Tag: Snuff

Preston Venues 8 and 9

Just behind Preston prison, on Ribbleton Lane was the Preston TUC Club (also known as the Ribdale Club). It was a scruffy slightly battered venue with a decent sized gig room on the left-hand side of the building.

My first visit was in 1985 on a Thursday night with the band in question being the Food Scientists. They had some truly suspect barbecued beans with baked potatoes on sale which I really should not have purchased. The band were instantly forgettable and did a short set allowing me to jump on the 11.15 bus home.

My other visit was on another Thursday 10/12/87 to see Chumbawumba. Astonishingly there were five gigs on in Preston that night, a true tsunami of music and a feat possibly never repeated. They included Tank at the Guild Hall and Frank Sidebottom at London Road Labour Club, I cannot recall the other two events.

There was a group of us out and we also ran into Tony Dewhurst in the Greyhound prior to them going to the Frank Sidebottom gig. I headed to the other gig on my lonesome before catching up with John Dewhurst inside the venue.

We witnessed a couple of supports prior to the main band coming on at 10.30. This was prior to their ‘Tubthumping’ 15 minutes of fame period. There was about 10 of them in the band and they very interactive, anarchic and overtly political, creating a vibrant moshpit.

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Chumbawumba promo pic. Image Credit last.fm

They did one song in the style of Dylan’s ‘Subterranean Homesick Blues’ with the discarding of the placards and encored with an acapella version of ‘The Diggers’ for which Billy Bragg had previously performed a cover. They played about an hour set and were good fun overall.

Couple of years later I missed a Snuff gig there as I was recovering from a tonsillectomy. I can find no records there of any gigs into the 90’s so assuming the music part of the venue closed around then.

Down by the River (not the Neil Young track!) in Preston lie the linked Parks, Miller and Avenham Park. The latter has a natural bowl effect and we used to partake in the local tradition of rolling eggs down the hill on Easter Monday.  

Avenham Park on an Easter Monday (before my time!). Image Credit Blog Preston.

There used to be an old stage at the foot of the slope, which was utilised during the Preston Guild events which take place every 20 years (in place since 1179) and this venue was used extensively in the 1992 event. The stage has long now and there is a café and tourist information where it once stood.

I saw four different gigs there over the years. The first being a short impromptu one when traversing the park on the way to another gig in town after a couple of bevies in the Continental pub. This was on 31/05/92 and we caught a portion of Jools Holland and Rhythm and Blues band’s set.

I witnessed two local bands events, the first in July 2000 witnessing Lorane, Bridge and Cujo and the second was on 26/07/03 to see sets by Gotukola, Free Parking, Idiom Lifeline and Neocoma.   

Between 1994 and 1996 Gill and I lived on a flat off Fishergate Hill which was 5 minutes-walk from the park and remarkably a free Heineken Festival was scheduled to take place there.

We headed down on a Saturday in June 1994 and were chatting to a couple of friends whilst a young bunch of upstarts from South Manchester called Oasis were playing in the tent about 100 yards away – I can claim I heard them at least!

We now live within 5 minutes’ walk to where the Gallagher boys grew up and the record shop they frequented and my pal Marcus lives opposite the house where the Definitely Maybe album cover picture was taken

I am sure I saw more than one band that day but did not record the details so the only one I definitely clocked was a superb set from Boo Radleys. The fact that I could witness such a fine band for free on my doorstep was a rare boon. Their best track was ‘Lazarus’.  

The festival continued the following year but with a significantly more commercial slant with Spice Girls playing. I decided to swerve that one and reminisce on the previous year’s show!

I appreciate this is a first world problem, but today marks 100 days since my last gig, my longest gap between gigs since 1994. I am hoping and praying that all these venues, especially the smaller ones  survive the pandemic.

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!