Engine Punk

Following all the hi-jinks of the previous few days, by the time race day dawned, some of us were learning to pace ourselves. Some of us weren't and probably never would but I'd already twigged that the Le Mans 24 Heures can eat you up and spit you out. (Photo by Alan Mansell) With everything else going on you could easily forget that the world’s greatest motor race was about to take place. However, the trip into the city centre for the driver’s parade the night before had helped remind us. Thanks to Sarrazin’s flying lap, the No.8 Peugeot 908 driven by Franck Montagny was on pole alongside the No.1 Audi of Alan McNish. In 3rd and 4th position on the grid were two more 908s but this didn’t mean anything – they’d started strongly last year and Audi had won in the end. In LMP2 Caspar Elgaard’s Team Essex Porsche headed the pack while in GT1 the Corvette C6R driven by Jan Magnusson had been fastest in practice – and its V8 sounded the best of all engines in the race. In GT2, witho...

Many years ago when I was a student and rock regularly went to college, there was an outbreak of new wave synthesiser bands. Some of these pre-programmed their tunes into keyboards and drum machines and the proceeded to stand by their electronic equipment. That was their idea of playing live and would have been disposable pop if had been popular but this phase didn't last. It was just boring and didn't appeal. For a while in my very late teens I thought the synthesiser sound was great but this soon descended into the sort of pretentious rubbish indulged in by the talentless that said "actually, we're more of a studio band." Nowadays, like Stiff Little Fingers, I believe in the power of guitar and drum but Montarg and Krayon - aka Starbase 109 - have got something. I dunno what but it's definitely a something. But Starbase 109 had my feet tapping when they supported The Stranglers at Exeter University on Friday nite. And quite a few people were danci...

Friday saw me in the old Roman town of Exetercester to see The stranglers and they were better form than ever. The fab four work well together after several years as a five piece following the amicable departure of Paul Roberts in 2006. The current tour features all the singles played in order, although the encore has to No More Heroes. Anything else would be just wrong. That bass intro is real body music - you feel it in your chest rather than hear it. After a few health problems, Jet Black is playing with them again. He is 70 after all but you wouldn't know it from his drumming. Apparently, he invented a special bass drum pedal that has brought greater creative freedom and comfort to drummers. On Friday, JJ said Jet Black was back the dead, which was a back handed compliment. there was always something sinister about The Stranglers so a little resurrectionism adds to their mystique. I'm not a die hard fan because some of their stuff is a bit experimental for me but whe...

On Friday night during my regular guitar lesson with Ellis of LSG, a musician to his fingertips, reckoned I was ready to have a go at recording. I’ll always be a bit rough and ready (“Musics for zeros, noise is for heroes” – The Damned) but I thought why not? During the session (!) I made lots of mistakes but Ellis made it sound brilliant. I need to practise my lead. And the timing of the intro was rubbish. It wasn't "1,2,3,4" but more "1,2,3,4,5". I know there's a fifth count when The Ramones go "1,2,3,4" but this was more Corporal Jones than Dee Dee Ramone. Anyway , by overlaying different tracks and letting me loose on his bass guitar and then working his magic Ellis turned me into a rock god! That’s the way it feels anyway. Thanks mate! Then on Saturday morning I finally got the illustration for the back of The Horsepower Whisperer right. I’ve been wrestling with this for months. During June I worked up a picture of an Allosaurus riding a st...