THE
FIRST TINKILY-BONK BALL?
ST PETER'S PARISH HALL 18/06/1982
Re-mastered at home from good
quality cassettes (2 cds).
Disk 1
01-05 No Night Sweats
06-10 Brrr Cold
11-13 A Splendid Mess
Disk 2
01-03 Instant Unit
04-09 No-V-Bleet
10-15 Hope Is A New Coat
Michael Tee organised a series of Tinkily-Bonk balls at the St Peter's
Parish Hall (just around the corner from M-Squared studios) with the
blessing of the rather hip priest. They were a chance for bands to play
away from the often annoying drunken shit-pools that pubs and clubs always
turned out to be and highlighted lesser know and one-off bands more than
the more well known bunch. Of course, everyone started using it after that
because it was cheap, it was local and it was self-financed.
This is, I think, the first night and it roams through our little
experimental rock scene like a mouse in the eaves. No Night Sweats sing
pretty well. I remember that we were both very nervous and, afterwards
someone compared me to the lead singer from Duran Duran! Brrr Cold were
alternatively over the top and stunning - the 2nd track rollicks along
with a difficult jazz swing. A Splendid Mess were slightly anarchic and
seemingly mostly improvised. Instant Unit (including Michael Filewood from
Systematics) were heavier than a duo were expected to be - they make a
mistake on their last song and so do it all over again. No-V-Bleet seemed
caught up in the noisier aspects of the night as well with lots of
feedback and fuzz eventually calming down to their more normal, elegant
muse. Hope Is A New Coat ended the evening in disarray but at least 2 of
the songs here that sound just marvellous - vital and energetic: better
than the studio recordings by far.
