Line-up:
Stefan Cush
[vox, gtr]
Philip Odgers
[vox,gtr]
Paul Simmonds [gtrs]
Ricky McGuire
[bass]
official Band-Website
The 7th studio album in a 20 year career, 'The Cherry Red Jukebox' is a collection of songs containing all the usual group trademarks infused with both a clear eyed romanticism and battle hardened realism. Intended to be a snapshot of a generation that is now approaching the middle of their lives, it is shot through with a love of rock n' roll, home and family whilst still offering a fierce defence of the underprivileged. This is unashamed music for the ordinary person and their extraordinary experiences, comprising personal reminiscence, observation and stories set in the here and now. Rock, folk, blues, punk, and country are the musical themes, blended in the unique TMTCH style. From the subways of Hammersmith in London, around the world and back to the same old dirty subways - this is the story of what happened to the punk generation. It's also the story of what happened to The Men They Couldn't Hang.
Guest appearances by:
Andy Selway - drums
Bobby Valentino - fiddle
Clive Pain ['Slim'] - accordion
Merrill Cush - guest vocals
Dave Kent - Backing vocals & Blues harp
Engineered by Dan Swift, produced by Dan Swift & T.M.T.C.H.
'Country Punk Originals Ride Again' Biography
With 'The Cherry Red Jukebox' their first album in six years, The Men
They Couldn't Hang announce their return to the rock, country and folk
scene which, via Ryan Adams, The Arlenes, Handsome Family, Uncle Tupelo
etc, still bears the markings of their original template set back in the
80's.
In an twenty year career which has seen the band record with such country-folk luminaries as Nick Lowe, Elvis Costello, Mick Glossop [producer of the Waterboys and Van Morrison] and Philip Chevron of the Pogues, the band have maintained a fierce code of ethics which has gathered critical praise but commercial instability. The roll call includes eight record labels, six publishers, countless agents and five drummers.
Now in control of their own destiny, the group has determined to prove the reality of their name by releasing their best album yet and returning to the live arena for preview shows this Spring.
Discovered by Elvis Costello while busking in a Hammersmith subway, the band's first shows were with the Pogues, a band that once employed singer Cush as a stage drinks carrier! Front covers and a large following quickly accrued. They rapidly adjusted to new circumstances, releasing an Indie no. 1 single [Green Fields of France] and album [Night of 1000 Candles]. They followed this up with 'Ironmasters', another number one record.
They then toured the world for the next five years, including Iceland, Egypt, Canada and all points North, East South and West, managing to record four more albums including 'Waiting for Bonaparte', which contained the hit single 'The Colours'. An immense reputation as purveyors of ecstatic live shows followed them everywhere. Festival appearances included Roskilde, Hurricane, Glastonbury, Reading and Milton Keynes as support to David Bowie.
Sidelined by the dance/rock movement in the early nineties, the resurgence of country and folk rock in the last year has given them a new faith to match an ever-present relevance. The new album should seal their cult status and see the band back with a vengeance as one of the great survivors of UK rock history.
Discography (excerpt):
'The Cherry Red Jukebox' (2003)
Odgers & Simmonds 'Baby Fishlips' (2000)
V/A 'SEKA - Sister' Vol. 2 (2000)
'The Cherry Red Jukebox' Track Notes
Sunrise - A typhoon of harmonica and slide guitar, this song tells the story of a boy and a girl during the hours of sunset to sunrise in a dirty and hopeless part of London. Although they never meet, they share the same destiny, the same sunrise.
Singing Elvis - A tribute to the healing power of rock n' roll music through the metaphor of a jukebox and how it accompanies the ups and downs of life, ultimately soothing them. A run through three generations, it glorifies such unlikely bedfellows as Mott the Hoople, Neil Diamond, Tammi Terrell, T Rex, Phil Spector, The Faces and Elvis. There's even a Shadows guitar break!
Rivertown - A simple sea shanty about the home port of Southampton. Accordion and violin are used to add character. It's about travelling away but also about coming home. It's the first of many sea references - a constant TMTCH theme throughout their career.
Silver Gun - A country tune about an elegant lady thief taken from a true story in a local newspaper. Fiddle player Bobby Valentino is to the fore in this sprightly and humorous story song. Influenced by Marty Robbins and his Gunfighter ballads - another career interest of the band - it also features Merrill Cush, wife of singer Stefan Cush, in a parallel tribute to June Carter and Johnny Cash.
Red Rocks of Spain - A simple romantic ballad about an affair mapped out through increasingly faraway and exotic locations. Eventually, the destinations diverge….
Ride Again - A slice of prime country rock with nods to the Eagles and Neil Young; this takes place amid the embers of a old relationship looking to find new fire. The characters are the band itself, the story is the struggle over the years to make this very album.
The Hill - A full blooded cajun rock song about an old crippled boxer whose daily battle to walk up a hill to the bar in which he drinks becomes the main reason for his life. One part Mavericks, two parts Los Lobos with a dash of Springsteen.
Colwyn Bay - A folk lament with just voice, guitar and fiddle, this song tells the story of love and family in a small seaside town.
Highwater - A swaggering rock song with trademark TMTCH features such as joint vocals and Duane Eddy twanging guitar. Again, the sea features prominently in a fiery reflection on fertility, birth and lives lived within the sound of the big ship's horns from the dockside.
I Loved The Summer of Hate - Another slice of TMTCH autobiography, the song looks back at the summer of punk - sleeping rough, following the Clash - through the emblem of an old leather jacket. Set in a Ramones-esque style, the sub text is the very beginnings of TMTCH and, again, the ever present influence of rock n' roll across the generations.
10 Grand - An epic howl of defiance in the face of debt, depression and dissolving dreams. Sleazy, funky rock music with blues harp and guitars as sharp as barbed wire. This is where you end up. But hopes still shout their shop worn optimism