Tag: Husker Du

East Midlands Gigs

I am heading over to the East Midlands this week to cover a further two gigs in that area, namely in Derby and Leicester.  

On 20/02/09 myself and my brother headed out to Derby on the train from Nottingham for a pub crawl incorporating a gig at the end of the evening. We did a circular monorail route starting and ending at the train station and found some decent old hostelries en route.

Our gig destination was Derby Victoria Inn, handily placed opposite Derby station. It was a traditional pub with a bar area and a function room at the back where the venue was located. It looks like the future of the pub is currently in doubt and is up for sale.

Victoria Inn pub in Derby. Image Credit whatpub.com

We arrived a tad later than expected but it worked to our advantage as we managed to wander straight in the gig without paying and the main band Switzerland were just about to start. They were only young scamps, but they created a hell of a racket and they were very good.

The only other attendees were patently friends and family and they were looking at us trying to work out if we were perhaps agents hunting for new talent, so we played on that clear misunderstanding and maintained an enigmatic presence at the back of the room. Unfortunately, the band due to their age and other constraints split the following year.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/derby/hi/people_and_places/music/newsid_8877000/8877874.stm

My only other visit to Derby was on another pub crawl spoilt in the middle by watching North End being battered 5-1 at Pride Park!

Husker Du were a seminal band of my youth and it is widely acknowledged that they were grossly underrated at the time. They broke up in 1988, and the two songwriters Bob Mould and Grant Hart subsequently produced sporadically decent solo material.

Bob then put together another three-piece combo called Sugar circa 1992. Their first album ‘Copper Blue’ was by far his most commercially successful record which was named the Album of the Year by NME. I distinctly remember hearing the chiming chords of ‘Changes’ for the first time and the album also contained their jaunty single ‘If I Could Change Your Mind’ which surprisingly but deservedly received airplay on Radio 1. I remember driving out at lunch one day and even that pillock Simon Bates was playing it!

The commercial level they reached was exemplified by a couple of reverential students approaching me around the time in the Exchange pub in Preston to wax lyrical on my Husker Du T-shirt.

So, we decided to stalk Sugar on their first British tour starting with a gig at Leicester Princess Charlotte on 25/09/92.

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Princess Charlotte in Leicester. Image Credit Flickr.

I set off to my brother’s current girlfriend Fiona’s parents house in Nottingham about 1pm on the Friday of the gig. On arrival I became the designated driver so drove the 30 miles over to Leicester in torrential rain with the Allegro making strange noises on the way over.

The venue was an old Victorian boozer and the music/gig room within opened in the 1970’s. It was a famous stop on the toilet circuit and Radiohead and Oasis played early gigs there, the venue finally closed in 2009.

Leicester legacies: The life and times of The Charlotte
A fascinating back story to the venue

The music venue was a cellar at the back with shared loos and a capacity of about 250 and served some very watery Ansells. Venus Beads supported with an ok set.  

I was very excited as it had been 5 years since the last Huskers gig. They came on at 10pm and in true Huskers style launched the set with the first five songs played non- stop. Bob still had the lowest strung guitar I have ever seen as it was virtually down to his knees.

Unfortunately, it was marred by an awful sound system, which the band picked up on and started to play louder which covered some of the impurities. I recall they played ‘Hoover Dam’ and then a couple of tracks off upcoming album ‘Beaster’. The bassist David Barbe had a great voice on a couple of tracks. They finished the set with ‘Man on the Moon’ and came off about 11.15pm. Fiona and Steph were completely bladdered and fell straight asleep on the back seat and we arrived home about midnight.

Sugar released a total of 3 albums before splitting in 1996.

My only other subsequent visit to Leicester was to visit their curry mile and I remember seeing a  shop there with the fabulous name of House of Sarees!

Preston Venue 5 – Caribbean Club Part 1

Located on the corner of Kent and Canute St buried in the back streets of Deepdale, near a couple of old battered boozers you would have found the Caribbean Club (formerly the Twang Club). It was basically an old social club and had one side for members and the other for functions and gigs. It had excellent bar staff and the capacity was probably around 400. I frequented it four times between 1985 and 1992. The venue closed in 2009.

One of those visits was my first gig of a new decade on 05/01/90 to see Snuff, a South London Ska/Punk band. I had been bought their debut album for Christmas. I would contend that the album title is the longest one in history, namely –‘Snuffsaidgorblimeyguysstonemeifhedidn’tthrowawobblerchachachachachachachachachachachayou’regoinghomeinacosmicambience’.

John, Uncle George and I were in attendance and we met in the Moorbrook pub. John had the night before interviewed the then PNE chairman Keith Leeming for the club fanzine ’53 Miles West of Venus’.

I cannot recall the name of the first band, but they did covers of Prong songs. Blammo were the main support and were fronted by a Mark E Smith lookalike. I bought a 50p flexi disc afterwards and I may still have it somewhere.

Snuff came on about 11.15 and they did a combination of original tracks and astutely chosen cover versions. ‘Somehow’ and ‘I Think We’re Alone Now’ were standout tracks. They were and remain a great live act and were very crowd interactive. They also played Bran Flakes (They’re tasty!) and Shake N Vac jingles at 100mph. They played to 12.15 and I remember a chap approached them afterwards with a computer printout of every venue they had played – obviously a kindred spirit!

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Snuff, pictured in 1990. Image Credit blogspot.com

Now at a couple of other gigs I have just been out of the frame on crowd pictures on NME gig reviews, namely Screaming Blue Messiahs and F—-d Up. However, my moment of fame had arrived as the NME review afterwards outlined it as a great gig despite a couple of slightly dodgy individuals pogoing away in front of the stage, I am so proud of that reference etched forever in black and white print!

My last attendance was on 08/02/91 to see the Membranes. I was living in various grotty rented rooms from 1989-1993 and didn’t attend many gigs in that period due to lack of funds. This state of play was exemplified by this being my first gig for 5 months. On the Friday afternoon of the gig I bought my first car from a friend of mine – a classy Beige Allegro!

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A not dissimilar looking motor, but not me driving! Image Credit flickr

Quick car tale – I recall once being on the motorway and encountering two other Allegro’s following each in the inside lane so I joined on the back to create a convoy of three Allegro’s for a few miles – hopefully providing a quirky sighting for motorists speeding past.

Prior to the Membranes gig, there was a works outing I joined up with in the Exchange pub at 5pm. Later that evening there was a split in the fellowship as a good portion heading off to another do at Grasshoppers Rugby Club. Myself, George and a couple of other lads via Pickwicks Tavern landed at the gig about 9.30, with admission fee of £2.50.

Support was an anarchist band called Archbishop Kebab, whose name was the best thing about them as their lead singer was pretty woeful. Between bands the DJ spun one of the Husker Du’s finest tunes, their bracing cover of Byrds ‘Eight Miles High. Big Al and Gordon from Action Records wandered in to the venue at this stage.

Membranes are a post punk band from Blackpool formed in 1977 fronted by John Robb and were at that stage a three-piece. They broke up shortly after this gig and reformed in 2009 and are still on the circuit.  They were very loud and decent and played to 12.15. They were maybe a tad too industrial for my tastes, but a good time was had in the moshpit.

We had been out for a fair spell so were all flagging so wended our way home. Woke up next morning, no hangover and buzzing, got outside, car wouldn’t start…………  

To complete the Allegro tale, it finally gave up the ghost about three years later and was towed unceremoniously to the scrap yard which happened to be about 200 yards from the location of the Caribbean Club!