DEL ‘STRANGEFISH’ GREENING – THE PRINCE ALBERT, BRIGHTON 16.4.23
Del Greening (aka Del Strangefish) is a founding member of the punk band Peter And The Test Tube Babies, and also a former member of Flesh For Lulu. The purpose of today’s event at The Prince Albert pub in Brighton is to celebrate the launch of Del’s book ‘Jinxed: How Not To Rock’n’Roll’. It shall be part interview, part gig, part Q&A with other shenanigans thrown in, and it will be very entertaining, not to mention hilarious, and there will be books on sale. Just you wait and see.
Proceedings begin with a very witty (not to mention irreverent) introduction from Jimmy Skurvi of Brighton punk Skurvi. Jimmy co-hosts a punk rock radio show with Del on Radio Reverb and at Rebellion Radio. Jimmy asks Del if he has any humourous stories from his musical career. Del confirms that he has. Can we have any examples? Read about them in the book says Del. They’re on sale at the back of the room, we are told, not for the first time this afternoon!
Del is more forthcoming about Flesh For Lulu. They have an unreleased album from 1990 coming out next month. Del found the tapes in his loft. The album features late Flesh For Lulu vocalist and guitarist Nick Marsh, and is entitled ‘Cosmic Mindf*ck’, as that is the title that Nick had written on the tapes.
We then have the first instalment of the afternoon’s live music, when Del puts on a Gibson Les Paul with a very cool CBGBs guitar strap. The first song is ‘Elvis Is Dead’, which was written in 1978, and featured on Peter And The Test Tube Babies’ debut album ‘P*ssed and Proud’ from 1982. It does not exactly mourn the passing of ‘the King of rock ‘n’ roll’. Indeed, many 1950s music fans would have found it somewhat offensive. This particular reaction is covered in the next song ‘Intensive Care’, also from the same album. ‘Intensive Care’ is about being beaten up (repeatedly) by teddy boys and ending up in hospital. I sincerely hope that the song isn’t autobiographical, although Del does tell us that “some songs have consequences”.
Del’s next offering is ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Is Sh*t’ from 1985’s ‘The Loud Blaring Punk Rock LP’. Thankfully this time the lyrics don’t seem to specifically insult 1950s music, but are rather more self-effacing. So hopefully no beatings resulted from this one! ‘My Unlucky Day’ is a more recent effort, from the ‘A Foot Full Of Bullets’ released in 2005. This is about being in a relationship with a woman and ending up married. The situation sounds nightmarish!!! Maybe it is sometimes.
There next follows a question and answer session with the audience. This is a bit disappointing as by and large the questions are pretty tame. Maybe it should have been scheduled for later when people had had more to drink. So we return to live music with ‘Style’, which is about former Test Tube Babies bassist Chris “Trapper” Marchant, about whom there are many stories in the book apparently. This is followed by ‘Every Time I See Her’ from ‘Soberphobia’ (1986) which is about being in a relationship with an alcoholic. Unsurprisingly this potentially serious subject is covered with a great deal of dry humour. The next song brings us even more up to date with the saga of Peter And The Test Tube Babies. It is ‘Silicone Beer Gut’, from the album ‘That Shallot’ (geddit?) released in 2017. The song is about a young punk called Johnny who wanted to be fat and disgusting like his heroes, and so had a silicone beer gut implanted. He eventually died as a result. I have been assured that this is indeed a true story…..
Next up, we have a competition: Name Drop Darts. Honestly, I can’t believe that Del and Jimmy haven’t tried to capitalise further on this – there are certainly worse programmes on TV. This game is simple and cheap – in every way. So simple in fact that it probably borders on genius. A board is unveiled bearing photographs of a number of celebrities. Volunteers are called onstage to throw darts at the celebrities’ photographs, and whichever celebrity’s photograph is hit, Del will tell a story about them. The celebrities that have the beans spilled about them are Paris Hilton, Ronnie Corbett and Simon Le Bon. The stories??? They’re in the book. All I can tell you is that Del’s lawyers strongly advised him not to mention Simon Le Bon by name, although there are plenty of strong hints regarding his identity in the book.
Further possible forays in the direction of slander and libel (that would be in the book) are avoided with a final (terminal?) dose of live music. We get ‘All About Love’, another track from the ‘Soberphobia’ album. This features one row of the audience singing backing vocals, as one of them waves her lighter in the air. It’s almost enough to bring a lump to your throat. Almost. Next up we have a bona fide hit: ‘Banned From The Pubs’, about the popularity that punks enjoyed with pub landlords.
And that’s about it, apart from the books being signed (they were available at the back of the room, as we were told approximately every seven minutes). I have to say, this has been one of the most entertaining and amusing Sunday afternoons that I’ve had for a very long time. And yes, I did buy a book: with my own money too. You can purchase your copy HERE.
