This show was the first event this year from the Rock & Roll Book Club to celebrate "Alan Clayton Of the Dirty Strangers: The Authorised Biography by John Wombat". While the author wasn't present, the subject of the book was, Alan was interviewed by Tony Gleed.
First on however were The Soho Dukes a 5-piece spit and sawdust punk rock band, who've been around enough blocks to have members who supported both Guns & Roses and Skid Row at the marquee back in the day. They clearly use less hairspray these days, while play some rambunctious punk rock.
I guess they opened with Home Sweet Camden Town in praise of the now far less sleazy neighborhood they know how to get drunk and party in, while singer Johnny Barracuda was soon throwing all sorts of unlikely moves as he bawled the lyrics at us. The next song took them Back In The Roxy to reminisce about the good old bad old days of rock and punk in the 70's and they all look like they had the scars and ruined livers to show for lives well spent.
Thinking Of England was a bittersweet look at the idiocy of any monocultural warriors you may run into, The bassist Bomber, who I'm sure I've seen around, really got a great rumbling roll going for this one. They then showed their ages on Analogue Man as they wish they could take us back to the days before the world went digital.
It Starts To Kick Off is the sort of brawling punk that has oi edges with a cheeky grin on it's bruised face. I didn't understand the next song at all, what was The Golden Age Of The Barber's Chair as this long haired lay about hasn't sat in one of those since about 1990, I think they wanted a short back and sides or were they dreaming of getting a mullet, hard to tell under the hats they wore.
5000 Channels updates Springsteen's 57 Channels for our current streaming age, as they still can't find a thing to watch. They were soon going on about Loose Lips as part of the intro to Should Of Known Better a good bruised song of regret for the reasons they were being chased once more by the Bovver Boys, not sure if they escaped a beating this time, but they certainly didn't deserve one as they were loads of fun as they closed with was it Excited either way it was a good way to start the evening.
They then put a table and chairs on the stage and about half the audience were seated for the talk between Tony Gleed and Alan Clayton. The chat began with some quick-fire either-or questions, along the lines of Beatles or Stones, Ronnie or Keef before some talk about the first Dirty Strangers album and tales of playing Ronnie Woods wedding and Alan's connections with Joe Seabrook who was Keef's bodyguard, as well as what happened with the sword and axe at Redlands back when Alan was living there.
They then delved into the tragic loss of Alan's son Barry and how after it happened Keef was there for him and took him out on the Stones Bigger Bang tour, being given guitars by Keef and working with Brian James and the Lords Of The New Church as they opened for Dr John Sinclair, how he got involved in the beatnik Youth with Howard Marks and all sorts of other tales from within the book, that if you haven't read it, you really ought to.
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They then cleared the table and chairs away and on came the current line-up of The Dirty Strangers of Lol Fox, Cliff Wright, John Rollason and some bloke called Alan Clayton, they had a good subs bench in the audience but none of the subs made it onstage.
They opened with a good blast of Who Blew The Whistle that had the first precisely honed solo from John Rollason, that led into Baby that got a good few people singing along with it. Bad Girls got the sort of reaction it always does and soon enough Alan was flashing his best Liberty Smile at us as they flew through this set at a cracking pace, with only time for a few cheeky quips between songs.
As is normal Cliff made sure that everyone knew how Easy To Please he is with a stonking great bass line as they rampaged through it. We then got a taste of the next album with Slap Bang that certainly exploded with cheeky lyrics and some fine guitar work. Then it was time for a song Alan wrote with Keef She's A Real Botticelli a song that always imprints an image or two in my head and this sounded magnificently rounded.
They then made sure we knew they come from the right side of the water with South Of The River about getting caught out down sarf, keeping with the night time theme they sang Cold Night which was a good description of the weather too.
Another of the new classics Pirates Don't Get Pensions was next and it's a good look at how a life of rock and roll debauchery doesn't Come with a pension plan. Another new song Hunters Moon had some delicious slide guitar from John Rollason set against Lol Fox pinpoint drumming.
They started to rev up the motor for My Girls A Getaway Driver that had a good wheelspin turn halfway through it to make sure we knew how cool she was. The one song in the set I'm not sure of the title of I think was called Could've Cared Less possibly, anyway it fitted right in as they once again showed how much they really cared.
They slowed things down for a good sad version of Diamonds that had us wiping away those tears once more before they closed with a raucous rumble through House Party that included the band intros and thanks to everyone involved as they brought another great fun night to a close.
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