The Deadcuts have created a Pledge Music for their album
'A Hit On All Sixes'
Deadcuts - Pledge Music
Jerome Alexandre wrote a review for Gigwise for Deadcuts support for the
Fat White Family
Gigwise Review
Jerome Alexandre wrote a review of Newcastle
Newcastle Riverside :
I have not slept for three days and as a result am slightly worse for wear when our driver comes to pick us up , his name is Brian and and he is filling in for our tour manager who is sick.Brian's a good guy and always has plenty of great stories to tell about working with Pink Floyd amongst others ,I'm somewhat delirious and realise I've still got my dressing gown on...this dressing gown remains until we reach the stage that night.Natanya opens the door and bursts out laughing at me Apparently I sing a medley of Rick James songs at the top of my voice " when I was a young boy ...living in the ghetto .." .. Stumbling around with my shades on knocking into to everything and being a pest.I attempt to make a tea in the kitchen Mark enters takes one look at and laughs and shakes his head and exits.Some four hours previous I message Cristina massei asking if she wants to do some pics for this gig and join us for the ride up,she's in total agreement and arrives on time ( I think it must be 6 or 7 am that's dedication folks) and along with Joseph ,Mark and Natanya we all bundle into the tour vehicle minus Cass who agrees to meet us at the other end.I doze off straight away mmmmm ....sleep......some hours later I'm rudely awakened ....... Bang! The van jolts forward- I awake and see were at some car park and two middle aged ex hippies who look like they sacrificed peace and love for a house in the suburbs are spazzing out cos our van has collided with their shitty Skoda.Brian gets out and there's some sort of argument and exchanging of details ...I get out and wander around a mall where everyone looks exactly like the two ex hippies with the Skoda ..albeit for one guy who wears a " Fall" t-shirt who looks like he hitchhiked up from London ,got lost and has been doomed to remain in this Hideous shopping mall for the rest of his life, as usual there's the Over priced everything, KFC , Crispy Cremes and corner shop that sells a bottle of coke for £3.00 and a resentful looking kid stuck behind the counter, these stop off places look exactly the same ..there is a cage where one inserts money to hear a Buzzard sing annoying songs which seems to be the highlights of the local teenagers evening - I turn and run back to the sanctity of our splitter.Sleep comes and goes ..We arrive at the venue which is surrounded by a bridge and a river ( surprisingly ) and at the top of the venue is a very impressive Roman statue with a spear gazing down at a half conscious bunch of musicians dressed in black , I shiver wishing I had actually been sensible and just rested but now we're here and soundcheck must happen.Peter , Katia and Jai arrive and we all head up to the backstage area - Peters wearing a long grey jacket that looks like something Bowie would have definitely worn in his thin white duke period.We discuss doing a version of " Broken Love Song" my fave track of Grace Wastelands and I attempt to get my head together for the gig- everything equipment wise feels extra heavy and at one point I get an anxiety attack so bad that I literally feel like hiding from everyone ...Miki walks in and I get the feeling she's Thinking the exact same thing - turns out she has a bad case of flu , I grab her a hot tea and lemon and then soundcheck .Cass Arrives and we run through parts of the set then leg it before doors open.I slap on the slap on and were ready , to walk from the upstairs platform to the backstage seems to be a bit of a mission " why have you still got your dressing gown on" asks Andrew Newlove ( Peters guitar tech) Laughing ..shit! I run back up and don my jacket and then were on.I feel so knackered by the first number ( Pray for Jail) I'm ready to drop - the crowd dig it though and I begin to enjoy it more and more, Cass has a grin that looks like he'd rip your head off with his teeth and Mark is at his " cor bleeding guvnor" cockney best- Joseph swings his Bass and the headstock almost clashes with a security guys head..so far so good ..moving though still appears to be hard if I let go just once I'll surely trip into the monitors and fall directly into the audience."Vains" feels good tonight we take a short tune up break which is when I turn to my left and see Peter at the side of the stage and We run the intro to " Broken Love Song" ..Peter steps out in slow motion across the stage - it's an incredibly precious moment - I've always loved this song so much - felt and identified with the words and asides from doing Pipedown with our kid in France this has to be the best time I've shared a stage with him, later I'm looking at a picture Cristina Massei takes of us both singing into the mic and it totally captures the intimacy of such a song - it's something that's one of those rare moments where you feel the magic swallow you up and get lost in the sound.We then go into " Summon the Witches" And I see a girl with bright red hair in the audience holding a Picture of a pentagram up - she throws it in my direction but ends up hitting this fat punk in the front row upside the head, I'm trying hard not to laugh as we play the melancholy " Kill desire" but the pentagram moment won't leave my subconscious ,the rest of the band are looking at me as if to say what the fuck are you doing ? I walk off the stage and burst into a fit of the giggles - I don't know why I'm laughing so much but Drew looks at me nervously with Iain Slater ( Sound guy/tech) and they ask me if I'm ok and if fill em in on the rise and fall of the cardboard pentagram.Backstage I witness the cool calm of Simon Mason, I'm astonished at how he can master that mode of tranquility - I get the feeling he's reached a balance on this tour that I could seriously benefit from learning .He goes up and I'm about to go watch him when everything goes black...I open my eyes and suddenly find I'm on a leather couch and staring at the ceiling I look around and See Ruby Munslow( tour manager) sitting opposite " are you ok?" She asks ...I realise that my body has done that thing where after not sleeping it just says " enough " and knocks you flat out.Jack comes up the stairs and I feel a trifle embarrassed I can hear Peter onstage could I have been out that long? Our driver is also out for the count on the opposite couch and Natanya's brother is attempting to feed me crisps like I'm some kind of OAP in a boarding house, I run downstairs to catch Peters set and I hear the band playing " Killimangiro" and It's the first time I can hear Raf's distinct drum sound, it makes me think of what Topper Headon (The Clash) would have sounded up had he not grown up in Kent but Madrid.I realise very quickly that Peters managed to reinvent and reinterpret what he does without feeling the need to replicate the past..it's a defiant stand to all who have condemned him in the press and the ignorant journalists who dismiss him on the grounds of Drug use whilst praising the likes of greedy politicians - and yet it doesn't mean a thing cos he is here and they are nowhere to be seen.When "Flags of the old regime" kicks in I get a shiver and a slight melancholy .. it's for me where the past and present meet - a song not only dedicated to Amy but to all our fallen comrades who couldn't be there with us on this journey.The heat turns up and Drew sings a cracking version of " I wish" a song which you'll find the hardcore fans chanting at every gig before the band hit the stage and then of course " Fuck Forever" which is sheer punk rock carnage and a great way to finish.After the show I sip a vodka and orange and Drew shows me the correct way to play Miles Davis's "So what" on Acoustic - we meet some fans and then it's onto the next!.
