Welcome to the ramblings of a man who really should have grown out of listening to "that sort of music" a long, long time ago...A place to share thoughts and photographs on music and related paraphernalia.
Showing posts with label Music Locations and Landmarks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Music Locations and Landmarks. Show all posts
"Those 12 Bar Nights" is a suberb, beautifully presented new book by Mark 'Barnet' Webster that features memories, photos and stories from Staff, Performers and Customers of London's much-missed 12 Bar Club. I've heard the 12 Bar described as the best ever dive bar, a Punk Rock Heaven (and haven) and London's answer to CBGB's and it's loss to heartless property developers and culturally clueless money-grabbing local council and Government is still keenly felt. I haven't missed a venue so much since the Hammersmith Clarendon was similarly bulldozed to make way for a monstrosity of a shopping mall. Sure, I also mourn the loss of the Astoria, The Hammersmith Palais, The Old Trout in Windsor, The Marquee and many more - but the 12 Bar was so much more than just another venue. It was the social aspect too, a place where lasting friendships and memories were formed, all right in the heart of London's most famous and historic musical street, Tin Pan Alley or Denmark Street to give it it's rightful name. The book is beautifully illustrated and includes hundreds of photographs of not only some of the bands and people that appeared, but of the character-packed venue itself. Initial copies of the book were individually credited on the cover, signed and included prints, stickers and postcards of various flyers, posters and superb cartoon artwork, the whole package is an absolute delight. Credit to Mark for the painstaking work in compiling the many contributions into a fascinating and nostalgic look back at the 12 Bar Club's history - including my own, as you can see reproduced below...
"I first went to the 12 Bar Club when The Fallen Leaves started their Minimum R'n'B Club nights on a Wednesday and straight away I was hooked. I was so happy to find a spiritual Rock 'n' Roll home right in the heart of London but also angry with myself that I hadn't discovered it sooner. I rarely missed any of the Leaves' residencies, not only were they one of the best live acts I'd seen but they had the habit of choosing excellent support acts and DJ's to make them nights to remember. The only downside was the Wednesday night... as I had to travel into London from out in the sticks and the nights were long and late, I found myself transported back to my youth - rushing out to race across town to catch the last fast train home. As I soon made many good friends and gig acquaintances at the 12 Bar Club, I learned to sneak out secretly as saying goodbye to everyone could take quite a while and the trains would not wait just for me! This soon went by the wayside and I would usually be late and have to cadge a lift back or wait at the station for the bone-shaker slow train. It was always worth it.
It was the friends I made at the 12 Bar that would be equally, if not more important than the great bands I would see there and this will always make it a hugely important part of my life. It also kept me busy with loads of content for Retro Man Blog and Retrosonic Podcast and myself and my colleague, Rock Photographer Paul Slattery, filed loads of reports from memorable gigs at the 12 Bar. There are too many great nights to mention them all, just check out the Blog and you can see what I mean - but I would say one particularly memorable night was Crash '74 who were a one-off band featuring Harley Feinstein, the original drummer of one of my favourite bands Sparks and his wife Michelle on vocals. They were joined by Nicky Forbes from The Revillos, Stevie Savage and friends to deliver a fun-packed singalong of some of their greatest hits and a selection of cover versions. So, I owe the 12 Bar a hell of a lot and I was gutted when I heard it was going to close down. Hopefully, one day in the future we'll see a new 12 Bar appear - we can but dream!"
You can buy the book from the London Callin' web-site here and there's also a Facebook Group with more information here. There may be plans to release a second edition, so if you have any memories, photos or stories from the 12 Bar Club but missed out contributing to this book, then please contact Mark at the Facebook Group.
The Stranglers have been on my mind even more than usual recently. I'd been talking to Ian Person the guitarist with two of Sweden's most influential bands, The Soundtrack of Our Lives and Union Carbide Productions for our latest Retrosonic Podcast when he told me that "The Raven" was the first record he ever bought. We both enjoyed revisiting the album and he picked his favourite track to include in the episode. Then, just as we finished the interview by coincidence I noticed that The Stranglers had announced the re-arranged dates for their final tour, of course now due to go ahead sadly without keyboard genius Dave Greenfield who passed away suddenly in May. Like all Stranglers fans I was devastated by this terrible news, after all, the band have been in my life for over 40 years now. I vividly remember "No More Heroes" being part of the soundtrack to my youth and when I was old enough to really get into buying records, "Duchess" and "Nuclear Device" were among the first on my list. So, I decided it was time to pay homage to one of my all time favourite bands and in a little tribute to Dave, I finally got round to doing a D.I.Y. tour of Stranglers related locations in and around Guildford, something I've been meaning to do for ages.
Guildford is where The Stranglers were formed back in 1974, it gave them their original name The Guildford Stranglers and I guess it's the band's spiritual home despite none of the members actually coming from the town. After all, Hugh Cornwell and JJ Burnel were born in London, Jet Black in Essex and Dave Greenfield comes from Brighton. Despite the band's fearsome reputation I was surprised to discover that most of the locations involved are surprisingly posh. Guildford itself boasts an attractive High Street that thankfully still retains a bit of character, rare in most of England's generic town centres these days. Then there's Chiddingfold, Bramley, Shalford, Godalming - even the names conjure up images of cricket on the village green and afternoon tea - hardly the high-rise council flats along The Clash's Westway or riot hit Notting Hill and Ladbroke Grove. It's certainly all a far cry from the working class streets of Joy Division's Macclesfield or Salford and the polar opposite to 1970's Lower East Side of New York's legendary CBGB's scene either. But, I guess this suits The Stranglers down to the ground - I mean they were always outsiders - unfairly derided in the music press as being too old, too clever or too musical to be "real" Punks and often airbrushed out of trendy Punk retrospectives and exhibitions. However, despite the leafy suburban commuter belt area that saw the band's formation, The Stranglers always had far more menace, danger and genuine Punk attitude than the majority of their safety-pinned, dyed-haired contemporaries. Music journalists, fellow musicians, record companies and sometimes even their own audiences felt the wrath of their seething anger and distrust.
Guildford High Street
Bramley Village Hall, an early rehearsal room
Hugh moved to Guildford after studying Biochemistry at Lund University in Sweden where he had also formed a band called Johnny Sox. The idea was that he and the guitarist/keyboard player Hans Wärmling should relocate and try their luck with the U.K.'s music scene. They advertised for like-minded individuals and JJ and Jet joined after seeing an advert in the music press. JJ's parents had moved from London to Godalming, a small town just outside Guildford where his Dad Roger, ran a French restaurant called La Chaumiere. Searches for details on the restaurant are sketchy as one result led me to the English Heritage directory of listed Grade II buildings and it comes up as Gomshall Lane in nearby Shere, currently the site of Kingham's Restaurant. However, I've also just had information from Gill at the Proud To Be a Stranglers Fan group that La Chaumiere was on Meadrow in Godalming which actually burnt down and the site is now a row of houses called Little Thatch. Malcolm Wyatt from the excellent WriteWyatt Blog corroborates this and adds that JJ's Mum ran the front of house and JJ also used to help out around the Restaurant too. Godalming was also home to the Gin Mill, a popular venue and nightclub inside The Angel Hotel on Angel Court that hosted gigs by bands such as Free and Fleetwood Mac. One night out here would go on to inspire the lyrics to "Go Buddy Go". Sadly, the Angel Hotel has since been redeveloped and there is a web-site asking for people to contribute their memories and stories. JJ attended the Royal Grammar School in Guildford and it's claimed that one of his schooltime
experiences would go on to contribute the idea for "Choosey
Susie", probably best not to delve too deeply into that!
Royal Grammar School, Guildford
The site of Jet's old Off-licence The Jackpot
Meanwhile, Jet Black was something of a local entrepreneur, a former Jazz drummer he was now running a large off-licence called The Jackpot which was also the base for his Ice Cream company. Here I also ran into some problems trying to find the exact location of The Jackpot as in most features about the band's early days the address mentioned is 61 Woodbridge Road. However, Malcolm from WriteWyatt tells me "(it) was
nearer the railway station, on Park Street, not far from what's now the
Academy of Contemporary Music,
where incidentally Hugh Cornwell's current bandmates both lecture". If anyone else has memories or information on The Jackpot please do get in touch. In the early days, The Stranglers used one of Jet's fleet of Ice Cream vans as their 'tour bus' for a good couple of years, even making it over to the Continent to play some gigs. Now with things looking more serious for his new band, Jet bought a new drumkit from Anderton's music shop, a long established and well respected store that at the time was located in the North Street area of the town which relocated to 58-59 Woodbridge Road in 1990. Back to the band, and they decided to change their name from Johnny Sox to The Guildford Stranglers, but soon dropped the 'Guildford' prefix probably due to the reasons stated above that Guildford is hardly very 'Rock & Roll' and certainly didn't have quite the same credentials as say, The New York Dolls. However, Hans gave up on the band and returned to his native Gothenburg to be replaced by Dave Greenfield on the keyboards and with the new classic line-up and name in place they were ready to go.
Anderton's Music Store (new location)
The band's house in Chiddingfold
The band had been living and rehearsing above Jet's off-licence and songs such as "Sometimes" came from this period, but when the premises were earmarked for redevelopment, Jet sold up and rented a large cottage on Coxcombe Lane in Chiddingfold, an idyllic English village a few miles south of Guildford. They weren't made to feel very welcome by their new neighbours or even their own landlord for that matter, who at one stage even tried to evict them, changing the locks in the hope of forcing them out. Unfortunately for the locals, this didn't stop the band and they continued squatting at the property for a while afterwards. Hugh has since stated in interviews that he enjoyed his time at Chiddingfold, he was lucky to have the best room in the house which was conducive to songwriting and he liked to sit in the garden relaxing while JJ played acoustic guitar and songs like "Goodbye Toulouse" and "(Get a) Grip (On Yourself)" were written here.
Chiddingfold, village green preservation society!
The Crown Inn, Chiddingfold
They were pretty poor at the time and Hugh admitted in one interview that they used to go to the Crown Inn, an historic pub on the nearby village green to consume pints of Guinness and packets of mixed nuts and raisins as it was all they could afford and they thought this would constitute a healthy balanced diet! The band even performed under the hilarious name, The Chiddingfold Chokers so the village had an undoubted place in their hearts! Hugh actually returned to Chiddingfold in October 2000 to play a show at the since demolished Chiddingfold Live Music Club around the release of his "Hi-Fi" album. The Stranglers also held early rehearsals in Bramley Village Hall and in the highly unlikely location of the Shalford Scouts Hut, which still stands to this day.
Shalford Scout Hut
The Royal Hotel Stoughton, now the Beijing Restaurant
In December 1974, they played their first ever gig at The Star Inn in Quarry Street right in the centre of the town and also secured a residency at the Royal Hotel in Stoughton on Worplesdon Road, which is now the Beijing Chinese Restaurant. Fast forward forty five years later to January 2019 and the PRS Music For Heritage 'Plaque-in-Black' on the outside of The Star Inn was officially unveiled by JJ, Jet, Dave and Baz Warne alongside the Mayor of Guildford and I'm sure the irony wasn't lost on the band that day. After all, this was the council that not only banned The Stranglers from the Civic Hall but also any other Punk Rock gigs in the town. In fact, I'm just reading the excellent new autobiography "Remain In Love" by Chris Frantz and he mentions that the Ramones & Talking Heads show scheduled in Guildford was pulled at the last minute thanks to this ban.
G-Live Guildford, built on the site of the old Civic Hall
The Stranglers on stage at G-Live Guildford, 2013
Talking of being banned...G-Live, Guildford's largest music venue and now a regular stop on Stranglers tour itineraries is located on the site of the old Civic Hall - scene of a riot at one of the band's early gigs that, as alluded to above, saw them getting banned by the local Council. Then there was the infamous gig at the University of Surrey in 1978 that was being filmed for the "Rock Goes To College" TV series. The band were angry that their request to offer tickets to local fans, not just for students was being ignored but they kept quiet right up until the fifth song in their set "Hanging Around" after which Hugh slagged off the crowd and the University and walked off stage. Following this, the Student Union decided to ban The Stranglers too - leaving them nowhere left to play in Guildford. I think you can safely say that this was when the love/hate relationship between The Stranglers and their adopted hometown of Guildford turned into strictly a hate/hate relationship for a pretty long time after!
"Guildford University never represented Guildford, we hate playing to elitist audiences so f**k off..."
All photos copyright Retro Man Blog. Please do get in touch if there are any glaring inaccuracies and I'd also love to hear from anyone with personal memories and stories relating to their own experiences with The Stranglers and Guildford which may be included in a follow-up feature. With thanks to Malcolm Wyatt from WriteWyatt Blog for filling in some of the blanks. Here's some recommended reading..."No Mercy" by David Buckley, "Stranglers Song by Song" by Hugh Cornwell & Jim Drury, "A Multitude of Sins" by Hugh Cornwell, "Peaches: A Chronicle 1974-1990" by Robert Endeacott. Further online reading can be found at the following places: The Stranglers official web-site, Hugh Cornwell official web-site, WriteWyatt Blog, Strangled web-site, FamilyInBlack Facebook Group, Burning Up Time Facebook Group, Proud To Be a Stranglers Fan Facebook Group, SIS Japan Facebook Group.
Ramones Musuem founder Flo Hayler - Photo by Paul Slattery
I finally got round to visiting the Ramones Museum in Berlin and I was blown away by the impressive labour of love that the museum founder and "Curator" Flo Hayler and the team have created. First opened in 2005, the Museum expanded and moved to it's current location in 2008 and there are over 500 items of rare Ramones memorabilia on display - from early tour posters, rare photos and a signed bass drum skin - to more personal items such as Marky's sneakers and even Joey's jeans! Then we have other items such as handwritten song lyrics, drum sticks and super-size prints from Roberta Bayley, the
photographer responsible for the iconic cover of the Ramones debut album. Hanging from the ceiling are many rare and obscure T-shirts and there's even the geek mask worn by a roadie who would take the stage brandishing the "Gabba Gabba Hey!" sign. There's also a screening room to watch all those great Ramones videos and live shows and movies such as "Rock 'n' Roll High School".
Ramones promoter Gary Topp, Flo and photographer Paul Slattery
There are photos by Ramones Manager Danny Fields, taken on the band's early trips to London, including the legendary Roundhouse and Rainbow shows that were to inspire a generation of British Punk bands. There's a nice cafe and bar and a cool shop where you can stock up on a great selection of Ramones and original Museum branded merchandise. Every now and then the Museum is transformed into a venue for intimate acoustic performances from bands such as The Boys, The Subways and even Ramones bassist CJ Ramone. I was with my Retro Man Blog colleague the photographer, Paul Slattery, who presented Flo with a poster of his "Vive Le Rock" magazine cover shot of Johnny Ramone which will hopefully be soon on display. You can hear Paul talking about his experiences with the Ramones in our special Retrosonic Podcast episode, including being on the side of the stage at the legendary New Years Eve Rainbow show recorded for the "It's Alive" album.
Ramones Museum Cafe and Bar - Photo by Steve Worrall
While we were there, early Ramones promoter Gary Topp visited the Museum to present Flo with some memorabilia to add to the ever expanding collection. So why Berlin? Well why not...it's after all a city steeped in Rock 'n' Roll, Punk and all kinds of decadent and underground music. The Ramones certainly had a thing about Berlin, I always remember that line "...from old Hanoi to East Berlin..." from "Commando", which featured on the band's second album "Leave Home", and the very last song on the band's very last studio album "Adios Amigos" was entitled "Born To Die In Berlin". So I guess it does make sense that the world's only Ramones Museum is not actually located on the Bowery in downtown New York but in Mitte, the heart of the old East Berlin.
Paul Slattery presents his Ramones Vive Le Rock cover
Photo by Steve Worrall
Flo and Paul Slattery in front of a small selection of the Museum's memorabilia
The Ramones Museum is located at 23 Krausnickstrasse, Mitte, Berlin. The closest S-Bahn station is Oranienburger Strasse. With thanks to Flo for his generosity. All photos copyright as noted. For more photos of the Ramones Museum showing a selection of the
memorabilia on display, then please head on over to the Retro Man Blog Facebook page and hit "Like" for access to the exclusive photo album.
I went along to an excellent exhibition about the musical heritage of Eel Pie Island, at the Stables Gallery in Orleans House, Twickenham, and it turned out to be a fascinating look at the importance of this tiny Island in the River Thames, which along with Richmond's Crawdaddy and Windsor's Ricky-Tick Club, played a vital part in British Jazz, Rock 'n' Roll, Beat and Rhythm & Blues history. There are many interesting exhibits and displays of memorabilia, posters and photographs charting the various high profile acts associated with "Eelpiland" - as it was known - from George Melly, Alexis Korner and Chris Barber to the Rolling Stones, Yardbirds, Pink Floyd, Downliners Sect and many other acts. The Who were another band closely linked with the Island, so much so in fact that Pete Townshend named his publishing company and recording studio after the Island, and even his official web-site is entitled eelpie.com. The Eel Pie Hotel is long gone, burned down in a mysterious fire in 1971, only to be re-built as a block of apartments, and nowadays the Island itself is mainly home to a boat-yard and a slightly Bohemian collection of Artist's studios. However local Indie band The Mystery Jets do have their recording studio there, and local pub the Cabbage Patch hosts special Eel Pie Club nights, so the Island's connection with music still continues to this day.
I also picked up a really nice little book that has been published to coincide with the exhibition entitled "The British Beat Explosion: Rock 'n' Roll Island" and co-written by the excellent music journalist and biographer Zoe Howe (Wilko Johnson, The Slits, Jesus & Mary Chain etc) and Michele Whitby. The book tells the story of Eel Pie Island's musical heritage and features lots of great photos throughout.
The Eel Pie Island Exhibition is in Stables Gallery at Orleans House on Riverside, Twickenham TW1 3DY and runs until September 29th, so if you are in the area please do pop along to have a look, and check out the excellent web-site for details on how to get there and opening hours.
Here are some photographs of my visit to the exhibition.
All Photos (except book cover) Copyright Retro Man Blog 2013.
Probably my favourite record store, and also the biggest in Stockholm, is the wonderfully named Nostalgi Palatset, which is an amazing Aladdin's cave full of musical treasures. Racks and crates full of vinyl, music and movie posters, memorabilia and autographs. Not forgetting the second hand record players, toys and comic books of course. It was remarkably tidy and well organised since the last time I visited about four years ago, which in a way was a bit of a shame, as I loved the old ramshackle chaos. Anyway, It stocks thousands of records in all genres Rock, Progressive, Indie, New Wave, Soul, Jazz, Blues, Folk, Swedish 'Schlager', Eurovision, Movie Soundtracks and Exotica. It has been located at 101 St. Eriksgatan since 1997 and is open 11am-7pm on weekdays, 11am-3pm on Saturday and 12 noon to 4pm on Sundays. The closest Metro stop to the store is St. Eriksplan.
Right next door is Trash Palace which specialises in Punk Rock and Heavy Metal vinyl and rarities. It has a separate entrance oustide but the same address and opening hours as Nostalgi Palaset as you can also access it from the main store. They do not seem to have a web-site, but if you are after anything specific in those genres then drop them an email. The wooden crates full of Punk Rock 7 inch singles, weighed a ton and were crammed full of great stuff. The average price for something decent started off around the SEK 70.00 mark, which works out at around £6.50, but of course the prices can increase dramatically depending on the rarity of the record. They had a great selection of Punk and New Wave and only a lack of money, lack of storage space at home and lack of a huge suitcase, stopped me from going mental and buying up a large percentage of their stock!
Nearby, just a bit further down St. Eriksgatan at number 78, you have the excellent Atlas CD Börs, which is lined with excellent tour and gig posters. However, as the store's name suggests, this place concentrates more on CDs, but they do have a small selection of vinyl in stock too.
Record Hunter is at number 70 St. Eriksgatan and is a great old fashioned store crammed full of overflowing boxes and crates, in fact there's so much stuff that you can barely see the shop assistant behind the counter. There are two floors of the stuff too...
Just over the road from Stockholm's mightily impressive Public Library, there is Serie & Skivhandel, which is located at 104 Sveavägen. Another great treasure trove with every inch of wall and ceiling covered with posters and memorabilia. The closest Metro to this is Rådmansgatan.
Pet Sounds is probably Stockholm's best known Record store, located in the trendy SoFo district at 53 Skånegatan in Södermalm, it's been established since 1979 and is so well known there has even been a book by Lennart Persson "Musik Non Stop" written about it. They sell mainly contemporary music with an emphasis on the alternative, they also stock music books, magazines and DVDs and there is a small selection of vinyl too. It's open 11am-6pm Mon-Fri, 11am-2pm Sat and is closed on Sundays. The closet Metro is Medborgarplatsen. There is also a Pet Sounds Bar and Restaurant at number 80 Skånegatan, where they put on a variety of club evenings and events in the cellar space with local and guest DJ's. The Bar is open from 5pm Tuesdays to Saturdays.
Also on Södermalm, at Götgatan 24, is the fantastic Hellstone Music store, selling all sorts of instruments but they also have a pretty decent vinyl selection. They also do some great T-Shirts, sometimes using familiar works of art, changed to incorporate the Hellstone logo. The walls are lined with posters and signed drum skins from a variety of local and visiting musicians and artists. In fact, in the documentary shown on Swedish TV about The Soundtrack of Our Lives orchestral shows at the nearby Rival Hotel, singer Ebbot Lundberg is filmed in Hellstone at one point. So, here's a little quiz, if you are a TSOOL fan and can tell me what instrument Ebbot bought that day, drop me a message and the first one to answer might get a little prize...!
It seems like Stockholm has caught the Retro bug! I encountered many interesting stores throughout the city, ranging from vintage second-hand clothing shops, original furnishings and items, to new designer goods heavily influenced by the 50's, 60's and the 70's. Probably the best of the lot was the fantastic Stockholm Retro, situated at 103 St. Eriksgatan, it's a visually stunning store that could easily be mistaken for an art gallery or museum. The closest Metro is St. Eriksplan, take the Torsgatan exit. The opening hours are Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 2pm-6pm and Fridays 12 noon-6pm, however these are subject to change so it might be better to check before visiting. I spoke to owner Ronny, who kindly allowed me to take some photos and told me that the store has been open since March this year. They do a lot of business through mail order and stock mainly Scandinavian goods. You can check out some of the items on their web-site.
Retro.etc was an interesting little store too, packed full of colourful goodies, and they mix second hand with brand new designer items. Some of the colourful, eye-catching goods with the fruit motifs are designed by Lotta Kühlhorn from Koloni Stockholm, in conjunction with Retro.etc's owner, Karin Carlback. The store is located at 65 Folkungagatan in Södermalm and the closest Metro is Medborgarplatsen. It's open Mon-Fri 11:30am-6:30pm and Sat 11am-4pm.
Beyond Retro actually has branches in the U.K. too and specialises in Vintage Clothing, the SoFo store was the first to appear in Stockholm, established in 2005, and is located at 144 Åsögatan. There are also other branches in Stockholm located at 82 Brännkyrkagatan and 77 Drottninggatan.
These great coat-hangers caught my eye in the window of the Adesso store, also on Åsögatan at number 126. You can hang your Union Jack jacket on Pete Townshend, your leather trousers on Jim Morrison or your scarf around Frank Zappa...!
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