I've been meaning to go to the Rockaway Beach night for quite a while and finally managed it at #11 this week, though for all the wrong reasons.
For quite a few of tonight's audience this show turned into a tribute to London-based Canadian punk Vic Newman AKA Harry Frontbottom who lost his battle with the big C on Tuesday and left us for the great mosh pit in the sky. Harry, wherever you are, this one's for you!
First on was the Ricky C Quartet who I was seeing for the second time properly after managing to miss an earlier show being too busy hanging about outside to actually hear them. In some ways for parts of tonight's set I think I'd have rather been outside again.
The opening number about Switchblades was about as tight as they sounded all night. It was a frenetic estuary punk song even if they are from Turnpike Lane. What Did You Say was good and angry even if it was the first song to beg the question about what was missing in the band's sound?
By the time they were singing about 15 years I'd figured out what was wrong, apart from needing to rehearse more. The bass player seemed to be playing rhythm guitar parts more than bass parts and the lead guitar just didn't stand out enough.
Crocodiles or whatever it was called sounding like a complete mess as if they'd never played it before.
By the time they got to the last two songs, Savage, and Sweet Revenge, it looked like they were discussing how to play the songs before they started them. It wasn't great but Sweet Revenge at least had plenty of anger and desperation in the vocals to make up for what was lacking musically. This was nowhere near as good as the set I saw up the road at Some Weird Sin 3 years ago when they were followed by Sylvain Sylvain's incredible DJ set.
After the break it was time for underground Rock legends The Dirty Strangers who were playing without any of the special guests they can call upon. They have been joined by in the past by auspicious names including Ronnie Wood, Bobby Keys and Brian James. Indeed, I last saw The Dirty Strangers Singer and mainman Alan Clayton singing with Brian James at the 100 club a couple of months ago.
Sorry I'm guessing at the song titles, but they definitely opened with Crime and A Woman: the title song from the new album and a good rough and tumble song about someone taking there mojo. As if. Running Slow was next and the one thing it wasn't was slow and had some damn fine keyboards helping to keep it rocking.
Alan Clayton kept us all well entertained and had a few little digs at new drummer Danny Fury who was doing his normal solid stuff holding the beat down just about perfectly on Short & Sweet. As this tale of debauchery unfolded for us, at least one of two of the crowd took it a bit far.
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I Can Dream Of You kept things nice and sleazy with a bit of a late 70's Stones feel to it. The Crypt seemed appropriate for the basement we were all in and it had enough schlock to really rock. The Bad Girls they sang about were not the New York Dolls ones but their very own selection and, damn, it was sassy and sleazy as a good rock song should be.
I really liked the song about a Little Queen that had some very wry lyrics sung with a nod and a wink as well as some great keyboard flourishes. Take My Hand saw them trying to get seductive but instead seeming seedier and all the better for it.
I assume that Stuff is all about drugs and rock and roll. I might be wrong but it sure sounded that way and went down a storm too. Cold Night was about a month early as it really wasn't cold in the Hope and Anchor and this song still sounded fresh and pretty cool too.
They closed with a long version of Gold Cortina that's a nigh on perfect wide boy anthem Del Boy would be happy to sing along to. It certainly made me smile; it also featured the band intros and some cool solo's as they brought the set to a close.
They of course got an encore that opened with Are You Satisfied? Well, yes, I think I was more than satisfied with The Dirty Strangers. The only thing that would have made it better was two or three more songs and anyway they were singing it to a woman they felt they could never fully satisfy.
They closed with Shepherds Bush City Limits: the band's anthem for their part of town. Well, if I go up on the roof here I can see those city limits as I think they are about a mile and a half or so from here. But, damn, what a great tune extolling the virtues of what was once a really wild part of town which now sadly isn't anything like as wild.
This was a great set. The Dirty Strangers are still doing the bizz and the Hope and Anchor is still a great boozer for the purposes of giving an old friend a bit of a send off.
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