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Nick Morgan and crew
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Concert
Review by Nick Morgan |
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THE
PIRATES The Borderline, London,
August 19th 2006 |
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It’s
pretty cool to be a Pirate these days, what with
Captain Jack Sparrow Johnny Depp and all that. Why
thanks to that rascal Johnny Depp there’s
even a new album of piratical ballads and sea-shanties,
Rogues Gallery, featuring as unlikely a crew as
Whiskyfun favourites Richard Thompson, Nick Cave,
Bill Frisell, Martin Carthy and David Thomas (amongst
others). |
| But
I don’t notice any of these new to the world
pirates in the Borderline – this is strictly
hardcore brigand territory, and the place is pretty
packed with some shifty looking fellows I can say.
The Pirate’s Code forbids women being brought
onto a ship, and it’s clear that no one wants
to breach the rule tonight – the Photographer
only gets in because of her piratical headgear.
Now let the man at the bar do the talking: “See
I first saw them in 1963. Fucking fantastic. Nothing
better, even after Johnny got topped. And that Mick
Green he’s just the bollocks – always
has been. No guitarist better, but of course no
one gave him credit for what he done, and then all
the punks copied him. But he’s settled down
a lot now; I mean in the old days he could be really
quite aggressive but he’s almost fucking serene
now…” |
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Johnny
Spence and Mick Green |
Johnny
Kidd and the Pirates are probably best
remembered (in fact quite possibly only remembered
by people other than those here tonight) for their
1960 smash hit ‘Shaking all over’ (and
that riff), for their fantastic name (Kidd was actually
called Fred Heath and his band The Five Nutters
– who came up with the name seems to be a
bit of a mystery) and for their Hollywoodesque buccaneer
costumes. Kidd split from the Pirates in the spring
of 1966 as he struggled to keep his career alive
– sadly he died a few months later in an accident.
Actually the guitar work on ‘Shaking’
was done by session man Joe Moretti, but by 1962
the
Pirates were Mick Green, Johnny Spence
and Frank Farley, the classic line up that was rediscovered
in the early 1970s and which flourished briefly
(striped trousers and all) during the Punk era.
Recently the band have played sporadic gigs and
earlier this year released their first album for
18 years, ‘Skullduggery’.
But apart from being a beery Saturday night out
the real reason for coming is to see Green, who
is acknowledged by many (the man at the bar included)
to be one of the most influential British rock guitarists
of all time. Readers may remember that he’s
the man who influenced Wilko Johnson who influenced
Gang of Four’s Andy Gill who in turn inspired
the current round of British guitar bands such as
(the apparently out of tune) Franz Ferdinand. He
cuts an unusual figure for a rock legend, chubby,
benign, with a bashed up Fender Telecaster and apparently
more concerned that he’s just become a grandfather
than with his worldwide fame (he’s big, as
they say, in Japan). Actually he collapsed on stage
a couple of years ago (he was playing in Brian Ferry’s
band) and ended up having a quadruple heart bypass,
so maybe there’s a reason for the serenity.
Anyway it doesn’t seem to have affected his
playing – which if not exactly note perfect
certainly stood out as still being quite remarkable
and still unique – imitators notwithstanding.
It’s a stuttering lead and rhythm guitar sound
combined with staccato riffs and shuddering chords.
It’s easy to see where Wilko got his style
from, and how the influence has worked through to
bands today. |
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The band are pretty tight – new drummer Mike
Roberts (Farley having retired through ill-health)
powers his way through the songs, and is clearly
one of those drummers who cares as much about the
end of songs as the beginning. Spence’s bass
playing is never going to set the world on fire,
nor will his singing to be frank, but he has a fearsome
grimace (actually I think he was having problems
with his false teeth) and a fine line in saucy patter
(“We had to have a break to take our pills.
Course we’re taking even more pills now than
we were in the sixties, only now we get them from
the Health Service for nothing”). There’s
a selection of old material ‘Please don’t
touch’, ‘Gibson Martin Fender’,
‘Honey hush’ and ‘Drinking wine
spo-dee-o-dee’, and of course new like ‘Ugly
millionaire’. And there are a few really outstanding
moments, ‘I can tell’, the inevitable
‘Shaking all over’ and an almost traumatic
guitar solo on encore ‘Baby please don’t
go’ which was worth the price of admission
alone. On stage at nine, off by ten-fifteen, in
accordance with article thirteen of the Code, “all
old pirates shall be abed afore the hour of ten
and thirty’. Arrrrrrrr! - Nick Morgan
(photographs by Kate) |
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the index of all reviews:
Nick's Concert Reviews
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