Tubesnake

Two excellent gigs over the weekend after four weeks off due to holidays which found Chris cruisin’ the Caribbean and me doing the Spanish stroll in Calpe, about an hour from Alicante. Cracking gig at Crook F.C. on Saturday 6th June and an even more intense gig at The Clarendon in Sunderland at 5pm on Sunday afternoon 7th June. Both audiences were excellent but the Clara crowd truly went for it. Back to life, back to reality! … Lenny

Things are gonna be a little quiet on this site for the next couple of weeks due to holidays but we’ll be bursting back on the scene with six gigs in June. Out here we is stoned, immaculate. Check our Gigs page for details!

Sympathy For The Devil / G.L.O.R.I.A. (2008)

TUBESNAKE recorded live at some gig towards the end of 2008.

A very big thanks to everyone who turned out to the Tubesnake gig at The Lambton Hounds, Pity Me, on Sunday 3rd May 2009 which aimed to raise further funds for St.Cuthbert’s Hospice in Merry Oaks, Durham. The whole pub was packed, not just the gig room, and there was a truly fantastic atmosphere at this gig which was dedicated to my mam who passed away in the hospice on the 9th April. Donations raised at the gig, and the bands’ contribution, were added to money collected from the tombola at The Lambton Hounds recent Fun Day, the hospice collection boxes which had been on the bar and a number of personal contributions. The final amount of £700 has been handed over and a certificate of thanks from the hospice has been framed and is now displayed in The Lambton Hounds pub. Thankyou! … Lenny

Band’s rocking Sunday hospice fund-raiser
THE NORTHERN ECHO Thursday 30th April 2009

Mr Mustarde’s brother, Michael, who is organising the event, said the hospice had looked after their mother really well.
“They do a great job and we thought we’d do something as a thank-you. We have raised about £200 at the moment, the guys will be donating their fee, and we’ll be collecting in the bar. It will help us to give something back to them for the care they gave our mother.’’ The gig starts at 5pm and tickets, which cost £2, will be available on the door.

That’s Alright Mama (2008)

TUBESNAKE recorded live at some gig towards the end of 2008.

Another first time venue for us at Annie McCarthy’s, South Shields, Saturday 9th May 2009. Really enjoyed this gig in my home town, I was born and lived in Shields ’til aged 9 when we moved to Durham. My wider family were there for years after so I remained a constant visitor and my dad, Len Mustarde, played for South Shields Cricket Club at Westoe for over 20 years. Our gig at Annie’s had a bunch of people who were there for the night as well as a constant stream of pub-circuit party peeps. It was like our audience kept changing every three songs or so as one batch left and another arrived but the place was never empty. Thanks to the dude who danced liked a shaman possessed for most of the night (very appropriate for all our Doors stuff too!), the appreciative crowd and the party-girls who burst in on the scene for the last few numbers in their wonderfully short skirted sailor-suits with white stocking hold-ups and cute hats. Special thanks to two of them who crashed the stage, danced, fell over repeatedly, grabbed the mike, helped Woody play the drums with a spare stick, posed for photos and generally added a new level of entertainment for the audience while narrowly managing not to wreck any of our gear. Couldn’t have asked for a better finale than these girls and Woody kicking the kit over. Uplifting! … Lenny

Woody missed our first appearance at The Egypt Cottage in Newcastle back in January (Waka stood in for him on the kit) but he was back on track for our second visit to the “Valley of The Kings” on Friday, 3rd April 2009. Class gig! Class venue!

When The Music’s Over (2009)

TUBESNAKE recorded live at The Egypt Cottage, Newcastle, Friday 3rd April 2009.

thanks to ‘Auld Rock Chick’ for this video clip

Paint It Black (2009)

TUBESNAKE recorded live at The Egypt Cottage, Newcastle, Friday 3rd April 2009.

thanks to ‘Auld Rock Chick’ for this video clip

Catch us this weekend as we beam in on Sunderland’s Wheatsheaf (a first) and Birtley’s Mill House. Switch on the TV and pick us up on Channel 2.

First time for us at The Three Tuns, Gateshead, Saturday 21st March 2009. Wasn’t too sure what to expect although I’d seen a few pics on various web sites. What a class venue! Black walls with a wall-hugging “Three Tuns” vinyl back-drop behind the band and some nicely supplied in-house lights directed onto a raised stage making way for a “proper” venue feel about the place. Woody had clattered his arm at an ice-hockey re-union the night before so Waka, ex-The Glammed and a former Tubesnake guitarist, stepped in to sort out the beat. We had a decent crowd in and, as always, a new venue means new faces and they passed some canny compliments our way. Best wishes to the dancing lady who fell face down on the floor but then continued to party-on once helped to her feet by the kind gents around her. Certainly keen to return to this venue in the not too distant future! … Lenny

The Gala Theatre, Durham, Thursday 5th March 2009. The voice of The Stranglers, Hugh Cornwell, was out touring with his new band and a new album titled Hooverdam. I love most of The Stranglers back catalogue but ain’t seen them live in any shape or form since 1985 so I was keen to see what Hugh was up to and had little idea what to expect since I avoided checking him out on the web. Suffice to say, they were excellent! Ten new lyrical masterpieces delivered with a punchy, raw edge that made you realise how much of a massive contribution Hugh actually made to The Stranglers. Some tracks reminded me of Lou Reed, also a lyrical virtuoso. Bassist, Caroline, added a sexy, cool, punk style to the whole show. Favourites were Rain On The River, Going To The City and Wrong Side Of The Tracks. They went on to close with a number of Stranglers songs, including Down In The Sewer which was brilliant despite the lack of keyboards … Lenny

By close of play today, midnight on the 2nd March 2009, we clocked our highest number of visitors in one day since the site launched on the 1st September 2007 … 104 visitors

Lux Interior, lead singer of influential garage-punk act The Cramps, died Wednesday morning (February 4) due to an existing heart condition. He was 62. Lux started the Cramps in 1972. Their music was heavily steeped in camp, with Interior’s lyrics frequently drawing from schlocky B-movies, sexual kink and deceptively clever puns. (J.H. Sasfy … “The Cramps don’t pummel and you won’t pogo. They ooze; you’ll throb.”) Sonically, the band drew from blues and rockabilly, and a key element of their sound was the trashy, dueling guitars of Poison Ivy and Bryan Gregory (and later Kid Congo Powers), played with maximal scuzz and minimal drumming. With Interior’s deranged, Iggy Pop-inspired onstage antics and deep, sexualized singing voice, the Cramps are often cited as pioneers of “psychobilly” and “horror rock” … James Montgomery

Queen Of Pain (1997)

Friday 30th January 2009 at The Royalty in Sunderland. Gigged here for the first time in November and thought it was a class night. Our second visit tonight was even better! Excellent turn out. Loadza room for us and lotza bods giving it some hefty appreciation. Someone even asked me if we did any ‘Rush’? “Wey not likely!” … Lenny

When the still sea conspires an armour.
And her sullen and aborted currents breed tiny monsters.
True sailing is dead.
Awkward instant.
And the first animal is jettisoned.
Legs furiously pumping. Their stiff green gallop. Heads bob up.
Poise. Delicate. Pause. Consent.
In mute nostril agony. Carefully refined and sealed over.

… Horse Latitudes (The Doors) 1967

The Horse Latitudes are the subtropic latitudes between 30 and 36 degrees both north and south. There are few winds in the Horse Latitudes and little current. In colonial days ships could be slowed or even stalled to no movement at all for days or even weeks in confused seas and heat. To conserve water and food, and to lighten the loads of the ships in hopes of maximizing the effect of the light winds, sailors sometimes threw horses overboard. It is said that the horses would swim for miles after the ships until they drowned and that the sailors were haunted by dreams of the horses’ panicked screams.

Saturday 17th January 2009. What a bloody great gig! First time at The Egypt Cottage, Newcastle, and the weather was pretty atrocious so I was worried that we may not get a good turnout, plus the pub ain’t exactly town centre and is a little out on a limb. No worries! We had a near full house and the atmosphere was excellent. Tom and Chris swapped sides so that Tom’s guitar could cut through to the crowd instead of bouncing off the staircase, which incidentally was the best prop I’ve experienced since the lamp-post at The Beamish Mary. That staircase gave me something to hang off and leer at the audience. Waka, standing in on drums, commented that he hadn’t been behind a kit since he last depped for us at The Star Inn, Newcastle, in June 2008. Well he certainly hadn’t lost his touch and did a brilliant job for us. Thanks for the positive reaction from everyone in the crowd. We’re back on Friday 3rd April! … Lenny

A rare, but welcome visit north of the River Tyne saw Tubesnake cram in to the Egypt Cottage in Newcastle. Crammed not just because of the tight space the bands have to play in, but the band drew in a very good crowd on what was a pretty awful night weatherwise, and a great atmosphere was created as the band stormed through those Doors, Bowie, Stones classics. Waka from The Glammed sat in on the tubs, and a great night was had by all. Ain’t seen the place so full for a long time, and the girls even managed to find space for a bit of dancing. One of the best bands on the circuit and a must see band if you ain’t seen them yet! … Davy Potter, DavysRockPage

The Market Tavern in Chester-le-Street, Friday 16th January 2009. Great gig at one of the narrowest venues in the North-East (for the audience at least). Chris strangely forgot to bring his bass guitars (Heh! Heh!) so thanks to Lorenzo from The Dark Horses for stepping in with a spare. Another gig where the crowd is in your face. Just the way we like it! … Lenny