THE LONE GROOVER will be kicking off proceedings (7.45pm) on Day 2 of this spring's 'Antifolk festival' at the 12Bar Denmark St, WC2 on Saturday 19th May. So if you want to avoid the football, pop along for a shandy and a shoutalong. As ever, there are a load of hip 'n' happening 'antifolk' acts on, so take a well deserved trip up West and I'll see you at the bar. Look Sharp Kids!!
(+ Sgt Buzfuz, The Rebel + many more)
The following Friday 25th, I'm 'uptown' again, supporting 'Milligan' at their new EP (Smoke in The Trees) launch party, (where they'll be dishing out free copies to the assembled throng). It's at The Sun Tavern, 66 Long Acre, Covent Garden WC2e - 8PM. FREE!!
(+ Ade Jackson)
So there you have it, 2 weeks on the trot in the West End.....look out 'Mousetrap', I'm gunnin' for ya'.......
Freddy Clarke describes himself on Twitter as a 'singer/guitarist/songwriter/producer/people collector'. A good friend of mine in California has crossed paths with Freddy at a couple of recent social events, and says he's a sweet guy and a great guitar player.
This is what Freddy himself has to say about his song 'I Phone Therefore I Am', which of course you can buy on iTunes:
'This song was inspired after a conversation with some close friends about the need to write a song about something topical.
The idea was to write something that is in the current wave of headlines like" the Japan tsunami" but of course not that specifically.
We didn't have any ideas until I blurted out "Hey, I just bought a new Android today!"
And that led to all of us thinking along the lines of a song about the new smart phone.
I came up with the line "dumb shit with a new smart phone" the day I bought the phone.
Then Nancy Nunziati helped me with some very important lines in the song like: "how's my battery life?" and "can you hear me now?"
The phrase I Phone Therefore I Am is taken from Rene Descartes famous line "I think therefore I am" regarding thought as a precursor of being.
The guitar part is a variation on a very famous tune that even the Doors plagiarized called "Asturias"
Asturias (or Leyenda) was written around the turn of the century by Issac Albeniz'.
(Anything that the Doors would plagiarise is cool with me!)
And finally, here are the credits:
Song Performed by Freddy Clarke
Song Written by Freddy Clarke and Nancy Nunziati
Director - Jock McDonald Producer - Nancy Nunziati
Editor - Chris Miloslavich - Milomix Post, S.F.
Special Effects - John Crossley
First Camera - Wes Dorman
Second Camera - Jonathan Angelini
Singer/Songwriter and RTYD member Mark Handley performs his song "Waste of Space" at a workshop for the East Berkshire Film Group". Edited and effects by Terry Payman. www.markhandley.co.uk
This is Malcolm and Ibon from Hats Off Gentlemen It's Adequate playing an acoustic cover of Led Zeppelin's Whole Lotta Love, live at The Ballyhoo in London, earlier this month. Enjoy!
Have a listen to three great new tracks on the ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP MP3 Jukebox by Version 4 featuring RTYD member John Rigby.
If you are a RTYD member and you would like your music to appear on the RTYD jukebox, please send your MP3s and cover art to me at toby(at)rock-til-you-drop.com, or for more options see this post.
A ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP-WELCOME to London's Mingus Elastic Band. Can't find a helluva lot about them on the internet, or on their ROCK-TIL-YOU-DROP profile page, but listening to them on DeadSpace they sound like are a very good acoustic blues/country band, that is led by vocalist/guitarist and songwriter, Tony Mingus. They play regularly around London, and the rest of the band lines up as follows: Dian - Vocals / Percussion. Mitch - Mandolin / Fiddle / Banjo / Guitar. Nick - Sax / Vocals. Wayne - Bass / Vocals. Rob - Guitar. Tom - Drums / Percussion.
Looking forward to hearing more about them on RTYD!
As a schoolboy, my older cousin Richard fed me compilation cassettes that he had lovingly made to help me on my journey of discovery into punk music. There were about twelve or thirteen of volumes of them, which are sadly no longer in existence because - not realising their future nostalgic value - during the early-80s I must have taped over them. What was I thinking?! I do however remember that track one of Volume One was a song called Justa Nother Teenage Rebel by The Outcasts.
I had already heard punk that had appeared in the charts - Sham 69, The Ruts, The Stranglers etc - but
Justa Nother Teenage Rebel was the gateway song that led me into the more obscure realms of the genre, to the likes of Crisis and The Last Words. It also led me to explore the whole Northern Ireland punk scene around the Terry Hooley's Good Vibrations record label and the legendary Harp Bar in Belfast, and to watch the documentary films that John T Davis directed about the scene, including Shellshock Rock, which is a must-see for any old school punk fans.
So I was thrilled when I heard that The Outcasts were reforming, and even more thrilled to hear they are coming to London in June.
See you there.
Next time: More nostalgia, this time about Derby punk band Anti-Pasti, who will be reforming and playing the first London Punk Festival in September.
