Brian Bilston & The Catenary Wires, Jetstream Pony & Railcard at The Water Rats London 9th July 2026

 

This was another very special (but swelteringly hot) night at The Water Rats in Kings Cross in the company of Skep Wax Records, who were hosting the launch party for their fantastic new "Pets Sounds" compilation LP. I was lucky in that I managed to grab the very last copy of the album on vinyl from the night's stock, and it really is a superb collection of mainly animal and pet-themed songs by bands from the Skep Wax stable (sorry about the terrible animal-themed pun there...) such as Railcard, Jetstream Pony and Brian Bilston & The Catenary Wires, who all played full sets on the night and Sassyhiya, Swansea Sound and Gay Skeleton Club who all got up as special guests and performed a song each. Skep Wax is run by Amelia Fletcher and Rob Pursey from Indie-Pop legends, Heavenly and not content with being in at least three bands at the moment, they seem determined to promote and release records by as many of their favourite bands as possible, most of which are currently making waves, in particular The Cords and Special Friend are starting to break through to a wider audience.

 

 

Tonight, Railcard open proceedings with their delightful, beautifully crafted songs, as you would expect from the involvement of former Dolly Mixture, Rachel Love. Rachel takes on lead vocals and guitars with Ian Button on drums, Peter Momtchiloff on bass and Allison Thomson on keyboards, trumpet and generally looking very cool, despite the heat. They played a couple of excellent new songs including "Foxy", which features on the "Pets Sounds" album and "Two Steps at a Time", the title track of their forthcoming album which is due out in September. The band have just announced an afternoon matinee launch party for the LP at The Lexington in London on Sunday September 20th and it seems really interesting, as not only is former Raincoat, Gina Birch the special guest, there will also be an Indie-label record fair in the downstairs bar. You can get tickets for this from We Got Tickets and I wouldn't hang around, as demand for this is surely going to be very high. As I have written on the Blog before, I love Railcard, there is just something so likeable about the band and their life-affirming songs that grabs you by the heartstrings. My favourite "Northern Soul Dancing" with Ian on lead vocals, is a fantastic number and I love the sentiment behind the lyrical theme of yearning to let yourself go, to throw yourself into frenzied dancing without a care in the world. I am really looking forward to the new album and especially the launch party gig in September which promises to be very special indeed.

 

Next up is Jetstream Pony, who I must confess I'd never seen play live before, despite being a fan for a long time and playing some of their early releases in episodes of our Retrosonic Podcast. They didn't disappoint, in fact I'd go so far as saying that they exceeded expectations, and they went down really well with the crowd. Lead vocalist Beth Arzy is an engaging presence up front with an easy humour and a wonderful voice and she makes light of the heat while bombarding the crowd with stuffed cat toys. While they are probably more known for their releases on another of our favourite labels, Spinout Nuggets, they have contributed a track to the "Pets Sounds" compilation called "Grimalkin Tom" which they play tonight and it's a prime example of their trademark shimmering wall of sound. This is mainly down to the twin guitars of Shaun Charman, formerly of The Wedding Present and Mark Matthews who was in The Dentists and that's some pedigree there for sure. Their interplay is superb which is somewhat ironic though, because as far as I know neither were guitarists in their former bands, but you'd never know it and I really love the riffs and textures that they conjure up. 

      

 

The foundation of any band is of course the rhythm section and drummer Tom Levesley impresses, but I'm completeley blown away by bassist Kerry Boettcher - and I mean that quite literally as I was standing in front of her amp! I might be biased, what with me being a bassist and all that, but she has an immense bass sound - think of "Blindness" by The Fall or "Toiler on The Sea" by The Stranglers or "Research Chemicals" by Viagra Boys and then crank it all up a notch and you might come close. The band play a set comprising mostly of songs from their excellent current album "Bowerbirds and Blue Things" and Beth gives a shout out to Buddy Ascott, former drummer with The Chords (who I happen to be with at the gig) as apparently he was the one who came up with the title. He jokingly tries to use this sudden boost in prestige to get a discount off the album at the merch desk, but I think the young guy behind the counter looks a bit panicked at Buddy's "do you know who I am, I named the album!" line. Hard to pick out specific highlights as the set was full of them, but "Bubblegum Nothingness” really stood out as one of my personal favourites. At one point they are joined on stage by Amelia Fletcher for the spoken word parts on "The Relativity of Wrong", which was originally performed by Eleni Poulou of The Fall on the album itself, and they end with the 'classic' "Had Enough". It was a brilliant set and I kicked myself for not managing to see them before, sometimes these things just happen but I certainly hope I can catch them play again soon.

Unfortunately, due to chatting outside the venue while trying to get some fresh air, I missed most of the special guest appearances but made it back inside to catch the brilliant "Compilation Cassette" by Brian Bilston & The Catenary Wires. The Catenary Wires are Amelia, Rob and Ian Button and last year they teamed up with the author and poet Brian Bilston for the album "Sounds Made By Humans" to put music and melodies to Brian Bilston's observant, humorous poetry and spoken word musings on the minutiae of modern life. The album works remarkably well from all aspects, the songs themselves are enough to satisfy anyone who initially might not be that keen on poetry but the delivery and humour of the words is really the key. I think if you love The Blue Aeroplanes then you will love this album. Tonight they are joined by Dentists/Swansea Sound guitarist Bob Collins who adds some sublime sounds from his Rickenbacker. But back to "Compilation Cassette" and any romantic music fan will understand the pre-digital age love letter of a painstakingly compiled TDK-C90, in which each song was chosen to say the things you couldn't bring yourself to say. It's a beautiful song that strangely reminds me of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" and Rob's warm voice contrasts nicely with Brian Bilston's spoken words. Other songs/poems such as "The Interview" and the brilliant "31 Rules For Midlife Rebellion" really strike a chord with those of us of a certain age and I can see lots of knowing smiles around me in the crowd. Regretfully, I couldn't stay for the whole set due to problems on the trains, I didn't want a repeat of the two hour journey from hell up into London on the way home too. A real shame, as I was enjoying the set so much and I hope the project doesn't end with just the one album. I've certainly become a big fan of Brian Bilston's poems now and I look forward to investigating some of his books too.

 

I really love what Rob and Amelia are doing with Skep Wax, and whilst not all of the bands on the label are to my own musical taste, they have no doubt created a wonderfully inclusive and diverse roster with a real identity. It's a truly Independent label with all the values that I have loved going back to my old days in bands and doing fanzines and cassette labels in the early to mid-80's, that DIY spirit of postivity and mutual cooperation. It's refreshing and inspiring in these often negative and cynical times, it's certainly hard to beat.

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