th April 2026.
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.
Here's another from that peerless celebration of all things punk rock, Rebellion Festival, This is Ruts DC's first of two appearances over that weekend. Here they are plugged in for their electric set in the Opera Hourse. A great at performance as ever from this irrepressible trio. Many thanks as ever to Chatts for the share! Uploaded here as 24 bit as received. If you want to burn to CD remember to convert to 16 bit format.
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-4uCrlAzVum
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-JBsoZH10mB
Of all the bands that I have missed in the last year I have missed the most the noise that these three chaps make (I have seen them only the once (with Misty in Roots) since July of last year). Gig consumption has decreased somewhat in thath time but I hope to bring the tally back up in the not too distant future.
Here are Ruts DC frim a couple of years ago playing in deepest, darkest Hertfordshire, specifically at the two-day Stone Valley South Festival. As their dates with From The Jam come to an end I hope they had a ball and can enjoy some R&R soon.
Thanks to Chatts for this one.
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-iD6b929JMI
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-GLA1iJ2zwY
Here's another great set from Ruts DC, as the Subs slow down, these guys are contenders for the 'hardest working band in punk' crown!
Thanks to Chatts for this fantastic gig that band recently played in Dunfermline. I have uploaded it here in its original 24 bit form. If you want to burn it the files can easily and for free be converted to 16 bit for burning (I use Jet Audio).
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-G81KUxMrA0
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-1wnzzLMFgH
Surprised that I overlooked this one on my hard drive. This is a great sounding recording (not sure who the taper was, sorry) of the band playing at The Underworld in Camden as part of The Camden Rocks Festival 2017, an event where one ticket gets you into all participating venues in the locality. Ruffy makes reference to the fact that if you were quick The Damned were playing up the road at the Electric Ballroom in half an hours time.
This was Ruts DC's return to the marvellous Underworld venue, where in September of the previous where they played a gig to launch the new album, 'Music Must Destroy'. A highlight of this set, and all Ruts DC's sets is 'Mighty Soldier' here dedicated to Tenor Fly who had died fairly recently.
Give this one a listen!
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-blp7ONep7G
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-xCatJFFavN
The lastest line up in the long standing 'punk supergroup' project that goes by the name of Dead Men Walking. Here they are playing on Jake's home turf of Belfast. In case you are not familiar with the format, the musicians play acoustic versions of songs from their respective back catalogues (hits or otherwise) amidst lurid tales of life on the road with rock 'n' roll bands! Great to hear an Big Wheel song get an airing. The track 'Man Down' comes from the 2021 Dead Men Walking album 'Freedom - It Ain't On The Rise'.
Thanks to the Historical Field Recording Unit for the share.
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-MJFaWfk0Lo
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-4gdDHISbTB
So bringing things right upto date for this band. No less than 45 years after Mark Ellen endured 'the abysmal Ruts'... silly arse!, here they are on their last tour playing at the John Peel Centre in Stowmarket. It was John Peel in 1979 that gave The Ruts (along with countless other bands) the break that they needed through his timeless sessions.
Many thanks as ever to Chatts for this one!
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-w3XTwszYak
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-o01wz1KCXX
OK then, something current and new and sadly every bit as on topic in the summer of 2024 as in 1979! The far right came to Blackpool over the Rebellion weekend and achieved very little. Following several nights of rioting, some manner of response to the appalling events in Southport, the promised mass actions amounted to nothing as our towns and cities filled with counter demonstrators. What I find disturbing is to hear in interviews Asian people of my generation stating that the situation for them on the streets is now as bad as it was in the late 1970's/early 1980's... I really believed that we had moved on.
Anyway, take a listen to this set, especially, 'Jah War' and 'Babylon's Burning' and take a moment to reflect on the situation then and now. There are some nice surprises in here in the form of 'Human Punk' and a new song 'Bound In Blood'. Sadly, 'Secret Soldiers' appeared to be a casualty in this time constrained festival set.
Incidentally, Channel 4 are rerunning the series 'Defiance: Fighting the Far Right' at the moment. It's an excellent three part documentary describing the endeavours of the British Asian Community to resist the violence and intimidation meted out by The National Front and other like-minded organisations in that 1976 to 1981period. Episode 2 covers the trouble that occurred in Southall in 1979 that The Ruts drew on for 'The Crack'.
Thanks to Peter for the share. Much appreciated.
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-ggj0RP8Jof
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-VcdiZRmnun
First of this is not a review as such. Since the band are about 1/3 of the way through the ElectrAcoustic 3 tour there will be no spoilers here, just some general impressions and comments.
This was a pretty local gig for me, just a short hop by train from work in Harlow to Tottenham Hale and then two stops on the northbound Victoria line... the venue was close to Walthamstow Central tube station to boot. It has been many years since I have been to Walthamstow so I was unfamiliar with the area. However, the Trades Hall was easy to spot. Looking at the exterior of the venue you could be forgiven for thinking that it was a location for an episode of The Sweeney, but outward appearances can be very misleading. Having located the venue, I continued along the road to The Bell and settled in for an early evening pint with my kindle (for those interested current reading is 'Hurrah for the Blackshirts...Fascists and Fascism in Britain Between the Wars by Martin Pugh. Not a light read with too many scary parallels with the present situation in the UK).
It has become a habit when seeing Ruts DC to meet with Leigh for a pre-gig pint, so after a while a message came though along the lines of 'Get down to the venue, it's great'. I duly retraced my steps, and entered the venue. In contrast to the dated exterior, the interior was bright and almost cozy. Ruffy was at the bar and Leigh was seemingly closing a deal on the phone. At the bar I ordered a pint of Red Stripe (had to be done... it was absolutely in keeping with the advertised 'DJ playlist curated by Ruts DC'... a fine selection of early ska and Blue Beat tunes). The price (even at a non-members rate (I was honest when asked by the barman whether I was a member or not!) was far preferable to the price down the road!).
As advertised, the gig is split into two sets separated by a 30 minute interval. Since this is the third album in the 'ElectrAcoustic' series of albums, the band have been forced to venture into some uncharted water as far as older material is concerned. No 'Fanatical Fascists' but there are certainly some surprises in the set. I think that it is reasonable to state that there is one new song in the set, 'Bound By Blood' if I recall correctly and rather good it is too.
So that is all that I will say about the content of the sets. I would say that once again the intimate and relaxed atmosphere that accompanies these acoustic shows gives the band's chirpy South London rhythm section free rein to offer some great anecdotes when it comes to the early days of The Ruts... an opportunity that is rather lost when they play a fully electric set.
For those that shudder at the idea of an acoustic gig, as the 'ElectrAcoustic' label would suggest there is throughout electicity and amplification involved to the extent that I was singing/bellowing along in my tuneless way in the second set in much the same way that I would with any electric Ruts DC gig.
A fantastic night out all round... can't wait for the 100 Club.
The most prolific three piece in London are set to release the third instalment of their series of Electracoustic albums on Friday 5th July.
Various album associated bundles can be purchased here.
Once again the album represents a career spanning set of both Ruts DC material, and of course The Ruts.
CD TRACK LISTING:
I got myself a ticket today to see Ruts DC next month at the Trades Hall in Walthamstow as they launch their Electracoustic3 album. Should be a great gig in a small capacity venue at the end of the Victoria line... even better, an easy trip home!
Some of the venues on the tour are fabulously low key and intimate which is a brilliant way in which to witness Ruts DC doing their acoustic thing.
They are playing The Georgian Theatre again on the tour so I thought that it would be a good opportunity to post an audio version of the set that they played back in 2023. If memory serves Seamus had gone at that point so the band consisted of Segs, Ruffy, Leigh and Molara.
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-6Ix5aoAt72
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-6amwIV9RBZ
Gunta and I had the highest of hopes to get to this gig (or any of the European gigs for that matter, but this one in particular). We are fairly regular visitors to Cologne but have not paid a visit to Dusseldorf for quite a few years now, since Gunta's aunt Margot died and we had to sort out her 'estate' as well as funeral arrangements. A word of advice to all those people of my age and above... get a will sorted. On the occasion of her aunt's passing Gunta had to negotiate all of the necessary arrangements under German law which was a challenge and a half for a relative without a will! Here, all of these years on, we are still extremely grateful to a guy called Peter who also happens to be the person responsible for the sharing of this great record of the band's gig at Der Hof.
I have said it with every post I make on Ruts DC, but they are like a gigging machine and when they are not on stage they are preparing their next release in rehearsal or in the studio. It is an impressive work rate that this trio have going. It makes the UK Subs look like slackers!
A great career spanning set and I just love 'Despondency' being in the set.
FLAC: https://we.tl/t-8Xe5fTUBRx
Artwork: https://we.tl/t-aVndqOaqKO