debs luvs kirris true xxx

We had a great night out on Friday at the tantric Jazz Cafe in Bristol. Two jugs of sangria went down very well!

We were there mainly to see our mate Paul Quinn play keyboards. He was in Kirris Rivere's Blues Band. Yeah, I now. Old fart music. But we shouldn't judge. It turned out to be great fun. Paul even played a few of the black notes.

Kirris is a fantastic singer, well out of place in a little jazz venue, but he's been in films, on stage and on the TV, so perhaps this is his way of connecting with ordinary folk. Or just chilling out.

If you get the chance see him live.

Rye in 1979

(All 19.2.1979)

The Ashford to Hastings line only just survived - it was slated for closure in the 1970s. It was a diesel outpost in a mainly electric area and retained much charm in the 70s.

30 years and one month ago there was snow on the ground as I visited the line from my home in West Sussex. I think at this time the whole ine was still double track, some singling has taken place since. At Appledore there was, and indeed still is, a long branch line to Dungeness nuclear power station. This once continued to New Romney with an interchange with the 15 inch gauge Romney Hythe and Dymchurch Railway. This line now of course gives East Sussex a direct link with the continent with a change at Ashford.

trains in the road - uk style

(All Weymouth Quay 14.8.1986)

In Switzerland, Germany, Austria and many other European countries, as well as the USA, street running is not that rare. But it was never commonplace in the UK. The most famous piece of street track here was the Weymouth Tramway, which saw regular trains connecting with the Channel Island ferries. Although this line still exists it no longer sees trains, and it hasn't for years. But there are always plans to run 'trams' on the route, though I suspect to be viable the route would need to be extended along the prom - the run through the back streets, apart from a short section near the terminus, is not particularly attractive.

But all this was a long way off in 1986. The spectacle of a class 33 pulling long trains through crowds of holidaymakers is not easily forgotten!

My first attempt at travelling on this route ended in failure when the jobsworth guard threw me off at Dorchester because my Southern Rover didn't cover this route. I did finally travel on the line on a special, and I think I did it one more time before the line closed. But this was one line which was better watched from the lineside rather than from the train ...

rustington 1986

This was the sort of regular traffic you'd have seen if you'd hung your head over the bridge in Rustington (Sussex) in the 1980s. It's all changed now! Top shot is of a class 33 with the Cardiff train, this consisted of 5 mark one coaches, compartments, the lot. It was replaced in the 90s by a 2 car Sprinter - an absolute nightmare on what could be a 3 or 4 hour journey!

Second shot is of a 4 car electric in the short lived NSE 'Jaffa Cake' livery, which was far too smart to survive. This could be seen for just a few years and was quickly replaced by a bland red, white and blue.

Shot 3 is of a class 73 electro-diesel running light, with the large logo livery.

Bottom shot is of the classic everyday blue and white slam door electric which could be seen all over the south, once commonplace and now history.

hymeks on the S&D

I'm very much a fan of the S&D - in fact I've given 3 years of my life helping to get it restored!

These are shots via Jeffery Grayer's book of Hymeks at work on the line (mainly demolishing it!) in 1967 and 1968. Diesels never worked regular trains on the S&D, it was the last steam worked line on the Western Region.

To my mind the S&D was the best line in the UK. It ran through superb scenery throughout, it had a huge variety of locomotives and trains, and a real family atmosphere.

It's now being reopened in places, but at last there is a group that wants to rebuild the whole route. It's about time!

back on the streets

Was it really five months ago that we saw Enter Shikari in Cardiff and five months since we've posted on this site? Yet still the visits increase, and you fuckers are making me feel guilty.

So what are Trin and Brassey up to? Well we missed Bonde do Role in December as I was feeling unwell. Stupid really, as they've now broken up. We've been trying to get into some new music but there doesn't seem to be much around! So it's been World music, jazz, rave and classical mainly. We've got a disco this weekend - private kids' party. Hopefully we'll see the Rev again soon.

We did catch some nice Hungarian folk music and dancing in Budapest in December but nothing in Prague.

Oh, and we went to a ceilidh on Sunday (above). The music was great but the dancing looked exhausting. Luckily it was all doctors and nurses and if anyone had collapsed help would have been close at hand.

eneter shikari cardiff 31.10.07

The world is divided into two groups - those that have seen Enter Shikari live and those that haven't.

We joined the important group on Wednesday. Hallowe'en, Samhain, the most important night in the Pagan calendar. And we crossed over the bridge to Wales to see them. I've seen loads of groups. From Geordie through The Police and UB40, New Order, Pulp, Mumm-Ra, Plan B - 30+ years of fun and excitement (and crap). But Shikari topped them all. The energy put out and returned in the 100 minutes they were playing was like nothing I've ever seen before. Their music is the savage but beautiful child of Rachmaninov powered by the beats of a Stewart Copeland on industrial strength Metformin and presided over by a cool and literate clone of Jools Holland. And latching on to the energy of the best club night you've ever been to. The scary thing was that we were by far and away the oldest people there - in fact we seemed a good ten to fifteen years older than the PARENTS that were waiting outside to pick up their kids from the show. What's that about? Why weren't there hordes of people in their 40s, 50s, 60s and 70s there? They need energising like everybody else, possibly more so. Some of the kids couldn't handle the terminal moshing down at the front, and were being dragged out every few minutes.

Shikari's trick is that they blend the most monstrous vocals (sometimes) with the most elaborate music, then switch to Rou's 'listen Mum, I CAN sing' voice that beats Boyzone and Westlife at their own game. This switching, from the ridiculous to the sublime, creates the most powerful breaks that send the crowd wild. The songs are driven by powerful drums, bass and guitar, multi-layer Rachmaninov-style complexity coupled with some of the most clever hooks around. These are real songs and the whole band are natural performers, there's no irony or posing here.

Well, there is, but it's smart! Like turning up dressed as the Furies from the brilliant 70s classic film The Warriors, complete with face paint and baseball bats, or slipping in 'Insomnia' just when the crowd were at their most perceptive (and didn't they do it well!!), or giving us 3 minutes of formless and gut-mashing drum 'n' bass before the brilliant encore of 'Sorry You're Not a Winner' and 'OK, Time for Plan B' (cleverly referencing both one of the best films and best acts of our time!)

Loved it. Lads, you're welcome to visit Hartcliffe at any time!!

reverend bristol 2007

On Tuesday we went to see Reverend and the Makers at the Carling Academy at Bristol. Now the Carling sound may be as flat and lukewarm as their beer, but the Rev cut through all that to put on a brilliant show! Interestingly just before the show started, whilst the Ting Tings were on stage, the Rev and a few of the band stood next to us and watched them. It's a strange experience being so close to genius, but the Rev seemed to handle it well.

There are seven on stage, two percussionists, two keyboardists, bass, guitar and the Rev. So you get a really full, groove driven sound to highlight his amazing voice. The songs are about real stuff, dropping Etam, council estates, babies, all the usual material. With me music has to pass the Hartcliffe Test - be relevant, cool and sound good loud with the windows down on a Friday or Saturday evening. This does!

Support band were the Ting Tings, who seem to get more publicity than almost anyone else around at the moment. Singer Katie is an ex-girl band type, but seems to have found her forte with this new two piece. And it was a nice touch when the Rev invited the Ting Tings on stage for a final rousing 'He Said he Loved Me' which has to be about the best 3 minutes of live music I've ever seen!

So catch the Rev if you can whilst they're still fresh and hungry. Although I suspect they'll be around for years.

Next night out - Enter Shikari, Hallowe'en, Cardiff!

gone to uni?

"she goes away today
and he gives her a photo to help her remember
History of Art BA
it's alright cos she's back in late november

but he knows not of who she's been mixing
by christmas she's lying no calling she tricks him

So he goes up to stay
and he don't like her friends, and he hadn't heard of Nietzche
She's seems so far away
the distance is further each time he meets her

"who's the bloke on the wall next to ringo and paul?
is he some f**k expert on guerrila war?"

Open Your Window
Won't you let her out
wave goodbye to the butterfly
she's the one you can't live without

Open Your Window
won't you set her free
where you are tell me where she's at
and all the places she wants to be

He thinks they've grown apart
she uses big words like surreal and genre
and i know it breaks his heart
There's thousands of fellas just like it before ya

"who's the bloke on the wall next to ringo and paul?"
"It's Che she say's have ya seen him before"

Open Your Window
Won't you let her out
wave goodbye to the butterfly
she's the one you can't live without

Open Your Window
won't you set her free
where you are tell me where she's at
and the place she wants to be

we'll be together in the springtime"

The Reverend and The Makers (2007)

Enjoy it. Be Yourself. Don't follow the crowd. Live.
Tx

kylie krap

So Local radio forced me to listen to Kylie's comeback single today. They had people ringing up and texting in whether they actually liked it or not.
It's going to be a hit with the old sympathy vote no doubt. But it was a vile replica of a Gwen Stefani, Alison Goldfrapp Hybrid.
Pop music really riles me ATM. I used to like some pop. It was easy throwaway and fun, but just lately it's plain tedious.
As for my local GWR radio station, well they have one of the worse DJ's (behind Chris Moyles) I have ever heard. He actually thinks the Maroon 5 single is the single of the year... I cannot believe that man has a job in music.
Hmmm I HAVE to listen to him to get the damn traffic reports, Bristol really is a bad place to drive in.
Who are we listening to ATM then?
The Reverend and The Makers "The State of Things"
Timbaland "Shock Value"
And a mammoth portion of The Klaxons... I can't get enough of those weird silver lovely boys......
X

through hartcliffe with the rev

Home made video at its best - a trip through the lovely suburb (really a small village) of Hartcliffe in south Bristol accompanied by Reverend and the Makers' superb Heavyweight Champion of the World, a song all you pathetic teenagers with your ambitions to be hairdressers, car mechanics or city traders should absorb through every pore of your bodies.

I'm 51 and every word of this song is TRUE! The rest is all propaganda ...

stairlift to heaven

So 70s perm posers Led Zeppelin are doing a one-off gig - and they've sold a ticket!

Oh dear. It's quite disturbing to think that out there somewhere there is some sad old git that's still willing to fork out the £3.50 to see these sleep inducing dinosaurs. One of them is even officially DEAD!

Get this, Led Zeppelin were NEVER cool, even in the 70s when tight perms and tighter trousers were still legal. Their music was utter CRAP right from the beginning, and just got worse. They represented everything that was terrible about the 70s - progressive music, racism, IRA tank tops, no cash, no future ...

Whilst the rest of us struggled to scrape a living these talentless toffs churned out 'music' that could send a Pennie of the Automatic to sleep.

So let's wish Zeppelin and their fan a great evening of turgid sentimental posing. I shall see instead Enter Shikari, Bonde do Role and Reverend and the Makers.

revenge of gaia

Most amateurs tend to wreck their videos with TOTALLY inappropriate music - normally some mindless bit of uncool US soft rock with anything that uses energy (skiing, surfing etc) - all it does is sap the energy out of it!

This is better. Only the Prodigy (Climbatize) but it really works with these images of hapless Americans getting their comeuppance as the climate fights back.

Enjoy ...

Somerset and Dorset Line Trip

bow to the Rev

Our new fav band, not exactly new having been around for ever but seems it's the Rev's timetopreach to the unconverted. Check them out soon. We got tickets to see them in Bristol soon. Can't wait.
(ps also seeing Enter Shakari and Bonde Do Role too.... 3 holidays and 3 bands. Life is great)

"And now...

That shes older
As the embers of romance
Fade to mortgages and leccy bills
Been comfortable and that
Nobody told her
That she'd ever reach the stage
Where her husband bored her
Or she lied about her age

He's compromising
At least he's got a job for life
Get born, get school, get job, get car
Pay tax and find a wife
And on that note
The end can't come too soon
If you're not living on the edge
You take up too much room

I could've been a contender
I could've been a someone
Caught up in the rat race
And feeling like a no-one
Could've been me in the papers
With the money and the girls
I could've been The Heavyweight Champion of the World

At school he used to dream about
Being Bruce Lee
But the need for chops on the Manor Top
Aint all that great you see
And so he gave up
On his black belt and first Dan
As near as he got to China
Was a week in Camber sands

I could've been a contender
I could've been a someone
Caught up in the rat race
And feeling like a no-one
Could've been me in the papers
With the money and the girls
I could've been The Heavyweight Champion of the World

I could've been a contender
I could've been a someone
Caught up in the rat race
And feeling like a no-one
Could've been me in the papers
With the money and the girls
I could've been The Heavyweight Champion of the World

It's boring it's boring
It might put you to sleep
As the same old routine repeating week after week
And you work harder, work harder
You're told that you must
And you must earn a living
You must earn a crust

To be like everybody else
Be like everybody else
Be like everybody else
Just be like everybody else
Be like everybody else
Just be like everybody else"

(Reverend and the Makers 2007
"Heavyweight Champion of the world" )

Album out 19th September 2007

fopp flops

Went into Bristol today to spend loads of cash in Fopp and found it closed. A quick check on the Internet on our return reveals its gone into receivership - 105 stores throughout the UK. Their employees didn't even get paid for the last month.

All in all a great shame as Fopp always had a nice range of stuff, including cheap popular material and some more unusual things.

But then like everyone else we also buy from the Internet and download. Things change ...

looking down

looking down
Originally uploaded by trinitypk

"Light touch my hand, in a dream of Golden Skans, from now on.
You can forget our future plans.
Night touch my hand with the turning Golden Skans,
From the night and the light, all plans are golden in your hand.

Set sail from sense, bring all her young.
Set sail from where we once begun.
While we wait, while we wait.

A hall of records, or numbers, or spaces still undone.
Ruins, or relics, disciples and the young.
A hall of records, or numbers, or spaces still undone.
Ruins, or relics, disciples and the young.

Light touch my hand, in a dream of Golden Skans, from now on.
You can forget our future plans.
Night touch my hand with the turning Golden Skans,
From the night and the light, all plans are golden in your hand"

.
Klaxons
Golden Skans
(2007)

charmaine

Watch More Videos Uploaded by likkle-x-sqweekz.bebo.com

suddenly ...

Suddenly the disco work's reappearing! We've got a 17th birthday bash at the Hartcliffe Community Centre tomorrow, then in a couple of weeks time will be doing the barbie at the stunning Midsomer Norton South station catering coach with a patio disco. Imagine, Enter Shikari, flashing lights and a warm breeze as the sun sets over the station. It's FREE by the way, so you've no excuse for not coming. There'll also be a patio bar with real alcohol ...

Paint It As Black As U like B

"Suzanne takes you down to her place near the river
You can hear the boats go by
You can spend the night beside her"

(Plan B), Leonard Cohen 2007
The best place to listen to new music is the car. If the tracks are worthy it doesn't take long until it permeates the mind and soul and makes a permanent imprint.
Plan B's bootleg album 'Paint It Blacker' needs few plays to infiltrate the mind so you wake up at 3am with it whirling round your head like some crazy fucker.

I first heard Suzanne at his gig in Bristol in February. B said Leonard Cohen wouldn't like it. It's very very black. B's usual bitingly good lyrics played over that sprawling unusual voice of Cohen make for the most moreish listening.
The story of the attractive Hooker Suzanne being picked up by the serial killer and her murder is pure horror. Fuck off Zone Horror this is scary stuff.

"Slice slice slice
chop chop chop
Suzanne's begging him to stop"

And her screams as he cuts off her limbs and head makes for difficult listening. The hairs go up on the back of my neck but like some horrific movie it's impossible not to want to hear more.
Fuck it, B this really is fucking clever.
The Paint it blacker CD contains gems at every turn.
"Happy as Larry" with the tale of the Paedophile and the dead child with her knickers wrapped round her neck is so repulsive but so real. B seems to be able to portray the true horror of these real life things. In the end the paedo gets murdered but he wasn't saying that was how it should happen. B has this way of saying something and making you think "Was that right? Should that happen?"
When you've been to his gigs and seen how many kidz love him you realise what a spokesperson he is for them. I truly believe the bloke is a genius. He makes you think.
The lead Track with the catchy Rolling Stones Piece "Paint it Blacker" is the best rap I have heard ever. How many of you out there have ever felt that the world is too full. Too full of everything? Listen to the track. The lyrics will explain.
He's a story teller, he's a spokesperson for this generation. He's talented and he's in your face right NOW.
When your kid come to you and asks for The Fray on his I-Pod, you KNOW it's time to take them on a 4 hour car journey and play B non stop. Kids need him.
Who needs actions when you got words? No-one.

at last

The long awaited Mumm-Ra album has finally hit the shelves. Great throughout, naturally. The boys have done Sussex proud! Up till now famous only for The Piranhas, Keane (ugh..) and The Kooks, we've now added Mumm-Ra to our roll call.

Best song is still 'Out of the Question', in fact it's one of those pop classics that come round every five years or so, in the tradition of 'It's All Over Now' Rolling Stones, 'If there is Something' Roxy Music, 'Don't Fear the Reaper' Blue Oyster Cult, 'God Save the Queen' Sex Pistols, 'Teenage Kicks' Undertones, 'Transmission' Joy Division, 'Rescue' Echo and the Bunnymen, 'Disco 2000' Pulp, 'Don't Look Back in Anger' Oasis and 'I Predict a Riot' Kaiser Chiefs. Era-defining music, even if only for a summer!

But what Sussex still hasn't produced is a working class band. It probably never will - we were always more into fighting, knives, drugs and guns than serious stuff like music!

tracks and tracks

Some shots taken around the Southern Region back in the 1970s.

Music's coming back on the agenda, never fear! Digitalising 12,000 photos is going to be a big job, and to relax I try to do a bit of DJing, even if mainly at home. We've got bookings coming up as well. And a brand new stereo with MP3 and Bluetooth for the car. Now we're just waiting for the new Mumm-Ra album ...

cool or not - I'm confused

Yeah, I know - Dad Rock time! But you know me better. Dontcha? Firstly I see Trin's Beatles keyring. Is she being ironic or what? I HATE the Beatles - talentless middle-class trossers who were uncool even in the sixties. It was them versus the Stones - talented middle-class trossers who were cool for a while. They had that acned hackneyed ASBO look that actually frightened people forty years ago. But Mick was an economist with a degree from the LSE - which is cool by anybody's standards. And Johnny Depp based his pirate of the Caribbean on Keith Richards, the terminally uncool smoker who climbs trees for a day job. I'm still confused.

Then they go and cancel a gig in Serbia because the noise will disturb 300 horses. That is cool by anybody's standards. Not the group that Swissies raved over in the 80s 'cos they thought they were cool - sick making. One of the Swissie returnees gave me and Mad Mike a lift from Vevey to Villeneuve and assaulted my ears with tales of the wonderful Stones - we'd just come back from a Pogues open air gig in Nyon. More confusion.

Now music god Plan B's gone and issued a bootleg featuring the same fellows, Paint it Blacker. And it's fun. But then I loved Paint it Black, Jumping Jack Flash and All Over Now (centuries ago in another life).

Further brain problems and cool/uncool dichotomies as I progress through the album - Radiohead's next. Now I doubt even B could make them fuckers cool!

Music's great!

bringing tross back more like...

We need more discos. I'm getting all rusty and impatient. In August we have a seventies and eighties disco challenge to do. How to stick purely to 70's and 80's and still be cool? It WILL be possible.
Meanwhile we have Beyonce and Shakira heading the charts with a pretty dreadful track. I did hear a remix that was a bit more promising but still dire. Manic Street Preachers are making a semi comeback with Dad Rock 2007. I still think they used to be lyrically brilliant but they had their day. Why don't people just give up when their time is over.... that's you too Bryan Ferry. Load of tross with your Bob Dylan covers.
But the worse for me is the very disappointing Arctic Monkeys 2nd album. I saw them on Jools Holland the other night. Every one was raving about them but every track sounded just like the first album. No new sound or spark there at all. Very drab.
Maybe it's me. I haven't exactly been thrilled with many second albums this year. Kaiser Chiefs, Razorlight, Keane all total tross.
And if I hear 'I want to have your babies' one more time there will be infanticide....

sob...mumm-ra

We got tix to see Mumm-Ra at the Thekla tomorrow but we'd also booked to go on holiday... so on holiday we go... I'll miss you Mumm-Ra. I love Mumm-Ra... *sob*
I also think it's the very last time to see this fantastically talented and fun band in such a small venue. With their new single out Monday (She's got you High) and the Album 'These Things Move In Threes' on 28th May plus the very successful NME awards tour with The Automatic and The View. The fact that 'She's Got You High' is the NME's song of the week and the track being the soundtrack to the new HSBC advert will push them skyward to bigger audiences.
And who is bigger than the shopping giant Asda? Whilst perusing the bunion plasters for dear Brassey, who should be playing over the supermarket tannoy? None other than Mumm-ra themselves. Amazing and made my day. Even made me forget his fungal foot relief. The joys of being a DJ partner.
My tip for 2007 is of course Mumm-ra and NOT that fucking Maroon 5 group as hotly tipped by the GWR so called DJ wanker this week. Song of the year? Get a life and some musical taste idiot.

sorry

Yeah, I know ... we've been really quiet on the tracks and tracks site lately. That's because we haven't had a chance to do much DJing or going to gigs lately. Bloody railways' fault mainly, plus a holiday or two.

I'm digitalising my photo collection going back 36 years! This is one of the better ones I've dug up - the original is faded, badly lit and lacks punch. A bit of cropping, fiddling about and generally being creative on Picasa has changed all that. This is a nice shot now, practically publishing quality. (It's 33 104 at Brookwood, 8.8.77 by the way).

see us at the club patio

"if you see us in the club we'll be acting real nice
if you see us on the floor you'll be watchin all night
we ain't here to hurt nobody
so give it to me give it to me give it to me
wanna see you work your body
so give it to me give it to me give it to me"

Timbaland JT Nelly Furtado (2007)

Seems everything Timbaland touches turns to gold. I can't get this track out of my head... it sat in there all night clubbing it. Damn you Timb!!
I'm sure I'll be playing it this weekend though. We're booked to play the grand opening of the Midsomer Norton S&D patio. Seems the weather will be hot and the company will be scorching and as for the food............
There's going to be quite the mix of ages. Now just because people are old doesn't mean they have to like uncool music but seeing Brassey's dad goes pale at the thought of a Snow Patrol Album we might have a problem.

in search of entertainment

Another Friday trip to the local Commie centre.... yeah for a pint of Guinness and check out the local competition. We were worried it would be Barrie's saga tunes again... as 'apparently' he gets booked once a month. But we were rather cheered to find a different DJ set up on the stage. This one didn't talk even once.... no vocals at all. His lighting set was OK but as for the blocks of colour that fronted the stage? Well, all they did was make him totally inaccessible.
But the main thing for me is of course the music.
It started off with an extremely bad warm up mix of songs I'd heard maybe once many years ago. Instantly forgettable and totally undanceable.
The room started to fill slowly. Some people came to the door and walked away. Obviously not drawn in by the insipid music mix.
We sat there and misery filled my head. I'd left my job yesterday. I wanted an hour out to forget stuff. Nothing he played inspired or lifted me at all.
Then as if it couldn't get worse he played FUCKING RONAN KEATING. I thought I was going to vomit. Suddenly the drink tasted like shit. The smoky room felt oppressive and everyone looked totally miserable.
I wanted to go.... we stayed... could it get worse?
Yep, the next track was Atomic Kitten.
We left.
Today I've been cleansing my ears with our mix of Enter Shakiri, Akon, JT, Coolio, the lovely Fedde and The Gossip... BTW the new track is excellent. Total Danceability.
Thank you world for Beth

"Now listen UP!
oooooo on the playground! x2
you learn so much now listen up!
now gather 'round now listen up!
now gather round now
1, 2 ,3 take it from me,
3, 4 so much trouble in store
4, 5 get it right,the first time
(o!)
count it with me now!
1, 2 ,3 take it from me,
3, 4 so much trouble in store
4, 5 get it right,the first time
(o!)
count it with me now!"

"Listen Up" (The Gossip 2007)

dance lesson no 1

For all of those who think you need a handbag to dance around, or who think James Blunt has something to say, or that it's legal to play Status Quo at a disco - get your gnashers around this! Joy Division 1979 Manchester, just look at Ian's dancing ... makes Margot Fonteyn look like she's got three left feet or a huge septic growth on her uterus.

thomas and friends as the young ones

Remember the Young Ones? Rik Mayall and crowd looking young and clueless. This used to be cult stuff. Thomas still is ...

enter shikari explained

Sorry, you're not a winner with cartoon interpretation.

we meld ...

It had to happen. The worlds of cutting-edge music and railway enthusiasm HAVE to merge ... even if we're not quite there yet. But this is a step on the way. What next - Enter Shikari over Ivo Peters' S&D volume one? We can but dream ...

enter shikari - the real vid for anything can happen ...

This has been elusive (and STILL doesn't come up on an 'Enter Shikari' search) but here's the official vid for Anything Can Happen in the Next Half Hour. Enjoy ...

got a feeling these are going to be big!!

This is the only clip on Youtube of Enter Shikari. You saw it here first. Album straight in at 5. They're going to be the band of the summer. Check 'em out ...

plan b interacts with the mitchell brothers

Here's B doing a cover of the Mitchell Brothers finest song, Harvey Nicks.

Bastards

Why would anyone want to hurt a sweet little train? What is the world coming to? First some so called animal lover wants to kill a sweet little lovable polar bear cub.
Then a gang of ruffians vandalise a harmless train...OK so it had Ron Weasley sat in it at some point but to smash 200 windows with hammers?
There must be some really bad undercurrent of Harry Potter rage out there somewhere.
Fuckers.

I'm not okay
I'm not okay
Well, I'm not okay
I'm not o-fucking-kay
I'm not okay
I'm not okay

MCR 2007


Gratuitous picture of baby Knut

DJ Munster

We had the pleasure of attending a special ball Saturday night on the fabulous SS Great Britain in Bristol Docks.
Everyone was dressed up, spirits were high and the champagne flowed rather nicely... we were enjoying it UNTIL we met the disco.
The DJ's set up was rather like our own. A CD mixer and bxes of cd's. His lights were OK, effective.
Immediately we entered the disco he left... buggered off for 20 minutes and left a vile CD on. I checked out his unimpressive music collection.
He returned, and started his set. Back to back Michael Jackson and some of the most uninspiring music ever. I asked for the Arctic Monkeys. He said he hadn't been able to get that CD... a bit obscure! WHAT!
The dance floor being packed was nothing to do with his skills, rather a crate load of champagne and drunk nurses who'd have danced to Val Doonigan.
What's the point mate? You don't like music,you have no knowledge, you can't mix. Give it up.

how's this for road-rail integration?

This is the famous Mollibahn in eastern Germany. The most interesting feature is the mile or so of street running in Bad Doberan with long steam hauled trains a feature twice every hour. If you get the chance go there!

somerset and dorset update

Overall view of the station.



The Chilcompton extension takes the line out into real countryside at last!



The signalbox is now almost complete - recreated from rubble in under two years.

It's been a while since the S&D's featured on these pages, so here are a few recent views showing progress at the site. Come and visit us any Sunday or Monday - shop and catering coach open on site. Our website has also made huge progress lately!

CSS video - death from above

Yes!! CSS, video, best song, enjoy ...

b and killa kela - together!

Yes, found this on youtube! Plan B and Killa Kela together! B did this on his own at Bristol in February. This is live in Norwich in Valentines Day 2007.

attwenger - live and kicking!

This youtube thing's brilliant! Here's an excellent live recording of Attwenger at their trad/hip-hop fusion best!

mumm-ra's home video

Here you go - Mumm-Ra's very own home video telling you all you need to know - and more - about Bexhill-on-Sea.

wow!

Friday night was disco night at Hartcliffe Community Centre.

It actually seemed quite promising when we got in. A nice restrained light show covering the floor and the first three songs were good - from the last year or so.

It seemed that Barrie's Saga Show was an aberration and that booking policies at the HCC had improved enormously.

So me and Trin took to the floor. I'm developing a hip-hop/Ian Curtis hybrid dance so I tried it out.

And then ... some tosser takes to the mike IN THE MIDDLE OF A SONG and on a moving dancefloor and starts waffling. The whole dancefloor STOPS and glares at the fucker. The music restarts and somehow the dancefloor is saved. But the wanker did it again in the next song, and the next ... you get the picture. A dead dancefloor, lots of angry punters and you just wonder what the tosser is thinking of.

We sat down through a lot of our favourite songs. Every song had this wanker jabbering in the middle, and at the end of each song, hiding his awful mixing. We left as he desperately put Status Quo's Rocking All Over the World On. It was VILE! Clueless tosser.

So why? Did he, like Barrie, have a lesion and think he was a radio DJ? Or does he have the one thing no DJ should have - an ego?

ealing films hand over the baton ....

I thought that for a change I'd actually watch a film before reviewing it.

Hot Fuzz is great - the Mumm-Ra of the fillum world.

A few tossers have tried to get an Ealing feel to their films, but are invariably cack-handed and miss the point. These fuckers have managed it effortlessly. How? By forgetting the past and instead blending the Vicar of Dibley with a typical foul-mouthed Mitchell Brothers ditty. This has it all - hoodies, middle-class twats, PC PCs, serial nutters, farmers with guns, even ginger kids. And loads of action - guns, mines, knives, shears - like a typical Wednesday morning in Hartcliffe.

Except it's all actually filmed in Wells, England's smallest capital city and once a station on the S&D. Somerfield, City News (above), they're all there. Wells will never seem the same again and I'll be terribly disappointed if when next time I visit I don't take at least a bullet or two from Simon Pegg's AK ...

The second key to success is actors. The Ealings had 'em, the Carry Ons did ... and nothing since. But this reads like a Who's Who of current UK comedy talent ... Jim Broadbent, Steve Coogan, Martin Freeman, that fucker who dances with cats in Harry Potter, Bill Bailey (x2), Timothy Dalton, millions of others I can't remember.

And it taps into the modern psyche, best joke for me was the 'One Schoolchild at a Time' sign in City News' window, breached at the end by dozens of hoodie-wearing pupils doing the police's work for them.

Having been a Parish Councillor in a grotty chocolate box village I can totally vouch for the veracity of the Neighbourhood Watch Association meetings. Spot on and a big FUCK OFF to those morons who reckon it ain't funny and it's too fast .. like D***** of N****.

NME 2007

What is it with award ceremonies. The potential to have a really exciting night is there. You have bands from all over the world, so many big personalities and yet the NME awards 2007 were pretty flat.

Last year Russell Brand hosted the show.It was funny, a bit controversial and I do believe he upset some people (esp; Bob Geldoff and the Arctic Monkeys) but when he told a joke it was at least funny and clever. This year had XFM's Lauren Laverne doing the honours. It was embarrassing just how awful she was. Her jokes weren't jokes, the running theme that she was running the bar in between announcing acts was childish. Her timing was awful and you could see her reading the auto-queue all the time. She was useless.

The acts playing were also rather disappointing . Kasabian to open the show were OK, nothing spectacular but they played well.

The Killers were one of the few gems of the night, ditching their own stuff to play a Joy Division track that was a blinder.

The View (yawn) Kaiser Chiefs (crap) Primal Scream (Hmmm) Beth and Jarvis... now that was pretty inspired.

Cannot understand how The View got best single... I'd never even heard the track. Very odd.

My Chemical Romance, best international band? Load of tosh. Best dressed Faris Rotter? Irony maybe?

I have no idea why Babyshambles were nominated for so many awards. Least they didn't win. Tossers.

The whole event lacked any fun. Lauren Laverne's attempts at pulling it all together were futile and frankly I was bored.

Next time NME let bands like The Automatic Play. Pennie could light up the national grid with energy.

barrie's saga saga

Off to Hartcliffe Community Centre to check out the 'opposition' last night. Unfortunately Barrie was there with his fucking Saga Roadshow again. Barrie seems to be under the illusion that he's a radio DJ, playing undanceable obscurities with slabs of inane chat between tracks.

Barrie mate, mobile DJing is about DANCING, about giving people a GOOD time. It's about finding those tracks that people want to hear. It's about leaving your audience wanting more, wanting to come again.

You claim to have been in the business for thirty years. But to the untrained ear you seem to be DJing for the first time, making the mistakes we all made back in the dark recesses of history.

Barrie mate, you just haven't got it. It's time to give up and find something you CAN do, and leave music to those of us that love it and live it. You're extinct, but you just don't know it yet. We're only trying to help you ...

gnidrolog prog y rubes merdum

Back in the 70s when I was trying to make music rather than play it our drummer's brother used to hang around a progressive group called Gnidrolog. I've just had one of those random moments when I remember bits from my fascinating past - this is far from fascinating.

So I checked 'em out on the Internet and got well scared.

These awful groups, playing unaccessible music with a degree of seriousness that should NEVER infect music, held the yout' in sway in the early 70s. As the music got worse their hair got longer and despair stalked the land. It was like pop's version of Thatcherism. These middle-class tossers piled on the pounds and the dandruff as their bank accounts bulged. The albums got bigger and worse and a sad nation weeped. And then along came the Sex Pistols and blew it all away in the wonderful summer of 1976. Yes, ELP, King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Genesis - they all died. Suddenly music opened up again, it was cool to like bands again, and we shook off the cobwebs.

I took my awful record collection to Littlehampton beach and threw the lot - every last one - into the sea, and started again. I discovered soul and jazz, then got into The Specials and Joy Division, they started dance music again via New Order and Manchester Rave, and then it was suddenly viable to be a DJ again.

Gnidrolog. Oh dear ...

automatic horrors view mumm-ra

NME Tour at the Carling Academy, Bristol, last night. Threatened with being returned home after a particularly gruelling post-viral coughing fit, I did make it to the show. The familiar sounds of Mumm-Ra assaulted us as soon as we got in and we realised quickly that we'd made the stupid mistake of missing part of the set. In fact we only heard three songs, luckily they finished on Out of the Question. Initial impressions were that the larger venue sapped some of Mumm-Ra's natural charisma, and that they were a bit more polished and distant than they were at the Louisiana back in November. Never mind ...

The Horrors were worse than bad. To his credit Faris kept his vocals well down in the mix - a neat reversal of the usual ego-infested turn it up to 11 attitude of most middle-class art school vocalist wimps. Problem was it made the sub-Specter wall of sound racket sound even worse, every song sounded the same and the band had about as much charisma as the Pope asleep. Expect them to all hold full time jobs in insurance or the media by 2008.

The View were okay, nothing special. The sound was a bit flat, and they show why drum, bass, rhythm and lead guitar alone are so limiting on sound texture and why many of the groups in the 80s got it right by ditching or enhancing the classic four piece elements. They won't endure, although I suspect they'll lead more interesting lives than the Horrors, being nice working class Scottish lads!

The Automatic were superb! Pennie goes into nutter mode INSTANTLY, no warm up required. The sound is crisp and clear, everything mixed just right. Pennie was over our side so we could watch his simian antics and Tokyo Olympics style gymnastics unhindered by heads. A class act all round!

To sum up the evening would have been excellent if only Mumm-Ra and the Automatic had been given the other two slots to fill, and if that bitch in the Mumm-Ra Out of the Question tee shirt had done the decent thing and given it to me in exchange for Trin's hand knitted puce hoody, rather than clutching it proprietorially throughout the show.

the search for appenzeller space schottl

To those of you that think Plan B or Mumm-Ra are hard-to-find or esoteric, try looking for something like Appenzeller Space Schottl! No myspace, no website and - until I dug further - nothing recorded. No Google images on their name ... until I used a few tricks.

They mix jazz and traditional Swiss Alpine music, rarely play outside of Appenzell (one of the smallest Swiss cantons) and have NEVER played the Louisiana. And I've never met anyone who's ever heard them or heard of them.

After an hour's hard Googling I've got this far - an image (and ordered a copy of the album which contains just one ASS track), visited a Russian website and found this on a Swiss website - which suggests there IS a full album out there which looks like the rest of my evening spoken for!

the new tom jones, innit?

So Plan B finally got over his cough and did a show at Bristol Uni on Saturday.

The venue was a bit Louisiana, a bit school hall - perfect. We had Professor Green as the support act, he was also helping to run the merchandise stall afterwards, and nicked our pen. We reckon he fancies Lady Sovereign 'cos he did a lovely rap about her.

After the Prof a bunch of hoodies came on stage. Then over the top came the unmistakeable voice of B, and we were off. It was an excellent show, even though he was losing his voice. We were a bit surprised by the teenyboppers in front of us who knew all the words and threw a burgundy trainer bra at him - which made him cross, like when his two friends died of heroin overdoses and stuff.

Then when he finished the show the crowd (mainly student toffs) started asking for an encore and Trin told everyone he wouldn't come back because he had a sore throat and she is a nurse so she should know.

Then he came back and did FOUR encores, run rave stuff and did his Tom Jones bit, innit ...

Catch B whilst he's still hungry 'cos he's going to be big.

better than Barrie?

Is DJing always enjoyable? Well I'd like to think so but things can go wrong and when your responsible for people having a great time and when you're being paid...well it can be a little stressful.
Last week we went to a new venue to see a DJ playing. Barrie's Saga Tunes. Barrie had a gold crushed velvet curtain over the front of his set and a sign made from glue and glitter, Barrie it yelled. Barrie it shone.
Barrie had a bow tie on. An enormous one. He said it kept the kiddies amused.
His equipment (not a double entendre BTW) was odd. Set up like the set of the Sooty Show. Lights on all three sides and a small hole he could pop his head in. He spoke in an American come Mike Reid accent after EVERY song. A little ditty about the songs.
He played a very odd mix of music. The Quo and The Jam and some Irish ditty and Gloria Estefan.
Rather fortunately we had to leave as I was getting up early the next day.
The following week we found ourselves in the same place as Barrie. I was a bit worried. If THAT was what they liked... then we didn't have a hope.....
We set up. Our gig is small and bright.I like to be seen and accessible.
Brassey set the CD on 2 tables. In the middle. We have always done that before.... never a problem.
The gig started. All was OK.... not a lot of people in (it was bloody cold outside)but we didn't mind.
Then the Cd's started jumping... not just a little but full blown unplayable. After about 6 of them jumping I began to get panicky. What the fuck?
Brassey said they were my Cd's and dirty, then his started to jump too.
We cleaned the discs. They still jumped. Then I looked under the CD player. The tables were so unlevel one of the feet of the player was rocking very slightly t enough to make stuff jump. Also the tables were really crap and uneven.
After a while we took a deep breath and told the dance floor to hang on a sec and moved the CD player.... it would have been OK but Brassey accidentally switched off the amp... so, panic and no music until I realised what had happened. The dance floor were unfazed though.
It was a bit better, we still had a couple of minor jumps. Then Brassey tripped over a lead whilst the dance floor was busy and pulled out the electric.... total silence.... replug... reset and miraculously the dance floor got back up.
I was soooooo relieved when it was over. We have NEVER played such a problematic gig.
I felt a bit down and miserable. Then someone approached me. She asked us when we were playing there again. She loved our music. Her mates had all loved it. She said we were million times better than good old Barrie.... she never danced when he played there.
She made my night.
So, is it all fun? well no. I guess even top DJ's have to learn to cope with things going not quite the way you'd planned them. But at the end of the day the people still enjoyed our music.
Made it all worth it.
(BTW we played every single one of those bloody jumpy cds the next day at home and not one of those fuckers jumped. A combination of bad tables and jumpy wooden stage.
Grrrr)

far cue? well you can far cough too ...

It's one of those very odd days today. After a good night touting for work at Hartcliffe Community Centre today I'm sitting and anticipating. Wulf is down in Taunton hospital having an eye op and I won't be going down till 2.

In the meantime I'm at a serious loose end and at risk of hitting very high sugar levels. So think of this post as a sort of therapy.

When I moved down this way about 7 years ago I kept seeing Far-Cue mentioned. I liked the pun in the name and that it was lost on the stolid burghers of Frome who left their posters up all over town and I thought the Anarchy A in their name was hilariously provincial (being a veteran of two Poll Tax Riots where Class War stirred up trouble - and quite rightly!)

And then there was the van - a wreck to rival the worst I've ever owned - but a superb advert for their worldview. And an excellent bit of in your face marketing.

Chances are I'll never see Far-Cue live. They don't like DJs, but then neither do I (except for Trin of course!) They'll not play the Louisiana I suspect, but will keep hitting the smaller places round Frome.

And this is my little Far-Cue anecdote - I know where they live. And their little house in Frome looks lovely - all trinkets and big cushions and fishtanks. Good luck to them and their big slap in the face to all the boring little nobody middle-class types and rich-boy DJs who would look down their noses at them. I for one envy them! And I may just play one of their songs at a disco one day ...

le snippets from the mind of a DJ

"I could be brown
I could be blue
I could be violet sky
I could be hurtful
I could be purple
I could be anything you like
Gotta be green
Gotta be mean
Gotta be everything more
Why don't you like me?
Why don't you like me?
Why don't you walk out the door"

Mika 'Grace Kelly' 2007

Last night a DJ saved my life... if only. Things are quiet on the Disco front. We did have 2 gigs this month. Two birthday parties. One for the younger element and one for teens. Both were really successful and fun. Every time we go out we learn more stuff. That's what I like about DJing. That you do learn every time you gig.
The younger disco were full of praise for our party skills... come on you lot. You're talking to a party expert.I love parties!
We got tickets for the NME awards tour in Bristol. The Automatic, Mumm-ra, The Horrors and The View. The View are at number three in the charts with 'Same Jeans' which is pretty brilliant. The charts are so dominated with reality TV trash. It's heart warming to see something really new get in there at the top.
I am also loving Mika. He took a while to seep into my consciousness but he's now in there. I love his wacky style and voice. He's destined for good things as long as he doesn't sell out to commercialism.
And finally a big up to the wonderful CSS. They are rarely off our decks. 'Lets make love and listen to death up above" I wish!

celebrity suckles songstress

The music community is always awash with rumours, but the current one doing the rounds is that sultry Latino songstress Lovefoxxx of Brazilian superstar dancefloor fillers CSS is doing the horizontal samba with none other that cyclops-eyed chest-waist sumo astronomer Patrick Moore!

Rumours hardened when drinkers at Patrick's local, The Pulsar, in Selsey, West Sussex were treated to the astronomer's tuneless rendition of 'Fuck Off is not the Only Thing You Have to Show' on karaoke night last Thursday. He was then spotted slipping to the ladies toilet with a 'young lady' in tow, only to emerge minutes later with his trousers round his waist, the equivalent of round his ankles on a normal, non-astronomical, person.

CSS are a fast rising act, drawing on South America's growing confidence with dance music and Brazil's natural zest for life. No chance of seeing these fuckers at the Louisiana - they're playing major venues right from day one in the UK, suggesting that CSS are a marketing man's dream as well as a fave of all forward-thinking DJs - as well as Sir Patrick.

But if you can't afford tickets for the Glasgow Exhibition Centre then you can catch Lovefoxxx on the next Sky at Night, where she'll be presenting a five minute talk on 'The Search for Dark Matter' as well as performing an acapella version of 'Artbitch'.

charity shop warning!

Like most 50 year old middle class white males I consider Tupac Shakur to have a lot to say to me. So I was over the moon when I picked up a copy of his greatest hits double CD at a local charity shop.

I rushed home to listen to my latest find but was disappointed. Tupac seemed to have a rather listless, one might almost say female, voice. And rather than hard rapping tunes boasting about bitches and having a bundle with Notorious B.I.G it was all girlie songs. So I checked the CD and it was a Brandy CD. Took me three songs to realise!

Being a double album I grabbed the second CD and my heart sank. It was a CD-R with 'Daniel Bed' written on it. Oh bugger, some 19 year old spotty student called Daniel (not Dan or Danny - middle-class alert!) and his bedroom tracks. But I'm not narrow-minded so I had a listen. It took one bar for me to realise that 'Bed' was short for Bedingfield. HORROR TROSS ALERT!

But I may just play a Brandy track one night ...

brassey and the swiftmobile

One of our secret weapons in the battle for disco supremacy is the Swiftmobile (the 1925 supercharged model above) which will cut through any weather and conditions to get us to the show on time. We've also got two back-up vehicles, including a posy Escort Cabriolet, but the Swiftmobile is our number one disco carrier. So if you are wary about whether the DJ(s) will turn up on time book us! Most of your poncey London or Bristol DJs wouldn't even be able to change the gears or release the handbrake in the Swifty!

selsey tramway

The Selsey Tramway was possibly the most ramshackle of all the Colonel Stephens lines, though in theory with a cathedral city at one end and a seaside resort at the other it should have been successful. But rather than becoming another south coast branch line it stayed independent right up to closure in 1935.

I remember cycling there when I was about 15, a 40 mile round trip. I found the remains of an embankment near Pagham, and that was it.

Years later I got involved with the Selsey Tramway Society which had excellent plans to restore the line using Parry Railcars as well as taking freight. It was buzzing for a year or so, but I moved away and the Society seemed to vanish from the face of the earth.

So Selsey still struggles with the ancient road, waiting for the tram to return. Perhaps a few brave souls out there will revive this line that promised so much but only really appealed to a few nostalgists first time round. The biggest stumbling block to successful restoration however is probably the rising sea level, an irony not lost on this writer!

N.YE. F.U.N

New Years Eve was brilliant fun.... yep the word was fun. That's what I love about DJing. That the whole event is unpredictable and bloody enjoyable. OK the setting up is hard work, but Brassey has it done to a fine 15 minute art. Then I get to play all the tracks I love for the evening.
NYE was a bit different. The clientele were merry, actually rather classy. One had a real kilt on. Then there was the mix of locals who turned up dressed as superheroes. Super girl and wonder woman with thigh high boots. Batman who really wasn't the shape for the Lycra. Least he was game.
Then some villagers out for the night, not knowing what to expect.
The classy contingent went upstairs for a gala dinner. They left their kids who'd had dinner earlier. I was gravely told by one 8 year old that they'd only had 8 chips on each plate. They weren't impressed.
So we entertained for an hour.... did they want The Pussycat Dolls and Cha Cha Slide? Feck off. They wanted The Frattelis and The Kaiser Chiefs. The 6 year old in white cotton was terribly frustrated I wasn't playing cutting edge NME new bands.
Midnight came but without a TV the countdown was hazy... oh well the talking clock at least told us when 2006 ended and we launched into Andy Stewart's Auld Lang Syne. The room burst into song and dance and drunken kisses and celebration. Then we did something that we'd never one before. A whole hour of total party. 70's 80's 90's Le Chic, Abba, Bobby Brown, Celebrate good times COME ON!
They lapped it up and the room was packed. So, rethink guys... was this tross? No way. This was fun, this was giving them a damn good night, reading the crowd, playing them what they needed. Then we slipped in what we like to play and the night ended on a high.
So our New Years resolution? To do more of what WE want to do. More DJing. To explore more new music. To be the best.
Not much to ask.
Loves you Brassey.

into 2007

So who do Brassey and Trin think are going to break into the big time in 2007?

Forecasting's always a dodgy strategy, especially on a blog, but we reckon The Gossip, The Twang, Hot Chip, CSS and Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. are headed for the top, with outsiders Mumm-Ra perhaps surprising us all (except me and Trin!)

And if The Horrors add content to style they may join the elite few.

On the dance front I'm hoping for a harder more danceable year with less whooshes and wimpy vocals and a dance music that actually says something. Wishful thinking no doubt!

a big number two

Sometimes it's fun to wonder how the world would have been if things had just been slightly different. If Midge Ure's Ultravox had trounced Joe Dolce to the number one spot back in 1981 how would our lives be different?

Rather than walking around in pork pie hats demanding 'what's the matter you, gotta no respect?' would we be dressed in casual suits with Star Trek sideburns muttering 'it means nothing to me' whilst looking wistfully into the mists around the Schonbrunn Palace on a wintry afternoon?

Midge, the only singer named (appropriately) after a perennial and diminutive Scottish pest, would today be famous throughout the world, flying his own jet accompanied by literally thousands of scantily-dressed models, rather than chundering around Wiltshire in a twenty-year old Austin Allegro bothering anyone who looks in his direction with a rheumy-eyed exposition on how he knew Bob Geldof and hated Joe Dolce.

Joe Dolce meanwhile would be sleeping with the fishes in Sydney harbour rather than flying his own jet accompanied by literally thousands of scantily-dressed models.

My point? There are two - firstly that the actual content of the universe depends on tiny random events with an infinite number of possible outcomes (allowed in the multiverse or many universe models of quantum physics), secondly that there are two types of tross - type 1, which includes Vienna, the Macarena, Cha-Cha Slide etc, playable at a disco IF the crowd needs to be dragged on to the dancefloor and where there are no real music fans present, and type 2, which includes Agadoo, Pink Floyd, the Birdie Song, Bon Jovi and Cum-By-Ya, which should carry the death penalty if played under ANY circumstances.

neujahr angst

A unique perspective to all of those of you digesting the minutae of tracks and tracks ... pre NYE party nerves and preparation from the mouth of one of Britain's top DJs!

Firstly note the new layout of t&t - thanks to an error by Blogger transferring data from the old site to the new one the sidebar was nobbled. Rather than whinge we've redesigned it, giving it a better feel and look. Displacement activity of course!

We've got the Bath Arms do tonight, and in our normal professional way we've been trying out new tracks over the last two nights, putting in 6 hours practice. Today we slept late and have tried to not play anything! NYE is a funny event as you're up so late so it's not a good idea to fall asleep at the decks. And there's stuff like doing the countdown and putting on Andy Stewart at midnight. And balancing a certain amount of grade A tross with the good stuff.

Last year's NYE do was at Horningsham Village Hall and was well tacky. We had a 70s DJ who had never used two decks before, and in a one hour set played one song three times! We also had a couple of geriatric teenagers playing all through the break the same record (some Bob the Builder tross that was number one last year) until I went up and threw 'em off the stage. And when twelve o'clock came everyone started going home! So you can see why I'm a little apprehensive about tonight! Truth is though everything's totally different this year - I'll be sharing the set with Trin, it's an 11pm start and it's in much more salubrious surroundings - and we're getting paid well for it! Last year was a freebie ...

And New Year morning I'll be up in time for the New Year's Day Concert from Vienna.

new year's eve ...

Well, we'd planned a quiet New Year's Eve with perhaps just a few round for a classic Brassey and Trin private party. But pound notes were flashed before our eyes and we couldn't resist, so this NYE we'll be back in Horningsham again but at The Bath Arms rather than the village hall.

It's a free show, entry to the skittle alley is from 9 in the evening, with the show starting at 11 and running till 1 or 3 am. You'll get the usual Brassey and Trin extravaganza with perhaps a little tross around midnight for the lemmings!

2007 will be the big push for us so don't worry if you miss the NYE event - we'll be pushing good music throughout the year in Bristol and beyond. 

Now! That's tross

December..... The time for merriment, drink, parties and crap DJ's. After our alarming DJ experience last week at the works festive Party I've become convinced the world is full of people with a deck or two who fancy themselves as DJ's but really should stay at home and watch The Tweenies.
This week saw me in Woolworths. Yep with the masses buying last minutes gifts. I was stood waiting to pay when I noticed a guy behind me clutching 'Now 65' and 'Now Christmas'.
He smiled at me "I'm a DJ" he announced. "I'm on me way to a gig. Needed some music. Thought I better stop and pick up something good"
'Now 65' and some crappy Christmas CD? Good?
How I despair.
How can people call themselves DJ's when they have no idea of music. They have no taste and no insight.
The moral is? Book us Brassey and Trin. You won't be disappointed.

sleigh bells ring

Brassey and Trin have had a week of Christmas fayre. Monday night was this meal thing at some Moroccan/ Turkish place.... Yeah right it was Turkish but I was told Moroccan by some idiot colleague. The food was brill and the evening wore on. The tables cleared and then the evenings entertainment commenced. How exciting.... A disco. Two young guys in scruffy tops brought from Primark... Not even hoodies. We took bets on the first track but neither of us could have been prepared for the horror that awaited. Fucking LeAnn Rimes and "Can't fight the Moonlight" Imagine that to start a party off? So we left. Smart move.
Tuesday was a kind of mud fest come train thing in a wood. Brassey was in his element. I was more concerned about my highly expensive cool boots and the sinking brown stuff.
The meal was more basic but nice but the horror of the Pan Pipes CD playing Christmas Crap was enough to send me right into the psychiatrists office.
Why does fucking Christmas music have to be so insipid? Look at Band Aid
"Well tonight Thank God it's them instead of you"
What a bunch of morbid miserable crap. Isn't Christmas meant to be happy and cool?
I rushed back to my decks and played some Plan B to rebalance my scorched psyche.
I'm planning a very merry Christmas with my new fiance Brassey... Did I tell you we were engaged?
And no, he is NOT having an Octopus for Christmas.

seaman dan

One of our pleasant tasks at Tracks and Tracks is to find little-known artists who have the ability to make your lives that little bit better! Fight blandness and a pointless life by filling your shelves and iPods with as eclectic and extensive a music selection as you can!

I discovered this fucker in a charity shop in Bristol. I expected absolute crap, but the album's a gem. Dan can croon with the best of them - if he'd been born in LA rather than TI he'd have been one of the Rat Pack.

He's Seaman Dan from Queensland's Torres Straits. He first recorded at the age of 70. The first track on Follow the Sun has echoes of the Kooks, others have an Hawaiian or blues feel. All are uplifting and life affirming. Let's just hope Paul Simon doesn't 'discover' him!

einsturtzende neubauten

Ugh! Tross alert! The other night the fellow above appeared on BBC, late at night. It was horrible, so horrible I sat transfixed and watched him miserably trawl through a clutch of the most maudlin, tuneless, life-quenching drivel that I've ever heard. Songs with no character, no point, no joy. I don't know what his day job is but I'd suggest he doesn't try to make a career in music! He made James Blunt and Pink Floyd seem average, quite an achievement.

His name is Paul Simon and he even has a website! Don't bother to check it out - with music as bad as his he's likely to find it difficult to pay the hosting fees!

Right, I'm off to listen to Mumm-Ra!

it says nothing to me about my life

Music is approximately 98% tross. This is hardly a controversial statement. But why is it tross? If we look at supply and demand economics we may find a clue. On the demand side there are far too many people who don't actually care about music, are ignorant about what's out there or are so riddled with irony, anomie and schadenfreude that they'd rather be cantankerous fuckers than fill their lives with pleasure. There are also far too many addled old ladies and terminally uncool uncles that buy music as presents.

On the supply side there are far too many people who think that music is a career path and that the content of what they create should be aimed at those demand side trossers listed above. It's a self-perpetuating cycle. Too many musicians are egotists, which kills creativity. Too many are upper middle-class well connected pretty boys and girls who wouldn't know a good song if it did a projectile vomit down the back of their neck.

So what can we do about it? Mass murder is sadly not an option, but we can chip away at the monolith of uncoolness. Brassey and Trin bring great music to the most unlikeliest of audiences - and the response is usually 'brilliant disco'. And tracks and tracks will always report on those little gems we've found, CDs and live artists, classic tracks and new bands.

Check out MIA, Mumm-Ra, Attwenger, Hot Chip, Marvin Gaye, Chopin.

Attack Elton, Morrisey, Westlife, Pink Floyd, Handel, Acker and just about everyone else.

We're up for it, you going to join us?

god doesn't party

I never GOT Bloc Party. I remember NME hailing them as the saviours of Indie. Bet that made Arctic Monkeys laugh. Bloc Party are something and nothing. I'm not knocking them in particular. EXCEPT..... WTF is this? Do we assume Bloc Party are Christian and owe their minor success to God?
Or is it Irony? Hmmmm, next thing will be the fishy sign on the drum kit.

track and destroy

London a short while back. I love London. Brassey can't stand it with it's noise and hustle but I'm fascinated by the way the place works. I couldn't live there... Well not for too long.
London's music scene is vast from the tiny little venues to the cool places like Camden and the huge events. Apparently George Michael is doing a free gig for NHS Nurses in Wembley. No idea why though. My manager came around today asking us all if we wanted to go. Hmmm I think not somehow.
This trip to London was when I heard Lacuna Coil for the first time, I think we were some Virgin Megastore and the sound was so massive that I had to check them out. Cristina Scabbia is a brilliant lead vocalist. Her persona makes the band. She's also damn sexy and check out her shoes... I want them!
I was listening to the radio again today as I inched my way through the vile Bristol Traffic (I want tube trains) It was your favourite track afternoon again. People rang in with the track that made their day. Today's was Girls Aloud "Something Kinda Oooh"
I despair. I may have to change to Radio Four.... I want XFM. Yep London has it all.

set fire to all the bars except the louisiana

"Pickin up the pieces
Of the wreck you went and left
And I'm dealing with dilemmas
In my not-so-stressful life
And I'm drinking stronger spirits
I made my home here on the floor
And I'm losing all ambition
I'm a ghost"

Paolo Nutini 2006

There's nothing Brassey hates more than some miserable bastard crooning about some misfortune in a song. In the car today we heard some Paolo Nutini lyrics and were just about ready to slit out throats. Don't get me wrong. I know he's a beautiful guitarist and he is very popular (ummm amongst grannies maybe?)
Maybe it's because I've listened to my fair share of rock bottom lyrics when I was rock bottom. I cried a million tears to some lyric that dragged me from sinking to sunk. And at times there were a place for them. Sometimes they were like a comforting arm around me. Because they seemed to understand where so many humans didn't.
However I am very pleased to see Snow Patrol and Martha Wainwright's collaboration "Set Fire To The Third Bar" on the Radio One playlist.
I can't actually tell you why this song which, on surface level, seems just as sad as Nutini's effort, really pleases me.
Maybe it is the collaboration. Martha Wainwright who is Rufus's very talented sister deserves more recognition than she gets. Though she has a huge following including my very good friend Jude.
The track is gentle and pretty but builds and their voices match perfectly. You really can believe they're in love. Maybe we all need a love song now and then... fuck off Robbie Williams with his Angels crap. Love songs should be about love.

"After I have travelled so far
We'd set the fire to the third bar
We'd share each other like an island
Until exhausted, close our eyelids
And dreaming, pick up from
The last place we left off
Your soft skin is weeping
A joy you can't keep in

I'm miles from where you are,
I lay down on the cold ground
And I, I pray that something picks me up
and sets me down in your warm arms"

Snow Patrol ft Martha Wainwright 2006
Hmmm maybe I'm getting soft. It's all Brassey's fault. I do love him.
:)

M.I.A homage

"I'll hard drive your bit
I'm battered by your sumo grip
Lucky I like feeling shit
My Stamina can take it
Gymnastics Super Fit
Muscle in the gun clip
Bite, Teeth Nose Bleed
Tied up in a scarf piece

What you Want
Bucky Done Gun
What you want
The Fire Done Burn
What you want
Bucky Done Gun
Get Crackin' Get Get Crackin' "

M.I.A Bucky Done Gun 2005

M.I.A. Remember the name. Forget the ponsey charmed rich lifestyles of so called artists, forget Kanye West and Jay Z.
Maya is a gritty talented song writer and artist with so much life experience to draw from to make her music raw and real and different. Born in London but moved back to Sri Lanka to her home country at age 6 months, Maya's family were active in the political storm in the country at the time. Her father was a founder member of EROS a militant Tamil group. The family lived in Maya's grandparents home without electricity or running water and lived in fear of her father being taken away to serve in the army. Civil war in Sri Lanka forced them to leave for a while but it was a harsh time and Maya's sister became ill with Typhoid. They were forced through hunger and illness to move back to Sri Lanka with the extended family. But war escalated sharply and even with Tamil's being shot at the border every day Maya's mother managed to flee to England with her three kids. They were housed as refugees in a notoriously racist council estate in Mitcham, Surrey. Maya learnt English and pushed on with her life winning a place at a top London art school. A talented and creative person.. A war child she delved into music, her real love and M.I.A began.
Given a chance to support Peaches in concert and then signed by XL recordings whose stars include Dizzy Rascal and the White Stripes.
M.I.A have it all. Talent, grit, history and colour. Maya fought all the way from a baby to make it today.
The Album Arular was out last year.
MTV write

"It has lyrics that mix Tamil, Cockney and American Slang to her tracksuits and hoodies specially sewn from the brightest boldest African print fabrics. M.I.A Creates culture clashes that work"

Bored with music? I can assure you you'll never be bored with Maya.

men with stools yet again

Westlife are number one? WTF? I don't get it. Thing is they didn't even chart in the download charts, so how could they get to number one?
Seems Westlife have this huge fanbase who don't care what crap they dish out . It says Westlife so they'll buy it.
If Westlife are on TV with some silly best pop music competition. It wouldn't matter that they only released one song that year... That the song was a cover and a bad one at that. They'll win. It's a cert.
I don't get it. Are there really such people out there with such bad music taste?
I used to think it was teen voters. But those teens must have grown up now.
They HAVE to have discovered Kasabian and Muse or even Justin Timberlake, don't they?
Humour me someone.

firework disco sparklers punch

Typical Brassey and Trin fans exhibiting a high level of interaction ...



The crowds got so big they spilled out into the garden ...



The party was so banging that several dancers' fingers spontaneously caught fire.



Brassey and Trin's First Annual Fireworks Bash in stuffy Hartcliffe, south Bristol. It gave us the chance to try a few new killer tracks, including Mumm-Ra's 'Out of the Question'. We had nearly double the number we had last week in Horningsham, an empty hall being replaced by a bulging house. 

not 'Out of the Question'........

"Light out of the darkness, what did you see? What did you see?
And I, I don't see the likeness I'm trying to see, I'm trying to see.

If you believe me look in my eyes,
As you deny me don't read the sign,
You can't be the reason,
You can't be the reason,
You won't be the reason,
You won't be the reason for all the things I said.
It's out of the question,
It's out of the question,
Or out of the question,
Or out of the question.
I'd rather stop it dead.

This is the only thing I know. The writing's on the wall. The master's stand and fall.
So I, I can't seem to notice. I'll try to explain, I'll try to explain".

Ok so I know Brassey has already done a Mumm-ra Review down there somewhere and I agree with everything he says... (eeek don't murder us in our beds 'Amusement Parks On Fire')
I love the Louisiana. It's so small and intimate but vibrant and fresh... still so bloody fresh after all these years. I've seen lots of bands there. The most famous was Interpol who opened the door for us on the way in and signed our NME, which the support band tried to steal later in the evening and I had to send my NY mate Ann in to sort the gits out.
She always told me I should hang out there... meet someone cool..into music. Hey.. I met someone really cool and he loves the Louisiana too (loves you Brassey)
So me and him decide to go see Mumm-ra. Heard good stuff about them... did we believe the hype though?
Well. we like to keep an open mind. I prefer live music to anything. I like to see if they can really play, really sing, really project.
I asked Brassey if he wanted a Mumm-ra tee-shirt. No he said emphatically.
Ok, I thought... sod off then git. I put me tenner back in my purse and thought about all the crochet wool I could buy with it the next day.
Then they came on and for an hour we were mesmorized, They were bloody great. They played like rock stars, they had the crowd by it's balls. They had great hair and a plastic duck called Matthew. Best live group I've seen in a long long time.
We were at the front, the crowd were a mixed bunch... young old and weird. I'm sure some were from the local 'home' on Coronation Road. A tall ginger giant who bounced like a rubber ball all night. His ginger ringlets hitting the surrounding people full pelt. 'Noo' (lead singer) said he wanted the same thing HE was on.
I went to the bar to get drinks. Ginger Giant pushed in the queue in front of me. I was pissed off but had to laugh when he ordered a diet coke with ice and lemon.
Right at the front were the girlie groupies with their lip gloss and vest tops. They knew all the words and were shouting out pouty provocations to the band. I had to stop Brassey joining in.
Then it ended so quickly with Mumm-ra's next single 'Out of the Question'. The crowd wanted more. I actually dislike encores... that's old fashioned guys!! They didn't come back on.
So home we go...... and we get to the front door and Brassey says "I want a Mumm-ra tee-shirt"
Fucker!

teenage night out

Me, Simon, Suki, Wurzel, Bumbag and Tyrone were dead bored Saturday coz we couldn't get to Warminster Carnival as the next bus wasn't for six days and we so are not walking so we went to the village disco. We dressed up as monsters and schoolgirls and stuff, took a 24 pack of Carlsberg (Wurzel's dad bought if from the offy for us) and went along.

There were some oldies there, both dancing and doing the disco. You'd think they'd know better, crinkly fuckers. The music was awful - bloody trance and dance stuff, old folk's rubbish. Why do you bother grandad? We didn't even know a lot of the stuff - that townie indie stuff like the Kooks. Why don't old people just die? I hate them.

Anyway Suki went up to the grannie DJ and asked for some well cool stuff - Bryan Adams and Bon Jovi. She didn't have it! What sort of disco was this? Mind you I wouldn't have danced if she had had it - I just wanted to listen and pose and look unbearably cool and frighten the crinklies. So then Bumbag suggests we should ask for some well cool dance stuff as she and Suki wanted to sweat. The best dance song ever is Cha Cha Slide and luckily the 'DJ' had it and we gave it the full works, like Pan's People on speed. The oldies left although the DJs stayed. It's past your bedtimes Gramps! Let us have the decks and we'll play our music.

So then we sits outside and listen to the badgers and owls - better than the bloody music.

I can't wait till all old people are dead and we run the world, with OUR music. Queen and Bryan and the Jovi RULE.

Next day I heard the grannies grumbling as they shifted their equipment saying they wouldn't play Horningsham again coz we was a bunch of uncool wankers!

Us? That's so not true. Watch out world, coz we're the next generation ... 

all hail the mighty mumm-ra!

The Louisiana in the Bristol night ...



Mumm-Ra raise the audience from the dead after Amusement Parks on Fire - notice the lady smoking which is TOTALLY against the rules.



Noo singing and playing the guitar at the same time - shame it's an unmiked acoustic!



Day after day, band after band ...

I've been playing in bands for years and seen hundreds, but I'd never played in a place as small as the Louisiana - even Littlehampton Guide Hut was bigger - and I don't think I've ever seen a better band than Mumm-Ra. They got everything right. Perhaps it's just the unbeatable atmosphere of the Louisiana - more jazz club than rock venue, or because they're from Sussex, or because I'm still in the throes of glandular fever, but Mumm-Ra had an aura of potential greatness about them.

And we fucking saw 'em at the Louisiana with about 80 other punters!

The best thing was their sense of fun - they LOVE doing this! Noo is a genius frontman, a natural showman. But they're also as tight as fuckery and polished as Yul Brynner's head. The songs have hooks that you almost recognise straight away and you can dance to 'em. What more d'you want from a band? They were such a contrast to miserabalist, talentless, egotist Amusement Parks on Fire (the 'support' band) that I felt we'd run the whole gamut of potential in under two hours. How The Automatic managed with Mumm-Ra as support I can't imagine! I bet Pennie shat his pants!!

Anyway, catch 'em before they go off the boil, the smaller the venue the better, and make sure that a 6 foot 8 clone of Bonnie Langford isn't in the audience - this fucker will do everything he can to block your view! 

kidz

Last night was the free Halloween Disco for the lovely little village of Horningsham. Something we decided to do for the community coz we's good like that!
The evening was foggy and delicious. There's no bloody light pollution in Horningsham and as darkness fell it had a definite spooky feel to it.

Here's Brassey getting into the swing of the night. It was a odd set to do. The mix of people were a family with a small child and granny tagging along and some 15 - 17 year olds. The family kept requesting Michael Jackson tracks..... Ugggggh. I was going to stick on 'Thriller' anyways as it's a classic Halloween thing to play but they wanted MJ all night.... Or T-Rex.... hmmmm.

But the real surprise were the kids. Never has Plan B's lyrics been more apt

"That's the mentality of kidz today"!

I had a CD box full of the latest hits, Indie Rock, R&B, Rap, Grunge, and Skater Rock...Plus tons more. Brassey has a more diverse selection and loads of classics and brand new stuff that he's found... Good stuff.
So we were ready for the yoof... Were we?
The first request was for the Cha Cha Slide. Then we had a request from a teen for Bryan Adams and Bon Jovi!! Then one for Put your hands up for Detroit. Possibly the only chart track I didn't have as I hate it.... Sigh!
So we started throwing out naff stuff for fun. Can you believe they actually got up dancing for Queen "We will Rock You" and Steps "5,6,7,8" and of course "The Macarena"
Ah well... There's nothing more personal than musical taste.
Have a great Halloween and let the Monsters roam free..... Howl................

the grudge 2 - film review

So I says to my friend 'let's go up country to see if we can find the ghost's mum so she can fix stuff' but he's lying tits up in a tray of developing fluid so can't come. He was a miserable fucker anyway.

I took the little metre gauge train up to the village in the hills. This operates on 800 volts ac with small traditional wooden buildings at each station. The train was almost empty except for an old man playing peek-a-boo in Japanese which got tiresome after about the fifth peek-a-boo in Japanese.

When I did find the fucker's mum the ghost killed her anyway. I manage to catch the last train back, which meant I only had to make three rather than four changes on the trip back to Tokyo.

whose day grandad?

WTF does 'Back in the Day mean'? This morning the local radio had people ringing in with their favourite track from 'Back in the Day'
Back in what day... The day? What defines that particular day. When you were young? When music meant something? Sometime before now, when you're old and dull? When music didn't sound all the same?
Hilarious really. Music has always been an enormous part to my life. I did this stupid quiz once that told you which sense you couldn't live without. Mine was sound. The quiz was one of those stupid silly ones but if I lost music I'd find it very hard to function.
So what's MY back in the day. Maybe it's yesterday or August 10th or next Wednesday. Ok music from the past is important. I can still cry at certain tracks because they evoke such a powerful response to some past event. I know all the words to some truly bad 1970's pop songs.
I truly believe that THE DAY is today. Music is in the hands of this lot. They might list their influences as The Jam, The Clash, Nirvana and Gary Kemp from Spandau Ballet but they are the day. This day. And as for Della from Kingwood who announced to the world that Robbie Williams 'Angels' is the defining track of her life.
What life Della?

"You live your life in the songs you hear
on the rock and roll radio.
And when a young girl doesn't have any friends
that's a really nice place to go.
Folks hoping you'd turn out cool
but they had to take you outta school.
You're a little touched you know, Angie Baby".

Helen Reddy (1974)

brassey and Trin keeping crap off the dance floor

Brassey and Trin have very different music set tastes. Brassey is eclectic and innovative. He likes to scour charity shops for that elusive track that will just make his set spectacular. I'm more on the mark for what's cool ATM, plus a few of my old favourites that still makes the hairs go up on the back of my neck.

Our set is always different. I guess the good DJ adjusts his set to the crowd... Except.. No matter what age, occasion or mentality, you won't get crap from us.

Brassey has his stuff and I have my box. My box is MUCH bigger than his... But wait. This week he's been ill. I've been left alone with the gear and been going through his music and some of his CD's have kind of accidentally slipped into my box. Well... Don't we love each other? Can't we SHARE?

The Mitchell Brothers and Plan Band Genius Cru have made their way into my head and on my iPod. I want them. So he makes a huge fuss about his music (his? Right!) and now hides his little finds carefully. I think the Horningsham gig next Saturday will be VERY interesting. Come see the fireworks!

shut the god damn door

"A world that sends you reeling
from decimated dreams.
Your misery and hate will kill us all.
So paint it black and take it back,
lets shout it loud and clear.
Do you fight it to the end, we hear the call"

My Chemical Romance 2006

My Chemical Romance. I knew they had a huge following...here and in the States? When we visited Manchester last and spent hours trailing round the wonderful little areas of Afflecks Palace,there was a massive amount of MCR clothing. I have to admit that until this new single 'Welcome To The Black Parade', hit number one, I'd never heard a MCR track. Why? Well don't mistake me. I see a lot of talent and raw energy in bands like Green Day, Good Charlotte and Blink 182. We even have lots of their albums. But they're an acquired taste. Dare I say they're bands that once struck a mark for new music but now seem so old? I guess I used to like them because they were FUN. Then maybe the fun ended? I still hold huge respect for Green Day and remember a fantastic warm afternoon in their company in Coopers Field Cardiff.
So My Chemical Romance have hit our number one slot. An Unusual track. Starts off with a story. Then hits the music..... Ok so far. Catchy, growing on me. Then the end bit. I still can't decide what to make of it. But I've been to see Les Miserable at the theatre and the end bit sounds like the song that ends act one. The track actually has all the marks of a track I'd like. It's not samey. It has different tempos and audible instruments. It's fun and got energy and it's a bit different. I think it'll grow. By the time it's ended it's popularity it'll be my favourite track. Sigh... It's hard being me.
So swiftly to my recommendation of the week. Look at MCR and then look at Panic at the disco. Similar? I expect the hardened fans would lynch me. But the genre is the same. Last year PATD released 'I Write Sins Not Tragedies' It had some air play from DJ's like Jo Whiley and Zane Lowe. It took several listens but right from the first string it's absolutely brilliant. I could listen to it all day and wouldn't tire of it.
But last year PATD weren't main stream and the track sunk. So Oct 30th they're doing a re release. Good luck guys. If MCR an do it with 'Welcome To The Black Parade' you CERTAINLY can.

"I'd chime in, "Haven't you people ever heard of closing a goddamn door?!"
No, it's much better to face these kinds of things with a sense of poise and rationality".

Panic At The Disco 2005

new and old

I must say I was very pleased to see Razorlight at number one especially after that HUGE radio one push to get the Hoff at the top. Silly fools. You all know how I detest some of those DJ's. Chris Moyles is a total twat and that Scott Mills is closely following twatdom. If they're the cream of radio DJ's then I'm going dairy free.
Brassey's Sister Alison has Razorlight tickets soon. This number one is really going to kick them into the dizzy heights of super stardom. They're a good band really. I just think groups like the Kooks and Automatic deserve superstardom too.
I'm so hooked on Myspace ATM. Ok I hear you say.. It's old news now. But the ability to network and listen to music from bands I'd have never heard of before is brilliant. Bands like the enigmatic Mumm-ra who we have tickets to go see this month.
I just love them... New clever and cool. I even managed to download the single on iTunes, try to listen to 'Out of the Question' if you get a chance. It's really very good and they deserve some airplay.
Looking forward to our free Halloween disco for the local community. Should be a really good night. Try come along.

Encyclopedia

Encyclopedia, We first heard of them on Myspace. I really like supporting local bands. These guys have worked hard. Seem like lots of fun. Have very cool interesting lyrics....
"Ice-cream, pizza and it doesn't matter if you don't like Peppers" And "Talking to 'Emily on Messenger"
Are you fed up with deep Emo lyrics? Well give them a try. They're from Yeovil in Somerset. They are a two piece band with guys Benjamin and Oliver. And best of all they left us a message on our Somerset & Dorset Rail Myspace

"Both Oliver and I are hardened train enthusiasts and we are very appreciative of your kind offer of friendship".

And they LIKE trains! Perfect for a tracks and tracks mention.
Check them out. I think you'll like them.
Tx

halloween party!!!

Collectable poster No 1



Gothic horror mansion ...



A view across to the venue, ducking pool in the foreground.

You've read the blog - now see the creators! We're doing a FREE halloween party and disco at Horningsham Village Hall on Saturday 28 October. We'd love to see you there - particularly in fancy dress! Bring your own food and drink.

An innovative feature will be a raffle for a FREE Brassey and Trin disco as first prize.

This really will be an excellent show with cutting-edge dance music, old favourites (NOT 70s!) and some off-the-wall stuff in the warm up as usual. 

just say no

I was kind of horrified to hear that Radio One have made a huge drive to get people to buy the 'new' David Hasselhoff single 'Get out of My Car'
Just one word "Why"?
The track is dire. I haven't heard anything quite this bad since the Birdie Song. David Hasselhoff is a sad little man who once got in a car that 'talked' and made him cool for a while in the 80's. To be honest if we all thought about it logically it was the car 'Kitt' we all liked not the Hoff.
The song has no tune, no charisma and no purpose. In fact there's a bit when Dave is trying to get this 'little girl' in his car that is positively creepy.

"Mmm, jump in my car, it's too far to walk on your ow-own
No thank you sir-ir
Ah, c'mon, I'm a trustworthy guy
No thank you sir-ir
Oh little girl I wouldn't tell you no lie
I know your ga-ame
How can you say that, we only just met
You're all the sa-ame
Ooh, she's got me there, but I'll get her yet
I got you then
No you didn't, I was catchin' my breath
And look it's startin' to rain and baby you'll catch your death
Well, I don't know-ow
Ah, come on it costs nothin' to try
And you'll arrive ho-ome nice and dry"

He's trying to get the little girl in his car, she's reluctant. Makes my skin crawl. Very odd song. If song is the right word.
Apparently Razorlights 'America' is set to be number one on Sunday. Now I liked Razorlight's first album. They're cool if a little misguided in their persona at times (I hate their bitching about other bands) but 'America' is a good track. It deserves number one. This Hoff thing deserves the Somerset and Dorset platform bin. And not the recycle one either.
Don't do it. Save your money to buy the Plan B Album. Now THAT'S worth listening to.

brassey and trin go all tex-mex

What strange places we 'play'! Not quite a disco, but we will be doing the music on October 8th 2006 at this place, the buffet coach at Midsomer Norton South station! We'll also be doing the cooking and washing up. This can sometimes be a funny old job!

We're doing a Mexican Food Day for charity and the meal will be accompanied by some genuine Mexican music (on CD, not live!). We are planning a Hallowe'en event, provisionally on 28 October, also something for New Year.

To book for the Mexican Food Day please email SDRHTSales@aol.com or check out the S&D blogsite. 

sexy's pop's back

Just when you thought it safe to switch on the radio. What is it with these reunion bands lately? Take 'Take That' back they came to a fanfare of noise and applause from the media. They were splashed all across the tabloids and interviewed by every radio DJ in the land. They scrabbled up a few rather large venues and sold tickets at 65 quid each. And everyone fell over themselves to buy them. Sell out. Success. But at no point the threat of the 'return' they didn't frighten us with more 'music' why? Because they have astute business managers who knew it would never work. Their hits album sold like hot cakes over Christmas and everyone remembered them in a haze of of reminiscent love. Even Robbie Williams was nice about it all... That probably helped a lot.
"So", thought all the other boy and girl bands everywhere. Those ones that had some minor success and folded. Why not us?
This week we see The All Saints back on the market. Reformed and putting all the bitchy nasty slagging each other off behind them (yeah right) and they 'love' each other. Back together. New single. Lots of interviews and lots of reassurances that they are now friends forever awwwww?
Come on, they HATED each other. The prima donnas that make up the Appletons (did you watch I'm a celebrity?) One of them married a Gallagher FFS. That must take some face.
Mel and Shaznay. Mel was always the 'nice' one but Shaz was a right cow.
But we are to forget all of that and look forward to a future with The All Saints.
Well personally I think the musical world was better when they were all hid in their respective million dollar homes and left us alone. The new single 'Rock Steady' is bland, insipid and leaves me cold.
It's sugar coated pop. There's so much good new music, exciting and fresh out there. Why rehash what was never good in the first place.
And this leads me suitably to the worst news to hit Tracks and Tracks this week.
In a North London Shopping centre a monster raised its ugly head once again today.
Yes.... The boyband with "The Power To Rock You". 5ive have announced their come back.
Be prepared for more 5ive tracks by next Spring.
Of course it's not all galaxy smooth chocolate in the 5ive camp. Apparently 5ive have become four with Sean not actually interested anymore. Give that guy a curly wurly. He probably has a real job in Asda by now.
5ive hit the charts at a time when we couldn't absorb enough crap. We LOVED crap. We were in Spice girl fever. We wanted as much glitter and candy as possible. We loved music by Lolly and A1. We all knew the S Club 7 dances. We had Spice world on video.
It was known as mass mental pop illness. Groups like Nirvana worked hard to break the candy M&M shell. As the millennium hit and as the Dome closed, music seem to thrust forward and the pop bubble burst.
So why after a mere 6 years is pop trying to once again sugar my tea?
I'm turning diabetic immediately.

myspace

Check out our DJ MySpace
And add us as friends... we want lots.

the art of being uncool

Some shots of the progress at Midsomer Norton on the famous Somerset and Dorset Railway, soon to become Britain's first new steam WORKING railway for almost a hundred years!

The S&D is effortlessly cool, but some people make such an effort at being uncool you wonder where they get the energy! Like the kids who have all the clothes, all the attitude and then spoil it all by shoving one of grandad's fags in their mouth! Tell 'em somebody ...

But this is a true story, Bristol, a few days ago. Me and Trin at the White Hart bash. Now we'd given 'em a blend of the better mainstream stuff, some real dance music, a few classics (from the 90s), and even Plan B. But then one 'grannie' comes off the dancefloor and says (stop me if you've heard this before) 'We like all the modern stuff, we know Coldplay, but could you play some seventies?'

Coldplay? Excuse me? You mean great grandad's favourite clean students, playing that quiet music where you can hear the words? You trying to impress us Gran? Don't try. Go back to the dancefloor, you were doing okay to 'Rock Lobster'. Don't spoil it ... 

never happened in the 70's

What was going through someone's mind when they named Beyonce's new Album B'Day?
Note Wiki

"A bidet is a low-mounted plumbing fixture or type of sink intended for washing the external genitalia and the anus".

There are several rather odd album names in the charts this week.
Scissor Sisters and 'Ta Dah'?
The shaky Shakira with 'Oral Fixation' and Pink 'I'm Not Dead' (was there some doubt?)
But B-Day takes the piss by far.

you make me feel like dying

Trin has already brought this up. Seventies music please ...

Now stop right there. The seventies were the Dark Ages for music. Why would any DJ, particularly cutting-edge ones, play music that was designed to celebrate the nuclear annihilation of the human race? Music from a decade when the height of fashion was the IRA tank top and flares. Where even my dad had long hair and a zapata moustache? When Railway Magazine was 20p and I earned £9 a WEEK??

We are designed to forget that decade. The music celebrated the defeat of the human spirit. We were spiralling into terminal decline with Edward Heath, Leo Sayer and Marje Proops leading the collapse.

It's scary. Teenagers listen to the most awful pap, Daniel O'Donnell at 1 decibel. And people from 'our' generation for the most part seem to have stopped their musical development at the age of 19, hence their nihilistic nostalgia for the 70s.

Get this - discos are for DANCING. Dance music did not arrive till the late 80s, growing from Chicago House and Factory in Manchester, the rave scene and a return to basics.

But, to be fair, I'm game. There must be something from the seventies that just by chance uses a dance beat. The Sweet? Sex Pistols. It's a struggle. Slade? With a dash of irony and more than a dash of alcohol it might just work, so perhaps at the next gig a bit of seventies will get slipped in. But what's the betting it clears the dancefloor and we have to do a quick recovery?

But that's the beauty of DJing - unpredictability and having to think on your feet. Watch this space!!

superstar... you got any 70's?

I see Brassey has written a little review of our gig this weekend. I was so looking forward to it... But I was ill. Superstar DJ's don't get ill I hear you cry... Unless it's too much vodka and redbull or catnip.
I still managed to make a small mark for music though.
I still think it's a responsibility of a good DJ to play good music and try to enlighten the masses a bit. You can never please everyone. Everyone's musical taste is so different. We did ok with the youth. They seemed happy until Brassey played some of his stuff like New Order.
The worst bit was the over 50's. They came up several times and asked if we could switch to 70's music. 70's? Like the New Seekers? ShowaddyWaddy? Sweet?
We didn't have any. Then someone asked if I had Aga Doo by Black Lace. If I was forced to play that track I'd have to garrot myself.
Brassey got an excellent response to Kylie. I hate Kylie. She should have stayed in Neighbours.
We finished our gig and were packing up, when another 70's comment was made... 'disappointed at the lack of 70's'.
So Brassey thinks we might carry a few 70's cds for the future.
Ok... As long as this doesn't mean we are EVER going to start playing bloody Elvis Presley or any 50's crap.
Want a disco? Call us. We are very reasonable.... and awfully cute.

private party

lights ...



kiddies ...



kiddies and grannies ...



wulf finds it all too much ...

White Hart, Bristol, 16 September 2006.

Okay, so not every party can have international DJs providing the entertainment, but that's exactly what happened in Bristol last night, as Brassey Digger and DJ Trin answered the call of a friend and laid on a serious night's entertainment in the tiniest of venues. It was a surprise party so we've had to keep it secret on the Tracks and Tracks site.

Needless to say it was great fun and highly successful. Now to spend the proceeds on new CDs. Fopp in Bristol can expect us on Friday! 

lascivious laura

Don't get me restarted on the youth of today. You know it's my fav subject EVER. But FFS. Picture me, driving home tonight 8pm. The radio is on. They have this thing where you can send in your ultimate playlist. Tell them a bit about yourself. How cool trendy and interesting you are. Then they play three tracks you love.
Today was Laura. The lovely Laura. How many girls do we know called Laura. Are they all the same?
Laura is 20. She's 21 in a few months time. This weekend she's going with her BF Matt to see Robbie Williams in concert.
Then they play a Robbie track /yawn.
Then we find out that she goes out clubbing with her mates. They are 'COMPLETELY mental' /yawn.
Then they play Black Eyed Peas. My humps /yawn
Then we find out that she loves Dirty Dancing and has watched the video so much it's worn out. Tee Hee Laura.
Then they play The New Basement Jaxx track that always makes me laugh because of the line about going out on the town and having a chicken Fajita.
Then we find out that for Laura's 21st Birthday her and love of her life Matt have tickets to see Shayne Ward (no yawn just a large bile stained vomit)
Hang on a sec Laura. Are you hiding behind the few tracks that may have some street cred... But REALLY you have the musical taste of a Fruitbat?
Who admits on national radio to having tickets to see the man who puts chav into Manchester?
Plus how about this Matt character? Robbie Williams? Shayne Ward? You SURE he's straight Laura Love?
I really need a mp3 player in my car.......

window mix

It seems Trinity Towers is in need of new windows for her to view the world passing by.
At 9 am the van turns out and out jump a few burly window men complete with fag in mouths and baseball caps.
Now... How to keep men motivated enough to finish the job tout suite and professionally?
Of course. Trin's Disco mega "Window Mix".
So on goes the decks. I did ask if they had any particular taste in music. One mentioned Stevie Wonder and I immediately knew my job for the day was to fill his senses with music of less dubious trend.

I thought I'd start with some very charty stuff like 'Sexy Back' and 'Maneater' by Nelly Furtado. Within 2 minutes I heard the noise of a window frame being dropped from a great height. It was working. Then we had a touch of the Editors, Panic at the Disco, The Automatic and Pussycat Dolls (window fitters are BIG Pussycat Doll fans)
Then Arctic Monkeys and the fantastic Bob Sinclair whose fast becoming a firm favourite here at Trin Towers.
As an old frame was being pushed out over the cats sat in the front, I turned up The Kooks 'Naive' and hoped for the best.
I'm going for the kill now with Brassey's favourite boys Plan B.
I'm sure a spot of well planned swearing will shift them to actually put glass in the frames.
Watch this space...................
Soon to be found in Woolworths complete with large security patch over track Listing....
DJ Trin's Window Mix. (With free J cloth).

I love my chick

Being top notch Dj's doesn't come easily to me and Brassey.... Ok it's fun but keeping on top of the best tracks for our punters to get their freak on with is a real task.
Wherever we go we're on the look out for that one track that will make the difference between a gig and a party.
Today we were in Woolworths, hardly cutting edge but they sometimes have some real bargains. They had cd's for 99p a few weeks back.
They had a lot of compilation albums, and very reasonable too.... Except the stupid idiots had placed the huge square security tag over every single track listing. Unbelievable. When I go next I'm taking my camera and I'll blog it.
I approached this sales assistant and explained my predicament. She was totally unhelpful. She said that's how they're TOLD to place them.
She refused to even acknowledge that it was stupid. Guys, Woolworths staff REALLY need some lessons on Customer relations.
So we bought nothing. I will not buy a cd there again..... I'd rather patron the fantastic FOPP in town. Keep the decent small businesses going.
Getting ready for a gig has really highlighted the lack of decent dance music ATM. There's a lot of really good older stuff but the new stuff really isn't hitting my G Spot at all.
Maybe I'll make an exception for Justin Timberlake. He's a nice guy. His comeback track Sexy Back is ace. Insistent beat. Yeah. No crap. Yeah. Straight in for the kill. Yeah.
An instant dancefloor filler. Ignore it at your peril.

"Dirty babe

You see these shackles

Baby I'm your slave

I'll let you whip me if I misbehave

It's just that no one makes me feel this way"

And at the other end of the scale we have the BBC's fame academy contestant Lemar with his new track 'It's Not That Easy' . It's had a lot of radio air play. Lemar, home grown. Nice voice. Nice guy, easy going boy next door type. But dull as fuckery. As Brassey puts it. He's Marvin Gaye minus the talent and charisma. I'd rather loop Justin Hawkins singing 'Get your hands off of my woman Mother fucker' over and over on the disco set than play this pile of tross.

tross everywhere

Trin coined the word 'tross' quite by chance, and it perfectly describes what I'm listening to at the moment. I'm trying to track down just a few killer tracks to add to my DJ repertoire, looking for little unknown gems on compilations etc, but to find 'em you have to trawl through loads of tross.

What other business would allow so much rubbish to be produced? I'm not just talking about pop, but you find it in everything, reggae, dance, soul, classical, jazz. Couldn't these trossers get the message that they just weren't up to the job of producing enduring, killer music? You'd spit most of this out if it were a sandwich.

I blame the kids and old folk, 'cos they've either got no discrimination or taste, or their brains have turned to powder. Yet they still buy tross and perpetuate the market.

I haven't found a thing worth playing today ... 

I don't feel like buying actually...

I hate driving to work. I hate the mindless following the same route day after day and the irritation at any car who dares to be in front of me. I also hate the radio. I've often had conversations with people who live in different parts of the country who seem to have good radio station. Down here we don't.
But I hate driving with the fear of an audible rattle in the car and worry that it's about to explode. So I crank up crap radio and hope for the best.
The best however is not the Scissor Sisters. I have their first album. I'm still not entirely convinced by it but taking the Pink Floyd classic 'Comfortably Numb' and Gaying it up was brilliant.
They've been away a while and now they're back. The front Gay guy Jake and his side kick Ana. Lots of showmanship and colour. But talent?
The new track (I don't feel like Dancing) is an embarrassing Bee Gees type rehash. I've heard it several times and each time I hate it more. It has no substance, body or flavour. It's high pitched noise that would drive next doors Dog out of it's cage.
So why is it number one in the download charts?
I was always convinced that those intelligent enough to use downloads and mp3 players wouldn't buy into the crap tracks like Shayne Ward or Ronan (fucking) Keating. So for Christmas this year do not buy your old Grannie an Ipod. If I see Daniel O'Donnell in the download charts I may Implode.
Maybe I'm being unkind to the Scissor Sisters. They don't pretend to be something they aren't. They are basically entertainers. Their talent is their stage persona. Groups however cannot sit on their laurels and fire out tracks to us based on reputation. U2 are especially to blame for that kind of behaviour. They think we are U2 . Everything we do is brilliant.
Umm wake up check Bono. Retire... Go on. Do the whole world a huge favour.

switzerland's surprising seetalbahn

A modern unit on the roadside track.



Why this line has the worst accident record on the SBB.



One of the famous Crocodiles pulling a short train through Seon, 1960s.



Probably the best book on the line.

I discovered the Seetalbahn back in the late 80s, on a four month trip around Europe. I was camping at Mosen and the line ran right by the campsite. The key feature of the line is its roadside running, unusual for a standard gauge line and unique on the Federal Railways. There was a good variety of freight trains, also regular passenger trains in both directions. The trains were very well patronised.

The line was originally titled, in English, the Lake Valley Railway. It's been under fire for years because of it's poor safety record, though all of the accidents have been caused by idiot car drivers! There are, of course, hundreds of level crossings, mostly unprotected. However the Swiss very rarely close railways and in fact the line has benefited from a lot of investment recently, mainly in the form of modern tram-like rolling stock.

The route is pastoral and flat for Switzerland, but with excellent views and runs alongside the lakes which give the Seetal its name.

Well worth a visit! The trains run from Luzern to Lenzburg.

the dj's friend ...

Can you keep a secret? We are gigging again with gigs coming up in September and October. I hate requests, but the irregular disco-goer who last shagged in 1983 always appears and asks for some idiot tune that reminds her/him of his/her youth. One of the DJs in the Vag had the right idea - he insisted that requests were written on paper, and as soon as they were handed in he'd set fire to them. This was before Health and Safety and in Switzerland of course.

Now no bugger can have everything in his/her box/iPod, but the above are the next best thing. I pick 'em up at charity shops for a few quid, so I've always got some old tosh on hand for the occasional nostalgist. These five aren't too hot, but there are a few good tracks within, including Cameo's Word Up and Colonel Abrams Trapped, both of which I have in 12" but not, till today, on CD.

showaddywaddywaddywaddywaddy

The Wads on stage, limping and knicker-dodging ...



A final glimpse through the smoke as we walk away in silence ...

It’s a Friday night on the scary Somerset coastline and two international Djs are looking for action. The bingo’s closed, shutters rattling in the wind, the restaurants have ‘No Irish, Gipsy's [sic] or Vegetarian's’ signs up and the sand is rattling off the dunes and turning our faces into 1:1000 representations of meerkats’ colonies.

Then the magic lights of Pontins beckon, offering warmth, cheap beer and chavs! Who could resist. By some strange psychic power we are drawn to the murky depths of the camp cabaret arena, three acres of pulsating 70s lights, Brummie accents and acrid stale cigarette smoke, mingling with microwave hot dogs and clothes you last saw on the cover of Jackie, circa 1974.

The house lights sparkle and onto the stage come ... Showaddywaddy! It’s pants down time as the ladies whip themselves up into a rock ‘n’ roll frenzy as five be-draped apparent stepdads arthritically stagger around the stage carrying outsize musical instruments. ‘That’s not Showaddywaddy’ complains the lady next to me, ‘where’s Les??’ And indeed I couldn’t spot Les either, the one member of the ‘Wads’ as we call ‘em that even Terry Waite would recognise.
A murmur goes around the arena as fags are stubbed out in anger on those with received pronounciation. ‘We want Les, we want Les’ shout the crowd in one huge Brummie voice.
Suddenly the spotlight hits stage right and he’s there!! Les! Les, of the curved lip and waggly hips, and he starts singing, the crowd (including to her eternal shame, DJ Trin) join in!

It is awful!!!

I’m spiralling back to the 70s, tank top heaven, as the familiar chords of ‘Angel Eyes’ cut through the smoke to reach my complaining ears. ‘We thought this era was forgotten’. ‘Arrgghhh - I feel violated’ and ‘I’m shagging that tonight’ battle for supremacy amongst us, the forgotten Chav-Gestalt of the Council Estates of England. DJ Trin is staring into space, on another plane.

Awful it is!!

And, when I recover later in the street, I try to work out why. You see the Wads were never cool, even in the 70s when tank tops and Susan Stranks and the Tomorrow People were. Yet here they were, in the 21st centuy, in the same suits and playing the same songs, entertaining the chavs at Pontins. Had I entered a parallel reality, or had I imbibed an off Grolsch? Why?

Why? My Nan’s boyfriend took her to see them in Portsmouth in the 80s and I’d wet myself with mirth then! And here they were, two decades on, still doing it. Why?

Rock ‘n’ Roll was always crap - except in the raw and exciting early months when it was almost revolutionary. It was an evil visited on us, it led to nightmares like the Beatles, Pink Floyd, Dire Straits and Tom Robinson. Yes, the Wads latest album includes a cover of 2-4-6-8 Motorway, lovely Tom’s seminal 80s anthem to ... roadbuilding. It’s getting worse, uncool piled on uncool, and the oversize knickers are still flying over our heads to land on Les. Does uncoolness guarantee immortality? Perhaps. Perhaps it fills a need for the uncool majority that will vanish from the earth with nary a trace. Perhaps the Chavs are right all along, not troubling their empty heads with thoughts but with pure experience - wake up, fag, change nappy, eat grease, argue, watch telly, hit kid, fag, yorkshire pud, pub. John Smiths’, raid leccy, fag, punch mum, fall asleep on sofa ... and put on the Wads for entertainment. Perhaps it’s me who’s wrong ...

I’ll sleep on it.

wicked wicker

We wangled four free tickets for The Wicker Man so wandered along to the Multiplex for an evening's entertainment.

Nicholas Lyndhurst takes the role made famous by Edward Woodward in the classic 1972 version. He plays a shy virginal vicar/policeman who can fly a seaplane, juggle bibles and talk in tongues, whilst secretly fiddling with his privates in an almost perverse manner.

He flies to Summerisle. The locals all say 'ooo ahhh' in Wurzel accents, whilst displaying their naked bottoms to ward him off.

'Aim looking for a wee lassie called Rowan, do any of you ne'er-do-wells know her?'

'Oo arr, nae we dinnae ken wee missy.'

'Ye cannae land here wi'oot the laird's permission.'

'So fuck off sassenach.'

Nicholas sets his jaw firmly and goes onto the island anyway, despite the locals flashing their genitalia at every opportunity.

'You see we're all Pagans here. We don't like yon christian and we're likely to do something barely legal if you interfere with us.'

'I'll interfere with whom I wish,' he laughs.



Later he spots a number of naked teenagers dancing by Stonehenge (the Scottish one) and after watching closely for eight hours says 'Disgusting!' and tells the Laird, played by chubby barrel of lard David Hasselhoff, off.

'I'll have you know I'm Lord Summerisle and I'll fain dae whatever I want on my own island you christian fuck!' is his riposte.



Lord Summerisle - calls christian a 'fuck'.

Nicholas sulkily goes into town where he is (unsuccessfully) seduced by Britt Eckland (played by Stephen Fry), and hides under the covers with a bible and a couple of fish.

He still can't find Rowan. He goes to the school where all the girls have beetles on leads but nobody has heard of her.

'Ai've hud of Rowan Atkinson,' volunteers one of the kids, who receives a hearty kick up the arse for her troubles from the burly ex-Fools and Horses star.

Later he sees naked ladies in baths and teenagers humping in a graveyard, but still no clues except for a hare in Rowan's grave.

He's getting cross. 'Ai'm getting cross,' he groans.

It's carnival day. All the islanders are dressed in masks and stuff, the Laird is wearing a wig and dress, but Nicholas is still cross and not really getting into the whole thing.

He's still looking for Rowan when he sees a big Wicker Man on a hill. He climbs up into it and locks the door behind him. 'Lovely view,' he mutters, 'shame aboot the fog.'

Suddenly he notices that the Wicker Man contains hundreds and hundreds of frightened animals. 'I'll wager yon critters are sacrifices by these heathen pagan terrorist fucks. Why these unbelievers are bad enough to burn a christian ... gulp ...'

The flames continue to rise and he breaks into a sweat. I won't ruin the ending but it involves a fleet of US helicopters, Steven Seagal, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jean-Claude Van Damme.

uncool teenagers, the letter from the government and why they ain't ever going to get it

Picture the scene - a party full of teenagers gently sipping alcopops and chatting about their courses and future careers. They huddle together whilst their parents sprawl around unselfconciously.

Who gets to do the music? Well the kiddies try, but their taste is so appalling you are keen to phone ‘Rent-a-Serial-Killer’ to put them out of their misery. A procession of pop pap, chart drivel and manufactured middle-class bands, none of which have a clue.

So the grown-ups surreptitiously stage a coup-d’etat of the CD player and put some good music on. How do the kids react? ‘Wow, what’s this?’ ‘You know this stuff?’ or even ‘Turn it up!’?? No, it’s hands over the ears time and little calls of ‘turn it down’. And they’re not being ironic - these buggers mean it!

I really feel sorry for this batch. I’d hate to be seventeen today. Music is either chart rubbish - Sandy Thom, James Blunt or similar cloned vomit-inducing half-bred lunatics or identikit ‘indie’ cloned sleep-inducing half-bred lunatics playing guitars, posing and - LOL - smoking!.Watching kids today is like looking at photos of Wigan, 1931, hangdog featureless squibs puffing away on feeble roll-ups, coughing up phlegm and mumbling ‘no future - whatever’.

So the poor sods not only are so charisma-free that they like stuff like Green Day but they really don’t have a future, because nobody’s preparing them for the scenario that’s now unfolding at breakneck speed - Climate Change grappling with Peak Oil. These buggers will never drive, own property, live beyond thirty, earn more than a pittance or ski. And they’ll never know what music can do, because they’re so dead from the neck up and waist down that they’ll like anything they’re told to by the morons, lemmings and half-bred lunatics that have decided they’re running the country now ... and just happen to own the music industry. 

Mum Tia's out of her cage!

You ever thought that kids might be ruining music? The kind of teeny pocket money wielding nutter that votes for Fanatical Christian Pete to win Big Brother?
We seem to have got past the boy band obsession, there's a few still hanging on to their Busted tee-shirts. Somehow it's worse when the boyband's dam bursts and we get little random tumours growing in the corner of the charts. Matt Willis, now he's a prime example. Cheeky chappy from Busted. He's the one who wore the wedding dress in that crashing wedding jolly video. Remember him? Now he's back with his brand of 'no longer teen but still young and so handsome and hey see I can Rawk' persona.
He seems to have enough street cred to get past the Festival organisers schedule.
He had this big time slot at V. Luckily we couldn't hear him due to man on mobile phone arranging to meet his mate down the pub.
Suddenly there isn't one boy band but Hundreds of little ex members of running around. Some of them just will not go away.
Ronan Keating is really the worse thing to have been exported from Ireland (since Daniel O'Donnell). Boyzone ended but Ronan seems to go on and on. This week sees him at number 15 in the chart with 'Iris' Iris is quite obviously a song about his crush on his grannies best mate. How he likes to bring her tea in bed and sniff her bunion pads.
The charts really are quite disturbing. I always check them then feel like slitting my rock chick wrists. If only I wasn't frightened of pain.
With the demise of boybands comes the rise of the reality TV star.
Shayne Ward that vomitous lump of Manchester Chav who won X factor last year seems to be waning... ie; no-one wants to buy the fuckers music anymore. Never was his music anyways. Covers r us.
This week has Maria Lawson in at number 20 with 'Sleepwalking' and that chirpy monkey Chico with battery operated symbols in at 24 with 'Disco'
I am unable to give you any idea about either of these songs as to listen to either is illegal, as you all well know.
X factor is back on our TV's. I beg you not to be drawn into this charabang of talentless freaks. And take those teeny texting terrors cell phones away.
No more credit for you little Miss Chardonnay-Varicella. 'Off to bed with a copy of The Famous Five'. Worked for Brassey anyways.

V is for Crap

V festival 2006. Thousands couldn't get tickets. But panic not guys. E4 was showing it LIVE all weekend.
Live the atmosphere with E4. Right.
Dave Berry (who?) presented, probably to his best ability, but for me he was as interesting as a cardboard box. No charisma and no evident musical knowledge.
E4's coverage was hampered by their keenness to cram in as many advert breaks as possible. Last night between 'Girls Aloud' and 'Beck'
(did you see the camera shots of Cheryl Tweedys crutch?)
We had an advert for Canesten Cream (vaginal thrush) ... "Be healthy inside and out" and Senna for constipation 'Natural and gentle' way to shit
We wondered what they thought their target audience was exactly? Do E4 even know what festivals are all about?
The main coverage sadly lacked any atmosphere. Where were the sweeping shots of the crowd singing back to the bands? The little shots of the drummers and bass players talking to each other? We had mostly the lead singer shots and nothing else. Then there was the cock up with the sound. Saturday had a guy talking on his mobile phone over a lot of the bands. It was fecking crap and I almost switched off as it was so irritating. Sunday had a football match commentary over the bands. Resignedly I tried to ignore it until they scored a fecking goal.
The Bands were cut mid song to pan over to another stage constantly. Then we were told we were seeing one band and another appeared. Dave Berry (who who?) ran around like a total wanker needing a piss.
I know live festivals are fraught but have they never watched the BBC do a Glastonbury coverage? Class and quality and even if something does go wrong it's handled with humour and professionalism.
E4? Stick them in the festival Loo's.

festival of wick.... nah V

Me and Brassey love each other. Well whatever feeling that word evokes anyways. We have an understanding. We like each others company. We respect each other.
But when we first met, and the first time he met my iPod, he had words to say about the music on it. My ipod tends to be full of stuff that makes me feel good at this particular moment.
Some of it is pretty dire... Come on I have the soundtrack to 'A Star is Born on it'. But it means something to me. It evokes a strong response, either makes me emotional or happy or angry even. When I need to revisit these emotions I play the tracks.
I was a bit put out by his comments. He laughed that I lived in the past. Nowadays I'd never take offence at him. I'd debate and it would be fun. It's important to have music from the past but it's even more important to move forward and listen to what's being said today. Because some of this stuff is fucking good.
V festival is on TV. It's my attempt to hide the shame I'm not actually there. I went to Reading four years ago and it was worth the hour it took to walk there from the car park, worth the hideous toilets and worth the soaking I got from the English bloody weather.
It has given me more to remember, talk about and think about than any gig. If you get a chance for one of these festivals bloody get and go. Do it.
I saw the White Stripes before they hit it big, Weezer, Janes addiction, The Strokes, Feeder and so much more. I bought a German army jacket from the surplus store and wore it with pride. I sat in a huge field at night with hundreds of small bonfires to keep us warm.
Maybe it wasn't as good as I remember, maybe at the time it was cold and miserable.... But I just remember the atmosphere and the crowd and the music. Yes, the music.
Pulsating across the fields, permeating every single ear. The crowd at fever pitch. All moving in one huge bounce and all in slow motion.
Hmmm maybe I was on something?
V is on E4. Bloc Party are on. I remember the NME front page proclaiming them the saviours of Indie Rock. I turned to the guy next to me reading some fishing magazine and said "saviour's of Indie? I think not" he moved away pretty quickly.
Bloc Party do nothing for me. Never have done. They are tight and edgy and professional but dull.
I watched Xavier Rudd earlier. They showed him doing three tracks. He's little known but has a huge underground following and comes from Canada / Australia... Which figures seeing they are so close together.
I didn't expect to like him at all. One man band with diggery-doo's and harmonica and chimes. But I really liked him. I liked him enough to want to hear more.
Hey, isn't that what music festivals are all about? You hear something new and different and check it out after?
Then you get the band on last. The one you worship and will stand in a field without peeing for 12 hours to watch. Make me 18 again. But 18 and a head for wanting to listen to new stuff, and not just bloody Spandau Ballet.
Shit Girls Aloud are on now. Time to feed the cats.

My favourite lyric today

"Tearin' off tights with my teeth
But there's no relief, I'm wide awake"

Faithless Insomnia (1997)

Snakes on a Plane? Snakes on a Plane! Snakes on a Plane!! Snakes on a Plane!!!

We took the whole family to this great film, Snakes on a Plane, tonight. We were a bit disappointed to find that it was 'X' rated, so we had to smuggle in the girls in a large holdall we keep for these occasions. We bought a large box of popcorn, rebranded as 'Snake Pellets' for the opening night, a huge bottle of 7-Up renamed 'Cobra Wee' and a box of six hot dogs relabelled 'Bits of Snakes in a Bun'.

The film was GREAT. Morgan Freeman reprises his role in 'In the Heat of the Night' as a cool black British copper hellbent on creating havoc wherever he goes just for the sheer hell of it, smuggling his huge collection of pet snakes onto Concorde, mainly down his trousers. Then as mums have to express milk in full view of aghast moslems, and little old ladies are grappled to the ground by lecherous and nervous security guards mistaking their zimmer frames for heat-seeking ground to air missiles, a chuckling Leonardo de Caprio, as Captain Ahab, trips over as he gets on the plane dropping three bottles of vodka. The scene is set.

As soon as Morgan gets on the plane, caressing his snakes and egging them on to sting people, the Fat Larry Band's theme song, 'Zoom', echoes around the plane. We just know there's trouble ahead!! The laughs come thick and fast as huge numbers of stereotyped passengers - two nuns and a priest, a pair of Siamese twins on a life support machine, Pete Townshend from The Who, a cheeky little chimp called Simon and a honeymoon couple (both men!) - jump out of the windows to escape the slithering serpents. Food gets spilled on the floor, sick bags are used as parachutes and the stewardesses perform a song-and-dance routine to a rather echoey version of Gary Glitter's 'D'you Wanna Be In My Gang?'

The crew get wind of trouble and fly really fast, avoiding mountains and skyscrapers as they try to land at an abandoned airfield in the Deep South, which is inhabited by zombies! As the passengers fall from the plane onto the grass airfield, a huge earthquake and tornado rip through the area, giving the special effects team a real showcase as snakes fly through the air and passengers seek cover under old pieces of farm machinery, with the Georgio Moroder soundtrack notching up the tension second by second. Some of the women scream and run their fingers through their hair, the men stand square-jawed into the wind challenging Mother Nature to do her best as they quote from the Bible.

A super film with a lethal mix of planes, snakes and disposable Americans, and a wonderfully twisted ending (it was all a dream!) which I won't spoil by revealing here.

Snakes on a Plane - snaketastic!

it comes from out of the blue and kills you stone dead

Smell is the sense most connected to memory, but running it a close second has to be music. The music that settles on a time and place and evermore when heard triggers a vivid uncontrollable memory like aural lavender.

And all too often it's embarrassing with the passage of time. Tonight in Tong Chef a programme I haven't seen or heard in years was on, Emmerdale. The theme music immediately transported me back to 70s Sussex, when in a whole different life I did some labouring but the place I worked at was close enough to home to allow me to go back for lunch (or dinner as we call it in working-class Sussex still) And guess what used to be on as I munched some sandwich in the lounge? That's right, Emmerdale, or Emmerdale Farm as it was then. So I went back thirty years from Tong Chef to Whitelea Road - Doctor Who eat your hearts out!

A few others that do the same thing - Talk Talk Happiness is easy >>> Leysin, 1988 with the first big snow of the winter falling outside; Echo Beach Martha and the Muffins >>> a grotty field in Teignmouth in about 1979; The Passage Fear >>> Flintstone Club, Littlehampton, 1981; Stone Roses, I Wanna Be Adored >>> Worthing 1990, Gilbert O'Sullivan Nothing Rhymed >>> the level crossing at Betchworth, Surrey in the early 70s. I could go on, but I expect you've already lost the will to live. 

bristol's finest

In Bristol today I managed to slip into Fopp, the best record and book shop in the multiverse. Picked up The Stone Roses CD and book, also Spirit of Eden by Talk Talk and the Trojan Dancehall Roots triple box set. Expect reviews soon! Also grabbed the Taschen book on Swiss architecture.

Bristol’s a strange place for a country boy, with huge skyscrapers (some still in their wrapping), adverts for American versions of classic British films (bet their one has the christian beating the Pagans!) And no badgers.




To complete an odd day we caught Abby WASHING UP when we got home!

doorstep delight

Just a mile away from where I live there’s a narrow gauge steam railway! This is the Longleat Railway, a 15" line that runs for about a mile in a balloon loop. The attention to detail is superb, with a well designed station, engine shed and signalbox. The line itself includes a lakeside run, tunnel, bridges and embankments. It’s one of the few lines in the UK where you can see pelicans, gorillas, hippos and sealions.


Until very recently most trains were hauled by Ceawlin, a steam-outline diesel loco, but the line has just taken delivery of a new real steam engine, named John Hayton, the man responsible for most of the work of creating and running the line.


The working signalbox is a notable feature at Longleat station.


An outward-bound train skirts the dragonfly pond. 

automatically good

I stayed up far beyond my bedtime last night to watch the Automatic on Friday Night Live show. Typically they weren't on till right at the end. I wanted to hear Monster. I love Monster. The radios were playing it far before it hit the charts and the simple child like chorus caught my sense of humour. I wanted Brassey to play it as Lord Bath opened the Annual Fete on his estate. I thought the image of the flowing Lord of the manor striding across the field with
"What's that coming over the hill, is it a monster?"
Screaming across the land, would make a fitting and memorable image. Unfortunately it wasn't to be.
The Automatic are a good looking set of 4 welsh lads. Pennie, Rob, Frost and Iwan look like a rock group. They got the looks, the sound and the attitude. Monster was a success. Now what about the future?
The new track is "Recover" On the website lead singer Rob says;

"The song's about being a waster and trying to motivate yourself into doing something better than sit in front of the television"

I'd better rush out and buy a copy for my teenager pronto.....This metioned teen, who was watching it with me, reckoned the overall sound of the track was very much like 'Monster'.
I tried to explain that a band needs to get it's own sound.
I can tell a new track is by a certain band within the first few beats. Hard-Fi have that distinctive sound that makes it exclusively theirs. Even their last single with a slight reggae beat was still very obviously Hard-Fi.
"Recover" is good. Loads of energy, mix and vibrant. The backing vocals to all of their tracks are most definitely different. The harsh shouty excitement in comparison to Robs smooth sound make for a vocal collage of suede and corrugated iron.
Recommended and tagged as worthy with more to come.

why all the cool middle class musicians of the world should beat a hasty path to beautiful symes avenue, hartcliffe, south bristol

Come rain or shine, Hartcliffe's fine!


Why is it that all the best music has been inspired by the urban 'degradation' of places like symes avenue, in beautiful Hartcliffe, south Bristol? And why is it that most of the members of the bands that made the music have always originated in the much posher suburbs of the very same cities? What is it about upper-middle-class boys and lower-working-class joys?

From the 80s industrial visions of Joy Division, Clock DVA, Einsturzende Neubauten and the Comsat Angels, through 90s Pulp to current faves the Arctic Monkeys and Kaiser Chiefs, all these good middle-class (and often catholic) boys used the run-down bits of their respective cities to inform and inspire their music.

Hell we even did it in Littlehampton, early 80s, in Fossil Monkeys.

I suppose the really rough kids who actually grew up in these places were too busy fighting rickets, tapeworms and each other to sit down and write about the beauty of their surroundings? Or did they spend all their hard-mugged cash on crack cocaine and Dr Pepper?

you ain't no queen

"London Bridge is falling down,
Falling down, falling down,
London Bridge is falling down,
My fair Lady".

Now why would a semi famous ex Black Eyed Pea's member want to sing a song about 'London Bridge'
I sat aghast as the Red Setter dog lookalike rubbed herself over one of those Guards outside Buckingham Palace and painfully shouted out her lyrical grimeness about.... a bridge?

"How come every time you come around
My London London Bridge want to go down
Like London London want you to go down
Like London London be going down like "

Somehow I simply cannot feel sexually aroused by a grubby bridge. Crikey all that traffic going over it every day? All that pigeon shit... but wait. It seems she has addressed that.

"Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit
When I come to the clubs, step aside...
Pop the seeds, don't be hating me in the line
V.I.P because you know I gotta shine
I'm Fergie Ferg
Give me love you long time"

Guess what Fergie? We don't love you long time lovey. You really haven't got it. You needed to be hid between those BEP men with the marginal talent.... at least in producing tracks.
I was never convinced by her vocal talents anyways, but this stuff is dire. A Gwen Stefani, Pink attempt.
'Look at me... I'm Sandra Dee. Except I'm untalented and rather ugleee'.
See! I can write songs too.
London Bridge? She's better off singing about the original Severn Crossing.

leighton buzzard narrow gauge railway

This is the very Colonel Stephens like building in classic corrugated iron that serves as the station building at Pages Park on the Leighton Buzzard Narrow Gauge Railway.


This is the neat steam engine, Doll, which hauled our four coach train.


The route runs very closely to houses along the first part of the route, many of which have been built in the last thirty years changing the nature of the line. The line is very friendly and seems to be very popular with the locals throughout. The last mile or so is almost roadside, separated by a neat low hedge. The route through Leighton Buzzard includes several ungated level crossings, which require two flagmen.


Back at Pages Park it's clear to see that the train was very well patronised with almost all seats taken. 

ghost town the specials

It's not often that a song imposes itself on your conciousness before you've heard it. We'd been hearing murmurings of 'manifestations' for days in Switzerland. We'd been away from the UK for seven weeks so were a little out of touch. One flick through a Swiss-English phrase book enlightened us to the English transaltion of 'manifestation'. No, not ghost. Riot! That delicious word. We were up for it, ready like all true British patriots to give Thatcher a bloody nose! Unfortunately we had to go to Austria first to meet up with the family. It was there we got the full story, that riots had erupted all over the country. Sister Alison said the best thing was that the Specials had a record at number one that was brilliant and matched the mood of the country. So our first listen of 'Ghost Town' (or Ville des Manifestations in Swiss) was in prose format. It made us homesick, so we couldn't wait to get back, doing the trip back in one go, via Leysin as Jeff had met Chantal and wanted one quick last trans-Europe shag.

As we approached the white cliffs of Newhaven we expected to see buildings in flames and coppers with bloody noses, but sadly we'd missed the riots by a couple of days.

But we did at last get to hear 'Ghost Town' and it was every bit as good as Alison had tried to explain back in Mayrhofen a week earlier.

guilty as charged?

Why should we feel guilty about liking a certain music? Maybe a hefty dose of cheesy pop might ruin our street cred. Maybe some people might dismiss our musical taste as crap? Laugh at us? Horror.
There is a current culture of selling compilation CD's like "Naughty But Nice" or "Guilty Pleasures". Stuff that is assumed we'd be embarrassed to say we liked. Music we wouldn't proudly display on the CD rack but in the guise of a compilation CD is acceptable.
So exactly what is deemed bad enough to be placed in the ranks of Vintage Cheese.
How about Andrew Gold... Lonely Boy? Now this particular track takes me back to being young (hmm younger) , Top of the Pops at his best and the hilarious 'Pans People' doing that ridiculous dance to it... "Oh what a Lonely Boy" Lyrically it explores sibling riviary with the Lonely Boy's mother daring to bugger off and have yet another kid. He wanted to be the only one. Didn't we all?
How about David Soul "Silver Lady" How much did I just love Starsky and Hutch? David Soul was about as cheesy as it gets but when he sang
"I'm lost and alone Chilled to the bone" I just wanted to donate him my lovely lemon 4 ply cardigan my Nan knitted me.
I think Barry Blue "Dancing on a Saturday Night " was my first brought vinyl record. We had a woolworths in the local shopping area. I must have got records there.... I didn't go far really.
I loved that Barry Blue beat. I'd sit in the tiny bedroom I shared with my two sisters... One of them being a dreadfully annoying toddler.
I wish I had a 'Gold Satin Jacket and some silvery blues'.... Whatever they were?
Now I'm just grateful I didn't have one to add to the many embarrassing pictures of me as a frankly nerdy teenager.
My mother took me to a wedding once with a yellow polyester dress, long sleeves and high neck. I have the pictures to prove it.
Why? Why pop out these old tracks and force them on us again? Put them in some awful compilation CD with the likes of Rubettes 'Sugar Baby Love' and hope we'll buy them for some unsuspecting relative who we were sure had the most dreadful music taste in the 70's?
I happen to know a certain man who had a 'Dad Rocks' CD for fathers day.... eeek!
The thing is we don't NEED these CD's. We don't need our memories tweaked in such a lucrative way.
My iPod is full of tracks that I would probably not play for you. Because they are personal to me. They evoke memories of my past. They remind me of certain times, whether happy sad or fucking crazy.
I don't feel GUILTY about them. If you laugh at them I'd tell you to bugger off. I might even kick you (if I was so inclined that day)
Beware. Someday someone just might find that New Seekers - I'd Like To Teach The World To Sing on your mp3............
Didn't you just fancy the knickers off of that Lynn Paul.... Admit it.

ps Feeling dirty now. Off to play some Arctic Monkeys REALLY LOUD.........

devon railway centre (bickleigh)

A little-known gem in Devon is the Devon Railway Centre at Bickleigh. Based at the old Bickleigh station on the Exe Valley line, it includes several model railway layouts, a miniature line and a wonderfully convoluted 2 foot gauge line that twists and turns in a very small space with remarkably tight curves! There is also a coin-in-the-slot 7 1/4" gauge line which the kids love. There's also a small narrow-gauge museum.

These views were taken last year. 

that's the mentality of kids today

They come downstairs and tell you to turn your music down, moan ‘cos you don’t wear clothes when it’s 90+ outside and have CD collections that would shame your grandparents. They ignore the environmental crisis, smoke like 30s northerners and want to be entrepreneurs. Who are they? Teenagers!

When did it all turn round? How did Jennifer Saunders get it so right when she depicted Saffy as being twenty times as square as her mum in Ab Fab?

Can we blame Thatcher? Probably ... but more likely it’s Blair and his middle class prefect fascists trying to get everyone into work.

Now, when I was a kid we knew how to live and we knew about music. That it should be raw and powerful and actually say something about the real world. The early 80s really caught the zeitgeist after Thatcher told us all to ‘stop working and go home - the state will provide’. The dole was great, they’d give you hundreds of quid NOT to work, and it was all spent on champagne and four month holidays abroad. And visits to bands of course - sometimes three or four times a week. My car was constantly packed to the roof with people I hardly knew driving over to Brighton with the stereo blasting, hanging out of the window yelling abuse at everyone and drinking huge amounts of cheap beer and expensive champagne. Summers were spent lolling on the beaches of Rousillon drinking cheap French wine and champagne, winters in the Swiss Alps drinking cheap beer and Swiss wine and champagne.

What do kids do now under the head prefect? Study for BTECs, listen to manufactured pop and ‘indie’ rubbish and moan at their parents and grandparents having a good time. They have one half pint of cider, think they’re drunk and shout about their careers to each other whilst giggling.
Poor sods. Perhaps we need a new Conservative government that will give us all the freedom to not work again, so we can start living instead. And perhaps, just perhaps, music will respond again as it has in the past. Stranger things have happened. 

life lyrics

There's nothing I like more than discussing music. I'm never happier than thrashing out the merits of some old track in comparison to some classic old music that has resonated through my life.
Maybe I'll try to work out the soundtrack to my life one of these days. But you might be a little shocked to some of the cheesy tracks... Maybe everyone likes some cheesy music?
Even Brassey? Hmmm.
Last night laid in bed we were discussing lyrics. In particular the lyrical brilliance of The Manic Street Preachers and Oasis. The Manics are uncompromisingly left wing. But I respect them for sticking to their principles and saying it as it is.
We both agreed 'Design For Life' was their best track. "We don't talk about love. We only want to get drunk" well fuck me if that's not the line of the century with all this lovey mushy crap we have to contend with these days. Crikey even our cinema visit to 'Superman Returns' had us having to put up with a ragingly hormonal Superman. He's meant to have screwed Lois but in reality wouldn't that little act of love have really 'blown her mind?'
"Wonderwall" was the most played track in funerals in the 90's. Least it wasn't fucking "The lord's my shepherd" joke. Have you ever been in a field with a pack of man eating sheep? I have and it wasn't pretty.
So bang up to date with the contemporary Keane. No guitars, Keane. Keyboards and Toms Chaplin's distinctive voice. I liked their first album but soon tired of the sameness of it. Though Bedshaped was a beautiful track I could listen to anytime. But this new stuff? The only thing I liked about their last track "Is it any wonder" was the piano intro. It all went downhill after that. But their NEW tracks is out now. On the official playlist of Radio one. You can hear it every 20 minutes or so if you so desire.
And the lyrics?

Oh, crystal ball, crystal ball,
Save us all, tell me life is beautiful,
Mirror, mirror on the wall.
Oh, crystal ball, hear my song,
I'm fading out, everything I know is wrong,
So put me where I belong.

Crystal Ball.... Mirror Mirror on the wall. Now where have I heard that one before?
What a bunch of old balony.
Recommended, as highly as being savaged by sheep.
One for the sea Brassey.

the bath and west railway

Another rapidly developing railway close to the S&D is the Bath and West Railway, at the showground near Prestleigh. This has been created over the last few years by a small team from ESSMEE (East Somerset Society of Model and Experimental Engineers). The line runs during several shows each year, and will in fact be operating today between 4 and 6.30pm. This is an overall view of the workshops.



This is the cute signalbox, rebuilt from an old customs building!



This is the attractive run alongside an avenue of trees and a stream.



Work has already started on preparing the groundworks for the extension along the other side of the stream and back to the station and workshop area. When completed the line will be over a half mile long. It is mixed 7 1/4" and 5" gauge. 

roxy music roxy music

John Bingley was the world’s least likely DJ, son of a dentist, horribly upper middle-class and with a forehead that was a hazard to shipping. He surprised me once, at a disco at the American College in Ford, West Sussex (now home of the Engine Shed), when he put on ‘If There is Something’ from Roxy Music’s first album. I’d been listening to it for months, inspired by ‘Whsipering’ Bob Harris’s put down of them on The Old Grey Whsitle Test, the best recommendation for a group there was back then. This was from someone who thought Pink Floyd were cool! The US students sat down crossleggedly bemused as Andy Mackay’s sultry sax filled the room.

Now, I can see you gasping, knowing me as being cool as fuck and here I am dropping reminiscences about Bob Harris and alluding to a group best known for fathering the hideous pro-fox hunting communist, ‘Otis’ Ferry. The fact I can even remember the early seventies must be an even greater shock.

Roxy in 1972 were the bastard child of Bowie and the Sweet, knocking out music that drew on fifties rock and roll style and sounds, but subverted by the scarily Richard Slaughter-like Brian Eno on keyboards and synths. (Richard Slaughter was a ballet-dancing friend from Whitelea Road who eventually made it big time after surviving being Keith Hopkins’ victim of a knife throwing act which was the highlight of one of Richard’s back garden fairs in the late sixties). (Keith Hopkins was Whitelea Road’s very own Kray twin, serial arsonist and stealer of fudges from shops and smaller kids. He respected me because I gave him a spectacular nosebleed after he tried to bully me, the fool. Years later, during my musician phase, he rescued my group (Old Harry Rokz) from a severe beating and equipment-mash during a Guide Hut gig, where we’d made the mistake of not going to the local school in Littlehampton on failing our eleven-pluses, but going to the Grammar School in Worthing after passing ‘em).

Anyways, back to Roxy. Cool people soundtrack their lives carefully (and really cool people never refer to themselves as cool of course), and I’d discovered Roxy, which turned me on to sax which led to soul and jazz and other tasty diversions, and it was all this first album for a month or so, upsetting my nan who had to listen to it through the thin ceiling of the lounge. ‘What is that fucking shit you’re playing?’ she’d ask every time and I’d glumly answer ‘music’. ‘That ain’t fucking music you fucker!’ she’d shout, before making me cheese on toast. ‘Yes, it is,’ I’d say to myself before turning it up, ‘fucker yourself with knobs on.’ She was deaf in any case.
Now don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t into dressing up and makeup, though I did Kohl-up my eyes years later for a dare in Leysin, Switzerland. It was always about the music. Ferry’s voice was fun, he used a few words I didn’t know and the songs went all over the place. They tapped into something, perhaps a burgeoning Pagan sensibility or even aided the successful navigation of adolescence? Who knows? Who cares?

Best track always for me was ‘If There is Something’ (how did Bingley get that so right and everything else so wrong?) Ladytron is fun and Sea Breezes touched me. Bitters End was shit. And why oh why put the horrible Virginia Plain on the CD version? It does jar somewhat!

Now, back to Plan B.

Brassey

somerset and dorset lives!

Some scenes from the magnificent restoration project on the Bath extension of the Somerset and Dorset Railway, now rebuilding this famous route from Midsomer Norton towards Chilcompton. The eventual aim is to restore the route between Bath and Bournemouth as a long-term project. 

exmoor delight