Gigs from Abroad Part 20 – Alicante

Alicante has always been viewed as a strategic military location and a singular key defence mechanism underpinning this is the existence of the impressive Santa Barbara Castle which was built in the 9th century and to this day still towers over the city. I can personally confirm it is a physically exacting trek up the hill to the castle, especially in baking sunshine! The city has an interesting lineage in that they have chronologically been inhabited by Iberian tribes, Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Goths (thought they were peaceful!), Moors and latterly the Spaniards.

Santa Barbara Castle. Image Credit tripkay.com

In the 1960’s it began to generate the first inklings of a future tourist destination, and the city was transformed accordingly. Other nearby resorts followed suit, including Benidorm and the success of this new venture was assisted by the closure of the old Rabasa airfield and the corresponding building of the new modern El Altet Airport. Famous people from the city include the tennis players David Ferrer and Alex de Minaur and the black metal band Nahemah.

In 2018, to commemorate our fifty years on this earth, Gill and I decided to undertake two trips around our individual birthdays and on my milestone we decided on a jaunt to Alicante. I took a liking to the city as similar to Malaga it was a bustling modern city with a beach, promenades, marina area and the aforementioned castle.

We found some decent restaurants and a plethora of bars. On my actual birthday we had a leisurely lunch, and wouldn’t you just know it I had lined up a gig for the evening! We headed into what resembled the ‘Northern Quarter’ in the Southern area of the city and our ultimate destination was Alicante Sala Stereo.

On our first pass we thought the venue was closed but Gill reassured me that they would be operating on chilled European hours, and she was absolutely correct as it didn’t open its doors until around 10pm. When there is no live music on, it runs solely as a nightclub and is open between the quite frankly insane hours of 2.30am to 8.30am!   

Sala Stereo. Image Credit youtube.com

I cannot find much history of the venue, but it appears to be still thriving today and on music nights they generally concentrate on homespun acts. It was a homely brightly lit venue with a friendly local crowd. The capacity was 500 and they had the excellent novel touch of beer bottle holders on the side walls to safely house your ice-cold beverage. 

The initial act was a decent singer from Valencia called Sienna followed by a local musician called Olivia. The clock kept ticking and moved into the day after my birthday and still we waited for the main band. They finally pottered on stage around 1am which places it squarely in my latest ever gigs lists alongside Goldblade at Preston Aqualenium and Jesus and Mary Chain at Preston Clouds in 1985, the latter now feels like it was in an earlier lifetime!

The headliners El Mato a Un Policia Motorizado, also known as EMAUPM or El Mato who were created in La Plata in Argentina. Their unusual name derives from a line in a 1987 Spanish movie R.O.T.O.R and translates literally as ‘that boy just killed a motorcycle cop’.  They formed in 2003, and the driving force of the five-piece band is the vocalist Santiago ‘Motorizado’ and they have released five albums with their latest being ‘Super Terror’ in 2023.

El Mato a Un Policia Motorizado. Image Credit diariohoy.net

They were also chosen to contribute a cover of ‘Slippery People’ for a fortieth anniversary tribute album of Talking Heads ‘Stop Making Sense’ alongside artists such as Miley Cyrus, Lorde and Paramore. The record then debuted at the top of the Billboard Compilation Albums chart in August 2024.

The band cite their musical influences as Pixies, Sonic Youth and Velvet Underground amongst others, unfortunately they did not live up to that envisaged sound and to be honest they were a tad limp. Given the late hour I wasn’t too disappointed at this development as after a couple of tracks it allowed us to shuffle out and head back to our digs. On the walk back the town was just beginning to boot up into the busier hours of its nightlife. The following evening, we attended a tapas restaurant called Alicante El Rincon de Alma and saw a local singer called Juan.

Gigs from Abroad Part 19 – Nuremberg and Bamburg

In 2019 the annual lads trip gravitated over to Nuremberg, a city which is the second largest in Bavaria. It is encompassed on three sides by a huge forest and the other by a vegetation area with the quaint name ‘garlic land’. It had the honour of having the first steam-hauled railway in Germany in 1835 linking it with the nearby city of Furth under the auspices of the Bavarian Ludwig Railway, the route is covered today by the U1 Subway.

Nuremberg vista. Image Credit TripSavvy

There is a dark side to Nuremberg’s past as due to its geographical links to the Holy Roman Empire it was utilised as the location for the huge Nazi party conventions which became known as the Nuremberg rallies, the first taking place in 1927. On 2 January 1945 it was carpet bombed by the allies where ninety percent of the city was destroyed in an hour and was then recaptured in April 1945 after an intense ground troops battle. It was therefore the natural location for the Nuremberg trials that took place immediately after the war in the Palace of Justice which somehow had survived undamaged during the bombing.

The city rose again from the ashes and thankfully there remains many remnants of the walls and towers, and of course there is the obligatory castle! It also contains a bonny and evocative old town area where I recall us finding an excellent bar at the top of a steep incline, and I took a liking to the city itself. Famous Nurnberg alumni include the acclaimed actress Sandra Bullock who was educated in the city via a German mother and American military father who was stationed there.  

Also on that list would be musician Kevin Coyne who had an interesting life commencing from being born in Derby in 1944. Between 1965 and 1968 he spent three years as a psychiatric nurse at the renowned mental institution Whittingham Hospital in my hometown of Preston. Alongside this he was developing musical aspirations in the folk-blues domain and his first band Siren was signed to John Peel’s Dandelion Records label in 1969.

He also had the unusual accolade of appearing at an alternative festival in protest against the 1975 Eurovision Song Contest in Stockholm. He once turned down a meeting with Elektra Records to discuss the possibility of replacing Jim Morrison in the Doors. He was pals with Virgin label mates John Lydon and the Mekons and one of his bands contained Zoot Money, subsequently the musical director of the 1987 TV series Tutti Frutti featuring Robbie Coltrane and Emma Thompson. The other band member was Andy Summers, latterly of the Police.  

Kevin Coyne Razorblade picture. Image Credit rootsvinylguide.com

In 1985, after a nervous breakdown and ongoing alcohol issues he relocated to Nuremberg, where having finally ditched the demon drink, he continued to maintain a prolific recording and touring schedule alongside furthering his books and painting outputs.

His enigmatic approach could be exemplified by the album cover for his 1977 release of ‘In Living Black and White’. On the front cover he is seen smiling and artistically bowing to an invisible audience whilst the back is the same photo from the rear where you can see he is holding tightly an open straight razor. He lived there until his death in 2004. The reason I have catalogued his extended story is that at the end of the day despite opportunities he is the tale of another aspiring underground artist, who could be a mirror of many others who have peppered the musical historical landscape without any meaningful recognition over the decades.

Nuremberg is also the start point for a unique annual music event called the Techno Train Nurnberg. The high-speed rave train leaves the city with DJ’s, punters and high-quality sound systems on board and then travels non-stop for seven hours through Bavaria until it lands in Munich, where an after party takes place. Most definitely not my cup of Yorkshire, but it certainly quantifies as a novel event.  

A common theme on the lad’s sojourns is to always include a day trip and, on this occasion, we undertook a 40 minute train journey over to Bamberg. The old town there contains 2400 timber houses situated in the old town and that has been badged as an UNESCO world heritage site since 1993. The most famous ‘local’ resident would be Willy Messerschmitt, the aircraft designer who had some planes named after him and their most famous band in my view would be the turn of the decade punk band Go Faster Nuns.

Go Faster Nuns. Image Credit youtube.com

Bamberg also had a lot of character, and we had a good sally around and traversed up another steep hill, this time without any reward as the bar we were scouring for was subject to seasonal hours and as a result not open. Back in the town, we visited a bar called Bamberg Mercator Di Sappori and witnessed a local band called Endlich Samstag