40 years on and still angry!

I'm still not well enough to go out, which is a shame as I missed a great night out watching my favourite Punk band, 'No Lip', last night.

It's been a very strange day for me because 40 years ago (22nd October 1976) the first Punk single came out - 'New Rose' by 'The Damned'. I wasn't the greatest 'Damned' fan in the world and it was just by luck that they got a single out first, really.

But hey!, it still sounds good all these years later, see for yourself here;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTfyUqVqX-0

I spent some time watching clips and reading stuff about 1976, full of memories. I remember the summer of 1976, on holiday in Devon and hanging around a music venue as the band (it could  have been anything, I wasn't going to hear them) was setting up. I was actually killing time watching the roadies and noticed one wearing a razor blade necklace and thinking to myself:

"What is that - I have to check that out".

Actually, I lived about as far away from anywhere where anything was happening as you could and didn't have the money to get there anyway.

So another memory is looking at The Damned's new single at 'Our Price Records' in Slough, not having the money to buy it and not having a record player to play it on anyway.

The radio wasn't helping either - this was before John Peel discovered Punk.

So it's fair to say it took a while before I could do anything much about the new music that was making such a noise.

The next memory is watching Janet Street-Porter interviewing 'The Sex Pistols' on LWT - before (I think) the more infamous Bill Grundy interview, which I also watched in December that year.

By which time, 'Anarchy in the UK' had been released.

Life was never going to be the same again!

40 years on and everything turned out much worse than we ever imagined it would - the bad guys won and got rich at our expense.

We really were right to be angry at what was happening to us and I for one still am.

All these years later there are fewer and fewer people still alive who remember that things can and should be different.  

But they can be - it's up to us.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

No Lip at The Five Bells, Stanwell.

That was a good night and it very nearly didn't happen. I'd been looking forward to seeing No Lip, the only Punk band worth seeing, play Baroosh in Staines for a very long time.

Then the venue closed down.

Luckily, the band found a replacement venue at the Five Bells in Stanwell; 

Punk rock at it's best;

These days I'm not so good at standing up for a whole evening but it was worth it even if I'm paying for it now;



The Clash, The Ruts, The Ramones, The Sex Pistols played fast and furious as it was meant to be played, in a small venue up close and personal.

There was Pogoing (not by me), beer went flying, speakers went flying! Someone tried to steal my hat, twice.

It was a good, good night.

1977 all over again, even if my joints are a bit creaky these days;

Staines finest punk band are getting a reputation a lot further away these days, you can catch them at festivals as well as all the major local venues - they are even on Facebook too.

Check them out.

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

No Lip at The Cave, Addlestone.

We made it!

It was my first night out in a very long time.

At least a couple of months I'd say. Which is all down to the inconvenience of having broken my back in, eh, several places.

Darn!

Obviously, I wouldn't have made it at all without Robyn and the help of a mega painkiller.

But what better way of celebrating than going to The Cave at The Holly Tree in Addlestone for Saturday night?

Well worth it though - listening to a set of classic punk tracks played as they were meant to be.

And in a small venue too.
I like The Cave and I've seen some great bands there.

And what better band to see than 'No Lip', playing punk fast and furious;

We got even got a name check; they played 'The Ruts' 'Staring at the Rude Boys' for us which means a lot to me.

This time last year I was going to The Cave to watch bands booked for The Undercover Festival at Bisley, which was great because I wasn't going to be free to get there.

Amazingly, it's happening again this year it must be a real battle to keep it going. With 'The Damned' headlining and a long list of bands you can facebook the festival to check out whose playing - which includes 'No Lip'.

So you can expect some of this;

 

 

Now, if I can handle 'No Lip', what next?

 

Neil Harris

 

(a don't stop till you drop production)

 

Home:  helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

 

Contact me: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

 

 



All dressed up!

As you can see I'm all getting dressed up!

It's my walking frame and back brace. I must admit I would have preferred it if it had looked a bit more like Darth Vador's body armour.

We are going out tonight - for the first time in......well the first time for a very long time.

We're off to see 'No Lip', an explosive punk band at 'The Cave' at Addlestone.

This morning I actually walked to the village Post office and I was ON MY OWN!

It's the first time and hopefully the start of a bit more mobility.

Anyway, we are both quite excited about tonight. The Cave is a famous old venue. 

Neil Harris
(a don't stop till you drop production)
Home:  helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact me:  neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

No Lip at The Six Bells,

 

 

OK, I'm in real trouble now. I'm trembling in my DM's.

 

It's a 'Things to do in Denver when you're dead' situation.

 

Some months ago I was given the new 'No Lip' mini-cd......I haven't reviewed it yet and they know! 

 

THEY KNOW!!!

 

It's only a matter of time....before....you know....they......

 

It was a cold and wet November night.

 

In the pitch dark, the neon reflected back at me from the mean streets of Brentford. Leaves rustled in the wind, in the distance I could hear a stifled scream.....was that footsteps behind me as I locked the car?

 

Was someone following us in the dark alley?

 

Would I make it to the streetlights, would I make it to safety?

 

 

Don't they understand that when I put the disc onto the Dancette Deluxe©, the needle kept slipping - have they no pity?

Probably not, (gulp)

 



I could go on a course maybe, perhaps I could learn the technology?

 

Really, I could change.

 

On the other hand, I just went to see the band, again. This is what they have to say about themselves;

"Right, lets get this straight.
We are playing no frills, straight up honest as you like punk rock.
We don't bother with our own stuff it just clouds the issue, the issue being bringing these tunes back to an appreciative audience and not trying to promote our own half assed take on current affairs, we leave that to the Facefuk generation.
Why not come along to this show and hear full on, heart felt renditions of PuNk RoCk classics and rarities plus tunes to groove to before and after the blistering live set. So tell everyone you know, whether you like them or not and get down to the clash city rockers that are No Lip

Except that Brentford is not exactly as mean as it once was (I could tell a few tales, but I'd better not) and The Six bells is quite a cosy Pub these days.

Not on Saturday it wasn't.

You have to be a certain age to get Punk - that blistering furious rage that erupted in 1976 and never really went away for us.

And we were right.

Ray Davis of The Kinks stopped talking for about two years when he was a kid in the 1950's. He went through the whole range of medical examinations, child psychologists and social workers. They all gave up but in the end he started talking again.

Years later he was interviewed about it and said; "I just think I realised what was coming and couldn't speak anymore"

We knew what was coming too.

And we were angry.

So anyway, Saturday night was punk night at The Six Bells; a tiny Pub with some puzzled regulars and some even more puzzled passers by on the pavement looking in through the windows - I said that Brentford had changed.

But No Lip have a very loyal following who know their reputation for playing a wide range of punk classics, pretty much as they were meant to be played (at the top of their voice and two fingers up to the world).

Always a great night out with No Lip.

I'd go to see them just because they play 'The Ruts' really well....and they were amazing live. There are some YouTube clips that don't do them justice; this is what they were really like.

And thanks for playing 'Complete Control' by The Clash - that's pretty much what it was all about. Now, if only you could learn 'White man in the Hammersmith Palais'......

But it was all there - The Damned, The Pistols, The Clash.
Sham.

In some ways the second burst of Punk was better than the first but then again there was nothing quite like The Clash.

So, as a matter of principle, I turned up in full MOD gear.

Ha! Ha! Ha!

I would also like to extend my best wishes to Darren Crewe who got two shoutouts of support from the band (I don't know Darren, but I do know his other half Elaine) and they are having a tough, tough fight. They would have loved to have been at The Six Bells with us, I know.

This is an amazing live band and in a small pub it's just perfect.

You can see them yourselves on 29th November at The Holroyd, Guildford and on the 6th December at The Hobgoblin, Staines when they are supported by MoCara, a really good young band I've seen a number of times already.
That'll be a great night too.

And eventually, if I can only get the 8-track working again, I will get round to reviewing that CD.

Neil Harris

(a don't stop till you drop production)

Home:  helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Contact me:  neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

No Lip at The Cave, Addlestone.



 

     NO LIP



 

On Friday night we weren't feeling so great, we were feeling like this;

 

So we took a trip to The Cave in Addlestone, otherwise known as The Holly Tree and once upon a time home to bands like The Jam and Sham 69.

 

I think by now you've guessed that we were there for the number one, don't give a flying F£#K Punk Band;

 

    NO LIP

The Cave was melting down;

As No Lip played Punk the way it was meant to be; at the top of its voice and with a sneer. 

And as my girlfriend is about to be made homeless by a greedy, cold hearted landlady, everything had the feel of the 1970's about it too.

But it was really good to see you out and about again Elaine!

The band has an E.P. out and I'll be reviewing it in a few days time. I can't imagine that anything from a studio could ever compare to this;

I can't resist putting this last picture in mainly because I can;

 

 

 

Neil Harris

(a don't stop till you drop production)

 

Home:  helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

 

Contact me:  neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

 

 



No Lip at the Six Bells Brentford.

Saturday night there was only one place to be;

The place? The Six Bells Brentford.

The Time? 9-00 pm.

The Reason?

No Lip

 

You just had to be there.

Brentford and I go back a long way – lived there, worked there, watched the town change as the real people got driven out. But on Saturday night there were still a few real people left and only one place to be – packed tight in the bar for;

 

This is ‘No Lip’,

Take it or Leave it

  No 1. Punk Band.

 

Playing a long, long set of Punk classics the way they were meant to be played.

 

Which only ended at about 12 30 after the band had started to go through the set again, just to make sure we didn’t miss anything the first time.

That was quite a special night for me;

Because I was given a No Lip T-shirt, which is strictly not available in all the usual outlets.

And if I hadn’t been quite so overcome, I would have told you that the feeling is mutual.

Like your work, gentlemen.

Click on a picture for a slideshow.

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)
Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com
Contact: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

Oh and specially for Robyn;

Yo, West Philadelphia, Yo!
   

T and the Mugs and Second hand citizens at The Cave, Addlestone.

 

Last Thursday I headed down to The Cave, Addlestone for the third taster night for The Undercover Festival at Bisley (19^th to 21^st September). I’m not going to be able to go to the festival so I’m seeing some of it this way.

The headline band in black and white are T and the Mugs, who I saw a few weeks ago at The Hobgoblin, Staines.

I like them, old fashioned punks like me although they play their own original stuff;

 

This was a support act;

 

 

They are ‘Secondhand citizens’ up from Portsmouth. Good band, lots of political content which included ‘Stop the War’ and ‘Harry is a nazi ‘ attacking Prince Harry for dressing up in nazi costume for a fancy dress party.

Both songs fairly courageous for Portsmouth.

So another really good evening for me.

PUNK LIVES

 

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Contact: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

 

 

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

Lou Reed.

Storm warning

That was pathetic – a few branches and a handful of small, rather elderly trees came down – one in our front garden. So, I got to West Middlesex Hospital fine.

One great Oak was felled – Lou Reed.

While punk in Britain was partly a rebellion against the 1960’s , in America it was different and sort of linked the two. At least it linked the alternative worlds of both times.

Famously Lou Reed once said;

“One chord is fine, Two chords is OK, three chords – that’s Jazz”. Couldn’t have put it better myself.

Psnd

I found it easy to write about the mods and Northern Soul. Then I tried to write about  punk and I couldn’t do it. Too personal, too close.

Lou Reed was interviewed about a month before he died;

“I still believe in punk, I still want to blow it all up”.

For the moment that will have to do.

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

This ‘help me’ is for everyone I met at MDU today.

 

u

helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Home: helpmesortoutstpeters.blogspot.com

Contact: neilwithpromisestokeep@gmail.com

When the two cultures clash.

CLASH
I’m probably being a miserable old man.

Alright I am a miserable old man but back in the nineteen seventies’s The Clash were an amazing PUNK band.

Amazing as a live act, amazing for their ‘in your face’ left wing politics of rebellion. It was a time to take a stand.

In case you ever wondered why their early albums are a bit tame – it’s because albums were an expensive investment for us at the time. Singles were cheap and no one had any money.

So, THE CLASH brought out much of their best stuff on singles. Other bands would re issue their singles on their albums, forcing fans to buy the same things twice. Not THE CLASH.

It was all about ideals and sticking it to the man not ripping people off.

Yesterday I was in a proper record shop – not second hand, looking over the counter like a small boy at the new Big Box Set that’s just come out – everything THE CLASH ever did, all nicely remixed and repackaged with a book, a DVD and a live performance, I’ll bet.

A hundred pounds!

Joe Strummer would not like it.

Janie Jones wouldn’t like it.

I don’t like it.

 

Oh no you think it’s funny,

Turning rebellion into money.

 

The White man in the Hammersmith Palais.

By the way, three years of recession stopped the wrecking ball for a while, but now the developers have finally demolished the Hammersmith Palais.

PUNK WILL NEVER DIE?

Yeah, well this punk is feeling a bit of a Blobfish at the moment.

Neil Harris

(a don’t stop till you drop production)

Does anyone listen to ‘Janie Jones’ and ‘Garage land’ any more ?– you cannot imagine what it was like when that came out.

This may force me to do something a bit naughty but its what Joe would have wanted me to do.