SHEEP ON DRUGS + THE PINK DIAMOND REVUE + LEG PUPPY – THE PRINCE ALBERT, BRIGHTON 9.4.23
This evening’s entertainment in Brighton at The Prince Albert had all the markings of being a great night out, but sadly this was NOT to be the case! On offer were a quartet of acts that the Brighton & Hove News have previously reviewed and thus we thought that we had a strong idea of how the night was going to pan out. On the bill were headliners Sheep On Drugs who were being supported by The Pink Diamond Revue, Leg Puppy and Noisferatu.
First up at 8:07pm were South London’s Leg Puppy who performed a varying seven song set that ran for 28 minutes until the conclusion at 8:35pm.
On my first encounter with the act, they had a guitarist amongst their ranks but this evening it was a trio featuring (centre stage) the masqued ‘Mr’ Leg Puppy on vocals plus Polyend Play sample-based groovebox, as well as Focusrite’s iTrack Dock studio interface; accompanying him (to his right) also on vocals is another masqued character going by the name of the Black Widow; and completing the trio (stage left, our right) is an Easter Bunny masqued burlesque S&M dominatrix dancer known as Madame Crumpet.
Honest guvnor I was really endeavouring to concentrate on the musical delights of Leg Puppy throughout their set, but (like many others) was somewhat led astray by the visual delights on display immediately in front of me. The first floor concert room was relatively busy from the off and gradually filled up during the performance. I was pleasantly surprised that so many like-minded souls had ventured out on Easter Sunday night.
Prior to the trio taking to the stage ‘Mr’ Leg Puppy (MLP) and the Black Window stood in front of us and did a little ritual, no doubt to sum up good luck and to let the punters know that Leg Puppy performances can be a little out there, hence the track ‘The Ritual’. Therefore it’s fair to say that not everyone will get where this ensemble is coming from, but to give you a hint, they state “Leg Puppy are the biggest band in the world called Leg Puppy”. Well that’s all you need to know really isn’t it.
Leg Puppy was born from the absorption of a diet of Alan Vega and Martin Rev aka Suicide, Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty aka The KLF, Section 25, Aphex Twin and the like. Charlie Brooker thinks outside of the box with his provoking ‘Black Mirror’ TV series and Leg Puppy are doing the same but with music. They are rather prolific with their work too, with no less than 43 releases found on their Bandcamp page with no obvious drop in quality either.
Their second number ‘Special Kind Of Kind’ came and went and then MLP informed the punters that they would now perform their new rendition of ‘Warm Leatherette’ by The Normal aka Daniel Miller. On my previous encounter with Leg Puppy their ‘(034)’ version was a banging earworm that stayed with me for weeks. Tonight, however, we were served ‘Warm Leatherette 035’ which was vastly slower and had a totally different feeling and it really didn’t do justice to their ‘(034)’ or the original version, which was disappointing.
Tune four was the Suicide (the band) inspiration tune ‘Johnny Pigman’ which makes one recall ‘Frankie Teardrop’ as the vocal duo repeated “Johnny no more”. ‘Black Light’ followed and was surprisingly almost in soul music territory, which I hadn’t expected. ‘NDA’ or to give it the full title ‘Non-Disclosure Agreement’ was littered with Arabesque style wailing vocals courtesy of the Black Widow, and before we knew it they had segued right in to ‘Selfie Stick’, which is a dig at all narcissistic pricks out there! And they were done! Whilst all this music had been going on, I’m led to believe that Madame Crumpet was attending to the visual stimulation side of things, not that I ever noticed…….he said lying!
In summary, a valiant effort, but nowhere near as hard hitting or as enjoyable as my previous encounter. Back to the drawing board MLP!
Leg Puppy:
Leg Puppy – vocals and electronics
Black Widow -vocals
Madame Crumpet – dancer
Leg Puppy setlist:
‘The Ritual’
‘Special Kind Of Kind’
‘Warm Leatherette 035’
‘Johnny Pigman’
‘Black Light’
‘NDA’
‘Selfie Stick’
Literally just five minutes after Leg Puppy had vacated the stage, another trio ‘of sorts’ were to grace it, in the form of dependable The Pink Diamond Revue whose 29 minute set ran through eighth numbers from 8:49pm to 9:18pm.
From the very start of their performance, the room was packed and quite possibly something like only a handful of folk short of full capacity, which I found, and no doubt guitarist Tim, drummer Rob and faded glamour model ACiD DoL, also appreciated.
In the music business it pays to have a “USP” (unique selling point) and The Pink Diamond Revue (TPDR) certainly have theirs! Once seen, never forgotten! They tread their own captivating retro che che chique path that can only be compared with the likes of Brighton’s Atom Jacks….now there’s an idea for a fabulous double-header! Brighton promoters where are you?
The Pink Diamond Revue operate in “A world where ‘60s film soundtracks meet sampladelic acid house in a baggy-punk rathole somewhere in Interzone” and the “Live band fronted by Acid Dol, a model from another dimension”.
The punters are welcomed into TPDR world via their own self-made films which are projected right across the rear of the stage, for each of the eight compositions. They (on the whole) look fabulous! In front of these is Reading based metronomic drummer Rob, who graces his equipment with brushes instead of drumsticks. In front of him is the distinctive slim tattooed figure of London based rocking (forward and backwards) guitarist Tim. Right out front is the central figure and limelight stealer Acid Dol (stylized as ‘ACiD DoL’), which is actually the top half of a vintage mannequin doll, but don’t let TPDR know that!
Throughout their set, which commenced with ‘A New Kind Of Life’, ‘Lux’ and ‘Nuclear’, when the punters weren’t transfixed by ACiD DoL, their gaze would fall on the outfits svelte-like Bowie-esque frontman as he attacks a host of foot-pedals and thuds his Watkins Circuit 4 vintage electric guitar, plus another one, which I didn’t quite catch the name of…slacking or what! I blame ACiD DoL!
The TPDR only operates in the world of spoken samples and thus microphones as excess to requirements with this lot. When a tune concludes, Tim holds his arms aloft and his fingers in the reversed victory V style as a thank you for listening and enjoying the set.
Indeed the punters were enjoying themselves as ‘The Fuzz Guitar’, ‘Milkshake’ and ‘Nothing Can Go Wrong’ flew by, with the only gaps allowed for a new look ACiD DoL via the swapping of glasses and hats.
Their penultimate number was my fave of the set, that being ‘At The Discotheque’, which was followed by a new number (to me anyway) in the form of ‘Elvis Presley’. Sadly there was no inclusion of ‘Diamonds Are Forever’, which I’m rather partial to. This had been yet another successful ‘TPDR’ concert and the almost full house showed their appreciation accordingly!
The Pink Diamond Revue:
Tim Lane – the fuzz guitar
Rob Courtman Stock – drums and programming
ACiD DoL – the model
The Pink Diamond Revue setlist:
‘A New Kind Of Life’
‘Lux’
‘Nuclear’
‘The Fuzz Guitar’
‘Milkshake’
‘Nothing Can Go Wrong’
‘At The Discotheque’
‘Elvis Presley’
I had worked out that the next act Noisferatu were due on stage in 17 minutes time and their “performance” would run for a max of 15 minutes, so I had half an hour to kill. The decision was made to spend that time downstairs enjoying a swift pint of ‘Burning Sky’ ale before heading back upstairs for the main event. I have previously suffered Noisferatu and no longer wish to ever endure this.
Liquid absorbed and I made my way back upstairs via the little boys room. On the way out of said room, I encountered a much worse for wear Lee Fraser aka heading act Sheep On Drugs …oh dear!
I remember exactly where and when I first “discovered” Sheep On Drugs. It was 1992 and I was staying at a dear friend’s house in Ilford Essex which was formerly, I was told, the former Lord Mayor’s residence. It was late one night and both my friends wanted to turn in for the night, but I was still buzzing as they ran a record label and were rather finger on the pulse so to speak. They welcomed me to their music collection and invited me to go through that lot. That would have taken days, but I picked up a new CD that I liked the look of. It was a double-A side release ‘Motorbike’ and ‘Mary Jane’ by an outfit called Sheep On Drugs. With a name like that, immediate investigation was the order of the day. I inserted the CD into the system and was greeted by the sound of two girls talking to each other: (girl 1) “Have you heard that new track from Sheep On Drugs?” (girl 2) “Yeah Motorbike” (girl 1) “Too cool” (girl 2) “Yeah Motorbike” (girl 1) “It’s brilliant!”. They weren’t kidding either as within just a few seconds I had found the new cheap white trash version of Sigue Sigue Sputnik!
Suffice to say I purchased said CD as well as everything of theirs for at least the next five years! “They” being vocalist Duncan X (a.k.a. King Duncan) and guitarist/keyboardist Lee Fraser (a.k.a. Dead Lee) who formed the band in 1990. Things were on the up for the duo and they signed for Island Records and released their cheekily titled ‘Greatest Hits’ debut album. I was fortunate to see them live a few times, but on one occasion at a club somewhere in London (I’ve sadly forgotten where) vocalist Duncan X wasn’t really in the house! He was wasted! After a while he had gone, but on another occasion was in the crowd at a Sheep On Drugs London gig and was announced to the crowd. He was incapable of joining Lee on stage as he was again absent.
Another time, when Lee was operating under the guise of ‘Bagman’, where he released a couple of albums with the assistance of Martin Atkins (of PiL and Pigface fame), he was playing live at another forgotten London venue and his gimmick was sporting a colostomy bag, which after several numbers he dutifully emptied over the girls head who was standing next to me. I was and still am undecided of its true contents. So with Lee and Duncan, things could get a little edgy.
Sheep Of Drugs disappeared from my and everyone’s radar, only to eventually bounce back as a new duo, which still featured Lee (who had switched to vocals and keytar), but also newcomer Johnny Borden, who is actually female. It’s this lineup that I have been witnessing several times over the past few years, but they recently had a bust up, which may or may not have been caused by Johnny apparently doing a no show for a gig. Thus Lee is now currently a solo act and willing to let the good times roll…………
Lee made his way on stage (in front of the almost packed house) and by way of getting fans onside suggested that the fat old men go to the back and the pretty young girls come to the front! Tumbleweed…everyone just looked at each other and literally no-one moved. He started the backing track on the two laptop mobile studio arrangement at 9:52pm and for the next 50 minutes managed to lose half of the punters by the end of the set and ended up playing a similar amount to those at the very beginning of the Leg Puppy set.
To start with, myself and a fan standing behind me – who incidentally have brought a teasmade along to the performance having just acquired it free of charge (as you do!) – were endeavouring to see if Lee’s guitar was actually playing or not, it was after a while we decided. His guitar effects box wasn’t strapped to his leg as normal, but just sitting atop the desk that the laptops were on. Lee was cutting a lonely clockwork yellow figure on the stage, and unlike every previous Sheep On Drugs performance, he in the main tended to concentrate on the vocals instead of playing the guitar.
He did also have the benefit of a screen backdrop as his predecessors had. The first number came and went and the second kept making reference to “up on the downs”, so it might be called that or something similar. The vocals were spoken and accentuated when they weren’t slurred. ‘Mr Teasmade’ noted to me at the closing of this second tune that “We could do with a bit of mess in the world, it’s too orderly”. Lee was being given the benefit of the doubt for now.
A few more tunes went by and “darhhhhlings” was uttered a few times at us. After a while we arrived at ‘Motorbike’, which was followed by ‘Waiting For The Man’ which they covered back in 1997. The mic lead was getting more and more wound around its stand which was being problematic, so just kick or knock the stand to the floor was the answer. The set concluded with ‘15 Minutes Of Fame’.
I did actually raise a smile for the lyrics “I don’t believe in organised religion that’s for the pigeons”, but other than that there wasn’t much to smile about. I was in all honesty bitterly disappointed as this was a massively below par performance “darhhhhling”. Half of the fans had voted with their feet, some of who stayed were rather merry and the rest I guess enjoyed themselves. It’s time for Sheep On Drugs to regroup and as The Verve stated “Now the drugs don’t work; They just make you worse…..”. Nuff said! Exit building 10:42pm.
Sheep On Drugs:
Lee Fraser – vocals, guitar, effects, and backing
Sheep On Drugs setlist included:
‘Motorbike’ (found on 1993 ‘Greatest Hits’ album)
‘Waiting For The Man’ (found on 1997 ‘One For The Money’ album)
‘15 Minutes Of Fame’ (found on 1993 ‘Greatest Hits’ album)
