Tubesnake

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

Never mind The Ropery in Sunderland stopping live music (two gigs lost), just heard that The Pemberton Arms in Cold Hesledon, near Seaham has shut down altogether (four gigs lost). Win some, lose some! Snooze you lose!

The Clarendon in Sunderland, Sunday, 11th January 2009. Class gig yet again at the most intimate venue in the world!

Tubesnake have just accepted an invitation to play at this year’s Heart ‘n’ Soul Rally at Gosforth Racecourse at 8.15pm on Saturday 19th September 2009. This time we have been promoted from playing in the Silver Ring Bar as we did last September to doing a straight hour and a half set on the main stage.

Venus In Furs (1967)

Written by Lou Reed and originally released on the 1967 album The Velvet Underground and Nico. Inspired by the book of the same name by Leopold von Sacher-Masoch. The music features John Cale’s cacophonous viola as well as Lou Reed’s Ostrich guitar, that is, a guitar with all of its strings tuned to the same note.

It’s closer to dawn than the midnight hour
Your misty mind swims in a land locked haze
Glimmering flames are stealing the shadows
Needle like rhythms seem to pierce your brain
You twist and you turn like a meandering river
You’re lost in the dance like a shaman possessed
The soft touch of warm skin falls gently upon you
You’re lost in the deep like a baby caressed

… Lenny 2005

Thanks to Marshall and Graeme on the door, for continuing to man their posts while ‘on the door’ sales took the numbers attending to just over the 100 required to confirm this gig as a ’sell-out’. The Unnamed, put out a very strong 45 mins to kick the night off, my personal favourite being She Sells Sanctuary. Frayed Ends, as a whole, had to pull out due to illness but drummer Ian and guitarist Steve still turned up to form an ensemble with Tom, Chris and Martin from Victims of The Fury to neatly fill the middle slot with some great rock covers as Frayed Victims?. The timing for this year’s event was spot on compared to when we played here last year and Tubesnake were bang on schedule for the first set, a short break and a second set taking everyone to the midnight hour. The crowd were excellent with a good bunch of bods taking to the dance floor. Party nights sometimes bring out a party attitude and I stepped out while Woody, Chris and Tom seared through Misirlou (featured in the opening scene of Pulp Fiction) and a medley of rock ‘n’ roll stuff. I rejoined them for Walking The Dog (early Rolling Stones version) and we closed with Sympathy For The Devil. Thanks to all who attended and helped make it a cracking New Year’s Eve gig! … Lenny

In the blessed and cold
In the crutch-hungry dark
Was where we flayed our mark
Oh, and we were gone
Kings of Oblivion
We were so turned on
In the Mind-Warp Pavilion

… Bowie (The Bewlay Brothers) 1971

“If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.” … William Blake

Movie starring Johnny Depp & Gary Farmer. Music by Neil Young.

The Lambton Hounds, Pity Me, Saturday 13th December 2008.