Issue 019 APRIL 2015

t o ‘ I N t H E C L U b ’ , t H E o F F I C I A L t U E S D A Y C L U b I N t E R A C t I V E M A G A z I N E - b R o U G H t t o Y o U I N C o N J U N C t I o N wI t H t H E P E R F E C t P o P C o - o P A N D o U R F R I E N D S

Welcome

Thanks to: Design @8ecreative, Tiggy Pop. Editor: Reggie Mental. Photography: Neil Stephenson, Jord,

AVBD, The Eye, Sarah Martin, Dylan Schwarz Words: Denise Parsons, The Minx, Faye Don’tlikeitupum,

Stuart Pidboy, Don Tellumpike, Don T. Panic, Sister Dolly, AVBD, Beautiful Wolf, J-Rodz, Grae J Wall, Roger

The Ranter.

Hello Children

It’s spring, so I’ll just say some Spike Milligan and leave it at that

“Spring is sprung, the grass is rizI wonder where the birdies isthe Little birds is on the wingthat’s absurd! the little wing is on the bird!”

Hope you’re all not too fat after Easter

J-Rod. Guitarist Stage Left, and typo.

M A G ( N I F I C E N T ) 7 ( I s h ) 6 + 1 - A P R I L E D I T I O N ) . . . w H A t t H E t U E S D A Y C L U b A R E S t I C k I N G I N t H E I R E A R D R U M S !

Andreas Vanderbraindrain:

the kLF - 3 A. M. Eternal & Last train to trancentral [Double Extended]https://youtu.be/tozsN5M4uwY

The Minx:

thunder - I love You More than Rock’n’Roll youtu.be/xQsOaZ8vfnc

Wasabi Penis:

therapy? - Still Hurtshttp://youtu.be/4XvmmmQKg-s

J-Rod:

Grandaddy - Now It’s on. youtube.com/watch?v=mOq7acPdfnQ

The Beautiful Wolf:

warpaint - ashes to asheshttps://youtu.be/EuspAu4FxuU

Rogerio Marauder:

the Skids - “A woman In winter”youtube.com/watch?v=A58wxLWAMvQ

ContentsCover star: The Tuesday Club

Magnificent 6+1 2-3What’s going on in our musical world

(Club) Foot tappers 4-5AVBD, J-Rod and The Beautiful Wolf trawl their record collections. Plus this months ‘lost artist’ is The Bodies

Who’s In the Club 6With Ray Waters from The Zipheads

The ZipHeads 7They’re taking over! Just back from their tour!

Da Minx’s - Upping the Agony... 8The Chanteuse turns to psychiatry!

Roger The Ranter 9-12The tangent randomings of an aging punk!

50 Shades of Grae 13-15Chapter and verse from St.Albans’ cunningest linguists and friends

The Parson’s Knows 16-20Denise, gives us all the news from Trestle Arts base, St.Albans and it’s environs.

Pop up shop! 21Stuff to buy and stuff to do!

facebook.com/thisisthetuesdayclub@thetuesdayclub1 AVBD - @Vnderbraindrain The Minx - @TCTheMinx R. Marauder - @YTDS Dave Worm - @Roddamiser J-Rod - @JRod_TCwww.youtube.com/thisisthetuesdayclubthisisthetuesdayclub.co.ukinfo@thisisthetuesdayclub.co.ukpinterest.com/thetuesdayclubthetuesdayclub.tmstor.es

Upcoming gigs!Sat Apr 25 - Green Room, WGC

EP 2 Tour:

Tues June 2 - Amp Sessions

Fri June 12 - Flava, Stevenage

Tues June 23 - The Horn, St.Albans

Sat June 25 - Adelphi, Hull

Sun July 5 - Watford Live

Sat July 11 (Afternoon) - Organ Festival

Sat July 18 - Amble Inn Festival

Massive thanks to our mate Martin Wakeling for standing in on drums at our return gig on good Friday, sadly for us, it was only a dep spot as Martin is fully commited to his own band. So we are still on the search for a new fulltime member behind our kit. Being that we aren’t your conventional artistes we’re holding ongoing ‘try before you try’ view-ing sessions the next will be at The Green Room in Welwyn Garden City on Saturday April 25th.

Basically, if you’re a dedicated drummer, who loves playing and recording original music, who can commit to regular weekly rehearsals, isn’t hung up on getting paid (we put pretty much all we earn back into the band to fund our recording, releases and travel) and is up for a good laugh with likeminded people, we’d really like to buy you a drink, before, during or after the show and if we like you, maybe all three!

This month’s featured track from The Tuesday Club, is The B-side of the New

Glamour single, an ode to Charles Hawtry Old Before Your Time, so keep um peeled down at the thetcshop.com

Malcolm Mclaren - Buffalo Gals Taken from 1981’s Duck Rock album, which

came out right at the forefront of sampling, introducing the world to big hats, and skipping ropes as essential fashion accessories from the streets of NYC... not to mention Breakdance and Hip Hop!youtu.be/9SgvJY9xxcA

The Godfathers - Birth School Work Death Was the title track of the bands 1988

Album according to Wikipedia its release pre-dated the explosion of the alternative rock scene, and therefore went relatively unnoticed in the band’s native UK. Except by AVBD! Who thinks it should have been a number 1!youtu.be/QO5dcW0P75M

Siouxsie & The Banshees - Swimming Horses wasreleased in 1984 as the first single from the band’s sixth studio album, Hyeana and the follow up to there number 3 hit the cover of the Beatles song Dear Prudenceyoutu.be/3PVj594JR5M

Johnny Marr - Easy Money The lead track from last years acclaimed album PlaylandJohnny was good in the Smiths, but it’s his love of T.Rex, that get AVBD’s

vote everytime! youtu.be/9_P5iSG_APE

Monochrome Set - The Monochrome Set - featuring ex-Antz and B-Sides members - Andy Warren and Lester Square, this track comes from 1980’s album Strange Boutiqueyoutu.be/l9zfNlV_Fio

War Paint - Ashes to Ashes Yes a cover of the classic Bowie track. A good one too. youtu.be/EuspAu4FxuU

Baeder Meinhoff - Mogadishu - Luke Haines is a Beautiful Wolf favourite, this track comes from the album Luke Haines is Dead from 2005

Dear Club fans, welcome to AVBD and The Beautiful Wolf’s monthly round up of the new, the old, the signed, the unsigned and the inspirational, from our very own musical old curiosity shop, where we pick and podcast 10( ish) tracks that turn us on... with a little help from J-Rod! Here’s a selection of the featured tracks, but you’ll have to listen to find out more :-)

CLUbFoot tappers‘COS the Platters still matter....

of the month!SPECIAL REQUEST SPOT!LoSt ARtISt

Fae Jane & The Burning Docs1978 - 1981Featuring none other than our new poetry columnist Grae J Wall. Fae Jane and The Burning Docs were:

Geoff Vail - Guitar, Mik Power - Bass/Drums, Grey (Grae) Wall Bass/Drums/VocalsFormed at St Albans College of Further Education the band played a number of gigs at the college and elsewhere around St Albans, Harpenden, Luton, Hatfield, Welwyn and Watford. The band recorded three tracks at Quest studios in Luton and along with members of Buzz et les Lumberjacks were responsible for putting together ‘A Suicide in St Albans’ - a cassette compilation of local acts that received international interest. The band’s manager - a local off-licence manager bought them a rusty Comma van and ran away to Paris with one of their friends. The band’s influences included David Bowie, Lou Reed, Talking Heads, Richard Hell and The Voidoids and The Bodies.

Grae also played drums with Buzz et les Lumberjacks, Red Lector and The Fruitbats. Grae and Geoff went on to form Pleasure in Pink and Grae formed The 47 Swing Jam Band around 1981.

Grae continues to play and promote - currently as a member of The Trailer Trash Orchestra and The Astronauts and in his role with St Albans Arts Team curated this exhibition... and of course our new peoples poet!

This months lost artist is ...

Thanks to: satellitestalbans.co.uk/bands/faefulltext.htm#fae for this and all the great info!

to find out more about these and other tracks on our show download your FREE podcast...

click here

youtu.be/RBBKFNM3mAs

Psychic TV - GodStar.

Genesis P.Orridges’ most accessible (in the words of the Wolf) Psychadellic homage to Ex-Stone Brian Jones.

We hope you enjoy this months podcast, don’t forget you can subscribe to them and listen again on our channel atmixcloud.com/thisisTheTuesdayClub

In the clubRay Waters with

Our next guest ‘In the Club’ is Ray Waters, frontman of the hot St.Albans trio The Zipheads, many

a Krombacher and a musing has been had between us and Ray after rehearsals on a Monday. In

celebration of the bands new vinyl 7” and European tour, we thought it high time we had the great

man in for a chat!Hi Ray and welcome to In the Club.

1) We are sitting in the cyber pub doing this interview, and it’s our round. What do you want to drink? Ale!

2) What was the last thing you heard/watched that was so good you had to tell someone about it? we all watched the film ‘Forbidden zone’ recently, a truly bizarre and wonderful musical featuring the Mystic knights of the oingo boingo, who would later become one of our favourite rock bands, oingo boingo. Very much up our street, very far-fetched with some amazing music. Danny Elfman singing Minne the Moocher as the Devil is truly magnificent to behold.

3) Is Punk rock dead or alive?Pffffft I don’t know man, don’t know if it was ever ‘alive’ as such, good music is good music regardless of context so we tend to think of punk as a style of music we enjoy rather than an ideology or whatever. we love Rock’n’Roll in all its forms and its always been around so it never dies really.

4) In terms of new bands is the Internet help or hinderance?

both. In theory its easier to reach people, but the flip of that is that now the ‘marketplace’ is so oversaturated its hard to get your music heard over everyone else. but if theres a record label or whatever chucking

money at a band, you can still bypass all that and pay to have your band plastered all over mags and websites etc, so I guess nothing has changed really. However as we book all our own shows etc we rely heavily on the internet, it has made communication between bands promoters a lot easier so in that regard its a massive help.

5) If Football is the current rock’n’roll, what will be next? Do you think a ‘heyday’ will ever return to music. No idea. Is football the new rock’n’roll?? You don’t get rock stars like you used to do, people love to hear about taking loads of drugs and banging loads of women and I guess footballers fill that void as it were. Hopefully it will leave the musicians to concentrate on the actual music rather than the ‘glamour’ aspect of it all. Heydays will come and go, but smaller and quicker than ever until the next thing comes along, peoples attention spans are too short for things to last that long...

6) What’s the best venue you’ve played/been too in the last year?Some of the venues we played in France in the summer were really cool. Limoges was great, loads of history, we were playing in a really small bar, probably a few hundred years old... we played a venue in Leicester once with a giant ‘Dove From Above’ from Shooting Stars hanging from the ceiling, that was pretty memorable.

7) If you could be any character in a film, what film and who would it be?when i was 17 I was obsessed with travis bickle from taxi Driver, had the army jacket, moheican, everything. All a bit scary really.

the zipheads Frontman!

You can see and hear more from The Zpheads on their OFFICIAL VIDEO - ‘REVENGE’ Taken from the album Prehistoric Beat here...

youtu.be/rJTosXpGUNg

St.Albans rockabilly tearaways The Zipheads always seem to be going from strength to strength... man they must be really strong! Yeah we know the tour dates are out of date now so we can’t show ‘um but Belgium, Holland, Germany, Finland and Sweden, defo has more pazazz than Markyate, Old Welwyn and Kimpton (no disrespect Herts based dudes!), but we just wanted to illustrate their growing appeal not just within AL’s 1, 2, 3 & 4.As if you didn’t know (of course you did, you heard it in the March podcast!) The boys have just released a delicious Apple Green 7”er called “She just don’t seem to care”.Back in September, they entered esteemed rockabilly/psychobilly producer Alan Wilson’s Western Star Studio, and cut the 2 tracks for the single. The record is receiving airplay with the irish-tinged b-side ‘Foreign Land’ also proving a popular choice.The band will be selling copies of the single at their upcoming shows, not just on the afformentioned tour of mainland Europe and Finland in but at future local dates too, so make sure you keep up to speed with them on facebook or at zipheads.com. But if you can’t make to see them live then the single is also available for mail-order from Western Star Records http://tinyurl.com/orcn94j and for download on iTunes http://tinyurl.com/ptjhd2d

these days I suppose we just try and emulate batman villains like the Joker and the Riddler etc in the way we dress and perform onstage. Camping it up.

8) You are now In The Club, but what club do you actually wish it was? I dunno, Fight Club? Fiend Club? Hot Club of Cowtown? one of those.

9) Who’d be in your 4 piece fantasy rock’n’ roll band. Guitar, Bass, Drums and Vocalstopper Headon on drums, Paul Simonon on bass, Mick Jones on lead guitar and Joe Strummer on vocals and guitar... (ok yes we get it Ray :-)

10) What question haven’t we asked you that you wish we had? ’would you like some money?’

Thanks loads Ray

For more news and info on The Zipheads just

go to: thezipheads.com

It’s not always easy to know who you are talking to at Tuesday Club gig. Looking for the cowbell

DAMinx

Is already well into Spring of year. Minx usually not afraid of time march on but was sad end to last year and though people think Minx hard hearted, Minx always have soft spot for people who understand cowbell – in fact Mr Super Bartelski one of few people who demand more cowbell. He also demand more saying of rude words, but Minx ignore this (though secretly laugh inside). Mr S will be sore missed.

Is difficult not write more sad words, but Minx not want cry. Minx never cry. Is lesson from being child in Siberia where tears freeze on cheeks and Mother laugh at Minx’ pain when removing with tweezers. Minx vow never cry again.

However, Minx cry with laughter at thing minion (plural) do. Minion so stupid but very funny and not even on purpose.

Builder Minion has taken lately to trying to please Minx and do odd job around house. Without Minx even ask, which is unheard of. Think Builder Minion is try be nice to Minx. Also first Minion also be nice. They know Minx has been very sad.

Minx has been sad, da, but Minx is also fume. In Minx road have new neighbour who is fellow Russian. But she horrible and mean and care for no one but self. She put rubbish in street (minion report back that she leave label on box – fool, everyone know is number one rule when dump rubbish), she make lot of noise with her own builder minion who she work until drop, even on Sunday, and she have loud party until early in morning (and Minx not invite) and throw champagne bottle in street. Is disgust behaviour. Is bring disrepute to Russian name. Should drink only Vodka.

Yellow flower called Daft-o-dill is out in garden, along with cherry blossom on only tree left that has not been ravaged by Kalashnikov. I think he like tree because of the bark. Kha kha - is Minx joke. Minx full of spring and feeling Minxy. Think everyone get bit horny at this time of year. Birds are making love with bees and all getting very frisk. Lamb in fields and large rabbit run around like mad thing. Minion just tell me is hair, but cannot understand how hair make a rabbit crazy like this and make his ears grow. Thankfully Minx ears do not grow when Minx grow hair. Look like elf. Minion say to me no no, is mad March hair. He need punish for cruel comment on Minx appearance, and besides is April now.

Agony Aunt columnHave had few new questions in from agony aunt people. Most are not problems but just questions asking of Minx. Sigh.

Dear Minx,I have been trying to assembly flat pack from well-known Swedish furniture store but they forgot to put the fixings in. What screws do I need? Lionel, Cheshire

Dear Lionel,You do not trick Minx, I know you try and be smut and make out you need a screw. I may be Russian but am not stupid and am not looking like cabbage. Contact support group. Or if need genuine support from well-known Swedish furniture store which we all know is IKEA, contact them direct. I not have time for DIY. Have Builder Minion for such tasks.

Agony Aunt Minx

Dearest Minx,Burger King or MacDonald’s? Tom, Oxford

Dear Tom, (do not see why have to write dear at beginning of each letter answer. Make it sound like Minx like these people) Well befitting Russian princess status, Minx always veer towards Royal burger place, but as we all know Old MacDonald had farm so presume meat will be fresh.

Minx

The Minx Agony Column

The tangent randomings

of an aging grumpy punk no

Why do we love “Rock & Roll”? Thinking back, can you identify the moment you fell in love with music. Not just music but what you then recognised as Rock and Pop. Can you pinpoint the exact time and place? Or, if not so exact, can you remember the handful of events or circumstances that turned your head? How, where, when, what caused those first revelations?

One day, you’re a kid; getting on with the business of being a kid when suddenly you hear something on the radio or you see something on TV and you experience an epiphany! You cannot un-hear what you’ve heard. You cannot un-see what you’ve seen. You have stepped across that line of no return, from innocence to knowing… That knowing being Rock & Roll…

I know exactly when it was and where I was when it happened to me. I was with my dad, in the barbers, one Saturday morning, late 1962, on New Park Road, just off Brixton Hill. I was 5 years

old, propped up on the booster seat in the chair, having my brutal, US Army regulation short back and sides, when it began to play on the radio… The sound that would start to shape the rest of my life…

There was no Rock & Roll in our house. The radio was always tuned to the BBC light service, playing safe, familiar popular music for the masses. My mum was a Jazz head, having been a beatnik in the early 50’s. My dad was just square… daddio…. It was TELSTAR, by the Tornadoes… I can still remember the effect it had on me, hearing that sensational piece of pop for the very first time. This wasn’t Pinky & Perky. This wasn’t Wally Whyton and the 5 o clock club - (Google ‘em kids) – This was sublime. This was euphoric! That strange sound, that spacey far-out-ness, that soaring infectious melody played on a… Just what was it played on?

I was smitten. I was swept up in its sonic cyclone and Joe Meek’s astonishing production, but it was what happened next that possibly caused the lasting, irretrievable damage… Just as the key change kicked in, 2/3rds of the way through, giving it that artificial lifting dynamic, two lads, waiting for their haircuts and the Saturday boy, sweeping up the cuttings, spontaneously broke into the melody, singing along to the tune with complete abandon and exuberance. My dad broke into a big grin and

the barber started chuckling, both amused as the lads hammed it up and it was that

moment my awareness of the power of pop was scorched

into my mind forever. I was transfixed.

I was in awe. That a tune on the radio

could make 3 lads from Brixton just

do that. Whatever it was… I wanted some!

Then of course, came the Fabs. The four loveable

mop-tops from Liverpool (which was their name before

they settled on the shorter, snappier ‘Beatles’). And we

loved ‘em – Yeah. Yeah, yeah… What was not to love? I was now 6

or7 years old and they were everywhere. Always on the radio, always on the telly, or so it seemed. Saturday Night at the London Palladium, Ready Steady Go… But how The Beatles got to me was not just that unstoppable delivery of incredible hit songs that everyone fell for. It was the fact that they came from the same city as my grandma and

3

she adored them. That was where the special connection happened for me. Another sign from the gods that this was my destiny.

My granny from Knotty Ash! Home to the Diddy men too, I’ll have you know. I believed there were Gravy Wells and Jam Butty mines and I believed in The Beatles because they were there… On my TV! Whenever they came on the radio my grandma would fetch me the bath-brush… (Best guitar ever made; a wooden bath brush from Woolies)… and she’d have me strumming imaginary guitar and miming along to The Beatles… Who were from Liverpool… Where she was from… And I WAS George Harrison… aged 6 ½ …

(I feel I need to put the record straight here. I am now married to an Ormskirk girl, whose mother used to go see The Beatles regularly, at the Cavern, during her lunch-breaks and she can categorically confirm, first hand, that George Harrison was not a 6 ½ year old kid from Brixton.)

My Beatles experience was compounded by weekend visits to the posh suburb of Wooster Park, to my great Aunt Chrissie. Best thing about this was my 2 older, second cousins, Noel and Gordon. They were considerably older

because they both had scooters and were Mods! Also, they each had a Dansette in their bedrooms!

C:\Users\Roger\Desktop\All Rog\In The Club - piece 3\Dansette advert.jpgI was beguiled by older cousin, Noel, because she looked just like Cathy McGowan. I clearly remember her ironing her hair flat on the ironing board in the kitchen, before riding out with her Mod pack on a Saturday night. This girl had seen The Who play!

I was equally in awe of her younger brother, Gordon, because, not only did he have a pet duck – (really), he would spend all day with me, playing his 45s, some of which he would have invariably purchased that morning. As the discs turned on his deck, (not his duck), he would talk me through the bands, explaining what I was listening to, who they were and I was launched, like a Telstar, into another universe.

He would happily let me listen again to anything I wanted. Repeat hearings of Harrisons guitar licks, weaving between those vocal harmonies, The Kinks scruffy riffs, The Who’s brashness, The Rolling Stones shambling’s … And, the best thing about these records is, they had a B side! 2 songs on one disc and don’t even get me started on EPs – Far out!This was benign grooming. Exquisite indoctrination and yes, I wanted to be a fireman when I grew up, or the pilot of Fireball XL5 but what I had to keep a secret; what I couldn’t tell anyone, in all seriousness, for years was… I wanted to be in a rock group. If I wasn’t taken at ‘Telstar’.

If I wasn’t stolen at ‘I wanna hold your Hand’, they really got me at ‘You Really Got Me’… If it was good enough for my god like second cousins, it was good enough for me.

Once Ready Steady Go gave way to Top of the Pops, I was hooked. Every Thursday evening I needed my fix. I didn’t care who was on. The Marmalade, The Move, Dave Dee Dozy Beaky, Pew, Pew, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble, Mick n’ Titch! All I knew is they were doing something magical. Something otherworldly. Something sensational and I was enraptured. And, they possessed weapons so powerful… So terrifyingly awesome. The Bush administration didn’t coin the phrase ‘Shock and Awe’. The Dave Clark 5 were already doing it with their monster

foot stomps and drums and, god save us all from hell… ELECTRIC GUITARS!

Up to this point (now 8-9 years old) I still hadn’t seen, let alone heard a live drum kit or electric guitar. Only on disc, radio or telly. I would have to wait until I was 10 years old before I experienced the power of a live rock group. It was the least likely of circumstances… A primary school trip to Amsterdam, in 1969.

A group of us were released from our hotel one evening, to walk over to the nearby canal. As we walked along the street we could hear that characteristic dull sound of music coming from somewhere? But, this wasn’t like anything we’d heard before.

It wasn’t like anything we’d felt before because we could actually feel it. Physically vibrating and pulsing through the air, punching against our small schoolboy chests!

We followed the sound, like the children following the pied piper, until we came across a group of older Dutch kids hanging around outside one of those tall, Amsterdam townhouses. This is where it was coming from and as we approached, we stopped dead, mesmerised.

A band in rehearsal, playing a simple, 12 bar, rocking blues beat, driving out from the basement, forcing itself up through the pavement and onto the street. A bestial, visceral noise pumping up through our boots, saturating our senses, seeping into our souls. A voodoo collusion between mental stimulation and physical sensation.

Not only could I feel the solid, earth moving thud of the kick drum. Not only did I listen in rapture to the heavy twang and drive of the lead guitar but I really had no idea what a bass guitar was all about. I knew it was the one McCartney played but I wasn’t prepared for this. That heavy, deep, dangerous sound. OH MY GOD! My poor little brains couldn’t cope. My fate was sealed. Somehow, I just had to get to a place where I could get hold of the means of destruction, to make this sound!

I’m sure psychiatrists and musicologists could elegantly diagnose just what was going on here. How my mind was being manipulated by the sonic sensation. How my senses were being

seduced. How I was being lured onto the rocks by the sirens.

I would have to wait a few more years before I experienced my first orgasm but for this clueless, pre-adolescent, this would do for now. And it wouldn’t be until a few years later I realised what I had experienced, was pure sex in abstract, music form. That other integral element that contributes to the complex phenomenon of Rock & Roll. I think I understood why all those hysterical girls were screaming and crying at the Beatles… But I didn’t really… And my mum never really did explain about Redlands and Marion Faithful… But the whole sex-un drugs-un sausage rolls was so far, far away from me in those formative years. Fuck, that was an added bonus when, later, it became apparent that some girls might actually fancy you if you slung a mean guitar!

And so I waited… And waited… And consoled myself with TOTP and Radio 1 and then, our great saviour, The Old Grey Whistle Test.

By now I was at secondary school and had fallen in with a bunch of like-minded kids, and we all loved our music. Not only were there the heavies like Led Zeplin, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, that had emerged from the tail end of the 60s, but the Glam Rock thang was about to kick off and that was special. That was ours.

We shared gorgeous Bolan with the gorgeous girls in our class and when Bowie made his life changing appearance as Ziggy, on TOTP and he looked directly into the camera and into our eyes, pointed and delivered the lines “I had to phone someone, so I picked on you…” Of course he was singing to ME! No one else. ME! … OK then, and a whole nation of star struck adolescents… And Roxy Music’s first appearance on the Whistle Test… What the! Who the fuck are these freaks and what planet did they come from? All sent to confound yet compound our resolve. How could we not want to do this?

But we were at that age where it was still all so far out of reach but coming to us through the telly, out of the radio and off the pages of weekly music papers. We devoured it all, like rabid, ravenous Diamond Dogs on heat. We’d sit at the back of the class, bitching about Gary Glitter and those stupid Rubette’s and how Mott the Hoople

could beat the living shit out of them!

We’d conspire and plan the fastest route to getting onto Top of the Pops… (One of us did – eventually. Our mate, Steve Grainger, became the sax player for Culture Club at the height of their fame in the early 80s.)… But we had to wait… and wait until it was “our time… our time… our time…”

On leaving school, in 1974, we all got holiday jobs and saved up for our first instruments. I’d been playing drums and bugle for the local sea cadets for a few years so knew the rudiments of snare drum work, so I bought my first drum kit. Steve got hold of his first saxophone and with a few mates, with cheap Woolworth guitars, we began our first, tentative bedroom rehearsals. You know what they’re like. Rubbish! But we loved it and we continued until we had a basic grasp of what we were doing. A year later, I moved across to bass guitar (finally that sonorous, sexy beast of a bastard), a full drum kit proving too difficult for me!

We played together, shifting between bands and local musicians, doing all the classic covers of the day… And then our time, did indeed, come…

Late 1976. Oh, you know what happened then… And some of managed to pursue our dream and passion. Or rather our obsession, because, looking back now, I realise that’s what it was. A disproportionate fixation. An all-consuming madness. A glorious, delirious, delusional lunacy… But, we got ourselves record deals, played hundreds of gigs. My band even got a John Peel session. I got to tour Europe and up and down the UK. I even got to play in Japan for 2 weeks and, because I still love Rock & Roll and because I still need my fix, I still play to this day…

But only because, one Saturday morning, in 1962, I was sat captive, under the harsh dictate of my local barber, unable to move, when The Tornadoes came over the radio…

And “I wouldn’t trade it for the world… All the pearls in the sea…” Except for, maybe, being the pilot of Fireball XL5…

By Grae J. Wall of The Trailer Trash Orchestra, Los Chicos Muertos and webmeister at The Poetry Underground facebook.com/groups/231169533733340

Mixing Pop and Politics he asks me what the use is, I offer him embarrassment and my usual excuses. While looking down the corridor Out to where the van is waiting “I’m looking for the Great Leap Forwards” Billy Bragg wrote these lines within “Waiting for the great leap forwards” from his “Workers Playtime” album released in 1988. It’s a melancholy though ironically uplifting track that begs the question “was it all worthwhile?” to which we suppose he wants us to cry YES in euphoric unison. Having emerged from the (folk) punk wars waving a proud red flag and clutching a battered copy of Das Kapital Billy spent the next decade waging war on behalf of the downtrodden miners, struggling socialists and any element of oppressed society that moved him. The Red Wedge movement managed to make even Ken Livingstone seem sexy as Billy belted out “The Red Flag” alongside Paul Weller, The Communards and the (sadly underappreciated) Redskins – though apparently the latter felt Billy didn’t quite lean far enough to the left for their own tastes (though did play a great version of Levi Stubbs Tears – check it out on Youtube).

Whilst Billy patently decided that it was indeed worthwhile, and continues to protest against political wrongdoing most eloquently to this day, I worry that in general protest has become increasingly unfashionable (and under-promoted) within music – where has all the anger gone? That great lineage that started with the folk balladeers of yore and wound up in the hands of Woody Guthrie, Bob Dylan, The MC5, The Clash, The Dead Kennedys, Asian Dub Foundation and The King Blues seems (at least in this fair isle) to have strangely lost its muse at a time when it is surely needed more than ever. As we head towards an election in a time of enforced

austerity and the worrying finger pointing of the i m m i g r a t i o n debate we need the united example of The Specials, the disenfranchised voice of The Ruts and the energy of Steel Pulse – or of course their younger equivalents - more than ever! Why has the “love Music Hate Racism” camp fallen so strangely quiet as the spokesmen (and women) of blame culture are invited on to Question Time and factions of bigotry (barely) disguised as national pride invade our social media on a daily basis?

I partially blame the Britpop era when so many artists (I’m sure to some regret) climbed so readily into the arms of Tony Blair and his manipulative spin doctors – I don’t think music or indeed art in general has ever quite recovered. So now we have Russell Brand who, bless him, does manage to bring some alternative debate to the table but whose revolutionaries seem to be sadly shy in standing up to be counted. I did enjoy his “Revolution” book which is both enlightening and thought provoking in many places, though have to admit to gaining greater inspiration (certainly artistically) from my recent reading of Patti Smith’s beautiful “Just Kids” and Viv Albertine’s wonderfully honest “Clothes, Clothes, Clothes, Music, Music, Music, Boys, Boys, Boys” both of which celebrate the birth of libertine spirit with great aplomb. I do hear voices of dissent within the country, folk and acoustica arenas and occasionally at an event (such as the excellent Strummercamp) there seems a healthy and harnessed mixing of the old and new guard, but these moments are too few and far between. Tweets are not enough, we need anthems that we can sing (and dance) along to, that speak of the positive, caring, welcoming, diverse, creative Britain that at present seems so un-championed amidst the confusion and fear stirred up by the

50 shades...

loud exhortations of intolerance that pervade our every day. The day is most certainly now, so join me at the barricades in full voice comrades, compose and create an alternative future, for the future is unwritten, the future is bright, the future is now!

Two poems this month (posted to The Poetry Underground). Both are poems that speak of a future. The Shop is one of mine and Resurrection is by the excellent Chris Ripple – a stalwart provocateur of the performance poetry scene and also curator of the wonderful Arcadeclectica stage at Rhythms of the World festival. Chris has a Blog at chris-thescrawlofthewild.blogspot.co.uk and you can catch him live at;

Urban Grafitti (The Writing’s on the Wall) w/Parnassus Performance inc Sarah Power & Joy T Chance, Friday 26th June Ellen Terry Suite, Stevenage Leisure Centre, Stevenage.For Stevenage Arts Festival £5.00 Entry

Free Spirit Festival, Olney nr Bedford. w/Fishwife’s Broadside (among others) Saturday 8th August

Possibly appearing with Blood Sisters ? Visas applied for. facebook.com/pages/Free-Spirit-Festival/162445467146471 Until next time, Je suis Charlie Baude-laire! Grae J.

The Poetry Underground

THE SHOPImagine if you will And if you won’t fair ‘nuff

A shop that don’t sell anything But gives away its stuff Food to them who’re hungry Clothes to those that’s bare An equal slice of pie to them What didn’t get their share Some books to do some learning In a college that is free A ticket for your transport

To get from A to B If you take a tumble Or if you’re feeling ill Just take these medications

These bandages and pills All the things that’s needed And sometimes even more Available for nothing In the caring sharing store

There’s love and understanding An ear for when you’re down Sometimes there’ll be a party With invites for the town A simple proposition Just giving stuff for nought

T’would be a store worth working for

Now there’s a funny thought

RESURRECTIONThe ghost of Adolf Hitler is stirring in the wings Amassing on the borders Where all the caged birds sing It’s not something that most will see Their heads stuck in the sand For it needs much more attention In the larger scheme of things If you cannot see the problem Then just turn on the light It sits there right in front of you And plain as black and white The storm is yet to hit us But hit us hard it will Nobody walks away from this With talk of overkill Claimed by some to be illusion Smoke and mirrors on the screen When you’re immersed within it What then will be your dream ? Ignore it at your peril Take heed the caged birds sing For the ghost of Adolf Hitler is waiting in the wings…

Parsons Knows

TheBy Denise Parsons – Music Promoter – ‘The Live Music Project’ Trestle Arts Base, St.Albans

THIS MONTH’S TOP BANDS, ARTISTS and EVENTS! Hello April.. One of my favourite months and not just because its my BIRTHDAY! Well maybe but it’s also the birthday of The Live Music Project which is even better. A mere 2 years old on 25th April. I am like a proud Mum, so very pleased at how well this Project has done for Trestle Arts Base & for local musicians. It’s a hell of a lot of work but so rewarding. Speaking of which.. At the time of writing this I am not sure the outcome but (drumroll…) I have not only been nominated for a Mayors Pride Award this year but have made it to the final! By the time this here mag comes out I will know the result but either way I am so chuffed to have made it to the final. It’s great for me personally to know that people appreciate what I do both for the Project but also at The Crescent & Radio Verulam. But mostly it tells me that The Live Music Project is successful and all the unpaid hours and hours of work I put in are worth it! On top of that the recently launched Acoustic Café Sessions for The Live Music Project seems to have hit the right note with family friendly live music events in a relaxed atmosphere, especially for those that can’t always get a babysitter for the main events! As if all this wasn’t enough another bit of news on the radio front! The Parsons Knows Local Music seems to be very popular and I am getting sent lots & lots of local music which is fabulous! So the powers that be have deemed its ok for me to do another Radio Show! Starting in April look out for ‘READY, STEADY, GO’ Friday night’s 7-8pm a show all about that Friday feeling with tunes to match. So send me your song suggestions! radioverulam.com trestle.org.uk

The Live Music Project – 2 year birthday bash 25th April – (Save The Date) with a foot stomping line up with headliners The Trailer Trash Orchestra & supports from Hub Cap Moon, Cicero Buck & Neil Stanton. Please join me in celebrating and supporting local music and a very worthwhile local arts charity. ( and if you wanna buy me a little something- I did mention it was MY birthday as well didn’t I ?!)

Anyway enough news, let’s get on with the great and good of local music!

1. Fragile SoulsI was sent their EP a few weeks ago and loved it so I played it on my radio show & then got a remix of their single ‘Devils Sun’ which is fantastic! The band was kind enough to put me on the guest list for their show at The Horn a couple of weeks ago and they didn’t disappoint. What a fabulous sound these guys produce. The front man, Ryan Coggins is no stranger to crowd pleasing performances (someone mentioned he fronted a very successful band in Canada?) with not only a wonderful soulful voice but that little something extra that gives a you that tingle you get when you see a really good performance. Paul Freegard was a total blast on keys. Paul is a producer of some renown having worked with the likes of Depeche Mode no less! Their sound described as 21st Century Porch Blues with a touch of Electronica thrown in. Most definitely something a bit fresh &unique .. Pure

class. Straight to the top of my ‘Must see bands’ at the moment. Look out for more on these guys in next months mag as I head over to their studio this week to interview them for the radio & ‘In the club’. Devils Sun single out now! Take my word for it & check them out! facebook.com/TheFragileSouls/info?tab=page_infotwitter.com/P_Fragilehttp://t.co/pFIOIEqkBp

2. Elephants and Castle

New single LILO is out now and getting a good amount of radio play, not only from me! Not had the chance to see them live yet but I will definitely be checking them out as soon as I can! A great indie pop sound.

facebook.com/elephantsandcastles/info?tab=page_infowww.elephantsandcastles.london

3. Eskimos

Another one of the many local bands that contacted The Parsons Knows Local Music! Going to see them next week so will let you know but I interviewed them recently and they are a young indie band and I reckon they’ve definitely got something to offer.

facebook.com/eskimosuk?fref=tssoundcloud.com/denise-parsons-1/the-parsons-knows-local-music-12315-19 interview with Eskimos UK

4. The Amp Sessions

Now, this is a monthly unsigned music podcast/radio shows that feature Shell Thomas & her team plus more recently a new edition, our very own Jordan Thomas ! I have really been enjoying these podcasts so if you are into your unsigned and below the radar music then check them out. They have also started putting on gigs in Camden and rumour has it our very own #TTC will be featuring there in the future! I love it when I come across things like this where passionate music fans are doing it for the love, giving up their time and putting out there some great shows. It’s a page from my very own book so please give them your support.

facebook.com/theampsession?fref=tsmixcloud.com/TheAmpSessiontheampsession.co.uk

Trestle Arts Base, Russet Drive, St.Albans, AL4 OJQ, 01727 850950 e: production@trestle.org.uk, www.trestle.org.uk @trestletheatre

‘The truth is incontrovertible’ Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is - Winston Churchill

Thank you & goodnightsoundcloud.com/denise-parsons-1facebook.com/theparsonsknows?ref=hltwitter.com/RVparsonsknows

‘SPRING’ INto 2015 wItH SoME NEw MUSIC!

Including all the hits! and LIVE FAVES!!

Dolly Dynamite Ain’t Got No Class Money Means Nothing Nanananana She Splayed My teeth New Regime (Slow Swing) Replication and Montage All You Do Is wowNew Glamourwish My Slate was Cleaner Vinyl As a Manifesto

there’s vinyl, mp3’s and Cd’s - Perfect pop for,

Easter, birthday, anniversary, wedding, school fate,

carboot, Christmas! Don’t delay!

bUY tHEM ALL HERE... www.thetcshop.com

See you next tuesday

- the

Album - white Vinyl, CD

and MP3 download!

New Glamour Single

- A brand

new version of the s

ong + live

fave old before your

time. Avail-

able on Gold enhan

ced CD, with

special video and M

P3 download!

My Consciousness EP + Harsh tales of Ancient News and Something Major. Available on Silver and MP3 download! EP 1 of a set of 4!