Nowhere to Run: the return of the mighty Thrum

 

There are those bands that you missed, the ones you only caught glimpses of and they captivated you but somehow you let them go. Something remained though and nagged at you. And every now and then you look them in this digital world and listen to what's out there. Missing that glimpse, those caught riffs and chords, that voice, the energy all half remembered and probably laced with memories kinks and tricks. 

And then you find that they are playing at a museum in Coatbridge. Should you go? Will it spoil the half remembered memories of a different time? 

That was my dilemma. Was it really was one?  They are a band that should have been and maybe would have been but for chance and missed opportunities. It's the story of rock'n'roll. My snatched memories of Thrum include the appearance on the Word but much more nuanced is the one time I 'saw' them live. It was the Whitehall Theatre in Dundee and they were support to the Proclaimers. I was in the bar with pictures of Scottish entertainers like the Alexander Brothers looking down on my conversation with an old school friend. I could hear the support act start their set and we reminisced. As the set moved on I eventually made my excuses and headed back into the hall. I couldn't have caught more than two or three songs but it was the sound that stayed with me over the years and it was the sound that took me to Airdrie (the gig was moved to accommodate ticket demand) to see Thrum play a few weeks ago.

Thrum are essentially Monica Queen and Johnny Smillie and they'd put together a solid band to revitalise the album 'Rifferama' their only release before their too early exit from the scene in the mid 90s. The title track and my particular favourite 'Purify' were worth the ticket price alone. The thing that came over on the night was just what a strong and powerful voice Monica has. She's a wee wummin but what a voice. Johnny drenched the tunes with melodic riffs that dripped with Neil Young like flourishes off setting Monica's voice which combined her power with a gentleness that I think made them unique in their time and is their appeal now. Did Thrum invent what we now call Americana? Who knows, they did what they did and then they disappeared. When I least expected it they returned and to quote them I'm 'So Glad'.

There is a documentary coming and there are whispers about another gig, maybe gigs. Could 'Rifferama' be re-released? Thrum's return may have a ways to run yet.

ttps://www.facebook.com/MonicaQueenandThrum

https://youtu.be/s7zdGbT_FPE?si=hhuCIQMPuadYXFgx

Talking to Mac Gayden about macrobiotic food

 

When you are on a road trip in the US there is always the opportunity for strange things happen. To be fair they are not often or they weren't the main thing in 1990 when I traversed the US from a stop over in New Jersey from San Antonio to Seattle.

This is my memory of one of the those little events along the way that has stayed with me.

I was staying with a new found friend Jim Bunch in Nashville. I'd met Jim in Tootsie's Orchid Lounge on Broadway. He asked where I was staying and I told him. 'You can't stay there' he exclaimed. 'Why' I asked. 'It's where people go for one-night stands' he explained 'Come and stay at my apartment'. I know what you're thinking. And yes I'd been propositioned before in Lake Charles when I was asked if I was into bi-sex and would I be interested in a three way. Jim was ok he was with a group of friends who also seemed to be ok. Though they did all take me to a club which my Let's Go guide said was a gay hangout - they shrieked with laughter when I showed then the entry. The club didn't play country music. But I digress - I said yes to his offer and bunked down on his living room floor for a few days.

Jim worked for a casting agent. One night I returned to the apartment and found a strange man there. He was friendly and was cooking up some food. He told me it was macrobiotic and introduced himself as Mac Gayden. Internally I gasped. THE Mac Gayden writer of 'Everlasting Love' and member of Area Code 615 of the Old Grey Whistle Test theme 'Stone Fox Chase'. He was and I was in the presence of greatness. He told me that he'd written part of 'Everlasting Love' when he was a teenager and kept it until he found the rest of the song (which he completed with Buzz Cason and it was a huge hit for Robert Knight in the US and Love Affair in the UK). He'd been to Memphis to meet U2 when they covered the song during sessions for Rattle and Hum album (later released on the Best of 1980-1990 compilation). He seemed touched that this young Irish band had recorded his song. They were nice boys he said.

We spoke briefly about macrobiotic food and he was gone. Mac was the husband of Jim's boss and they were pulling a late shift contacting casting options and Mac as a dedicated husband had prepared the food for that late shift.

That was 1990 and now many years later I've learned of Mac's passing. I'll remember that brief encounter and a man who seemed caught up up in his own humility. Just making macrobiotic food and conversing with a traveller form Scotland. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac_Gayden

Watching Marianne Faithfull

 

Friday 31st January 2025 

Watching Marianne Faithfull on BBC 4 . A BBC in session concert in LSO St Luke's in London from 2009.

She's enjoying herself. There's  'Broken English', a Billie Holiday song - 'Solitude', there's a Jackson C Frank song 'Kimbie', 'Dear God Please Help Me' by Morrisey, 'The Crane Wife' from the Decemberists. Sister Morphine and 'As Tears Go By' come from her back pages.

Watching I'm thinking WHAT is it about her? She's unique.

Yeah, yeah she was Mick Jagger's girlfriend, the Stones gave her 'As Time Goes By' her first hit, she took drugs, was a heroin addict. 

I think she was more than than though, so much more than that. From the Broken English album with it's electric European sound onwards she built a body of work that others would struggle to equal and many must envy. 

Watching this concert there it seems clear she listened deeply to music and was attracted to the joy, the darkness and beauty of music. There was no equal to her in English music. She was one of a kind.

She was a captivating performer and she'll be missed. I'm so glad she was here.

    

It's snowing in New Orleans - Beau Gris Gris and the Apocalypse live at the Voodoo Rooms

 Going to see Beau Gris Gris and the Apocalypse at the Voodoo Rooms when it was snowing in New Orleans was always going to be a special night. So I hoped and so it was. 

No support just a four to the floor rock'n'roll band playing to an enthusiastic audience for two and a half hours. 

They opened the night and their tour with the instant crowd pleaser 'What's My Name' audaciously introducing audience participation from song one. It worked and set the scene for the rest of the evening.

Beau Gris Gris are on the face of it the unlikely pairing of a skinny guitarist from Devizes and an ebullient singer from Louisiana have perfected a crowd pleasing sound mixing rock'n'roll, soul, americana and at times crunching glam guitar into the perfect night out. 

Slowing the pace down mid set with a stripped back acoustic guitar a voice and a brace of songs including a soulful cover of 'Nothing Compares 2 U'. 

The band are fronted by Greta Valenti and Robin Davey  and although this was a different backing band  than the last time I saw them  it was clear that these guys all add to the whole. 

After the band return the gig moves up a notch and there are audience invasions by Greta and Robin - there's bound to be film out there go find it. 

Finishing with a curfew pushing rendition of their 'Don't Let the Bastards Grind You Down' I can't help but feel that this is probably the best live band I've seen this year! If you get the chance don't miss them. 

2024 and radio silence

 It's been a bit quiet on Leith Notes for a while - only two posts before this one, the first in February and the last in December.

Leith Notes opened 2024 with the immensely wonderful Josienne Clarke who I'd been waiting for years to see live - I've been listening to her since before Leith Notes existence. I discovered her through my early days streaming music and probably found her more by accident than design. Did finally seeing her play lead to a deep satisfaction that meant no one else could move me to write about my experience of music, politics or the other things I write about here? While she's good,

To be fair 2024 has been a tumultuous year at Leith Notes villa. I worked part of the year as campaign manager for a candidate in the General Election and that consumed what free time had, well almost. I did regularly attended gigs and remained enthused by what I was experiencing. Often it was a welcome balm and release from the difficult and fractious political world. The General Election result did not go well for the SNP leading me to redundancy. That and my partner deciding that it was time to train as a teacher meant that there was change all around. Labour said it was change we needed haha.

I hope in the next few weeks to write about the year, the gigs, the politics, the hope, the enjoyment, the stuff that made me start Leith Notes all those years ago. After the ups and downs of 2024 I'll be looking for the discipline of writing to pull me into 2025. As always with a nostalgia for an age yet to come. 

Television Personalities, Cult Figures supported by Big Lanes - Bannerman's Edinburgh December 2024

I'm always a bit wary of revisiting musical inspiration from my twenties (code for late 1970s early 1980s kids). But there can be exceptions and tonight was one of those. There were two bands that I should have seen when I was young and stupid but didn't because well...

Hooked in by a promised appearance of the legendary 'Cult Figures'. I've got their 'Zip Nolan' single from back in the day that thought that was it, 7 seconds of fame and blam they were gone. I think that was the case at the time but they are out there again. Indeed I had a ticket to see them a couple of years ago only to have them enigmatically cancel the gig. Did they really exist? Were they imaginary Cult Figures? Whatever I've still got the flyer for the gig that never happened. As it turns out they are real and produce an infectious sound that's a lot of fun since you're asking. Because there was never an extensive back catalogue their set was mainly relatively new songs including a few recent unreleased tracks, meeting my criteria of moving on. I could have listened to them for longer and thanks to streaming services undoubtedly will. 

Television Personalities were a bit more real in my memory not least for the 'hit' the instantly singalong smash 'Part Time Punks' and an album with a picture of Steed from the Avengers with Twiggy on the cover. This combo was formed and led by Dan Treacy who is not able to tour anymore and entrusts his creations to capable hands who play them with a great amount of warmth, wit, and energy. There was something touching about the current line-ups dedication to keeping the Television Personalities legacy alive and with a good bit of kick. They were joined onstage for a couple of numbers by the garage band legend Lenny Van Helsing probably best known for legendary Edinburgh combo the Thanes. They ended the set with the 'hit' keeping everyone happy. 

It was a great night filling in some gaps in my musical memories.

Shout out too for the opening act Big Lanes who hail from a more recent vintage and produce a guitar drenched pop sound that is well worth catching.     

Josienne Clarke at the Hug & Pint - a story of storms, sad songs and the reasons for the same

 

You wait for a singer to play somewhere near you and they set a date and of course you get your ticket. The much anticipated day arrives but the weather makes you think twice. It's really bad, though maybe you're a wuss. You decide not to go. And that could have been the end of this story. But then this happened - the singer posts on social media that she's arrived in Glasgow after a ferry journey from Bute and a drive through awful weather - she did write a song titled '(Learning to Sail) In All Weather' after all.

So that profound challenge and an obvious change in the weather saw me depart westwards for the customary getting lost within yards of the venue followed by a chickpea korma with my friend Stewart before the show I was there ready to see Josienne Clarke after years of listening to her music and the occasional interaction on social media.

 Alone centre stage Josienne held the audience in the palm of her hand. Despite a new album in the offing there was only one new song, the rest of the set spanned a selection from across her career. And what a a body of work from an artist who writes lines like 'make your peace with failure/a lesson that you learned' and 'you sing and play and make things/for that is all you can do'. These lines come from 'Chicago' a song born of the disaster of turning up in that fabled city to play in an empty venue.

As a self declared miserabilist Josienne Clarke shows she also has a sense of humour with her between song banter and introductions. She frets that her sad songs are doing no good and might be making sad people sadder. That's probably a subject to discuss in a thesis but the evidence tonight would seem to counter that view as it appeared that these sad songs sung so beautifully made us, the audience, happy.

And there is the essence - the answer to the question do we need music, especially sad songs. Thank you Josienne the wait and the journey to hear you was worth it. More sad songs? Yes please.

https://josienneclarke.bandcamp.com/

Chicago Sun Times Melancholy is a Vocation in Itself