Tag: UK Subs

Gigs from Abroad Part 2 – Bremen

I have been fortunate to have a group of like-minded pals who for around 15 years as a group have had a weekend jaunt to different European cities. I have attended ten of these shindigs and they are a combination of a splash of culture and a large dollop of beer! They have thus far been mainly based in Germany, but we have also visited Holland, Belgium and Portugal.

My first trip was to the scenic city of Cologne with its gothic cathredral where we also visited the old capital of Bonn. My second sojourn was in January 2010 to Bremen in the North west of Germany. On arrival on the Thursday it was a short tram ride from the airport to our hotel opposite the Hauptbahnhof.     

That evening we headed out for a good sally to the bars in the University end of the City and found a terrific bar where they had a rarely sighted posted of Husker Du ‘Metal Circus’ and they also had a band advertised for the following evening, so plans were hatched for a return visit. Bremen also being the home of Becks beer, a brew that I find a bit metallic tasting at home was transformed in its home town environment. There were many variants, Haake Becks being my favourite.

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The rather fine Haake Becks. Image Credit canmusuem.com

It has become a tradition on these trips to partake a train trip on Day 2 to a nearby town and on this occasion, Bremerhaven was chosen, the location being a port city on the North Sea coast. The weather that weekend was biting and to arrive by the waters edge took this to a new glacial level, resulting in being possibly the coldest place I have ever visited. Tony Dewhurst pottered off to the local zoo where he said even the polar bear was trembling!  

We walked around shivering and after spying the rare sight of a C&A next to a Woolworths on the main shopping drag and visiting the submarine museum we went searching for an aperitif. This proved tricky as there was a dearth of bars, but we eventually located one near the station. The mein host was a tad miserable but we stacked the jukebox and had a couple of brews prior to heading back into Bremen.

Whilst heading to the gig that evening, we saw a poster advertising that the indefatigable UK Subs had played in a local venue the night before which we unaware of until that point in time!

I am not altogether sure what it called so it shall be known as The Eisen Bar. It was infinitely busier than the previous night and was packed to the rafters. The headline band were a local group called International Removals who were of the post-punk variety singing in English and produced a thoroughly enjoyable set. A google search informs me they are still in operation which gladdened me to see, and their recent output sounded good.   

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The Eisen Bar with the Husker Du ‘Metal Circus’ poster in the foreground. Image Credit Facebook

A central gathering point in German cities is the main Train station with trains running until very late. It is also a hub for food outlets, and we devoured some unwholesome snacks about 2am.

We were heading back to the hotel when one chap in the crew highlighted that he had seen an indie nighclub called ShagAll on the far side of the square, so we foolishly headed over to investigate. What an absolute gem of a place where the DJ playing a blinder and more Becks were supped, I recall Electric Six’s ‘Gay Bar’ being aired. This quality musical output resulting landing back at the digs at 4.50am!

5.5 hours later I was awoken by my roommate Dave Keane informing me we had to vacate the room by 11am. He was in fact incorrect as it was noon, thereby losing one hour of absolute golden slumber! Outside the hotel Bayern Munich fans were streaming past on their way to their Bundesliga match against Werder Bremen, who are coincidentally but unsurprisingly sponsored by Becks Brewery.

We mulched around town for a bit with stifling hangovers before heading to Paddys Pit, a subterranean Irish bar near the hotel. The reason for this alcoholic masochism was to watch PNE in a FA Cup tie v Chelsea.     

The first pint equated to the hair of a very vicious Rottweiler but worryingly I soon started to come around. We subsequently lost the match 2-0 and had some good-natured banter with locals who were in residence for the Bremen v Munich match immediately following our game.   

From there, we grabbed a taxi to the airport for the short flight back to Liverpool. We had pre-booked a taxi from a firm who turned out to be charlatans as they had not even departed from Preston by the time we had landed. When they eventually arrived, we remain convinced the driver had impaired version as he only very nearly avoided an incident at Switch Island!  

On arrival back in Preston we grabbed a sit-down curry in the Royal Piri Piri restaurant on East View on Deepdale Road, near the old Hollywood Bar and Stephenson Arms, before finally heading home for some desperately needed sleep!

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.