A chance tonight to renew acquaintances
with an old gig face! I was a big fan of Jim Bob’s mid-80’s jangle pop band
Jamie Wednesday, and despite numerous false starts I even managed to see them
“live” once, in Bristol in May 1987 supporting The Men They Couldn’t Hang (gig
78!). I’d subsequently turned up to meet Jim and Co. before their next gig,
again on the undercard for TMTCH, at The Astoria in August later that year (gig
85), only to be informed by the man that the JDubs (as they were known to both
of their fans) had split up earlier that week, but that he and bandmate Les
were going to play the gig backed up by a drum machine. Thus it was that I
unwittingly attended the first ever Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine gig…!
Carter USM took awhile to really inveigle themselves into my consciousness, but
I eventually became a fan, watching with a mixture of pride and “I saw them
first” smugness as they quickly rose to briefly become 90’s Indie press darlings
(Steve Lamacq, my favourite NME hack back then, being particularly fulsome in
his praise) and Festival headliners. Since their late 90’s dissolution, I
confess I’d not kept up much with Jim’s subsequent solo career; however we’d
enjoyed his recent performances at Shiiine On, both solo and with his band The
Hoodrats, and tonight, a CD release show at Bristol’s splendid Rough Trade for
new album “Thanks For Reaching Out”, represented an opportunity not only to
catch up with his current works, but also, perchance, to briefly revisit those
JDubs days…
Finally Jim dispensed with the banter,
bolted on his electric guitar and treated us to a half hour performance of
selections from the new album, accompanied by Chris on keys. Opener “Thanks For
Reaching Out” was a melancholy yet strangely uplifting ballad, “What Goes
Around” had a dark and menacing murder ballad feel reminiscent of Nick Cave,
and “Sebastian” itself was a snarky and sarky number about politicians paying
lip service to good works. All the new material, however, happily featured the
usual Jim Bob lyrical gift for highlighting both the mundane minutiae of humdrum
everyday existence and the absurdity of current world events, and subverting
them into cynical yet memorable pun-like soundbites. More entertaining banter
too; a chat with the crowd about cancel culture, a remark about his glasses
slipping leading to a terrible Graham Coxon Blur joke, and a story of how
Carter USM and Westlife nearly got into a brawl at a Festival!
“Billionaire In Space” was a highlight, slightly recalling Bowie’s “Space Oddity” for me, and “Befriend The Police” featured the ironic hook, “bring on the dancing nurses”… a Bunnymen reference perhaps? “Prince Of Wales” (about a pub, apparently!) rounded off a fine acoustic rendering of some very melodic new songs; I’m happy copies of the record were included in the ticket price, because I can’t wait to hear them on CD…
Joined the queue at the end, along with
another father/ daughter couple who intended to pitch the idea for a Carter USM
musical to Jim! Our turn eventually came, and I shared my Jamie Wednesday stuff
with a softly-spoken but incredulous Jim, who claimed to remember me from those
days (aah, that’s nice!) and was amazed that I’d kept all that stuff. A brief
chat, congrats from me about Carter’s success down the years, pics and
signatures with the man later, we gave way to the “pitch” duo, Jami the musical
theatre fan earwigging on their plans, before grabbing some food from the Greek
takeaway on the corner and hitting the road, home for 10. Lovely to catch up
with Jim Bob after all these years, and great to hear some quality new material
from an entirely promising new album, which will certainly ensure I keep a
closer eye on his exploits in future!
