Inflammable Material

Coming a little late to the punk scene, Stiff Little Fingers (named after a Vibrators’ song) followed in the footsteps of The Clash by writing overtly political songs, largely about “the troubles” in Northern Ireland. Their gritty sound also mirrored that of The Clash and they even included a reggae number on their first album but they were no copycat band and I loved them. If I could possibly put together a list of my favourite singles of all time, “Alternative Ulster” would be on it.

Stiff Little Fingers at Manchester Apollo May 28th 1979

Stiff Little Fingers at Manchester Polytechnic October ?? 1979

Stiff Little Fingers at London Astoria December 10th 1992

Stiff Little Fingers at London Forum March 25th 2011

I first saw them at Manchester Apollo in 1979 and have seen them several times since. When moving from London up to Sunderland I needed a gig to say goodbye to the place and out of what was available, it seemed only fitting that I picked one of theirs. I was son inspired by them whilst a student that one of my course mates even managed to get me to pen a review for the student union newspaper - my one and only appearance in a journalistic capacity. It’s rubbish but here it is anyway:

NO BLOOD OR TEARS BUT LOTS OF SWEAT

When writing about a band like “Stiff Little Fingers”, several words immediately spring to mind such as ‘dead ace’ or ‘superb’. This was definitely the case on Tuesday night at the Polytechnic.

“The Donkeys”, a Liverpool band of some repute played an excellent, but unfortunately 15 years too late, gig. The close harmonies seemed to have stepped straight out of the “Merseybeat” era and their rendition of “Please, Please Me” could easily have passed for the “Fab Four”.

Last time round, S.L.F. played the Apollo and have regretted it ever since but the Factory was too small & they didn’t know the Poly existed. The Poly is certainly the happy medium in both size & sound quality.

S.L.F. charged straight into “Alternative Ulster” and from that moment on it promised to be a great night. They played a well balanced mixture of old & new songs & the new songs seemed to have more power, more depth & more musical ability than all the old favourites, without losing the S.L.F. identity.  If the other songs off the new album are half as good as the ones they played, then it will certainly be a biggie. Finishing off with “Wasted Life”, S.L.F. left the stage to overwhelming applause, cheers & whistles.

In the usual style of S.L.F., the encore was silly, the 1st song was stupid but superb & “State of Emergency” superb. Despite 5 minutes of cheering, they failed to return for a 2nd encore, but what a fantastic concert.

The First Apollo

I wish I’d kept all my tickets but inevitably, I wasn’t thinking ahead and as a young reckless student, these things get lost. But I went to loads of gigs during my three happy years in Manchester, it’s just a shame that I can’t remember them all. I’ve got quite a few tickets and I have memories of other gigs and have managed to track down dates on the internet so I’ll go through them here, a few at a time, and remember what I can.

Boomtown Rats at Manchester Apollo 13^th December 1978

I’d always quite liked The Boomtown Rats despite them being rather too poppy for my taste. Having just had a hit with “Rat Trap” they undertook a “Seasonal Turkey Tour” to celebrate. A good night I’m sure and I think this was probably the first time I’d been to Manchester Apollo. It certainly wouldn’t be the last and was the venue for the best gig I’ve ever been to just over a year later.

Elton John at Manchester Apollo April 25^th 1979

I went back to Manchester early after the easter break just to go to this gig. I don’t particularly like what Elton turned into or the music he produced later on in his career but the early stuff stands up well. The gig started with just Elton on stage playing lots of great songs but the gig was transformed half way through when the most excellent percussionist, Ray Cooper joined him. Elton Started playing “Funeral For A Friend” with Ray Cooper joining in part way through, they then segued into “Love Lies Bleeding”. Absolutely stunning.

Judas Priest at Manchester Apollo May 15^th 1979

The first gig I ever walked out of. A friend had a spare ticket and persuaded me to go with him, against my better judgement. Too much leather, hair and spandex for my liking and that was just the audience. I should have known what I was in for after the poodle headed, leopard-skin leotarded, support band, whoever they were, came on but I stayed to see the main act. I wish I hadn’t bothered.

Manchester, the early years

I mentioned my university interview in Manchester in passing, well I did pass, they gave me a good offer and so I went. Why Manchester? I suppose I ought to say I was inspired by the course and the facilities and stuff like that but if the truth be told, it's in the north and so wasn't far for me to travel back home and being a big city was going to be a better source of good gigs than most other places I'd considered. (Actually to be fair, one of the maths professors had been to our 6th form and given a very interesting and entertaining talk on some of the quirkier bits of maths and that had a bearing on matters too)

My first gig was the Freshers' Ball. Whilst Manchester itself is known for being forward looking musically, unfortunately I'd chosen to go to UMIST which was overflowing with long haired engineers and hence the sort of bands booked by our Student Union weren't exactly my cup of tea. Lots of Dinosaur Rock, prog and folk. The highlight of the week for most UMIST students was the Heavy Metal disco on a Saturday, an event I never attended in all my 3 years at the place.

Consequently the Freshers' Ball on October 7th 1978 didn't exactly grab me when it turned out the band they'd booked was Fairport Convention but they’d also booked Brian James’ Brains as support. Having a bunch of folk rockers supported by the former Damned guitarist’s new band was a bit strange but I figured it was worth going to see the punks and then see how it went. Brian James went down like a lead balloon with most of the audience, though I rather enjoyed it of course, even if there was no real atmosphere in the place, except for the air of contempt and hatred emanating from the hairy folkies. As for Fairport Convention, I suppose it could have been worse. I liked at least one of their songs, "Cruel Felicity", but they did it as about their third number and the first couple hadn't inspired me, so after a couple more I left and went over to the Student's Union at Manchester University instead where I managed to get in to their Freshers’ Ball, though I have no idea who was playing.

My second Manchester gig was a bit more of a success. Having missed the first Stiff records tour to see The Stranglers instead, I was chuffed when another tour was announced. It didn’t have the same calibre of artists as the first one but it was worth seeing and it was playing at UMIST as well. So I traipsed all the way up to the top of the Students’ Union building again on October 16th to watch the shambles that was the Be Stiff tour. (Actually it might not have been a shambles at all but as it was Stiff records it probably was).

The line-up was Mickey Jupp, Lene Lovich, Wreckless Eric, Rachel Sweet & Jona Lewie. From what I remember, Rachel Sweet’s backing band, The Records, were set up permanently on stage and each of the performers came on and did their stuff. Plus The Records got to play a set of their own (unfortunately). I’m sure that the original Stiff Live Stiffs tour was far superior but this was decent too and I liked it enough to catch it all again at Salford University on November 6th, bumping into Wreckless Eric beforehand in the pub.

The Day The World Turned Dayglo

Dark, dingy & sweaty it was almost everything that a music venue should be, the only thing that was missing was a bar. A completely dry venue (though nothing stopping you having a few Theakstons in the back bar of The Prospect beforehand) and yet it was still full of people having a great time. The stage wasn’t up to much either come to think of it, it was just a platform in the corner raised up about 4 inches above the “dancefloor”.

Punk’s d-i-y ethic reached Harrogate in the form of PG’s club which was opened in 1977 by Paul Gerrett, former keyboard player of Wally. It came at just the right time for me, I was 17 going on 18 and spending any spare time I had spinning choons on my dansette in my bedroom. Unable to get a licence from the local, very conservative, council Paul went ahead and opened a glorified youth club in the centre of town above some shops, over 2 floors. By day it operated as just a coffee bar but of course the music was better and they put on gigs in the evening whenever they could.

I possess no tickets for the place as I don’t think they issued them, just turn up and pay on the door. Consequently I have only a few memories of some of the gigs I went to there. I specifically remember seeing X-ray Spex and Wire and know that I went to see The Boys too but beyond that…

X-Ray Spex at PGs in Harrogate on Saturday 22nd April 1978

It was manic, by far and away the biggest attendance the club had ever had. They were just about to release “The Day The World Turned Gayglo” and were brimming with confidence, energy and defiance. The crowd was absolutely manic and started to encroach onto the very low stage and a line of regulars had to form a human chain at the front to protect the performers from the joyous, exuberant, hot, sweaty audience dancing their hearts out. (also here)

Wire at PGs in Harrogate on Saturday 29th April 1978

In contrast, the following week was rather quiet. It was the day before the Rock Against Racism Rally in Victoria Park and a lot of the local youth were heading down there. I wanted to be there too as The Clash were playing but I had a university interview in Manchester on the Monday so couldn’t make it. But despite the small crowd, Wire were fantastic and I seem to remember they encored with 12XU which sent us all into a frenzy of pogoing.

I still prefer my gigs this way. OK, I've been to see bands at the NEC and I love Glastonbury but give me a small venue any day.

Brought to you by this, this and this.

Something Better Change

The Stranglers – October 15^th 1977 – Leeds Queens Hall

By late 1977, I’d been to a few gigs but they’d all been in Harrogate and quite small but with my brother living at home after finishing university, I could travel further afield with him, without my parents worrying.

On Saturday October 15^th 1977 Leeds University was hosting the Live Stiffs tour with Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, Ian Dury & The Blockheads, Wreckless Eric and Larry Wallis. Being a fan of the Stiff record label, I wanted to go but it wasn’t the only gig in Leeds that night. My favourite band at the time was The Stranglers and they were playing Queens Hall on the same night. It was one I couldn’t miss.

Support was provided by Manchester band, The Drones, and one of the few punk bands from Australia to make it over here, The Saints. Again, this gig was so long ago that I don’t remember very much. It was a dark, dingy venue and with all the punks around, a little scary. Everything was running late and so we had to leave before the end in order to catch the last train home but we left it as late as possible, running to the nearby train station clutching my souvenir t-shirt and just made it with seconds to spare. It was a shame missing the end of the gig but the alternative was catching a lift back with some schoolmates and I think 13 occupants is probably enough for a Mk II Cortina.

Considering that The Stranglers were my favourite band for so long and that up until 1981 I’d bought all of their singles, it’s surprising that I didn’t see them live again until they appeared at Guilfest in 2006. I’m not normally one for nostalgia and I wouldn’t normally have gone to see someone from my past but they really rocked, despite Hugh having left to concentrate on his solo work, which he was also performing at Guilfest that weekend.

I saw them again recently, the first band I saw in my new home town of Sunderland. And they pretty much still came up with the goods. It was a bit embarrassing that they’re still performing tracks like ‘Bring on the Nubiles’, I would have thought they’d have grown out of it, but all in all they still gave us a good night out. Just a shame that we got locked in the park on the way home.

To The Urban Man

I’ve been to lots of gigs over the years, well I have been around a long time, and in that time have accumulated a lot of tickets from said gigs. So I thought I’d go through them and blog about them and see what, if anything I can remember.

Given that it’s been a pretty significant part of my life, there are undoubtedly a lot of memories tangled up in that box of tickets and hopefully as I work my way through the box, many will come flooding back. Though given that live music has usually been accompanied by a fair amount of cider it remains to be seen what my recall will be like.

At the moment I haven’t a clue what will come out as I start my journey through my life and whether or not it will be at all interesting. I don’t rate myself as much of a writer, I’m not much of a raconteur and my memory isn’t what it was but I’ll have a go and see what happens.

So where to start? In the absence of any other inspiration, I suppose the beginning is a decent point, though I’m not entirely sure where that is. Almost certainly it was a band called Wally and probably at the Harrogate Theatre on Sunday September 19^th 1976. There’s a chance that I’d seen them before at some other venue in Harrogate, they played at the Royal Hall in December 1974, but I have no tickets from this era though I still have a poster for the Harrogate Theatre gig so let’s start there.

So what do I remember about the gig? Virtually nothing. I’m not sure if I went with anybody, though I can remember talking to Paul Crowther about it the following day at school. Apparently the music had hit the resonant frequency of the spring that had been inserted in place of his stomach muscles and had made him feel decidedly ill. I’m sure I enjoyed it and I know it was loud. Really loud. Having only experienced music on the Dansette in my bedroom or down at the youth club, the volume of my music listening had been pretty low, so seeing  a real band in a decent venue introduced me to the knowledge that there was a whole new dimension to music listening.

The date here is probably quite significant. I was 16 and punk was about to hit with a force. Wally themselves were a progressive folk rock band and I was listening to a lot of that sort of stuff but then The Clash and The Stranglers et al changed all that.

I saw Wally a few more times after that, once at the Adelphi Hotel and also at The Royal Hall (both in Harrogate) before they finally split up after 2 albums, in 1978. After the death of the original keyboard player, Paul Gerret (more of whom later), in 2008, they reformed for a tribute show in April 2009 and have continued to play occasionally and record new material. I haven’t seen them in their reincarnation, somehow going back 35 years like that doesn’t seem right to me, though I still occasionally listen to their albums. Good luck to them though.

There were certainly other gigs around this time. I took Claire Exley to see Steeleye Span at the Royal Hall and even have a visual memory of sitting up in the circle on the right hand side. Heavy Metal Kids played there too and I know I considered going to see them but can’t remember if I did. But all these are only mere dalliances with live music as I was about to get into punk and Paul Gerret opened his music venue, PGs, in Harrogate…