MUSIC

The Craufurd raises the volume for the new year

Wingmen might be a new name for you, but the members behind the moniker are familiar enough, with musicians from The Stranglers (Baz Warne), The Damned (Paul Gray) , Ruts DC (Leigh Heggarty) and Johnny Moped (Marty Love) making up the unit.

The band are coming this way imminently to play for you - they will be live at The Craufurd Arms on January 20, exactly a week before they release their debut long-player.

Were it not for the devastation afforded by Covid, Wingmen would never have become ‘a thing’.

Stripped of their chance to get out live with their respective bands, the fellas created a new musical union and got to work on the self-titled opus.

Theirs is a musical union that sounds like the sum of all those aforementioned legendary bands, while also sounding nothing like them.

It’s a special thing, as guitarist Leigh realises: “If someone had told my teenage self that I’d know members of The Stranglers, The Damned, Eddie & the Hot Rods, Johnny Moped and for that matter The Ruts – let alone that one day I would be in a band with them – I’d have probably told them that they were mad,” he said, “It’s worth having a dream sometimes.”

In 2022, rising USA stars Dirty Honey swapped their homeland for large spells in Europe, winning over audiences at their own shows, and taking the opportunity for tasty exposure stage-sharing with artists including musical behemoths Kiss and Guns N’ Roses.

The quartet cut loose their dirty blues news on the acclaimed album, Dirty Honey EP/ LP and now they’ve decided to stick with us – the band has announced an extensive European headline tour with 30 shows across 13 countries.

They hit the road in mid-January, and Dirty Honey will be here in the new city for night number two of the road trip, with a date at the Wolverton venue on January 22.

If they live up to expectations, Dirty Honey won’t be playing this size venue for too much longer – go grab those tickets for the Craufurd bash while you can.

On January 30, Pip Blom will play as part of the Independent Venue Week celebrations. The Dutch indie quartet have two albums in the racks for you to investigate in advance; Boat and Welcome Break have served the band well, and their blossoming fan base has been snapping up tickets for this date – don’t leave it to chance if you want to be stage front. Buy now.

New York’s Undeath will be at the venue at the end of the month (Jan 31) to air good hearty tracks like Fiend For Corpses and Defiled Again, lifted from their current album, It’s Time...To Rise from the Grave.

That album was Decibel Magazine’s No1 album of 2022. That’s quite the accolade. The band grew up on a healthy diet of genre leaders: “We’re all students of Autopsy, Morbid Angel, Cannibal Corpse, and Bolt Thrower, to name a few,” said frontman Alexander Jones, “These bands are our north star. We love classic, essential death metal, but we’re also into the more recent stuff too. Bands like Fetid and Cerebral Rot. We take inspiration from the past, the present, and make it our own. We want to serve the genre we love so much.” > Tickets for all shows can be booked through thecraufurdarms.com

> Off The Record is located at The Point in CMK, and opens seven days a week.

Pip Blom are at The Craufurd on January 30

Pic: Rick Horn @ if films

Dirty Honey (top) and Undeath are both at the Wolverton venue in January

Get yourself in a spin

We gave you the lowdown on Off The Record, Willen Hospice’s new hub for all things music, in Pulse a couple of issues back. It is turning into a popular stop-off point for those who love their sounds, and with more and more donations coming through the door, some champion rarities are hitting the shop floor.

A 1980 radio promo for the album Get Happy by Elvis Costello & The Attractions is one of those currently looking for a vinyl loving new owner, or perhaps you’d rather shell out the cash on a first pressing of Black Sabbath’s Master of Reality elpee? This embossed sleeve version is missing the original poster, which dramatically affects its value, but it will still set you back a pretty penny.

From vinyl and CDs to books, instruments, magazines and memorabilia, the little store is crammed with goodies - pop in and take a look for yourselves.

The year in review – how was it for you?

Jason Hall co-owner Craufurd Arms

How was 2022 for you? 2022 was very surprising. With all the uncertainties and negativity in the world I thought it would be a struggle to be a music venue. But honestly, this feels like one of the best years we’ve ever had. And now we have the strongest music scene we’ve had for 10/15 years.

Your favourite gig Multitude. Three stages of incredible emerging talent and more than 500 people through the doors throughout the day.

Biggest surprise Being offered Hard- Fi’s first show back in eight years - after they had just sold-out London’s Kentish Town Forum in minutes.

The best thing that happened this year Cancer Bats writing lyrics about us.

What are you most looking forward to in 2023? Continuing to build on the momentum of this year, and also the release of our first ever Live at The Craufurd vinyl/DVD. And potentially having one of my favourite ever bands doing an intimate warm-up...”

Max Harvey co-owner Craufurd Arms

How was 2022 for you? We have had one of our biggest years for acts and industry figures visiting our venue. It’s really great to start being recognised by the heads of the industry as a culturally relevant grassroots music venue.

Your favourite gig A.A. Williams in November. She played in 2021 and I didn’t know what to expect until someone told me, ‘these are right up your street,’ so I caught a bit of the soundcheck and was instantly blown away. I made sure I didn’t miss the latest show!

Favourite local release Torus – Sail EP

Biggest surprise The launch of our first all day local festival, Multitude, and how well it was received. It showed that when bands and venues work together magic can happen.

The best thing that happened this year The return of Hard-Fi and how well the venue was received by them.

What are you most looking forward to in 2023? I’m really looking forward to planning Multitude 2023 and to restart work on our venue accessibility, which was interrupted by Covid. We want our venue to be an accessible and safe space for everyone who enjoys music. We can’t wait to kick off 2023 with more live music and events than ever!

Jason Hall with pigeon friend (left) and Paul Rivers (right)

Paul’s favourite local release Max Harvey’s favourite gig was performed by A.A. Williams (above)

Paul Rivers Craufurd Arms promoter

How was 2022 for you? In the nine years I’ve been at The Craufurd, this year was one of the best for the venue, not just in quality of the acts, and people returning to live music clubs, but we’ve had a really positive year of comments from the greater music industry – booking agents, labels and managers.

Your favourite gig It’s really tough to pick just one, but I’ll say our one-day Multitude Festival, as it was such a great day of music and really busy all day, with folk really making an effort to check out all the acts on the three stages.

Favourite local release Eddz – the Happiness Doesn’t Always Last EP.

Biggest surprise Seeing so many young people turning up, really clued up about music and getting into live music – it’s very refreshing.

The best thing that happened this year Torus got signed to a record label, released an EP on vinyl and really got out there and did it, inspiring the next kids along the way too.

What are you most looking forward to in 2023? Surviving. And that’ll be my 28th year working in live music.