Einsturzende Neubaten

Who can resist germans singing? Not me, Xmal deutchland, Canal Terror, DAF, Toxo Plasma, Tommi Stumpf, Toten Hosen even Rammstein, I love every fully butchered ich and ach lau. What would Teenage Panzerkorps be like if Bunker Wolf came from Brighton and was called Brian Fox?

Blixa was on form the night I taped this at Heaven , a gay club under the arches of charing cross bridge, with some of that trademark diabolical vocal chord abuse. I dont recall much about the gig, and going from my slurred commentary thats probly due to over medication on the night.
Were the tickets were really expensive? so it may have been a secret/special show. Either ways the set is over long and peters out a bit, of the songs I know,  none were given great deliveries.


Einsturzende Neubaten: Letztes Biest (am Himmel)

The one Einsturzende gig I will never forget though is the infamous double header with Showaddywaddy (youtube at your peril kids). Just down the road from Cricklewood in county Kilburns largest guinness barn. Some Bizarre indeed.




02-Sep-85  UK London,Heaven
Side 1. Halber Mensch/ Der Tod ist ein Dandy/ Zeichnungen des Patienten O.T./ ?/ Letztes Biest (am Himmel)/ Abfackeln!/ Yü-Gung (fütter mein Ego)/ Negativ Nein/ Vanadium-I-Ching/

Side 2. Armenia/ Die genaue Zeit/ Sehnsucht/ Spaltung (a.k.a. Armenisch Bitter)/ ?/ Zerstörte Zelle/ Sand.

NoMeansNo

In most things ive always been a beliver in soul over technique, ideas over precision, energy over accuracy. Very few bands nail both sides of the equation, "jazz punk" - it just dont sound right does it? I didnt go to the show in this vid but when I saw these guys at the dome I grudgingly admitted it was possible.
2 lips 2 lungs 1 tongue is such an awesome song anyway , and the guys drew out the break in the middle to about 10 mins with an extended crowd-baiting-heckle fest that had us all in tears. The whole set was glorious fucked up ,clever punk from great musicians and lets face it top-notch entertainers.

I have no idea what this song is called, and its another track from Hunters compilation video. Live at the Mean Fiddler, sept 1991.

Sisters Of Mercy

One thing I love about these tapes is the heckling, Id forgotten how half the crowd would consider it perfectly acceptable to abuse, provoke, offer fashion tips or just scream gibberish at anyone on the stage....this is the prince of darkness for chrissakes - show some respect!!!!  Its certainly not the way Melbournes music lovers behave.

This a decent recording and not a bad show, although you have to take a good hard look at a band who regularly plays 3 or 4 covers in a set.. I think they had picked up "the hussey" by this stage too which tends to put a downer on it for me.

Emma

The redeeming factor is the inclusion of Hot Chocolates' "Emma" in that selection of covers (for some reason I didnt stick around for "Sister Ray"...), everyone in the room had grown up on Top of the Pops, Everyone had seen Errol and the boys hamming it up with their flares and afros. Only Mr Eldritch could pull off, not only a straight cover of this song, but one that is, however implausibly, even more melodramatic and overaught than the original.

Live at the Electric Ballroom, 24th May 1984 (46mb)

Burn

Heartland

Body And Soul 

Anaconda

Walk Away 

Emma 

Floorshow 

Adrenochrome 

Alice

Body Electric

Gimme Shelter

UK Decay



UK Decay, Clarendon hotel

Im pretty proud of this photo, in the bad old days before digital you'd be lucky if you got one good shot from a roll of film , seems like that night I got two : One of Abbo and the Clarendon Chandelier and one of Blood and Roses. Keith reckons Sisters of Mercy played too but I didn't get a photo of them, too much dry Ice probly.

The image that stays with me is the UK Decay posse going mental under that chandelier, studded belts removed and swung arond their heads like football scarfs, there must be people who still have scars from those nights at the klub Foot.

Sexual - UK Decay

This is my copy of a recording of the last show released by the band as the  "night for celebration" cassette and its a bit weird to think that UK decay had called it a day when "Positive punk" was still fresh and the term "Goth" hadn't been coined.
Of course now they are recognised as the godfathers of the movement and their sound appropriated by the  black clad legion that followed them. But when you listen to these songs and put them in the context of what else was happening musically in 1981/82 you can appreciate what a special band they were.

Side A:
•Unwind
•Werewolf
•Dresden
•Barbarian
•Barbarians
•Sexual
•Stage Struck
•Rising From The Dead
•Twist In The Tale
Side B:
•Unexpected Guest
•Testament
•Black Cat

•UK Decay

•For My Country

•Unwind

   

Blood And Roses

 

Killdozer

'poor sods, first time in the UK and they get picked up in the Van by us. They look worried, they dont really want a red stripe at this time of the day , thanks. Chris lights one of his medicinal cigarettes:"could we open the window to let the smoke out?...."  Kernahan hits the M1 and puts the pedal to floor : "What speed is that guy doing? ya know the imit is 55 in wisconsin....." and then before we get 1/2 way to to the first venue: "can you pull over my brothers nose is bleeding...."

 

But strap em into their gear and they all grew 2 feet into babyeating southern redneck serial-killer worshiping rock monsters -and they went off - this was the first time Id seen anyone use a ceiling beam as a guitar slide. Like all US bands they only get to europe after spending years gigging and were as tight as the proverbial ducks, each night they seemed to work at getting a bit slower and a bit louder so by the time the tour ended they sounded like the swans playing lynrd skynrd.
And play lynrd Skynrd they did, Neil Diamond too......

Killdozer - I am I said

This was recorded at the Liverpool Bierkellar ,26th May 1988. The venue was a great big hall and was pretty empty all the key ingredients of a crap recording! There were some great nights and crowds though , northampton, bristol and the Greyhound rocked....bloody scousers dont know what they missed.

Babes in Toyland



Kat Bjelland

 This is another track from the mystery compilation video tape (shot by someone called Hunter apparently...dont know the guy..), filmed at the Mean Fiddler Harlesden which when it wasnt fulfilling its primary function as a Country and Western Club was a great place to see a band. It wasnt too easy to get to from Cricklewood but acts like Scratch Acid, Rapeman, Buttholes, Unsane, Head of David  etc etc  provided some top notch entertainment there. 

This song was the first thing Id ever heard by the band, I remember thinking it sounded like a really REALLY pissed off version of the Dog Faced Hermans and loved them immediately.
I always consider them honorary Camdenites too, Lori was a regular at the Falcon for a while and there was that scandal involving Kat and the guy from Gallon Drunk.....

Sea Scouts

Sea Scouts Patch

The other great Tassie band, you can imagine this demo was recorded on a well used 4track one stormy winters night in a drafty Hobart share house - it has the best/original Scouts line up of Monika Fickerle on drums , Zak Von Bumburger on bass and of course Tim Evans on guitar/vox.
Tims guitars were always very "distressed" ,held together with gaffa and looking like he had assembled them from bits he'd found on the street, the guitar cuts out during this tape a few times and even the tape recorder itself sounds like its going to die at one point.

Tim was a great frontman flailing away with his tangled haystack hair,  tall frame hunched over his mike stand , Monica stood up to pound her cymbal less kit and Zak was, frankly, a disturbing thing to watch , it was always anexciting chemistry to experience live. The songs were brutal and discordant symphonies of noise, with Tims voice riding above it all building from (still tuneful) shouts to strangled screams and beyond. And the thing that sets them apart is that you always felt there was actually bloody good pop-songs in there somewhere.


The Sea Scouts - Strange Loop
Unlike LUGS, their contempories ,  the Sea Scouts made a handful of records one of which has the dubious quality of being unplayable: The single came back from the pressing plant with the hole off centre...perhaps unsurprisingly the band didnt see a problem with that and happily distributed them.....

Demo Tape Cover

Sea Scouts Demo (199?)
1. Strange Loop
2. Dark Green
3. Macarbre Maybe
4. Destroy your local Macdonalds


And unlike LUGS there is little chance of a reunion show Tim is New york based working as Degreaser and other projects but is also known for his lack of interest and respect for what has gone before - if you missed Mouth, Sea Scouts or the Bird Blobs first time round then thats tough.