At 16:00 today my plan was a lazy Saturday night in front of the telly, probably moaning about the shite that was on, probably involving at some point three of the unfunniest people on the planet, Michael fucking McIntyre and the talentless dullards from Tyneside, haudit and daudit who are constantly laughing at us as they gratefully take their millions earned purely for being halfwits.
By 16:15 though, my plans were turned on their head by the gracious intervention of several folks. including Meryl Streek himself, after a fortuitous visit to Mr Tony Gaughan’s veritable music emporium, the mighty Blitzkrieg opposite the best music venue in the world, Glasgow Barrowland.
St Luke’s bound I was then, in itself one of Glasgow’s finest music venues, for an evening in the company of some of Eire’s finest – Dublin’s Meryl Streek and the one and only Sultans of Ping from Cork.
There is a lot of anger in Meryl Streek, perhaps unsurprising on 21st Century Planet Earth, where there is a lot to be fucking angry about. I can no longer watch the news for fear of my foot going through an expensive TV. This week, I’m particularly fed up of people saying “let’s keep politics out of music” or this week especially, out of football. In a week when my team (Aberdeen FC) signed a Palestinian player, and a fans group (The Dandy Dons) on Facebook posted in support of the country currently recovering during a shaky ceasefire from being murdered indiscriminately and now being threatened by the dangerous orange dimwit with ethnic cleansing, the admin of the site was faced with a barrage of brain dead morons who would rather not come out on support of said country because a team in Glasgow already does. When football rivalries trump (no pun intended) the fact that thousands of people are being murdered by a fascist Zionist regime, you know the world is fucked. If you’re reading this and you think “this is a music blog keep the politics out of it”, you may as well fuck off now, everything is political, including music and football…
This feels more like a steam of consciousness now than a review… but hey, out of anger comes creativity, and whether that inspiration comes from the homelessness crisis in Ireland or gentrification causing young people to have no opportunity to step out on there own, or the tragic suicide rate among young people… Meryl Streek has it covered. I saw a few faces looking confused at the start of his set but by the time he reached the end, including a moving rendition of Paddy, any doubters were won over and he left with many new fans. An astoundingly powerful set by a talented angry young man.
You may need to suspend disbelief for this next bit, but bear with me… I realised tonight why Sultans of Ping FC resonate so much with me. Two of my favourite bands are The Cramps and The Fall. At some time prior to their career in music, maybe around 1972, Mark E Smith and Lux Interior must have visited Brighton and somehow left some of their DNA there, in some twist of fate a newborn Niall O’Flaherty came into contact with this residue and in some sort of reverse Superman meets Kryptonite situation created a monster. The rest is history, unbeknownst to him, these double helixes combined to create his destiny, moving to Cork to be the frontman of a band who mix the eccentricities of both bands, and with a hint of Half Man Half Biscuit thrown in for good measure, they went on to leave their indelible mark on musical history.
The band haven’t visited these shores in some time, but tonight having kicked off with Back in a Tracksuit and visiting classics like the muscular garage punk of Mescaline, 2 Pints of Rasa, Kick Me With Your Leather Boots and finishing with U Talk Too Much before returning for my personal favourite Sultans song, Turnip Fish and, well you don’t need me to tell you what they finished with, they left an indelible mark on the lucky music fans of this far green place who weee fortunate to be part of this (over?)crowded venue to leave us sated for some time to come.
Now, where was it I left that sweater…
