From Saturday night's gig at Madison Square Garden... It was obviously an emotional night... A number of these guys have put pretty much their entire adult lives into this band...and it hasn't all been anything like smooth sailing. They've been through innumerable line-up changes, with a number of members coming back after decades away, been dropped by countless labels, seen the highs of pop stardom (briefly) and been knocked back on their arses and had to start again. They've had to play under half a dozen aliases to avoid copyright problems and played some ****ing dives to less than packed houses. They've always come back for more - the film of their story isn't called 'Don't You Wish That We Were Dead' for no reason. Finally, they're getting some kind of recognition for their talent and incredible entertainment value and playing to full houses in some prestigious venues. Well done, fellas, we love you...."Sensible's [still] a ****er!" though.
Just had a couple of days off and have listened to a lot of The Stranglers, and whilst the albums that feature Hugh Cornwell will always remain my favourites, there are plenty of great songs on the ones since he left - I think that they are hugely underrated, I have seen them many times both with and without Hugh and they never fail to give to great value, they have a fabulous catalogue of songs. Here a few of my faves And here is just Baz
I was more right than I knew, as the orator of those words, drummer Pinch, has announced his retirement from the band after 20 years behind the kit, effective after Monday night's gig. So, that will be a very sad night. I'd wear a black armband...but it'd never show against the black jacket. He probably served longer than Rat did, which is really something. He was an excellent drummer and will be missed. Thanks for the memories, Sir...
Having wished "Au revoir" to one drummer, it could be that Mrs B's mate, the lovely Martin Parrott,could be in line for the open stool. He's been working with The Sensible Grey Cells and the return of Paul and Monty's joining, were all The Captain's choices and his good mates, so he's definitely in with a shout. Fingers crossed for the former Los Conos man... Here he is beating the **** out of the kit to 'Silly Thing' in The Cherry's
Okay, so it's time to talk about Monday's gig at The Palladium. It was a properly mixed night in every respect. We met loads of great people from all over the UK, who had travelled down to dress up and take part in 'The Night of 1,000 Vampires'. Everyone was in great spirits earlier but the predictable fallout, between those who wanted to stand (in an all seated venue) and those who wanted to sit, really damaged that. I ended up trying to separate and calm down those who can't do it for themselves and were pushing and shoving each other. Come on people...we should be better than this. The first half was a full-on run through the 'gothier' end of their back catalogue, accompanied by a string and horn section. Some really top stuff - Eloise was sumptuous and Plan 9 Channel 7 has never sounded better. For the first time ever, they played The Dog (from Strawberries). The second half saw Dave in full Nosferatu garb. It obviously took longer to do than was intended, as he sang the earlier stuff from backstage in what sounded like the toilet. However, we got covers of 'Bela Lugosi's Dead' and 'People Are Strange'... Still, good to see so many dressed for the occasion and the band's management are in dispute with The Guinness Book of World Records over whether the record for Vampires in one place was broken.........It was ever thus.
Probably not the first time that I have posted this song - But The Eton Rifles is 40 years old this week, and yet it has probably never sounded so relevant - with a general election on the horizon play this very loud