Shouting from the Hop

Pedro45 is not in the mood for listening to much music at present, mainly due to having some viral cold thingy blocking up all his tubes!

A couple of pieces of info though that may interest some of you muso's out there -

There is still life in one of Pedro45's favourite ever bands - The Redskins. A very kind fellow blogger has informed me that "The Redskins tribute CD - Reds Strike The Blues - has just been released and can be ordered online from either
http://www.cdbaby.com/Redskins
or
http://www.redstar-recordings.com.

Now this is not a Redskins recording - the band having parted company way back in the 80's - but a whole bunch of other artists covering their great songs. I've briefly listened to a couple of the tracks via the website and they are OK. I think the bank roll may have to come out once more to purchase a copy of this interesting album.

The above two websites offer a nice write up about the band and also an insight into who's recorded each of the songs.

I haven't seen or heard of Chris Dean, X Moore, Chris Moore, or whatever you personally called the lead singer of the band for quite a few years, but he was a really genuine bloke! As he wrote for the NME for a few years, we got to have a few beers together every now and then, and he'd always get me on the guest list if he could when The Redskins played a gig in London. They were a fantastic band live, and better when they had brass accompaniment. It didn't matter if they were playing support under the Chiswick flyover, or headlining at The Lyceum, they were almost always terrific.

I was making my way home one evening after a few beers, and saw Chris talking to a female friend outside the front of Charing Cross mainline station. I stopped and said hi as his friend left, and we were just having a brief chat when a bunch of skinheads surrounded us, egged on by a couple of girls. "You're Red Action" they said, threateningly. It didn't mean much to me, but I soon found out it was a big deal to these right wingers - there were about six of them, including the girls. Our chat was interrupted further when a boot came toward Chris which he dodged, followed by a few rounds of spittle which he didn't, along with more "Red Action" insults. I am not sure why (maybe there was a copper around?) but the yobbo's moved away slowly. I quickly asked Chris if he fancied a beer and we walked away from the trouble around the corner to a pub I knew. I bought Chris a beer, and then embarrassingly had to tell him that he had gob on his eyebrow - the pub guv'nor had been looking at Chris in a very funny way. He explained the difference between Red Action, and other skinhead factions to me. A man true to his beliefs, I hope he has had a good life. Last I heard, many years back, he was trying to get into acting, but I don't know if he ever succeeded in this area. Good luck Chris, wherever you are; everytime I see anything to do with York City I remember you!

The other musical news is about another of my fave bands from the 80's - the Bunnymen.

An email tells me that the next Echo & The Bunnymen single will be 'In The Margins'.

The full track listings of the cd single is as follows:-
In The Margins (Radio Edit)
Nothing Lasts Forever (Acoustic)
In the Margins (Instrumental)

The release date for 'In The Margins is 31st October. It is going to be a UK release only.