The cultural feeding frenzy of 2008 has subsided and many of us are looking for a hook. Maybe the story of how a teenage punk runaway saved the city's floundering authorities from humiliation is a little too Hollywood.
It is very Liverpool though. Its real heroes have always been driven by a desire to challenge perceptions and to right wrongs. These qualities seemed to be in short supply as plans for the year of culture were being finalised. And that is where Jayne Casey came in.
Lone Lady is a solo performer from Manchester. For gigs she now works with a drummer but she creates and records the music by herself on a four track recorder. Cult Cargo caught up with her in Manchester. Listen to hear her music on her Myspace page and you can go to her label, www.filthyhomerecordings.co.uk for further information.
Can you tell us a bit about your songs, the driving emotions behind them?
There is a pretty good chance that you haven't heard of Tattie Toes. They don't have a record label at the moment and have done about a dozen gigs around the country so far. And, horror of horrors, they don't have a Myspace page. They are a four-piece based in Glasgow. Drummer Shane originates from the city, while vocalist Nerea is from the Basque country, bassist Howie is from Bolton and violinist Rafe is a Welsh lad. Their music is an awe inspiring mix of each members distinct musical sensibility and dexterity. Howie and Shane's rhythms swing, twang, rattle and shift in all manner of directions in an avant garde spirit, but they are essentially about hooking the listener. Rafe's violin is a mixture of melody and effects from different ethnic and folk tradtions, and Nerea brings Basque wildness, beauty and stiring dance and performance. Cult Cargo invited them to play at their Christmas party and so we hooked up with them for a chat.
‘I’m just that lazy, no-good-for-nothin’, long haired, four-eyed son who wrecks it all,’ is how former Tramp Attack front man Matt Barton describes himself in his song ‘Short back and sides’.
I meet him in the Lago bar early on a Saturday afternoon, he chose here because ‘you get a cheap pint’. This is a fact not lost on the various drunken men already holding confused conversations around the bar, despite it being only 1.30.
With Liverpool’s musical landscape now colonised by drainpipe wearing fashionistas, Barton cuts a humble figure in his lived-in parka coat and blue jeans.
“Is it all finished for the band now? Yeah, pretty much. I wanted to do one last gig but none of the others wanted to do it,” says Matt.
Neptune are a three piece band from Massachusetts U.S.A. They make their own instruments and electronics, very strange looking guitars, basses and percussive oddities that make the band a true sight to behold. Maybe what a post nuclear war band may look like. And the sounds that emit from the instruments are just as surprising. You sort of recognise them as conventional sounds, but ones that have decided to communicate with brothers and sisters in different dimensions. Cult cargo met up with founder member Jason to chat about his unique band.
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Coming up at FACT, Liverpool this weekend.
The Road
It sounds thoroughly depressing, perfect after a week of heavy snow and bleakness.
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