The Men They Couldn’t Hang (TMTCH) came together in 1984 to perform at the alternative music festival in Camden Town alongside the legendary Pogues and the Boothill Foot-Tappers.
TMTCH came about as a result of Paul Simmonds, Philip ‘Swill’ Odgers and his brother Jon, (veterans of the Southampton based pop-punk band ‘Catch 22’), meeting the Pogues roadie Stefan Cush whilst busking in Shepherds Bush in London.
Their early line up was Stefan Cush (vocals/guitar), Paul Simmonds (guitar/bouzouki/keyboards), Philip Odgers (vocals/guitar, tin whistle, melodica), Jon Odgers (drums/percussion) and Shanne Bradley (bass/flute).
Championed by the late John Peel their first single, a cover of Eric Bogle’s ‘Green Fields Of France’ (1984), became a big hit on the UK Indie charts and a staple of Peel’s festive 50. Their first album, ‘Night Of A Thousand Candles’, was released in 1985. It includes the singles ‘Ironmasters’ and ‘Greenback Dollar’. Signing for MCA the following year, they recorded their second album, ‘How Green Is The Valley’, produced by Mick Glossop. Included on this album are the singles ‘Gold Rush’, ‘Shirt Of Blue’ and ‘Ghosts Of Cable Street’.
In 1987 Shanne Bradley left the band and was replaced by Ricky McGuire, famous for touring with punk legends the UK Subs at the tender age of 17. With their third release in 1988, ‘Waiting For Bonaparte’, The Men They Couldn’t Hang were starting to achieve recognition across Europe for their political comment and raucous live shows. They’ve continued to tour and record consistently from then until the present day.
Wind the clocks forward to 2018 and the band released their latest 13 track album ‘Cock-A-Hoop’, which was their nineteenth offering. Of particular note in their back catalogue is their 2002 released album of unreleased recordings dating from 1982 and later demo material, which was put together and packaged as ‘The Brighton Sessions’.
Sadly Stefan Cush passed away suddenly in February devastating friends, family and fans but the band was determined to go on with THMTCH.
The band in association with Family Ents have now announced their rescheduled concert (from Saturday 14th November 2020) here in Brighton at the Concorde 2 on Saturday 20th November 2021. Tickets can be purchased HERE or from your usual ticket agency.
Visit The Men They Couldn’t Hang’s website for further information – www.tmtch.co.uk and to listen to their material visit their Bandcamp page HERE.
