Tag: Killing Joke

Preston Venue 23 The Mill – Part 2

For the three-year golden period of 2003 -2005 at the Mill, I was living a handy 15-minute stroll away at Lane Ends, and post gig would happily tumble up Tulketh Brow or Shelley Road in a warm glow after a top night of music.

I had a very noisy double bill of gigs at the tail end of 2003, the first being the old influential stalwarts Killing Joke who formed in Notting Hill in 1979. I was in attendance with super fan Tony Dewhurst who has seen them over 100 times. I recall Tony saying he had a chat with lead singer Jaz Coleman that night and there was a possibility Tony could be hired to write his autobiography, but the interesting offer never reached fruition. They produced a very noisy industrial set.

The second was the Irish punk band Therapy? and I recall them playing their cover of Husker Du’s Diana.

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Therapy? Promo picture. Image Credit conversationabouther.net

In between those two gigs, I saw Brighton band Electric Soft Parade who I had picked up on initially from their stellar debut album ‘Holes in the Wall’ which was nominated for the Mercury Music Prize. They were very accomplished and enjoyable on the night.  

Next up in April 2004 was to see Marky Ramone. Originally born Mark Steven Bell he was originally a drummer for Richard Hell and the Voidoids. When Tommy Ramone stopped drumming to become the manager in 1978, he stepped in as the new drummer and changed his name to Marky Ramone. The show consisted of a slide presentation talk with Q&A which was amusing as had a bone-dry wit and there were many Ramones tales to impart. The second part consisted of playing a selection of Ramone songs drumming behind of UK Subs, which was the weaker portion of the evening’s events.  

In April 2004, I saw a Cardiff post-hardcore band called Mclusky led by Andrew Falkous and they produced an urgent slab of noisy rock. After the band split up Falkous created the bands Jarcrew and Future of the Left, I was a fan of the latter band’s off-kilter sound. The support bands on the night were Papa Boon and My Code Name is Milo.

On a very warm Friday night during Euro 2004 we sauntered down to watch Longview, an indie rock band from Manchester. They had formed in 2002 and honed their craft with many gigs at the Night and Day café. They also had the German musician/record producer Ulrich Schnauss in their ranks from 2005 to 2010. Remarkably despite them being in existence for 12 years they only ever produced one album. I recall they were very melodic in the mould of Nada Surf with House of Love tinted vocals and were a perfect summer night band. Just listening to their music now and it still sounds remarkably fresh.

Five months later I saw Hope of the States, a post rock band from Chichester. They were good value and were supported by The Open. When the headline band subsequently disbanded the members ventured into bands such as The Northwestern and Chapel Club.

In March 2005 a group of us went to a multi punk bill and we saw Mere Dead Men (MDM) and Broken Bones who evolved from the band Discharge. Also, on the bill was the local punk legends Pike, one of seven times I have seen them. I recall they played a rarely heard cover of a Naked Prey track, which I think was ‘Train Whistle Blows’ from their lost gem album ‘Under the Blue Marlin’.  Naked Prey were from Tucson, Arizona and in the desert rock genre and subsequently were members of Green on Red and Giant Sand and you can hear distinct similarities in their sounds.  If I have got the name wrong of the covered track, I am sure Pike’s bassist and music encyclopaedist Jez Catlow will graciously correct me!

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Naked Prey ‘Under the Blue Marlin’. Image Credit Amazon.

In the gap between bands, we headed up to the local pub Moss Cottage, known as the Hogshead for an aperitif before returning to see the headliners Conflict, who formed in Eltham in South London in 1981. They were always combative souls and highlighted issues around animal rights, anarchism and class war. During their gigs in the 80’s in the particularly dark days of Thatcherism they regularly stoked up the crowd leading to riots and disturbances post-gig. Even 25 years on, they still cut an aggressive and spiky presence on stage.

Nottingham Venues 9 to 14

For my 50th Blog entry I return to Nottingham. While in attendance at my first Hockley Hustle on 17/06/07 I caught a couple of bands in Dogma. Hockley was a suburb in the centre of town with a swathe of venues within its boundaries. The venue was located on Byard Lane and had three floors with a main ground floor bar and a restaurant located upstairs. The music stage was in the nightclub setting downstairs.   

I have always found venues such as this metallic sparsely populated basement nightclub layout to be in stark contrast to a daytime gig, especially on a sunny June day.

I don’t recall the first band Arias Ashes, but the second band Dust Collectors were a peculiar seven piece infused with Victorian jazz influences.  

The venue closed in 2014 following a stabbing and reopened as a Tapas restaurant called Barasca.

Lee Rosy’s Tea Café was situated on Broad Street. As it was a little café its musical direction was strictly in the acoustic mode. I visited there twice, the first witnessing Ying and Herbidaceous in June 2007.

My other attendance was to see Alun Parry at the 2009 Hustle. He was a traditional folk singer with a social conscious streak in the mould of Woody Guthrie. He was also a community music festival organiser and resided in Liverpool.

The physical café closed in 2018 but the business is still alive and kicking as an online entity.

Nottingham Lee Rosy’s Tea Cafe. Image Credit Yell.

On my second Hustle in 2009, we visited Browns on the corner of Park Row and East Street Circus. It was a rather pretentious brasserie and a bar where the bands were playing. First up were Tasty Morsels with their melancholic keyboard tinged vibe.

We also witnessed Free Control and The Amber Herd. We only caught the final two tracks of the latter, but they had a promising presence about them complimented by lead singer Neil Beard’s soothing vocals. They were at that stage obtaining some decent support slots with The Delays and That Petrol Emotion and appear to be still active.

Escucha on Fletcher Gate was another plush late-night bar and we saw the five-piece Matt Chandler Band who sat strictly in the jazz mode and was a bit too sleepy loungecore for me. Matt Chandler was originally from Derby and appears to be quite renowned in his genre playing regular London gigs and working with luminaries such as Youth from Killing Joke and Polystyrene from X Ray Spex.  The venue now appears to be closed.

Situated right next to Broadway cinema on Broad Street is Shaw’s, a small tapas restaurant and bar. We saw a Nottingham soul singer called Natalie Duncan. A couple of years later she appeared on Jools Holland alongside Muse who she must have impressed to the extent that they asked her to appear in the support slot on their upcoming tour.

At the tail end of the 2009 Hustle we were heading back up Pelham Street towards the tram stop when we heard a cacophonous racket emanating from an upcoming shop doorway. We soon discovered it was the delightfully named local band Ocean Bottom Nightmare who were kicking up the racket in one of the oddest venues I have ever encountered. They were ensconced in a retail unit called 28 Barbers with props such as clippers and trimmers in view behind the drum kit. It was a bracing unusual end to the festival!

Nottingham 28 Barbers. Image Credit Local Data Company.