There's a record shop opposite my flat called Beatdown Records I go there three or four times a week for various reasons. Reasons I make up often, when they're actually excuses. I just like being in record shops really. They're my favourite places now I've started frequenting pubs less, as I've cut down on my drinking a bit. Anyway, I'm just the kind of person who hangs out in record shops. I'm the type.
There are three guys I know who work in there. Nick, the manager, an incredibly affable bloke. Al, who clearly knows the trade back to front and Sam who's generally in the front of the shop, (there's a back room for second hand stock), drooped over the front counter, taking notes and apparently deep in thought, or else just daydreaming.
They're nice guys, which is basically, or should be, a basic qualification for working behind the counter in a Record Shop. What on earth would a visit to one of them be, either, with no intention but browsing or planning to actually buy something. What value would this have, if you didn't have the opportunity for a brief discussion with one of the guys at least. About music and via that life. The meaningful discussions that make your day and pick you up if you're down.
I knew that Sam was in a band and doesn't seem as entirely committed or entwined with the shop as either Nick or Al. He told me the other week that his band, (by name No Teeth), had finished recording their debut album and were holding a gig to launch it on the Friday at The Cumberland Arms, pub and music venue. Sam's a nice guy and we have similar musical tastes, record shop tastes, so I decided to give the gig a go.
So I walked down Newcastle Quayside on a fine May evening last night to the Ouseburn Valley where the Cumberland Arms is, and up the steep hillside staircase to its front door. I love The Cumberland Arms, it offers a lot of the key components of truly great pubs. Good range of beers, worn down but comfortable furnishing, friendly revelers, great, leafy front garden .The bonus with the Arms is that it regularly puts on fabulous, affordable, music related events.
Sam was in the front garden with his mates. He's got an interesting look Sam. Floppy mop of hair like some favourite doll from childhood who wakes up when the adults leave. Dead men's charity shop jackets. Enormous ties. It's a look that might attract ridicule from the unkind and he says that he does get that on a fairly regular basis from Nick and Al. He doesn't seem to mind. As I say, nice bloke.
Inside, things were warming up. Main support Fashion Tips kick off. I'm not immediately taken. It sounds like 'just noise' to me, as Juno described Sonic Youth (in Juno). And not very nice noise at that. But I warm to them. The audience are a key part of the success of this evening. They're mostly young, mostly apparently pretty pissed, eclectically dressed and interested first and foremost in having a great time. Crucially they don't always face the stage and watch the band. They're just as interested in each other or showing off, like the audience at New York Dolls or early Punk Gigs in New York or London.
After a twenty minute break No Teeth gradually assemble onstage. They're shambolic and it's difficult to tell whether this is deliberate or not. Something of a pose. One of them appears to be wearing a golf visor, elsewhere there seems to be an effort to get across the idea that they don't give a shit. This is a difficult trick to pull off if you're a band. If you're trying to come across as whacky and zany in any way it can easily come across as forced or phony. Trying too hard. Generally No Teeth convince me over the course of the night that they're aware of this and have it in hand, but I'd probably need to talk to them a bit before I was fully convinced. Not that it matters a jot whether they're for real or not. Or for that matter what I think about it either way.
Sam is last on stage and it's immediately apparent that he's the focal point and star. I hope the others don't mind me saying so. They all do their bit, but Sam is the one you'd watch if you had to watch anyone. He's wearing a pair of orange lensed shades that remind me of the kind that Rotten used to wear in the Pistols in their early days, and he contorts his body throughout a bit like Johnny, like he's having a panic attack or epileptic fit of some kind and needs to be physically restrained. He also plays guitar, and on occasion discordant trumpet.
Musically, they sound a bit like The Fall which I'd been expecting. Generally this annoys me. There are too many bands who sound like The Fall these dates. They were great of course, but they're only one band. There are plenty of great bands. But No Teeth sound like The Fall in a good way in that they're taking inspiration rather than slavishly imitating.
Anyhow, they don't just sound like The Fall. There's definitely Beefheart there. Also the Bonzos in spades. Maybe Pere Ubu, or certainly David Thomas. Possibly Bogshed, a little known eighties Indie band loosely affiliated to the C-86 scene . But not forgotten by anyone who came across them because of their unparalleled weirdness
And also No Teeth have got ideas. All of the bands listed above had enormous literary, artistic inspirations which fueled their slightly unhinged music and demeanor. Dadaism, Surrealism, Fin De Siecle thinking,. Anarchism, Nihilism and Situationism.
That's quite a mouthful but it's clearly there. It's also clear, from the fact that a lot of the audience again don't pay much attention to the actual band they've supposedly come to see , as with Fashion Tips they're more immediately concerned with each other and having one hell of a time together. even though they're clearly enjoying the show too.
I am too. Thoroughly. But I don't always stay until the end of a show these days. I made my way home satisfied and glad I'd decided to go in the first place. Great entertainment and an evening that really got me thinking.
There's a postscript to this. As I said, I live opposite the shop where Sam works. I thought I'd go and see him on the way to the pub to watch the match today. I told him how much I'd enjoyed it, my impressions of the audience and where their act might be coming from. He said I was pretty much spot on in most respects and mentioned Tristan Tzara the Romanian poet and artist associated to Dadaism as a particular hero of his. Will have to find out more about him.
Anyhow, an interesting evening and plenty of food for thought. Here's a final one. I was having a chat with a contemporary and big music fan a couple of days ago . He said there's not much happening these days. I couldn't disagree more. I'd say it's a question of knowing where to go and how to listen. Maybe I should direct him towards No Teeth as a place to start. Dead good anyhow.
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