Review:
'BA-BOOMS, THE/ ANITA CHELLAMAH BAND, THE'
'London, Hoxton, Paradise Inn, 18th December 2013'
- Genre: 'Punk/New Wave'
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Our Rating:
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This was a Gypsy Hotel sort of Xmas party which of course meant that DJ Scratchy was spinning the tunes all night between the bands: always good by me. On what had turned out to be a truly rotten day on almost every count this show was just the pick me up antidote I needed.
For anyone who hasn't heard of THE BA-BOOMS and is worried about where to put there hyphens they are not the Ba-Ba-Booms or even the Basil Brush-themed band The Ba-Boom-Booms. If the latter was the case, Paul-Ronney angel would have to play at being Basil and it would have been Professor Sami Yaffles on the bass, but no, The Ba-Booms is actually Paul-Ronney Angel of the Urban Voodoo machine and guest appearance slots with everyone else with Sami Yaffa of Hanoi Rocks and Mad Juana etc along with Marc Olivier (Guitarist and producer du jour) with all sorts of folks including She Made Me Do It, also with Gary Mills of the Urban Voodoo Machine and Danny Ray of the Dalston Devil Trio etc.
But before we get to the Ba-Booms we have another band of well-known reprobates in the ANITA CHELLAMAH BAND who used to be in the Cherry Bombz and Toto Coelo etc. They are joined by Dave Tregunna who is currently also in The Crunch and Sham 69 and was also a Cherry Bomb, as was Timo Kaltio when he wasn't in Cheap & Nasty and the Izzy Stradlin band etc. They also feature Lyn Douglas on backing vocals.
They opened with a 100 Degrees In The Shade that may have been missing Terry Chimes drumming skills but sounded great in this acoustic setting. Anita's voice still sounds fantastic and well, of course, Timo is one hell of a guitarist no matter how much of the high life he has lived. Dave Tregunna, meanwhile, was underpinning him nicely with some very cool acoustic bass.
After a little bit of tuning and chatting they did a When You Find Love that Anita fairly belted out at us. It was very cool and featured all of the stage moves you might expect on a far larger stage than this raised corner of a pub. Don't Lie also was sung with real passion and some great backing vocals.
It turned out that Take Cover was more of a warning for those at the front than any of us realised as it sounded like a great ballsy song belted out at us. Then they did Give Me The Answer and for this Timo decided he needed to play standing up rather than seated and I think it was either the first or second strum of the instrumental break as his hand flew down he staggered forwards and fell straight off the stage, only to be caught by the front row at which point just about everyone present fell about laughing as he staggered a bit and soon realised his guitar was kaput. He had to change guitar while Anita and the rest of the band carried on while trying not to laugh too much. It was brilliant and hysterical and he managed to finish the song on his spare guitar.
Once they had regained their composure somewhat they did Play Thing and it sounded great, acoustic and very sultry. Yes many of us wanted to be Anita's play thing that's for sure and we'd have hated to hear her tell us I Don't Know Tonight. That might have lacked a silver bangle or ten but still worked brilliantly. They closed a really fun set with I Won't know that really showed that we could do with a full on Cherry Bombz revival, but for now the acoustic version will do nicely.
After the break it was time for THE BA-BOOMS playing (I think it was) either their second or third ever gig and as yet they are a covers band even if they helped to write some of the covers they play.
They opened with a hoot of a version of F.B.I. with Paul-Ronney doing his best Hank Marvin moves while sitting down. With much banter in-between songs and Sami's small army of Tequila slaves regularly serving him the fuel he needed they got all soulful for Ain't That A Shame whch sounded like it should have been in the background of some Nordic noir crime drama as someone gets murdered in an illegal Aquavit still.
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Sami Yaffa seemed to lead the band through Lightning Bar Blues so that it at least sounded something like he would play it in Hanoi Rocks. It certainly had loads of people singing along to it. After more drinks they rambled through Sloppy Drunk with Danny Ray playing some ludicrously drunken sounding sax parts. It was great regardless.
They then tried and failed to get serious as they meandered into I Need Somebody, played slower and loucher than the Stooges do it. They then spent a few minutes joking around preparing to play Walk On The Wild Side that was only missing Paul-Ronney's freshly shaved legs as they all played this tune barefoot and displayed the freshly painted toe-nails that are part of the band's image!
Yes, it was hammy and great fun and towards the end it also morphed into Sympathy For The Devil, which was appropriate on Keef's 70th birthday! They then sang Happy Birthday to him and played a really nice version of Sweet Virginia.
Then it was time to go really odd with what was announced as Malibu Beach Calypso Fuck-up. Yes they had re-worked the Hanoi Rocks classic into a calypso meets folk rock ballad and somehow or other it really worked, making those of us not already smiling to just grin at the wonderful absurdity of what they were doing as Gary tried to keep the beat on his resonator box for them all to follow.
Oh Lordy, it was time for the preacher to bring the congregation together in song and for Paul-Ronney to do his best Aretha impersonation on Oh Mary Don't You Weep. On this, as well as some nifty guitar work from Marc Olivier, most of the audience become the Ba-Booms choir. Well, having repented it was time to sin again on a cool version of Pills that I think was the tune that saw Sami Yaffa down some more tequila and take his slice of lime from off of his microphone while playing!!
They then got a bit more seasonal with a vamped up take on Goodbye To Another Year that morphed and mixed itself up with Those Were The Days My Friend and trust me although it was almost time for the last train by now no one wanted this to end and not even having Paul-Ronney singing I'll be Glad when You're Dead You Dirty Rascal at us was gonna change that in the slightest. As they brought the song and the set to a close, they finished it off with a couple of chorus' of When The Saints Go Marching In as they got ready to march off the stage.
Of course we got them back for an encore that started with a showcase for Marc Olivier to sing the Edith Piaf classic La Vie En Rose with added backing vocals from all sorts of people. It was a fun version and hammed up by everyone. They then finished the night with a Christmas medley that they called a Merry Jingle. It was actually a mash-up of We Wish You a Merry Christmas and Jingle Bells: a perfect set closer as it guaranteed everyone left with a huge grin on their faces. It aptly concluded one of the most enjoyable and funniest gigs I've been to in ages.
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author: simonovitch
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The Ba-Booms
Those painted toe nails in full
Anita Chellamah Band
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