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’.
Wind the clocks forward and the band released their latest 13 track album ‘Cock-A-Hoop’ in 2020, which was their nineteenth offering. This was followed by their ‘Red Kite Rising‘ EP which was unleashed back in February. 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’.
And talking of Brighton, the band have announced that they will be performing a one-off live concert at the ever popular Concorde 2 music venue which is located on Brighton seafront on Saturday 26th November 2022. Purchase your concert tickets from the venue HERE.
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.
