Ah, the Bitter End, what happy memories this place brings back for me. First pub I ever drank in. First pub I ever got drunk in. First and only pub I got thrown out of (it wasn't my fault, of course. I didn't ask for someone to throw a pint of beer over my head at random). So many happy, drunken memories.
So many sober, angry memories too. Back in the late 80s, when I was not quite an adult (that's why I drank there, no one else would serve people *that* young), I was dragged up there every Friday night by my mates. My soul-loving, white-sock wearing, white cider drinking mates. Nice bunch of people though they were, their taste in music was the exact opposite of mine and I used to get fed up telling them that Level 42 are NOT the most talented musicians and songwriters in the world, Luther Vandross does not have the best voice and I Found Lovin' by the Fatback Band was not the ultimate bleedin' party record, even though the Bitter End DJ would play it on the hour, every bloody hour, every day of his miserable life.
So here I am at the Bitter End on a Saturday afternoon, for the first time in about 15 years. The place hasn't changed a lot - it's gone through a few name changes - back to its old name, the White Hart, and also the Ford and Firkin, what the hell was that all about? - and back again. Fortunately things have turned around a bit recently, and much more for the better. The management of the Bitter End, in association with local promoters Allsound, have turned every Saturday night into an indie / rock extravaganza. Tonight the most recent additions to the fold are Eel Pie Island's wonderful prog/indie warriors the Mystery Jets, with Kid Harpoon and Hadleigh Ford in support.
Blaine and William from the band kindly gave me an interview and afterwards, as a nice touch, they decided to give me an exclusive bootleg recording of current single Diamonds In The Dark! Kid Harpoon grabbed his guitar and Blaine and William gave a stirring vocal performance, and the recording came out really well.
This one is going up on the next BOA Podcast - so if you want to hear it subscribe now and you'll automatically get it downloaded when number 7 goes up in a few days time.
The gig was part of an acoustic tour - the Powercut Serenades - although to be honest the sound wasn't noticeably different from the semi-acoustic sound they always managed to create on stage. Having seen the Mystery Jets a few times I knew it would be a good show, but along with the "old favourites" like Dennis and Agnes I really enjoyed the new material on show and also the cover of Syd Barrett's "The Gnome".
In January 2001 I was in a record shop in Riga, Latvia and heard this song fly over the speakers. It was one of those double-take mesmerised to the spot kind of moments. I bought the album, Dreams, and played it quite a lot on a loungecore radio show I used to present on Phoenix FM. The name of the band means a knife for Mrs Muller, and I never found out why it was part Russian and part German (the band were from Russia).
I was amazed and delighted to discover tonight that someone has put the video of it up on Youtube, not that I knew they ever had a video made. It doesn't look like too many roubles were harmed in the making of it.
I also learned the translation too, as I'd always announced it as Luchaya Devushka w SSSR by Nozd Dlya Frau Muller. There's commitment for you!
Frank and Walters by numbers, a nice little tune all the same. It was released in Ireland but not the UK. I purloined it from eMusic as one of my 25 free songs. Now if only I could choose the other 24.
It's spent 2 weeks in the Irish top 30, having been a new entry at number 20 two weeks ago and currently sitting at 29. That's the Irish SALES charts, not some college/indie chart or one written by some old bastard like me! Been a few years since anyone can say that about them.
VIDEO: MJ Hibbett and the Validators - The Gay Train
Oi Hibbett has had himself another video done by the people from B3ta. The last one they did, Hey Hey 16K, had over 3 million downloads. Well OK it wasn't a video, more of a bizarre flash-o animation. This is from the awesome album "We Validate", which, as everyone who knows the ways of the Hibbett knows, is GRATE.
Horrible horrible cover version and Fisher Price xylophones
Best Week Ever www.bestweekever.tv is a blog I'd never seen before, but they saw us first and said we were "wonderfully named"; we love praise, so thanks for that! It appears to be run by MTV/VH1.
I'd like to thank everyone by giving them a truly horrible cover - Lithium by the Polyphonic Spree. It's like buying a painting and drawing over the top of it with 22 different crayons. It's not all bad news today though, I did manage to get hold of the acoustic version of Fields's Song For The Fields, which was released earlier this year. I love the Fisher Price xylophone accompanying the guitar, no, I really mean it!
The photo is one of Art Brut I took at the Metro Club on Good Friday 2004, where they were supporting Fruitbat's Abdoujaparov (ex-Carter USM).
For once the NME have got it spot on with their description of said thing:
We Are Scientists and Art Brut have both completed recording their respective covers of 'Bang Bang Rock & Roll' and 'The Great Escape'.
As previously reported, both bands are hitting the road together in North America, and decided to swap songs for the limited edition release.
Neither cover is straight, however the bands have kept the exact styles they've opted for a secret so far.
However NME.COM can now reveal that We Are Scientists have performed 'Bang Bang Rock & Roll' like the Velvet Underground, in response to Art Brut's lyrics "I don't like the sound of the Velvet Underground, I don't like the sound that second time around".
Meanwhile Art Brut's version of 'The Great Escape' has seen the British band recreate the song as an homage to Lynyrd Skynyrd's 'Free Bird'.
Sounds pretty accurate to me! If you can't quite get to the tour, which is the only place to get the songs, have a listen here and enjoy ...
Live at Brentwood Theatre, 17 Sep 2006. Phill Jupitus is on lead vocals. There is a bit of a reprise into another Ian Dury composition, Jack Shit George, which led to me running out of memory about 2 seconds before the end of the song!
If you've never heard them play it's hard to believe that the nutty old bass player, Norman, Watt-Roy is responsible for two of the best basslines ever committed to vinyl - he was one of the session musicians on Relax and Two Tribes by Frankie Goes To Hollywood (as indeed were some of the other Blockheads). He's not only one of the best bass players I've ever seen live, but he seemed to be enjoying it the most too - not to say that no one else did!
The venue was a tiny theatre just down the road to me, in Brentwood, Essex. It held about 200 and was sold out. The Blockheads don't play a lot of gigs anymore. Support came from chidish Essex emo-punks Koopa.
The Blockheads have a tribute act, The Blox, who sound extraordinarily like the real thing - in fact more so, because they have someone singing who doesn't sound much like the Jupitus. The Blox contains such people as Iain't Dury, Chaz Plankel and Norman Watt-Not.
