Helen and the Horns Tape Box

Original tape box for Freight Train and Pioneer Town, by Helen and the Horns, recorded at Elephant Studio, Wapping and released by Thin Sliced Records:

Sleeping Pencil Case

 

Playing Guitar, Singing

One of the other things that I've been doing is adding guitar and vocals to a one-minute track by Nat the Hammer, of the Under the Influence nights. I've just re-done the guitar part, because the first one I sent to him wasn't sparkly enough. He has invited me to play at the anniversary night at The Boogaloo in November, but I'm already 'booked' that night, alas. 

No buses come along, then two buses come at once, etc. etc.

I did a selfie with my hand in the way just to see if I still exist. I do, even though I'm not making much noise at the moment. Willie Gibson sent the backing track for Calin Morun Sa last night (McDad's favourite and also John Smith Labourparty's), so that's another Scottish Gaelic song to learn. It does sound very good, so I'm looking forward to doing that next week.

The Flamstead Hawk, and the Flamstead Hawk Handler

 

Thinking In Song

https://helenmccookerybook.bandcamp.com/album/the-sea

Nut Brittle

 

The Clerkenwell Festival

The Clerkenwell Festival is a sort of heaven for anyone who ever went to a club in the 1980s. We all are there in our finery, checking out the Dog Show, the vintage stalls (i.e. the clothes we used to wear when we went out back in the day), and chiefly, each other. At one point, I helplessly found myself in a triangle of people I knew from different times and places, a nightmare for a reformed introvert like me. But PP Arnold was brilliant (the sound, not so brilliant), and it was great to see Paul Raggity with a stall there, because I love his very funny and poignant drawings. I bought a set of plastic moustaches from him, and he gave me a little book he'd published; I have promised him a little book that I published in exchange. Here he is, behind his stall:

I saw Peter Momtchiloff from the Would-be-Goods three times, Dean Chalkley the photographer once, Gaye Black and Eric once, Fran Isherwood once, Emilyn Swag once, Piney Gir and her sweet little babby once, Mandy Austin and her Eric once just as we were leaving, Tim from Transglobal Underground several times, Shanne in the distance, Christina from Rochester in the distance, and countless others to chat to, or in the distance, or I didn't see them and other people did. The air was swirling with roll-up smoke and dust from the dry ground; sloshed chaps in straw pork pie hats yelled at each other amicably while their tilted beer glasses spilled beer on to the ground. The woman from The Sewing Bee gave us evils as we tried to slip to the front to hear P P Arnold and get away from the mansplainers at the back who knew just how to fix the sound by moving the speakers like that... no like that... no like that... anyway isn't it great to see her... last time we saw her was at ... and did you know she sang with... the 1960s... YES... PITY WE CAN'T HEAR HER... YES IT IS ISN'T IT!...

Dogs were bored and barking to go home, even the little titch that won first prize and couldn't care less. There was no ice cream van so I sulked a bit because I'd been looking forward to a Mr Whippy (no Flake). But all in all it was a convivial occasion, as always.

The Band of Holy Joy at Dash The Henge Records, Camberwell

A stray wisp of a social media mention drew my attention to this in-store gig yesterday afternoon. It's the best way to see a band, sometimes, and this was no exception.

I'd dropped off some blackberry jam for the Offsprogs on the way there, and wandered down Camberwell Road, past old haunts, closed shops, graffiti and the constant air of optimism that floats about on Camberwell Green; the gig was about to start. The core of the band was there: Johny, James and Pete, and a crowd of people who know and love their music. Behind the small deep stage, a video played and replayed, largely green.

The music began, a long piece with spoken vocals. Pete on electronics and James on guitar created an atmosphere that mirrored Johny's storytelling. At times, it reminded me of Edith Sitwell's poetry over William Walton's music; at other times, I could hear echoes of Richard Burton declaiming metaphysical poetry, eating the words and spitting them out. At times, sirens from outside augmented the music, perfectly in tune with the mood of the music, spirit of the age and spirit of the afternoon.

After this, a short set of new songs unfolded. Johny was in fine voice; he and Inge have moved to Sarf London and I think the move has re-energised everything. This was a neat gig, almost like being at the beginning of something freshly minted. You could notice everything: James's row of matching guitar pedals, visual cues, the balancing of the arrangements between electronics, vocals and guitars, and the embedding of politics into the lyrics of the songs. What a neat gig!

Later, I crossed over to the Nunhead Gardener and bought a half dead plant from the poor sad box on the floor, and was given a handful of cuttings which I've just planted; let's see what happens. I went to Lidl and bought six tins of tomatoes (they do great chopped tomatoes), and went home with a clanking bag of tins, passing everyone cool off to their evening gigs with guitar bags on their backs.

Manchester, November: Louder Than Words

I'll be part of this panel, and also playing some tunes:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/punk-the-last-word-or-is-it-a-no-doubt-lively-panel-debate-tickets-1396840911769

Music

Over the last month or so, I've been learning the Scottish Gaelic words for the song Ailein Duinn, for another collaboration with Willie Gibson. I sang on his Cutty Wren project a few years ago, and this is even more challenging. The synth version of the song he has made is faster than any of the online versions, but the fact that those are slower has meant that I have been able to get an idea of the pronunciation of the Gaelic words. It's probably still wrong (I'm prepared to be laughed at), but a plea on social media led to precisely nobody being able to help with that.

Gaelic isn't like any other language I've learned. I spoke to a chap with Arabic heritage the other week in Glasgow and he said that sonically there's a lot on common between the two languages. To sing, I've had to persuade my voice to behave in ways it never has before. Gutteral sounds in the German language fit into the spoken rhythms with a particular logic, and I think from what I hear that there are a lot more of those sounds in Gaelic, and you have to move your lips into different shapes to make the sound 'bh', for instance.

Anyway, I sent the track to him on Thursday evening and he sent me a mix yesterday. I think it sounds good: it's more folky that I usually sound and even that has had its challenges. Folk singing has lots of glissando, and crescendos in places where in my normal singing I would hold back. I decided not to sing it in the style of the internet examples, but to think of the plaintive nature of the words and use that as inspiration. Willie's track sounds like the thrashing sea, and the hero died in a shipwreck so that seems just right.

I went and collected the remaining songs that my brother James wrote yesterday so I can help his son to decide which ones we should release next. I made quick mp3 versions from James's files, and realised at one point that some of them may have been partially muted. I'll listen this weekend and see if that is the case: I caught some of them in time, just before I bounced them down. There are about seventeen songs left, quite a lot!

I went to see Gina on the way there, too. A final obstacle in her plan to tour the US with Miki Beryeni got solved just while I was there, which is really great news. I'm going to be doing backing vocals in a couple of her songs at the 100 Club gig, the day after the Essential Logic show at the Lexington, and then again in November (photo by Dean Chalkley)

I'm planning another Everybody gig like the album launch for Showtunes in the Shadows that I did early this year, so I'll be contacting everyone next week to see who is available and when. Gina has said she can do it in December; ideally everyone will be there and also the extra people (Ruth and Karina) who contributed to that gig.

Funny... I thought nothing had happened this week! That's mainly because I was going to sit down and try to arrange some gigs. Normally, I'd have done that in January, but I was recovering from surgery that month, and also collecting all the energy that I could muster so I could do the group of gigs in March that I'd booked before the operation. It's fantastic to be able to sing. Three cheers for Professor Lim and his team, and also for the NHS who graft so hard to keep us all alive- or at least to add as many years to our mayfly lives as they can!

Woman Pushing Dust Cart

 

Take A Deep Breath

Over the weekend, I'll start to plan gigs for next year. 

I will be showing the Stories from the She-Punks film and playing at the John Peel Centre in June, and supporting The Would-Be-Goods in February, but I should also be writing songs. I took all the stuff away with me to Scotland, but spent the time dawdling and doodling and thinking about the last twelve months.

I want to do a gig that includes everyone that played or sang on my album, and did the show at The Betsey Trotwood earlier this year, which means a ton of emails to see when people are available. That's a weekend job. 

I've got to like the idea of holidays, and will probably go back to Scotland again this year. It's beckoning to me with its chilly misty fingers. 

Strolling Fans, Newcastle

 

Supporting Rachel Love at the Prince Albert

Rachel's songs are really lovely, and we are friends and musical pals from years and years ago.

Here's the ticket link: https://wegottickets.com/event/673409

Supporting Essential Logic at The Lexington

 What a wonderful invitation! I'll be part of this evening with Estelle from Big Joanie DJ-ing, the Exotic Pets and me supporting, and the wonderful Essential Logic headlining.

Tickets here: aegp.uk/EssentialLogic

Beachwalk

 

Weigh House, Grainger Market, Newcastle upon Tyne

This hotel room as one very yellow light nowhere near a table, I've only got the £1 specs from Poundsaver, and not my normal pencil crayons. But here's a drawing, anyway!

Away From Desk. Back In Five Minutes

I'm on holiday. I lost myself, and am in the process of finding myself again.

It was nice to see Kenji and Till on Sunday at Dorothy Max Prior's book launch, and to meet Stephen Pastel and chat with him. We both like pastoral English jazz- not many people you meet know about it!

Tonight, I've drawn the Altermoderns sound check at The Aces and Eights last year. I have strange holiday coloured pencils and different holiday paper, but it's good to have a challenge!

Monsters From The Bottom Of The Fridge

 

Pearly King on the Tube, London

 

Man with Placard, Brick Lane

 

Sunday Morning? No, Sunday Evening!

This was a packed, hot, brilliant night.

It's easy to forget how many absolute classic songs the Velvet Underground created, alongside the weirdest ones. It was so great to be invited to contribute to this night, which was organised by Drew and Alex Morrison in aid of Crisis, the homelessness charity. What a feat of organisation! Thank you both for putting it together!

Each act chose two Velvet Underground songs, and played a short set of their own that included them. It started really early at 5.30, with Drew Morrison and the Darkwood. This was to be a night of very swanky guitars and a lot of very snazzy guitar playing, and Drew's band kicked it off with aplomb. Next up were The Magic City Trio, one of only two bands that had a woman in it (not counting me). They not only played the Jonathan Richman song about the Velvet Underground, but also played The Black Angel's Death Song (really well, as it happens). It was great to see guitar whizz Jeff Mead playing again. 

They were followed by David Ahmed and Bruce Beach and their Maccaferri-heavy guitar quartet. I thoroughly enjoyed their sound, and the fact that they could swap over who was playing lead with perfect ease. I'd say they were the revelation of the night, and they definitely have a new fan here. It was intriguing to see they way they blended their personalities on stage as well as their guitar sounds; they seemed very much like a group who spend a lot of time playing together for pleasure as an amicable jam. 

I was on next and I played Three Cheers for Toytown, The Ginger Line, Temptation (see what I did just there in a minute), and Saturday Night with the London Set, which almost threw me when I got to the line 'the gaps appear within the crowd'. I was trying very hard not to think too much about James, because of course he would have loved the night (and probably been quite critical too!). The first of the two Velvet Underground songs was Temptation (Inside Your Heart) (see what I did just there). Lester Square came up to join me, and his guitar was completely out of tune, which was of course, completely perfect for the song. We condensed it into its necessary parts minus the ad libs. We then did the first ever outing for It Wasn't Me off the album. He's been away on the other London dates so it's never bene played before, and I think we did a decent job of it. Lastly, I played Femme Fatale. It really is so much Nico's song, but it belongs to my own musical pathway and was played at James's funeral too because both of us were huge Velvet Underground fans. Weren't all the punks? Ian Button, Darren Hayman and Lester formed a trio of male backing singers, The Manly Charms, and did a beautiful job of harmonising the 'She's a Femme Fatale' bits in the chorus. Well done, chaps!

After a break, Brian Nevill did a reading from his memoir about Nico and the mutual scorn between her and the audiences at the inappropriate support gigs she did. He told us about having to chuck her out of his house eventually because of her drug habit. Afterwards, Ian mentioned a show he'd been at where the young men were so rowdy that she turned around to them and growled 'Why don't you go home, you stupid little boys!'. I was thinking about that yesterday and it turned into a song. When women punks get asked who their heroes were, they often say 'Patti Smith'. But Patti Smith felt a bit famous-before-she-was-famous to me (although I loved her autobiography), and I didn't really like her music that much. Nico was my hero. She was all the things you weren't allowed to be- tall, rich, beautiful, surly, rude, independent, unique musically (how annoying for the men!) and she simply didn't care about anything, quite obviously. What an inspiration! 

Next were Drew and Ian Craig. Drew did a simply beautiful version of Pale Blue Eyes (what a lovely song that is!), followed by Kieron Phelan and the Peace Signs, who had one of the other women in their band, an extremely talented piano player. Jack Hayter played some mean lap steel with them, too. They also had a bucketful of major sevenths, which is always a good peace sign. 

Last but not least was Ian Button's band, Papernut Cambridge, which includes Robert Halcrow on bass and Darren Hayman on drums. Ian was really on form and clearly delighted to be in front of a band for a change rather than behind it on drums. The highlight of their set was White Light, White Heat, which was the perfect song to end on. I was invited to play tambourine and ended up with a rosy pink tambourine injury on my left palm, which is only now beginning to fade.

It was well over sold out. Both Offsprogs and Jaimie came, Little Bruv and Sarah came, and my nephew turned up late but it was still really good to see him. Caryne and Dave came, which made it feel like a proper gig. There were lots of people to say hello to. At one point a chap on crutches came up to Ian and said 'You've been the drummer in the last five bands I've been to see!'. I suppose it does get to a point where people help out on each other's music a lot. Maybe this is why I often play solo, although I do love it when I have other people playing on my songs, especially because they are such great musicians. It is a very supportive thing; I was really made up that Lester leapt in on Sunday. At some point this autumn, I'll invite everyone along to play the album again. That's in the pipeline.

Thanks to Lester, Ian Button and Darren Hayman: that really was lovely singing.

Lost in the Underground

This show on Sunday evening starts at 5.30 and consists of a whole bunch of musicians playing Velvet Underground songs plus a couple of their own. I'll be joined by Lester Square for a song or two (so long since we played live together!) and by a male chorus (The Men-o-Pause? The Mansplains? No, no, no: the Manly Charms!) for one of the Velvets covers that I do.

It's a great venue and will be a really convivial evening.

Tickets here: https://wegottickets.com/event/662369

Bandcamp Friday

 It's #bandcampfriday and The Pop-Up Chefs limited edition EP (only 100 copies) is here to say hello!

https://thepop-upchefs.bandcamp.com/album/the-pop-up-chefs-ep