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| The Len Price 3 by Paul Slattery |
Phil Moore at
Sweet But Deadly Promotions put on yet another great line-up, this time at the Pipeline near Liverpool Street Station, on Saturday March 01st. Unfortunately I missed the first band, the hotly-tipped
Sonic Jewels, but luckily photographer Paul Slattery was there to witness their set and he was mightily impressed. I did manage to chat to the band after the show and Paul picked up a copy of their album "The Dark Road To Venus" from which he chose an excellent track "The Slide Of Time", as one of his top-tips in
Episode 13 of Retrosonic Podcast. I have been listening to the album a lot recently and can't recommend it highly enough, so I am even more disappointed that I missed them. Let's hope they play live again very soon and I will try and make it along.
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| The Sonic Jewels at The Pipeline by Paul Slattery |
I was very keen to see
Galileo 7 play for the first time and tonight I thoroughly enjoyed their set of tuneful Garage-Psych numbers that reminded me a bit of "World Shut Your Mouth" (the album, not the single...) and "Fried" era Julian Cope. The Galileo 7's singer, guitarist and songwriter is none other than
Allan Crockford, who is currently also playing bass with his ex-Prisoners and Solarflares pals Graham Day and Wolf Howard in
Graham Day & The Forefathers, blasting out a raw high energy set of all their old classic to delighted crowds at packed-out venues. Galileo 7 also feature drummer Russ Baxter from Secret Affair, Keyboard player Viv Bonsells, who took over lead vocals on one song, and bassist Mole who had his turn on a great cover of The Nerves "Paper Dolls". I saw Mole play drums with
The Higher State and
Groovy Uncle last year and he also helps to run
State Records, so he must be a very busy chap.
Galileo 7 played a well received set including a few of my favourites such as "Orangery Lane", "Anne Hedonia" and "Are We Having Fun Yet?" along with some new numbers from their forthcoming album "False Memory Lane". You can hear "Don't Follow Me", an exclusive track from the album played in
Retrosonic Podcast Episode 13.
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| Allan Crockford of Galileo 7 by Paul Slattery |
Headliners
The Len Price 3 are currently riding high on the acclaim lavished on their latest album "Nobody Knows" which has been getting some really great reviews recently, including a 10/10 in Vive Le Rock magazine. Kicking off with a storming version of "Words Won't Come" there's a false start on the next song but the band pick it up and soon everyone is singing along to a breakneck version of "Billy Mason" which speeds past in just over a minute and a half, "it's not fast enough!" shouts someone from the crowd ironically. Despite being one of the newest songs in the band's set "My Grandad Jim" is fast becoming a fan's favourite, and then we are treated to some more well established classics in "Rentacrowd" and "The Girl Who Became a Machine" which get the crowd worked up even more. On stage The Len Price 3 are an all-out attack on the senses, visually they are a blur of red, white and blue striped blazers as bassist Steve Huggins and lead vocalist and guitarist Glenn Page career about the stage, and off it too!
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| Glenn Page of The Len Price 3 by Paul Slattery |
Drummer Neil Fromow is not one to be upstaged though, and his Keith Moon style attack on the drum-kit and magnificent backing harmonies ensure he is not just left in the shadows. "Preying Mantis" and the Kinksian "Vultures" are next and prove that deep down the band are not afraid to tackle dark and cynical subject matters in their lyrics. "If I Ain't Got You" and "Pictures" are blasted out and then "Lonely" from the new album slows the pace so we can have a bit of breather before we're off again with "With Your Love" and then their cover of "Comanche!" which sees Glenn get in amongst the crowd. Next up is "The London Institute" which most people agree is the outstanding track on the new album as it stretches the band into a new dimension, and despite it's dream-sequence like psychedelic interlude on the record, it also works really well live.
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| The Len Price...errrr 5...! Photo by Paul Slattery |
"Girl Like You" ends the set but it's not long before the band are called back for more and the first encore of a scathing "You Tell Lies" is swiftly followed by the touching "After You're Gone". Next is their first single, the Garage Rock classic "Christian In The Desert" after which Glenn kindly plugs our two upcoming gigs with
The Len Price 3, firstly at The Railway in Southend on
April 26th and then the Half Moon Putney on
June 06th (with
Graham Day & The Forefathers and The Galileo 7) and he sticks the flyer on his forehead for added promotional value. They play a rampant "Chinese Burn" and then "Shirley Crabtree" sparks another stage invasion and mass singalong. The band get called back for yet another encore with various requests being shouted out before settling on a totally wired version of "Chatham Town Spawns Devils" and then it's finally all over, another great gig from The Len Price 3! Here are some more exclusive photos from Paul Slattery.
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| The Sonic Jewels by Paul Slattery |
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| The Sonic Jewels by Paul Slattery |
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| Galileo 7 by Paul Slattery |
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| Galileo 7 by Paul Slattery |
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| The Len Price 3 by Paul Slattery |
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| The Len Price 3 by Paul Slattery |
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| The Len Price 3 by Paul Slattery |
Retro Man Blog presents an evening of wild Garage Rock from The Medway featuring Graham Day & The Forefathers, The Len Price 3 and Galileo 7 at The Half Moon in Putney on Friday June 06th. This gig is in conjunction with the great book "The Kids Are All Square (Medway Punk & Beyond 1977-1985)" by Ian Snowball and Bob Collins and there will be copies for sale at the gig. Advance tickets are selling fast and can be booked from the Half Moon's direct link here.
Check out Episode 13 of Retrosonic Podcast where you can hear Galileo 7 and Sonic Jewels along with a top selection of groovy Psych, Soul and Garage Rock including The Chocolate Watchband, The Clique, The Afex, Otis Clay, Thee Mighty Caesars, The Movements, Fogbound and more...
Thanks to Paul Slattery for the photos, for more pics of the gig head on over to the Retro Man Blog
Facebook page and hit
"Like" for access to the photo album.
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