Review of Leeds and a long awaited reunion from HUGH
I grew up with punk. The Pistols removed me from my childhood and
changed my life but I always had respect for the Damned, the Buzzcocks, the Clash et al. The Anarchy single appeared November '76. Year zero. I was just about to turn 12 (it's actually my 42nd birthday today) and was in the first year in high school (imagine starting high school in the summer of'76 - how lucky could you get, eh?). I love music though my taste is fairly blinkered bordering on eclectic but only 3 bands have ever removed
any form of sense and sensibility from me on listening through the
years -
the Pistols, the early Cure up to the Pornography album and S*M*A*S*H.
It's like falling in love. You know instantly that you've found your
soulmate and hearing certain bands for the first time has a similar
emotion. All is well in the world. You know the sketch........ Your in the car and Pretty Vacant comes on the radio unannounced and you identify it within the first 3 notes - it's indelibly imprinted in your mind. Suddenly the hairs stand on the back of your neck, your palms sweat, you mistime the gears, you miss the turn to where you were going, you're singing at the top of your lungs and not another soul can hear you but they can see you. Oh yes they can see you and they think you're out there.
And you are. You're in a world of your own and nothing else matters. The memories are flooding back. You're pogoing at the under 18's disco - Johnny Rotten's asking you how you're doing as he autographs your 1st pressing copy of Anarchy on EMI at the stage door at Glasgow Apollo (oh yes, the one with the mispressed Chris Thomas production credit on I Wanna Be Me in the black bag - my 12th birthday present from my single parent mum) and you're in a happy place. You're standing before Ed S*M*A*S*H
in the front row of King Tut's and he's inches from you, glaring at you screaming that he's never felt so much shame and you know at the moment he penned that lyric that that was exactly where his head was - you're in an audience of more than a hundred people rammed into a room the size of a biscuit tin and you're in solitude, you're completely unaware of another soul. Then Rob and Salv come in with the beat and bring you back.
Please be very aware, the wordsmith doesn't make the band - this is a 3 way thing - the band make the songs - this is no cabaret outfit. You know where I'm coming from........
Cut to present day........
I'm aware of the Damned playing 2nd December in Durham. I'm also aware of the Buzzcocks playing 7th December in Gateshead. I'm also aware of S*M*A*S*H playing 11th December in Leeds. I'm wetting my pants as my eldest son phones from college back at the old home in Scotland and says he's coming down to Durham and asks if he can take me to see the Damned for my Chrissy present. My best friend's favourite band was the Buzzers and I ask him if he wants to go so he's trying to get off work. I really want tosee S*M*A*S*H. I'm like a kid in a sweet shop. My eldest calls again saying he can't do it which is ok. I understand. My best friend can't get off work for the Buzzers but manages to at the last minute. It's sold out.
I curse him but it's ok.
I really want to see S*M*A*S*H again - it's been more than a decade. There's a school of thought that says don't revisit the past as it might disappoint. I'm tortured but I bite the bullet and decide I'm going. I'm risking my very precious memories from
the past like staying with them at the b&b after the Forum gig in
Tunbridge Wells or, driving round Aberdeen with Salv looking for a club to go to after the Lemon Tree gig or, meeting with the Flying Medallions at the World's End and walking up to the Dublin Castle to watch the S*H*I*T*E homeless bash or, hugging them for the last time after the Pop Will Eat Itself support slot at the Sands Centre in Carlisle. So many special memories. You never really get to spend time with the band you love.
S*M*A*S*H are different. S*M*A*S*H are friends. I'm planning the 140 mile round trip to Leeds, a place I've never been to before.
My own personal Revisited No.12........
It's Monday morning and I'm at work with a half day holiday planned.
My partner calls to say her mum's been taken into hospital with pains in her chest. Sharon's distraught. The world stands still. Her mum's 200 miles away at the old home in Scotland. Sharon's in bits. I rush home. Calls come in through the day. Mum's ok. Mum's not ok. It's confused. It's not clear exactly what's going on but it's not as bad as first feared we hope. Sharon tells me to go to Leeds. She knows what it means to me.
I don't want to leave her. I'm in the car and I'm expecting the call. I'm struggling to find a parking space in Leeds. 10 minutes to spare when I walk into the gig and S*M*A*S*H are sitting around waiting for the off.
I stop and smile and say hello. They smile. They don't recog
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