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Flawed is Beautiful on PledgeMusic

Read More These Animal Men Two of the most popular New Wave of New Wave punk bands These Animal Men and S*M*A*S*H recently played at Heaven in London on September 11th. This is TAM's first show in twenty years! … S*M*A*S*H Just a quick note on that S*M*A*S*H / NxtGen Split Single Launch, taking place 29 March 2014 at The Portland Arms in Cambridge. As I suspected, the lyrics …

You know I'm a huge S*M*A*S*H and love These Animal Men (TAM), so I was pretty excited to hear about the documentary Flawed Is Beautiful about the two bands (and the whole "New Wave of New Wave" movement in the UK).

Even if you couldn't care less about punk music or NWONW, you should really appreciate the fact that the film reunited these two bands together under one bill to play at Heaven in London last 11 September 2015 (with TAM's first live show in 20 years!)

I have not seen the film, but I did live through it ... at least via Melody Maker and NME and buying all the singles I could get my hands on: S*M*A*S*H, These Animal Men, Compulsion, Elastica, Sleeper, etc. So I feel I know a little bit about the story of how it happened. Eventually some of these bands graduated to what is known as Britpop.

If you want to know more about S*M*A*S*H, check out this exclusive interview with singer/songwriter Ed Borrie from January 2015.

If you want to own Flawed Is Beautiful on DVD (sorry, no Bluray) the filmmaker has launched a PledgeMusic Campaign. If they don't reach their asking goal then the film will not be made available to the public to own. Typical of these UK-based projects, it seems expensive to buy and ship the U.S.A. ($43 for the standard boxset), but may be worth it if you are a diehard fan.

The boxset is limited to 1,000 copies. The 2 DVD set will include some commentary and TV and live show performances. It also includes two rarities CDs and a 48-page book.

I have about three months to decide what to get, but come January, I may just splash out and pay about $70 to get my name in the film. Since I'm somewhat gainfully employed, I will support the artists I love.

Note about the (new) artwork, I believe it is drawn by Sue Doe, in the style of the old S*M*A*S*H cover artwork and is a recreation of These Animal Men's (Come On Join) The High Society album. Of course, if you live in the USA, you may not recognize it, as we got a different cover, featuring Julian Hewings holding up boxing gloves with the American flag. I still have my copy (along with Taxi for These Animal Men and Too Sussed?) somewhere in one of 10 CD boxes in my basement.

S*M*A*S*H will be playing live at Gigantic Indie All Dayer Vol 3 in Manchester with headliner The Wonder Stuff on 28 May 2016.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

Looking Back: September 2015

Read More Ride Legendary shoegazing band Ride will be headlining Mill City Nights next Tuesday, September 29th. After the British band broke up in 1996, founding band member Andy Bell went on to … These Animal Men Two of the most popular New Wave of New Wave punk bands These Animal Men and S*M*A*S*H recently played at Heaven in London on September 11th. This is TAM's first show in twenty years! … Jenny Hval Norwegian singer, and performance artist, Jenny Hval recently brought her Apocalypse, girl show to Minneapolis' 7th Street Entry on Tuesday, September 1st. … The Maine I've seen The Maine many times before. Last time I went to their show, I wrote about how maybe a concert is just an excuse for the feeling of nostalgia. I was back on the hunt … The Adicts Closing out the show was UK's The Adicts (aka ADX). This was an odd pairing, as there were little crossover fans of rockabilly and punk music. Still, it was pretty exciting to see the band's first ...

Here is the wrap-up for last month: September 2015.

It's a record-breaking September! We covered a whopping 45 shows for the month, with the last day of the month being one of busiest!

Awards:

Busiest Day goes to September 12th for five shows: Damian Marley at Cabooze, The Coathangers at Triple Rock, Low at Electric Fetus (a full set!), Tommy Stinson (The Replacements) at Turf Club, and Vintage Trouble at Mill City.

Best Music Festival in the area has to go to Trampled by Turtle's Festival Palomino (09/19). Technically, we only covered one Music Festival this month, but of all the festivals we went to this year, Festival Palomino is one of our favorites. It's incredibly well-organized and we like the audience they bring in. See our complete coverage (including setlists, photos, recaps, etc.) here.

Once-In-A-Lifetime Award goes to Ride at Mill City Nights (09/29). The last time the shoegazing band was in town was in 1992. If you miss them this time, we doubt they will come back to Minneapolis... well, maybe we'll catch them again in 23 years. Also, These Animal Men and S*M*A*S*H reunite for a special one-show deal at Heaven in London (09/11). If we could afford it, you know we'd catch that flight to London to see these NWONW legends.

Strangest Show goes to Jenny Hval for her performance art/music show at the 7th Street Entry (09/01). Simply unforgettable. Hval reinvented her show from a simple singer/songwriter to a weird commentary on the American exercise and sex culture. Also enjoy some rare vu-art for this show.

Best Value goes to The Maine at Mill City Nights (09/03). The Maine did a wonderful thing and basically said: This show is on us. The show was completely free, which is pretty amazing if you think about equipment rentals, hotel rooms, gasoline, booking the venue, etc. The only thing the band asked was to bring as many people (including non-fans) to see their show.

Most Entertaining Show(s) goes to The Adicts (with Reverend Horton Heat) for their first-rate all confetti show at First Avenue (09/24) and Big Star's Third show at First Ave (09/30) for their amazing all-star casts.

Below are links to all 45 shows we covered for the month of September 2015.

• 09/01 Jenny Hval at 7th Street • 09/02 Lou Gramm at MN State Fair • 09/03 The Maine at Mill City Nights • 09/03 Colleen Green at Turf Club • 09/04 Four Years Strong at Triple • 09/06 D'Angelo at First Ave • 09/08 Radkey at 7th Street • 09/09 Craft Spells at Echo • 09/10 Brandon Flowers at First Ave • 09/10 Mikal Cronin at Turf Club • 09/10 Bayside at Varsity Theater • 09/11 These Animal Men at Heaven • 09/12 Damian Marley at Cabooze • 09/12 Coathangers at Triple Rock • 09/12 Low at Electric Fetus • 09/12 Tommy Stinson at Turf Club • 09/12 Vintage Trouble at Mill City • 09/13 Dear Hunter at Triple Rock • 09/14 Fidlar at Varsity Theater • 09/15 The Cribs at Turf Club • 09/16 Eluveitie at Mill City Nights • 09/17 The Struts at First Ave

• 09/18 Mynabirds at 7th Street • 09/19 Festival Palomino 2015 • 09/19 Astronautalis at Turf Club • 09/20 Uncle Acid at Mill City • 09/21 Noah Gunderson at Fine Line • 09/22 Ibeyi at Mill City • 09/22 D.R.I. at Triple Rock • 09/22 Man Man at Turf Club • 09/23 Lizz Wright at Dakota Jazz • 09/23 Sub Criminals at Skyway • 09/23 Years & Years at Varsity • 09/24 The Adicts at First Ave • 09/24 By the Thousands at Amsterdam • 09/24 Ben Rector at Northrop • 09/25 The Fratellis at Varsity • 09/26 Holly Miranda at 7th Street • 09/26 ZZ Ward at First Ave • 09/27 Breaking Benjamin at Myth • 09/27 John Hodgman at Cedar • 09/29 Ride at Mill City • 09/30 HardDrive Live at Mill City • 09/30 Big Star's Third at First Ave • 09/30 Ash at Nether Bar

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic

These Animal Men and S*M*A*S*H at Heaven, London (11 Sep 2015)

poster These Animal Men Setlist Sharp Kid Who's the Daddy Now? Empire Building Ambulance You're Always Right Riverboat Captain Light Emitting Electrical Wave Soul Around the World (This is the) Sound of the Youth Life Support Machine (You're Not My) Babylon Speeed King April 7th Too Sussed Read More S*M*A*S*H Just a quick note on that S*M*A*S*H / NxtGen Split Single Launch, taking place 29 March 2014 at The Portland Arms in Cambridge. As I suspected, the lyrics …

S*M*A*S*H photo: Jeff Pitcher

Two of the most popular New Wave of New Wave punk bands These Animal Men and S*M*A*S*H recently played at Heaven in London on September 11th. This is TAM's first show in twenty years!

Wish we could have flown to London to see the show.

For more information, check out my interview with Ed from January 2015 and follow the band on FB and for archival purposes, see smash.weheartmusic.com.

Photographs courtesy of Jeff Pitcher.

Here is how they described the Flawed Is Beautiful documentary:

Flawed Is Beautiful is a film about two bands - These Animal Men and S*M*A*S*H - who formed a scene swiftly dubbed by the press as the New Wave Of New Wave - the magnesium flash that, for better or worse, lit the way for Britpop.

Flawed Is Beautiful is also a story of media complicity and career hari kiri. It is about bold ideas, insatiable appetites and international travel. Cheap drugs and pre-destined failure. It is also about the British music industry spinning towards its final years of economic excess and Thatcher’s children biting back. It is about tight T-shirts, eyeliner and what happens when your fifteen minutes of fame runs out. It is a cautionary tale from which no-one learned any lessons.

Like all the best music documentaries, Flawed Is Beautiful is about heroic failure. These Animal Men and S*M*A*S*H didn't have the right accents or connections. But they had the belief and they looked fantastic. They took their moment and made the most of it. And they changed people's lives in small towns out in the provinces, where the big bands didn't ever come to town and where their songs of aspiration and indulgence (TAM) and smalltown rage (S*M*A*S*H) inspired a whole generation of kids.

People always say about the Velvet Underground that everyone who saw them went on to start a band. In the case of These Animal Men and S*M*A*S*H that might actually be true.....

If you live in Manchester, head over to the FabCafe at 2:30pm to see the film on September 19th.

These Animal Men at Heaven, London (11 September 2015) photo: Jeff Pitcher

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic ♥ itunes.apple.com

News: S*M*A*S*H and the Orphans, together on one bill

Ed Borrie - 15 Years Ed Borrie Tour Date 04/24/09 Soulcellar, Southampton Read More S*M*A*S*H http://weheartmus... I couldn't hold back my excitement when I got the new S*M*A*S*H album, Icon, in the mail the othe...

For a mere £4, this Friday, April 24^th, you can see these two legendary bands: S*M*A*S*H alongside The Orphans (members of These Animal Men) in Southampton at Soulcellar.

S*M*A*S*H - Icon S*M*A*S*H - Real Surreal (single version) These Animal Men - Too Sussed?

People who knows me, knows that I'm a huge fan of both of these guys, so I'm making this announcement prior to the show. And you know, I would totally be there if at all possible. Unfortunately there's this ocean between us.

Also, I received a 'bootleg' of S*M*A*S*H singer, Ed Borrie doing an acoustic solo appearance at the 100 Club (in London?). The audio is pretty good, it sounds like it's from the soundboard. The whole show is pretty low-key, as expected with an acoustic set. What makes this show kind of cool is the violins by Amber Ross, which you can clearly hear on "15 Years". And, gosh, it's so good to hear Borrie singing his word-plays "All I wanted was to be you, all I wanted was to be used."

Borrie did a few old S*M*A*S*H songs ("Lady Love Your C***", "Revisited #3" and "Drugs Again"), and right before "Drugs Again", he introduced it by saying "Ordinary, I'm in a punk band, so I'll just play a couple of those songs".

It looks the Orphans will make another appearance in October 24^th in Germany, of all places at KOZ, Goethe University in Hessen.

The Orphans have been enjoying a sold-out first pressing of their album (Muff? I have no idea since I haven't correspond with these guys before), so they're going back printing more.

In the meantime, you can pick up Icon from S*M*A*S*H at amazon.co.uk. What made this album so important is because their last/debut album, Self Abused, was released in 1994. That's thirteen years ago! So be sure to pick up Icon when you see them.

 04/19/2009 19:01:50 ♥ vu () ♥ myspace.com/llyc ♥ myspace.com/theorphansonline

These Animal Men Official DVD Coming Soon?

Jay Marriott sent this in:

These Animal Men - Too Sussed?

These Animal Men

Evening all, Hope you are all ok.
Right i need your help, there are rumours of an official TAM DVD, so i need to get my hands on every bit of video footage so i can put it onto DVD and forward it to on to Julian. If you have any interviews, Top of The Tops footage etc, (in fact anything) please get in touch ASAP.
Of course i will transfer your footage onto DVD for you for free, and send it back to you.

The more better quaility footage we get, the better it will be, and it would be nice to see something on the shop shelfs at last.

Dig deep chaps, and see what you have.
Please feel free to e-mail me at jaymarriott[at]gmail.com

The more better quaility footage we get, the better it will be, and it would be nice to see something on the shop shelfs at last.

Cheers, Jay Marriott

 

These Animal Men - Speeed King (Live on Naked City)

vu

These Animal Men - You're Always Right

These Animal Men - You're Always Right

These Animal Men

"You're Always Right" is the lead song that starts off their EP "Taxi For These Animal Men", and it is easily the best track off their album Come on Join the High Society.

While the UK cover to Society actually depicts and tells the story of the "High Society", the US cover is Hooligan (yes, that's the singer's name) with an American Flag boxing glove.  No idea who's brilliant idea that was, but I thought it was a poor move.

These Animal Men (or TAM) are one of the few bands riding on the New Wave of New Wave, er, wave.  NWONW also applied to S*M*A*S*H and Compulsion, and early Elastica and Sleeper.

Elastica and Sleeper eventually graduated to Britpop, but TAM never really seem to have made that transition :/