"That girl has got, got me, got me cursed"
In 2015, after some nearly 30 years of radio silence, Portsmouth Garage Rockers Emptifish re-emerged from the musical mists of time to finally release their debut long player. Having plundered the vaults 6.57 collected both long lost recordings and the band's two singles, on vinyl, in a deliciously designed retro sleeve. The positive reaction that their vinyl retrospective received naturally led to more live dates, including sets at Victorious Festival, which in turn energised the foursome to return to the studio, subsequently releasing the Sonic's Got A Ray Gun EP in 2017.
Spool the reel-to-reel forward a few years and the Pompey Surf Punks are back at it; new single Haunted, released via Portsmouth label Mayfield and featuring Rat Scabies (yes, THAT Rat Scabies) on drums, has a stomping swagger about it. A heady blend of guitars and thumping drums that power the tune along, laced with distorted vocals and organ stabs fill which out the sound to make something sinfully catchy. It's a great return although, and I'll admit this might sound picky, my only complaint would be that it sounds too slick for Emptifish (where's Lee Mavers with his bag of dust when you need it?)
A tired looking public house on the Gosport Road may not appear, at first glance, to be Fareham's premier live venue but The Bird In Hand, with its fading paintwork out front and inside walls held firm with load-bearing dust, has over the years gained a reputation for regularly hosting an eclectic selection of live music.
The pub itself is much-loved, dog-eared even, with a grubby charm that's found all too rarely these days; visiting is not like stepping into a generic chained pub, no Wetherspoon or Hungry Horse this and, if those are the kind of hostelries you prefer, The Bird won't be for you.
There's
no stage to speak of, the Pool table is shunted to aside to make room
for a band to set up in a corner of the main bar, and bands regularly
find themselves coming into very close contact with the music-loving
regulars, and that's what makes a gig at The Bird such an experience.
The venue has an open booking policy, welcoming cover acts, new bands who want to gain live experience and artists from further afield, and all forthcoming attractions are chalked on the wall so everyone knows who's playing and when (there's also a well subscribed Facebook group too).
Blues-rock trio Hungry and The Hunted bill themselves as "the last Rock & Roll band", describing their sound as "an unholy product of Joe Strummer and Lemmy gatecrashing a Deep Purple rehearsal, armed with a pile of STAX & CHESS records", and a listen to songs from either of their two albums shows that this is not immodest chest-beating. There's a rawness, there's groove, there's honesty, and the band are not shy about who they've been influenced by.
Hungry and The Hunted play The Bird this Sunday, 7th April, and I can think of few better ways of seeing out the weekend then with two hours of "demolition Blues and outlaw Rock & Roll". Entry is FREE, music from 1800.
Self-professed "woodland agitators" Snapped Ankles' latest release is well deserving of the not inconsiderable amount of airplay it's been receiving of late on 6Music. With its propulsive beats and distorted vocals Rechargeable is a strobe-inducing belter of a track; imagine James Murphy and Lene Lovich fighting over the controls of a jet-speeder as it races across the alkali flats towards an army of Secret Machines commanded by Mark E Smith, that's the movie that plays in my brain each time I hear it.
It's not just me, surely?
Is it?
It is, isn't it?
Oh well.
Regardless, if like me you want to experience their shamanistic stage antics first-hand then there's good news ahoy; the East London outfit will be bringing their brand of "agricultural Kraftwerk" to Portsmouth when they play Psych Fest 2019 on Saturday 4th May (for which tickets, though limited, are still available).
