The Crystal Teardrop, The Jack Cades & The Embrooks at the Alice In Wonderland Psychedelic Summer Shindig, Water Rats London Aug 15th

Here's a selection of photos and videos from a great Alice In Wonderland Psychedelic Summer Shindig at The Water Rats in London's Kings Cross featuring three superb bands The Crystal Teardrop, The Jack Cades and The Embrooks that are right up Retro Man Blog's street. It seems that recently Christian, from the legendary 80's Psychedelic club has started putting on shows again, I remember it used to be held at Gossip's in Soho (the same club that also housed The Batcave) and Clive the singer from Dr. & The Medics was a regular DJ. We'll definitely be keeping an eye out for future gigs and events, especially if they can attract such a great line-up of bands, all three headliners in their own right. The Embrooks' Psych-pop classics are always a joy to hear, it was just a shame I couldn't take any videos of their set. This was my first time to see the current Jack Cades since the departure of Mole and Alex, and as much as I loved that line-up, the new look JC's were on fire. They treated us to some fantastic sounding new songs from their forthcoming album that channelled their appreciation of The  Brian Jonestown Massacre and The Velvet Underground into memorable riffs and driving rhythms. This was my first ever time to see The Crystal Teardrop and I could quickly see why there is such a buzz about the band at the moment. They look great on stage, a blur of energy and in Alexandra Rose they have a charismatic and engaging frontwoman. The songs were impressive, I particularly liked their use of the electric sitar and I picked up a copy of their new album "The Crystal Teardrop Is Forming" which is a great listen. You can see more videos from the show over at our Retromanblog65 YouTube channel.

The Crystal Teardrop

 

 

The Jack Cades

 

The Embrooks

All photos and videos copyright Retro Man Blog 2025

Luke Haines & Peter Buck with The Minus 5 - Photos & Videos from The Barn Theatre Oxted, Aug 25th

The intriguing collaboration between The Auteurs frontman Luke Haines and Peter Buck from R.E.M. continues with a U.K. tour to promote their superb new album "Going Down To The River To Blow My Mind". We caught their show at The Barn Theatre in Oxted and they were backed by Scott McCaughey's Power Pop legends The Minus 5, the pair repaid the favour by joining the Minus 5 line-up for a cracking support slot, with Peter taking on bass duties and Luke on guitar and backing vocals. The Minus 5 are also challenging Luke and Peter for early contenders of Album of The Year as they are also promoting a fantastic new release entitled "Oar On, Penelope!" Here are some photos and videos from a memorable night...

Luke Haines & Peter Buck "Judy Chicago" at The Barn Theatre Oxted

Luke Haines & Peter Buck "56 Nervous Breakdowns" at The Barn Theatre Oxted

 The Minus 5 "Let The Rope Hold, Cassie Lee" at The Barn Theatre Oxted

The Minus 5 "I Don't Want To Hate Anyone" at The Barn Theatre Oxted

 

 

For more videos of both bands from the show, please check out our Retromanblog65 YouTube channel, you can subscribe for free to access our whole archive of original live music videos and podcasts. All photos and videos copyright Retro Man Blog 2025.

Gaye Advert's Punk Memorabilia - A New Publication by Gaye and Leonor Faber-Jonker

Leonor Faber-Jonker of SAGO Press will release a collaborative publication along with Gaye Black in August. Titled "Gaye Advert's Punk Memorabilia" it collates twelve items from Gaye's own personal collection of memorabilia and looks at the stories behind each object. With photographs by Eric Waring and designed by Maud Van Rossum and Riso printed, the limited edition publication comes in two versions with some superb extras included. I spoke to Leonor and Gaye about this great project so please read on for the background behind it...

Leonor, how did you discover The Adverts and when did you first meet Gaye?

Leonor: I met Gaye at Rebellion Festival, I think it was in 2006 maybe. I was a big fan of The Adverts, when I was 14 I got my first Punk compilation CD and The Adverts were on there and it was one of the tracks that stood out. I didn't even have a computer at that age and then when I got a computer I started looking up things about The Adverts and I noticed Gaye of course and I thought she looked so cool so I kind of modelled my look on this one grainy picture I had of her, so yeah I was really a big fan.

So when you first met Gaye you didn't have any idea of doing a book or anything like that?

L: I must have been nineteen and I was still working out, finding out what I wanted to do and stuff so it was just more like being starstruck. Then I started organising gigs around that same time, I organised a couple of gigs for TV Smith in the Netherlands, and then I saw Gaye.

So that's similar to me, I also got to know Gaye through promoting TV Smith gigs, where were you putting on your shows?

L: In the Hague at a bar that was run by people who before they ran a squat and when that shut down they opened this very nice little bar with a stage called De Vinger. I put on a couple of shows there for TV Smith but also John Cooper-Clarke which is really wild as he's playing really big venues now. Of course I got talking to Gaye and she was just really sweet, I also bought some of her artwork, I think I bought two or three.

So, when did you get to the point of deciding on doing this project, how did you come up with the idea?

L: Well, I'm really interested in how objects carry a meaning so that's something I do a lot of research on and I'm very interested in family heirlooms or souvenirs. Also how objects change meaning over time 'cos if you carry it with you through your life then it will change, it will signify different things for different moments, so that's kind of the background. Then I have this publishing company SAGO Press and with that I want to make books that are based on archives and I also focus on female artists and musicians from the Punk era or the Post-Punk era of the 80's and started with Truus de Groot who was a Post-Punk pioneer in the Netherlands who went to New York when she was very young. So, it kind of went very naturally 'cos I was thinking for a while as I was organising gigs before and I'd stopped doing that I wanted to offer a platform again to other people or collaborate in a DIY way again. I was thinking maybe a magazine, maybe this or maybe that, and then I came across these photos by Truus de Groot and then I realised this would make a perfect book. Anyway, so I had this publishing house and then of course I thought of Gaye who I'd stayed in touch with as she also came to the HOK Gallery in the Hague and I wrote an essay for her exhibition she had there. I thought it would just be great to make a booklet together and we were just sitting talking, Eric was there too and it just came together and I think Eric might have said, what about the memorabilia objects, so yeah, it just happened.

Eric Waring is the photographer who took the majority of the photos in the book, it's lucky that Gaye has kept most of her memorabilia and prized possessions.

L: Yeah, in a very sort of conscious way and what she kept, she kept it carefully, or even not carefully like with the leather jacket she just put in the garden when it was finally returned by somebody who stole it after decades. She had this leather jacket that she was always wearing in all those iconic photographs and it was stolen from a dressing room in Ireland and she didn't see it for decades and then suddenly it was posted back anonymously. So, she just had this jacket but it was really mouldy and horrible when she got it back so she put it in the garden and it became a home for spiders, but even then it's a caring way to interact with an object.

It's amazing that she got it back, so you've chosen twelve items, how did you start off?

L: The starting point was Gaye's memorabilia collages because she made this series of digital collages and the objects are all in there so that was the starting point, but then Eric had to re-photograph them for the book as the images were not so suitable for printing.

Gaye's left the music world and she's now an Artist and she does use a lot of her memorabilia in her artwork which is really effective isn't it.

L: Yeah, there are a lot of personal mementoes also from before and after the Punk era, all her artworks are filled with personal significant little things.

So the booklet itself is beautifully produced, I'm really happy as I've got to actually look at it finally, and Gaye is writing about the background to each item with some great photos by Eric. You've also included some postcards, you've got a reproduction of the rat sticker that was on her bass and you've even got a reproduction of the fantastic The Damned and The Adverts advert on newspaper, it's almost like it's come out of Sounds in 1976. That's 'The Damned can now play three chords The Adverts can play one, hear all four of them' and then you've got all the tour dates and that's the famous picture of Gaye and Dave Vanian which I'm sure will be familiar to many people. So you get these nice little extras which I think makes it a little bit special and you've done two versions of the booklet, you've got this version that I've got here and then you've got one in a deluxe special edition.

L: Yeah the special edition, I mean the regular version is quite special as it is, if I may say so myself! So the main extras are the poster and three postcards and the rat sticker, I had to cut out 300 rats so I hope you guys appreciate it! It's Riso printed which is quite a special technique and comes in a limited edition of 150 copies in total and numbers 1-25 are the special editions and they come with a signed A4 print of one of Gaye's memorabilia collages, a very nice print.

I won't give everything away on what's in the booklet, people will have to buy it to find out, but some of the more interesting items featured include Iggy Pop's dog collar and a Ramones baseball bat which are quite bizarre, and there's a battered tour suitcase along with other various bits and pieces which I won't give away yet but it's nice to hear the stories behind them. When I got this copy I thought, 'oh wow this must be the deluxe edition' but there's all the extras that come with the standard version too so it's very good value. So, the book will be available from August, you're going to be at the Rebellion Festival in August, will you be there over the whole weekend?

L: I will be yeah, Gaye will have a stall and I'm just a hanger-on, then there's a Q&A session where we're officially presenting it.  

So if you're at Rebellion from August 7th-10th you can pick up a copy or you can order the book from here. Leonor, you said you're getting orders from all over the place already.

L: Yeah from Australia and Mexico, I was really surprised, many orders from the United States, California it's quite surprising and then many from the Netherlands as well.

You've done some previous publications haven't you, including old fanzines and Dutch Punk and things like that as well.

L: Yeah, quite a few publications now, I started by writing a book about Dutch Punk that came out in 2012, and that was because I knew quite a lot about UK bands but I had no idea about what was going on in the Netherlands at that time so I became really curious what was here. Why do I know so many bands in the UK but what else was going on, so that was the starting points of my research. Then I also have quite a few other interests but I always come back to Punk and Post-Punk.

So do you think this idea you have here is something you could spread out to other musicians that you know?

L: I never like to do the same thing twice so I always want to reinvent myself or my work so the publications I've done with Sago now, so far one is photographs and snapshots taken in New York and then there's one coming out with drawings by Dirk Polak from the Dutch New Wave band Mecano. What I like is talking to underground musicians and artists, finding out what they have that has never seen the daylight, that people are not aware of, that's what I really like, digging that out. It's a private archive so what I like to do with my publications is that you have the feeling like you are actually visiting the person, you become a little bit closer to the person, it's biographical in the end.

We're now joined by Gaye and I was wondering how you both narrowed it down to 12 items?

L: Well, it started at Rebellion from the memorabilia collage artwork, there were ten of them, then the final selection was quite tricky actually.

Tell us about Iggy's dog collar Gaye...

Gaye: In 1977 The Adverts were asked to do the U.K. tour with Iggy and throughout the course of that he was always trying to give me items of his clothing, like that raincoat in that picture of him and Patti Smith but I said no, I don't have room for that, so he had this dog collar and he said "would you like that?" and I said OK.

How did you get hold of a Ramones baseball bat? 

G: It was the first time they played in London at the Roundhouse and at the end of the gig Joey came out from the side of the stage and he was giving out these promotional baseball bats and I had one. But I think most people probably couldn't be bothered to carry them home so they became really rare but I held on to it and I've had it ever since, it's not a full size baseball bat, it's there under the TV if you want to see it!

What about the battered old suitcase?

G: This is an old suitcase of my parents that they gave me when I moved to London that was living up in my attic room and it came with me when we went off on tour, 'cos it was the only thing I had. We didn't have rucksacks or things in those days, so I lived out of that for several years. The stickers, I'm a great one for sticking any stickers onto things, a random selection, that big Damned one on the front, that's from their first album I think, carefully unpeeled.

The suitcase is like one of your works of art, one of your collages in itself, you've got backstage passes, Motorhead stickers you've got the Damned one.

G: There's a couple of more contemporary ones too, like The Briefs, but that's quite an old Briefs one, that's probably vintage by now.

L: It's also kind of nice that you haven't kept it as a museum piece, it's just part of your life and still is.

G: Yeah, it was but it's kind of broken now so I can't use it anymore.

So what was it like for you going through looking at these items, was it interesting to drag up the back stories behind them?

G: Yes, I haven't kept all that many things but I had the idea for doing my memorabilia series at Rebellion in 2016 'cos that was their anniversary gig and they went down really well, so I've been doing variations on them. I don't have that many objects and Leonor is a great collector and object fan and she had this idea so she came round here and narrowed it down to what's in the book. 

Well it's great, it's a really unique way of looking at someone's musical life rather than a just a typical biography, list of dates or tour diary it's an unusual take 'cos of all the stories behind the items.

G: I very rarely get rid of anything, I value the things that have memories and if I do get rid of anything it's usually something that I've had more recently so the core things remain.

I don't want to give too much away, people will have to buy the book to find out what's inside. You'll be at Rebellion Festival doing a Q&A session and having your art on display and I guess the books will be on sale.

G: Yes, I'll be interviewed and Leonor will be doing a presentation during my interview and I'll be selling new art stuff in the adjoining room to the literary stage.

Thanks to Leonor and Gaye, as mentioned if you are at Rebellion Festival in Blackpool this year, you'll be able to pick up a copy directly and also check out Gaye's fantastic art. Otherwise, you can order from SAGO Press at this link, find out more about Leonor's projects at her web-site here and you can check out Gaye Black Art here.

Don't forget our thoroughly entertaining Retrosonic Podcast interview special with Gaye is still available to listen to, stream or download, where she discusses her life in Music and Art. Gaye takes us on a musical journey from growing up in a small town in north Devon and discovering music for the first time to buying her first record. We then discover what lured her into Rock 'n' Roll and what inspired her to play the bass. There are tales of her experiences of moving to London, being right at the heart of the early Punk Rock explosion and of course her time with The Adverts. This leads onto the bands and the characters she met and toured with along the way such as Iggy Pop, Lemmy and The Damned. We also cover her DJ'ing and the inspirations on her own Art as well as her time curating Art Exhibitions and working on the artwork for record covers by U.K. Subs bassist Alvin Gibbs. The episode is sound-tracked by Gaye's personal selection of her favourite songs from The Adverts and some of Gaye's most inspirational musical moments including Black Sabbath, Rolling Stones, The Stranglers, The Damned, The Beatles, Mayhem, Motorhead, The Phobics, Mayhem, Turbonegro, Cyanide Pills, The Men Who Will Not Be Blamed For Nothing, Iggy Pop, The Stooges, A Place To Bury Strangers, U.K. Subs and the Fireball XL5 Theme...! 

Retrosonic Podcast · Gaye (Advert) Black, Artist & Former Bassist with The Adverts

Sparks at Hammersmith Apollo, Thursday June 19th 2025

I’m back at the beautiful Art Deco Hammersmith (Odeon) Apollo, the scene of my very first gig back in 1981, to see the second night of two London gigs from Sparks whose incredible renaissance shows no sign of letting up. I’d seen the set-list in advance, and I must confess to being a bit underwhelmed at first glance. Personally, I would only have chosen around half of the songs, but then again, the perfect set-list would be nigh-on impossible considering the band released their first album in 1971 and well over 50 years later, have just unleashed the superb “Mad!” to a receptive public. I think “Mad!” might well be their 29th album if include the movie/musical soundtracks and FFS collaboration with Franz Ferdinand, not including the numerous compilations. So, back to the set-list, which is heavy on the high energy dancefloor smashes of the late 70’s-80’s  including “Beat The Clock”, and “The Number One Song In Heaven” (complete with Ron’s now trademark dance-moves) and the surprise inclusion of “Academy Award Performance” all from the Giorgio Moroder produced “Number 1 In Heaven”. 

Then there’s the 1990’s Electronica of “Music That You Can Dance To” and “When Do I Get To Sing My Way?” which ramp up the party atmosphere to the maximum. Sadly, the 70’s are not so well represented but we do get a storming “Reinforcements” from “Propaganda” and a curveball in “Goofing Off” from 1977’s “Introducing Sparks”. But then again, Sparks are not merely a nostalgia act and there is so much excellent new material to consider. Having said that, of course they can’t skip the classic “This Town Ain’t Big Enough For Both Of Us” – which was the entry point for many of us Brits into the crazy world of Sparks. Seeing the classic Top Of The Pops performance on the Thursday evening and then the next day at school, the playground was buzzing with excited chatter - “hey, did you see that scary guy who looked like Hitler last night?”. Later you discover that this was repeated across pretty much every school yard from Land’s End to John O’Groats. However, the big surprise of the night was the inclusion of “Whippings And Apologies” from their second album, 1973’s “A Woofer In Tweeter’s Clothing” which tonight was a snarling Glam-Punk classic. 

The campfire singalong of “Suburban Homeboy” with Ron on deadpan lead vocals from “Lil’ Beethoven” was another delight. This was probably the album that relaunched Sparks career in 2002 and put them on the trajectory that now sees them playing in packed out venues to adoring audiences all over the world. The following four albums are skipped over, probably because they have previously toured them in their own right, but a real highlight is the emotional “Please Don’t Fuck Up My World” from “Steady Drip, Drip, Drip”, which Russell tells us, is probably more relevant than ever. Of course, they play plenty of “Mad!” and “Do Things My Own Way”, “Drowned In a Sea of Tears” and “Jansport Backpack” all sound marvellous played live. Unfortunately, there’s no “My Devotion” which I think is one of the most beautiful songs Sparks have written in ages, but like I said at the beginning, you can’t have everything. The band that Ron and Russell have assembled are absolutely superb, managing the complexity of the song-writing and the often bewildering variety in musical styles perfectly. The sound and lighting are stunning throughout and the audience reaction is phenomenal, quite a few times there is a rapturous standing ovation at the end of a song. So much so that they have to put the house lights up and the band just have to pause to just let the acclaim wash over them before they can start the next number. 

They encore with “The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte” and a rousing “All That” which sees the crowd singing along and waving their arms in unison and there’s a surprise when “Sparks Brothers” documentary director Edgar Wright appears on stage to take a photo of Ron and Russell in front of the crowd. Off the top of my head, of their generation I can only think of the 78 year-old Iggy Pop, who’s also out on tour at the moment, who can compare with Sparks full-on physically energetic live performance. Considering their ages, Ron is 79 and Russell 76, they could have been forgiven for continuing down the more restrained “Two Hands, One Mouth” route but no, Russell has not lost any of his incredible vocal range and instead they continue to tour with a vibrant excellent young band, performing shows bursting with colourful life-affirming energy. Maybe one day they will have to slow down a bit, but at the moment it’s only Ron’s dance routine that’s getting slightly shorter. So, for now, if you get the opportunity, make sure you enjoy the full on Sparks extravaganza while you can. Tonight, might well rank up there as one of the best shows I’ve seen from the band and despite my initial misgivings about the set-list, I wouldn’t have changed it for the world.

You can still check out our feature on Sparks "Two Hands, One Mouth" show from 2012 at London's Barbican Centre here. Don't forget our two thoroughly entertaining episodes of Retrosonic Podcast where original Halfnelson/Sparks drummer Harley Feinstein gives us a fascinating insight into the very early years of Sparks.

Retrosonic Podcast · Sparks: The Bearsville/Halfnelson Years Part 1 & Crash 74 with Harley Feinstein

 

Retrosonic Podcast · Sparks: The Bearsville/Halfnelson Years Part 2 with Harley Feinstein

 

John McKay's Reactor at The Face Bar Reading, Tuesday June 17th - the triumphant return of the legendary Siouxsie & The Banshees Guitarist

I was at a local Club Velocity promotions gig at the Face Bar in Reading on Tuesday night to witness the long awaited return of the legendary Siouxsie & The Banshees guitarist John McKay. The first thing that hit me was how good he looked; all dressed in black, hair slicked back into a Samurai style top knot. Similar to (the much-missed) Geordie from Killing Joke, McKay is effortlessly cool, making it look so easy when of course, we really know it's nothing of the sort. There’s a nonchalance to his playing style that belies the immense, razor sharp sound that he conjures from his equally cool black semi-acoustic Hagström guitar. I was just too young to see The Banshees play when he was in the line-up, but I’ve always loved McKay’s glacial guitar riffs – a sound that defined not only the early Banshees, but pretty much the whole Post-Punk genre. There was a palpable buzz running through the crowd as he struck the opening chords to first number “Black Five” and to hear that instantly recognisable, hugely influential sound, was a big thrill.

 

 

Earlier this year Tiny Global Productions released the beautifully packaged album “Sixes And Sevens” which features unreleased solo recordings made between 1980 and 1989. Former Banshees drummer Kenny Morris who along with McKay, jumped the Banshees ship mid-tour in 1979, features on some of these songs along with Soft Boys bassist Matthew Seligman and John’s partner Linda on vocals – sadly both Matthew and Linda passed away in 2020. Don’t be put off by the mention of ‘unreleased’ songs, as usually when record companies put out such recordings there’s a very good reason why they were unreleased in the first place. Not so with “Sixes And Sevens” as the songs and sound are excellent and it begs the question just why they were not ever released at the time. It gives a fascinating insight into what might have been after The Banshees, and the good news is that now, thanks to Tiny Global, the songs have been given a new lease of life. A few dates have been arranged to promote the album including the Reading show, a sold-out Lexington in London, the Forever Now festival in Milton Keynes on June 22^nd, The 100 Club on June 23^rd and the Hare & Hounds Birmingham on July 19th.

John has assembled a superb band around him, John McKay’s Reactor, and it is very much a band rather than just a solo project. One of Retro Man Blog’s favourites Jen Brown from The Priscillas is on lead vocals, a perfect choice, it’s a role she just had to play, and she looks fabulous next to John. It must have been a rather daunting task as comparisons with Siouxsie are bound to be raised, but Jen is superb, balancing her individual style while keeping a deference to Siouxsie's vocal delivery. Billy King is on bass and like Jen, looks every inch the epitome of Rock ‘n’ Roll, very cool. He also rather impressively keeps his leather biker jacket on for the duration of the whole show despite the soaring temperatures. Drummer Jola is a busy, blur of energy, managing the sometimes unusual tom-heavy tribal beats with real skill, she’s great to watch in her own right. The set list is perfectly balanced between tracks from “Sixes And Sevens” and Banshees classics, and the good thing is there’s a seamless transition between the two, that’s testament to the strength of the solo material, I guess. 

 

The set ends with “Hong Kong Garden” and there’s an encore of “Playground Twist” which both take the roof of the Face Bar. We also get treated to Banshees classics from the first two albums including “The Staircase (Mystery)”, “Placebo”, “Mirage”, “Suburban Release” and “Switch”. Of the ‘new’ songs “Taken For Granted” with its rumbling JJ Burnel style bass intro and “Vigilante” are personal highlights and I’m left hoping that this new line-up can find the time to write some brand new material in the near future. Check out the band’s Facebook page here and Instagram pages for news on the upcoming shows and Tiny Global on how to order “Sixes And Sevens” which is out on CD, download and limited edition vinyl which includes a signed booklet and bonus CD. For more videos from the show please subscribe to the Retro Man Blog YouTube channel here.