Cathi Unsworth and the Norfolk Noir of Weirdo

Following on from Friday's post - my Weirdo review taken from the current edition of Level 4 magazine, an absolute head-spinning novel framed against an 80s landscape - it is the perfect read as those autumn evenings begin to draw in and the shadows start to stretch out

If you're feeling eagle-eyed - perhaps play spot the song reference for each of the chapters (and keep your peepers peeled for me in the credits)

Words and Music: your recommended weekend reading...

Comes in the format of two art, fashion and music periodicals.

Plectrum The Cultural Pick: where Cathi Unsworth - described by author, David Peace, as “the First Lady of Noir Fiction”, talks to Jay Clifton about her previous books, her approach to writing and latest novel 'Weirdo'. Chris Price, interviews Bruce Lacey on his associations with The Goon Show, Ken Russell, The Beatles - he was George Harrison’s flute playing gardener in Help, and is celebrated in the Fairport Convention song, Mr Lacey. And new short fiction by Max Stites, fashion from Fifi Chachnil, make-up by Illamasqua and shoes by Jefferey West.

Alongside all of this cultural buffet - you'll find me putting Fay Hallam and The Bongolian, Balctic Fleet, Hollie Cook and Philippe Petit (my first classical/experimental review) under the Plectrum Analyser, in the music review section...

Perhaps, follow up by backtracking to my Bad Penny Blues interview with Cathi here..

Level 4: (a horror special) comes loaded with a Cathi Unsworth interview, Julian Wollatt's Zombie photography, Dan Newman's best of TV Horror.

And me (waddya mean shameless self promo!) contributing music reviews (Steve Hooker), book  reviews (Cathi Unsworth). And an exclusive interview with the ex-Ants that are now Wolfmen - Chris constaniou and Marco Pirroni discussing Live Aid, working with Tony Visconti, 12 string basses and conspiracy theories.... it's all hereabouts 

The Sunday Sessions: Flats and Fifths

Swinging at the Sunday Sessions - get me in the floral shirt!

Flats and fifths: those steps and semitones that give jazz and blues their particular modal moan. Jive along to The Railway this Sunday and you'll be for in an afternoon of flats, fifths, blues and boogaloo - live! As the always excellent (and one of my top ten favourite guitarists) Martin McNeill and his Bottletop Blues Band take the floor from four. 

The Bottletops are something of revolving repertory (excepting JJ Zarbo, who 'never misses a gig' on bass) - with a different musical mix each session - sometimes keys, sometimes sax, sometimes special guests: Wes Weston - harp, Wilko Johnson - guitar, Digby Fairweather - trumpet.

So if you're spinning anywhere around the SS postal code zone this sunday - why not ramble your way to The Railway from four and see who's sitting in for this Sunday's session

Dig'n' the Bottletop Blues Band 

I'll be operating the in-house stereogram, spinning in jump blues, New Orleans shufflers, funk work-outs, hammond happenings and reggae shakers 

A couple from the crates popped into the pot may well be...

Count Machuki - Pepper Pot






Thanks to Bluey for a borrow of the pics....

Protest and Survive: 'the best night out in Britain'

What a tear-up, what a shakedown, what a shindig!

As if Saturday's temperatures weren't scorching enough - the needles were knocked right into the red (in all senses) as the dream team-up of Eight Rounds Rapid and Thee Faction shook, rattled and rolled the roof right off of The Railway Hotel. An evening Thee Faction are calling 'epic' and rubber-stamping the Podrophenia Roadshow as 'the best night out in Britain. Fact.'.

We salute you comrades.

Due to time issues - the Long Run had to zip to another show. So first up (in the newly renovated gig room) - Eight Rounds Rapid - thumb-nailed thus by Faction vocalist Billy Reeves:  the real story of last night was Eight Rounds Rapid. Best young band in Britain? There's a very strong argument for it.

Sharp suits, snappy songs and nippy lyrics combine to make 8RR a fully formed powerhouse, punching well above the tag of 'local band' with a setlist of zippy originals supercharging the audience into a roaring response. 

Handing over by way of MC Marmite Boy - Thee Faction's set of rabble-rowsing R 'n' B was almost speakers corner crossed with a gospel-meet mania. Tunes from the new LP Singing Down The Government were received like long lost friends - with long-haul Faction standards - Union Man becoming refitted as improv seaside sing-a-longs.

And worra reception: a volume of  foot-stamping, hand-clapping cries for 'encore' and 'more' - that I haven't heard at *any* gig since the 80s. Possibly the greatest Southend live night since Dr Feelgood recorded Going Back Home at The Kursaal






The Quinn Martin style epilogue was Piley and I, running 'til one spinning bangers and boomers from popular beat combo's with nineties tracks being the floor filler preference. Along with a bit of Bowie..

There's already talk of a rematch next year - but if you couldn't make the gig - fill your boots for free with a take away version of Thee Factions new single - Soapbox. But it's only on the freemans for a week - so grab it here sharpish..

A huge thank you is due to jazz singing journo Hannah Marsh, for the Evening Echo support

Podrophenia Roadshow the third: Backing the USSR 'n' B

Calling all residents of the Podrophenia postocde: Saturday the 8th September, sees the third Podrophenia live leg-shaker, with Piley and I bringing you a tricolour of musical treats live at The Railway Hotel. A three way shakedown pooling together talent from all along the watchtower Thames Delta.

In the Canvey Corner: The Long Run. A fully formed band fronted by Darren Jones as seen on Podrophenia TV...




In the Southend Corner: Eight Rounds Rapid. As heard on Tom Robinson's 6music
   


In the London Corner: Thee Faction, a left dressing socialist, soul-stomping collective, hoofing all the way to opposite end of the estuary to showcase their new album - Singing Down the Government

 

Piley and I will be firing up the Railway radiogram between the bands spinning in funk, soul, covers, and curiosities.It all kicks off from 7pm - so come down and join in the jamboree

The Podrophonic Alphabet. N is for...

Worra pair of Nankers

Back after a summer break, Piley and I roll out the 14th instalment of the Podrophonic Alphabet: N: for new tunes, new bands, New York, Piley's Newsround as well hoots 'n' toots for the third Podrophenia Live Night on September the 8th at Southend's Railway Hotel.  You'll find tracks from all three bands (Thee Faction, Eight Rounds Rapid and The Long Run) on the bill popped into this edition, as well what is a Nanker Phelge - see above.

We've also got a mystery theme tune, some natter about a night out with Hugh Cornwell and and a drop in appearance from Blow Up Records boss Paul Tunkin - so dig in and tell a pal!

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Looking Back at Wilko...

Take a stroll to the bottom of this post and you'll see the cover of the latest issue (# 8) of Vive Le Rock, an edition frothing over with interviews: Richard Hawley, Kevin Rowland, Steve Jones, Wayne Hussey - also album, book and gig reviews.

Take a thumb through the reviews section of VLR and you'll find me holding up score cards for the New York Dolls, Suzi Quatro, Dirtbox Disco and Zoe Howe's Wilko Johnson biography - written in collaboration with Wilko himself.

Understandably with such a packed programme, editorial tweaks and changes were  necessary to keep to the word count. So, here's my submitted review of Looking Back At Me - and the published version. A tip of the titfer is due to all at VLR HQ for trimming it down, and, keeping the essence intact.

You'll also notice a couple of questions pitched at his Royal Wilko-ness, click on the VLR cover pic to get the rest of our chat and natter...

It's no overstatement to say I've probably ploughed through too many rock biographies in my time. Although only a handful are so supremely sculpted that they will stay with me forever. Looking Back At Me is one for this hand-picked library. Much more than the sum of it's parts - and larger than a life story, this is John Wilkinson walking and talking you through an oral and pictorial history (school reports, rare paintings/photo's memorabilia) of all that is Wilko: academia, anarchy, art, rock 'n' roll and carrying forward the tradition of journeymen blues musicians handing down their tales of troubles and travels.

If you've been lucky enough to have met Wilko ( I have, several times as we drink at the same pub) you'll know what you see onstage is exactly what you get offstage, an explosion of arm flailing, bug eyed-expressionism, intellectual theorising and raconteurism. Wilko isn't someone who knows stillness in anyway. There is no off button.

Zoe Howe's sensitive positioning of all the multi-faceted pieces that make up her study, perfectly renders Wilko's unrelenting restless energy and constant forward motion - she's pulled off the impossible trick of bottling Wilko's (smokestack) lightening. There's blood on the scratchplate, Canvey mud under his nails and the Thames Delta blues runs through him like a stick of Southend rock. Looking Back at Me is a stunning reinvention of the rock memoir format - a combination of compendium and confessional - creating a new standard which all future music biographies should measured against.

To catch the rest of our Looking Back chat - click on the VLR pic

As mentioned at the top the page, the New York Dolls blitzing new album Live From The Bowery is lent a critical ear in VLR - taste test one tune from it here....

New York Dolls - Funky But Chic

The revolution will not be televised. But it will be publicised

Backing the USSR 'n' B

To borrow an opening line from fellow estuary dwellers the Stones 'Summer's here and the time is right for fighting in the street' 

Fighting in a War of Position way that is - and in keeping with the spirit of legendary Essex revolutionary Wat Tyler - Piley and I are grinning like loons to toot 'n' hoot, long-haul Podrophonic favourites Thee Faction are coming to The Railway Hotel for their first Southend appearance on September 8th. 

If you haven't lent a left ear to Thee Faction's songbook - think: Dr Feelgood's gritty rhythmic drive with a brassy northern soul snap by way of an actual real-live horn section. 

Just don't take our word for how hot-rocking the band are (both on record and live) - check the rave reviews coming in across the full spectrum of media streams

 “Terrific stuff. Well done! Here, we celebrate the successes of the working class” Danny Baker,

"bringing down the Tories one song at a time” The Guardian 

"100% fun AND they 100% mean it, man. Catch live!” Classic Rock 

“..barricade storming, smart, fun, instantly energising” Daily Mirror 

“Timely. I love these mad bastards” Simon Price, The Independent on Sunday 

“Twinning Dr Feelgood and eastern-bloc rockin’ beats … to rabble-rouse your mind and Agit-prop your pop” Vive Le Rock (alright, this one's me actually)

“What a cracking record” Kerrang! 




Piley and I will be rolling out our third Podrophenia Roadshow, slotting in stompers, soulers, groovers and rock-a-doodle-doers across the evening and around the bands - as also on the bill are Southend's rockingest revolutionaries Eight Rounds Rapid




And behold - an exclusive. A sneak preview of the unreleased lead off track 'Soapbox' from the upcoming Faction album 



Salut - and let's rally round and gather together on September 8th at The Railway Hotel for a night of revolution, rhythm and record spinning.

Wold Gold

View from the New England Coffee House, Digbeth Street

So where have I been for the last couple o' weeks then? Rolling around the Cotswolds and marching around The Marches mostly.

Parked up in Stow-on-the-Wold for the first week - (our 11th visit since 2003) and red-ringing a list of trips and visits that gathered together: the Wychwood Brewery, Gloucester Cathedral, Sudeley Castle, a ramble-around the footpaths passing Quarwood - a country bundle that was home to John Entwistle until his death in 2002. Evenings were generally spent scanning the Olympics - (the women's shotput turned out to be our new fave spectator sport - mostly because of those blood-bubbling yells) or a soothing wander to our favourite Stow local the Queen's Head - and one of finest pints you'll ever taste, Donnington's BB.

When the light was good - what appeared to be a mirage in the distance, turned out to be Birmingham - ho hum!

Then away to Church Stretton for a few days hoofing up, up and away around the Shropshire Hills: Hazler, Three Fingers Rock and  Caradoc. Squeezing in an Ironbridge run and a one day dip into Wales (Newtown and it's W H Smith museum. Knighton and the Offa's Dyke centre)..

Finally, topping off the break with a couple of days at home, cycling to see the Olympic Mountain Bike circuit fitted around my old stomping ground of Hadleigh Castle. And to wrap up - on Sunday, a run to the Leigh Fishing Festival and a chance to step a leg onto one of Leigh's Dunkirk little ships - The Endeavour..

Of all the albums repeat played on our outings - Fay Hallam and The Bongolian, The Pierces - it was the Duckworth Lewis Method that turned out to be the songbook lodging itself in our noggins. Particularly...

 Duckworth Lewis Method - Mason On The Boundary



 Fay Hallam and The Bongolian - expect a review due soon..

 

On your marks, get set, go... for an Olympic sized edition of Podrophenia

Recorded live from Southend, just down the road a'piece from the Olympic mountain biking venue (waddya mean - there aren't any mountains in Essex), our Greco/Roman games inspired podcast comes loaded with events such as: worst sporting incidents you've seen (discover what face-planting is), medal winning burps and sporting look-a-likes.

Piley and I, along with some new and regular Podrophenia contributors also have a a run out on picture disc values - and we've a drop in from Fi Jacobs for a Railway Round Up.

All this and 12 tracks of Olympian tunes including Little Richard, the Beastie Boys, Big Boss Man and Morten Valence

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