Next Gig: David's Record Shop in Letchworth, Saturday 12.00 Midday

 

Man Walking Along the Street Looking Inside a Very Shiny Guitar

 

The Oxford Handbook of Punk Rock

This book showed up last week, as a heavy cardboard-clad parcel. It was a long time in the making. It contains what was going to be my last ever published academic chapter and lots more besides: Lucy O'Brien, Asya Dragonova, Russ Bestley, Mary Fogarty, Samantha Bennett, Paula Guerra and many more, all edited by George McKay and Gina Arnold. 

It's wildly expensive, intended as an academic library book, but will doubtless appear as a moderately expensive paperback at some point. It's caused a stir on one of my social media accounts firstly because of its expense, then later blossoming out into 'what the book has not covered, how awful'. Well once you make something intangible tangible, that's what happens, isn't it? The whole point of academic discourse is discourse. I should have said that in my responses to the post I suppose.

We could pretend that it never happened, of course, but it was a wildly influential musical/political/art subculture, and the seeds of its antiracist collaboration with Rock Against Racism planted a whole new approach to the power of young people to change things. The fact that this was so sneered at at the time, and so belittled now, proves that the power we had back then was dangerously effective. There are still a lot of festering dinosaurs around though, aren't there? Anyway, two fingers up to Reform. Should be called Retire, shouldn't it?

https://academic.oup.com/edited-volume/38573?login=false

The publication triggered a request for a chapter that I wrote in 2022 about the engagement of women punk musicians with reggae music, which is quite an interesting outcome. I have had to ask to be described as an independent academic because I'm no longer at the University of East London, which does not deserve to be accredited for any progressive publication, given its practice on homophobia, racism and misogyny. All written down as being 'against', but student fees override ethics in a blatant disregard for these things. That's why I left, and the whole sorry tale is stored safely for the appropriate moment to unleash it.

Anyway, on another tack: I have a half-written piece on Joby and the Hooligans that someone invited me to write ages ago. I never heard back from them but should probably finish it anyway, just for my own purposes. I do know that my own memory of it all is completely subjective, but I also kind of owe it to Joby to immortalise him because he was such a character!

The Pop-Up Chefs Released Today!

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

Sax Player Playing in Street

 

Individual Song Drawings for Pop-up Chefs Release Tomorrow

 

Busker Changeover Time

 

Golfers and Green Hedge

 

Stockton and Halifax

Good job I overheard a fellow-traveller on the way to Stockton: the connection at Northallerton had been cancelled so I had to travel on to Darlington and change there. Thankfully, Stephen and Wendy Harland cam to meet me. But O, the madness of gigs! The key holder of the NE Volume Bar had been held up by a fire on a train in Newcastle. Several chilly band members tried to find a sunny spot on the pavement outside the venue while we waited. What a relief when the key turned up!

The sound checks were short and efficient. Dave the sound engineer is really good and we all got a decent shot at a soundcheck before tucking in to the curry that Wendy had made for backstage- and glory be, Haribos!

I went on first. I'd been going to be a babby and beg to sit down and play, but I forgot to ask, so rock star mode it was. It was a very different experience to the last time when I played there, mid-lockdown. Chris Bartley was at both gigs and we were talking about that. Different crowd too, but I think I did Ok; I definitely enjoyed it!

Thee Strawberry Mynde went on next (see photo). They are a trio from the Hartlepool area and play psychedelic rock of the first order: good loud songs with some wacky and extraordinary guitar parts that set their music apart from the general throng. I liked their songs a lot.

I have played with the headliners, The Fallen Leaves, at one of Shelley Guild's gigs at the Green Door Store in Brighton. They too have memorable songs, and played numerous encores.

It was astonishing to see their bass-player's Hofner President bass, a year later than my old one that went to live with Martin Stephenson when we slit up. Rock star alimony! Anyway, we had a very nerdy bass player's conversation about semis.

Thanks to Stephen and Wendy not only for the gig, but also for letting me stay and ferrying me around. a few people on Saturday night said 'How can you do this, travelling around and getting up to play on your own?'. I'd never thought of it like that. I feel like I sort of blend into the general world, so I don't feel isolated or intimidated at all by it.

Anyway, on to Halifax, a much more straightforward journey. My friend Alison Ridler met me on the train at Bradford Interchange and once I'd left my guitar at the Grayston Unity, at their recommendation we went round the corner and had the most wonderful Paella in the world and talked the hind legs of a herd of donkeys.

This was such a different gig, just as good in a completely different way. It had sold out (actually a couple of extra people showed up and they let them in). I played two 40-minute sets with a break to a small upstairs room full of very friendly people. It almost felt like something we did together: it was intense, in the best possible way. I realised that it was break-time and had stopped before Let's Make Up. A man sitting close in front of me had read the set list upside down and requested it to be played when people came back in. Eighty minutes is a lot of songs, but I still managed to miss out The Ginger Line because I was dotting about the set list. A woman who came along early very kindly gave me some candles, and a chap in the audience gave me some poetry he'd written. And yes, we sang At The Bathing Pond together and I finished with Three Cheers for Toytown. 'That was a punk song', declared a man at the back. The song was very glad to be recognised.

I've got next weekend off and then I'm playing at David's Music in Letchworth. Three cheers for gigging, and my train-travellers fan!

Coming Up On Friday: Digital Pop-Up Chefs EP

The limited-edition vinyl EP of this music has been held up in Taiwan, so we've decided to release the tracks digitally on Bandcamp on Friday in collaboration with Gare du Nord records.

More news close to the day...

Mallard Notices Rat

 

17th May, Letchworth: Free Gig at David's Music

 

Grindstone by James McCallum

 

Beachwalk

 

Person Walking Along By River With Unicorn Backpack

 

Gigs This Coming Weekend

I'm delighted to support Thee Strawberry Mynde and The Fallen Leaves at the NE Volume Bar in Stockton on Saturday night, tickets here:

https://www.seetickets.com/event/the-fallen-leaves/ne-volume-music-bar/3256782

Followed by a solo gig upstairs at The Grayston Unity in Halifax on Sunday afternoon (only 5 tickets left) tickets here:

https://www.seetickets.com/event/helen-mccookerybook/the-grayston-unity/3342944

See you there I hope! I'll have new-album vinyl, CDs and badges with me at both gigs

Three Gigs In Quick Succession

The first one was at Barnaby's Bar in Hastings on Thursday. Clear-skied and anarchic, Hastings is fighting a running battle with gentrification, rescued in part by the slow train and road connections it has. And speaking of connections, it's got melancholy ones: this is where Poly's funeral was, a beautiful occasion attended by a fantastic diversity of people: priests, monks, punks, DFLs, her daughter and ex-husband, her mum, lots of 'ordinary people' and a small dog. Dave Laing's funeral was in the same place, an altogether sadder affair with a step-grandchild in floods of tears: yet there was the same atmosphere of a person much-loved, and the same air of puzzlement that the source of that love can be removed to leave a huge gap that can only be filled with talking and memories.

Sorry to be struck miserable on such a sunny day... I suppose what I'm saying is that life is bittersweet, and actually this gig was definitely on the sweet side of things. The bar is friendly, and much larger than I thought it would be. It hosts talks, gigs, art shows and all sort of things. I got to Hastings a bit early and sat on a bench looking at the flat, calm sea, eating my picnic of nuts, grapes, pitta bread and chocolate.

The sound-check was brief, enough to establish that we both sounded best through the house PA. People started rolling up: Girlschool's Enid Williams, a friend since The Lost Women of Rock Music, now relocated to a house on the hill; Wendy May, ex-Boothill Foot-tapper and now DJ and seamstress extraordinaire. Ed Frith, an ex-student from way back in time... it was a goodly audience.

Jude Montague started the evening off, accompanying herself with a very nice-looking Hofner President guitar. Her songs are quirky, but when she gets serious she can really hit home. Her penultimate song, about unconditional friendship, was really affecting.

My own part felt like talking to friends, which I suppose I was. People listened to the lyrics, and laughed at things that are quite 'buried' in some of the songs. I am getting back into my stride a bit now, after a few setbacks (at leas I thought I was). It felt like a good gig, and there was some good catching-up chat too afterwards. I escaped as the loud men got to the piano. Phew. That was close!

I've just realised that I've doubled up my account of the Hastings gig: shows how tired I became and probably why I got a migraine at the next gig!

The Rams Microbrewery in Rochester is a little world all on its own. On the way down, I got a message from Jack Hayter offering to come along and play, so I had not only Robert but also Jack at one point in the set. It was marred by a tremendous migraine that completely took me by surprise and put me off my stride. In some songs, I forgot the lyrics; at one point I thought it was an hour later than it was, and thought we'd missed the train. In retrospect, it was not nearly as bad as I had gloomily recollected. My guitar-playing was steady, and because of the 'missing hour', me and Robert played some McCookerybook and Rotifer songs. I think I played the best version of Saturday Night with the London Set that I've played for years. Jack joined in with Three Cheers for Toytown, and the whole evening was convivial, with Jude and her partner Matt playing this time. Dave from Outsiders radio show came along, Leigh Goorney, and Robert's son, and various other people.

The third gig was on Sunday afternoon at a pub in Islington called the Island Queen, and afternoon event run by Meg Lee Chin for over-50s who want to congregate and share music, poetry and anecdotes. Fran Isherwood was there to perform, and she really is one of the best and funniest poets around. She talks to an audience as though she's chatting to us on the bus, and takes us by surprise with sudden about-turns and sleeper puns that you get by the time she's moved on to something entirely different. This was a real treat. There was karaoke (not my thing: luckily I missed it because I went to Cass Arts to buy some masking tape to tape the microphone on the to the back of a chair because there was no mic stand). A selection of well-educated gentlemen took to the floor to describe their weekly perambulations; a  chap with an acoustic guitar entertained us with self-composed songs. 

In the end it was better not to use a microphone; the people in the audience with hearing issues said it was better not sing acoustically. Selfishly, this was wonderful exercise for my recovering lungs. I sang The Ginger Line, Almost There (that one with a microphone, but people voted against it), and Three Cheers for Toytown, which seemed to really get people going.

After some more floor-spots, Anna Pigalle recreated Old Soho through song and poetry, an almost-dream like sequence of words and acapella singing that finished the afternoon off perfectly for me. Boy, was I tired! I missed Mykal Riley, who arrived just as we were leaving, but there was no energy left in the pot. I had to arrange travel for next weekend ( Stockton and Halifax).

Gigs-a-gogo. I have the seeds of new songs gradually germinating in my head at the moment. I wonder what will transpire when the busy is over?

Poor Sad Glove On Wall, Tufnell Park

 

Great Album review- and The Chefs Have A Moment (or two)

https://www.popintherealworld.co.uk/post/music-for-the-mango-quango

and

Rochester, Kent: Saturday

A Thames Delta gig not to be sneezed at! Robert Rotifer will be joining me for a few songs at the end of my set

Next gig! Saturday night at Rams Microbrewery in Rochester, Kent: a bijou venue with the heart of a lion! Tickets:

https://wegottickets.com/event/647479

Hastings Was....

... magnificent! Thanks to Jude and to Barnaby's Lounge for putting on the gig. Jude did a lovey set with a particularly distinctive penultimate song about generosity which I found really affecting.

The audience was mostly women- could this be to do with the venue? Wendy May came along, such a long time since those Boothill Foot-tapper and Helen and the Horns days! So did Enid Williams and there was time to chat to both of them. Wendy was sporting a fabulous cowgirl shirt she'd made; she is an excellent seamstress/designer. My ex-Westminster student Ed Frith came too. It was unexpectedly well-attended and full of bonhomie. The sound was great: I know this because people laughed at the funny bits in my songs!

Next one, Rochester in Kent at the Rams Microbrewery, again with Jude and with Robert Rotifer accompanying me on a couple of songs at the end of my set. he's mixing an album of his songs today with lots of guest vocalists, mainly Kenji Kitahama who is sounding absolutely fabulous. Bout time we heard more from him!

I'm slobbing about today- that was a six-hour round trip, even though Hastings feels close. It's not, but it was more than worth the journey!

Hastings Tonight

This is a rescheduled gig, organised by Jude (who I haven't seen for ages).

Early evening, so get there at seven. Music finished by nine, and I'll have some albums and badges with me.

See you there!

Man with Head in Olive Tree

 

Rochester on Saturday

 Tickets here: https://wegottickets.com/event/647479/

Robert's going to join me for a couple of songs, and I'll have copies of the album with me! (and badges)

Toytown, Easter

Still here in Toytown! Have you heard my album yet?
https://helenmcc.bandcamp.com/album/showtunes-from-the-shadows

Friendly Gladiators at Paddington Station

Who were they? Was it a stag do? Were they going to the football?

They enjoyed having their photo taken, a lot.

Just Published! James McCallum's Bandcamp

Click here to listen: https://jamesmccallum.bandcamp.com/album/idle-thoughts

Man Texting with Pet Goose on Bench

 

Feet, Legs, Arms

I'm convinced that being a non-famous pop star is much more fun than being a famous one. Today, I listened to a song that Robert's written for me to sing. It's too high for my voice, and I will have to either transpose the part (nice little learning job for tomorrow, perhaps) or wait till Sunday when he gets back from holiday and can re-record it a little lower.

So I started working on James's Bandcamp page and realised that I need WAVs and not mp3s to upload. I did as much as I could, and now I'm waiting for the music to put into it.

So there was little to keep me away from going round to Gina's and being the dancing feet body-double in the latest video she's making, first of all in my Tommy 'Ilfiger pink, purple and blue cowboy shoes (cheap at the price from TK Maxx), and then in my saddle shoes (black and white, flat and oh-so-comfortable). I wore a pair of Gina's striped trousers, so I guess I was legs as well. Then I was the arms, pushing and punching, wearing one of Gina's yellow stage shirts. I had to revolve on a small stack of bread boards (I'm a shortarse and needed to pretend to be her, off-camera).

Meanwhile, Harvey, the amazing sound engineer from The Rock and Roll Brewhouse sent through a great video edit he did of a couple of my songs from that night. The sound is amazing and it looks quite good too. And Joao sent a mix of Balloon from the Betsey Trotwood gig that also sounds great. 

It's all go in Nowhere Land. Now I'm home and thinking 'What the hell just happened today?'

On the way back from Gina's on the tube, a selection of teenage boys and their sidekick teenage girl got on, vaping horrible strawberry vapes and swearing horrible swearing. You know, territory carving. I decided I'm going to write a very loud, clashy instrumental, put it on to my phone, and the next time that happens, I'll press 'go', rise to my full shortarse height and sing: 'BE QUIET, SWEARY BOYS, THIS IS MY TRAIN, MY TRAIN, MY TRAIN!'. 

That should shut 'em up.

James McCallum's Bandcamp Coming Soon

James has some songs ready to release as an EP, and we are just working on setting up a Bandcamp micro-site for them. Watch this space!

Hairdresser And Pink-Haired Dog

 

Next Gig: Hastings 24th April

 

Playing Dreamhouse Records, Record Store Day

 

Tomorrow (Saturday) Afternoon, 2.30, Leyton

 

The Ginger Line on Gideon Coe's Show Last Night

Thank you Gideon for playing The Ginger Line last night- and also Pheasant Attack by Asbo Derek, after some intense lobbying by Mark last Saturday! 

This was particularly poignant, after Jem's story about throwing the album over the high barrier at Bob Grover's behest when the Radio 6 roadshow was in Brighton!

Man Paints Wall With Lilac Paint

 

Cappuccino in the Upholstery Shop Café

 

Skateboarding Lesson

 

Rock and Roll Brewhouse Gig, Birmingham

Of course by the time I got home I was well and truly knackered! So here is Thursday's gig report, in the wrong order. 

Adrian Goldberg does a radio show as well as promoting gigs at this lovely bijou bar in Birmingham's Jewellery Quarter. Some clever person had set the line alight on the way there. We were chucked off the train at Northampton, told to go over the bridge to a different platform, told to go back over the bridge to the original platform, then told to go upstairs to the booking hall to await further instructions. 'Just go through the barrier and wait, and we will let people through when the train gets here', said the man in the hi-vis jacket. I looked at the ocean of angry people. 'No', I said. 'When the next train comes, I will get stuck in the stampede and I've go a heavy guitar, a bag of merch, I'm recovering from an operation and I don't believe you'. 'Just go through the barrier please madam, and when we are told what is happening we will let people through when the train gets here', said Mr Aye-Eye. 'No', I said, and at that point, the ocean of people attempted to squash through the gaps in the ticket barriers in response to an announcement that neither me nor Mr Aye-Eye had heard.

Anyway, I ended up on an overstuffed train with a young couple being given instructions in how to buy and sell silver and gold by a wheeler-dealer who told them (and the rest of the carriage) what a friendly lovely bloke he was, meanwhile leaving his suitcase across two seats while exhausted people were standing in the corridor.

I'd planned to get there early, check into the hotel and rest for an hour before soundcheck. Alas, I also got lost on the way to the venue, being misdirected by someone at the tram stop when my phone stopped working.

Argh! Gigging!

However, all was gracious peace at The Brewhouse. Lynne, the owner, had seen me play on the train at Indietracks and came over to say hello. It's a lovely bar. The toilets are spotless and I've been dreaming of having a lime green toilet seat every night since Thursday.

The support act was Humdrum Express, a comedian/musician who made me laugh several times. I particularly liked the suppository advice line joke, but then I'm smutty that way. Lo and behold, all the Nightingales came apart from Andy, who lives in Germany. Julie, Rob's wife, is lovely to talk to and I had a chat with Rob as well. They have a fantastic new album out, and I told them how much I'd enjoyed listening to tracks from that on the radio. 

Once the gig started, all was well. There's a really good PA in that place, and the sound guy Harvey really listens: he got a great sound. It wasn't a big crowd: I realised that most of my friends in the Birmingham area are single women around my age, and it's difficult to go out to a gig if that's you. Selfishly, though, it was perfect for a first proper gig since being ill. I was so excited that I kicked my water over and soaked the set list. The guy who asked for it afterwards had to dry it under the hand drier. 

Lo and behold again, Julie from The Sunbathers was there as well. She told me they are beginning to record again, which is good news. After selling a bit of merch (Jim from the Nightingales showed me how to circumvent the stubborn electronic card reader), Adrian urged us out and I went back for a jolly good sleep at the hotel, The Frederick Street Townhouse. It was so nice that I got up extra early just to have a bath in the swanky bathroom.

The journey home was fine. I took in the joys of the huge steampunk bull in New Street Station, which (ahem) I didn't even notice at first, as I sat and gorged myself on sandwiches and cakes after realising that all I'd had the day before was a banana and four hotel biscuits.

Ahh gigging!

Album Launch at The Betsey Trotwood

 From the first rehearsal next week, I had an inkling that this was going to be a particularly unique afternoon. The rehearsals were so good, in fact, that I became really anxious in case someone got ill and couldn't turn up, or something like that. Luckily, from the outset everything went really well; the Betsey Trotwood staff are incredible and the room was being set up when we got there at 12. Soon, we were sound checking, ready, and set to watch The Would-be-Goods Three. Upstairs, I'd cracked a joke that made Andy Warren (who plays bass for them as well as The Monochrome Set) laugh. I wish I could remember what I said. Famous for being non-expressive, he walked off down the room until the smile left his face. Result!

A queue was forming outside the door. 'Gideon Coe is here!' said someone. I went out to say a quick hello. I only saw two of The Would-be-Goods Three's songs, but they were absolutely on form, and did an excellent job according to the applause that reverberated up the stairwell. I sat upstairs to count my blessings, of which there are many.

The gig itself went by seemingly rapidly. I had to work hard to remember the words. One prompt I'd unwisely written on my left hand, which of course was pointing away from me playing guitar. I missed out that verse. For a band some of whom hadn't met each other before the day, things went remarkably smoothly. I could sense a feeling of pleasant surprise as people in the band heard songs that had been rehearsed on a different day- or even not at all. It was hard to remember to sing and not just listen to what was going on myself! What felt particularly good was the gentle gear-shifting of dynamics according to who was playing: Ruth and Karina's strong vocal harmonies bookending the line of musicians, Robert's powerful guitar parts and energy, Terry's sparkling trumpet style, and Jack's wonderful lap steel that completely transformed the sound. He seemed to be enjoying every minute and started playing on our final song, Three Cheers for Toytown, just for the joy of it. We did it twice at the end (we got an encore) and everyone in the audience roared along with it, which was perfect. It was just the atmosphere: the sun shone in through the windows, everyone seemed to be in a good mood, the audience smiled and nodded along to the music, laughed at my jokes (I wish I could remember what I said), and completely got into the whole thing. Caryne and Dave came up from Frome, there was a large Brighton contingent (Mark AsboDerek and Sarah, Steve and Anne, Simon from The Popguns/Perfect English Weather and more), family contingent (Offsprogs One and two plus friends, Little Bruv), band contingent (members of the aforementioned Asbo Derek, Perfect English Weather, The Loft, Papernut Cambridge, Drew from Drew Morrison and the Darkwood, and more), friends from long ago (Valerie!), and our own Instagram influencer who took a pic of me with Terry and Gideon. 

It was hard to go home at the end. I'm exhausted, but have already started doing backing vocals for an album that Robert has recorded with a bunch of friends, plus beginning to sort of a Bandcamp page for Big Bruv.

It was a perfect afternoon, all the more perfect for its imperfections. How brilliant to be back gigging again!

Electrician with Yellow Ladder and Green and Red Cables

 

Through The Barber's Window

 

Yesterday's Rehearsal

We had another great rehearsal yesterday, this time with Ruth and with Robert Rotifer. The chap's a genius- he picked up my guitar overdubs from the album and could play them in seconds! 

We've also added his backing vocals to a couple of songs. It's going to be so interesting on Saturday, performing with musicians some of whom have never met each other before! It's thrilling hearing the songs change like this, though.

Today I was up at the crack of dawn, actually before the crack of dawn, because I had to buy a new cooker and I was the first on the delivery list. When I've recovered I'm going to do a bit of drawing and then practice the solo set for the gig at the Rock and Roll Brewhouse in Birmingham tomorrow evening. I'll be doing a few of the songs off the album, will have albums and CDs and free-badges-with-each-purchase and the ticket link is here: https://www.skiddle.com/whats-on/Birmingham/Rock-And-Roll-Brewhouse/Helen-McCookery-Book-Plus-Humdrum-Express/40471794/

Yesterday's Rehearsal

Yesterday Ruth Tidmarsh and Karina Townsend came over to rehearse vocals, bass and melodica for Saturday's gig at The Betsey Trotwood. Part of the rehearsal was just catching up with each other, which was a really good way to rehearse. If you're going to harmonise vocally you need to know the person you're going to be singing with, and Ruth and Karina hadn't met before although they have a lot in common.

Their voices blend together beautifully. There will be a lot of other musical stuff going on during the songs on Saturday, which made the rehearsal something of a treasure-chest of an experience. There was something timeless about the whole afternoon: three women sitting singing together in a kitchen (with an obtrusive cooker that's waiting to be taken away and recycled, and that's too heavy to push back where it's supposed to be). Calmly, we went through the songs, ate a bit of food, drank a lot of coffee, and had the sort of afternoon that can never be replicated. It was a bubble of beautiful sound, listening while singing, singing while listening, facing each other and working it all out. I can tell you that their voices sound gorgeous together; as experienced musicians they know how to blend and find a timbre that works with the other. I felt honoured to spend the afternoon with such musically intelligent women; it was a 'thing' in itself, almost like going to an art gallery and being blown away by the work of an artist you've never heard about before.

Incidentally, we discovered that the three of us learn out parts in entirely different ways. That's the great thing about music: it gives itself to people in ways that they can personalise and mould to their own ways of being creative.

The rehearsal recordings sound well, awesome. Very few people will hear them, I suspect, but different incarnations of Saturday's line-up will appear over the next few months (as well as the solo shows), and whenever I can practically do it, I'll augment the gigs this year with people who've contributed to the album.

Brian And His Owner

 

Brighton x 2

Even the afternoon of Thursday's exhibition was nice. Gaye Black's friend Eric had bought all the paraphernalia for hanging the pictures in advance, and there was no scrapping about who hung what picture where. with a pair of ladders and a lot of good will, we got six pictures each up on the wall. It was lovely to see Dominic Warwick of Rebellion Literary Festival fame sitting at a table when we got there, too.

After a fish supper on the seafront, we went back to the Pelirocco and people started filtering in, including Pauline Murray and her daughter, and Tracy Preston from The Smartees. Caryne and Dave had driven all the way over from Frome, en route (sort of) to a Loft concert in Newcastle. Pete Chrisp and Lisa came, Neil from Oldfield Youth Club and his partner, and Steve Clements. It was well busy, as they say. Ably aided by Del Strangefish on sound, I played a short set of songs, followed by Charlie Harper, who brought the house down with his versions of Streets of London and Wild Rover.

It's such a nice hotel- small, perfectly formed and eccentric: a great place to start performing again after  along break.

Next day, we met Pauline and Grace for a late lunch. I spent the rest of the afternoon rehearsing the Asbo Derek songs that I was playing on that night. It's impossible to describe the Tribute Night for Bob Grover. There were members of The Ammonites, Midnight and the Lemon Boys, Theatre of Hate, The Objekts, The Lillettes, The Golinski Brothers and many more in the audience. Nick Linazasoro\s review here gives a bit of an insight: https://sussexonlinenews.co.uk/2025/03/30/boring-bob-grover-of-the-piranhas-gets-a-wonderful-send-off/

And here I am guesting with Asbo Derek. Ric Blow took over for the rest of the set. It was really good fun, but also very sad.

I had a great chat with the Piranha's bagpiper, who hailed from Oban. Zoot had flown over from New York for the night and there were other long distance travellers. The Prince Albert was packed. I didn't last the night because it's going to take a while to get match-fit again, but jumping in at the deep end like this was a bloody good way to start gigging again.

Tonight In Brighton

 

Wagtail On Embankment Footbridge