Retro Man Blog Night with The WitchDoktors, King Salami & The Cumberland 3 and The SuperMinx'70

The King WitchDoktor 6 Combo - Photo by Paul Slattery

I'd like to say a very big thank you to all that came along to our Retro Man Blog Night at The Half Moon in Putney despite many obstacles, diversions and other distractions - myself and all the bands really appreciated it! I'd also like to say thanks to the bands too, all three really turned it on with great sets. The SuperMinx'70 kicked off the evening and despite having to play without their regular sax player due to illness, they dug in and delivered a fine set of their raucous sing-along gems. King Salami & The Cumberland 3 raised the temperature even higher and got everyone dancing along to their Punk Rhythm and Blues. Then, headliners The WitchDoktors delivered another faultless set of supercharged down and dirty Rock 'n' Roll. For the encore, the band were joined by Kamikaze and Pepe from King Salami to power through a crazed cover of The Damned's "Neat Neat Neat" which brought proceedings to a suitably chaotic climax. Rock Photographer Paul Slattery was there to capture all the action and has kindly shared some of his great photos of the gig.

 

All Photos copyright Paul Slattery 2014. For more photos of the night head on over to the Retro Man Blog Facebook page and if you are not already connected, hit "Like" to access the exclusive photo album. We have also put together another fine line-up for the next Retro Man Blog night at the Half Moon Putney on Friday September 26th. Headliners, The Len Price 3, will be joined by Les Kitschenette's and The Past Tense, for more information on all the bands and how to order the bargain £8.00 advance tickets please check out the feature at this link here. See you there!

Retrosonic Podcast Episode 15 "You Can Stick Your Frothy Lager" with Graham Day & The Gaolers, Ebbot Lundberg, The Damned, Eight Rounds Rapid, The Fleshtones and more!

Welcome to Episode 15 of Retrosonic Podcast entitled "You Can Stick Your Frothy Lager". Steve from Retro Man Blog and Rock Photographer Paul Slattery chat about a selection of gigs and events including Captain Sensible's Birthday Gig, Paul's time on the road with Oasis and his involvement in the "Chasing The Sun" photo exhibition. There's the latest "best gig ever" from The Fleshtones and a slight moan about The Fuzztones' time keeping, praise for Eight Rounds Rapid, Galileo 7 and a weird coincidence involving Swedish band Stupidity. We report on our visit to The Medway for our interviews with Garage Rock legend Billy Childish and the Pubmonkey movie writer Jamie O'Hara and Glenn Page from The Len Price 3 who provide the film's soundtrack. We also attended the first ever screening of the movie at the BFI and lavish praise on the final cut. There's talk about our Retro Man Blog gigs with The WitchDoktors, King Salami & The Cumberland 3 and The SuperMinx'70 and chat about the two previous sold out shows with The Monochrome Set and Graham Day & The Forefathers. There's an excellent new song from ex-Soundtrack of Our Lives front-man Ebbot Lundberg's new solo E.P. and spins of tracks by The Teamsters, The Damned, The Shall I Say Quois and The Snakeman 3 amongst others. The episode is free to listen to and download below and you can also check out our extensive archive at our Soundcloud page here. Enjoy!

The Len Price 3 + Les Kitschenette's + The Past Tense confirmed for the Retro Man Blog Night at The Half Moon Putney on Friday September 26th

We are very pleased to announce that, in conjunction with Adaptor Clothing, the next Retro Man Blog Night will be on Friday September 26th at The Half Moon Putney where we will be presenting an Anglo-French battle of three of the best Beat Combos around. We have the splendid adrenaline fuelled Medway Delta Pop of The Len Price 3 headlining along with the rather spiffing Garage Mod-upon-Thames sounds of The Past Tense. To complete the line-up we sail up the estuary to extend a very hearty cross-Channel welcome to the exceptionnel French Yé-yé FreakBeat band Les Kitschenette's for their very first U.K. gig. Zut alors, à bientôt chums...!

The Len Price 3 headlining last October's Retro Man Blog Night - Photo by Paul Slattery

The Len Price 3 are an adrenaline pumped pop band from England, forged in the traditions of their Medway Delta roots. They are a revelation to those who encounter them, encompassing all of what you would want from a band in one invigorating sonic experience. Their dazzling live performances feature a thunderous set of well-honed melodic nuggets played at breakneck speed, complete with shiny pop hooks and chrome glazed harmonies. But dig a bit deeper and you will find a rich lyrical content that is full of acid tongued lyrics and wry social observations. With each album and single release receiving glowing reviews and every live show leaving behind a highly satisfied audience full of enthusiastic devotees, The Len Price 3 are fast becoming a true national treasure…

The fabulous French Yé-yé group Les Kitschenette's have just released their latest E.P. which takes you right back to the stylish France of the '60's. Six incredible new tunes of French Freakbeat are just waiting to be played loudly and danced to at your groovy parties! The new 10" vinyl E.P. is called "2e Etage: Lingerie Pour Hommes" and is the second of a series of three releases on coloured vinyl; the first one was on red vinyl, this one in blue and the upcoming one will be released on white vinyl, altogether forming the colours of the French flag. It consists of cover versions of well-chosen nuggets from the 60s; all of which the band interpret with their usual dose of melodic organ, a shakin' beat, a hint of sax and flute, fuzz riffs, a stylophone and brilliantly elegant female as well as male vocals. If you like French 60's Garage-Beat, Les Kitschenette's are a must-see band!

Long-time Retro Man Blog favourites, The Past Tense are a powerful 3-piece band from Worcester Park/Kingston-Upon-Thames with a collective love of Sixties Beat, Mod, Psych, Garage Rock and Punk. Inspired by acts such as The Who, The Jam, The Clash, The Action, The Prisoners, Billy Childish and The Masonics, they mix it all up into their very own perfectly crafted anthems to create a highly danceable and energetic take on all of their favourite sounds. 

Retro Man Blog Night's with The Len Price 3 are always something very special, so make sure you book your tickets in advance so you don't miss out on the fun, and save money too! Advance tickets are a bargain £8.00 direct from the Half Moon box-office here, by phone on 0208 780 9383 or buy at the bar to avoid booking fees. If any tickets are left they will be sold at £10.00 on the night. The Half Moon is at 93 Lower Richmond Road, London SW15 1EU and is about 10 minutes walk from Putney Bridge Tube Station (District Line Wimbledon Branch) and Putney main-line train station (regular service takes only 13 minutes from London Waterloo). Loads of buses go to Putney too.

King Salami & The Cumberland 3 new E.P. "Howlin' For My Woman" out now on Chaputa! Records

 

The excellent label Chaputa! have just released a brand new four track E.P. by King Salami & The Cumberland 3 entitled "Howlin' For My Woman". It's limited to 500 copies on 7" vinyl with the first 100 being shipped with two free beer mats featuring the Chaputa! logo and the E.P. cover. You can place your order at the Chaputa! web-site here, or better still, come along to the next Retro Man Blog night at the Half Moon Putney on Friday July 18th and pick up a copy directly from the band where they will be playing on the same bill as The WitchDoktors and The SuperMinx '70. Click the gig poster on the right for more info or get your advance tickets for only £8.00 from the Half Moon.

Billy Childish: Retrosonic Podcast Special Edition

Billy Childish, Chatham June 2014 by Paul Slattery

Welcome to the latest Retrosonic Podcast Special Edition, this time we feature the hugely influential Medway based musician, author, poet and artist Billy Childish. We visited Billy in his Medway studio and interviewed him as he painted a huge canvas, chatting about his early musical influences and the effect that they had on his own songwriting and sound. Along the way we take in a selection of some of his own many and varied line-ups, discussing and playing tracks from The Pop Rivets, The Milkshakes, Thee Mighty Caesars, Thee Headcoats, The Buff Medways, The Musicians of The British Empire and then bring it right up to date with his latest outfit, The CTMF.

You can listen or download directly here or visit the Retrosonic Podcast Soundcloud page.



Rock Photographer Paul Slattery took his first Billy Childish photo in 1977, although he didn't know it at the time. By complete coincidence when Paul was photographing the Sex Pistols at Brunel University he happened to capture a young, vociferous, peroxide-haired Punk Rocker in the front row of the crowd, and that was Billy Childish. So 37 years later Paul could finally hand over a set of those prints to a grateful Billy. This episode takes the story of those photographs and Billy's experience with the Seventies Punk scene as the starting point of the interview and we talk about the songs and the sounds that inspired him to this day, informing his various musical projects.

Sex Pistols at Brunel University December 1977 by Paul Slattery
Billy in the centre to the right of Johnny Rotten...

Paul Slattery photographed Billy Childish in his various line-ups for many years and we are pleased to publish some of his rare photos from The Milkshakes to the Musicians of The British Empire.

The Milkshakes at The Frontline Theatre Brixton February 1983 by Paul Slattery

Thee Headcoats at Camden Lock, London June 1990

Thee Headcoats at St. John's Tavern London June 1990

Billy at the Cubitt Gallery, London June 1995

Thee Headcoats at The Monarch London September 1997

The Buff Medways, Boston Arms London March 2001

Musicians of The British Empire, Boston Arms London June 2009

Billy Childish, Chatham June 2014 by Paul Slattery

For other Special Edition Retrosonic Podcasts including dedicated episodes featuring in-depth interviews with TV Smith, Chris Wilson of The Flamin' Groovies, Ian from Damaged Goods Records, Ian Person and Mattias Barjed from The Soundtrack of Our Lives, Harley Feinstein from Sparks/Halfnelson, Mattias Hellberg, Rob Symmons and Rob Green of The Fallen Leaves, the excellent Swedish Psychedelic band The Movements and much more, please check out our Retrosonic Podcast archive on Soundcloud here. All episodes are free to download.

Check out the Damaged Goods Records on-line store for all your Billy Childish musical needs - CD's vinyl and downloads from all of of his various line-ups. For Billy's Art, including Prints, Woodcuts, Sculpture and Special Editions and books then please visit the L-13 Studio store.

Billy Childish, Chatham June 2014 - Photo Copyright Retro Man Blog

Thanks to Billy, Steve from L-13, Ian from Damaged Goods Records and Paul Slattery for sharing all the excellent photos. All photographs above copyright Paul Slattery 2014. For more photos of our visit to the Medway please head on over to the Retro Man Blog Facebook page and, if you are not already a subscriber, hit "Like" for access to the exclusive photo album.

Retro Man Blog Presents: The WitchDoktors, King Salami & The Cumberland 3 and The Superminx '70 at The Half Moon Putney on Friday July 18th

We've got together another mighty fine line-up for July's edition of the Retro Man Blog Night at The Half Moon in Putney with three great live acts - The WitchDoktors, King Salami & The Cumberland 3 and The SuperMinx'70. This gig takes place on Friday July 18th and advance tickets are available for sale now at the bargain price of £8.00 from the Half Moon Box Office here, tickets on the door are £10.00. The previous two Retro Man Blog Nights featuring bands such as Graham Day & The Forefathers, The Len Price 3, Galileo 7, The Fallen Leaves and The Monochrome Set both sold out so book now, save some money and guarantee your spot at the front of the stage!

The WitchDoktors by Paul Slattery

Deep in the darkest vaults of South London, The WitchDoktors have been honing their SuperPunkRock sound and shows, drawing on their 70s punk upbringing (Ramones, Clash, Pistols, Damned etc) and adding a good ol' full measure of trashy rock'n'roll-a-billy, a dash of 60s Psyche-Out Garage, a bitter twist of country and whizzing it all up with some godamming loud geetars our special brand of thunderous drums! After 4 albums, a fistfull of singles plus hundreds of shows with like minded souls e.g. The Damned, The Revillos, The Fleshtones, Woggles, Phantom Surfers, The Saints, ? and the Mysterions, Man or Astroman?, Dogs D'Amour, Vince Ray and more recently The Polecats, The Germs, Macavity's Cat, they're fired up on high octane again and are out there gigging to promote their latest album "$3 Hooker" (distribution to retail stores by those nice people at www.fortedistribution.co.uk). "$3 Hooker" is also available for download NOW from iTunes, e-music, Napster and Amazon along with their Greatest Hits(!) album "Razor Cuts & Red Hot Needles". Go on, getcha 'pod' Doktored! Wanna feel like The WitchDoktors? Then getchersome comic books, catch some horror flicks, drink a bar dry, sling on some inkwork, fire up the hotrod and thank your lucky stars that you can relax in the safety of your own paranoia.

King Salami & The Cumberland 3 by Zig Criscuolo

In 2006, one Japanese, one French, one Caribbean and one Spanish got together to form a black rhythm & blues party band, King Salami & The Cumberland 3! London's R&B-punk sensation are making fun times where ever they go. With a repertoire encompassing many of the greats of the ’50s and ’60s you won't be able to help but move your feet. The King howls like Screaming Jay Hawkins with Bo Diddley chasing his coat-tail and Andre Williams trying to offer up some of his bacon fat. This man never stops shakin' and twistin' and groovin' while the Cumberland 3 (former members of the Ulcers, Chinese Lungs and Parkinsons) play their own branded mix of vintage rockabilly desperate rock'n'roll and a bit of soul with fire, energy, gusto and fun! They have played all over Europe, sharing the stage with the Pretty Things, the Trashmen, the Standells, the Mummies, the Bellrays etc...and have released a bunch of killer 45's on different European record labels. Last year the band toured France, Japan, China, Australia and New York City and released their 2nd album "Cookin' Up a Party" on Dirty Water records.

The SuperMinx'70 by Richie Kyle

The SuperMinx'70: Paul R Osborn was in The Peppermint Airgun with Carl Eugene Picot (Dave Kusworth/Nikki Sudden) in the early Eighties playing psychedelic pop and gigging with PWEI and The Wonderstuff and after that in The Overself, part of the Rugby Town scene with the Spacemen3 and The Guaranteed Ugly. After giving up music for 15 years Rob Symmons (Subway Sect/Fallen Leaves) advised him to start another band so in 2012 he started The SuperMinx'70...The band have gone through some line-up changes but now Paul has gathered a great band around him, including relative newcomers Barry "Groovyman" Frost ex-Flat 19, Cannibals, and Legendary Groovymen on bass and guitarist Pete Scott who is a young but seasoned solo performer. Completing the line-up are drummer Johnny 'Bam Bam' Birdiani and Joe Squatt on Trumpet and sax. The band have signed to Plastic Pop Records and plan to release a live E.P. later this year and are also involved in a Merc Clothing sponsored residency at The Buzzclub in Wimbledon.

For more info on the gig check out the Event Page here and tickets can be bought direct from here. Thanks to Eric for the great poster design - check out more at www.flying lunchbox.co.uk.