Would-Be-Goods, Helen McCookerybook and Railcard at Water Rats, London - A Bizarro Promotion, February 21st 2026

Even Pete Frame would struggle to compile one of his exhaustive Rock Family Trees about the Indie talent pool surrounding Skep Wax Records and their proprietors Amelia Fletcher and Rob Pursey. Stretching back to the C-86 Twee Student Jangle Indie-Pop scene, or whatever ridiculous genre the music press deemed to patronise the acts with, their band Talulah Gosh was to go on to spawn many and various bands, spin-offs and side projects, not to mention the influence they would have on generations of eager young fans into forming their own bands. Each trademark branch of those intricate Pete Frame diagrams would probably feature guitarist Peter Momtchiloff in some guise or other though, and tonight Amelia and Rob’s former Talulah Gosh and current Heavenly colleague appears in two out of the three acts on show. Hosted by Bizarro Promotions, this sold-out gig at Water Rats in London’s Kings Cross is basically a showcase for two brand new Skep Wax releases – their compilation of Railcard’s first three E.P.’s and the latest excellent album “Tears Before Bedtime” by headliners Would-Be-Goods.

 

Tonight’s gig came at the perfect time for me, an absolute godsend as I must admit I’ve been on a bit of a Dolly Mixture kick recently, ever since reading Debsey Wykes’ fantastic autobiography “Teenage Daydream” and coincidentally bumping into her at two recent unrelated book launch events. I then went along to see Debsey interviewed by Daniel Rachel about her book in conjunction with a rare screening of the excellent Dolly Mixture documentary “Take Three Girls”. So, suddenly I’d get the chance to see another Dolly Mixture, Rachel Love, and her new band Railcard, for the first time. The Water Rats is sold out and there are almost as many musicians in the audience as there would be on stage throughout the night. Here’s just a few that were in the room – Allan Crockford from The Prisoners (who mixed the Railcard recordings), Viv Bonsels from The Galileo 7, Pete Astor from The Loft, Kevin Younger from The High Span, Ian Greensmith from The Dentists and his former bandmate Bob Collins who is now in another Skep Wax act, Swansea Sound. Then there’s Dave Morgan from The Monochrome Set, Jon Klein from Specimen and Siouxsie & The Banshees and even Gaye Black from The Adverts. It would have made for one hell of a supergroup. Oh, and yes, it’s Debsey again, here to support her former Dolly Mixture friend and former bandmate. 

 

Railcard take the stage, Rachel looks amazing and I’m immediately captivated by her cheerful smile and the promise of hearing those wonderful songs live for the first time. The aforementioned Peter Momtchiloff is on bass duties and there’s Ian Button from Heavenly and Penrose Web and Papernut Cambridge (and more!) on drums and vocals with Allison Thomson on trumpet, keyboards and vocals. Ian takes over lead vocals on the brilliant, foot stomping “Northern Soul Dancing” which is my personal highlight of their set with excellent lyrics about getting to the age where you wonder if it’s really too late to try and recapture that abandon and exuberance of youth. Busting out those spins, kicks and flicks on the dancefloor, it’s a classic.

Their songs are catchy and immediate, “Narcissus” is built on a driving military style beat with some biting lyrics and the sublime “Cherry Plum” is one and a half minutes of pure gorgeousness. They don’t play my favourite “Born In 62” though, I love that song with its Sonics “Strychnine” motif, and I was hoping it might make an appearance. The Dolly Mixture movie director, Paul Kelly, told me that song summed up the loose concept behind Railcard, all the original members were born in ‘62. He said that he was in an early incarnation of the band but I can’t remember if he said his role was Off-Peak Railcard, Family Railcard, Student Railcard or Senior Railcard? Talking of which, I was gutted they had sold out of the plastic Railcard railcard holders, a brilliant idea for band merchandise. I’m sure they have now gone on to be much sought-after collector’s items; I shall not rest until I have trawled eBay and spent my life’s savings on one. They play a great cover of Dandy Livingstone’s “Think About That” and close the set with the hypnotic "Disco Loadout" and the warm applause from the crowd fills the room. There’s something totally addictive about Railcard, something uplifting and refreshing – they will leave a smile on your face and a promise to yourself to bust out some Northern Soul shapes as soon as you get home. Well, once you’ve had a sit down and a nice cup of cocoa that is.

Rachel Love of Railcard and her former Dolly Mixture colleague Debsey Wykes

Next up is Helen McCookerybook, formerly of Indie-Pop pioneers The Chefs, who treated us to a thoroughly entertaining set. Starting off alone with the beautifully evocative “London” she is then joined by Robert Rotifer on guitar and vocals and Ruth Tidmarsh on bass and vocals and their harmonies have a real chemistry that ooze warmth. My personal highlight was “Three Cheers For Toytown”. Helen explains at the start “usually we have Terry Edwards playing trumpet but he’s off playing with The Nightingales, so we’re going to hum his parts. “Sixties Man” is another great moment, as is the audience participation on “The Sea”. Helen has an engaging presence, and her voice really draws you in and it’s no wonder she got a fantastic reaction from the crowd.

 

Would-Be-Goods open the set with the brilliant “The Morning After” which has a chorus that reminds me of The Monochrome Set, not surprising as to singer Jessica Griffin’s right stands the always impressively impassive Andy Warren (of Monochrome Set and before that, the original Adam & The Ants) nonchalantly spinning out some superb bass lines on his trademark Rickenbacker. There’s also a big link between the two bands, Bid and Co. were the backing band on Would-Be-Goods early releases and Peter Momtchiloff, now on stage with his guitar, was in Bid’s side project, Scarlet’s Well. On drums and vocals is Debbie Greensmith from Thee Headcoatees and Ye Nuns and that completes a superb line-up. However, similar to Railcard, Would-Be-Goods were also guilty of not playing one of my favourite songs tonight, sadly there’s no “Emmanuelle Beart”, but they are promoting their latest release “Tears Before Bedtime” after all, so some older numbers are bound to be missed out. Anyway, it’s not such a big issue with the new album being so damn good, packed with songs of the quality of “Tears For Leda” with its killer guitar riff intro reminiscent of The Kinks’ “Till The End of The Day”. 

 

Jessica Griffin’s songwriting is something special, she has a knack of transporting you from a summer picnic on the riverbanks of an English university town, punts flowing past and the sound of leather on willow in the background to the cafes and patisseries of Le Marais and the Rive Gauche followed by a stroll past Serge Gainsbourg’s house on Rue de Verneuil. There’s beautifully constructed exotica such as “Madame X” but Jessica can then hit you right in the heart with stripped back, emotionally raw songs like “Heart of Tin” and “Too Old”. They play a good chunk of the new album and despite only listening a few times on-line prior to picking up a vinyl copy on the night, the songs are immediate and you find they are already lodged in your head. “The Gallopers” and “Witch Hazel” are prime example of the wonderful melodies that sound as familiar as most of the old favourites. Talking of which, I moaned about not getting “EB” but the brilliant “Cecil Beaton’s Scrapbook” keeps me quiet and more than makes up for it. “The Camera Loves Me” is another oldie and mighty fine goodie and it’s great to see Debbie singing the backing harmonies with a big smile, glowing with enthusiasm. It was a fantastic set, and I can’t recommend the new album highly enough, it’s an absolute classic. I mentioned this to Andy Warren, and he replied in perfectly deadpan manner, “thanks, yes it’s a cheerful album”. Priceless! 

All photos and videos copyright Retro Man Blog 2026. More videos from the gig can be found at our Retro Man Blog YouTube channel here, please subscribe for free to access our whole archive of original live videos. Here are some useful links, please click to investigate further...

Would-Be-Goods

Railcard

Helen McCookerybook

Skep Wax Records

Heavenly

Bizarro Promotions

The Monochrome Set

Dolly Mixture

Debsey Wykes "Teenage Daydream - We Are The Girls Who Play In A Band" book

 

Lester Square "Carcass" - New Solo Album from The ex-Monochrome Set & Adam & The Ants Guitarist

Lester Square photographed by Paul Slattery at our Retro Man Blog Night back in 2014

Lester Square, the original guitarist in Adam & The Ants and co-founder of The Monochrome Set has just released a new solo album entitled "Carcass". The title track features Lester's trademark twanging riffs that will of course be familiar to fans of The Monochrome Set. It's a great opener, like Dick Dale or Link Wray performing the soundtrack to an Ennio Morricone Spaghetti Western movie. Another personal highlight is "Time Flies" which is a beautifully pastoral song with vocals from The Chefs' Helen McCookerybook that reminds me of Goldfrapp's "Seventh Tree" album and it wouldn't have been out of place on the soundtrack to "The Wicker Man". Although by the end the peaceful landscape seems to get shattered and polluted by the sound of screaming fighter jets. The rest of the album features a diverse set of evocative and mainly instrumental songs that range from pulsing funky brass to baroque orchestral pieces. There's even some Gaelic Pipe Folk rubbing shoulders with organ driven tracks that touch on The Senior Service or James Taylor Quartet's output. But of course it's Lester's instantly recognisable and inventive, yet still seriously underrated, guitar work that is the star of the show. As well as recording eleven studio albums with The Monochrome Set, Lester has also recorded with The Invisible, Jesus Couldn’t Drum, ...And The Native Hipsters, Victory Through Sound and Helen McCookerybook. The official description of the album goes something like this: "Carcass, is a product of its times; a collection, if you will, of protest instrumentals; sound poems to chart these extraordinary times. Whether imagining the insect winners of a post nuclear winter, or the secrets of the Trump penthouse, these works are in equal measure poignant, sarcastic, angry and hopeful. It has been said that revolution today has no soundtrack in the same way that the anti-Vietnam draft resistance of the sixties did. For what its worth the redress starts here". You can order the CD of "Carcass" from Lester's Bandcamp page here.

Lester will be re-joining The Monochrome Set for two very special gigs at The Lexington in Islington to celebrate 40 years since The Monochrome Set formed. The band will be playing their first two albums "Strange Boutique" and "Love Zombies" in their entirety and a set of favourites, over two nights, Saturday 10th February and Sunday 11th February next year. The gig is being promoted by Bizarro and support on both nights comes from The Would-Be-Goods Two who feature Jessica Griffin and Peter Momtchiloff of the original WBG's playing a stripped down set of songs old and new. You can order tickets in advance from We Got Tickets here. There's no news yet if Lester will be playing any solo gigs to promote the release of "Carcass" but in the meantime here's the title track.

Lester Square photo copyright Paul Slattery. You can see a feature, including more of Paul's excellent photos of our Retro Man Blog Night featuring The Monochrome Set and The Fallen Leaves back in May 2014 at the Retro Man Blog archive here. 

Introducing: The Hot Hooves - Fake Modern Art

The Hot Hooves at The Buffalo Bar - Photo by Paul Slattery

Photographer and regular Retro Man Blog contributor Paul Slattery went along to see the Oxford based band, The Hot Hooves, at Islington's Buffalo Bar recently following a glowing recommendation from Ian of Damaged Goods Records. Unfortunately, I couldn't make it, but according to Paul the band were great and I have been listening to their latest album "Fake Modern Art", which has been released on Rivet Gun Records, pretty much non-stop. It's a blistering collection of powerful Punk Rock that reminds me of the great Swedish band Division of Laura Lee in the way they create a wired and edgy, almost claustrophobic sound. The album has an excellent production so the songs thunder along and the guitars positively burst out of the speakers with some spiralling riffs and crunching chords. Similar to Wire and Pixies they have that knack of confounding your senses with some unexpected chord changes and melodic twists and turns. The perfect example of this would be on the stunning title track "Fake Modern Art" with its lovely backing vocal harmonies almost fighting to be heard amongst the twisting guitars, it's a work of genius.

The Hot Hooves at The Buffalo Bar - Photo by Paul Slattery

By chance I saw Hot Hooves guitarist Peter Momtchiloff playing in The Would-Be-Goods who were supporting The Monochrome Set at Bush Hall. After listening to Hot Hooves I must admit to being a bit surprised to discover Peter has also previously played in Indie-Popsters Talulah Gosh and Heavenly as sonically they are poles apart - but then again it's all about the melodies - albeit just played at slightly different volume levels!

Nightshift Magazine, Dec '12 - Short, sharp shocks are the order of the day rather than bilious pontificating; Hot Hooves cram an irresistible amount of energy, melody, wit and cynicism into two and a bit minutes. Album opener "Youth Activator" is a well aimed pop grenade, puncturing modern age posturing and protest as the song cavorts effusively with the spirit of '77. "Uncomplicated Flow" might be a decent description of much of Hot Hooves' output - an onward rush of effortless three-chord ire and disdain with its tongue only slightly in its cheek. What sticks with you is both the strength of melody, even when the band seem to be trashing anything to hand, and a sense of youthful abandon that's rare. If only more bands would grow up so disgracefully.

Nightshift Magazine, Nov '11 - "The band kick out a few-frills buzzsaw brand of pop that fleetingly reminds you of early Teenage Fanclub or even the poppier side of Husker Du. Highlight of the album is the rambunctious "Spark Up Agenda", a full-throttle pile-up between The Ramones and Status Quo helmed by Mark E Smith, while "Midlife" and "My Telekinesis" display a withering wit that few bands can hope to emulate.

The Hot Hooves are Peter: Guitars & Vocals, Gary: Drums, Mike: Bass and Mac: Vocals & Guitars. Here's a great video for the album's opening track "Youth Activator".

Thanks to Paul Slattery & Peter. You can listen to the band at their Hot Hooves Soundcloud page.