HELEN McCOOKERYBOOK + JAMES McCALLUM – NUSOUL STUDIO, WOODINGDEAN YOUTH CENTRE, BRIGHTON 27.10.23
Back in the heady days of punk rock, a bright-eyed young Helen McCallum (who was to become Helen McCookerybook) decided to leave her home in Wylam (a village outside Newcastle upon Tyne) and decided to enrol on a Fine Art Printmaking course at the Art College in Brighton, as it was the only one in the country which supplied a course on the subject. Helen’s younger brother, James, liked the idea of Sussex University, so he came down too. One day, fellow-squatters told her she would be playing bass in their punk band Joby & The Hooligans. Although she obviously wasn’t aware of it at the time, her future musical fate was sealed!
The band were becoming known on the Brighton music scene via their memorable gigs in the Resource Centre and Vault during the early punk days. Their sets included ditties such as ‘Seeboard Gas’ and ‘Looking Through Gary Glitter’s Eyes’. Lead vocalist Joby Visigoth wore a safety pin through his nose and went through a few contortions on stage. The band failed to release any material and by mid-1978, Joby & The Hooligans morphed briefly into the Smartees, with the addition of Carl Evans on guitar and Tracy Preston on vocals, Steve Beardsley (aka Steve Video) adding saxophone to guitar. Artistic differences led to the Smartees dissolving in late 1978. Helen briefly found herself at a loose end, until one day Carl Evans came to see her, having set a poem she had written, ‘Food’, to music. This worked well and they formed the Chefs, bringing in Helen’s brother James on second guitar.
Attrix Records who were based at 3 Sydney Street in the North Laine area of Brighton were impressed with the Chefs burgeoning local popularity and a set stuffed with high quality bubblegum punkpop, with often very original subject matter hidden behind the bouncy tunes and twangy guitars. Thus the Chefs released two tracks on the classic ‘Vaultage 79 (The Other Side Of Brighton)’ Attrix Records compilation album, The Evening Argus, were located in the next street and at this time organised a photo shoot with all the Attrix bands standing outside the record label’s shop in Sydney Street. When the photographer asked McCallum her name, she told him, on the spur of the moment, that it was “McCookerybook”, and the name has stuck ever since!
The Chefs then dropped two EP’s in the late 1970’s/early 1980’s on the label, before signing to Graduate Records, home of UB40. The first being their self-titled EP which saw the release of ‘Sweetie’, ‘Thrush’, ‘Records And Tea’ and ‘Boasting’, the second being the three track ‘24 Hours’ EP, which featured ‘24 Hours’, ‘Let’s Make Up’ and ‘Someone I Know’. Their Graduate single release featuring ‘24 Hours’ and ‘Thrush’.
The Chefs lineup of James McCallum, Helen McCookerybook, Russ Greenwood and Carl Evans recorded a BBC Radio 1 session for John Peel on 5th May 1981. It was transmitted on 11th May and featured ‘One Fine Day’, ‘I’ll Go Too’, ‘Love Is Such A Splendid Thing’, ‘Northbound Train’ and ‘Springtime Reggae’. The band also recorded a session for Richard Skinner. The band played gigs all over the UK as well as some of Brighton’s early iconic venues such as the Alhambra, the Skate Park, The Richmond and the original Concorde which was situated above Brighton Aquarium and one I was fortunate to have attended.
In early 1982, the Chefs strangely decided to change their name to Skat, a choice which proved unpopular. As Skat, the band recorded a John Peel session with the tunes ‘Honcho’, ‘Sleeping Dogs Lie’, ‘Sad Boy Style’ and ‘Just A Word’, which was broadcast on 10th March 1982. From here Carl went on to form Yip Yip Coyote while Helen set up a brassy, rockabilly-meets-Doris Day venture, Helen & The Horns. After working as a musician Helen entered academia, as Helen Reddington, publishing ‘The Lost Women of Rock Music: Female Musicians Of The Punk Era’ (Equinox) and lecturing at University of East London.
A compilation of Chefs Peel sessions and other tracks is available on Damaged Goods Records, find it HERE. Looking forward, a vinyl of the Chefs unreleased Graduate album will apparently be coming out on that label in 2024. There is also talk of recording new songs which they hope to release next year alongside a ‘lost’ Chefs album that was never released at the time.
And so finally after the Brighton music history lesson, we find ourselves in a most unusual gig location, high above Brighton in the suburb of Woodingdean! An area certainly not noted for live music…ever! Thus, when we found out that siblings Helen and James were to perform a few Chefs songs as well as their own material, this prospect became a must-see concert!
Having located Woodingdean Youth Centre, we made our way down to the basement where Nusoul Studio is located and where we found a select bunch of family, friends, acquaintances and fans all gathered with anticipation as to what the evening had to offer us!
Beers purchased, friends met, discussions held, and then on with the music. First up was James McCallum who was to perform no less than 14 tunes on his guitar which ran from 8:30pm until 9:18pm. Being a studio space, you would expect the acoustics to be spot on and indeed they were for the whole event. Unbeknown to many in the room, this was only James’ third solo set and he entertained the punters, with a host of tunes that quite often featured animals as a theme, including cows (‘When The Cows Come Home’), lemmings (‘Lemmings’), crows (‘Crow’) and a squirrel with superpowers which he had written with his son (‘Nutty’). The many lyrics were of a comedic nature, but you wouldn’t expect any less from a former member of Brighton no hopers Smeggy & The Cheesybits. Thus the inevitable comparison with Half Man Half Biscuit and I, Ludicrous was noted by myself during the performance. The comedic value was evident in ditties such as on ‘Omelette’, where we had “you can’t make an omelette without breaking eggs” and there was a tune penned about a rock star that lives with his mother but she refuses to wash his socks! We were even treated to a Smeggy & The Cheesybits composition in the form of ‘Stuck On You’ which was written about glue! James’ material has many lyrics to recall and one or two of the lyric sheets had to be delved into, but to be honest, that was part of the charm of the set!
After a mere 11 minute live music hiatus, Helen McCookerybook was raring to go and thus began her 35 minute 9 tune solo set at 9:29pm with the oldest of all her tunes, namely ‘A Bad Day’ from her 2013 ‘Poetry And Rhyme’ album. Immediately, it’s evident that Helen’s wonderful voice is equally as good as it was when I saw the Chefs at the original Concorde back in around 1980. This was especially so on selection two, from 2019’s ‘Green’ album which was penned about Elon Musk. Helen merrily sang away and expertly played her Fender guitar. All of her material appears by the sound of it to be really chirpy and upbeat, but quite often the tunes hold a hidden meaning. A relevant example is selection three ‘The Mad Bicycle Song’, tonight’s only selection from 2017’s ‘The Sea’ long player. This number is actually about depression and I believe Helen referred to being stuck in a house in a repetitive cycle. Was this a case of foreseeing the Covid epidemic and inevitable lockdowns? Helen (as always) proudly offloads her material with an infectious smile, one which leaves the stage and appears on the faces of the mainly seated concert-goers.
Helen revealed that she didn’t go to gigs for years when she was bringing up her children and then one day she decided to attend a Monochrome Set gig and whilst she was there, she looked around and noted everyone around had got old. Thus her 2019 composition ‘Saturday Night With The London Set’ (from her ‘Green’ album) was born as homage to those of mature years who still go gigging.
Helen informed us that when she was a little girl that she used to love trees and during lockdown (when allowed out for walks), she fell in love with them again, and the result was 2022’s ‘Woodwide Web’ – the third and final selection from ‘Drawing On My Dreams’ album, with the previous two being ‘Coffee And Hope’ and ‘All I Want’ – this song addresses how fantastic mycelium is. This being the network of fungal threads which allows the trees to send messages to each other. After this number the audience participation increased as some sang along to the catchy Jonathan Richman-esque ‘A Good Life With A Bad Apple’ (from 2019 ‘Green’ album), after which Helen coached us through the four line repetitive chorus of ‘At The Bathing Pond’ (from the same album).
It was 10:04pm and Helen invited her brother back on stage and the duo set about recreating four Chefs songs across the next 16 minutes until 10:20pm. The selection being ‘Food’ (from 1979 ‘Vaultage 79 (Another Two Sides Of Brighton)’ compilation album), ‘Let’s Make Up’ (from 1981 ‘24 Hours’ single), ‘Records And Tea’ (from 1980 ‘The Chefs’ EP) and the 1981 ‘24 Hours’ single, and jolly good they were too! Helen admitted that the final number’s beat was an attempt at recreating Donna Summer’s ‘I Feel Love’. Now I’ve told you that, it will be impossible to unhear this! The duo had only rehearsed the four Chefs numbers, but the audience wanted more, thus Helen remained on stage and delivered one final number to send us on our way, this being ‘Beachwalk’ (from her 2022 ‘Drawing On My Dreams’ album). At 10:24pm, our night of enjoyment had come to a close. I know for certain that for many years to come, each time I drive through Woodingdean, I will remember the time I witnessed 50% of the Chefs live in the flesh!
Tonight’s setlist:
James McCallum solo set:
‘Johnny’s Pension Fund’
‘Omelette’
‘When The Cows Come Home’
‘Lemmings’
‘At The Feet Of The Gods’
‘Nose To The Grindstone’
‘Whine’
‘Panjandrum’
‘Crow’
‘Nutty’
‘Stuck On You’ (Smeggy & The Cheesybits song)
‘You Get Everywhere’ (from 2012 ‘Records & Tea: The Best Of The Chefs’ album)
‘Strawberries In Siberia’
‘A Hymn To Creativity’
Helen McCookerybook solo set:
‘A Bad Day’ (from 2013 ‘Poetry And Rhyme’ album)
‘So Long, Elon’ (from 2019 ‘Green’ album)
‘The Mad Bicycle Song’ (from 2017 ‘The Sea’ album)
‘Coffee And Hope’ (from 2022 ‘Drawing On My Dreams’ album)
‘All I Want’ (from 2022 ‘Drawing On My Dreams’ album)
‘Saturday Night With The London Set’ (from 2019 ‘Green’ album)
‘Woodwide Web’ (from 2022 ‘Drawing On My Dreams’ album)
‘A Good Life With A Bad Apple’ (from 2019 ‘Green’ album)
‘At The Bathing Pond’ (from 2019 ‘Green’ album)
Helen McCookerybook & James McCallum Chefs set:
‘Food’ (from 1979 ‘Vaultage 79 (Another Two Sides Of Brighton)’ compilation album)
‘Let’s Make Up’ (from 1981 ‘24 Hours’ single)
‘Records And Tea’ (from 1980 ‘The Chefs’ EP)
‘24 Hours’ (from 1981 ‘24 Hours’ single)
Helen McCookerybook solo encore:
‘Beachwalk’ (from 2022 ‘Drawing On My Dreams’ album)
helenmccookerybook.bandcamp.com
Ever wondered what the artist’s take on their night might have been? Well Helen has kindly allowed us to reproduce her account. Enjoy and read it HERE.
