|
|
Aug 31. We break our blog silence just to let you know that Gal’s September podcast is now up and running at Total Rock Radio. As is traditional the cock-ups are left in. Blog silence is now resumed. Aug 30. This blog page is shutting down for a week or so. Our thanks to the Welsh Pranksters (CCC) for their splendid knees-up in Cardiff on Saturday and to the Slough Pranksters for yesterday’s Seventies-themed shindig (we’re all in favour of Seventies style Russell Harties as it means we can go in our normal clothes). The next big Prankster do will be in December. *Congrats to afro-punks The Objex who won Best Punk Band at the 2010 Vegas Rocks Awards. Felony Melony is surely the hottest totty on the scene today. Have a gander here. Aug 28. Gal recorded his latest pod-cast yesterday with Manic Esso, playing great tracks from Who Shot Who, Sledgeback, Vicious Rumours, Foreign Legion, Babyhead, the East End Badoes, GLM (who comprise of three quarters of the original Lurkers), Lloydie & The Lowbites, The Rotted, The Guv’Nors, Waysted, Dreadzone, Raising Sand, King Hammond, The Chords and one more of whom he says mysteriously he’s “too embarrassed” to reveal. Manic, newly converted to old Labour, was in a fairly sensible mood in the studio indulging in a lot of retro Thatcher-bashing. But later, away from the microphones, when we were joined in the 12Bar by Bev Elliott and Barnet Mark, he came alive and went into one expressing his desire to physically harm trendy comics such as “pasty-faced, squint-eyed tosser” Russell Howard and the execrable Marcus Brigstocke. None of his other quotes are remotely repeatable. Perhaps sensing the festering hostility a passing Billy Bragg said hello and kept passing. Mercifully Barnet lightened the mood with pictures of the splendid Cock Sparrer customised steam train he sorted for Vienna (Sparrer never even saw it, they were too sloshed). And Bev stopped toasting St Pauli long enough to reveal that she is to be the subject of a short film about Soho characters. Happy days. *TODAY’S Welsh Pranksters event is ON! But in a shock move, the organisers – the Cardiff branch of the self-styled Cymreig Comedi Cyfodwr (known henceforth as the CCC) – have banned Fat Col from attending. Last time he was in Wales, Col disgraced himself at the festive board by cracking gags like “I shagged my Welsh mate’s girlfriend the other night. Afterwards I said, ‘You won’t tell him about this will you?’ She replied: ‘Baaaaaa.’” He also claimed that “You Taffs love your pyjama parties. You’re always having a sheep over.” The man is a poltroon. Aug 27. Nads fan Big Bad Brian from Hornchurch emails to suggest
that our Greater Hits album should have a suitably gonadian look.
‘How about packaging the CD in a faux scrotum?’ he asks, adding:
‘I suppose a cardboard sleeve with some sort of illustration could
be fairly easily and reasonably done but imagine the kudos of
producing a leatherette pouch - perhaps even sprouting a few token
short and curlies! A milestone in CD design and a future collector's
item to rival the Stones' Sticky Fingers.’ This man is a visionary.
Sandy still reckons we should do a split album with the Members.
Fat Col says charmlessly that the only split he wants to do is
Sandra’s. *Rebellion organisers have asked us to remind you that 600 cut-price tickets for next year’s bash are up for grabs. Details at www.rebellionfestivals.com. The mighty Sparrer are confirmed. The mighty Gonads haven’t been asked. *Our mate Rhoda Dakar is doing the Skabourfest at Folkestone next month, she’s also available as a DJ. Just don’t mention Dave Cairns or Dave Courtney to her... * Youth Of Today are reuniting for a European tour next month, though given their advancing years we suggest name change to Youth Of Yesterday. Aug 26. Rancid’s spin-off project Devil’s Brigade has posted a stream of their debut album on their (the DB’s) facebook page. As we mentioned a while ago, the band consists of Matt and Tim from Rancid and drummer DJ Bonebrake from X. Have a listen here. * A couple of the Briggs make cameo appearances in Lauren LaRocca’s debut video for ‘Keep That Bitch Away’. What pop tarts! The song has a righteous go at LA's "nasty plastic-surgery bitches." You can download the single for free here: www.laurenlarocca.com *Finally, there’s real movement on the 30th anniversary Oi compilation, which features great Oi bands from four continents and might actually come out in October after all. More details when we have them. Aug 25. The full track-listing for The Gonads Greater Hits Volume One has been agreed. The songs will be: ‘Tucker’s Ruckers’, ‘Punk Rock Till I Die’, ‘Alconaut’, ‘I Lost My Love To A UK Sub’, ‘Oi Mate’, ‘Franken-Skin’, ‘Grant Mitchell’, ‘Gob’, ‘Lager Louts’, ‘SE7 Dole Day’, ‘Hitler Was An ’Omo’, ‘Hey You’, ‘British Steel’, and the bonus track ‘Big Balls’. Not a duff song in sight! A second volume will be recorded next year and will include ‘Yeti’, ‘Sandra Bigg’, ‘Karl Marx Supported Millwall’, ‘Rob A Bank’, ‘Eat The Rich’, ‘The Joys Of Oi’, ‘Rob A Bank’, ‘Fire Down Under’ (the song Gal wrote for The Business), ‘England In My Blood’, ‘These Are Our Streets’, ‘Lager Top Blues, ‘Harry May’s Revenge’, ‘Go Mad With The Gonads’ and ‘The Growler’. Bonus track: a live extended version of ‘What’s The Story? England’s Glory’. *Happy birthday, Millwall Dan! *Rumours that Discipline will carry on without Joost appear to be unfounded. A friend of the band tells us: “Joost was their singer, their song-writer and their main man. Never say never, but at the moment they have all quit.” *The skinhead invasion of the Isle of Wight starts on Friday, followed by three nights of original reggae, Ska and rocksteady at the Town Club, 25 Star St, Ryde. It’ll run from 8pm till late every day. Friday and Saturday £5 entry. Sunday FREE. *We are happy to plug the Rangers Supporters Erskine Appeal who are tirelessly raising cash for the Erskine (a hospital turned home just outside of Glasgow). All their work is totally independent of Rangers FC - just normal working class guys doing their best to help those who put their lives on the line in our armed forces. So far they have raised over £150,000 in three years. Next one of the lads will walk the killing field of the Somme to raise more funds. His collection site is here: www.justgiving.com/walkingthesomme. Erskine opened its doors in 1916 to care for those returning from the Great War. Today it provides unrivalled respite and long term care for young and old ex-Service men and women throughout Scotland. They care for over 1300 veterans each year in five residential homes. Aug 24. Yesterday was a day of panic for Fit Bird as Gal disappeared on a seventeen hour bender with Paul Hallam (the Stalin of Style) and top Mod DJ Eddie Piller. The thirsty trio started off just after midday in Liverpool Street Balls Brothers (very Gonadian) and in the course of their disgraceful beer quest they managed to rope in a) a filthy rich investment banker b) an ex-Modette whose uncle was one of the Great Train Robbers (wearing very comely stockings – the woman, not the robber) c) an old chap who idolizes Tommy Steele d) A pretty and apparently normal Essex girl whose last boyfriend turned out to be a murderer from a notorious South London crime family e) a reformed gangster and his harem of blondes f) the most sweet and innocent girl in the world, g) a grumpy record company boss and h) a flotilla of fit barmaids. Our sorry excuse for a singer finally staggered home at disgrace o’clock – 5am - this morning (Lightweight! – Pete Way). The Gonads. Carlsberg doesn’t do pub crawls, but if they did... *Our mate Cass Pennant has been filming the pilot for a new TV show taking the piss out of football hooligans. Called The B-Team, it was written by Rob Brydon’s brother... Cass plays a barman. Word is it’s very funny. At one stage the would-be Brentford thugs are run off of a bridge by a flock of sheep Aug 22. A magnificent weekend in the studios. The forces of Professionalism gelled like a well-oiled machine and we recorded a good 80 per cent of the new album. Observers were amazed by the sheer power-house impact of Jase, Mick and Steve, and even more amazed when Gal remembered most of the lyrics without recourse to post-it notes. Famous faces flocked to Forest Hill to experience the Nads at their nattiest. On Saturday John ‘Football Factory’ King himself turned up and, despite the heavy presence of bacon, declared the band to be “on top form.” The dapper Chelsea Dom from the East End Badoes also made a pilgrimage from suburban Kent to get his fix of real streetpunk excitement. That night, Gal, Mick, flag-girl Allyson, Jeniera Blade and South Coast Steve went on to a lavish reception thrown for the Gonads by Charlton Tel in That Turkish Place in Eltham. The twenty-odd faces in attendance included some of our oldest and most loyal followers, such as the near-legendary Big Jim, Chelsea Paul, Scotch John, Whippo, senior Pranksters and the ravishing Gina. Against his will Gal was persuaded to recite the lyrics to choice Nads songs over the kleftiko. On Sunday, the studios were graced by a visit from the Charlton Boys, including Chris ‘The Dust’ Weeks, Frazzle and Big Matt. Although bashfully shy, the mighty red and white firm finally agreed to add backing vocals to such Greater Hit gems as ‘Tucker’s Ruckers’, ‘Grant Mitchell’ and ‘Jobs Not Jails.’ Leah McCaffrey turned up too, to add an unusual fillip to ‘Tuckers’ and deliver sausage sandwiches. Comrade Associate Manager, FB, in attendance for both days, delighted and sustained us with cholesterol-rich food parcels and his flash film-making lap-top. Even the Beast put in a brief flying visit on Sunday. The only no-show was Terence Hayes, WM, who thought the recordings were next weekend. No don’t mock. It’s not easy getting old. The poor old soul. In proper news developments, the proposed ‘Beer Can’ ep has been put back until next year. And despite a few small set-backs The Gonads’ sixteen track ‘Greater Hits, Volume One: Plums’ should still available by early November at the latest. No mention will be made here of Mick’s cheesy plates, Nacho’s strange belief that Wandsworth was adjacent to Lewisham, or Steve’s involvement in the nefarious Church of Oi (“Not an evil religion” – Obama). Thanks for Allyson for selflessly walking miles in the rain in pursuit of our chips. Other projects are so bold and exciting we’ve been told not to mention them until contracts are drawn up and signed. But let’s just say they include a proper festival-sized Nads event in 2011 and leave it at that. Oh yeah, baby. *No big news from John King, except to say the England Away movie project is not dead and buried, and JK is still up for recording his Prison House album with those fine chaps Dave Ruffy and Segs from the Ruts. John is also planning on finishing his Slaughterhouse novel next month, but sadly the OOC has dismissed it as “vegetarian propaganda at its most lurid and unforgivable.” Aug 21. We’re in the studio today and tomorrow finishing off our ‘Greater Hits’ album. The songs for the new ep, especially ‘Beer Can’, are sounding absolutely ’kin awesome! *There are still tickets left for next weekend’s Mod-themed Isle of Wight Summer Madness do; acts on Aug 29 include Paul Weller, The Coral, The Chords, Twisted Wheel, Brand New Heavies, The Bees and the great Eddie Piller. Mates of ours are running this fest – it will be a cracker. *Go East, young Gonad... we’ve had approaches about playing Moscow – and Azerbaijan! If we can tie this in with the long mooted dates in Bulgaria and Serbia, a Nads Eastern European Tour will surely follow. * Gal is set to record a new pod-cast next week. Full details will follow just as soon as Fit Bird stops weeping about Corin’s shock eviction from Big Brother. He has also agreed to his first book signing tour – see the blog at www.garry-bushell.co.uk for details. Aug 20th. A Laurel Aitken exhibition is opening in Leicester in October, celebrating the life and work of the original Godfather of Ska. Laurel moved to England from Jamaica in the early 1960s, releasing records on the Blue Beat label which were much loved by all discerning Mods and Skins. His brilliant music also influenced 2-Tone bands, particularly The Specials and Bad Manners. The exhibition, Ska With Laurel, will include audiovisual material, stage clothes, photographs, posters and press cuttings. Based at the New Walk Museum & Art Gallery, it will run from 2nd October 2010 – 8th May 2011. Many big names are expected to attend the launch party next month. Those with long memories will recall that Gal helped get a blue plaque erected to the great man a few years back. *Talk of Sally James yesterday reminds us of the time an Oi Oi party including Gal, possibly Hoxton Tom, Gal Hodges and leading reggae authority Eric Fuller went to see the Tiswas cast live in London where they performed the legendary ‘Bucket of Water Song’. Did Sal’s top get soaked in the process, or was that just wishful thinking? Either way it was the finest hour of TV’s finest shower. * MOZ is back in Section 5. He plays his first gig at the punk/oi fest in Stoke a week today. Aug 19. The Oi Organising Committee met informally with Club Ska last night to thrash out a number of important issues, chief among which were a) the urgent need to set up a cheap efficient system for cheated bands to take on unscrupulous record companies legally, and b) the even more urgent need to turn John King’s novel Skinheads into a film. Those in attendance included Steve Whale, Gal, Manic Esso, Robin Guy, David Courtney, and Mark Wyeth from Symarip, alongside legal experts, DJs and representatives of honest record companies, the ICF, B-Mob and the Chelsea Headhunters. Apologies for absence were received from Lars Frederiksen (in USA), Millwall Roi (in Herne Bay), John King (hospital appointment), Francis Flame (appointment with a cup of Ovalteen), Garry Johnson (writing), Terence Hayes, WM (sleeping), Stinky Turner and Fatty Lol (both shagging, but not each other). Unfortunately the group’s plans to reconvene immediately after a curry for a play-back of the new songs written and recorded by Manic and two of the other ex-Lurkers were disrupted by a group of drunk but attractive ‘Jivels’ who reckoned Gal and Manic were “44 or 45”, and well, needs must and all that. Story of the night? How Bruce Dickinson flew Robin Guy back from Belgium to play a festival in Essex after Robin drummed with him earlier the same day during his ‘Tattooed Millionaire’ period. Disturbing development 1) Mr Courtney’s keen interest in the Live & Loud bootleg situation, 2) Mr Esso’s rather desperate attempts to entice a Sidcup barmaid into giving him the thrashing he both craved and deserved. *Congratulations to Daryl Smith of Cock Sparrer and Argy-Bargy who marries girlfriend Amy today. Like all men of a certain age, we now retire to a darkened room to think lovingly about Daryl’s step-mum Sally James from ITV’s Tiswas (short for This Is Sally, Wank And Smile – Unreliable TV Ed). *Crass will re-master and re-issue their back catalogue over the next few months, kicking off with ‘The Feeding Of The 5000’ which will come with added unreleased extra songs. ‘Stations Of The Crass’ and ‘Penis Envy’ will be enhanced and repackaged too. Southern Records are also publishing Steve Ignorant's autobiography The Rest Is Propaganda, and a beginner’s guide to lentils, although we may have made that bit up. (For Stations Of The Gonads see Cockfosters.) Aug 18. Endless Summer was a hoot. The big open air fest organised by our old pals at Contra saw a cracking bill ranging from Sparrer to Buster Shuffle via Madball, Stomper 98, Springtoifel, The Templars, Argy-Bargy, the Broilers, Perkele, the Harrington Saints and loads more. Unfortunately our foreign correspondents (Fat Col and Chelsea Dom) were too full of German lager to pass on any details, anecdotes, reviews, set-lists or skin-birds’ phone numbers – more work like this chaps and you’ll get a job at NME. *Our mate Sir Ecke-A-Lot reckons the 30th anniversary Oi compilation will now be released in October, but seeing as Contra also told us it’d be released in April, May and August, we’ll believe it when we see it. In fact, we hear Gal has started work compiling the 35th anniversary celebration album which some cynics claim will be out first. Aug 17. Yeah! Our deal with Randale Records is ON! In a move described as the greatest diplomatic break-through since the release of Rafael Haddad, Gal personally intervened to engineer an agreement with German record company boss Diana. We are now back in the studio this weekend to record more of ‘The Gonads Greater Hits Volume One’. If everything goes to schedule, the sixteen-track album will be out in October. It will feature superior versions of long-unavailable Nads favourites – as voted for by you. These will include a blistering re-tread of ‘Tucker’s Ruckers’, an updated ‘Grant Mitchell’, a jaunty ‘I Lost My Love To A UK Sub’ and, as a bonus track, the first-ever recording of our version of ‘Big Balls’. PLUS ‘Oi Mate’, a heavier, scarier ‘Franken-Skin’, a harder-faster ‘Gob’ and ‘British Steel’ up-dated for the Afghan conflict. The original ‘Hitler Was An ’Omo’ will also be re-booted. Diana said “We are delighted to have the mighty Gonads on board; the Nads are all considerably younger than Frankie Flame and better-looking than the Cockney Rejects.” Asked how Gal had achieved this historic agreement, Fit Bird revealed: “E used the phone, didn’ ’e?” *Ahead of the album release, we will bring out an ep of new or rare material on our own label Soitenly label. Details to be confirmed next week. *Joey Briggs’s debut 7" single ‘Politics, Touring and Self-Loathing’ is out on Friday. It’s on red vinyl and includes the controversial 2008 single ‘37 Cents’ (which got a million+ views on YouTube during the US election.) There are only 500 pressed so if you want one it’s best to pre-order HERE. Aug 16. Here are the links to buy tickets for our October shows at the Garage, North London, with the Cockney Rejects.... October 9th tickets and October 15th tickets. Aug 14. It’s the 14th annual Small Faces convention tomorrow (15th); featuring seven hours slavishly devoted to Marriott’s merry men. There are six bands: the RTs, Biff Bam Pow, The Most, Tommy Atkins, The Getgo and Matt Henshaw plus mysterious special guests and rare SF footage. It’s at Relentless Garage, Highbury Corner; doors open 4pm, and tickets are a score. Sticking with a Mod theme, scooter enthusiasts are heading back to Brighton on Friday week, 46 years after the original modernists made shock-horror headlines running amok at the East Sussex seaside. Promoters the New Untouchables have booked two live bands, local lads The Peppermint Beat Band and Spain’s own Faithkeepers. The weekend kicks of Friday night with a welcome party at Volks club (almost opposite Brighton pier). Saturday and Sundays all-nighters are hosted at Brighton's best venue, the Komedia. DJs from a dozen clubs round the UK are all represented. Watch out for Prankster Sid’s stall of tatt at the vintage market. More info at www.newuntouchables.com *Record news: Die Kreuzen’s 1982 ‘Cows And Beer’ ep is out again as a 7" on the Barbarian label. *The new Maximum Rocknroll (issue 328) features a long interview with the mighty Agnostic Front, plus chats with The Conversions, Super Wild Horses, Puffy Areolas, Deathrats, Rape Revenge n more, along with scene reports from New Zealand and the Czech Republic. Aug 13. Friday the 13th: lucky for Gonads fans – Gal and Jase have written two top-flight new songs: the very bouncy ‘Beki Bondage Please’ and the awesome potential set-opener: ‘Beer Can’.... Aug 12. Bad Religion’s Greg Graffin will publish his new book - called Anarchy Evolution: Faith, Science and Bad Religion in a World Without God – on 28th September, the same day as the band’s new album The Dissent of Man comes out. Greg’s co-writer is Steve Olson. In other book news, the first volume of Gal’s memoirs – called Bushell On The Rampage and also out next month – is packed full of stories about Gal’s high times on the road with Ozzy, The Blood, ZZ Top, the Rejects, Sham, Hanoi Rocks, UFO and the Angelic Upstarts, among others. You can pre-order it here. Aug 7th to 11th recapped: South Coast Steve made a triumphant debut as new Gonads sticks man on Saturday. Our low-key gig in The Talbot, the throbbing heart of Winton, Bournemouth, drew an unusual array of fans ranging from punks to buxom blondes of a certain age, via Sun readers, Italian students, cuddly women who claimed to be Gal’s distant relatives and a friendly drunk who tried to book us for the near-by Liberal Club. Of problems there were none, joys many – not least Steve playing ‘Gob’ fast enough to break the land speed record, resulting in Gal telling the audience that he was working piece-rate. We also did ‘Big Balls’ live for the first time in over thirty years. “We’ve always been bollocks,” Mr. Gonad announced wryly. Nads fan Dave reckoned “the band has never been harder, faster or tighter” while Comrade Manager FB concluded that “World domination is the only next stop.” Quite. The set was: ‘Punk Rock Till I Die’, ‘Gob’, ‘The Growler’, ‘Oi Mate’, ‘Grant Mitchell’, ‘Alconaut’, ‘British Steel’, ‘Infected’, ‘Rob A Bank’, ‘Yeti’, ‘SE7 Dole Day’, ‘Hey You’, ‘I Lost My Love To A UK Sub’, and ‘England’s Glory’; encore ‘Big Balls’ and ‘Franken-Skin’. Mucho thanks to support band Damnation Alley, feisty flag girl Allyson, ‘Infected’ volunteer Marianne and FB who made his stage debut as Franken-Skin to much popular and professional acclaim. A passing theatre critic writes that FB’s performance “took the tame conventions of historical drama and flushed them down the privy...at its core, FB shows us a creature in torment, a creature who is half man, half monster” (and half-cut – Ed). He adds: “The Franken-Skin suffered death but lives on; not a saint, maybe, but no sinner either.” His conclusion? “Eat yer heart out, Eddie.” Oi, oi! PS. Special mention to doorman Billy who turned out to be a fan of Garry Johnson’s poetry - Gal B rang Gal J and got him to recite his favourite verses down the phone. Incidentally we hear that Garry Johnson’s life-story is going to be the subject of a full-length movie. Well done, Gal. *The East End Badoes were the mega-hit of Rebellion, according to our man in the crowd. Fat Col, for it was he, reports that Terence Hayes “slayed ’em” with killer one-liners. At the end of the band’s well-received set, the WM told the audience: “It’s Cock Sparrer time; everyone does a Sparrer cover, and who are we to buck the trend? Does anyone know ‘England Belongs To Me’” (Huge roar) “Great – this is ‘Bomber’” And they then plunged into the Motorhead anthem instead. Tel also claimed to be “the Simon Le Bon of Oi” (He looks more like Simone de Beauvoir – philosophical Ed) and “the best-looking 55-year-old in this hall – not to mention the only 55-year-old in this hall.” The Badoes sold 100 copies of their new ep on the strength of their performance. Col tells us that Argy-Bargy were “top-hole” and the Cockney Rejects “blinding.” Our other spies bigged up The Defects, Slaughter & the Dogs, Bad Religion (who finished with a mighty cover of ‘Unite & Win’), the Last Resort, the Cromags, and the Glitter Band. Honourable mention must go to Max Splodge's rib-tickling bingo routine, including the classic gag: “Do you know what my gran said to me on her deathbed?” “Max, what are you doing in my room with that hammer?” Dishonourable mentions to the New York Dolls who we’re told “put on a dismal under-rehearsed set, which was an insult to the promoter and punters alike”, Gene October for “throwing a hissy fit when he didn’t get an encore”, and to some of the Oppressed’s entourage who were reportedly “making throat-slitting gestures” to anyone sporting England tops. Twats. Anti-English racism is no more acceptable than any other form of bigotry. Sort it out, Roddy mate. * Serious news update: Discipline singer Joost De Graaf has admitted killing his wife. Copious amounts of drink and drugs are said to have been involved in this tragic incident. *On the bootleg front, we have managed to trace the manufacturer of the illicit Pirate Love CD version of the Gonads ‘Live & Loud’ double album to Russia. The CD is now being sold in Germany, Russia and the US which kinda knocks Captain Oi’s theory that “there’s no demand for it” into a cocked-hat. * Nutty boys Madness are back out on tour in November. The 16-date jaunt kicks off in Blackpool on 26th and finishes at Earl’s Court on December 17th. *The Pranksters summer gathering was an enormous success, despite the absence of the WM. The event took place deep in sandstone caves once used by East Sussex smugglers; security was as tight as Joan Rivers’s face, and after the official business and festive board, the entertainment included fire-eaters, chain-saw jugglers and an oompah band playing stirring brass arrangements of such popular ditties as ‘Special Brew’, ‘Bad Man’, ‘Chaos’ and our own ‘Sandra Bigg (Really Big)’. Thanks to WB Harry The Monk for conducting the sacred ceremony and for WS Marigold for organising the festive board. To order, brethren. England expects... * Record news: Four posthumously-released Jimi Hendrix albums will be reissued on October 19. These include deluxe editions of Jimi Hendrix Experience: BBC Sessions and Jimi Hendrix: Blues, both including DVD documentaries, as well as re-releases of Live At Woodstock and Merry Christmas & A Happy New Year. The BBC Sessions will come with a never-released half hour documentary about the group's appearance on Lulu’s show in 1969, and will include a never-released Top Of The Pops version of ‘Burning Of The Midnight Lamp.’ Aug 6. This blog is temporarily standing down. Our crack reporters are now on the road as we split ourselves between Blackpool, Bournemouth and the big Pranksters’ weekender in Sussex. Some kind of news may eventually follow. Aug 5. RIP Darren Davies of Slowjam, who passed on Sunday, aged 41, and Makh Daniels from San Francisco’s Early Graves killed in a car crash in Oregon also at the weekend. According to US news reports singer Makh, 28, died after Justin Garcia of The Funeral Pyre fell asleep at the wheel of their tour van while they were driving overnight to Nevada. Our West Coast readers are advised that a benefit and memorial show for Makh will take place tomorrow (Friday, 6th August) at the Bamboo Lounge, Whittier, CA, with a $5 donation at the door. All proceeds and a percentage of bar profits will go to his family. *Gal tells us he has written a brand new horror-punk anthem called ‘Invasion Of The Boddies-Snatchers’ about “a callous gang of female beer thieves”. The song is said to be based on a “chilling personal experience.” *Ex-skin Bobby Smith, who dubs himself “the Frank Spencer of Oi”, has started doing book readings with his Nigerian-born missus Margaret. Here they are in action last Saturday – at the Blue Post at Oxford Circus. Maybe they should go out as a comedy double act. Bobby and Margaret’s book, One Love Two Colours: The Unlikely Marriage of a Punk Rocker & his African Queen is now in its second edition and is available from amazon. Aug 3. Cock Sparrer have signed up to headline at next year’s
Rebellion. The festival will be their only UK show. Rebellion
2011 will take place at the Blackpool Winter Gardens between August
4th and 7th next year. 600 tickets for 2011 will be available
to buy at a discounted price at this weekend’s fest. Meanwhile
Jennie tells us that you will still be able buy tickets for Rebellion
2010 on the door this weekend. And if you’re not going to Blackpool
remember the new line-up of the Gonads play our first-ever gig
in Bournemouth on Saturday night as a low-key warm-up for Operation
McChrystal. * Brace yourself for some big news: Wattsie Watts is off the shelf! Yes the ravishing Wattsie is getting ravished by a fella called Laurence. Even more sensationally, he isn't a drummer. Already certain people close to the Mod with the Gob have opened a book as to whether their lurv can last out the year. The Wattsie guide to long-term relationships is up there with Terry Hayes's Little Book of Memory Aids as publications to avoid. But here are our questions: have they gone dogging in Dartford yet, and is her twin sister Shona receiving a boner too? * We've tracked down the bootleg version of the Gonads live double album on Ebay. It appears to be on a label called Pirate Love. Robbing bastards. * HC single of the week: Rival Mob's 'Hardcore For Hardcore' seven-incher (on the Six Feet Under label) six tracks of fury from the NY/Bostonian outfit. Aug 2. To Sonisphere yesterday where Gal, Jase and Mick Maverick joined Iron Maiden for a blistering encore version of ‘Running Free’, the only slight let-down being Maiden were on the stage at the time and the Nads were about 13,000 people back singing along to the left of the sound desk. The East End boys were on immaculate form, tighter than Scoops at a Scrooge of the Year contest. And though we moaned about the absence of ‘The Trooper’ from their two hour set, there were no complaints about their rock-hard delivery or their generous hospitality tent which in true Cockerney fashion offered pie and mash and fish n chips along with Nicko’s own brand of ribs. Steve Harris revealed that he’d just bought Gal and Jeff Turner’s ‘Cockney Reject’ book, and Nicko is looking remarkably sprightly for a man of 96... though maybe not quite as athletic as Bruce who shot about like an Olympic athlete for the whole 120 minutes of mental metal madness. Other Sonisphere delights included Jim Jeffries in the Bohemia tent, The Cult, the fairground, the new green alien version of Eddie, Nacho’s post-fest game of ‘hunt-the-car, win-a-lift-home’ and the Brummie rockers who demanded to know why the Gonads weren’t on the bill (soon come, man, soon come). At one stage pre-gig Gal and Rod Smallwood appeared to be in intense negotiations, although it could just have been that both elderly gents are going mutton. There were 55,000 in and the only hint of trouble came from our flag-girl Allyson lecturing a smelly security guard about his personal hygiene deficiencies. Full set: The Wicker Man, Ghost of the Navigator, Wrathchild, new song El Dorado, Dance of the Dead, The Reincarnation Of Benjamin Breeg, These Colours Don't Run, Blood Brothers, Wildest Dreams, No More Lies, Brave New World, Fear of the Dark, and Iron Maiden. Encore: The Number of the Beast, Hallowed Be Thy Name, Running Free. Maiden’s space themed The Final Frontier album is out on August 16th. Aug 1st A great turn-out for Leah McCaffrey’s birthday bash last night, including such oi-oi luminaries as Stinky Turner, Wattsie Watts, Gal (naturally), Jeniera Blade, Nads flag-girl Zoe Anderson, and streetpunk guru Steve Whale who played acoustic guitar on Leah’s moving version of ‘Both Sides Now’. About 120 people turned up including Kent comic Dave Lee, TV’s Paul Ross, senior East Sussex pranksters, Charlton Tel, Big Jim, Whippo and the incredible Muscovite magician Kokov whose scarifying Russian Roulette routine was up-staged only by his breath-taking power to discern the colour of women’s underwear. * IF you’re up at the Edinburgh Festival, don’t miss our ex-submariner mate Eric’s critically acclaimed show: Eric’s Tales Of The Sea. * THE Ian Tomlinson family campaign has thanked us for our support. If you want info on the cause, visit the campaign site: iantomlinsonfamilycampaign.org.uk *YAY! We’ve heard from Diana at Randale. The Beast finally made contact using a combination of carrier pigeons, Sherpas and Gurkhas; so Operation McChrystal is back on track. Still no word from Contra about the CD or the compilation release date, mind... * Reminder: mental Jamaican mento specialists the Jolly Boys play the 100 Club on Wednesday. Hark at this: http://jollyboysmusic.com/ |