PETER AND THE TEST TUBE BABIES + TOO MANY CROOKS + LONG TALL TEXANS – MID SUSSEX MUSIC HALL, HASSOCKS 8.9.24
When one of a certain age thinks of the Music Hall greats, then Bud Flanagan (1896-1968) and Chesney Allen (1894-1982) surely may spring to mind as arguably the most famous singing and comedy double act of their era. Wind the clocks forward to the present day and if the folk situated in Mid Sussex believe that they are going to participate in Sunday cream teas with cucumber sandwiches with the crusts cut off and Earl Grey in china tea cups, then they’ve got another thing coming! This evening signifies the reunion of punk’s famed singing and comedy double act in the form of Peter Bywaters and Del Strangefish!
Back in the fold for this concert at the criminally underused Mid Sussex Music Hall, we have the return of Peter And The Test Tube Babies main songwriter in Del Strangefish, who now rarely tours with the band. There’s also another special reunion as part of their encore, more on that shortly.
Meanwhile, I’m guessing that many of you aren’t aware of Mid Sussex Music Hall. Well it’s actually tucked behind and joined to the Hassocks Hotel pub which is found on Station Approach East and is physically (and ideally) located in the car park of Hassocks Railway Station. Trains from Brighton Station take a mere 6 or 7 minutes to arrive and currently cost £5.90 return. The venue has a standing capacity of 240, which isn’t quite reached today, but it sold well past that of say The Prince Albert, which caters for around half of that. Even if the event is a seated one, then the Music Hall can still fit in 140 people. They have recently installed new lights and theatre curtains. They being Jim Brighthelmstone and his team, who took over the running of the place two weeks before covid dropped! So today’s event was jointly organised by Brighthelmstone and Trailblazer.
This event is an unusually early starting one, so I forced down a large meal prior to setting off in order that it would carry me right through the evening. Doors were open at 5pm and the first of three differing acts were on at 6pm. On my first ever arrival here, I was greeted by a wonderful smell emanating from the site, this was the Simply Tasty pie and mash van that was located outside the venue. If I had known about this then I would have purchased a handmade traditional steak and ale pie with mash…yummy! I made my way around the side of the pub and noticed a sizeable t-shirt and merch tent which was drawing some interest from the folk milling around with their £5 pints in hand! Harveys for a fiver…rude not to!
Our entertainment commenced at 6pm with a 55 minute 18 track set from local legends Long Tall Texans. Yes this is correct 18 tunes from the openers! In fact, in total, the lucky punters present would be listening to no less than 54 tunes across three hours and eight minutes of live music this evening, which is very impressive and one which justifies the slightly higher than normal ticket price of £23.50 in advance or £30 on the door. This equates to a maximum of 56p per tune!
It’s been probably decades since I’ve seen the Long Tall Texans and as far as I recall, we haven’t actually reviewed them before, which is pretty amazing! Psychobilly tunes are this trio’s specialty and that’s what they have been promoting since their inception back in 1982 when the then 16-year-old Mark Carew got his hands on a double bass. Eventually Anthony (Theo) Theodotou took up the drumsticks for the band and guitarist Mark ‘Boggles’ Denman was on the case too, but tonight it’s a guy called Laurence on Fender guitar instead. Carew is on lead vocals and Theo is on backing vocals.
Even before the lads play a note, it’s reasonably warm in the hall and so after delivering their opener, ‘It Really Doesn’t Bother Me’, Carew relieves himself of his shirt and they launch into ‘Indians’. There are more and more folk entering the room and it surprisingly becomes quite packed, clearly LTT have quite a cult following! I was talking with one of the promoters prior to the set and it seems quite a contingent have come up from Brighton today, as well as the remainder from elsewhere in the county.
‘Sex & Beer & Psychobilly’, ‘Saints And Sinners’ and ‘Poormans Poison’ fly by and there’s a growing group of people bopping away at the front, with slightly more women than men. They are all having a fab time and unlike days of old, there is now virtually no arms akimbo and flailing legs in the psychobilly moshpit. It’s all rather civilized….well I guess we are in Mid Sussex.
LTT have been on the case for several decades now and it appears there’s no drop off in energy levels. The tunes come hard and fast and Carew always carries a beaming smile as he plays for us. Clearly it’s still exciting stuff for Sussex’s answer to The Stray Cats. My choice cut from their set was ‘Bloody’ and at 6:55pm they were done! They could have had another 5 minutes if they wanted to, but that was job done!
Long Tall Texans:
Mark Carew – double bass
Anthony (Theo) Theodotou – drums
Laurence – guitar
Long Tall Texans setlist:
‘It Really Doesn’t Bother Me’
‘Indians’
‘Sex & Beer & Psychobilly’
‘Saints And Sinners’
‘Poormans Poison’
‘Say When’
‘Jap Song’
‘Border Radio’
‘Country Medley’
‘Nine Days Wonder’
‘Low Down’
‘Right Time First Time’
‘Bloody’
‘Get Back Wetback’
‘I’ve Seen Her’
‘Breakaway’
‘Long Tall Texans’
‘What Part Of F*ck Off Don’t You Understand?’
After a 35 minute hiatus for liquid refreshment and various exchanges of banter, the live music was back! This time it was the turn of Brighton based Too Many Crooks who I last saw in action at Attila The Stockbroker’s ‘Glastonwick’ festival back in 2019. This tuneful 7-piece ska outfit were formed following a Bad Manners gig in Brighton around 40 years ago. In fact saxophonist Alan Perry actually played with Bad Manners for a while, as we learned this evening. They have released 6 albums (the latest appearing in 2020) and provided 4 songs for the soundtrack of the British film ‘Baby Juice Express’. They also played on the 2006 single by Seagulls Ska in support of Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club.
Too Many Crooks are essentially a group of friends who felt that Ska music needed to be dragged kicking and screaming into the next millennium if it was ever going to haul itself out of the underground, where it had been left to fester since the end of the Two-Tone Era. They are this evening on the case and give us 17 tunes across the 65 minutes from 7:30pm to 8:35pm. The Mid Sussex Music Hall stage is a reasonable size, but when you get a bouncing septet on it, then it gets a little comfy for the aforementioned Alan Perry (saxophone/vocals) and his chums, who are Dave Cook (guitar/vocals), Tony Fish (trumpet), Paul Mumford (baritone sax), Bradley Tullet (Nord Electro 6 keys), Sean Cox (bass) and to the rear M. M. McGhee (drums).
It goes without saying, but these lads certainly know how to get a room moving, even if they did decide to drop a handful of tunes due to time constraints. I’m not sure what the subject matter is for all of their tunes, but they all sound uplifting and an outfit who are spreading their joy right across the centre of Sussex. There’s is a dark comedy element though, as ‘One More Day’ was penned about Alan Perry’s heart attack so he told us, to which Dave Cook jokingly observed “I’m surprised there isn’t a St John’s outside with the age of the bands on here tonight”, this as you would expect achieved quite a number of chortles from the crowd including yours truly.
They even brought in a Mambo vibe in the form of ‘And The Girl’, which had a number of women dancing at the front. Their final trio of tunes were rather decent, the first of which being ‘Mafia’, which Perry informed us that he had written the instrumental tune for Bad Manners, but they passed up on the opportunity! The bad luck continued as during the tune Sean Cox got a little over enthusiastic and totally broke one of his four bass guitar strings, and had to finish off the remaining two tunes on just three chords. The first of these being the self titled ‘Too Many Crooks’. Interestingly the Long Tall Texans penultimate tune had also carried that band’s name. For the record, there is currently no song called Peter And The Test Tube Babies…over to you then Del. “Parking meter” rhymes with “barking Peter”, “fresh lube” rhymes with “test tube”, and “Scabies” rhymes with “babies”, so there’s three starters for you!
Too Many Crooks signed off with the comical ‘Scream Like A Baby’ and that was it! If you are a fan of Madness, The Specials, The Selecter, The Beat and the aforementioned Bad Manners, then Too Many Crooks are worthy of a check out for you. They really seemed as though they were having a wonderful time playing for us.
Too Many Crooks:
Dave Cook – guitar/vocals
Alan Perry – saxophone/vocals
Tony Fish – trumpet
Paul Mumford – baritone sax
Bradley Tullet – keys
Sean Cox – bass
M. McGhee – drums
Too Many Crooks setlist:
‘Plague For Today’
‘Salvation’
‘Boom! Boom!’
‘Peanut Butter’
‘Get Up, Get Out’
‘Happy Song’
‘Jack The Lad’
‘Headline’
‘Behind You’
‘One More Day’
‘And The Girl’
‘Kiss’
‘Rock Bottom’
‘Crazy’
‘Mafia’
‘Too Many Crooks’
‘Scream Like A Baby’
www.instagram.com/too_many_crooks
After a mere 22 minute wait, it was back early for the headlining set from those loveable ‘Peacehaven Wild Kids’…Peter And The Test Tube Babies, who I suspect that I might have seen live more than any other band across my 46 years of continual gigging. This being on account that back in the day, they were nearly always found on the bill supporting the larger touring punk bands, and as you know, I always check out all the bands on the bill. This has certainly paid dividends down the years, there’s a whole host of now famous acts that I’ve witnessed in support slots! But weren’t not going to name them just now as we have to discuss The Test Tubes 67 minute 19 track set.
I’m not suggesting that the menacing but smiley frontman Peter and his chums wanted to get on with it, but they kicked off 3 minutes early. They simply got on stage, picked up their instruments and they were off. I had for about a minute thought that they were running through ‘Keep Britain Untidy’ as a soundcheck, but when it finished and they carried on with ‘Run Like Hell’, clearly this wasn’t the case! I suppose it’s the punk mentality of just getting up there and doing your thing, and if it doesn’t quite work, then sod it who cares!
It’s great to see both founder member bestie chums (cough cough) Peter Bywaters and Del Strangefish up on the same stage again this evening. Del, who has decided to step back from touring, has been busying himself of late, having just released his debut solo album ‘Clocking Out’, which I have got to be totally honest in saying that it’s even better than I thought it was going to be! He played an intimate album release show for it back in April – Read our account HERE. If you missed it then Del will be having an album launch show at The Prince Albert in Brighton on Saturday 26th October from 2:30pm to 5:00pm. Tickets are on sale and are available HERE. He also wrote his autobiography ‘Jinxed: How To Not Rock ‘N’ Roll’ under his own name, Del Greening, which is a fabulous read – Find your copy HERE.
The Test Tubes came together back in 1978 when the then 17 year old punks Peter Bywaters and Del Strangefish decided to liven up Peacehaven and thus Anarchy Ranch was born. After a couple of rehearsals they made their first recording, ‘Elvis Is Dead’, which appeared on the ‘Vaultage ‘78’ compilation of Brighton new wave bands. Radio 1’s iconic and sadly missed DJ John Peel loved the song instantly, a John Peel session with the Test Tube Babies swiftly followed. The success was breathtaking and Peter And The Test Tube Babies became one of the hottest unsigned bands in the UK overnight.
The first single ‘Banned From The Pubs’ which was met with great enthusiasm followed and fans and press freaked out in equal measure. From that moment everything went crazy, sold out concert halls in the UK and Europe and their big success in the media pushed their debut album ‘Pissed And Proud’ to No.1 in the UK independent charts. Directly after that ‘The Mating Sounds Of South American Frogs’ was released – a must have for every record collection – and sold more than 100,000 copies, resulting in invitations from far and wide. The Test Tube Babies played shows all over the world and cemented their status as one of the most brilliant and funniest live bands in punk rock culture. They also had the honour to represent the United Kingdom at the historical MTV East/West party to celebrate the fall of the Berlin wall.
The band line-up may have changed over the intervening 46 years…. Yes I know right, forty-six years!!! … but although their live sets don’t really tend to change much these days, they know what the punk faithful want and they certainly deliver! Ever present is that manic smile from Peter, the driving bass and drums, and power based guitar is still all there, as we will see this evening.
As always there’s Peter Bywaters on vocals, plus Del Strangefish on guitar/backing vocals, Andy Aggro on bass and Sam Griffin Fuller on drums, and having got ‘Keep Britain Untidy’ and ‘Run Like Hell’ out the way they launched into ‘The Jinx!’ and followed that with ‘Never Made It’, which always raises a smile, especially with those that have never heard it before, toilet humour indeed, which carries on with the eventual arrival of both ‘In Yer Face’ and Up Yer Bum’. With ‘The Test Tubes’, you can always guarantee near the knuckle humour flowing out of frontman Peter’s mouth. It’s always meant in jest but is laced with an element of truth.
‘Spirit Of Keith Moon’, ‘None Of your F*cking Business’ and ‘Facebook Loser’ (being about folk continually on their mobile phones), gave way for the arguably superior quartet that is ‘Moped Lads’, ‘Maniac’, ‘Banned From The Pubs’ and ‘Blown Out Again’. ‘Moped Lads’ is a comical number still, but the Anti-Nowhere League-ish ‘Maniac’ is possibly a tad questionable these days, but I guess it’s in jest. But maybe it’s a prelude to the fans favourite Test Tubes number in, ‘Banned From The Pubs’, which got the most boisterous moshpit of the night! Most of their tracks are suitably punk in length, but occasionally they stray into mid 1970’s rock overindulgent mode with longer tunes, one of these being set closer ‘Blown Out Again’.
It had yet again been an enjoyable set and the punters cried for more and were rewarded with a trio of cuts, the first of which being rather special, as former Test Tube bassist Paul ‘H’ Henrickson was in the house, and took to the stage for ‘Intensive Care’, which is something that he knows all about, as back in 2019 he unfortunately had to have his right leg amputated as well as suffering from other major conditions. I’m pleased to report that he hasn’t forgotten the chords! Their penultimate offer was the comical ‘Elvis Is Dead’ and they signed off with another long number, in ‘September’ which sees Peter vacate the stage (and his box of cider tinnies) half way through, whilst Andy, Sam and Del do their thang!
I’m very pleased that I came to the Mid Sussex Music Hall for the first time tonight and I truly hope that the promoters get organised and book in many more similar concerts as the place has a great atmosphere!
The Peter And The Test Tube Babies:
Peter Bywaters – vocals
Del Strangefish – guitar/backing vocals
Andy Aggro – bass
Sam Griffin Fuller – drums
Paul ‘H’ Henrickson – guest bassist
The Peter And The Test Tube Babies setlist:
‘Keep Britain Untidy’
‘Run Like Hell’
‘The Jinx!’
‘Never Made It’
’My Unlucky Day’
‘U Bore Me’
‘Every Second Counts’
‘In Yer Face’
Up Yer Bum’
‘Spirit Of Keith Moon’
‘None Of your F*cking Business’
‘Facebook Loser’
‘Moped Lads’
‘Maniac’
‘Banned From The Pubs’
‘Blown Out Again’
(encore)
‘Intensive Care’
‘Elvis Is Dead’
’September’
