Coffee Bar Punks

To Lovelock’s again this evening for musical entertainment from Carol Hodge (AKA Crystal Grenade - a frequent collaborator with former Crass vocalist Steve Ignorant) and Simon Wells (the former guitarist with punk stalwarts Snuff).

Despite both of them having impeccable punk credentials, the music they make solo and together is much more ‘acoustic singer-songwriter’ in style. In fact, Carol has described her musical style, rather brilliantly, thus - “It’s like Amanda Palmer, fighting Tori Amos and Shakespear’s Sister in a dimly lit Victorian bar with hand deformities.” Just to clarify, she only has 2 fingers on her left hand! But she has studied classical piano and plays absolutely superbly, as her song ‘Falling Downstairs Backwards’ demonstrates www.youtube.com/watch?v=blfVEY3cFtg

I had a nice chat with her in the queue for the loo!

Simon (see Extra) confided that, now he’s in his 50s, he rather enjoys playing sedate shows in coffee shops rather than jumping up and down in front of loud, sweaty punk crowds. He’s thinking of starting to wear a beret and read aloud from Jack Kerouac books, specifically for the coffee bar crowd.

Even so, I can’t resist linking to a younger Simon and his Snuff colleagues performing a spirited rendition of The Specials’ classic, ‘Do Nothing’ - because I like it! www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4gus8l-Prc