Some people consider much of punk rock just cruder, less-developed heavy metal but to me a lot of the best punk sounds like amped-up, sped-up, riled-up folk music.
The Men They Couldn't Hang were inextricably linked to the Pogues. Not only was their debut single produced by Pouguester Phillip Chevron but their bass player had been in Shane McGowan's old band, The Nips, and borrowed their name from Shane's discard pile. Nonetheless, TMTCH developed their own celtic-folk-punk sound by learning towards the politics of their contemporary, Billy Bragg and the hard-strumming of old Kingston Trio.
While this collection of radio sessions, two from John Peel's show and one from Janice Long's, in not a complete record of their time at the BBC (If anyone can supply extra tracks I will gladly "re-re-release" this) it shows off their early, exuberant side.
BBC Sessions link is in the comments.
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PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO LEAVE A COMMENT BEHIND - IT'S THE RIGHT THING TO DO.
http://www.mediafire.com/?oxrheynlzmz
I think I may have the demos of their debut album.
ReplyDeleteI'll have a look and if I find them I'll up them later on.
For some reason this post has made me extremely nostalgic for the pre-Nirvana alt-folk era in the late 80's early 90's. Grunge really did some damage to the idea of a song being able to stand on it's own damn legs without any help from either "Superfuzz" or "Big Muff". Guess I'm just old and in the way...
ReplyDeletei remember seeing these guys at folk fest many years ago, it may or may not have been the same year as billy bragg, or i may be simply confusing them with someone else, either way, TMTCH are fantastic.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this, great stuff. I remember interviewing the band for local radio on the night of Live Aid. The venue were terrified no one would turn up, but it was a good night as I recall.
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ReplyDeletemore early stuff would be cool - let me know when it goes up and I'll do a link.
CPJ
Oblique references to Mud n' Honey and The Thankfully Deceased - now that's well-thought out comment.
Chrisfreezing
There was an influx of these sort of bands in the late eighties and I sure loved lots of them (When you just call it 'folk fest' I assume you're a Winnipgger, If so the band that played the folk fest the year Bragg did would've been Oyterband or Malcolm's Interview who we'll discuss tomorrow.
Anon
You're welcome - that must've been a great interview (and show).
Thanks for this. I saw them over ten years ago at a hall in a Walthamstow park. It was badly attended (30, or so) but boy did we have a good time.
ReplyDeletegreat little record this. thanks much for digging it out and bringing back some great memories
ReplyDeletebsk
ReplyDeleteThey seem like a band who would go hard regardless of audience size.
Anon
ReplyDeleteWelcome - digging is what we do 'round here.
big smiles all rounr this ,love TMTCH
ReplyDeletetal
Thanks, been curious about these guys but never really gave them a proper go.
ReplyDeleteTal, punchdrunkard
ReplyDeleteenjoy!
Jeez... First GLM, and now this?!? We'll forever call this day the education of Peej...
ReplyDeleteThanks!
The Education of Peej it is - and will continue to be!
ReplyDeleteWow! This was the first thing I bought my TMTCH and have been a fan ever since. Why they were never bigger than they are is a real shame.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this,
Jon
Cheers for this, I've been a big fan of The Men, for years, and it's not often that you find a gem like this - Nice one!
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