Peter Buzzcock Shelley

This week we unexpectedly lost Pete Shelley and there are been a lot of respectfully posting and a lot of suddenly crawling out the woodwork tributes and love like when anyone passes on.

It's possible that the Buzzcocks kicked off the Manchester punk scene, I remember Shelley with his half a Woolworths guitar proving that anyone could do it. They took this further with the self produced and distributed "Spiral Scratch" EP.  The was the true spirit of Independence and it sickens me when I hear of some new "Indie" band have signed to a label to produce their first record. The thing is now, with digital distribution, it is far easier to self produce and publish than it was in the mid seventies. There was no internet or home computers then.

Shelley was there from the start and I didn't realise that their original drummer was Mick Singleton (no relation).  Their original single came out on their own "New Hormones" print but they signed to United Artists for their first album, and the single "Orgasm Addict" which the BBC refused to play at the time.

Shelley came up with one of the greatest riffs ever which appeared in the Buzzcock's "Lipstick" but was used by Howard Devoto for Magazine's debut single "Shot By Both Sides".

They were responsible for inviting the Sex Pistols to play the Free Trade Hall in Manchester, a gig that everyone was at, apparently. I think I saw both bands at the Lodestar at Ribchester, and later saw The Buzzcocks at the King George's Hall in Blackburn. I arrived after a darts match and the bouncers tried to confiscate my darts and belt, so I took em back to the car (the confiscated stuff was just being piled up). Then was amazed they were selling drinks in glasses, bottles and cans which idiots were chucking at the stage as well as gobbing at the band and at one point Shelley threatened to walk off. I didn't blame him, but the band played a full set and encore.

I then saw them at Newcastle UNi and the final time I saw them was a cracking set at the Mouth of Tyne Festival.

Pete Shelley wrote some amazing pop and produced some great solo albums and his second album "XL1" contained computer graphics for the ZX Spectrum that played in time with the music. As there's a Youtube take on that I'll include it below, but I am including a great video for my favourite Buzzcocks song "Why Can't I Touch It" absolutely perfect Shelley.

Two Festivals: Corbridge and Mouth Of Tyne 2014

This weekend I treated myself to two festivals. Both were excellent and although there was a bit of rain it didn't affect the day too much. At Corbridge the rain came during Big Country's set and at the Mouth of Tyne it was during Neville Staple's set.

Saturday: Corbridge

Corbridge Festival

Talk Like Tigers

I got there a bit late and had missed the excellent Bessie and The Zinc Buckets and the compering of Stefan Peddie, but got of f at the train station walked past the excellent Valley Junction restaurant located there and destination of the Curry Train from Newcastle , past the caravans and tents (thinking this is quite a gathering), then a guy with a guitar on top of a platform, and a small (what I thought was and acoustic tent as someone was playing there) to what I thought was the main tent where the excellent Talk Like Tigers were taking to the stage. I enjoyed the set, and so did the crowd but I was thinking that this was a bit small for a festival stage and thinking is this it. Check out their web site and give them a listen, I think you will enjoy.



I then wandered round the corner saw a big crowd and the main stage, so I'd found the where I needed to be and had left was was actually the main stage, Where Leeds band The Happy Daggers were playing. The crowd liked them but their brand of pop funk was not my thing, although the final song Get Yourself Together was good and they left the crowd happy.

Ska Toons on the Night Boat To Cairo

Next up were the excellent Ska Toons , with an excellent ska based but eclectic set which included a ska version of Johnny and The Hurricanes "Red River Rock". The band really got the crowd going and their set was shorter than normal (most bands were playing 30-40 minutes, so it went by in the blink of an eye touching Madness, Toots and The Maytals and many other ska and pop touchstones, a must see if you get the chance.

Chris Helme - ex Seahorse

There was then an announcement that Chris Helme , the original singer with The Stone Roses was playing the acoustic tent. This obviously got my interest as I was sure that Ian Brown had been their front man from day 1 , but I went along to a packed acoustic tent where Chris Helme was just launching into the Faces' "Ooh La La" , which went down well. He then did a few more songs before doing  The Seahorses' "Love Is The Law", then it became clear, he was The Seahorses original singer. Again another great set which I enjoyed before wandering back to the main stage.

Then is was back to the main stage for Boy Jumps Ship who reminded me a little of General Fiasco, who are in the Kerrang chart  with their current single "Call To Arms". They were followed by half an hour of Chart Rave from Rozalla who the crowd really enjoyed , followed by the human beatbox Ball-Zee who kept the crowd jumping even though the rain started coming down.



Everyone was waiting for Big Country. As they stated "The faces have changed but the songs remain the same", and they certainly did not disappoint. They opened with "Harvest Home", and despite the rain they crowd were buzzing throughout the night's final set.They only played for about 80 minutes including encore, but the set seemed to go very quickly as the light faded and the rain was just sporadic. There were a lot of smiling faces both on and off stage. Big Country's sound is particularly suited to outdoor events , and they were excellent headliners for this gig. A rousing end to a brilliant day.


Sunday: Mouth of Tyne

Mouth of Tyne Festival

Sunday started off with heavy rain in Newcastle, which was a bit worrying for the Mouth Of Tyne Festival. After the success of Corbridge , my expectations weren't to high for the Sunday gig, and the previous night Paul Weller had been here. The full online program is here and hopefully t will stay there permanently. The afternoon was enhances by meeting up with some great friends, which is great for sharing the experience, whereas Corbridge had been totally solo.

I got into the Priory  and Jen Stevens and The Hiccups from South Shields were playing who provided an hour orf pleasant songs. the band I had come to see was Nevile Staple (ex Specials and Funboy 3)  and he certainly did not disappoint. Ska is great music in any environment and it was great to see all ages enjoying the gig.  

Neville Staple   is the first act I've seen more than once in this setting (the last time was as support to the Buzzcocks)  , he and his band could certainly come back as a headliner.





Toploader followed and while the first number was acceptable they soon descended into the blandness I expected , which some people love but I don't, and so I then left as I was not too bothered about the Brand New Heavies.

So all in all two great days, neither of which I would have wanted to miss.

I'm now looking forward to next year.

Mouth of Tyne Festival - 2012

The omens for this year's Mouth of Tyne Festival didn't bode too well. The street entertainment in previous years had been reducing , this year's headliners wer Heaven 17 , not my idea of a headliner and the cost of tickets for the Sunday gig was now £10 a ticket and £5 for children. Added to that the weather in the run up had been mostly torrential rain.

Then .....

Sunday morning glorious sunshine ,  great start to rhe day. Arriving in Tynemouth I found  I'd missed The Undertones  , Richard Hawley , The Wanted & McFly and the Festival actually started on Thursday , but I didnt have the cash or time to see the other act, and some of tem I would rather not see!!

Lots of street entertainment and the weather stayed good . Two highlights were a couple of weird cycly taxis for children which were going down very well. The trad jazz stage att the entrance to the Priory is still there and the crowd in front fairly rammed. Always well attended.

Tickets for the Sunday were sold out like last year , and so on to the Priory having missed the openers The Caffrey Brothers. So this is how it went:

• Rossi Noise : Loud Rage Against The Machine lite band and an excellent opener for me , would see them again.
• Yes Sir Boss : Bristol based ska band , who had driven up that morning , who had excellent rhythm but no memorable tunes until the last two numbers which got the crowd up and was a big tick as far as I was concerned displaying Klezmer influences as well as their Nu Ska sound.
• The South : or The Beautiful South sans Paul Heaton. Surprisingly excellent with an excellent Paul Heaton lookalike / sound alike . Every song was instantly recognisable , and they even included a cover of Cass Elliot's "Dream A Little Dream Of Me" , overall the best band of the afternoon.
• Heaven 17 : The problem with Heaven 17 is that most peopl eonly remember Temptation , and while there were odd songs I remembered such as "Fascist Groove Thing" and "Crushed By The Wheels of Industry" , the band were fighting against adverse weather and some dodgy material, and , as Bob said , a keyboard player (Martin Ware) who should have been working in a library!. Finally came a storming version of "Temptation" and if the set had consisted of songs this good it would have been brilliant , but it was still worth waiting for. They finished to rapturous applause and then dropped the bombshell ... "We're going to play another song!!" . "How?"  "You haven't got another song" .  What we were forgetting was that Martin Ware had a hand in writing the Human League's best ever song "Being Boiled" , and they topped "Temptation" with that. Those two songs were worth the entry fee but we got the rest as well.

So another brilliant final day for the Mouth Of Tyne Festival.

Memory of a Free Festival - MOTFEST Sunday 2009

The Mouth of Tyne Festival has been going for a number of years now (see the website here)and still maintains the essence of a decent free festival , no wristbands , no fenced off areas, decent music and you can get a decent drink either at the Iron Horse Saloon in the Priory on at one of the many pubs along Front Street such as Hugo's and The Turks.

The rain kept off and early in the afternoon with visited the trad jazz stage. I'm not really a fan of this sort of music but the bands fit the event and it's enjoyable to lie on the grass, drink beer , and soak in the atmosphere. We caught the Hot Five Jazzmakers from Canada and the Yerba Buena Jazz Band from Switzerland , both were excellent. Any bands available are on the carousel at the bottom of this post.

Next up were the excellent Soznak in Front Street . They should have been on the main stage. If you've never heard them think Baghdaddies with African instead of Middle Eastern influences. And the video is the rather wonderful "Weekily":


Unfortunately , we had to leave them early to see the wonderful Teddy Thompson who even covered Abba's Super Trouper , has the most amazing voice and held the crowd spellbound for an hour. The guy is a genius , just like his dad.

Amazingly the headliners Dodgy were even better , being greeted by bright sunshine and steaming through hits and album tracks delighting the crowd. Someone got "Staying Out For The Summer / Good Vibrations" here:


The problem was that the Baghdaddies were in South Shields when Dodgy were on so here's them doing "Not Drowning But Raving":



Here's some stuff from the afformentioned bands on Amazon: