There IS a Spook of The Thirteenth Lock!
We were joined last Thursday by the thoroughly gentlemanly man Allen from The Spook of The Thirteenth Lock.
Singer and banjo picker Allen came on the show to tell us about the recording of the tracks in Westland Studio, about battling egos in the band (or lack of therein), dismissive critics in Italy, The Ballroom of Romance, upcoming tours and the story behind the spook of the thirteenth lock.
We heard The Hare and Pimlico from the album and Allen played us a rather gorgeous live version of In Country Dark. If you’re a fan of both The Pogues and The Dirty 3, The Spook…could well be the band for you. I like their music because it’s a deceptively dark take on traditional folk. I love the themes of ghost stories and legends and myths that run throughout the album, and I love the way some of the tracks such as The Hare get really heavy. Heavy enough to give Luke Kelly a bit of a fright. Head down to Road and pick up a copy of their Record of The Week – the eponymously titled The Spook of The Thirteenth Lock.
We started this show with May Your Enemies Never Find Happiness from Halves’ EP Haunt Me When I’m Drowsy. Halves were so brilliant on Saturday night in Whelan’s. I’m still trying to process the gig a little bit and pinpoint the exact qualities that made it so good, and when I do I want to write a little note about it on this blog.
Nialler9 recommended the rather stunning Flume from Bon Iver, who featured on nialler’s blog last week.
We finished up the show with a chat with Jon Averill from Shock about last Friday night’s gig in Crawdaddy with John Cooper Clarke. Keep in touch with Shock through their blog to find out who they’re bringing over this summer. We finished the show with Beasley Street from Mr Clarke.
I forgot to press ‘record’ on the mini-disc at the start of the show so the first link is missing. It’s okay, it was just me doing the gig guide and getting very out of breath in the process. In almost every show I do, I say something silly that makes me cringe when I listen back. Sometimes, they’re so bad that I have to edit them out. This week my Tony Blackburn/Alan Partridgesque moment comes at the end of my chat with Allen when he was talking about the possilibity of touring in Japan. And I said ‘Aha. Big in Japan, eh?’
Fernando – you’re 22 years old and you’re spending your saturdays in bed with a girl – you’re wasting your life!
Keep in touch with The Spook of The Thirteenth Lock to see when they’re playing near you. Hope you enjoy this mp3 as much as I enjoyed making it.
MP3
gabbagabbahey said,
May 20, 2008 at 9:09 pm
that Halves track, at the start, has a great crescendo to it as well. That settles it, I;m going to pick up the EP tomorrow. thanks!
adam said,
May 21, 2008 at 1:26 am
But it’s the cringey bits that make it all worth while! Knowing me Adam, knowing you, cringey bits. AHAAAAA
aoifemc said,
May 21, 2008 at 11:57 am
Hey Gabba – yup. It’s got that whole crescendo thing going. The EP is really good, you’ll enjoy it.
Adam – Ahaaaaa!
Nay said,
May 21, 2008 at 1:02 pm
Concile your cringey moments..be one with shame…there’s always someone racing up to drop a baton of their own!
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