The Limiñanas at The Scala, London Kings Cross, May 26th 2022

The Limiñanas at The Scala, London - Photo by Retro Man Blog

At the end of my review of The Limiñanas at the 100 Club back in February 2019 I wrote “I have a feeling that the band will be selling out a much larger venue next time they come to play in London”. So, here we are at the Scala in Kings Cross, the band are finally back again and yes, it is much larger than the 100 Club but it’s still completely packed to the rafters. I also wrote “the most exciting thing of all is that musically The Limiñanas have not set themselves any boundaries, they can evolve in any way they choose. So as a fan, it will be fascinating to continue following them on the journey that lies ahead”. Well, it’s been some journey, that’s for sure. At that 100 Club show they included two new numbers in the set “Dreams” and “The Last Picture Show” and these pointed the way to a busy, creative time for the band. Those two songs ended up as part of a superb new project called L'Épée which included Anton Newcombe of the Brian Jonestown Massacre and the French actress Emmanuelle Seigner. I was lucky enough to see them play in London at the end of 2019, it was another mind-blowing performance and the year belonged to The Limiñanas and L'Épée.

The Limiñanas at The Scala, London - Photo by Retro Man Blog

The Limiñanas at The Scala, London - Photo by Retro Man Blog

Then of course came the unexpected two-year horror of the COVID pandemic but it certainly didn’t stop the creative output of Lionel and Marie as they immersed themselves in movie and TV music culminating in the brilliant score for “The World We Knew" along with “The Devil Inside Me” and “The Ballad of Linda L.” collaborations with David Menke. Then with their latest album “De Pelicula”, they have collaborated with the DJ and Producer Laurent Garnier to produce a hypnotic Electro-Techno-Fuzzed-up monster of a record. Moving away from the 60’s Garage Rock and Ye-Ye influences somewhat, this is a thoroughly modern sounding masterpiece that perfectly melds together Dance and Rock cultures. Live, the new songs work extremely well as is immediately apparent with the brilliant opening two song salvo of the single “Saul” and “Je Rentrais Par Le Bois”. To help capture this new direction, the band have recruited Edi Pistolas, the Chilean musician from the Dark Wave/Post-Punk bands Panico and Nova Materia to add his electronic sounds, percussion and half-sung half-rap vocals to the mix. He’s also a compelling and charismatic performer and he ups the visual impact to the max when he takes centre stage. 

The Limiñanas at The Scala, London - Photo by Retro Man Blog

The Limiñanas at The Scala, London - Photo by Retro Man Blog

We then get treated to a superb set encompassing the new album, old favourites such as “Down Underground” and classic singles like “Dimanche”, “Istanbul Is Sleepy” and “The Gift”. There’s the superb cover of Can’s “Mother Sky” which they have kind of adopted as their own and they even cover Lionel’s old band Beach Bitches “Crank”, a surefire Garage Punk classic that almost blows the roof off the Scala. Talking of which, the sound at the Scala is pretty good from down at the front but the lighting less so. There seems to be a shadow from a monitor or speaker obscuring Marie’s face for most of the set and there’s an extremely low stage for such a size of venue. This means that you’ve got to work hard for good views of all the action, and of course, it’s The Limiñanas so there is certainly plenty of action. I haven’t seen such a compelling and visually exciting live band since The Soundtrack of Our Lives split up in 2012 – well, possibly Oh!Gunquit would qualify – but in terms of sheer overwhelming, jaw-dropping spectacle then The Limiñanas are right up there. 

The Limiñanas at The Scala, London - Photo by Retro Man Blog

The Limiñanas at The Scala, London - Photo by Retro Man Blog

Just like The Soundtrack of Our Lives, each member is integral not only to the band’s sound, but also their look and each member brings their own character and personality to the party. Whether, its Lionel hunched over, wringing mind-blowing fuzzed up riffs from his guitar, all wild hair and impressive beard or Marie’s joyful and original drumming – hammering her snare and floor-tom, red hair flailing and glowing in the lights. There’s no cymbals, no high-hat, just a tribal hypnotic and relentless beat. Bassist Mikey Malaga has a unique style with his low-slung black Fender Precision, it's every bit the iconic bass look – he swings and sways with his bass, totally hypnotic. Renaud Picard sings most of the lead vocal parts and adds layers of haunting backing vocals and acoustic guitar. Then, I suppose most great visual bands have to have a quiet member, it’s usually the bassist - The Who’s John Entwistle, the Stones’ Bill Wyman and TSOOL's Kalle Gustafsson spring to mind – just to keep everything balanced and in check. I guess this role falls to Alban Barate who although half-hidden at the back, adds some superb guitar work and keyboards and certainly shouldn’t be overlooked in his contribution to the sound. 

The Limiñanas at The Scala, London - Photo by Retro Man Blog

The Limiñanas at The Scala, London - Photo by Retro Man Blog

To top it all, I think every great band needs to have an eccentric and enigmatic member and this position is filled by Ivan Telefunken who has become something of a cult hero with fans. He’s totally out there and unique, completely lost in the music, he throws his guitar around wildly before pushing it against his amp to illicit screams of feedback and white noise which he skillfully manipulates to add so much texture and atmosphere to The Limiñanas sound. He also adds keyboards, which are decorated in eye-catching, multi-coloured polka dots. Ivan is to The Limiñanas what Eno was to Roxy Music, Blixa was to the Bad Seeds and Johnny Greenwood was to Radiohead - he fills the role of musical alchemist absolutely perfectly. He also takes over lead vocals on a raucous version of The Undertones “Teenage Kicks” which closes the set and goes down a storm, especially with long-time Limiñanas fan Damian O’Neill, who is in the crowd tonight. 

The Limiñanas at The Scala, London - Photo by Retro Man Blog

Damian O'Neill of The Undertones with Marie & Lionel Limiñana at The Scala, London - Photo by Retro Man Blog

To digress, it was a pleasure to introduce them after the show and be reminded that even your favourite musicians can still be big music fans after all and the mutual appreciation was heart-warming to see. The band return for an encore and this time it's Marie taking on lead vocals for a pulsing version of Suicide’s “Cheree” which morphs into a transcendental mash-up of “Je M’en Vais” and “The Train Creep A-Loopin’”, absolutely stunning! The outpouring of appreciation and affection at the end of the show was quite emotional, the band seemed genuinely as happy as us fans did as they stood there together accepting the acclaim. Well, I said it before but I’ll say it again, I think next time they visit they are going to need a much bigger venue!

The Limiñanas at The Scala, London - Photo by Retro Man Blog

The Limiñanas at The Scala, London - Photo by Retro Man Blog

For more information on The Limiñanas, please visit their official web-site here. You can check out our feature on the 100 Club show in the Retro Man Blog archive here and the L'Épée show at EartH in Hackney here. Don't forget the special Retrosonic Podcast Episode 37 entitled "Songs The Limiñanas Taught Us" in which I take a look at the band's history including some of their previous and related bands such as Beach Bitches, Les Bellas, Crank and Hair & The Iotas along with a pick of some of their many and varied cover versions. The episode is still available at our archive if you subscribe for free to Retrosonic Podcast at Soundcloud or Spotify, Amazon Music, iTunes and Apple Podcasts. You can also listen or download below. You will also find some of our original videos of The Limiñanas and L'Épée if you subscribe to our Retromanblog65 YouTube channel here. 

Retrosonic Podcast · Episode 37 "Songs The Limiñanas Taught Us"

The Flamin' Groovies at The 100 Club London 7th May 2022 - Report & Photographs by Paul Slattery

The Flamin' Groovies at The 100 Club - Copyright Paul Slattery

For me going to see the The Flamin' Groovies is a kind of pilgrimage. I first heard "Teenage Head" at a party in the USA in 1972 and just six years later was taking photographs of them on their UK tour of 1978. I'd collected pretty well all their records by then and had become a huge fan so for me going on the road with them was like some kind of dream for a young photographer and Cyril Jordan and the rest of the band were really good to me. Their encouragement pretty well set me up as a rock photographer and I'm eternally grateful for that opportunity. It was now fifty years since I first heard a Groovies record and 44 years since I first met Cyril but due to various circumstances and of course Covid, I hadn't seen the reformed Groovies and Cyril in five years. Since they reformed I'd seen them in London in 2013, done a mini tour with them in France in 2015, and the last time had been in London in 2017. All these gigs can be found here in the Retro Man Blog archive, plus there's a fab Retrosonic Podcast with Chris Wilson here.

The Flamin' Groovies at The 100 Club - Copyright Paul Slattery

The Flamin' Groovies at The 100 Club - Copyright Paul Slattery

I walked into the dressing room at the 100 Club to see Cyril picking away at his iconic Dan Armstrong Plexiglass guitar which looks and sounds so fantastic but does weigh a ton. He's looking pretty good for a 74 year old and I'm only a couple of years behind so here's to old men in rock and roll! Cyril's been using this guitar for more than fifty years now. There we were chatting backstage when who walks in but Sid Griffin from the Long Ryders and Coalporters with a beard like a mountain man. The Long Ryders too are one of my fave bands and you can read all about them and see my photos in the blog archive here. Since the Groovies reformed in 2013 original member George Alexander had quit in 2017 and now Chris Wilson is on "hiatus" so Cyril is now the only original band member left. Chris was such an integral part of the band co-writing with Cyril nearly all of the bands greatest songs, and his guitar duels with Cyril are legendary. So I was wondering what was going to happen with the vocals as Chris was the lead voice of the Groovies for such a long time, but I shouldn't have worried. Chris Von Sneidern who is a legend in his own right has switched from bass to guitar and is a great singer. Tony Sales whose dad also Tony played bass with Iggy Pop and David Bowie has music running through his veins - he does a really spot-on job on the drums AND vocals from behind the kit.  

Chris Von Sneidern, The Flamin' Groovies at The 100 Club - Copyright Paul Slattery

 

Tony Sales, The Flamin' Groovies at The 100 Club - Copyright Paul Slattery

Atom Ellis plays right funky bass lines stalking the stage like AC/DC's Angus Young! "Way Over My Head" kicks off the night with great guitars from Cyril and Chris, then "You Tore Me Down" and "First Plane Home" really get the crowd rocking. A relatively old crowd but a lot of young faces too, young Sem and her friend who are both just in their 20's have come all the way from Zurich to see the gig. Cyril comes on with a posh red jacket which he discards after the first three songs - the place is already getting hot and you've got to be fit in the 100 Club's tropical atmosphere! After being a lifetime smoker Cyril's trying not to inhale these days on the way to packing up the ciggies completely. If he can do it I'll be impressed! I really can't tell you what it's like standing feet away from probably one of your favourite bands of all time listening to great songs like "Slow Death" and "Between The Lines". Cyril and Chris get the jangling guitars riffing away on "I Can't Hide" and I'm in Rock and Roll heaven! "Married Woman" is a belter, as is Chuck Berry's "Around and Around" and the crowd go crazy for "Teenage Head" and of course "Shake Some Action". 

 

Atom Ellis, The Flamin' Groovies at The 100 Club - Copyright Paul Slattery

The Flamin' Groovies at The 100 Club - Copyright Paul Slattery

The Flamin' Groovies at The 100 Club - Copyright Paul Slattery

I've always loved the Groovies' "Married Woman" which I first heard on a United Artists EP called "Flamin' Groovies" in 1976. Dave Edmunds produced it at Rockfield in 1972, going on later to produce the legendary "Shake Some Action" album in 1976 when the band were at their absolute Zenith blowing away the Ramones at The Roundhouse. There's a great review of the gig by Max Bell on the Roundhouse site here. Let's not forget the other Dave Edmunds produced album 1978's "Flamin' Groovies Now". It was on my visit to Rockfield Studios on New Year's Day in 1978 that I first met the Groovies so that album is pretty special for me. Atom gets a really funky bass riff going and the band launches into "Way Down Under", a superbly riffy number, followed by David Crosby's "Ladyfriend" and finished off with the title track of the band's '79 album "Jumpin' In The Night". With a sixteen song set-list of greatest hits, the appreciative crowd do not go home disappointed and for me it's a memorable and extremely emotional night. Rock and Roll at its best. I hope I don't have to wait another five years to see Cyril and the band again. I walk up the back stairs of the 100 Club and say my goodbyes to the band as the van is loaded for the next gig in Holland. Such is Rock and Roll!

Cyril Jordan, The Flamin' Groovies at The 100 Club - Copyright Paul Slattery

Cyril Jordan and Sid Griffin at The 100 Club - Copyright Paul Slattery

For more info on The Flamin' Groovies please check out their web-site here. Finally, big thanks to Barry Simons, take care and see you soon. - Paul Slattery May 2022.

Groovies, Roundhouse June 1978. L-R Cyril Jordan, David Wright, George Alexander, Mike Wilhelm, Chris Wilson. Copyright Paul Slattery