SKIDS + AU PAIRS – CHALK, BRIGHTON 31.1.26
Scottish punk rock/new wave band the Skids were back in action in Brighton this evening. Having originally formed in 1977 in their home town of Dunfermline, the Skids debut 3-track release hit an unsuspecting world on 24th February 1978 on the Scottish punk label ‘No Bad’. The independent single was played by legendary DJ John Peel, and the Skids went on to support The Clash in concert. They were then signed to Virgin Records in 1978, with their first major label singles being ‘Sweet Suburbia’, ‘The Saints Are Coming’ and ‘Into The Valley’ with the latter reaching the UK Top Ten in early 1979.
Their seminal debut album ‘Scared To Dance’ came out on 23rd February 1979 and was quickly followed by two chart singles – ‘Masquerade’ and ‘Working For The Yankee Dollar’. Both singles were taken from the Bill Nelson (Be Bop Deluxe) produced second album ‘Days In Europa’. The album also featured new member Rusty Egan of Rich Kids and Visage fame, after the departure of Tom Kellichan.
The band’s third album release was ‘The Absolute Game’ (1980), which features singles ‘Circus Games’, ‘Goodbye Civilian’ and ‘Woman in Winter’, and it peaked at No.9 on the UK album charts, no doubt assisted by the fact that initial copies came with a limited edition second disc entitled ‘Strength Through Joy’, which was a collection of material recorded during ‘The Absolute Game’ sessions but omitted from the album.
One more album followed, this being ‘Joy’ (1981) before they decided to call it a day. Stuart Adamson went on to have worldwide success with his new band Big Country. Richard Jobson then resurrected the Skids name once more from 2007 to 2010, and then again in 2016, and they have thankfully been on the case ever since.
Last July, the band announced that they would be performing a number of dates across the country in celebration of their ‘The Absolute Game’ album and Chalk in Brighton was listed. At that time the tour flyer simply stated “Special Guests” and so I guessed that it was “quite likely to be a band on a similar level to the Skids”. I was indeed correct as the Au Pairs were eventually added to the tour, which seriously ramped up the interest in certain quarters!
Post punk outfit the Au Pairs were formed in Birmingham back in 1978 and they comprised Lesley Woods (guitar, vocals), Paul Foad (guitar, vocals), Jane Munro (bass) plus Pete Hammond (drums) and the band released a couple of studio albums, ‘Playing With A Different Sex’ in 1981 and ‘Sense And Sensuality’ in 1982, as well as a handful of singles: ‘You’ in 1979, ‘Diet’ / ‘Its Obvious’ in 1980, ‘Inconvenience’ and ‘Headache (For Michelle)’ both in 1981, and finally ‘Sex Without Stress’ in 1982.
During their time together the band members also recorded four John Peel Sessions and this is where I was originally made aware of their music. For the completists among you these were: ‘Pretty Boy’ / ‘Ideal Woman’ / ‘Monogamy’ / ‘Come Again’ (first broadcast 9th October 1979); ‘Dear John’ / ‘The Love Song’ / ‘It’s Obvious’ / ‘Repetition’ (first broadcast 12th June 1980); ‘We’re So Cool’ / ‘Headache For Michelle’ / ‘The Setup’ (first broadcast 28th January 1981); and ‘America’ / ‘Steppin Out Of Line’ / ‘Sex Without Stress’ (first broadcast 31st March 1982).
They were scheduled to record a third album in 1983 with producer Steve Lillywhite but the band called it a day and went their separate ways. Lesley Woods was the lyricist in the band and last year she got back in touch with her former bandmates in order to get the Au Pairs back together again. Sadly they declined, but Woods trademarked the band name and has this year began touring with new musicians, these being Estella Adeyeri of Big Joanie, and Thurston Moore Group’s Jem Doulton and Alex Ward. Suffice to say that Foad, Munro and Hammond aren’t best pleased about this, but as Woods also works as a lawyer in London, it could be an uphill battle for the former members! Moving on….
As far as I recall, the Au Pairs have only previously played live in Brighton once before and that was up at the University Of Sussex on 17th May 1980. I was therefore certainly not going to miss out on catching the (new) band’s performance at Chalk and so once I was in receipt of the set times this evening for this concert as well as The Molotovs at Resident, it was evident that I wouldn’t be able to successfully attend both events and catch all of the songs. Thus The Molotovs was passed onto a friend who has reviewed it HERE.
I arrived at Chalk in plenty of time in order to grab some liquid refreshment and toddle down to the centre front of the venue, where I spied a copy of the Au Pairs setlist on the stage. I grabbed a shot of it, but it seems that the band didn’t exactly stick to this. Neither did the Skids, for theirs as that was showing a mere 11 tunes with the possibility of 2 encore tunes, which is short for the band. I was a tad anxious about this, but all will be revealed in due course.
The Au Pairs took to the stage all clad in black at 7:29pm and we were in their company for the next 48 minutes until 8:17pm. Surprisingly, founding member Woods was positioned to our left (stage right) instead of being centre stage, with that slot going to Adeyeri on bass, and guitarist Ward was to her left (our right) and behind the trio was Doulton on drums. It is evidently clear that quite a large number of punters that are positioned around me are primarily here to watch the Au Pairs, and so the mood is very positive throughout their set. This as far as I could tell, more than likely comprised no less than nine of the ten tracks from the debut ‘Playing With A Different Sex’ album, as well as two early singles and a lone new composition. We are actually informed during the performance by Woods that they have further new material, but with their set only lasting a proposed 45 minutes, that there wouldn’t be enough time in order to also play these newbies.
According to the setlist, they open with ‘Come Again’ which very much lays down the post punk theme of the set. Immediately their sound reminds me of when I saw the Gang Of Four at ‘Rock On The Tyne Festival’ on 31st July 1982. This was a very special event, which also featured Lords Of The New Church, The Beat, U2 and The Police. Vocally however, the Au Pairs tonight remind me of Poly Styrene of X-Ray Spex fame, and so with a mixture of Gang Of Four and X-Ray Spex, they are certainly a big winner for me! One tune down and Woods states “Thank you. You can dance, you know!”. The Gang Of Four sound laden ‘Love Song’ from the debut album is next and is followed by the funkier vibed ‘We’re So Cool’. Already, they are a tight outfit and they are clearly winning further fans.
Woods next informs us that the next track is titled ‘Repetition’ and that it was written by David Bowie and is “about wife battering in America”. The original version was released on his 1979 ‘Lodger’ album, and it also crops up on two 2020 albums, the ‘ChangesNowBowie’ compilation album as well as the ‘Something In The Air (Live Paris 99)’ album. Tonight’s version is delivered at a slower pace than the previous trio of tunes and benefits from a decent bass and drums slight reggae vibed beat. The jaunty ‘Dear John’ is the next offering and this reminds me of early Scritti Politti as well as the Gang Of Four and X-Ray Spex. Moving forward after the sluggish ‘Diet’ we are treated to ‘Armagh’ which livens up proceedings with the speedy skippy drum beat and top bass guitar notes and The Slits also come to mind. Several times throughout the set Woods and Ward offer up joint vocals which works well, especially on this one. It’s the first of their set highlights. The mood is again slowed for the bass and drums comboed ‘Headache (For Michelle)’.
The sole new composition comes next, this being ‘You Are In The Wrong Body’ which has some notable guitar action, and it sat well within the other material. The future is bright if this is anything to go by! The band introductions follow. The popular ‘Unfinished Business’ bopped along nicely with its quick guitar strum and was clearly a crowd favourite, and another set highlight for yours truly. Their penultimate selection was ‘It’s Obvious’ which benefitted from double guitar strings, bouncy drums and solid bass, and was obviously another set highlight. There was time for one final number and so the quartet shoehorned in the solid speedy punk X-Ray Spex vibed ‘You’ single, which was arguably the best in the set. So in summing up, a band I would definitely love to see live again!
Au Pairs:
Lesley Woods – lead vocals, guitar
Alex Ward – guitar, vocals
Estella Adeyeri – bass, vocals
Jem Doulton – drums
Au Pairs setlist:
‘Come Again’ (from 1981 ‘Playing With A Different Sex’ album)
‘Love Song’ (from 1981 ‘Playing With A Different Sex’ album)
‘We’re So Cool’ (from 1981 ‘Playing With A Different Sex’ album)
‘Repetition’ (David Bowie cover) (from 1981 ‘Playing With A Different Sex’ album)
‘Dear John’ (from 1981 ‘Playing With A Different Sex’ album)
‘Diet’ (from 1980 ‘Diet’ / ‘It’s Obvious’ single)
‘Armagh’ (from 1981 ‘Playing With A Different Sex’ album)
‘Headache (For Michelle)’ (from 1981 ‘Playing With A Different Sex’ album)
‘You Are In The Wrong Body’ (new unreleased tune)
‘Unfinished Business’ (from 1981 ‘Playing With A Different Sex’ album)
‘It’s Obvious’ (from 1981 ‘Playing With A Different Sex’ album)
‘You’ (a 1979 single)
After a 22 minute hiatus from live music, a loud backing tape began to ring out across the venue. This musical selection is ‘The Bell Jar’ from the Skids 1980 ‘Strength Through Joy’ album which came free as a limited edition with ‘The Absolute Game’ album. It’s not the best introduction tune ever, but it serves its purpose this evening. Like the Au Pairs, the Skids quartet are also all clad in black, with 65 year old Duracell energied boxing/dancing frontman Richard Jobson sporting a St Pauli t-shirt. As stated above, I’m a tad apprehensive about what we are to receive tonight from the band as their setlists on stage are looking rather scant, with only 11 tunes listed with a possible couple of others as encore tunes. As the Skids are celebrating 1980’s ‘The Absolute Game’ album, it appears that a majority of the set will be culled from this record, with only ‘The Children Saw The Shame’ and ‘The Devils Decade’ being omitted. It’s fair to say that down the years they haven’t really plundered the vinyl at previous live encounters, and so it’s a chance to catch some rarities.
This evening the band comprise Richard Jobson (lead vocals), Connor Whyte (guitar, vocals), Peter Byrchmore (bass, vocals) and Nick Hernandez (drums). Jobson informs us that they are celebrating ‘The Absolute Game’ (which became their most commercially successful album, reaching No. 9 in the UK Albums Chart) and he added that this featured Stuart Adamson (RIP) “at his absolute best”. It’s 8:39pm and they are away with eight in a row from the record, with the first of these being ‘Happy To Be With You’. Hmmm from where I’m standing, centre-front right below Jobson, the sound mix isn’t right. It was for the Au Pairs, but now it’s all wrong! Jobson’s cordless microphone is being given a shake as he worryingly looks at it. The vocals are being drowned out by the rumbly bass. Indeed this carries on all the way through the set. In frustration, my friend moves further back and then messages me to state that the sound is much better only a few feet back. But as I’m looking after our photographer’s kit, I have no option in moving back, plus I prefer to be right in amongst the action.
Tune finished and Robson jokingly says “I see there are young people here….. aged 56!”. They then perform the superior ‘Out Of Town’ with its earworm chorus of “Need to run, need to hide; ‘Cause I’m out of town, out of town; Out of town, out of town, out of town”. ‘One Decree’ is up next and is eclipsed by the first of the three singles released from ‘The Absolute Game’, this being ‘Circus Games’ which climbed to No.32 in the UK Singles Chart. Robson informs us that this was the last tune that he wrote together with Adamson.
The lyrics of “Hurry on boys, the show’s for free (hurry on boys, hurry on boys)” ring out across the room as they set about conquering ‘Hurry On Boys’. ‘A Woman In Winter’ single is next with its iconic “Oh, oh, oh, oh” chorus, which goes down well. After this Robson tells us that they never played ‘Goodbye Civilian’ back in the day, but they played it last night and he jokingly said “it was shit”. The musical tempo was increased with this arrival. However the slower ‘Arena’ brought the pace down somewhat and this was the final cut from ‘The Absolute Game’. This has an almost Siouxsie & The Banshees style guitar sound, and arguably signalled what was to come later with Adamson’s Big Country.
To be honest, I got into the Skids when I purchased the 12” ‘Wide Open’ EP back in 1978, which famously contains ‘The Saints Are Coming’ as the lead tune, which, as Robson reminds us, was covered by both U2 and Green Day. This thankfully is the next offering and for yours truly signals an upturn for the night as I wasn’t a great fan of ‘The Absolute Game’ as it was the first Skids album back in the day that I didn’t purchase. I had eagerly purchased both 1979’s ‘Scared To Dance’ and ‘Days In Europa’ but after that my allegiances had moved elsewhere.
Their 1979 ‘Masquerade’ single came next, and one which I snapped up at the time as the limited edition double 7” pack, which featured ‘Masquerade’, ‘Out Of Town’, ‘Another Emotion’ and ‘Aftermath Dub’. This was a solid body of work that was aided by Bill Nelson on keys. Robson then mentioned that back in the day, the band had played a number of matinee concerts at schools under the banner of “Skids For Kids” and that one of these took place in Brighton. Although he didn’t mention which school, I know it was at Longhill.
Their signature track was up next, this being the iconic ‘Into The Valley’ single from 1979’s ‘Scared To Dance’ album. A track I’ve yet to get bored of, with its impressive top bass note intro, which this evening is let loose from Byrchmore’s Rickenbacker. According to the setlist, this was to be the tune before they went off stage, and then to return to play the comedy ‘TV Stars’ from 1979’s ‘Into The Valley’ single, which Robson always refers as “the shittest song ever written” and their ‘Working For The Yankee Dollar’ single, which Robson commented that he wrote the words when he was 15 and yet they are more relevant now than ever. But thankfully the lads stayed put and simply got on with playing them. After these they threw in a couple of extra tracks. These were
‘Of One Skin’ from ‘Scared To Dance’ and their debut single ‘Charles’ from 1978. The quartet then left the stage and many fans, including myself, started preparing to vacate the venue, but then surprisingly they returned and offloaded ‘The Olympian’ from ‘Days In Europa’ as well as a surprise cover of ‘Complete Control’ by The Clash. They had thankfully taken us right up to 9:58pm and so in the end we received a 79 minute set. In summary, I have been to a number of better Skids gigs, but it was a good night out, especially with the inclusion of the Au Pairs.
Skids:
Richard Jobson – lead vocals
Connor Whyte – guitar, vocals
Peter Byrchmore – bass, vocals
Nick Hernandez – drums
Skids setlist:
(Intro tape) ‘The Bell Jar’ (from 1980 ‘Strength Through Joy’ album which came free with ‘The Absolute Game’ album)
‘Happy To Be With You’ (from 1980 ‘The Absolute Game’ album)
‘Out Of Town’ (from 1980 ‘The Absolute Game’ album)
‘One Decree’ (from 1980 ‘The Absolute Game’ album)
‘Circus Games’ (from 1980 ‘The Absolute Game’ album)
‘Hurry On Boys’ (from 1980 ‘The Absolute Game’ album)
‘A Woman In Winter’ (from 1980 ‘The Absolute Game’ album)
‘Goodbye Civilian’ (from 1980 ‘The Absolute Game’ album)
‘Arena’ (from 1980 ‘The Absolute Game’ album)
‘The Saints Are Coming’ (from 1978 ‘Wide Open’ EP)
‘Masquerade’ (a 1979 single)
‘Into The Valley’ (from 1979 ‘Scared To Dance’ album)
‘TV Stars’ (from 1979 ‘Into The Valley’ single)
‘Working For The Yankee Dollar’ (from 1979 ‘Days In Europa’ album)
‘Of One Skin’ (from 1979 ‘Scared To Dance’ album)
‘Charles’ (from 1978 ‘Charles’ EP)
(encore)
‘The Olympian’ (from 1979 ‘Days In Europa’ album)
‘Complete Control’ (The Clash cover)
