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BANDS: Punk
& Ska INTERESTS: Venues ETC... About LOTD
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Back in the late 90s, a song by the Divine Comedy called The National Express was a minor hit in the UK. Basically, the National Express is the UK version of the Greyhound bus, and it is hard not to laugh at Neil Hannons bombastic orchestral production as he squeaks out lyrics like Take the National Express, when your life's in a mess, It'll make you smile; All human life is here, From the feeble old dear, to the screaming child. Not that this is an original concept. One of the oldest tricks in the Rock n Roll book is to contrast the common realities of life with a magical score of transcendent melody. Think of the Beatles Penny Lane or Mersey Paradise by the Stone Roses. Ive recently been to Liverpool, and I can tell you, its much better to visit Liverpool in a song than it is to visit the town by National Express! So I finally toured the UK last month, and although my National Express trips were more often accompanied by a raging hangover instead of that 17-piece orchestra, I did get to see a ton of great music along the way. Some shows I planned on seeing and some were sweet surprises that I couldnt possibly have planned on before I left Virginia. I flew into London and got to work on hunting down my evening activities. There are so many clubs and concerts in London, you can find a band or DJ for almost any musical style you might want, so I decided to hit up the Notting Hill Arts Centre, a small yet stylish underground club that was a bit tricky to find. The band performing was a slick trio of three girls plus one male guitarist, better known around London as The Soho Dolls. Basically they had a really good electro sound perhaps like a less mechanical version of Ladytron. I loved it! The programming was impressive enough, as a number of beats and synths swirled into the mix, and the I-could-care-less-lyrics like Hey strippa, I wanna be your missa complemented the electro party vibe quite nicely. They are apparently working on their first release for Alan McGees Poptones label, the label responsible for, among other things, bringing attention to The Hives after their album sat around a few years rotting on Epitaph/Burning Heart. Before leaving the club that night, I bumped into some Londoners that were into retro 60s garage music. Id fed my electro fetish a bit, so I took their suggestion for the next night to hit up the Dirty Water Music Club. Of course I didnt show up early like my friend suggested, and the show was sold out. I was very lucky that a guy in the front of the line had a spare ticket, and I squeaked into the club not totally sure who I would even be seeing. I ended up seeing probably the best band of my whole UK trip, and they certainly werent from the UK. Straight from Japan, the 5,6,7,8s came to teach London and me a lesson or two about Rockabilly. Picture three slim Japanese girls dressed in silver glitter dresses like The Supremes, with beehive hair and mascara like the Ronnettes and some of the hottest guitar riffs Ive ever heard in a live setting. The drumming and bass were both spot on, and the goofy Japanese/English lyrics and glitzy costumes reminded me of Pizzicato Five, but any comparisons that way were shot down when singer and guitarist Ronnie tore into her guitar with her solos and lightning-fast changes in tempo. Then shed drop out the guitar for a quick glimpse of the rhythms underneath each song. Pure party fun! You could have heard them in the film Kill Bill, but Im telling you now, you might want to hunt down some of their albums. Definitely dont miss any chance to see the 5,6,7,8s live when they hit the US. The rest of the night, they had garage music playing on the dance floor. Honestly, garage is like a cult there, and in the same way British DJs dig for US R&B, a.k.a. Northern Soul, they dig for 60s garage vinyl. Most of the time, I had no clue about what they were playing except that it rocked pretty hard. Of all the garage nights I went to, I really only recognized a few songs, some Kinks, a bit of Motown, some stuff off the Nuggets collections, Byrds, 13th Floor Elevators, and The Sonics. The best part of clubbing in the UK is that a certain scene goes out to hear new songs, which keeps pushing the DJ to find new tracks. Americas club scene will eternally be behind as long as people just go out to hear the songs they already know, but now Im starting to rant a bit. Lets just say that the London clubs were a breath of fresh air, uh, metaphysically speaking. The next concert I saw was up in Scotland. Belle and Sebastians Schools Out Free Festival was held there for the first time in their hometown of Glasgow near the Botanic Gardens that accommodate over 10,000 spectators. Half of Glasgow must have been there, and the local Safeway and convenience stores actually sold out of every form of alcohol they had in stock. Everyone brought their drinks to the park, and it was truly a festival that could never happen back in the States. From 3 pm until 9 pm, The James Orr Complex, Mother and the Addicts, V-Twin, Camera Obscura, The Trash Can Sinatras, and of course, Belle and Sebastian graced the stage. It was amusing that many from Glasgow didnt really know who Belle and Sebastian were. When I asked them what they liked, most college folks said they were into Hip Hop and R&B. To be honest, the festival was less about the music and more about the atmosphere, but all the bands cheerfully contributed to what was a fabulous day out for everyone. I was really only struck by the closing three bands. Camera Obscura had a quirky little pop sensibility about them and some well-constructed songs. The Trash Can Sinatras had some soft and lovely songs to offer up for the occasion as well. These guys date back to 1990, before Chemikal Underground Records made it seem so cool to be Scottish, so it was great to see them playing alongside a contemporary like Belle and Sebastian. And of course Belle and Sebastian didnt disappoint their fans either. Highlights for me had to include Jonathan David, the rousing Stay Loose, and popular closer Sleep the Clock Around. There was no sign of the much hyped B-side Your Covers Blown during the performance, but they did hit up the album Dear Catastrophe Waitress sort of heavy, which is fine, but you really cant dance and sing along to songs like Step Into My Office, Baby without feeling like a complete tart. I dont care how many beers youve had; it just cant be done. Then it was back to London to catch one night of Morrisseys Meltdown Festival. This took place in the Royal Festival Hall, and couldnt have been more different than the festival in Glasgow, but two weeks of concerts including artists like The Libertines, The Ordinary Boys, Loudon Wainwright, Nancy Sinatra, Sparks, Gene, and 3 nights of Morrissey himself is nothing to scoff at. But the one band that forced me to make it back to London was The New York Dolls who were playing their first show since 1975! David Johansen has been turning down reunion requests for years, but when the former head of the Dolls UK fan club (i.e. Morrissey) asked them to play Meltdown, they finally accepted. Johnny Thunders, a crucial part of the Dolls sound, unfortunately died back in 1991, but three surviving members, Johansen, Sylvain Sylvain, and Arthur Killer Kane teamed up with a session guitarist and the kick-ass drummer from the Libertines Gary Powell. I could ramble on for pages about why the New York Dolls are probably the best Rock band of all time, but you already know that, right? Its always a matter of taste of course, but the Dolls directly bridged a gap between the innocent swagger of a sixties girl-group and the confrontational bomb of psychosocial traumas that eventually shaped itself into the Punk movement. Uh, they also stimulated hair metal a little bit along the way, and whenever you see the lead singer from The Darkness in that ridiculous jumpsuit, you can probably blame The New York Dolls for that too. Its all there on their two proper albums, and it was still there in 2004 to anyone that actually realized what they were seeing at the Royal Festival Hall last month. The band tore through classics like Personality Crisis, covers like Pills, and sneaky album tracks like Kanes Private World and Puss n Boots. The band offered up a tribute to Thunders when they played Lonely Planet Boy and Sylvain also went into a short bit of the Johnny Thunders solo classic You Cant Put Your Arms Around a Memory. Biggest surprise of the night was when they invoked a bit of Janis Joplin playing Piece of My Heart in a way that Ive certainly never heard the song done before. The track In My Girlish Dreams by Memphis Minnie was new to me, but it was really fabulous live alongside Gene Pitneys Mecca. The New York Dolls were always able to pick some of the best cover songs imaginable out of thin air it seemed like, but my favorite had to be Out in the Streets. As Johansen said, It just wouldnt be a New York Dolls show without us doing a track by the Shangri Las. The whole show was like a fairytale come true for me. Johansen seemed equally happy to be playing when he thanked Morrissey for reuniting the band with the words, Three months ago, I was a washed up folk singer with a goatee, and now, after this show, I feel like Im in the Scissor Sisters! After playing through the blissful chaos of Frankenstein and Vietnamese Baby earlier that night, the Dolls ended their set with their ode to existence, Human Being, which hides some pretty heavy lyrics underneath the Dolls signature musical sound. Sadly, I just read a report that Arthur Kane passed away from leukemia just weeks after their reunion show in London. After seeing him play live, that kind of hurts. Nothing ever went smoothly for the New York Dolls though, thats for sure. Well, the ghosts of the 60s continued haunting me on my trip to the UK, because my last night in London, I went out on another friends suggestion to see a group called The Actionettes. Now this wasnt really a band, but it was fabulously fun entertainment. Apparently an old Las Vegas choreographer moved to London a few years back, and she has trained a bunch of young ladies to put on a sort of dance and karaoke show, 60s style. Once a month, everyone gets together with these outrageous girl group costumes, and The Actionettes act out some old pop classics like River Deep Mountain High and assorted others. This night was a tribute to Dusty Springfield and monkeys, since they picked to sing three songs that talk all about monkeys. Not The Monkeys, just, you know; monkeys. Then one of the girls, Dustette, performed a rousing cover version of Dustys Willie and Laura Mae Jones. I certainly wont be trying that one out next week at my local karaoke joint, but Dustette made it quite an unforgettable performance. If youre ever in London, check them out. They play at a different pub once a month, but you cant see something like this anywhere else that I know of. Maybe New York, maybe Vegas, but I doubt it will have the same feeling of timelessness and fun that The Actionettes throw out to you. That about wraps up my musical adventures. I might not have found my magic strolling by the Mersey or riding on the National Express, but it was definitely out there, and even if Im back in Virginia now, some very good memories are just a song or two away. A number of these bands are touring the US this fall:
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