Something strange happened the other day courtesy of this fellow and some tracks I downloaded from his site, but before I explain what you need some background.
I have a dream, if I win the lottery I am going to open a record(CD) shop and call it Seaside Rock, it will, of course, be by the seaside and it will specialize in rock music(naturally). The inside will be dark and the music will be organized in the most confusing manner possible, it will be organized by me. I will be rude and arrogant and keep a bloody big stick behind the counter, oh and I will always wear shades.
I have my own music categories that need sharing with the world but for that you will have to wait until I win the lottery or find some mental financial benefactor to support my crazy ideas.
The name comes not from the fact it is by the seaside even though that is important, but from a genre of music which I classify as seaside rock. When I say genre it is only such in my own imagination, it has nothing to do with style, sound or dress, it is more a state of mind, my mind.
The bands which I classify as seaside rock are: the Quireboys, the Almighty, Thunder, Little Angels, and Wolfsbane and (at a push) Gun; there may be others I have forgotten. These bands have little in common apart from the time frame I came across them, and even that is a tad tenuous. I thought it may be the association between them and Southend but if that was so then it should include other bands too, and some of these guys I’ve never seen let alone at Southend.
Like I said it’s a state of mind
Dogs D'amour were a band had heard of in the past, I had even considered buying records at one point but without knowing what they sounded like(we had no XFM or internet to find out, it was all word of mouth or taping) and money being short I had to pass on it. I think I missed out; they are a cracking seaside band and the first new seaside rock discovery since 1992. They have also crystallized in my mind what seaside rock is, it’s the Britishness (I nearly said Englishness then and some are Scottish), but not just the Britishness it’s the local Britishness they have.
I think given this new revelation I will have to listen carefully and find out if any other bands fit into this group, not pompous less rock just minipomp rock.
I may have to reorganize my fantasy record shop
Saturday, September 30, 2006
Sunday, September 24, 2006
The Humble T-shirt
The single most important item in the metallers wardrobe was and as far as I know still is the t-shirt(my daughter got a Green Day American Idiot t-shirt for Christmas), you may wear a shirt for special occasions, you will change jeans, leathers, spandex and god knows what else, you may wear baseball boots, docs, Para boots or clogs but you will always come back to the t-shirt.
My first heavy metal t-shirt came from a little shop in the galleries in Basildon’s Eastgate centre, we used to go in just to look at what we couldn’t afford. Sometime during the summer of ’89 I scraped together the money for a t-shirt, it probably only cost something like £5 but that was money better spent on cigarettes and newky brown. After many agonizing hours of deliberating over what print to get I decided on Stranger In A Strange Land by Iron Maiden(of course)
Yes the picture is of that very t-shirt and it must be over nearly eighteen years old(fuck me!), I cant throw it away its been with me longer than my wife, I have even worked with people younger than my t-shirt.
As you can see I still take my t-shirts quite seriously, as I type I am wearing a Pearl Jam t-shirt I bought at the gig I saw them at in 1992(I am desperate to find a replacement so I can frame this one, it’s the Alive one with the stick man design) and here’s a picture of the Little Angels t-shirt I bought when I saw them in ‘91.
My most recent tour shirt is New Model Army from 2003 and my most recent band shirt is a Ramones t-shirt that I got for my birthday last year from the kids.
I know im not the only one who keeps t-shirts well past their use by date and the person I’m referring to knows who he is, but it’s reassuring to know you are not the only nutter left behind after everybody else has grown up.
Friday, September 22, 2006
Blast from the past 1
Today I attempted to listen to three albums from ye dusty auld tape box, they were Whitesnake’s 1989 A Slip Of The Tongue, Bonfire’s 1991 Point Blank and Jon Bon Jovi’s 1990 Blaze Of Glory (a.k.a. BOG).
Being a lazy sod I started with Whitesnake and listened to side B first because I couldn’t be bothered to rewind it, I may have gone in to deep because I could only handle four tracks before I gave up, it was just so , well boring I suppose. It was one of those albums that I can never really remember listening to and now I know why, it wasn’t bad just boring, maybe it will improve with age.
Not a good start, I felt a bit guilty about not sticking the whole album out so this time I promised I would see it through, besides I can remember a time when I did listen to Point Blank, though I had no recollection of what it was like. Its difficult to put into words how the album made me feel, it definitely triggered some emotion though I don’t think its what the artists intended, it made me feel angry. Bonfire owes me 45 minutes of my life back, the bastards. It was fucking awful, not in a funny listening to a mates demo way, or awful in a camp over the top Tygertailz way, no it was lame awful. Claus Lessmann, you and me have got issues.
Blaze Of Glory was always a bit of a laughing stock, cowboy rock? Cowboy concept album? Whatever. Compared to Point Blank it was brilliant, maybe the album just needed seeing in the right context, it was a light relief, easy going and enjoyable as long as you don’t take it to seriously.
Next time I’ll take a bit more time picking who I will listen to. 
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
I was Ready
December 17th 1990, up until this point everything just seemed like preparation for what was to come. My hair was a satisfactory heavy metal length, I had the jacket, the t-shirt, the jeans, boots, belts, badges and accessories (rings, bracers etc), my ear was pierced and I was off to see Maiden play at Wembley. I felt I had reached heavy metal perfection.
I think there were four of us on that trip, Simon, Andy, Rob and myself. To be honest it was quite an uneventful night, with the exception of one little accident.
Anthrax was not at the top of any of our must see lists but we made sure we got there in time to see the whole show, these were the big boys, we didn’t want to miss anything. Our seats were to the rear left of the arena so our view was a tad limited (“is that somebody on the stage?”, “what stage?”) and the miserable marshals at the entrances would not let us take drinks into the seating area, so we necked as much JD as was coolly possible and made our (wobbly) way to the seats. Surprisingly(for me at the time) Anthrax were bloody brilliant, enough that we bought P.O.T. within the next few days, Iron Maiden played as well as they always seem to live, with Bruce Dickinson instructing us all to go buy Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter and stop Cliff Richard from taking the Christmas number one yet again (and we did it but the BBC still played Cliff as number one on top of the pops that Christmas).
A little incident brought home to me the quality of my singing voice, we’re at a heavy metal concert with thousands of smelly, beefy, long haired, unshaven metallers and their boyfriends singing along to Iron Maiden and somebody near shouts at me “shut the fuck up you can’t sing for shit” or something to that effect, well that told me.
Getting out of Wembley arena was also an experience, faced with epically long queue my friends and I decide it would be good idea to climb over the perimeter fence and take a short cut to the station. all goes well, no security yelling at us and we almost all over, I’m the last, as I reach the top I place my foot on the wire fence and swing my other leg over, the heel of my boot snags on the top and I topple over, a six foot drop straight on to my face in front of an audience of hundreds, man was I so embarrassed, not just my mates laughing at me but half the metal heads in London, I doubt if there is anyone else out there who remembers it but I do. Cut down in my moment of glory.
And my jacket did not even get scuffed.
I think there were four of us on that trip, Simon, Andy, Rob and myself. To be honest it was quite an uneventful night, with the exception of one little accident.
Anthrax was not at the top of any of our must see lists but we made sure we got there in time to see the whole show, these were the big boys, we didn’t want to miss anything. Our seats were to the rear left of the arena so our view was a tad limited (“is that somebody on the stage?”, “what stage?”) and the miserable marshals at the entrances would not let us take drinks into the seating area, so we necked as much JD as was coolly possible and made our (wobbly) way to the seats. Surprisingly(for me at the time) Anthrax were bloody brilliant, enough that we bought P.O.T. within the next few days, Iron Maiden played as well as they always seem to live, with Bruce Dickinson instructing us all to go buy Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter and stop Cliff Richard from taking the Christmas number one yet again (and we did it but the BBC still played Cliff as number one on top of the pops that Christmas).
A little incident brought home to me the quality of my singing voice, we’re at a heavy metal concert with thousands of smelly, beefy, long haired, unshaven metallers and their boyfriends singing along to Iron Maiden and somebody near shouts at me “shut the fuck up you can’t sing for shit” or something to that effect, well that told me.
Getting out of Wembley arena was also an experience, faced with epically long queue my friends and I decide it would be good idea to climb over the perimeter fence and take a short cut to the station. all goes well, no security yelling at us and we almost all over, I’m the last, as I reach the top I place my foot on the wire fence and swing my other leg over, the heel of my boot snags on the top and I topple over, a six foot drop straight on to my face in front of an audience of hundreds, man was I so embarrassed, not just my mates laughing at me but half the metal heads in London, I doubt if there is anyone else out there who remembers it but I do. Cut down in my moment of glory.
And my jacket did not even get scuffed.
Sunday, September 17, 2006
Rock Stars Who Should Be Dead
ATAE and I have come up with another list (we really should not be left alone together)
ROCK STAR ..............................PLOTLESSNESS.............. DEADNESS
All of the rolling stones.................................. 8/10 ...........................9/10
Keith Richards special*................................. 9/10 ..............already dead just doesn’t know it yet
Ozzie Osborne ...............................................10/10............................ 9/10
Lou Reed ..........................................................2/10 ..........................10/10
Iggy Pop ....................................................3+1*/10 ......................6+1*/10 *for dancing
David Bowie .....................................................1/10 .............................6/10
Axyl Rose .........................................................8/10 .............................5/10
The toxic twins (aerosmith) ...........................2/10 .........................9.5/10
Mick Fleetwood .............................................9.5/10 ............................5/10
Courtney Love .............................................1-10/10 ...........make up 3/10
...........................................................................................No make up 10/10
Bez ......................................................................11/10 .........................10/10
ROCK STAR ..............................PLOTLESSNESS.............. DEADNESS
All of the rolling stones.................................. 8/10 ...........................9/10
Keith Richards special*................................. 9/10 ..............already dead just doesn’t know it yet
Ozzie Osborne ...............................................10/10............................ 9/10
Lou Reed ..........................................................2/10 ..........................10/10
Iggy Pop ....................................................3+1*/10 ......................6+1*/10 *for dancing
David Bowie .....................................................1/10 .............................6/10
Axyl Rose .........................................................8/10 .............................5/10
The toxic twins (aerosmith) ...........................2/10 .........................9.5/10
Mick Fleetwood .............................................9.5/10 ............................5/10
Courtney Love .............................................1-10/10 ...........make up 3/10
...........................................................................................No make up 10/10
Bez ......................................................................11/10 .........................10/10
Friday, September 15, 2006
o.t.
Not quite following the theme but I don’t care, I have just bottled my first batch of home brew wine (its white, I picked up the wrong box). It’s drinkable straight off and it’s either quite strong or highly toxic, either way it’s effective.
True to form I have bodged everything, from buying the wrong kit to not being able to get the right bottles, my kitchen looks like a bootlegger’s backroom. I could only buy beer bottles and had to use whatever was lying around, eight bottles of prime….err…..ok so I haven’t named it yet, I was thinking maybe Johnny’ swine. Any suggestions?
Thursday, September 14, 2006
Did Nirvana change the world?
I’m currently reading a biography of Nirvana called (funnily enough) Nirvana by Jeremy Dean. I have already come to the conclusion the author is somewhat a twat but we’ll leave that subject for the time being. I’m up to 1992 and it poses this question: did Nirvana change the world?
1992 changed a lot for me, or I changed a lot in 1992, it seems I got a lot of stuff out of the way that year, my music tastes changed(slightly) the first incarnation of the band was created, I met my future wife, moved out, got arrested and the rest is my business so you can sod off.
We entered the year to the sounds of Metallica’s black album and Nirvana’s Nevermind, both classic and superb albums, the first gig I saw that year was Pearl Jam in a pub in Southend, the Manic Street Preachers released Generation Terrorists (only descent album in my opinion), I also discovered the Pixies, New Model Army, Levellers, Fields Of The Nephilim, Sisters Of Mercy, the Ramones and the Sex Pistols. It was a busy year. I also discovered the joys of …err …mm.
Live I also saw G’n’R supported by Faith No More(or was that the year before?)who were joined by Brian May on stage, Leatherface at the Marquee (arrested for fare evasion on the way to the gig), Lush supported by none other than Pulp (we heckled Jarvis of stage, it was another three years before we could appreciate him, well he did have a silly beard at the time) but the gig that really changed it all was New Model Army’s secret gig at the New Cross Venue.
It wasn’t apparent at the time but it started a love affair that is still on going, they are the only band I can say I have all their studio albums, have seen them four times, can stick it out in the mosh pit for the whole gig (despite being well into my thirties), have more than one t-shirt and at some point vandalized my leather jacket for them. All my children are named after Justin and I have changed my name to Army in honour of them (ok that bits a lie, my wife named them all after U2 albums). They really do rock, and they still come across as true to their message now as they did when I first discovered them, which is something special.
So 1992 changed my world but was that Nirvana? Or was it just the world changing anyway? There is no doubt about the influence Nevermind has had on music, tracks like Smells Like Teen Spirit and Come As You Are can still fill any dance floor, but so will Enter Sandman. Pearl Jam's Ten was in my opinion just as good but had a much lesser impact.
This needs a more in-depth debate methinks.
1992 changed a lot for me, or I changed a lot in 1992, it seems I got a lot of stuff out of the way that year, my music tastes changed(slightly) the first incarnation of the band was created, I met my future wife, moved out, got arrested and the rest is my business so you can sod off.
We entered the year to the sounds of Metallica’s black album and Nirvana’s Nevermind, both classic and superb albums, the first gig I saw that year was Pearl Jam in a pub in Southend, the Manic Street Preachers released Generation Terrorists (only descent album in my opinion), I also discovered the Pixies, New Model Army, Levellers, Fields Of The Nephilim, Sisters Of Mercy, the Ramones and the Sex Pistols. It was a busy year. I also discovered the joys of …err …mm.
Live I also saw G’n’R supported by Faith No More(or was that the year before?)who were joined by Brian May on stage, Leatherface at the Marquee (arrested for fare evasion on the way to the gig), Lush supported by none other than Pulp (we heckled Jarvis of stage, it was another three years before we could appreciate him, well he did have a silly beard at the time) but the gig that really changed it all was New Model Army’s secret gig at the New Cross Venue.
It wasn’t apparent at the time but it started a love affair that is still on going, they are the only band I can say I have all their studio albums, have seen them four times, can stick it out in the mosh pit for the whole gig (despite being well into my thirties), have more than one t-shirt and at some point vandalized my leather jacket for them. All my children are named after Justin and I have changed my name to Army in honour of them (ok that bits a lie, my wife named them all after U2 albums). They really do rock, and they still come across as true to their message now as they did when I first discovered them, which is something special.
So 1992 changed my world but was that Nirvana? Or was it just the world changing anyway? There is no doubt about the influence Nevermind has had on music, tracks like Smells Like Teen Spirit and Come As You Are can still fill any dance floor, but so will Enter Sandman. Pearl Jam's Ten was in my opinion just as good but had a much lesser impact.
This needs a more in-depth debate methinks.
the late discussions(i)
Today at work ATAE and I were discussing the relationship between Faith No More and the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, it seemed at the time they were the beginnings of a whole new metal genre, I remember the label Funk Metal being thrown about at some point in the early nineties but this didn’t seem to stick.
It must have been quite a small or short lived movement, the only participants being the afore mentioned bands plus Primus and Extreme (uurgh) and maybe Living Colour.
I much preferred Faith No More back then, and primus would come second, I never thought the Chilli Peppers would become as big as they have or produce such fantastic albums, my only complaint with Stadium Arcadium is that its so bloody long, why not cut out half the songs and release a super album then follow it up with sessions or additional material album like the Missions Grains Of Sand collection.
It must have been quite a small or short lived movement, the only participants being the afore mentioned bands plus Primus and Extreme (uurgh) and maybe Living Colour.
I much preferred Faith No More back then, and primus would come second, I never thought the Chilli Peppers would become as big as they have or produce such fantastic albums, my only complaint with Stadium Arcadium is that its so bloody long, why not cut out half the songs and release a super album then follow it up with sessions or additional material album like the Missions Grains Of Sand collection.
rock genres
In honour of those about to rock we have thought of some new styles to run along side the multitude of other incomprehensible sub genres of rock.
Sports Goth- Evanescence (gothic yet young and funky)
Wrong name rock- Incubus (sounds gothic, doesn’t sound gothic)
Seaside rock- see previous posts
Faker rock- rock by pop artists e.g. Robbie Williams & Mel C a.k.a. cunt rock not to be confused with flange rock
Simple rock- rock for non-rock fans e.g. Nickelback
Flange rock- L7, Hole, The Nymphs (anti-cock rock)
Forgotten rock- Krokus? Magnum?
Role Play Rock- Scorpion, Maiden, Neil Diamond a.k.a. geek metal
Training rock- Avril Lavigne, Sum 41
Pre School rock- Mcfly, Busted
Moaner Metal- H.I.M. (looks good, nice packaging mournful dirge)
with help form Andy "the ageing emo"
Sports Goth- Evanescence (gothic yet young and funky)
Wrong name rock- Incubus (sounds gothic, doesn’t sound gothic)
Seaside rock- see previous posts
Faker rock- rock by pop artists e.g. Robbie Williams & Mel C a.k.a. cunt rock not to be confused with flange rock
Simple rock- rock for non-rock fans e.g. Nickelback
Flange rock- L7, Hole, The Nymphs (anti-cock rock)
Forgotten rock- Krokus? Magnum?
Role Play Rock- Scorpion, Maiden, Neil Diamond a.k.a. geek metal
Training rock- Avril Lavigne, Sum 41
Pre School rock- Mcfly, Busted
Moaner Metal- H.I.M. (looks good, nice packaging mournful dirge)
with help form Andy "the ageing emo"
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