Taking Candy From a Dog - An Evocative & Heartwarming Autobiographical Novel by Vic Templar

Vic Templar, the author of "Taking Candy From A Dog" might be better known to music fans as Ian Greensmith. Ian is a Writer, Drummer, Vibraphonist, Gardener and retired Cricketer whose favourite writers include Alan Silitoe, Graham Greene and Keith Waterhouse. This is his sixth book since the first was published in 1987 and Billy Childish’s Hangman Books have published three of them. Ian was a mainstay of the Medway 'scene', drumming with The Dentists and then Armitage Shanks and Ye Ascoyne D’Ascoynes along with Bob Collins. More recently he has played with The Sine Waves and the superb Nuevo Ramon 5 (the story of which is well worth checking out) and has just released a debut single with The Dirty Contacts on State Records. He now lives near Hastings where he runs the regular Fratcave club events and the yearly Beatwave Weekenders with Justin Ellis. 

The book opens in the present day with our hero rummaging around in his Dad’s loft searching in vain for Luke, a long-lost monkey sock puppet. The search evokes memories of a contented childhood and we are spirited away back in time to Chatham, Kent in the late 60's and placed right in the heart of the Smith family. Is this an autobiography, a novel or a metaphorical tale of a man searching for those idyllic days of childhood? I guess it is a bit of each. What I do know is that "Taking Candy From A Dog" is a heart-warming portrait of a ‘normal’ family from the late 60's to the mid-70’s. I put normal in inverted commas there as I can really relate to this book and I always considered myself fairly normal! There are no great dramas or hardships in the young Ian Smith's life but the beauty in the writing is to keep us entertained by the evocative vignettes and lovingly described characters that surround him. So, where does Luke the monkey come in? Luke is a well travelled woollen sock puppet with a nice line in sardonic humour. Each chapter is interrupted by his sarcastic take on events as seen through his (button) eyes and this adds a nice touch of world-weary cynicism to Ian's cheerful reminiscing. Luke explains about his creation and early life in San Francisco and how he ended up in a family home in the Medway. Along the way he drops in some withering put-downs and observations on his new English owners. These owners are Ian and his younger sister Kes. Ian's world revolves around Football, particularly Chatham, Gillingham and George Best. He loves Sure Shot Hockey, Subbuteo, Airfix Models and I-Spy books. 

The writing style perfectly encapsulates the era and many familiar brand names from my own youth spring from the pages. The Six Million Dollar Man on TV, drinking Tizer and R. White’s Lemonade and reading Sweeney annuals. There’s celery and Primula and paste sandwiches for tea. Ian observes all the adults around him, his family and their various friends. The men wear beige slacks and tan shoes and drink beer. “Lager is seen as Continental and treated with suspicion”. They have tattoos of “hearts, anchors, snakes or the bust of a raven-haired woman” and their cars “smell of leather and cigars”. The women wear Crimplene and nylon and discuss whether Pontins in Bognor Regis is better than Butlins. Throughout the book there are amusing Billy Liar style fantasy sequences in which Ian sets off on a road trip to Manchester for tea with George Best and later appears on the Michael Parkinson chat show. We move on to 1977, it’s the Queen’s Jubilee and the seismic rumblings of Punk Rock start to make waves in Ian's world. Suddenly, his older cousin Lee cuts his hair short and gets hold of a copy of the Sex Pistols “God Save The Queen”. Ian is desperate to hear what all the fuss is about but Lee makes him wait until one day when the whole family are sitting around together having their tea. Lee puts the black shiny plastic disc on the Ferguson record player, places the needle down and unleashes all that venomous sound and fury. Finally, the wait is over for Ian. “This is it. The record begins. The guitars and drums and then Johnny Rotten starts screaming. My life changes. It sounds like the Charge of The Light Brigade. It sounds like World War I. It sounds like Krakatoa. It sounds wonderful. Grandad says “Bloody Hellfire”, Nan says “What’s he singing?” and Mum says “What a load of bollocks!” Jack and Kes start singing “No fuchsias, no fuchsias, no fuchsias for you”. Life will never be the same again. 

Indeed, there are after-school fisticuffs, girls and parties and attempts at forming bands. There is a superb chapter on a quest of Holy Grail proportions trying to track down a copy of Buzzcocks “Spiral Scratch” on the day of release as advertised in the NME. Those were the days when buying records involved an actual physical journey and Ian traipses from record store to record store in vain. Hastings, Tunbridge Wells, Margate, Maidstone, no luck. Finally, it takes an elderly and unlikely shop assistant in Hythe to tell him that the release date had actually been delayed. Ian struggles with the various fashions and youth cults of the time and tries to cultivate his own ‘look’. Inspired somewhat by The Fall’s Mark E Smith he decides on ‘eccentric’ but ends up looking like Percy Thrower with Tweed jackets, bri-nylon shirts and woollen cardigans with leather buttons. There is a bittersweet tone to the last few chapters but I guess that just reflects the reality of getting older. Family bereavements, leaving school and having to deal with becoming an adult. Thatcher closing down the Dockyard. “400 years of Chatham history flushed down the pan overnight”. Jobs are either lost or people are relocated to start new careers. Close-knit communities drift apart. There is a big clear out for the move. It’s time to say goodbye to childhood trivialities as once loved toys are consigned to the local Cub Scout jumble sale. It is a poignant moment. His sister’s dolls and teddy bears are next and she picks up Luke and hesitates, looking at the black plastic bag destined for the sale and then back again at Luke… So what happened to Luke? Did the adult Ian ever find it up in his Dad’s loft or did the tatty sock puppet end up on a trestle table at the Cub Scout’s hut. Maybe it was picked up for a few pence and spirited away on another adventure. I am not telling. You will just have to buy the book to find out.

The Author (2nd left) with the Nuevo Ramon 5 - Photo Retro Man Blog

Taking Candy From a Dog by Vic Templar is published by Blackheath Books and available from their web-site. For more information on this year's Beatwave Weekender please check out their Facebook page. You can read a report on last year's Beatwave in the Blog archive here and a review of The Dirty Contacts at the Lexington here. Please click on the highlighted links throughout the feature for more info on the mentioned events and bands.

The Embrooks "We Who Are" New LP & State Records Launch Party with Les Grys Grys and The Dirty Contacts at The Lexington January 5th

The Embrooks - "We Who Are" LP cover

The Embrooks celebrated the release of their brand new LP "We Who Are" with a cracking value for money State Records showcase and launch party at The Lexington featuring special guests Les Grys Grys and The Dirty Contacts. Of course Mole and Lois of The Embrooks are the brains behind the fabulous State Records who have recently completed work on their very own recording studio North Down Sound in the grounds of their HQ in Folkestone, which is certainly paying dividends.

The Dirty Contacts at The Lexington - Photo Retro Man Blog

The Dirty Contacts at The Lexington - Photo Retro Man Blog

Opening the show after an excellent selection of songs from DJ Suzy ScreamCheese, the Hastings based Dirty Contacts were also celebrating a new release. Their debut single "The World's End" was recorded at North Down Sound and is out now as a heavyweight gatefold sleeved 7" vinyl single. They played a great set of scuzzy Garage Punk with some promising original songs rubbing shoulders with some familiar cover versions such as Wimple Winch’s "Save My Soul" and a superb take on The Wailers "Out of Our Tree". I recognised the Fratcave and Beatwave weekender organisers Ian Greensmith from The Dentists on drums and Justin from The Sine Waves on keyboards. In fact, Justin's futuristic keyboards add another dimension to their sound and give The Dirty Contacts a welcome and original angle that sets them apart from many of their contemporaries.

Les Grys Grys at The Lexington - Photo Retro Man Blog

Les Grys Grys at The Lexington - Photo Retro Man Blog

The fantastic Les Grys Grys have been over from Montpellier to visit North Down Sound to continue work on their forthcoming album. They took time out between recording sessions to headline a riotous New Year show at Weirdsville which featured crowd-surfing, PA climbing, Go-Go dancing full-on mayhem. Tonight they put in a rather more sedate performance that is as tight and rocking as the Weirdsville show was chaotic. They really are one of the best live acts on the circuit and tonight’s set promises that the new LP will be a sure-fire classic, can't wait to hear it.

The Embrooks at The Lexington - Photo Retro Man Blog

The Embrooks take the stage and tonight, with his striped trousers and tasselled hat, frontman Mole reminds me of the Psychedelic shopkeeper in the Mr Ben cartoon, promising us a fantastical adventure ahead. Indeed, there is an element of the unknown to come as Mole announces that they will only be playing songs from their brand new release “We Who Are". I thought it was a brave move by the band to play the album in sequence from side one, track one, however, it all worked out perfectly in the end. This was mainly down to the fact that “We Who Are” is expertly sequenced with each song capable of being released as a stand-alone single in its own right. In fact, I found myself singing along to numbers as though I'd listened to them for years rather than just a couple of weeks. I noticed there were a fair number of people around me doing likewise. You see, “We Who Are” is one of those rare albums where everything just clicks. From the beautifully packaged limited edition 180-gram vinyl LP with its lavish gatefold sleeve and accompanying CD, right through to the production and the sheer quality of the song writing, it’s all here.

The Embrooks at The Lexington - Photo Retro Man Blog

Only one song breaks the three and a half minute barrier but they still manage to cram in loads of intriguing twists and turns into each number, which gives the album a thoroughly satisfying depth. Drummer Lois kicks things off with the snake hipped groove of “Going But Not Gone” and Mole's elastic bass riff is bubbling away nicely underneath. The previously released State Records single "Nightmare" was the only familiar song in the main set and it has a great stinging guitar riff intro from Alex. "Don't Look At Me" is one of my highlights on the album, it starts off as a Garage Punk stomper before shooting off at an unexpectedly pastoral tangent with some wicked flute played brilliantly on the album and at the gig by Tom Hodges. Suddenly a mighty bass riff slaps us back on track and then it all goes off with a crunching guitar riff and the flute going haywire.

The Embrooks at The Lexington - Photo Retro Man Blog

For me the album's centrepiece is the magnificent "Human Living Vampire" and on this track in particular, you really get the feeling that the band are definitely utilising their own studio to its full potential as the multi-layered guitar work from Alex blew my mind. It starts with a beautifully intricate twelve-string motif and then in comes some furiously strummed, almost flamenco styled acoustic. There is so much going on that your ears won't know which way to turn. “We Who Are” certainly distils all of The Embrooks many and varied influences perfectly. From the quintessentially British 60’s Freakbeat era of bands such as The Sorrows and The Attack, they cross the Atlantic to embark on a mammoth Psychedelic road-trip. The journey takes in the dirty waters of the East Coast Garage Punk scene to the Texan Psych of the 13th Floor Elevators and then onto California and the sun-kissed harmonies of The Byrds and "Mr Soul" period Buffalo Springfield.

The Embrooks at The Lexington - Photo Retro Man Blog

There’s some superb Fuzz guitar on "I'm Coming Home" with a melody reminiscent of The Brian Jonestown Massacre's classic "Not If You Were The Last Dandy..." Next up it's "Baby From The South" which has a nice upbeat rhythm and a touch of The Equals Rock'n'Soul about it. A cover of The Lost Souls "Peace of Mind" based on a hypnotic slightly sinister riff, fits in seamlessly among the original material. The excellent "Hang Up" features some classic stabbing organ chords and a great guitar break. "You Can If You Want" closes the album and the main set with Kevin CK Smith joining the band to play some astounding harmonica. I remember seeing Kevin's very first appearance in London when he guested with The Dustaphonics to play harmonica and he blew everyone away. Since then he has gone from strength to strength, joining The Baron Four and The Voo-Dooms as well as DJ’ing.

The Embrooks with CK Smith at The Lexington - Photo Retro Man Blog

The Embrooks encore with a couple of oldies including a vicious version of “Jack” which goes down a storm and then it's over way too soon. The only downside of the Lexington show is that for some reason they omit their superb cover of The Hollies "Have You Ever Loved Somebody" which was a shame as they managed to transform it into the embodiment of a perfect Embrooks song on the album. To be honest, I don’t think they did themselves any favours by officially releasing the album just before Xmas as it was too late in the year to feature in many of the “Best of 2018” lists. Anyway, I'm going to cheat and consider the LP was released on the day of the Lexington launch party as that was the first time I nabbed my very own copy and in that case, this is already a nailed-on “Best LP of 2019”. Now, I know it’s only January but I really can't imagine a better album will be released this year. If it is, I am very much looking forward to hearing it as it's going to have to be something pretty damn special to beat “We Who Are”!

For more photos of the night please check out the album in the Retro Man Blog Facebook page here and you'll find videos of all three bands at our YouTube channel here. Please click on the highlighted links above to access more info on the bands. Finally, "We Who Are" and The Dirty Contacts new single can be ordered from State Records here along with many more of their releases.

Beatwave Weekender - Three Days of Garage, Psych, Surf & Beat Mayhem on the East Sussex Coast...with Photos by Jeff Pitcher

The Overboards at Beatwave - Photo copyright Jeff Pitcher

I was finally lured down to Hastings for my first experience of Beatwave, which promised us “three days of Garage, Psych, Surf & Beat mayhem on the East Sussex coast”. Now in its third year, Beatwave is the spin-off of the regular Fratcave club hosted by Justin Ellis (The Sine Waves) and Ian Greensmith (The Dentists, Ye Ascoyne d’Ascoynes) and it exceeded all the expectations I had after glowing reports from friends who had been along on previous years. Over the course of the weekend, we were treated to numerous DJ’s and live acts including The Jack Cades, The Voo-Dooms, Thee Girl Fridays and Les BOF! and I really do mean treated, as Beatwave is a completely free event. All the organisers asked was for people to contribute any spare change (or hopefully more…) to their chosen charity, St. Michael’s Hospice. Although, Justin and Ian are the main driving force behind Beatwave, they did have help behind the scenes and from sponsors State Records, the Upbeat DJ Collective and NGG Fanzine. I love NGG; it’s an old-school printed fanzine, which is of course where the roots of Retro Man Blog originated back in the 80’s with my old “Out of Step” fanzine. The latest NGG issue boasts some superb Mummies artwork on the cover (so good, they were selling T-shirts featuring the design) and inside there’s a review of the Mummies recent London gig and an in-depth interview along with features on Lee Grimshaw’s Spinout Productions and Nuevo Ramon 5, but more about them later. My only problem with NGG is that it’s in A5 format and I couldn’t check it out properly over the weekend as I’d left my reading glasses at home. However when I did get back, glasses in place, I noticed a little comment on the front cover “this is way too small to read without glasses” – ha, very funny! 

DJ's Bongo Debbie & Beatwave Compere Ian Greensmith - Photo copyright Jeff Pitcher

There’s an extremely friendly crowd at Beatwave and the good vibes were encouraged by some excellent DJ’s who included Lee Grimshaw of the Spinout Show, Juliet Harris from Indie Wonderland, Tracey ScreamCheese and Neil Sick from Stay Sick in Brighton. This was the first year that Beatwave was held at The Palace, which is located on the seafront close to Hastings Pier and I thought it was a really good choice of venue. It never got too crowded and the long bar and efficient, friendly Staff meant that it didn’t take an age to get drinks. As this was my first time at Beatwave, I couldn’t really compare with the previous venue The Albion although from chatting to people over the weekend it seemed the consensus was that overall the Palace was the better of the two. Although the Palace was a bit of a walk to the Old Town, where most of the restaurants and bars are, at least you didn’t get the worry of being overrun by Stag and Hen parties, tourists and drunken weekend revellers (non-Beatwave related of course…). The only two negatives I can think of were the lack of air-conditioning in the main bar and venue so it was like a furnace in the July heatwave and by the end of the Saturday night the draft beer had started to run out. Unfortunately, by the Sunday, there was nothing available on tap at all which was a bit weird, you would have expected the pub to ensure they had enough stock for such an event – or was it just that the Beatwave crowd drank an exceptional and unprecedented amount of beer I wonder?  

The Jack Cades at Beatwave - Photo copyright Jeff Pitcher

However, those minor gripes aside the venue looked great, Justin and the team had decorated the Palace with some superb Beatwave artwork and banners, inside and out. The design of the posters and T-Shirts were truly exceptional, all themed around the Sea and Surf of course and featuring the resident Beatwave band, the mysterious Overboards. At the back of the venue was another room with stalls selling T-Shirts and vintage clothes alongside fully stocked State Records and Dirty Water Records pop-up stores. Sexton Ming, the Medway Poet, musician and one of the founders of the Stuckist Art movement along with Billy Childish, also had a stall and he was drawing portraits of people for a small fee. Mind you, it took a brave soul to sit for Sexton, as some of them were a little bit harsh to say the least and there was a lot of fun seeing who had come out of the experience with dignity intact when the finished pictures were shared around afterwards. After the last band had finished each night, the room was turned round into a 3D Cinema and free shots were handed out to those who “could sit through the whole showing”. As if all this free entertainment wasn’t enough, on the Saturday afternoon, the Red Arrows treated us to an exhilarating superb 15-minute display of Aerobatics over the Hastings coast which I am sure Justin and Ian arranged on the quiet but were too modest to admit to. It was just a shame that we couldn’t see every band or DJ that performed over the weekend but that really would have been some feat of endurance, especially in the sweltering heat. Anyway, I guess the event is geared up for people coming and going, maybe popping out for a bite to eat or sneaking off for a quick paddle in the sea. 

The Voo-Dooms at Beatwave - Photo copyright Jeff Pitcher

So, let’s take a look at the bands we did manage to see starting on the Friday evening and our much-anticipated first time viewing of The Voo-Dooms. They have been busy recently and have landed some decent support slots with The X-Men and Fur Dixon's WTFukushima. There has definitely been a buzz about the band recently, I keep seeing people at gigs wearing their eye-catching T-Shirts, and they certainly didn’t disappoint, they put in a superb performance. Bruce Brand, swaps the drum seat for the bass and Kevin Smith from The Baron Four is on lead guitar. Fezzed up Dave Prince is on the voodoo drums and Mick Cocksedge is on lead vocals and guitar. They have recently been in State Records North Down Sound studio with Mole at the controls recording their debut LP "Destination Doomsville" which is due out on Trash Wax Records in September and I can tell you it will be well worth getting hold of. They appear in matching black and white striped outfits and kick off with the instrumental "Greenline To Doomsville" which merges Booker T with Link Wray and then it's into the fantastic "Hangman's Stomp". Despite the album being full of horror-tinged song titles such as "Teenage Ghoul" and "Gravedigger's Night Shift Blues" musically they don't labour the point and its all remarkably uptempo and cheerful, "Come On" even has a touch of Country about it. "Do The Plague" is built around an uplifting circular riff which highlights Kevin's excellent guitar work. They play a great cover of Shel Naylor's Freakbeat classic "One Fine Day" with it's crunching guitar motif sparking off some moving and grooving in the crowd. The band have a great chemistry and are all enjoying themselves which all adds to the lively Beatwave atmosphere. The last song "I Want You To Know" has a bit of a "Brand New Cadillac" vibe to it, it's an excellent Rockabilly Pop song and then all too soon, it's over. The band return for an encore of The Grains of Sand "Goin’ Away, Baby" which drummer Dave tells me later is his favourite track from the Pebbles compilation and it's a great way to draw the set to a close. The band will be playing at Weirdsville on September 29th for the LP launch party along with our good friends Les Kitschenette's. We'll feature a track or two from the album in a future episode of Retrosonic Podcast.

The Overboards at Beatwave - Photo copyright Jeff Pitcher

Opening up proceedings on the Sunday were the mysterious Overboards, dressed all in black from head to toe. They are a mysterious bunch, for some reason they only seem to appear in public every July in Hastings, perfect timing for Beatwave then. They all looked somewhat familiar underneath their bowl cut mop-tops and beehive hair-do’s but I couldn’t put my finger on it. Anyway, they launched into a short set of Garage Rock classics including Fire’s “Father’s Name Is Dad” and thanks to the handy lyric sheets that the band distributed we could all join in for a good old-fashioned singalong. It wouldn’t surprise me if The Overboards don’t now vanish into thin air until the same time next year, let’s just wait and see… 

Thee Girl Fridays at Beatwave - Photo copyright Jeff Pitcher

Thee Girl Fridays were one of the hits of the weekend and right from the start of their very own Kazoo powered theme tune intro, their infectious enthusiasm clearly endeared them to the crowd. "Tell Me Why" was a particular highlight as it showcased Suzanne's powerful Soulful vocals and proved that there’s a lot more to come from this Edinburgh based band. The set included a few cover versions including two Southern Culture on The Skids tracks along with The Cramps "Goo Goo Muck” which fitted in nicely with their own songs. Talking of which, “Love Witch” from their self-titled debut E.P. was excellent as was “Dracula", where the band dragged their producer Angus (Les BOF! & The Thanes) up on stage to contribute a suitably fiendish cackle. They ended their set with "Big Knicker Twist" with its Shangri-La’s call and response vocals and humorous lyrics such as “It’s the craziest dance, you can do it in your big white pants". Usually it’s the audience throwing their underwear on stage in appreciation but Thee Girl Fridays trash the tradition with Suzanne throwing some oversized underwear emblazoned with the band’s logo into the crowd. I was the lucky recipient of a pair and I just realised I forgot to get the girls to sign them; I guess I’ll have to take them along the next time I see the band play! You can hear the excellent “Too Much of a Good Thing" from their debut E.P. in Retrosonic Podcast Episode 31.

The Jack Cades at Beatwave - Photo copyright Jeff Pitcher

I suppose The Jack Cades could be classified as a Garage Rock Supergroup of sorts as they boast a mighty fine pedigree. Alex from Speedball Jnr has the unenviable task of playing the bass alongside three other notable bassists in their own right. Mike from The Baron Four and Elsa from The Missing Souls have swapped four strings for six and the line-up is completed by that master of all-trades Mole (himself a bassist with The Embrooks and now Nuevo Ramon 5) on the drums. The Jack Cades superb new mini-album "Music For Children" is already up there as one of the best releases of the year so far. Although John Gibbs from the Masonics played bass on the LP, Alex is now a fully-fledged member of The Jack Cades and her and Mole make up a superb rhythm section. It’s live where the band really excel, they really are a great visual act and they are a much more powerful affair than I was expecting. "Head In The Sand" in particular is elevated to another level with a furious Velvet Underground style rhythm guitar powering it along. Mike and Elsa share the lead vocals and they complement each other nicely with Mole also adding backing vocal harmonies. Mike’s Baron Four bandmate Kevin Smith joins them on stage for some mind-blowing harmonica on a bluesy "Big Fish". There’s a cover of The Beatles “The Night Before” and a nice surprise when Alex plays a familiar bass riff and they slam into a raw take on The Damned’s “Neat Neat Neat”. As great as the "Music For Children" album is I have to admit that it's three brand new tracks that really blow my mind and promise even better things to come from The Jack Cades. Two killer songs "And Pretend" and "Chicago Typewriter" were proceeded by a surefire classic in the making "Run Paulie, Run" which features an instantly memorable riff from Mike. The good news is that this will be released as a single on the Lyon based Dangerhouse Skylab label later this year, hopefully in November. With a bit of luck we’ll be playing at least one of these excellent new songs in a future episode of Retrosonic Podcast.

Les BOF! at Beatwave - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog

It was good to see Les BOF! again, they have been having a bit of a break from gigging recently with singer Laurent busy with the excellent No-Things, but they are back with a new LP due out soon. The Edinburgh based “Garage Beat Francais” band are always good value as a live act and they certainly didn’t disappoint tonight with live-wire frontman Laurent as usual spending most of the set dancing in the audience. In the beginning he appears from the crowd and plays some wicked harmonica on the instrumental intro "Rue Sembat" before the crunching chords to "Ils Vont Tuer Le R'n'R" kick in. There’s a great version of The Teddy Boy’s take on "Jezebel" and a fair few songs that I didn't recognize of which "Fin De Monde" really stood out. They end a thoroughly enjoyable set with "Formidable", a French remake of Brian James & The Cutters "Shout, Shake & Go!” which certainly incites much shouting and shaking in the crowd. The band encore with Jacques Dutronc’s "Cactus" and cap it all off with a raucous singalong of Plastic Bertrand's "Ça Plane Pour Moi". 

The Cretins at Beatwave - Photo copyright Retro Man Blog

First up on the Sunday afternoon were The Cretins, a young three-piece band of 16-18 year olds from nearby Worthing. Ian and Justin saw them supporting The X-Men recently and straight away invited them to play at Beatwave. Their youthful confidence was a big hit with the crowd, many of whom were getting pangs of nostalgia thinking back to when they were young, starting off in bands for the first time. Let’s just hope The Cretins are still out there playing when they are at the age of needing reading glasses to check out NGG fanzine! They played a thoroughly entertaining set of down and dirty raw Rhythm & Blues that included a couple of promising self-penned songs and some classics such as “Money”, “Psychotic Reaction” and “Hi-Heel Sneakers”. Two particular highlights were the opening track “Justine” (which you can check out on our Retro Man Blog YouTube channel here) and a great version of The Action/Mickey Lee Lane song “Hey Sha Lo Ney” which went down a storm. Anyway, we’ll be keeping an eye on The Cretins, there’s a lot more to come I’m sure. 

Nuevo Ramon 5 at Beatwave - Photo copyright Jeff Pitcher

Nuevo Ramon 5 is a unique concept – at first, you might be forgiven for thinking (as I was) that the band is another Garage Rock scene ‘supergroup’ with a fictional back story as some familiar faces take to the stage. There’s Beatwave host Ian on the Drums, Debbie from Ye Nuns on the keyboards and there’s the ubiquitous Mole (he should change his name by deed poll) this time on bass. They are joined by Zac with a very cool looking white Gretsch guitar and vocalist Natalia and they proceed to entertain us with a stunning set of Latino infused songs. The sound is a mix of Ye-Ye, Flamenco, Bossa Nova and Tropicália and it’s an absolute delight. They end with a Spanish version of The Monkees “Last Train To Clarksville” and it’s clear that the band were having as much fun as we were in the crowd. After their show I asked Ian if they were another made up band, “didn’t you read the feature in NGG Fanzine?” he replied…hmmm…no I didn’t, I really must carry my reading glasses with me at all times! Natalia is actually the daughter of Ramón Farrán, a respected Spanish Jazz musician who formed The Ramon-5 in the mid-60’s, releasing two EP’s in a Yé-yé style before going on to success in other musical fields. This year, some 52 years after the original band split up Natalia has brought the Ramon-5 back to life as Nuevo Ramon 5 to play her father’s songs again. It was so enjoyable and I sincerely hoped this wasn’t just a special one-off appearance for Beatwave so I was pleased to hear that there are some tentative plans for a new EP. I really hope they’ll consider working on some brand new material too, and more gigs of course. Anyway, I would really recommend getting hold of the new NGG to read more about this fascinating story. 

Nuevo Ramon 5 at Beatwave - Photo copyright Jeff Pitcher

It's a little know fact that when Howard Carter plundered Tutankhamun's tomb in the Valley of the Kings he also brought back the mummies of four of the great Pharaoh's retainers to England. They have recently been brought out of their 3,000 year slumber to be reincarnated as The Mirage Men and were given names and assigned roles as follows - Nile Rivers and Effendi O'Fender on guitars, Pharaoh Rocher on drums and Pharaoh Sandals on Bass. Their mission was to entertain us with their authentic Ancient Egyptian Surf music and close Beatwave with a suitably bizarre yet thoroughly entertaining ending, it was great fun.

The Mirage Men at Beatwave - Photo copyright Jeff Pitcher

So, a huge thank you to Justin, Ian and their team for a truly special weekend – I know how difficult it is just to arrange a couple of gigs a year so I can really appreciate the hard work that they must have put in to make this such a memorable and enjoyable event. The good news is that they are already starting work on next year’s Beatwave, which just so happens to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Moon landing, so we might be swapping the Surf for the Stars in 2019. For more photos of the weekend, please check out the Beatwave Photo Album at the Retro Man Blog Facebook page here and there are some videos at our YouTube channel here. Please do click the highlighted links throughout the feature to check out more information on the relevant bands, DJ’s, Artists, Labels etc, and give them your support. Keep a check on the Fratcave Facebook page for information on their upcoming events and of course to keep up to date on next year's Beatwave. Finally, I'd like to thank Jeff Pitcher for permission to use some of his stunning photographs in the feature, for more information on Jeff’s work please check out his official web-site here.