Back to the seventies

I love a bit of Dr Feelgood, and I’m equally enamoured with a  great deal of the pub rockers that predated punk, but when the plaudits are thrown at them as being some sort of sole chain in the link that took us from the bloated stadium rockers to the year zero snarl of punk I get a bit uppity.

What about glam rock?

Bowie, Roxy Music, Slade, Mott the Hoople, Marc Bolan, and so many more, were right there at the birthing of punk rock, and their DNA is stamped throughout the wailing of the nascent scene.

With their chart topping hits they most definitely influenced punk far more than a band playing on a Friday night in the local boozer purely by dint of having that greater reach.

Mick Jones was a Mott fanatic, everyone loved Bowie, would we have the Stooges success in the UK without him?

How about Bolan and the Damned?

And on the subject of Bolan this musical is looking rather good.

 20^th Century Boy is currently mid run with these dates still to come.

1-5 May  BRADFORD ALHAMBRA 

9-12 May  KINGSTON ROSE THEATRE
14-16 May  CRAWLEY THE HAWTH THEATRE
17-20 May  ST ALBANS ARENA
22-26 May  NOTTINGHAM THEATRE ROYAL
28-30 May  PRESTON CHARTER THEATRE
31-2 June  LINCOLN THEATRE ROYAL
4-6 June  GLASGOW KINGS THEATRE
7-9 June  CARLISLE SANDS
12-13 June  DARTFORD ORCHARD THEATRE
14-16 June  LLANDUDNO
21-23 June  WYCOMBE SWAN
26-27 June  YORK BARBICAN
28-30 June  CHELMSFORD CIVIC 

As a primary school kid I would religiously watch Marc Bolan on tv. I'd pour over newspapers to see what shows he would be on and commandeer the tv for the duration of his appearance.

I was a fanatic, and my bedroom was a shrine to him.
Too young to have been caught up in Bolanmania I didn't really care as it was still going on in my head.
Other kids didn't get it, but even at this young age I was already used to being out of step with my peers.

The lads were all into football, but I was wondering if I could get away with wearing eye make up. Everyone wanted to stay up and see the Sweeny, but I was more likely to be sneaking a peak at Monty Python.

When it was announced that he was playing Glasgow my head exploded.

March 12, 1977 – Apollo Theatre, Glasgow (supported by The Damned)

I was ten years old, and with some determination I set out to have my parents let me go, or take me.
Tears before bedtime followed tantrums as my pleading fell on deaf ears.
To be fair no parents were allowing ten year olds to go to gigs alone, and if any took their kids then I don't remember it happening.

My childish mind couldn't understand why they wouldn't accommodate my need to see my idol though.

It especially struggled with resentment when the news of his death knocked me for six as the awareness that I would never see him settled in.

In hindsight all is forgiven. Or nearly all because if I'm honest there's a tiny little kernel of resentment still lodged in a corner of my mind.

Still, this looks like it could provide some closure.

The critical reviews are positive, and the more important public reaction is even better.

I guess I might need to look the glitter out.

Ticket links and further information.

Wait! That isn’t enough love for the seventies being shown?

Well how about this.

Holy Holy will be back next year.

FEBRUARY

08 YORK, ENGLAND

09 LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND

10 GLASGOW, SCOTLAND

12 NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE, ENGLAND

13 BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND

15 SALISBURY, ENGLAND

16 CARDIFF, WALES

17 BEXHILL-ON-SEA, ENGLAND

19 GUILDFORD, ENGLAND

20 LONDON, ENGLAND

21 MANCHESTER, ENGLAND

23 LEAMINGTON SPA, ENGLAND

24 CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND

The first time Kelly and I seen Holy Holy it ranked up there as one of those "you should have been there" gigs.
The ensemble cast of musicians delivered a spectacular, and emotionally charged, performance that left those attending appreciating that they had seen something very special indeed.

Unfortunately our second experience failed to hit similar heights. It was a perfect storm scenario that sucked a great deal of fun from attending.
Hiked ticket prices impacted on the turn out, the seating put in place at the last minute to make it look busier just served to provide a dead space front of the stage, and while Glenn valiantly soldiered on with a cold affecting his vocals the Academy's notoriously poor sound was sabotaging his efforts throughout.

"Ziggy" comes a close second to "Hunky Dory" as my favourite Bowie album and the opportunity to see Holy Holy do it in its entirety was something that had me giddy with excitement for months leading up to it, but the reality ultimately left me feeling deflated.

Tickets for this one are however being sold far in advance of the event which may well address the poor uptake from last time, and the show has returned to the ABC which most definitely suits it better.
That's two positives to consider, and on balance I think we will go back for a third bite of Holy Holy.
Fingers crossed that health issues are avoided and this time we get the Ziggy material delivered in a manner that sends jolts of electricity up and down our spines.

Event details and all Holy Holy news

Last Great Dreamers - Nice N Sleazy (Glasgow) 21/04/18

No matter how you engage with live music it is a fact that not every single show you attend will send you home with a jaw aching smile etched on your face, a ringing in your ears that is competing with the roaring beat of your heart, and a belief that rock and roll can change the world.

They come few and far between at the best of times, but when they do they serve to reaffirm your faith in all that is good about diving headlong into music.

If you do manage to be in the right place at the right time to experience one of these gigs then they serve to act as a solid adrenaline kick to the system, an amphetamine rush to the senses that makes the world sharper, brighter, and just that bit easier to deal with.

And that’s exactly what the Last Great Dreamers delivered when they rolled into Glasgow to dispense their own brand of elegantly wasted rock and roll.

It was one of those rare as rocking horse shit gigs that provided a huge dose of undiluted high octane salvation from the grind of life.

Yeah, okay, I’m a sucker for the style of music they play, but that being said I have seen plenty of bands do variations of it, and while I’ve had a blast at the time it’s fair to say few press down as hard on all my buttons as these guys do.

Hanoi Rocks did it. The New York Dolls too. It’s not that I’m claiming that the Last Great Dreamers are impersonators of these bands, but rather that they share the energy levels and attitude that they had. When you go and see the Last Great Dreamers it’s all one hundred percent Last Great Dreamers that you get. They aren't imposters to the throne, but rather they are the descendents just waiting to be told to take a seat.

That I was unaware of who they were mere months ago is something that I’m coming to terms with. I could have had years worshiping at their altar but with my attention diverted elsewhere I missed out. That’s the past now, and there’s no point spilling hot tears onto the keyboard dwelling on it because I’m here now.

And late to the party I might be, but I’m ready to spread the word like some gutter preacher with an evangelical hard on for this band.

Ask me to give them marks out of ten for their set and I will look you directly in the eye and say it was about a twenty. I dare you to even question the logic to that reply.

Unfortunately the tour is finished now. You missed it, and you are now going to have to take a long hard look at yourself in the mirror and accept that you let yourself down.

On the upside they will be back. There are some festival dates in the pipeline and hopefully I can persuade them to come back to Scotland at some point in the not too distant future. I want a piece of this pie.

It’s still early in the year, and we have already enjoyed some very special gigs, but this wasn't one of those very special ones. It was more than that. Much more.  

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Last Great Dreamers - 13th Floor Renegades

Imagine if Hanoi Rocks took their cue from The Small Faces and The Who rather than from The New York Dolls, The Rolling Stones, and other such rockers.

Well imagine no more because Last Great Dreamers are writing the music you can hear in your head.

There's something quintessentially English about them. Like Gary Holton with The Heavy Metal Kids they have that cheeky chappy a nods as good as a wink shtick sorted out, but there's far more going on than a punk rock Oliver Twist story.

It's as if someone has thrown a handful of the mod revival bands into the Hydron Collider and seen what happens when you smash them into the UK's trashy glam rock acts that spawned from punk.

And the fusion ultimately works too.

It's rock and roll dark matter created that will suck us all in and turn us inside out.

Now how good does that sound?

Well now consider that these words just aren't covering it. They don't come close. It's actually better than that.

The terrace stomp of the seventies, the summer of love, the sunset strip, Camden Market and a soupçon of Soho. It's all there. From the sixties through to now, and even a taste of Britpop to flavour it further.

It's a heady mix of a trip of an album, and you can even dance to the fucker.

I bladdy love it.

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Mondays reviews #3 Featuring Heavy Tiger, The Dives, Afghan Whigs and Cyanide Pills

Heavy Tiger – Glitter.

Heavy Tiger man!
They’ve got more stomp than Godzilla on the rampage, they’re as trashy as a New York Dolls after party, and certainly as glam as a seventies episode of top of the pops.
Glitter sounds like Josie and the Pussycats brought up on a diet of The Sweet during the day and Max’s Kansas City at night.
The Runaways for Generation Z?
You better believe it.
Throw in some Hanoi Rocks, Hellacopters and Cheap Trick and it’s a recipe for a glitter bomb.
Light the fuse and step back because when this goes off it will start the party to end all parties.
Do you like a bit of sugar with your rock and roll sir?
No problem. There’s enough sprinkled throughout Glitter that after ingesting it you will be screaming at the ADHD kid to keep up.
Not that any of this should give the impression that the album is lightweight.
It’s not.
It’s solid from start to finish. A quality rock and roll album that never considers for a moment that it needs to pander to trends.
Guitar bands are coming back; I would bet my hat on it, and I love my hat.
Suzi Quatro must have felt a disturbance in the force when Glitter was released.

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The Dives - Everybody’s Talkin’

They say that there is nothing new in the world. Everything is a rehash of something that has come before, and all artists can do is breathe new life into a mixed bag of what they can pilfer from the past.
There may be some truth to that, but who cares when New York power pop quintet The Dives are the band dipping into their broad influences and coming up with the Everybody’s Talkin’ ep.
One minute they sound like Stiff records revivalists, and you know what they say about that ‘if it ain’t Stiff, it ain’t worth a fuck’ and then the next it is The Knack filtered through the punk pop of the nineties.
And let’s not ignore the tip of the hat to Cheap Trick too.
These boys ain’t slacking.
As introductions go then this ep is as fine a place to start as any.
With so much good music surfacing at the moment it is difficult to elevate one particular act to the top of the list that you should check out, but The Dives would be in the top five.

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Afghan Whigs - In Spades

Over the course of seven previous studio albums the Afghan Whigs have never stood still. Every release has seen the band evolving.
And now with In Spades they have moved fractionally forward again.
The brass and orchestration paired with some sublime guitar work is a heady mix, but with the increasingly more mature sounding vocals of Gregg Dulli the album just goes off the charts.
It’s as ambitious as anything that they have conjured into existence during their thirty and a bit year career.
Tight and lean the band is cementing a reputation as being one of the greatest survivors from the alt rock scene of the late eighties and early nineties.
No one sits Afghan Whigs in the corner baby.
They were never easily categorized, never a band that could be slipped into a genre box
Instead they had to be forced into the box while kicking and screaming and clawing to get back out.
And now they have reached the point that they have left behind any attempts to try to limit them with a genre tag.
They are the Afghan Whigs.
No more, no less, and instantly recognisable as such. They are the kings of their self made scene, the singular entity in their soulful rock universe.
This is without a shadow of a doubt a masterful career high.
Where to go next from In Spades though? That is the question

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Cyanide Pills – Sliced and Diced

The band must be getting tired of Buzzcocks references by now, but it is difficult not to name drop the legends in the same breath.
Mainly because it is so obvious that it’s Cyanide Pills who are next in line for that melodic punk rock throne.
In fact ‘Oi, Shelley, Diggle. Move your arses. It’s time to pass the baton on.’
Let’s not beat about the bush here.
And let’s not ignore the references to The Boys in what the band do too.
On I don’t remember it sounds like a spiky rendition of a Boys classic with the added bonus of it being a socially conscious anthem for the times.
That’s not the only track to slap back at the current state of play in the world, but no one should consider for a second that the band are devolving into the stereotype of the anti establishment punk band as they are definitely not relinquishing their tightly held grip on a melody and a hook.
Snotty and defiant and a must have for any self respecting malcontent with a song in their heart sums up Sliced and Diced.
You want a punk rock contender for 2017? Then look no further.

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