I went for a haircut this evening. Whilst in the chair and chatting about bands and music, my hairdresser (yes, I know, not a barber) told me that his friend was in The Primitives. His friend is Tracy Tracy. I didn’t tell him that I had a bit of a schoolboy crush back when this first came out.
Categories: indie
Tagged: Crash, The Primitives, Tracy Tracy
Back in 1985 BBC’s Old Grey Whistle Test did an all-nighter show called Rock Around The Clock. It was hosted by Word Magazine’s Mark Ellen and David Hepworth, with a bit of help from Andy Kershaw.
I remember staying up and seeing Echo and the Bunnymen joining up with Billy Bragg to play a rather shambolic version of The Velvet Underground’s Run, Run, Run at about 3 in the morning. I’d just discovered The Velvet Underground for myself and it felt like being a member of an exclusive club. In a pre-Amazon and MP3 world, just getting hold of their records was a challenge. To see two of my favourite acts teaming on a Velvet’s cover was tremendously exciting.
I hadn’t seen or heard it again in nearly 25 years until I found this on YouTube. In the intervening time I had thought about this version, and being a bit of a guitar geek, I remembered distinctly that Billy Bragg was playing a Telecaster f hole Thinline and that Will Sargent of the Bunnymen was playing a Bond Electraglide. A very 80s high tech guitar, made with carbon fibre with digital controls and readouts and a stepped rather than fretted fretboard. Very much of it’s time and technology in a guitar that never really caught on. Mick Jones played one in Big Audio Dynamite. The Edge probably played one too.
Categories: 1985 · Cover Version · indie
Tagged: Billy Bragg, bond electraglide, cover, Echo and the Bunnymen, OGWT, Old Grey Whistle Test, Rock Around The Clock, Run Run Run, Velvet Underground
“bitches keep on bitchin,
Clap just keeps on itchin’”
The best song Mick and Keef never wrote.
I didn’t actually realise I was a fan of Primal Scream until around 2003 when I noticed I had all of their albums to date.
Categories: 1994 · indie
Tagged: primal scream, rocks
The main reason Bob came to my attention was that Malcolm Treece of the Wonder Stuff often wore a T shirt with their rather fine logo on it. That was enough reason for me to seek out a 7″ single of this, that I think I bought in Frank’s Wild Records (a long lost Birmingham record shop that was located in a subway off the old Bull Ring, pretty much where the Selfridges entrance to the Bull Ring car park is now. )
John Peel was a fan and in ’89 this made the Festive 50 (I have an old tape somewhere) and has recently turned up on the Kats Karavan boxset.
I saw them live at the OVT in Selly Oak when it was the Old Varsity Tavern, now the Goose at the OVT. They played in the huge upstairs room on a stage in an alcove so small it was more like a shelf. They were great. I bought a badge. Couldn’t afford the T shirt that night. Wish I’d bought a T shirt. I’d wear it out now for the kudos.
Categories: 1989 · indie
Tagged: Bob, Convenience, Festive 50, Frank's Wild Records, Kats Karavan, Malcolm Treece, OVT
The best club night ever in Birmingham was Tuesday night’s Click Club at Burberries on Broad Street between 1988 and 1990. Thereafter Burberries shut down and it moved around small Birmingham venues so much that nobody ever seemed to know where it was and numbers dwindled. It eventually resurfaced as indie became more mainstream as the Friday night club night, Freak Scene at Snobs. Burberries was always the best though.
I made a Spotify playlist to celebrate Tuesday Night’s at Burberries. It’s collaborative so if you ever went feel free to add tracks. Be warned though, I do have my own specific memories of the place and if I don’t think a track got played there regularly I reserve the right to remove it from the list.
This was a favourite track and always resulted in much angst ridden posturing that I think pretty much answers the overiding question in this song. The answer is probably something along the lines of “because you’re an awkward, self conscious angst ridden freak in a cardigan.”
How I look at the emo kids and laugh and their self-indulgence.
Categories: 1982 · Birmingham · indie
Tagged: add it up, angst, Birmingham, burberries, click club, emo, fuck, violent femmes
I did want to use the TOTP clip of this but the aspect ratio is all squashed on YouTube. There was an outrage on Live and Kicking with small children complaining to Andi Peters that Mark E Smith was reading his words from a piece of paper. Well of course he was. I remember see The Fall live and he did the whole gig from behind a lectern.
“I think you should realise which side you are on”
Categories: Manchester · indie
Tagged: Andi Peters, I Want You, Inspiral Carpets, Live and Kicking, Mark E Smith, The Fall, Top of the Pops, TOTP
I was playing this badly on the guitar earlier.
Unfortunately YouTube embedding is disabled on request on this one so you’ll have to follow the link
I do find the disabled embedding a bit annoying for the purposes of this blog but not as annoying as the news that YouTube will be muting videos with unauthorised copyrighted music.
Categories: 1985 · indie
Tagged: The Cure, In Between Days
I don’t think I actually listened to any music on Sunday. It was mainly TV and podcasts. I did however have a mess about on the ukulele and kind of learnt to play Creep by Radiohead, so that’ll have to do as a selection. You get the original version though. I’m not putting my diabolical version up altough here is a link to a pdf of the uke tab if you are so inclined.
Categories: 1992 · indie
Tagged: Creep, Radiohead, tab, ukulele
When we were in a band in the early nineties we really wanted to be the Wonder Stuff but were a bit too crap for that and didn’t concentrate anywhere near enough. The Ned’s were the band we almost could be. They drank in the same pubs as us and had the same stupid hair and big shorts as us.
The Ned’s are still sort of going. Our band Noys R Us aren’t, although we do still get together as mates. The closest we get to rocking out these days is with Ukuleles or on Rock Band or Guitar Hero, until our families tell us to be be quiet.
Categories: 1990 · fraggle · indie · stourbridge
Tagged: Ned's Atomic Dustbin, Noys R Us
Another “lost” indie gem this. World of Twist should have been bigger than they were. The album, Quality Street from which this comes is one of my favourite albums of all time, and with my copy being on vinyl was kind of lost to me for a good few years until it finally turned up on iTunes.
Another indie rock casulty too. Singer Tony Ogden died in 2006.
Categories: 1990 · indie
Tagged: Quality Street, Sons of the Stage, Tony Ogden, World of Twist
Today I am mostly listening to…. (last.fm stream)
