16/07/2021

I’ve posted hereabouts before on the psychedelic pop splendour of ethereal Belfast/Bristol personality Francis Kane O’Kane, with his current collective OTHERISH. Between 1988-95, he was the main man in Bristol psych-popsters ME – who are, in July, anthologised with ‘Crows Nightingales SHOCK (Best of Me 1991-95) by Bristol Archive Records.

Here is the Bandcamp blurb:

On 16th July 2021 Bristol Archive Records are releasing “Crows Nightingales SHOCK (Best of Me 1991-1995)”. This will be the first UK-released collection drawn from the many records put out in the early ‘90s by Bristol-based Anglo-Irish troubadours Me. With Me cited by NME at the time as “effortlessly the best band in Bristol”, this new selection of the band’s best work showcases the very distinctive sounds of the widely praised but often misunderstood Anglo-Irish pop-visionaries.

With four gifted songwriters onboard, Me’s songs were always bound to be insightful, wilful, hook-laden, bathed in soaring pop-sensibility and propelled upwards by tightly ecstatic vocal harmonies. Championed in their day (1988-1996) by the likes of John Peel, Mark Radcliffe and even Bob Harris, Me toured widely – USA, France, Czechia & UK – while putting out two richly varied double-albums and a handful of diverse and distinctive » Continue Reading.

20/03/2021

There will be a virtual festival on the evening of March the 20th. It is a grab-bag mystery line up of international artists of the acoustic alt-country and singer-songerwriterly bent (probably). If you’re not going out, you might want to stay in. As angry from Manchester points out, it’s just likely to be repeats on TV. For the background, read on. Link in blog. https://skirky.blogspot.com/2021/02/what-helstock.html

27/08/2021

Reading and Leeds are going ahead, apparently. Everyone will be vaccinated by then, of course. Hmmm…

Two main stages mean no clashes.

I have to say, the lineup looks very poor. I’m not sure if Offspring The Elder will be interested. I’m not keen.

22/04/2021

Three dates in Sweden and Norway, then a quick dash round the UK.

Much as I dislike the Cambridge Junction, I’ll have to go. I’ve not seen them since 1990.

I imagine these will be postponed.

03/11/2021

ACR head out on the road for 13 dates in November.

Hare & Hounds for me, vaccine permitting.

07/10/2021

Field Music have announced a 9-date October tour. We’ll hopefully be safe by then.

Typically, on the one date I can make, I am double-booked.

I wasn’t originally going to post this on the Afterword, because it isn’t related to music, books, TV, Richard Thompson, progressive-rock, etc. Plus, in these times, we *all* have friends in difficulties of one sort or another – and there’s only so much any of can do.

But on reflection, it’s a friend in need, a long way from home and it’s potentially life-changing… so I’ll just leave the link here and if you want to share it somewhere or contribute a small sum, then great.

In brief: Veronika is from Slovakia, and is a massage wizard. She has lived/worked in Belfast for a few years, but has only one relative in the UK. She very recently married a fellow mainland European in Belfast, who was also in Belfast more or less alone, but who has relatives in Scotland. Veronika was diagnosed with a brain tumour late last year – and moved to Scotland a few weeks ago, permanently, with her husband (both giving up their jobs), for two reasons: (1) to get surgery with one of the best UK surgeons for this condition in February; (2) to stay with her husband’s relatives while recuperating, which may take months.

» Continue Reading.

12/11/2020

“Songs From Under The Floorboards is back again on GNet Radio this Thursday 12 November at 5:00 p.m. UK time with something a little different…

…Instead of a 6-song look at an independent record label in the middle of the programme, this show will be a Rough Trade Records special. A number of requests have been received to feature Rough Trade, but given the longevity of the label (1978 to tomorrow), it is impossible to cover.

Therefore, from Stiff Little Fingers (1978) to Hello Forever (2020), via Robert Wyatt, The Fall, The Smiths, This Is The Kit, The Strokes and many more, nearly every song will be from that label.

I hope you can join us!

You will be able to listen live here:

www.gnetradio.com

Listen again here:

www.mixcloud.com/gnetradio/

And, if you wish to catch-up on last week’s Bonfire Night show:

www.mixcloud.com/gnetradio/martin-tolcher-songs-from-under-the-floorboards-05112020/”

This is somewhere between a Blog post and a Noticeboard item. First, the Noticeboard bit. News from Sarah McQuaid:

A bit of sad news: I’ve very reluctantly made the decision to cancel both my 5-week February-March tour in Netherlands/Germany/Denmark and my 3-week April-May Ireland tour. It just feels like too risky a time to undertake any international touring, given the risks of lockdowns, quarantines and so on. That leaves both me and Martin Martin Stansbury Audio – Cacophony Cottage Studio with another 6 months of mostly empty diaries to fill … so this would be a good time to (a) contact Martin about any recording, mixing or mastering projects you might have in mind (see https://www.facebook.com/martinstansburyaudio for info and testimonials) and (b) consider joining me on Patreon, if you haven’t done so already. I’m also available to record backing vocals and guest guitar/piano parts, as well as for score commissions.

I have lots of plans for writing and co-writing new material, working on my songbook project, beefing up my composition and home studio skills, and improving my guitar, piano and percussion chops — but none of that generates any income in the short term, so I’d be very » Continue Reading.

A dignified calling-it-quits from the great man. Here is his Facebook announcement:

Gone Fishing

It’s been a great 50+ years of being a working entertainer, but I reached the difficult decision that touring and stage shows are no longer possible. I’ve cancelled the upcoming shows, and am not accepting offers for new ones. That’s the short version. For the longer version continue reading… As a folksinger, I never really thought much about getting older. It seemed to me that I could just continue year after year, decade after decade, singing and playing as I had done for most of my life. As the years went by, it got more difficult to keep touring, but I did it, mostly because I’d been doing it my entire life. It was the life I knew and loved.

In 2016 on April 1st, April Fools Day, I got really dizzy in the parking lot of the hotel, and started seeing as though I were looking through a kaleidoscope. That evening the show went on as though nothing had happened. I had no idea I’d just encountered a mini stroke until weeks later, when I was told about it. It didn’t appear to affect » Continue Reading.

Petesy Burns – Outcast, legend, bucket of positive energy, source of earthy wisdom and 70s punk spirit, Motown aficionado and writer of songs, powerhouse drummer, coiled-spring vendor of blistering riffs on guitar and driving bass, a lover of lattés and a teacher of Tai Chi on the beach… a man with a big grin and a beard… an anarchist with humanity.

And now he needs our help.

Anyone who has ever met Petesy Burns will know his many qualities. If you’re feeling down, he’ll take the time to lift your spirits. If you need a band for a charity thing, he’s there.

He’s a very difficult man to pay. If there is something he can do for you, it’s all you can do to get him to take some petrol money, and even then…

I’ve only known Petesy for a couple of years. In late 2018, I was raging against NI government corruption and hubris, and felt the need to make a punk recording to highlight the problem. I wrote ‘Smash the System’ – but who’s interested in a bourgeois nonentity playing old-school punk? I needed some credibility… and I knew someone who knew Petesy. At that time, » Continue Reading.