I approached the Thunderbolt pub for my first punk gig in 26 years with some trepidation as, from the outside, it does look like one hell of a dive. That was unfair and shows what a narrow minded old fart I have become. It had a pleasant garden and is well fitted out for gigs and the folks who own it were really friendly. Arriving at 7.30 I was alone in the pub. That is odd as the Stingrays were advertised as being there from 7 to 11.30. I thought it sounded like a long set for a three piece band with a total age of c180.
I watched them rehears a bit and do a sound check. Then my friend the 57 year old punk - now 59 - and aka Paul Matthews - bass guitar and backing vocals - came over and explained that the actual set only stared at nine. We chatted for a while on various matters. How come this band is still going in its 40th year? It is partly down to two of the three being non drinkers and all of them eschewing the sex and drugs part of rock and roll. Clean living keeps you going. Matters are also helped by the lead singer living in Japan, the drummer in France and Germany and Paul living here in Bristol where they all started. Distance prevents musical differences from being an issue.
Gradually folks started to arrive and in the end there must have been 100 people there. I just explained to my daughter that the mode age was just under 60 and the mean was not that much lower so while there were a few young folks I was among the youngest. Most folks there were mates from old who remember the "Countdown days."
But the Stingrays have aged brilliantly. It must be all that clean living. The set was full of energy. Hide the grey hairs (or no hair in Paul's case) and it could have been 1978 and "Rock against racism" all over again. The group has a new album out, "Ticket from home" and the annual Japanese tour is being expanded as younger fans are keen to see them in South Korea and Taiwan as well. Out east it is not 16 year olds but 20 year olds who pack the gigs.
Last week The Stingrays played at the hard Rock cafe in Lyon, tonight (Monday) thanks to a former band member who went on to join The Boxer Beat, they are playing at The Old Blue Last on Great Eastern Street, 250 yards from where I used to live in Shoreditch. If you are in London be there as these old rockers won't be playing together again for many months as they head off back to their various homes and at their age....
The set was a mixture. There was a lot from the new album but also some older stuff including "The Girl in the Greengrocers" below. The new material is as good as the old. The Stingrays have not lost it they have just got older. At the end there were two encores. The band could have carried on all night. I doubt that I will age half as well.