I went to see Dead Men Walking at the weekend – a campfire quartet of punk veterans: Jake Burns (SLF), John & Dave (The Ruts), Kirk Brandon (Spear of Destiny etc.). I was a ‘casual punter’, but I was knocked out – it was a fabulous show – a great spirit onstage and in the room, funny stories and spirited performances too, of material that really came alive in the stripped back format (percussion, acoustics, the odd effects pedal, occasional electric bass). The band name (first used by Kirk with a different supergroup of collaborators in 2001, and revived with the current team in 2016) seems perhaps worryingly accurate: Dave Ruffy hobbling on with a walking stick (osteoporosis) and Kirk moving with a certain stiffness (recovering from a heart operation last year).

I bought their recent album ‘Freedom – It Ain’t On The Rise’ – heartily recommended. It’s also got me exploring Kirk’s extraordinarily prolific and (it seems to me) extraordinarily high-quality output since 2000: no fewer than 19 studio albums in the past 24 years, and even that’s discounting a couple of 35th anniversary re-recordings of 80s Spear of Destiny albums. Much of his output isn’t available on general » Continue Reading.