Gigs – Where is Phil now?

Pere Ubu with Valve @ Rich Mix

Friday June 2 – Shoreditch, London.

Pere Ubu was conceived in Cleveland, Ohio in 1975 and came to my attention probably in 1979 or 1980 when their 1978 debut LP ‘The Modern Dance’ appeared on the shelves of record shops in Auckland. As was common in that period anything unusual was lumped in with punk or new wave and I bought the record unheard, as this was how I shopped back then. I didn’t like it, though I tried. It wasn’t punk enough for me and it was one of the records I didn’t miss when my flat was burgled in the early 80s. To be fair to Pere Ubu, they never advertised themselves as a punk or new wave band; influential as they were to many artists who didn’t mind being categorised that way. I never really gave them another thought. Until earlier this week.

To be truthful, I gave them a first thought about two months ago when a friend of mine from New Zealand asked me if I would by tickets to a concert they were putting on in London when he was here on holiday. I bought tickets for him and some friends, not planning on going myself.

The gig was tonight and my friends ended up with a spare ticket so as they were staying at our place I decided I would go along as well. In preparation I’d listened to their recently released album and thought it was pretty good, not that I was going to buy it; especially as the cost of living has gone up and I need to be much my circumspect with discretionary spending.

We arrived at the venue, Rich Mix, just as the support act, Valve, arrived on stage. I mostly enjoyed their set, there were some interesting instruments and a couple of very good songs; the names of which allude me now unfortunately.

Rich Mix is a great venue; big bar, airy and spacious; the gig was sold out but it was not overcrowded inside. The sound; while not loud, was perfect and the stage lighting was great for photography. An unusual combination of goodness in a venue.

Pere Ubu came to the stage at the scheduled time. David Thomas is the only original member and as he said before the music started he has been living in London for 40 years. While Pere Ubu is a band it is very much David Thomas’s vehicle, it won’t exist when he is gone; and he definitely isn’t well. He was pretty cantankerous as the set went on. Age allows for that I guess. I’m heading that way myself.

I found myself right in front of him, be design, and took a few photos over the first couple of tracks. “Three songs, no flash” was, and still should be, the mantra of any gig photographer. The first song, and the first track on the new LP, ‘Love is like Gravity’ was absolutely fabulous live and had quite a different feel to the recorded version. I loved it and it set a good precedent for the music that followed; especially as the sound was so good.

The band have a theremin player for their live sets, I’ve never seen one on stage before and watching it being played by someone who knew what they were doing was a highlight and a joy. The theremin is an electronic instrument and the player does not touch it; it senses the movements of the musician’s hands and responds with an eerie amplified sound. It was really very cool. Just watching her play made the gig worth attending.

The band mainly focused on songs from the new LP, but early in their set played “30 seconds over Tokyo” a track I knew from the first LP, though one I’ve not heard in decades. It was good, rowdy compared to the rest of the set we saw.

It was a good set, though we didn’t stay to the end, David Thomas was getting frustrated with the band, in a similar way to the late Mark E. Smith did with his band The Fall. We got a bit irritated by his grumpiness in the end and left. Apparently his band have been with him for years, close to 30 in one case, so I guess they are used to his antics.

I otherwise enjoyed the show and have been playing the new album a bit as I work.

The gig was put on by the promoter Baba Yaga’s Hut and it seems most of the shows I’ve been too lately have been theirs. They retweeted an image I took from the gig and the band contacted me to ask if they could use my photos; I was quite happy to let them do so.

Oneida and Teeth of the Sea @ Studio 9294

Sunday 12 March 2023 – London.

This will be the fourth gig I’ve been to in under month, incredible, and I missed two others that I planned to attend as well. I haven’t done this for a very long time and I’m enjoying it to. Hopefully this will continue as the year goes on.

I’ve been a fan of Teeth of the Sea for a few years, though had yet to see them live. The headline act, Oneida, I’d not heard of until recently; they’re an American band that have been around for over 20 years but didn’t popped into my radar until the 2022 LP ‘Success’, which is frankly fucking brilliant. With its mix of sing-a-long pop rock and psychedelic rock its one of my favourite LPs from 2022. They’re doing a short tour of the UK for the first time in years, and while Sunday isn’t my favourite day to go and see a couple of bands I decided this time it was worth it.

They were playing at Studio 9294 in Hackney Wick, which according to G*#gle Maps was under 25 minutes from home, if I timed the trains exactly right; which amazingly and completely by accident I did. We saw Hey Colossus at 9294 last year so I was prepared for a poorly lit venue, and I wasn’t let down either, it remains poorly lit.

Teeth of the Sea opened with a booming electronic track with bass straight out of the heaviest techno, the audience, especially those like me at the front, could feel more than hear the bass and drums. It seemed massively loud but with no ringing ears the following morning, thankfully I remembered ear plugs, it obviously wasn’t as loud as some shows I’ve been to recently. I recognised most of the tracks they played, but annoying can’t put names to songs.

They are a drumless instrumental trio with a trumpet player, albeit the trumpet is played through a myriad of effects. It was the trumpet that first attracted me to the band as it’s not an instrument that features highly in electronic psychedelica, in my experience anyway, but I really like they way they make it sound. I’m looking forward to the new album.

It was tough going getting decent photos, the light was terrible and I was stuck tight up against the stage by an enthusiastic crowd. I think the show was sold out, it was busy anyway.

Oneida are a five piece with two keyboard players, one also who occasionally plays bass, and they fully occupied the small stage. I thought they were great, a bit more engaging with the banter than Teeth of the Sea who didn’t say anything at all. I started off in front of the guitar players before moving to the opposite side of the stage later in the set. I would loved to have been in front of the drummer though, he was incredible. There were moments during their set when clean white light was on the stage and I managed to grab a couple of photos that didn’t need to be converted to black and white; if only Teeth of the Sea had the same!

They played quite a few songs off Success, including the 15 minute Paralyzed which was a set highlight.

I was too close to the stage to get a decent photo of the other guitarist, so here is a guitar.

For a Sunday night it was a great gig, well attended by a supportive audience. I had a good time; and I grabbed a gig poster too.

(not really) Entombed Festival

Saturday 04 March 2023 – Hastings.

I completely managed to screw this weekend’s entertainment right up, though having said that I still had a very good weekend. I’d bought myself a ticket to Entombed Festival in Hastings back in October I think, stupidly didn’t put the dates in my calendar and almost totally forgot about it. In the meantime I agreed to go and see another band, the Loft, in Brighton last night which was day one of the festival, and then go to dinner at the house of some St Leonards friends tonight.

Entombed Festival has been running for three or four years, a small punk and metal festival in a basement bar in Hastings. The Saturday night headliners this year (postponed from last, and the main reason I was going) are Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs, Pigs (Pigs*7) a doom/stoner rock band from Newcastle. I quite like them, especially their more Black Sabbath influenced tracks. There were a couple of other bands scattered over the weekend I wanted to see as well, at least that was the plan when I bought the ticket. I managed to see just two acts, neither on my must see list. It was a bad mistake on my behalf.

To compound the double booking the weekend error I didn’t look at the start time for the festival on Saturday and only realised it started at mid-day in the late afternoon. I was quite keen to see punk band The Domestics; I have one of their records, and felt I could see their set, then catch a bus back to my place, pick up Eleanor and make it to our friends and only be fashionably late. I grabbed the camera and power walked my way into Hastings.

I arrived at The Crypt just before the doom/sludge duo Kulk started playing. I’ve seen them once before and the singer/guitarist is great to photograph, though I’m not a huge fan of their music I was pleased to see them play.

This was my first visit to The Crypt and it’s a great venue, decent floor space, small and low stage, big bar with really friendly staff and a few places to get out of the blast line of the speakers. Though it was still a bit flat the stage lighting was bright enough to be OK for photography, which is always a bonus.

The next band up was Fatalist, a blackened hardcore trio. Blackened hardcore was new to me and I almost immediately decided it wasn’t my thing. I wasn’t a fan. I felt sorry for them as there were issues with the bass amp/speaker cabinet and there was a lot of faff before they started, so much so that I missed the end of their set and also didn’t get to see The Domestics who were on next. None of this was anyone’s fault, tech issues are common at gigs, but I was a bit disappointed.

I had intended to make my excuses from dinner early and go back for Pigs*7 but after a few glasses of red and a delayed meal we didn’t end up leaving our friends house till past midnight.

The festival was cheap, had some great bands and the vibe in the rooms was really good, I’m gutted I ballsed it all up. Next year I will plan better.

We haven’t been spending a lot of time in St Leonards since Eleanor bought the new house in Leytonstone in November; we’ve visited so rarely that I’m seriously considering finding a tenant for the flat which is getting more and more expensive as the cost of living crisis bites. When my mortgage goes up in June it will stretch my finances significantly, renting will relieve the pressure but means we don’t have somewhere to go if we want. I love it when I come down though. Decisions decisions!

The Loft @ The Prince Albert, Brighton

Friday 03 March 2023 – Brighton.

This was the second in a string of gigs that we planned to attend, admittedly we haven’t made all of them; mainly due to my laziness, though there are more to come, including one tomorrow.

The Loft in Brighton was, on the surface, an odd choice. I had majorly stuffed up this weekend; ages ago, possibly as far back as September, I’d bought tickets to Entombed Festival a punk/metal two day festival in Hastings. It starts tonight and here is me driving 50 minutes to Brighton to see another band. When I bought the Entombed ticket it was so far in advance of the gig I hadn’t bothered updating my calendar and we’ve now accepted an invite to dinner with St Leonards’ friends tomorrow night, which meant missing most of the festival, not going to tonight’s sets seemed to be inevitable.

The Loft were an early 80s English indie-pop band, from a time before indie-pop was a thing. They were one of the first bands to be signed to iconic record label Creation, though they split up on stage in the middle of one of their largest gigs, ending any chance of fame. I hadn’t heard of them until I met Eleanor, though I have a record of the lead singer’s follow up band, The Weather Prophets, which I bought when I lived in London in the late 1980s. The Loft are releasing a retrospective album of all their material and are headlining a gig in London tomorrow to promote it. This gig tonight is an unannounced warm up gig and The Loft are supporting Mozart Estate.

The main reason this is an odd choice is Eleanor’s ex-husband is the lead guitarist and a founding member. Eleanor and Andy’s relationship has improved over the last few years and I guess if they hadn’t divorced then I wouldn’t have met Eleanor and be as happy as I am, and have been for the last 10 years. I think she is as happy as me so it’s been a win for the both of us. We both like the band’s music and Eleanor was hoping some old friends who live in Brighton would come to the show, which they did and she was very pleased to see them. Having a partner who likes music is one of the best things!

I don’t really enjoy driving any more and I especially don’t like driving at night. My car is fresh from an MOT and a service so at least it was running well and the headlights had had a special clean and were the brightest they’ve ever been, making the drive to Brighton not too stressful. We chose to drive as the train journey back to St Leonards of an evening is over 90 minutes and the trains only run once an hour, not the most convenient for the tired.

We arrived at the Prince Albert just before the band came on, it looked and felt like a great pub with a positive vibe and the upstairs venue was fab too, small, good sound and a bar. I would happily see a band or go for a drink there again; if only it was in Leytonstone.

The Loft played a 40 minute set to a pretty full room of mostly people our age; people who knew the band and their songs. I really enjoyed it as did the rest of the crowd, and for a change it was a decent place to take photos. The band seemed to enjoy it as well.

We hung around for a bit after the Loft played; Eleanor chatting to old friends, though regrettably we didn’t stay for Mozart Estate as I wanted to get home while I was still awake, we had another night out coming tomorrow and I’m very tired at the moment.

Aircooled and Miki Berenyi Band @ The Lexington.

Friday 24 February 2023 – London.

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The last gig I attended was in October last year; the fantastic Wrong Speed Record all-dayer in London, and I had to look up the date for it as it felt so long ago. Eleanor and I had free tickets to a gig a couple of weeks back but I couldn’t be bothered going. I also skipped a four bands for five bucks punk gig in Leytonstone last weekend and it was at a venue an eight minute walk from home. I’m definitely not feeling the need to attend the occasional gig like I used to, maybe age is catching with me? Having said that we’ve two shows to see next weekend so let’s see how that plays out then. My record purchasing has been somewhat curtailed recently as well, life is more expensive than it used to be and I’m being a little more careful with my cash, though I still listen and enjoy music as much as ever.

Aircooled are a newish band formed in or around St Leonards-on-Sea, they’re almost an indie super-group, with members from a bunch of bands from the 90s onwards. I guess the best known would be Justin Welch, the drummer for Elastica, Suede and Lush. Aircooled released their debut album ‘St Leopards’ last year. I like it a lot, it’s mostly instrumental with a very ‘krautrock’ vibe throughout, though there is a big nudge to disco on one track. I’m very big on kraurock at the moment, the long jams, repetitive beats and lack of vocals means makes for great music to work to. I’ve tried to see them a couple of times, but have failed to do so; either missing out on tickets or not being in St Leonards when they’ve played. It was good news when they conveniently announced a show not too far from us in London so I made sure I was in quickly to buy tickets to what turned out to be a sold-out performance.

Supporting Aircooled was the Miki Berenyi Trio, twin guitars, bass (from Oliver of Aircooled) and a drum machine. Miki Berenyi was the lead singer, guitarist and songwriter for 90s shoegaze/indie legends Lush. Last year Miki published her memoir, ‘Fingers Crossed: How music saved me from success’, which is on the quite long list of must read books.

We arrived at The Lexington just before Miki Berenyi took to the stage, it was quite full and I was too late to get a spot close to the stage for photography. There were a lot of old Lush fans there, so we didn’t feel particularly old. The upstairs venue is one of the best small venues I’ve been to; a decent height stage, good lights, bench seat around the sounds, steps up to a raised bar, so clear viewing from a number of places. The sound was superb; not too loud and very clear. I will be going back there again.

I took a couple of photos and then just enjoyed the music. I’m not overly familiar with Lush, I know some of the bigger songs, though didn’t recognise any tonight. There were some new songs in the mix. It was a good set, enjoyable dream pop, with a very appreciative crowd.

I was kind of expecting a number of the audience to leave after Miki Berenyi’s set, she would have been the major draw for some I suspect, so I was pleasantly surprised by how many stayed for Aircooled. I gather there were quite a few up from the coast especially for the show. A few diehards stayed right up against the stage so again I was forced back a couple of rows to take photos. The light wasn’t as helpful with Aircooled, less spots and much more use of the psychedelic images projected by Inner Strings onto a screen behind the band. These were far too bright for me and my old camera to cope with.

I enjoyed their set, particularly the 16+ minute eponymous track ‘Aircooled’ which they played early on; I was kind of expecting this to be the closer so was pleased to hear it up front.

One of the best things about The Lexi on a Friday night is that it turns into a nightclub at 11:00, meaning concerts finish nice and early, something I am very keen on 🙂 It was a fairly straightforward journey to and from the venue, one tube change with a total journey time about 30 minutes so we were home pretty quickly. This made for an even better night as we were out last night and are out again tomorrow; and we both need some sleep. It’s been a busy, but enjoyable time!

Wrong Speed Records all dayer @ The Strongroom.

Saturday 8 October 2022 – London.

Wrong Speed Records is a small and vital record label created by Joe Thompson, bass player with Hey Colossus and Henry Blacker, during the early Covid lockdowns. The label is the centre of the Hey Colossus multiverse, with most of the (at the time of writing) 38 releases on the label coming from bands associated with current or ex-members of the band, and there are quite a few of those. I don’t own all those records but I have at least one by all the bands playing today, or I do now as I picked up the Gum Takes Tooth record from the merch stand after the show.

Today was the Wrong Speed Records all-day gig at The Strongroom bar in Shoreditch. Six bands, five on Wrong Speed Records and one (Gum Takes Tooth) about to be, all for the amazing price of zero pounds; yes it was free. Fantastic, and such a good line up as well.

The first band was on at 3:30 and I arrived just before The Mute Servants hit the stage, meeting Sean, a Walthamstow friend at the venue. The Mute Servants are a two piece formed around the songs of one of Hey Colossus’ three guitarists. The songs were short, sharp and fun, nothing over two minutes in length; garage punk at its finest. They did (at least) two covers, The Breeders ‘Do you love me now’ and The Fall’s ‘Industrial Estate’. It was a great start to the day.

The Strongroom is not a bad venue, I’m not sure if hosts a lot of bands, but it is well set up for them, with a couple of bars, a huge outdoor space with loads of seating and a gig room that would hold a couple of hundred; it seemed really well air-conditioned as well which I appreciated. The one downside for day time bands was the glass fire exit doors letting in too much background light which made it hard to take photos of the musicians on a very dimly lit stage. I had a lot of trouble getting images of the next band. Shooting was hard for all the bands with my ancient beast of a camera, the light was very dim and mostly a horrible red or even more horrible blue.

Haress (prounced hairs) were second on, and the band I was most looking forward to seeing, and they didn’t disappoint; not that any of the bands did. Another of the Hey Colossus guitarists plays guitar in Haress.

Haress play a very quiet gentle gothic country, slow mournful tunes, that build slowly to a gentle peak, I play their records a lot while I work. They all play their instruments while seated, which sort of reflects the vibe of their music. There was even a sing-along with handed out lyric sheets for one of their songs.

I thought they were great and my photos didn’t do them justice, I would have loved to have been on the other side of the stage but someone else was taking pictures there and it seems a bit weird having the only two people taking photos standing in the same place.

Thee Alcoholics were the third band of the day and the third band of the day without a bass player. Definitely the heaviest band so far (it gets heavier), a grungey-noise rock four piece with an ex-Hey Colossus drummer on guitar and vocals. There was a guest vocal by an ex-Hey Colossus vocalist/current Hey Colossus guitarist on a song that which was very reminiscent of the older sludgier Hey Colossus sound. I liked them.

Fourth up were Nottingham punks Blind Eye, the only proper punk band on the bill. They play a fast melodic hardcore and had the crowd buzzing; there were even a small number of people slam dancing through their short and furious set. From where I was standing it was impossible to get a decent photo of the guitarist, he was mostly in the dark, one of the only musicians I didn’t get a photo of.

The venue was at ground level with the locked glass fire door on Rivington Street, opposite a restaurant and bar. It was very early evening when Blind Eye took the stage and I was amused by all the fancily dressed young folk peering in through the glass of the doors, wondering/bemused at the thunderous racket going on inside.

Four bands in, and the first band with a bass player and also the first without current or ex Hey Colossus member.

Not owning of their records meant I was not that familiar with Gum Takes Tooth, only really giving them an online listen in the days before the gig. I liked what I heard and was keen to see them, they were the real outliers on the day; no bass, no drums and no guitars, as well as being the only band on the day yet to release anything on Wrong Speed, apparently something coming in 2023.

The played a set that sounded very techno to my electronic-ignorant ears, and they got a very good response from full venue, I enjoyed their set a lot.

Headliners for the event were Hey Colossus, a last minute addition after another band had to pull out. I always like seeing Hey Colossus, and I guess with so many members at the venue it made sense that they played. It was a cracking set as well, with a couple of new tracks being aired as well as songs from the last three records. I enjoyed it immensely, especially the epic closer, the 16 minute Trembling Rose. Paul, the vocalist is such a fun photographic subject.

This was the first time I’ve been to a multi-band event where every band was excellent, it was impossible to pick a favourite. They were all different enough that direct comparisons would be impossible.Big thanks to the bands, the fans, the bar team, Joe, Chris, Baba Yagas Hut and anyone else who was involved in organising the day.

Roll on the next event in mid-2023.

Big thanks to the bands, the fans, the bar team, Joe, Chris, Baba Yagas Hut and anyone else who was involved in organising the day.

Roll on the next event in mid-2023.

Gnod with The Black Arches @ The Piper, St Leonards-on-Sea.

Friday 6 May 2022 – St Leonards-on-Sea.

This was to be the first gig I’ve attended since January 13, the first since we’ve been back in the UK and the first at The Piper since February 2020 when we went to see Penelope Isles; the last gig I attended before the country went into lockdown the following month. I was a little wary approaching this event as a number of people I follow on various social media platforms have caught Covid at gigs in the past month; while no one was particularly ill, I still didn’t want to join them on the ill list. As I write this two weeks after the event I am day three into a nasty head cold. I’d forgotten just how unpleasant a streaming nose and blocked sinuses can be, I guess it not being Covid is a blessing.

The headliners, Gnod, are an English psych/noise rock band that have been around in various forms since 2006, though they didn’t come into my radar until the 2017 album ‘Just Say No To The Psycho Right-Wing Capitalist Fascist Industrial Death Machine’, a title that surely attracts attention. They have released four albums since then, of which I have three, though the latest album ‘Hexen Valley’ has yet to arrive in my letterbox and is very late due to vinyl pressing issues.

I wasn’t sure what to expect tonight, the last records have been heavier and sludgier than the early drawn out psych jam style tracks which I have been listening to a lot lately.

The Piper has undergone a refurbishment over lockdown and is quite a bit bigger, with the stage moving 90 degrees into the new extension. This is good. What they haven’t fixed is the crap lighting, and tonight was pretty bad, The Black Arches under a red glow and Gnod under the even worse (from a photo perspective), blue.

The night started with a set from the Black Arches, a Hastings group led by the writer Gareth E. Rees. Gareth wrote the book ‘The Stone Tide’, comprised of part fiction/part non-fiction tales of Hastings. It was released just as I looking to move to St Leonards and was in part one of the reasons I decided to move here. The other, non-musical, Black Arches are three arches carved into the side of East Hill in Hastings in the 18th century. On a good day when the scrub is clear and viewed across the valley from west Hill, they look like the entrance to a church. No-one really knows why they were carved, possibly as an elaborate prank. It took three attempts for me to find them, finally achieving that goal in Jan 2021. As you would expect I wrote about them at the time.

I enjoyed The Black Arches set, they were a better band than last time I saw them, tighter and a bit heavier, maybe the sound last time was poor? Apart from going to a lot of gigs I know nothing about sound and systems, but to my ears the Piper has a decent PA, loud enough and oomphy enough to allow a good wall of noise that doesn’t sound like sludge. Anyway, The Black Arches set was good.

As the light was so poor I was shooting at a very low speed so some of the images are a bit blurry. These are the best of a poor bunch of images. Red light, it sucks.

For the final song of their set the band were joined on vocals by Medway artist/poet/musician Sexton Ming, producing one of the best songs of their short set.

You have to admire a band that has two drummers. The last band I remember seeing with two onstage was Swans and they were amazing and set a high bar for how well two drummers can synchronise a beat, before that it was probably The Fall, an even higher bar. Two drummers means a lot of volume for the guitars to compete with so it was loud, very loud; not oppressively so but definitely loud; my ears were still humming in the morning as I stupidly didn’t use the earplugs that were in my pocket.

I had a good position close to centre front. Paddy Shine, vocals and guitar, stood in front of the low stage, making it more difficult to take photos of the rest of the band as they were in deeper shadow. He has a very expressive face and it was interesting just watching his performance.

The band played a few songs I recognised, none of the log slow jams with repeating keyboard and guitar riffs and drones, but I knew that due to the lack of keyboard on stage. The set was pretty aggressive, very much the heavier end of their musical spectrum.

They started with ‘Regimental’, one of my favourites from the their second to last album ‘La mort du Sens’ (The death of meaning), followed by a track I didn’t know and then ‘Pink Champagne Blues’, also from the La Mort LP.

The fourth track was the 15 minute , repeating two note ‘Spotlight’ off the most recent LP ‘Hexen Valley’. This was the track where the two drummers truly excelled, 15 minutes of pummelling in perfect synchronicity; with no apparent flagging; just fantastic.

Spotlight was followed by two more songs from Hexen Valley, then a couple I didn’t recognise. The set finished with a cracking, fast version of my favourite of their heavier tracks ‘Bodies for Money’ from ‘Just say no to the psycho right-wing capitalist fascist industrial machine’, an album title that sums up the political stance taken in their lyrics.

It was a great gig, well attended, loud, hot, sweaty and I enjoyed it immensely. I heard the following day that apparently the band did as well, and they will be back to play St Leonards on a future tour. Yay.

10 minute walk and I was home, who can ask for better than that.

‘Swell Maps’ @ Rough Trade East, London

Thursday 24 March 2022 – Shoreditch, London.

I’ve no idea when I first heard Swell Maps, given I didn’t start listening to punk until late 1978 and my exposure to new music as a mid-teen in Auckland with no older siblings was limited. I expect I didn’t hear them until after they broke up in 1980. I know I had their first single from 1977 ‘Read about Seymour’ on a cassette one of my workmates made me in 1981. I guess that was possibly the first time for me. It is a great song, as were the other singles.

They are an odd band, originating in Solihull in the English midlands the various members muddled around experimenting with music and sound in various duos and trios from the early 70s but didn’t form as Swell Maps until the punk explosion. Their early singles were short sharp bursts of jagged guitar driven punk, ‘Read about Seymour’ is only 1 minute 27 long. Resolutely DIY, they used cheap instruments in cheap studios and it shows in their early recordings, they all sound fabulous. I love that lo-fi over driven sound.

They released two LPs; the first in 1979 ‘A trip to Marineville’ and the more well known ‘Jane from Occupied Europe’ in 1980. Both were on the fledgling label Rough Trade. The band split soon after ‘Jane’ came out and most of the members went onto other musical projects, none were what you would call commercially successful. Both their LPs are more post-punk than what most would consider punk, with longer songs (Gunboats was over eight minutes), some instrumentals and lots of weird instrumentation and found sounds. Those records still sound good today.

They were not a band I followed, perhaps because they split before I started buying music. However, I suspect it’s more likely that by the time I first heard them their music had moved on from three chord DIY punk to something more challenging and interesting and I hadn’t moved on at all. I have been listening to them more over the last few years though and was interested enough to order bassist/guitarist/vocalist Jowe Head’s book about the band when it was released earlier in the year. A copy is waiting for me in my favourite bookshop, Printed Matter in Hastings, when I get back to St Leonards next month

As was normal in the early punk days most of the band members had made up names, Jowe Head, Epic Soundtracks, Nikki Sudden, Biggles Books, Phones Sportsman and Golden Cockrill. Sadly Nikki Sudden and Epic are no longer with us, both passing too young. After Swell Maps split Jowe Head was in an early line up of the Television Personalities.

I only saw that this interview with Jowe Head was on tonight at Rough Trade on Tuesday. As it was free and early in the evening and the weather was going to be nice I decided to get a ticket and make the walk to Rough Trade in Shoreditch after I finished work in Westminster. I need the exercise and the walk took an hour which was perfect, I’d earned my pint. I didn’t realise that after the interview and Q and A with Jowe there was going to be a live performance of Swell Maps songs by Jowe and friends. This was a massive bonus, and I was glad I had lumped the camera around with me.

The band tonight comprised of – Jowe Head, guitar and vocals,
Dave Callahan of The Wolfhounds and Moonshake, guitar and vocals,
Luke Haines of The Auteurs, guitar and vocals,
Lucie Rejchrtová of Instant Flight, keyboards,
Jeff Bloom of Television Personalities, drums
Lee McFadden of Alternative TV, bass and vocals.

The band was joined for the songs ‘Harmony’ and ‘Cake Shop’ by Gina Birch from another seminal band, The Raincoats.

It was a lot of fun, the band were great, a little chaotic at times, the mix was really good, and it was a joy listening to songs I never ever expected to hear live. Midget Submarines was probably my favourite song of the night, though Seymour and International Rescue were brilliant. The set ended with a five minute or so jam of what was apparently a Can track. Kinda the perfect way to end a set really.

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Dave Callahan, Jowe, Luke Haines. Lee McFadden

Dave Callaghan singing ‘Let’s Build a car’ with Lucie Rejchrtová in the background. I wasn’t able to get a decent photo of Lucie from where I was standing.

Gina Birch.

Lee McFadden and half of drummer Jeff Bloom.

Luke Haines summing it up (he is a great performer)

At one point when I was taking photos I realised I’d moved just out of sight of my back pack which contained work laptop, I could feel the person behind me getting closer to me, so I stepped back a bit and turned round and it was Thurston Moore, I realised my bag was going to be fine.

I’m really glad I went, it was a fun atmosphere, with what I’m guessing were loads of friends of the band giving them loads of love.

Three Songs, No Flash. The Beths @ Whammy Bar

Wednesday 12 January 2022 – Auckland

Before I start here is a quick note for anyone who landed here from a Google search while looking for information on The Beths Whammy Bar series. I couldn’t find the stage times elsewhere. This was from the Wednesday night performance so may not reflect the following nights.

Other than Friday 14 Jan, all five Auckland shows are sold out.
Doors at 7:00, the support band, Lips were on stage at 8:00 and The Beths on soon after 9:00.
A vaccine pass was required; most of the punters were wearing masks (yahoo).
Whammy has been proactive and installed some much needed, and very efficient, air-conditioning. The staff were great too.
Capacity has been reduced from 210 to 170 which made a massive difference to space.

The most important thing you’ll want to know; was the Wednesday gig any good? Hell yes, of course!

After the obligatory ‘Hi, we’re The Beths from Auckland New Zealand’, the band started with the fabulous oldie ‘Happy Unhappy’ with its poptastic ‘oh-uh’ opening, before launching into a set that seemed to have more tracks from the first LP than the second. All the ‘hits’ were there as you would expect so I doubt anyone will leave disappointed their favourite song wasn’t played. They introduced three new songs, unusually closing the encore with one of them, the very un-Beths like rager ‘Silence is Golden’, a track I’m looking forward to hearing on record.

If you have not heard The Beths and you like indie pop with great musicianship and witty songs with the best vocal harmonies New Zealand has produced since The Muttonbirds, then you definitely need to check them out. Then go buy some records. They are a great band, seem like lovely people and deserve to be huge, though not stadium huge as I hate stadium gigs. The Beths are doing a good old fashioned five night residency at the freshly post-lockdown re-opened Whammy Bar on Auckland’s K’ Rd.

My favourites ‘Future me Hates me’, ‘Uptown Girl’ and ‘I’m not getting excited’ were played at pace and were fabulous, as was ‘Jump rope gazers’. With so many people masked up the crowd singing along was slightly muted too, an unexpected bonus!

Australian artist Stella Donnelly was supposed to play the support slot but was unable to attend due to the travel restrictions. The Beths played one of her songs ‘Tricks’ in tribute, I thought that was the weakest song of the set.

We saw a great The Beths set at Heaven in London in August 2019, along with 1100 other people, though this much more intimate venue really suits their personalities. The on stage and audience banter worked so much better here and at times it felt like it was a sing-along with mates rather than a public show. With fewer people than normal Whammy Bar was the best it has been, the sound was excellent, particularly at the back and the lighting was not too terrible for photography, though I still had to convert to mono as the colour cast was pretty bad 🙂

I stayed at the front taking photos for the first three songs before heading to the raised area at the back to stand with Eleanor to enjoy the rest of the show.

I have not heard support band, Lips, before. I thought they were OK, they had some good songs, the first couple and the last were the standouts for me.

While Covid rates are (thankfully) incredibly low in New Zealand we all know how virulent the omicron variant is and we won’t know it’s in the community until it’s in the community. Getting Covid right now, just before we head off on holiday, and then back to London would be just so ironic. With that in mind I (we?) was a little tentative in the hours before the gig; this was only the second show we’ve gone to since Feb 2020 when we saw Penelope Isles in St Leonards. The last gig we went to was Deathcrash in July 2021 and it was a fully seated, socially distant event held in a Hackney church. The lack of shows was not through lack of desire; there were none in the UK before we left for New Zealand, and when we arrived in Auckland we went straight into lockdown. Gigs have just started again and we were so glad we got to go this one before we leave. It was originally scheduled for September and had been postponed twice before.

For a return to standing gigs we couldn’t have picked a better one. It was a fun show; great band, good sound, busy but not packed venue, and most importantly smiles round (as far as I could tell as the majority of the audience were wearing masks).

New Zealand Music Month, 2009 Gig photos

Auckland 2009
New Zealand Music Month.

The second and final post for New Zealand music month.

For a few month across 2008 and 2009 I did some gig photography for an Auckland based website. In the end it just got too much and I could not sustain late nights taking photos as well as working a busy job and a family; albeit only one of the kids was at home by then. Looking at the dates of these photos it looks like I stopped in March and then did a couple more months in July and August. I did get to some great gigs, mainly by New Zealand bands; though I did get to see legendary English band Spiritualized.

DHDFDs,
Kings Arms, January.
I absolutely loved seeing these guys, completely bonkers, and they could play too.

Set On End,
Somewhere, January.
Metalcore band from West Auckland who were good friends of my son Dom.

X-Features,
Support for Spiritualized, Powerstation, January.

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Hasselhoff Experiment,
Cassette 9, February.

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Head Like a Hole,
Kings Arms, February.
Wellington’s Head Like a Hole were a must see gig when they first started coming to Auckland in the early 90s. Absolutely insane live.

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Lawrence Arabia,
Early evening gig in a Cafe on K’Rd, March.
I was contacted by the band after the photos went up and some were used in a print article in NZ Musician magazine. The only time any of my gig photos have made it into print.

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The Randoms,
Somewhere on Nelson St, July.

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Silhouette of the guitarist from Frayden,
Somewhere on Nelson St, July.

Shadow Play

Piece War,
Support for Shocking Pinks, Cassette 9, July.

Shocking Pinks,
Cassette 9, July.

Drab Doo Riffs
Cassette 9, July
Karl Steven was probably the most engaging live vocalist in NZ at the time, it was great watching him perform, I have a lot of photos.

Brand New Math,
Support for Handsome Furs, Cassette 9, August.

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And that was the end of my short-lived, unpaid career as a gig photographer. It was mostly fun, but also hard work. With such terrible public transport in Auckland, a lot of people drove into the city for gigs, which meant they were always on really late, often finishing at 2am, even mid week. One of the (many) things I love about the UK is most gigs are done by 11pm, getting home early is something I very much appreciate.