“Aaaaaooooowwww” that's me last Wednesday after being left bitten and buzzing by The Wolfmen.
Formed by Marco Pirroni (guitarist and co-writer in Adam's Ants ) and Chris Constantinou (bass playing ex Ant) I caught them strutting like roosters, and stomping like champs live and unleashed at the Islington Academy last week. Opening with a thundering cover of Eno's 'Needle in The Camel's Eye' The Wolfmen tore the place up with a snarling, snapping set of their own two fisted tunes and GlamGaragePunk all fired out with the vibe of vintage Roxy Music, and spirit of Johnny Thunders and Marc Bolan jamming down at Devil Gate Drive.
The Wolfmen's songs Cecile, Jackie Says, While London Sleeps are all hugely infectious (spin them up below) and highlight why Adam Ant went from being the King of Indie clang with 'Dirk' to King of The Wild Frontier and the Prince Charming of Pop after hooking up with Marco as a songwriter. But there’s more to this Wolf pack than tattooed knuckled sugar Pop Punk , Two Eyes is all space age breakbeats and Bhangra anthems wrapped in screaming guitars, flutes and sitars with a lead vocal from Daler Mehndi (Daler was unable to make the gig unfortunately, having being detained for something dodgy) but the celebrity credit rating was still high with endorsement from gig attendees Pete Shelley,Simone Stenfors, and Radio One's Bobby Friction all going wild for the Wolfmen.
If you like Rock that sparkles and Pop that wallops watch out for The Wolfmen in case they're prowling and preening near you soon.
Every Friday is Funky Friday on Planet Mondo and to tie in with this week's theme of hidden nuggets and covers I've loaded up a couple of obscure Youtube treats and two Rock 'n' Soul covers from Wilson Pickett and Solomon Burke.
Arthur Conley is probably best known for 'Sweet Soul Music', but this is Art's shakedown of 'Shake Rattle and Roll'.
Arthur Conley Jr - Shake, Rattle, Roll
Who is Roger Martin? Why isn't he a superstar? Why is 'They Say' a secret stomper and not a soul standard? And where can I get hold of this track?
Roger Martin - They Say
I do know the backing musicians are Freddie Kingand his band though.
Finally two funky takes on sixties rebel rock classics (click on the links to download and divshare to preview)
Air's ‘Moon Safari’ album has the original version of ‘Kelly’, which is perfectly polished and presentable. The re-tweaked single release even adds some extra snap and sparkle - but the real sizzler is buried on the B side of Air's chill out anthem 'All I Need’.
The Moog Cookbook were a duo featuring Roger Manning Jr (Beck’s keyboard player, ex Jellyfish and Imperial Drag) and Brian Kehew who specialised in taking tunes from contemporary and vintage songbooks and reformatting, rebuilding and rewiring them into bionic rockers.
‘Teen Spirit’, ‘Black Hole Sun’ and ‘Hotel California’ were all given Moogie woogie makeovers - but ‘Kelly’ is the Moog Cookbook's star turn, where they customise,reconstruct and respray Air’s moon buggy into a Starsky and Hutch space hot rod.
Some clever clogs has made a tip top home compiled and edited vid’ for the 'Kelly Watch The Stars'remix - starring Jeff Lynn!,Toto!! and Sid Little on drums !!!?
And as a bonus have a peep at the another home made vid’ for ‘Hotel California’ featuring Rory McGrath on drums! and Ol’ man Branson on double decker axe!! (Great Hot Butter/Popcorn interlude in the middle)
There's a couple of bits and bobs I've been meaning to log in the blog for an age but have become wrapped up with other bits and bobs until now - so today at last it's all go-go for;
Remake Remodel - obscure, cool or cranky cover versions.
B Side Babies - the ones that got away - B sides, alt takes or outtakes that are too good to be forgotten
Fortunately 'Watch That Man' falls into both categories. Lulu’s version of ‘The Man Who Sold the World’ seems to pop up on the sort of budget seventies comp’s sold only at newsagents, garages and Woolworths. Glamtastic as the rewired TMWSTW is, the real golden nugget is on the B side, ‘Watch That Man’ which manages to out strut and stomp Aladdin Sane original.
It is an absolute that Bowie was a musical Midas in the seventies and almost everything he touched was left glossed and glittering. (There's a moment of revelation in Ian hunters ‘Diary of a Rock and Roll Star’ where he realises he’ll never be in Bowies league). ‘Watch That Man’ is effectively a Bowie retake with Lulu fronting the band, produced by Bowie and Mick Ronson and featuring rest of the band it captures the distilled essence of the pre ‘Young Americans’ sound with a splash of extra sparkle. The cherry on top being Bowies backing vocals – which swish through the mix adding stardust melodies and space age harmonies.
Every Friday is Funky Friday on Planet Mondo - this Friday it's the turn of guest blogger and the bloke that got me blogging Marmite Boy who brings you two thumping vintage vid's and downloads...... over to MB
Thanks first of all to Mr Mondo for allowing me to choose something for Funky Friday. When he first asked me to do something for the blog I was not altogether sure what to write about as I'm not very knowledgeble about Da Funk (although I am a long term Northern Soul fan). Then all of a sudden it hit me, way back when there were some funky tunes that got my foot a tapping along with the best of them.
In Washington DC they had there very own sub-genre of funk called Go-Go that started in the mid to late 70's and was primarily a live band based genre. Using a funky horn section, almost rock like guitar solo's, complex percussion using all manner of conga drums, cowbells, timbale and conventional drum kits and a seriously funky based line they stormed the DC night clubs. The vocals are more of a call and response affair that allowed the crowd to feel part of the music. The songs all melded into one so that the dancing kept on going (Go-Go gigs sometimes go on for hours and hours).
Go-Go was almost single handedly developed by DC soulman Chuck Brown. He had been a stalwart of the Washington soul scene and incorporated a rhythm heavy sound with the call and response vocals and never ending songs. The beat he used was inspired by Grover Washington Jr's Mister Magic. Brown had a No 1 hit on the US R&B chart (before in was filled with dreadful Kanye West records) in 1978. Bustin Loose is an absoulute Go-Go classic and is as funky as a funky thing. It even reached No 34 on the pop chart. However it wasn't until the 1980's that Go-Go had it's Golden Age.
Brown continued to dominate Go-Go with his band The Soul Searchers but other great funk outfits like Redds And The Boys, Hot, Cold, Sweat and the absolutely fantastic Trouble Funk enjoyed a lot of success too. Trouble Funk had been around in one form or another since the 60's so were well versed in creating music that people wanted to dance to. They had several sizeable hits including Hey Fellas, Don't Touch That Stereo,Drop The Bomb and Pump Me Up a song that was widely sampled with M/A/R/R/S, The Beastie Boys and LL Cool J all using the rhythms as a basis for tracks.
Go-Go made an all too brief appearence on the British scene with the NME championing it the most. In fact they released a very good double album complilation of all the best Washington bands. So for your viewing pleasure is the mighty Trouble Funk with a fantastic 9 minute version of
Don't Touch That Stereo
And the Daddy of Go-Go Mr Chuck Brown with Bustin' Loose
For your further listening pleasure is the classic
I've been shaking my troos and stomping my shoes to this winner for the last week, (which hasn't been off the Mondo Music Center since it's first spin) and as much as I want to keep it a secret it’s just too funky to stay under my dude hat.
Try and imagine Roy Budd, Brian Auger and Billy Preston making a three way tag team jamming on 'Rollerball' riffs, groovy synthscapes, hard and heavy Hammond exotica with bongo's a go-go. Well, in fact you don’t have to - The Bongolian’s rolled it all into a ready made Psychedelic space age bundle for you.
'A Psychedelic Trip To Outer Bongolia' could be the long lost soundtrack to a retro-futurist Sci Fi flick, full of Funky nuggets like ‘The Champion’ ‘Feel It’ and the anthemic ‘All Aboard’.
But don’t just take my word for what a sizzler it is - check out these two tunes.
Rock Me
All Aboard
And then beam over to these sites for all the dates, details and info.
Every Friday is Funky Friday on Planet Mondo - and this Friday brings you two vintage synthy sizzler vid's and three downloads from Mr Billy Preston.
Billy P previously appeared on Funky Friday showing his explosive fruggery in a storming duet on Agent Double O Soul with Ray Charles here
Billy Preston - Outta Space
The studio version of Outta Space is stomping enough, but this impeccably afroed and impossibly funky live take is so heavy hitting that it leaves The Commodores 'Machine Gun' standing in the stalls and comes dangerously close to out vamping Stevie Wonders 'Superstition'. Given Led Zep's legacy of 'poplifting'('You Need Love' - Small Faces, 'Season of the Witch' - Donovan, 'Dazed and Confused' from something I can't remember)I wouldn't be surprised to find that 'Zep reworked and rocked up the 'Outta Space riff' into 'Trampled Underfoot'.
Billy Preston - struttin'
Another 'fro fest throw down with all the shuffle and funk of The Blockheads 'Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll' meets the 'Starsky and Hutch'(Blow out version) theme tune. Now if could just find 'Creature Freature'* I'd have Billy's squeal deal synth set sorted.
(*If you do have Creature Freature on MP3 I'd be eternally grateful if anyone could pass it on).
Why not treat yourself and fill your Space boots with these three lovelies. Or shimmy over to channel mondo for some TV theme funk
Here's something to put the frighteners on those pesky trick or treaters, and Halloween party hangers on.
The Rolling Stones - Too Much Blood
The Stones go death disco in this video nasty directed by Julien Temple. Bleeding TVs, Keith looking like Captain Black and lurking like the Midnight Rambler, Easter Island Bill Wyman with a headless bass and Mick doing his voodoo dancing around the ruins. Yikes!!! Is there room for one more behind the settee?
Now why not pop over to channel mondo and check out the Trilogy Of Terror that's been showing on Channel M Or enjoy some grave shaking grooves in a Mondo mini Mix
R Dean Taylor - There's A Ghost In My House Fabienne Delsol - I'm Gonna Haunt You Ella Fitzgerald - Knock On Wood Corduroy - The Frighteners The Ventures -Superstition Edgar Winter Group - Frankenstein (edit) Amanda Shankar - Jumpin' Jack Flash The Rolling Stones - Too Much Blood
Also don't forget to check out the Halloween theme mini mix from last Friday - here
London Weekend Show Interview - Filmed at Steve Jones Flat, 6 Denmark Street
Australian Radio Ad
Never Mind The Bollocks is 30 years old today. It's an album that changed my life - you can read how here. I've added a few Sex Pistols stats and facts to the internet pile here. And have made the super rare NMTB demos only bootleg album Party Til You Puke available here( offline - apart from the 2 unreleased tracks) Rather than going over the Pistols story, I'm more interested in getting a snapshot of the time, and the perfect time traveling companion to take us back to that scene in seventies is Simone Stenfors.
Simone has impeccable punk credentials and a sizzling rock and roll CV. All the dates, details and info are on her websites www.simonestenfors.com Simones myspace
Simone is a dream to speak to and her conversation sparkles like a mirror ball with shiny stories and celebrity names - Sid Vicious, Joe Strummer, Rat Scabies, Captain Sensible, Johnny Thunders, Shane McGowan and that's just the punk period (she's got a treasure chest of Mod, Glam, Post Punk, 80' and contemporary tales too).
So how did you become involved with the Punk scene? I was married to Chris Carter from Throbbing Gristle, and when we split up I met Warren the drummer from Tiger Lily (later Ultravox). At one of their gigs at The Nashville they had a band supporting them called the Boys who dressed up as school boys they were one of the early Punk bands which was amazing, I'd heard about the Pistols and it was all very exciting I had a friend who knew Joe Strummer and Rat Scabies and went to see The Damned playing at at the Hope and The Anchor which was weird as they were meant to be on the Anarchy tour*. At the end of the evening we met Rat and Captain who invited us to the Roundhouse the next day. We started hanging round together and it all kicked off from there. *The Damned were asked to leave the Anarchy Tour after the first live date - the 6th of December - the the Hope and Anchor gig was on the 7th Did you do any tours with band? I didn't go on tour, but was with Rat for a few months and went to The Damned's and other gigs - The Roxy hadn't opened yet How did you meet Nils? (Pistol's early Tour Manager and Banshees Manager) I knew Ray stevenson (Pistols and Punk scene photographer) who would drop me off at my parents house, and Nils was helping at a Heartbreakers gig and we all went back to Nils's flat, we went to a party at Toyah's the next day and sort of fell in like that really. But that's just the way it happened in those days, and you'd see the same people all the time. It wasn't a big scene, you'd go to someone's house and always see the same people there - all the(now)legendary bands.
Nils must have been doing a lot of work with Mclaren being involved with trying to get films and record deals going? I just remember Nils managing the Banshees more than anything, they didn't have a record deal then - he was 24. Older than anybody else, well Ray his brother was older but always sensible. Did you hear ever the story that Sid (real name John) was meant suggested by Vivienne as the person to front the Pistols but Malcolm got the wrong John (Lydon) - which would have made a completely different band? Not really, I don't remember that - I remember him from Flowers of Romance with Viv Albertine.
The Pistols must have been one of the most hated bands ever teen cults and even the music industry and the media hated them.The Music press really liked them, but it was really after the Bill Grundy thing people were so shocked, the media hated them, they got banned and couldn't play anywhere it exploded after that.
Which is bizarre as the whole thing was a last minute idea, they were a stand in for Queen (also on EMI)who couldn't make it. I know it's just so strange and I don't get it, Bill Grundy being pissed and taking it that bit too far - it destroyed his career.
Did you have much to with Pistols crowd after this?I knew steve, Sid and Glen. but Steve and Paul used to hang out separately, and Rotten had his own entourage. I knew the girls Debbie (Juvenile), Tracey (O Keefe)and Shanne Bradley whose a friend of Captains.
Isn't Shanne The girl that Johnny Rotten's meant to have written Satellite about.? Well that was just a teenage thing while she was at college - nothing serious. She went out with Captain while I was going out with rat.
And what tunes were big on the Punk scene or were people into at that time? Well I loved New Rose, The Clash - White Riot, Janie Jones, Blondie - X Offender. 'Bollocks' didn't come out until later and the albums that seemed to be constantly on everybody's record players were The Clash and The Damned's first album.
What do you think of the Sex Pistols reunion? I think good for them! That three generations on people still love their music & good luck to them, I should imagine they are going to make a bomb out of this & who in their right minds would turn that down?
Simone has contibuted the stacks of magazines and books including two Sid Vicious biographies. No One Is Innocent Vicious: The Art of Dying Young And Vacant But the book I'm buzzing to read is the one Simone whose been described as 'A walking talking music encylopedia'could write. Which will be Packed full of sizzling Rock and Roll stories from the sixties to 21st Century. Check Simones website for sampler of her Rock n Roll credentials. www.simonestenfors.com
I asked Simone to choose a couple songs that were popular with pre Punk crowd or tracks that may have had some influence and shaped what became Punk. She came up with a great playlist of top tunes from Johnny Thunders, Velvets and Lou Reed but nailing it down to a two (and one extra) she came up with some inspired choices.
Alive cooper - I'm Eighteen Hugely popular at the time and the song that Johnny rotten sang when auditioning for the pistols at Sex (using a shower head as a mic' apparently)
New York Dolls - Trash Watch for Sylvain Sylvain's white Les Paul - When McLaren gave up managing the Doll's and came back to London - this guitar was given to Steve Jones and became his main axe - through out the Pistols period and used on NMTB you can see it pre pistols here .
Every Friday is Funky Friday on Planet Mondo - Halloween has come early this Friday and brings you something Dusty and spooky, high camp and Hard Rock from 1969, a hidden vid' and a half hour (hellfire) Radio Mondo mix of Physc Rock , Garage a Go-Go and Freak Funk treats
Dusty Springfield - Spooky Hang on mo' isn't that Jo Whiley, and I'm sure that colour combo's from something by Lyons Maid or Wall's in the 70's. Is it me or does Spooky sound a bit like this?
Wonderland - Love's a Murder I haven't a clue who these crazy crypt kickers are, but stick with it to the end, there's a twist you see....
Radio Mondo - Tunes From The Crypt Download the Halloween themed Mini Mix here Or sink your teeth into it below
Tracklisting
Shadow Mann - Shadow Mann Marsha Hunt 22 - (Oh No! Not) The Beast Day Merry Clayton - Gimme Shelter Georgie Fame - Somebody Stole My Thunder The Coasters - Love Potion No9 Thelma Houston - Jumping Jack Flash Patti Drew - Fever The Bobby Fuller Four - Magic Touch Five By Five - Fire The Gee-Cees - Buzzsaw Twist The Sonics - Strychnine Les Lionceaux - Nowhere To Run
I really should have Stuck Al Wilson - The Snake at the end, but it's too late now. If the feedback is good and the downloads are hot I may crack out another Fright Night Mini Mix in time for All Hallows Eve
If your still buzzing for more spooky soul click here to see The Flirtations vamping it up in Hammer Horror style promo for Nothing But A Heartache - which also includes another Mondo Mini Mix
