Retro Man Blog: Punk and Beyond Exhibition

Showing posts with label Punk and Beyond Exhibition. Show all posts

Thursday, 22 December 2011

Charlie Harper & Knox live at Signal Gallery London December 17th

Photo by Steve Worrall

This was a very special treat to mark the last day of Gaye Advert's superb and very successful Punk & Beyond Art exhibition at the Signal Gallery. Charlie Harper of the UK Subs and Knox from The Vibrators played a solo acoustic set each and then joined together for a run through of a few classics in front of a packed out gallery. The two used to play together in the Urban Dogs, their first release being the excellent "New Barbarians" album back in 1983, and today they played the outstanding "Limo Life" from that record along with a version of the Subs "Warhead".

Both Charlie and Knox were extremely entertaining and kept the crowd amused with their between-song banter and humourous asides. On the announcement that signed exhibition posters were going to be sold off for charity Knox quipped "Yeah, for Knoxfam...!" Before that Knox had the crowd singing along with the Vibrators' classic "Baby Baby" and further tracks from their excellent debut album "Pure Mania" such as "Wrecked On You" and "Whips and Furs". Charlie then ran through a selection of old Blues numbers and also versions of UK Subs tracks "Tomorrow's Girls" and "Stranglehold". It was a pleasure to hear these gems played in such an intimate and stripped down manner.

Charlie Harper - Photo by Paul Slattery

But there was no rest for Charlie, as after generously chatting to fans, he was straight off to the Garage in Islington to play what was to turn out to be a blinding full-on set with the UK Subs.

UK Subs have just released their latest album "Work In Progress" which features Charlie being ably supported by the fantastic line-up of Alvin Gibbs on bass, Japanese guitarist Jet and drummer Jamie Oliver. You can buy the album and loads of other merchandise from UK Subs official site.

Knox has a country album out now under the name of Knox & The Trailer Trash Orchestra called "The Knoxville Boy". The album is available now from all the usual outlets or direct from Trashville.

Photo by Paul Slattery

Finally, it was sad to see the Punk & Beyond exhibition finishing, it was a great show and I have thoroughly enjoyed the time I spent there seeing the artwork, hearing some great music, meeting some very nice people - including a fair few of my original Punk Rock heroes (and heroines...!). I sincerely hope that Gaye will consider a repeat event next year as I am sure that it would be an even bigger success due to all the very positive reviews and comments. Here's to next year (fingers crossed!).

Please check the Blog archive to read previous features on the Punk and Beyond exhibition opening night and TV Smith's solo acoustic performance at the Gallery.

Charlie Harper & Knox - Photo by Paul Slattery

Charlie Harper - Photo by Steve Worrall

Gaye Advert with Knox and Charlie Harper - Photo by Paul Slattery

With thanks to Paul Slattery for contributing photographs.

Monday, 28 November 2011

Punk & Beyond - Gaye Advert curated Art Exhibition Launch Night Nov 24th at The Signal Gallery

Gaye Advert

I was lucky enough to go to the launch night of the new "Punk & Beyond" exhibition curated by Gaye Advert, the iconic bassist with The Adverts. The Exhibition features artwork by various musicians, DJ's and artists involved in Punk Rock through the years and whilst, some pieces might be more a case of enthusiasm over natural artistic talent, the standard throughout is very high. Gaye Advert herself was also extremely pleasant and her superb artwork sold out in minutes, you can see why she deserves to be curating the Exhibition.

An unexpected highlight for me were Ray Gange's colourful and vibrant triology of quotes from Chinatown, Goodfellas and The Clash's "Clash City Rockers". Ray Gange was the star of The Clash movie "Rude Boy" which, along with Quadrophenia, pretty much informed my teenage years. Ray was in attendance and was extremely friendly, willing to talk about his experiences with The Clash as well as his artwork and DJing.

Ray Gange in front of "Wiseguys"

I had a nice chat to photographer Ray Stevenson too who was exhibiting some of his early Punk photographs such as a very early Adam & The Ants photo and a great portrait of Gaye Advert. Also there on the night were Grant Hart from Husker Du, Don Letts, photographer Jill Furmanovsky, author of '77 Sulphate Strip Barry Cain, Dave Collins from Podrophenia, Jenny from The Priscillas and Shanne Bradley from the Nipple Erectors amongst others.

Photographer Ray Stevenson

I managed to talk to Billy Childish, who was also very pleasant and interesting about his fellow Medway-ites The Len Price 3 and Ranscombe studios. As I left the gallery I was dazzled by a cheerful bundle of energy with a bright shock of blonde hair and flourescent emblazoned outfit proclaiming Spizz Energi. Yes, the singer of one of my all time favourite post-punk songs "Where's Captain Kirk?", a classic single if ever there was one. Spizz was great fun posing for photos and it was a real pleasure to finally meet him. Other artwork on display included works by Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore, Robert Pollard from Guided By Voices who contributed three excellent pieces, Jamie Reid's classic "Rock & Roll Swindle" collage and one of my favourite pieces on the night, "Dog in Aldridge Road Villas" by The Clash's bassist Paul Simonon. I'd been to see an exhibition of Paul's Spain influenced artwork previously in a very posh Mayfair gallery so was already aware of his talents.

Spizz with Gary Loveridge

But it was those interesting surprises that were the real pleasure of the night, as I mentioned Ray Gange's artwork but also there was a really great wall mounted sculpture called "Mick Jones Guitar With Life Mask" by Alabama 3's Nick Reynolds and nice portraits of Poly Styrene by Chris Bell from The Briefs. The Exhibition was actually a fitting tribute to Poly Styrene who so tragically passed away earlier this year and there were some additional portraits of Poly by Knox and Charlie Harper as well as photographs by Ian Dickson. The news about Poly was made even sadder as she had just released a fanatasic new album "Generation Indigo" that was getting critical acclaim and putting her back in the fore-front of music again where she deserves to be.

Gaye Advert Artwork

It is also touching to think of Ari Up who also passed away at tragically young age at a time when she had also released a great new Slits album. It was nice to see both Ari and Poly paid tribute to in the art and photography on display. Other notable exhibitors included Michael Davis from the MC5, Penny Rimbaud with some very striking pieces, Mark Mothersbaugh from Devo, Marco Pirroni from Adam & The Ants/The Wolfmen and Jowe Head from the Swell Maps. I would thoroughly recommend a visit to the gallery to catch the exhibition before it ends and sincerely hope that this becomes an even more regular event.

The Exhibition is being held until December 17th at The Signal Gallery at 32 Paul Street London EC2A 4LB

Here are some more of my photos from the launch night.