The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing ... But Are Responsible For A Lot Of People Having A Good Time

I had not intention of blogging this gig, but ....

I met with a great guy John , bassist with Urban Commandos, who had never seen The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing (who I will refer to as The Men for the rest of the post), caught up briefly with Daniel Dunlavey main man of Impossible Gears and not for the first time wanted to see the support act Louise Distras.

There's a few short videos on my Instagram Channel around here

So here goes, it was a great night.

Louise Distras:

Louise is from Yorkshire (Wakefield) and I had heard a couple of songs from here excellent "Street Revolution" EP, the first of which was "Poor Man" (How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?) originally composed by Blind Alfred Reed in 1929 (Louise told me about this)  which I had first heard from a Ry Cooder live album although it appeared on his 1970 eponymous album and I got into him when "Bop Til You Drop" (the first ever digital recorded mainstream rock album) came out, but I digress.

She came on stage unannounced and her voice and guitar just signifies extreme presence, she engaged with the crowd and got them singing , stamping and clapping on cue. She played for thirty five minutes and played "Poor Man" and then Solidarity" which is a mash up of Bob Marley's "Redemption Song" and Little Steven's "Solidarity", and apparently Little Steven was most impressed with it. Louise's  song is absolutely excellent  although I had bought the eP before she started.

I chatted with her after (although didn't recognise her at first as I started say how excellent Louise Distras had been). She is someone I definitely need to listen to more and if you do get the chance to see her, just do it.

Also she is friends with Ryan Harvey who I featured in my last Woody Guthrie post on SevenDaysIn here.

The Men That Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing:

The Men. Simply came on being them selves and rabble roused the crowd. They are just a totally amazing live experience combining mental , comic timing , banter , great musicianship and funny comedy with a social conscience as well as teaching you a bit of history. As I have previously said as sort of cross between Anthrax and Chas 'n' Dave with some Music Hall and Stand Up Comedy and Social Commentary thrown in. The night just flies by and your mood is always enhanced by seeing them, they are far better live than on record, in my opinion, but you cannot bottle the magic they bring to the stage. This was the final gig of their tenth Anniversary tour but they can go on for many more decades in my humble opinion.

Another great gig and looking forward to next time.

Thirtieth Century Man - Scott Walker Has Left

Scott Walker died yesterday, a true artist. I've written about him on my main blog here, but really need to just post something to remember him by.

The documentary Thirtieth Century Man gives a great insight into him , and when he finally appears you are expecting someone awkward, reclusive and difficult but he was engaging and articulate. The film is available in the UK on Youtube here

He was always driven from his early teens, as Scott Engel, but most people will know him as a member of The Walker Brothers, none of them called Walker and they weren't brothers.

After The Walker Brothers ended he became more withdrawn and released albums sporadically and they became more and more challenging for the listener. You are talking as far out as some Frank Zappa, Captain Beefheart, The Fall and Aphex Twin but nowhere near these artists.

When you listen to solo sixties performances  including covers of Jacques Brel you maybe had an inkling that this was not your standard entertainer and with "Climate of the Hunter" with several songs or pieces referred to as their number he had departed the mainstream.

The albums "The Drift" , "Tilt"and "Bish Bosh" took you further out somewhere where we had never been and when I heard "Brando" the opener from "Soused", his collaboration with Sunn O))) , I thought what the hell is this but was mesmerised by it.

Scott Walker was hardly prolific, and once he had completed an album he listened to it ince to make sure it was what he wanted, then he never revisited it. So I will leave you with "Brando" and "Jackie" both wonderful and essential.

Scott Walker a true artist.

Nightmares and Kings

The first Trash Shack of the 2019 resurrection featured two excellent bands, The Shakin' Nightmares and The Kings of Hong Kong. .

The Trash Shack Universe has it's own music and images. Surf, Link Wray, ReVerb , all the Billies from Rocka to Psycho , some Western Swing, Mariachi , Rock and Roll and Punk Energy an a very impressive Garage. It has a current home at The Doll at The Black Bull but can be found further afield at The Cluny and maybe Scotland, London and further west .

I must make a mention of the amazing Art Installation outside The Doll At The Black Bull featuring various punk icons which you can see here. I spoke to the artists who , apart from being very talented were engagingly pleasant.

Immaculate quiffs, Gibson Guitars, Masks and Tattoos are always not very far from what might be be seen as the Trash Shack core.

So here we go:

The Shaking Nightmares

Starting their set with the brooding instrumentation of "(I've Got) The Shakin' Nightmares" (effectively their signature song) before the vocals appeared , then following up immediately with "Unbelievin'" (you can see my Youtube take here). The sound improved as they went along they looked the part introducing many different styles.

Their penultimate song was a stunning version of Little Richard's "Keep A Knockin'" which I caught a minute of on my phone and you can see here.

If the night had finished there it would have been worth it but there was more to come......

The Kings of Hong Kong

The first full masked band I've seen since The Coyotemen (who are prime Trash Shack beef) ,  and the Kings of Hong Kong carry a huge stage presence,  and a double bass , tattoos , masks and a sound channeling Link Wray, Robert Gordon with mohicans, hats, menace and style. I caught a song called "Empire of Love" here but have been impressed by a lot of the videos on their Youtube Channel.

Soall in all an excellent Trash Shack night.

Lux Lives At The Black Bull

...well to be more accurate The Doll at The Black Bull in Gateshead. There have been quite a few of these excellent afternoon gigs both here and The Cluny 2 where lots of local musicians form band sor the day to remember various great garage bands from the sixties and the seventies.

Today was (again) The Cramps with Lux Interior and Poison Ivy and while anyone brought up on a diet of X-Factor, Commercial Local Radio and the last twenty years of Radio One would not appreciate the excellent agressive raw coolness on display at these gigs.

Like The Stooges, Iggy Pop and Link Wray the sound is both challenging and fun with raw psychobilly rhythms fueled by whatever fills your particular glass.

This was four hours of sound, half a dozen bands for a mere five pounds and to be quite honest, and one of the sets was worth that. I'm dovetailing this post with the Forbidden Dicks take on "Human Fly" and Poison IVs interpretation of "She Like Heroin To Me" . There's also so instagram videos here. as well as details of the rest of the bands and upcomping Trash Shack dates.

Trash Shack has been resurrected so make a date for future gigs in the piece of toilet roll you call your diary, next one up on 23rd March.