Obviously I’m still up the Marquee on 21st August 1978 for the ongoing ULTRAVOX! five night residency. Utter bliss. They’re supported by ANGLETRAX, a peculiar arty band.
On the 21st August 1992 I am at the Bull & gate for Tabitha Zu. No photos, weirdly.
The next year I am still there, marvelling at UK grunge at its finest courtesy of the redoubtable ANNA.
And so we wobble away over to Livejournal…
21ST August 2002
V/A ‘Songs Of Terror’ (Wreckage Productions)
Tony Lestat’s sleeve notes say, ‘Poe’s roots run deep into the soul of this dark adventure that we call the gothic world’ and with an album where songs are reputedly chosen for their relevance to certain indicated works by Poe I was expecting a certain mood, but that didn’t really happen.
What you get are tracks that stand out quite easily. Midnight Configuration’s ‘Decline And Fall’ with its light guitar razors scraped across grumpy synth stubble is one of these and Trev’s slightly pantomime vocals can’t distract from a beautifully turned tune. Desmo Donte brings fruity, hesitant vocals in a classical Goth tone to ‘Nevermore’, with a great chorus and you can sing along lustily it’s so good and Wreckage ‘s own ‘Come The Night’ is pleasantly juicy with a concise clean feel strangely reminiscent of Heave 17’s ‘Come Live With Me’
Elsewhere, Stone 588 are consistently impressive throughout ‘Momento Mori’ with a wounded rock feel and fluttering vocals that emanate intensity, as and Faith And The Muse dripping musical poison of a Brecht/Brel school of thought with ‘Through The Pale Door‘ which is exquisitely constructed.
The rest are all good, but fairly predictable. Immortalis Amor have particularly high quality vocals over a routine tune, Kommunity FK create deliciously demented vocals, Stun Gun have a wonderfully imaginative mix of styles, and Jennifer Hope’s conventional lament style is winsome. Cinemas Strange do a fine guitar tattoo over busy yelping and Cruciform are reliably springy but Fear Cult, Trance To The Sun and Ex-Voto are all fairly mundane.
As a representation of Poe I was disappointed that not one single track went for a slow stark approach, conveying an atmosphere of dread, as all got rather excitable and dramatic. On the upside, as a compilation to be judged against others this is far better than most with some very distinctive contributions.
http://www.wreckageproductions.com
Saturday, August 21st, 2004
BURNING BRITAIN: THE HISTORY OF UK PUNK 1980 – 1984 There has always been a great amount of snobbery involved with Punk, from the dilettante wankers of 76 who couldn’t possibly see anything exciting about ’77, to the fools who couldn’t se anything of genuine quality after about 1979, to the one-dimensional superiority complex enjoyed by Crass. In publishing circles this snobbery has mainly seen previous Punk books stick slavishly to expected names, as though the period when there were actually some ten times as many punks around was simply a vast mirage. Idiots.
IAN GLASPER
Cherry Red Books £14.99
ISBN 1-901447-24-3
To put together a book covering the 80’s activity, in this case five years, is such an enormous task when you think back and remember how easy it was to release and sell out an initial single way back then which led to hundreds of bands being around, but Ian Glasper has done it easily, creating a book rich in detail, which brings back memories, some amusing, some horrifying, and nothing better illustrated what different times those were than Gizz from the Destructors, about their gig supporting The Exploited at Brixton Academy. “There were over a thousand nazi skinheads in that crowd. We went on and they invaded the stage; they circled all of us, stole the microphone off Neil and stared ‘sieg heiling’ through the PA. There was a line of them standing like soldiers at the front, and a girl had her throat slit; it was a sad night, kind of signalling what Britain had come to, really.” Then things turned towards raves, and later Acid House sluiced the last remnants of shite out of the system. Kim from Action Pact once wrote an article about the last well known Punk venue, Skunks, and said the scene had effectively got what it deserved, in a darkened building smelling of piss. He was right. Punk died through it’s amazing lack of desire and artistic integrity, and the ease with which its political slogans could embraced by its various factions, as much as the bad drugs and squat living, the glue and the violence. Small wonder nobody outside of the punk and skins wanted anything to do with it, meaning there was virtually no crossover with the ever-increasing indie scene whatsoever. Punk was where the losers went. People without sufficient imagination to work out how better to put over political points, or those who enjoyed being closer to the gutter than humanity was intended for. But let’s ignore the audience. In the middle of it all were some great bands, inspired by earlier Punk waves. Ian has nearly all of them in here, and treats all with dignity, only offering discreet opinions here and there, usually on favourites of his. For this is a History book, and it’s fascinating to learn about so many bands whose only serious coverage before would have been in generic Punk fanzines, legion at the time and utterly forgettable, tending to replicate questions and erase all traces of individuality. I have learned more from this book alone about most of them than from any other sources. It’s also interesting, and quite touching, to hear so many of them reflecting on their past, as virtually none of them regret anything. Ian divides the bands into geographical zones of the UK, which struck me as odd initially, but it’s as good a way as any of avoiding a strict A-Z format, and he’s dug deep, unearthing four from Wales, two obvious choices from Northern Ireland, nine from Scotland and seventy-seven (o-ho-ho!) from England. A lof of the names will be very familiar to anyone who has a serious knowledge of Punk. Here you can watusi again with Abrasive Wheels, Action Pact, Angelic Upstarts, Anti-Pasti, Attak, Blitz, Dead Man’s Shadow, Discharge, GBH, Major Accident, Maus Maus, Newtown Neurotics, Peter & Test Tube Babies, The Adicts, The Defects, The Enemy, The Expelled, The Fits, The Outcasts, The Partisans, The Samples, The Varukers, Toy Dolls, UK Subs and Vice Squad. You get a resume, essentially, punctuated by lively quotes, a selective discography and notes of relevant re-releases, and a surprising amount of photos, considering most bands of the time were hopelessly disorganised in such matters. You might notice some names are missing, and that’s because Ian is tackling the Anarcho scene in a separate book next, which is brilliant news. I hope he may also do a Post-Punk book too, because he conveys his interest and details in a refreshingly open manner. The only thing I didn’t enjoy was the bizarre inclusion of fucking rubbish like The Gonads and 4-Skins who nobody sane ever considered even remotely Hardcore, and would be more rightly placed in as book about Oi (20 thick card covers pages, large print, free cover-mounted turd), including quotes from woeful grotesque, Garry Bushell. At least one of them sums up their substance. “When I think Oi, I immediately think The Gonads.”
There’s plenty of bands I had completely forgotten about, but the irony is that no matter how poor some were they were still selling more than ten times as many records as most UK Goth or Punk bands do today. Perhaps twenty times. And how could you possible forget such giants as Anti Nowhere League, Anti Social, Broken Bones, Chaos UK, Chaotic Dischord, Chron Gen, Cockney Rejects, Cult Maniax, Demob, Disorder, Drongoes For Europe, English Dogs, Erazerhead, Exploited, One Way System, Red Alert, Resistance 77, Screaming Dead, Skeptix, Special Duties, The Business, The Dark, The Destructors, The Wall, UK Dekay and Uproar And then there’s bands I have never heard of before. Ad Nauseam, Bayonet Babies But that isn’t all, because Ian also talks with the men behind the labels that mainly made the popularising of Punk possible - No Future, Riot City, Captain Oi!, Clay, Beat The System and covers the Holidays In The Sun retro festivals. It’s an exhausting experience as it deserves to be, for Not only has he plugged a massive gap in the publishing sector with this title, but he has justly given these bands their ‘official’ recognition and literary due. For that he is to be applauded and anybody who has ever claimed to be interested in Punk needs a copy of this. Not to get this would be Treason.
Cadaverous Clan, Criminal Justice, Dead Katts, Foreign Legion, Lunatic Fringe, Sensa Yuma, Septic Psychos, The Stench and Xtract
LILAC AMBUSH Now here’s an interesting record, masking a mental avalanche of confused identity. With their essential business card marked Dark Pop, their press release has the following written along the top: Darkwave – Futurepop – Goth – Industrial – Synthpop – Post-Punk, which hasn’t really left much out.
ARSENAL
Twisted Spinach
Spleen Ecq (excuse me?) and Mark Knudson create songs many people seem to think have Goth-pop tendencies from the 80’s, while deluded others mention Joy Division. Me? I’m counting shortcomings. ‘Radium’ highlights how light and quavery the voice is, often creating a nice mood but he can’t stand up to strenuous activity, so the music needs to be delicate too. The vocals pit themselves against some nicely gnarled guitar, and this works, with the vocals essentially drizzled over the harsher base. ‘Virtual’ also shows how cleverly they can accentuate the voice, having the music almost part to allow it come through, insisting, “No-one touches each other anymore.” However, with ‘Take Aim’ you see the reverse effect. With its great line, “ready, take aim and surprise me”, the impact is so much less than it might be with a sharper vocal. The track is also a loopy, hissy mess, just as ‘Buzzsaw (Through My World)’ is unnecessarily ungainly. When there’s depth to explore they hover somewhat uncertainly near the surface. ‘Hop A Train’ isn’t a great song, but the idea within it is so clean and simple they hold your attention completely, and ‘Sensation’ has a pattering rhythm beneath grey torment and a sweet turn into a dour chorus, which I think is placing them in dark territory. ‘Tension’ Embracing a dated pop approach seems pointless. It’s their other qualities which have potential.
http://www.lilacambush.com
Sunday, August 21st, 2005
As I begin working on dual issues of THE MICK simultaneously, this week’s reviews are to bring you the following:THE CARPETTES “The Carpettes”, MIRA “There I Go Daydreamer”, DCD TRIBUTE “Summoning Of The Muse” (Projekt), STRANGE BOUTIQUE “The Collection”, FADED SYMPATHY “Four Shadows”, THE EIGHTIES NYC SAMPLER (Vols 1 and 2) and VELCRA “Between Force And Fate”. There’s also a bunch of juicy 7” singles, albums by End Of Green and Xandria, plus a very exciting book/CD. This time I will be working on reviews of various things that I won’t be reviewing here, done for THE MICK alone, as well as showing some of the photos from Crete, delving into the amazing work, and world, of Lord Buckley, then there’s the small matter of a dozen interviews to be finished by the end of the month.
Busy, busy, busy ~ when not promenading as Darling Man, or personalising alleyways as Catman. (No time to sleep.)
August 21st, 2006
KINDRED SPIRITS The last of four high quality albums form M&A finds a bunch of noisy trad Goth bastards who are so relentlessly modern in attack tactics at times they’re determined browbeaters to a man! This is acceptable as well as commendable, which is more than can be said for their overall diligence. They have been going for ten years and this is their debut! It doesn’t start very encouragingly, with ‘Freakshow’ seemingly nothing more than a poorly advised Miguel & The Living Dead pastiche, with precocious little guitar action to test the overwrought playful vocals and some soft synth everywhere, but in ‘Coming’ they immediately make amends with a tough, orthodox Goth stance, punctilious flat rhythm, interestingly thorny synth as a secondary flutter and things are perking up. In ‘Down’ there’s a harder aspect still, boasting sharper vocals, boosting the brooding motion, were agitated guitar burns, all culminating in a brilliantly morose chorus where the vocal stand aghast at life’s woes. ‘Shadows’ is quite happy grimly glowing with a pretty, discreet synth backdrop, but throws you into rapture with a sweetly exposed guitar segment and an abrupt end. ‘Assimilation’ is the only dull mid-album, moment, vibrant enough but the vocals are dominant before some very sleep sounds. ‘Lost Souls’ has fabulous pure Goth guitar wending its way through a neatly installed slaughter feature where economical pleasing sub-Industrial strands wave casually. They encourage the darkness towards the end, like curtains around their creation, out of which the guitar leads one last blushing verse and the drum machinations bluster nails it down. ‘Fallen’ is pacey piece of harmless Goth warbling, with the sky tumbling towards the blissfully moaning singer, and ‘Smitten’ is dancey Goth but with no light empty-hearted gestures, simply bouncing instead of flailing, the vocals melodically precise, the guitar wirier and intensely active. ‘Search’ is huffily hectoring as the guitar roars louder, the synth jolts, and the rhythm stays desperate and nicely thin. ‘Now’ continues to gyrate on the spot with hairy bleepy strands around a rapidly imploding face and ‘Valediction’ is somehow uplifting for all the vocal disdain as the guitar bides its time over a semi-shuffling rhythm until they all shake and judder off in unison. ‘Changes’ sees a doubled guitar charge and smaller, diffident vocal tiptoeing, but ‘Save My Soul’ is odd. Why cover Red Lorry Yellow Lorry when you’ve waited for tern years to make your debut, and why Things seem to have a slightly outdated tone to them in Sweden if these CDs I have reviewed recently given any indication, but there’s no faulting either the attitude or ideas Kindred Spirits wield. I guess now they have passed this important stage of getting a record out they will exhibit all their own work next time, and it will be worth looking out for.
NO ROOM FOR LAUGHTER
M&a Musicart
http://www.kindred-spirits.tk
http://www.ma-musicart.se
August 21st 2007
BALLS! What I meant to add last night was that when you buy from Projekt mail order, not only do your records arrive virtually three minutes after you ordered them, you get a little newsletter thing. (You can also get a nifty $2 sampler when ordering over $25.) In this I learnt there’s a collaborative CD done by members of Rajna and Gor, by the name of Khvaerna, Sam Rosenthal himself has a ‘chilling’ ambient project, POD, there’s a compilation of the great Trance To The Sun called ‘Spiders, Aether & Rain’ and a band you might well be interested in if Slowdive ever tickled your fancies, in Tearwave.
http://myspace.com/trancetothesun
http://myspace.com/tearwave
http://myspace.com/aslonelyasdavebowman (scarily mentioning Phaedra, and Projekt have a Klaus Schulze record listed in their store: clearly, the world is getting weird!)
And at the end of this month there’s a Best Of from Black Tape For A Blue Girl.
http://www.projekt.com/projekt/lobby.asp - go get!
This create a comments conversation:
clivetiger
You not a fan of Klaus Schulze , then? Have you heard his ‘Irrlicht’ album? Seriously dark stuff - miles away from the new age crap he ended up doing later! And knocks seven bells out of all the ‘dark ambient synth’ rot we’re cursed with now!
mickmercer
When I was at school, and probably in the sixth form, around ‘74/’75, I saw an advert for one of the dirt cheap albums Virgin used to do, back in their mock-philanthropic phase. It was a Klaus thing where he had a quite that said people called him ‘rat brains’ and that got me interested so I bought it. No idea which one, but it didn’t entice me back. As a result of that however, by means I no longer remember, I bought an album called ‘Lord Of The Rings’ by some bloke called Bo Hansson and I still dig that out occasionally to play. He was like a lo-fi Rick Wakeman I later realised, making the mistake of buying his next album which was absolute dross, but that LOTR one is actually really good.
clivetiger
Your cover is blown and I’m spreading the word:
MICK LIKES PRO-OG! MICK LIKES PRO-OG!
But you’re quite right, sixth form is the correct and proper place for synth based krautrock. And LOTR is the only Bo Hansson album remotely worth bothering with.
Anyway, let’s pretend this conversation never took place!
mickmercer
I have never really encountered Prog, as apart from that Greenslade lot none of them ever had any energy which made me take notice of them, and then they always wore such hippy-plus clothes I hated them. The LOTR one clearly isn’t Prog, it’s too dignified.
One of the blokes who did Panache with me was mad about Punk, a diehard Ants fan, but his house was stuffed full of Prog and ‘Krautrock’ too, with all manner of obscure European stuff. His collection, which I bet he still has, must be worth a mint. ‘Anybody want to hear some Magma, Amon Duul, Can, Tangerine Dream (etc)?’ he would chirp, as we fled the house instantly. And they were the well known ones. Nothing he ever managed to ambush us with sounded remotely interesting.
I once got tricked into seeing Rick Wakeman when I had no idea what he was like. Someone gave me a ticket and said in a really earnest manner that they deeply regretted not being able to and that they envied me the experience. I fell for that one, and later found out they’d got the ticket free in the first place.
I did see Peter Hammil once, but that was solo, not all pomped up, and he was okay. A Man Dull, I guess.
doomtart
Yep, Projekt never ceases to rock my world.
August 21st, 2010
ESPEJOS MUERTOS
LA DANZA DE LOS PERDIDOS
Free download single
One juicy track from this fabulous band, there’s something really weird going on because as it grinds and unwinds the male/female vocal effect and sleazy guitar undertow reminds me of a lower octane Junior Manson Slags, and you probably know how good they were. This is great from the opening guitar wriggling and drum smashes to the invisible and sudden end.
It’s stays steady throughout but gyrates saucily with vocal guidance over the guitar motif, as the rhythm keeps to the linear formation and the vocals give you a catchy refrain that hangs on and on and…on. Brilliant stuff and free, so follow below.
http://www.mediafire.com/?8cmsjg3lmp84pke
Any flyers?
1989
Pitiful! Let us hope Facebook can make up for it.
21st August 2011
I completely forgot who our PM is today! I had to ask someone, ‘who’s the Tory tosser in charge?’ They looked at me as if I was mad and then went, “It’s...oh, hang on!” :) It must be a branding problem. Can we have him branded?
21 August 2012
I just found this again! Written for God knows what reason by me in 2003. Did someone ask me to do it? If so, why?!!!
I’ve got my ear to the ground,
but a bus on my head
The delicate essence,
Remains mine to be fed.
If the last ten and a half days,
not including today,
had remained incognito,
I can only say I’d have preferred
and demurred,
if only a bit,
And have no reason to pray.
God, when I think of the irony,
the hatred and scope,
it’s little wonder that Hermione
is unable to cope.
Am I bastard, or lawyer,
Mendelssohn, or Tom Sawyer?
or is there a talking version of goat?
Without fear of reprisal
Man becomes one with the beasts
He stands like an ostrich
who has friends in the police.
He trails his fingers through fish
and deep waters
but effortlessly drifts toward
A ring of bright slaughter
FREDWATCH August 21st 2012, 18.40pm. Frederick is unavailable for comment.
MACK and SUCHARDWATCH, 21st August 2012, 16.30p.m. Lynda is rehearsing for a show downstairs with friends, somewhat unnerving Suchard. He comes upstairs for the safety of the bed behind my computer, when what should he find!?! Even more confusing, Mack shows no signs whatsoever of moving.
LUCYWATCH August 21st 2012, 16.35p.m. That’s basically what she does with my pillow when I’m not around.
21 August 2014
I was posting a pic on my Hacks Files group when I realised it was taken on a weirdly distinctive old compact camera and I was hoping anyone knowledgeable about cameras might be able to identity it. It had a revolving housing on the front which contained two fixed lens, which I think were 35 and 70, or thereabouts, so you went from normal to much bigger with a simple twist. It was black with some red trim and I loved it, until it got nicked out of my jacket one night up the Bull & Gate. Any ideas?
21st August 2016
Event details of Steeplechase and Pole Vault still to pop up, but first...the Closing Ceremony video that Lynda has done. Sit back, and marvel at our world beaters!
21st August 2017
So we’re up the vet on Saturday getting Mabel’s diet food and diabetes syringes, where Lynda stayed in the car while I went in to pick up stuff. I come out and go to open the back door to plonk it all on the back seat. She’s locked the door. Normally she sees I’m the one trying to get in and unlocks straight away, so I try again. Nope. I try a third time and turn away, exasperated. In doing so I notice her in the car behind, watching me. “Are you laughing?” I demand. She’s too busy tittering to reply.
If you haven’t seen this before - and I’d completely missed it - it’s comedy gold. Pure gold!!!! https://www.facebook.com/manuskript.uk/videos/955908271171136/
21st August 2019
Some classic ADAM & THE ANTS, Moonlight club 1978. Barbe, Warren, Bivouac, Adam and even Jordan! I don’t have a date on my negatives, but I don’t recall them playing the Moonlight often, like they did the Marquee, so this may well be the gig that was bootlegged, on 31.7.78. Can anyone help clear up the mystery?
Barry Pease: Johna Johnson ?
Mick Mercer: Good call!
Johna Johnson: Mick Mercer off the top of my head i think they only played the Moonlight 4 times 8th April , 31st July , 1 August . 18th Dec all 78. The pics are from April because Jordan left the Ants after the Xray spex gig at the Roundhouse May 78
Mick Mercer: Johna - you, Sir, are a genius! Thank you so much. Love the way you say, ‘off the top of my head...’ and then proceed to give so much detail I’m surprised you didn’t include the time they went onstage, and the band’s combined weight. Cheers!
Johna Johnson: Mick Mercer I had an idea of the amount of times but not the dates so i had a quick look when i was halfway through writing my response
21 August 2020
Deepest condolences to Paula and family for having to say goodbye today to the lovely Venus (R.I.P.), who was our Mabel’s mum. (Venus is on the left in the photos, Mabel on the right.) Although born in Paula’s house Venus went on to belong to Lynda and Paula’s parents, until both of them passed away, whereupon Venus returned to Paula, where’s she’s spent a very happy, relaxing time. R.I.P. Miss Gorgeous.
Oooh, I’m up to 16th in the Mixcloud Indie chart, 19th in Punk, 20th in ‘Dark’ and 24th in Post-Punk. Give it a blast.
MICK MERCER RADIO Broadcast 188 - August 16th 2020
(And no, old Mixcloud links don’t work.)
Is there a way to get urls to show as an actual link on instagram or do people have to highlight them and click go to, or copy and paste? I’m doing it on a pc but I doubt that affects it.
Casper’s travelling One Cat Show is entitled Basket Case.
Good King Suchard’s first Performance Art piece is entitled Mainstream Media’s Reaction To Boris Johnson Having An Affair Despite Recently Becoming A Father Again.
DELE FADELE - R.I.P.
Mortified to learn that the great DELE FADELE has died of cancer in what I presume was his early fifties. A regular feature of my Facebook experience would be either me asking if anybody had seen him, or others coming to me to ask where he was, and no bugger ever knew. Chris Hayes was the last person I knew who’d spotted him at a gig some years back. And the reason people kept on asking was because they loved him so much.
Dele was fabulous company, a wonderfully witty writer, and a real music enthusiast. He had a mass of hair when he first stumbled into Zigzag, jeans barely held together by holes and the first thing he gave me to read was enough for me to ask him to write for us before I’d even got halfway through it. He had style, his own way of writing about things. Pretty soon he was off to the NME, where he bobbled along, as he seems to have done afterwards.
He was a very honest man and would tell you how he was doing, and his latest weird experiences. I can’t remember what he’d been on but one of my main memories is of him recounting walking home one night through Finsbury Park, and seeing the street open up and the devil emerge! He was laughing all the time he was telling me. In fact not so much merely laughing, but chuckling. He could chuckle.
He had a band, Welfare Heroine, which is where I got this photo, taken at the Marquee. No idea why that was his only musical venture. Maybe he didn’t like the attention? His superpower appeared to be an ability to melt into the shadows, a man of mystery, no-one knowing where he’d gone. And then there he’d be at gig, and it always lifted your spirits meeting him, he was just so interesting and fun to be around.
Hate to break it to you Dele, but they’ll frisk you before you get into Heaven. Take it easy, youngster. R.I.P.
21st August 2021
We’re in the Beehive, Redhill-ish, for a family meet-up, and there’s this cat. It actually lives two doors down but simply revels in the attention. As I type it’s been here six hours!
Molly the pub visitor now spark out, next to me on the sofa!
21st August 2022
Nah, I’ll pass.
21st August 2023
Keep the faith. They WILL catch on!
21st August 2025
ON THIS DAY ... in 1984 - the mysterious DRUNK ON CAKE, live!
20 photos from Brixton Fridge, supporting Flesh For Lulu at https://mickmercer.substack.com/.../on-this-day-in-1984... - free to subscribe.
So while Google AI refuses to believe this band exists here is what should count as considerable proof, the band supporting Flesh For Lulu at Brixton Fridge. Some instrument swapping going on and Karen, who ended up playing bass with Junior Manson Slags, is clearly the main vocalist up front and centre. But can anyone provide more details about the band? I’m all ears.
Well … shortly afterwards one of the band made contact!
Romy Gensale
Hi Mick, a friend of mine looked up my old band Drunk on Cake and found you - who’s also looking for the old band members. I’m Romy, the bass player.
I still play music. I began as a songwriter but now play guitar and sing cover songs for a living, although I still play my own material in small venues. I also have a band, playing my own stuff.
I’m not entirely sure what the others are up to now but I’m f.b friends with them all: drummer Sarah Panton, guitarist Bronwen Parks ne Parry, & keyboards Joan Dance ne Pick
It pays to ask around!
More tomorrow…
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