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| Cockney Rejects Glueball Friday 16th September 2005 Queens Hall, Nuneaton, UK Been looking forward to copping sight of the Cockney Rejects for years now as this was one of the Punk/Skinhead bands I missed first time round. They only made it to my home town Nuneaton back in their 1980 heyday and here they are again tonight, same town and same venue! My day starts well for once because I've a pocket full of cash and the buzz to boot! This high don't last very long because about four or five pints in, I realise that the battery in my camera is dead. So its a quick visit into town to shed valuable drinking money. As big as the Cockney Rejects are I was expecting hordes of Skins and Punks to be milling about town, but this is far from the truth, there ain't a Bonehead in site! Even at the gig later I only clocked two Skinheads and a handful of Punks. But the room starts to fill out with some real nice looking lasses that catch the eye. But I'm strictly here for the music so dipping the pork sword will have to wait. Me and a really good mate of mine Bronto grab ourselves a beer and crash on the stairs to watch the first band what go under the name of Glueball, and with a name like that I wasn't expecting a great deal. But they do deliver the score good and proper. To me it was Punk by numbers, I got the hint of a Conflict riff but Conflict they ain't. The singer looks trendy, as if he was a weekend Punk, but he gives it some bollocks so fair play to him. As for the guitar player a tattooed Hippie does look out of place in this band! Hawkwind would have been more up his street, but its soon over and the night is still young. Jeff 'Stinky' Turner is a man of many words and that's just what he's doing tonight, because for some reason or other the Cockney Rejects Merchandise Man ain't showed? So Stinky's out front promoting his new book 'Cockney Reject' - My life of music,football and blood!' which he wrote in collaboration with one Garry Bushell, and sell they do. I Chat with Stinky and brother Mickey about the old days and mention they had played Nuneaton on their first ever UK tour back in the heyday of 1980 at the 77 Club, Nuneaton which they remember greatly. When I point out the this is the very same venue just under another name, it just seems to fill them with nostalgia. I Grab a few picture's and disappear to the bar, ten or so minutes later and there taking to the stage. The chant of "East End" rings out and the dance floor becomes alight with Skins, Punks, Rockers and Boot Boys alike. Stinky moves across the stage like the boxer of old, with the driving force of Mickey's guitar and the hammering beat of the Tattooed drummer. If Nuneaton in 1980 was anything like tonight the boys were on fire. In between tracks, the dedications come thick and fast and none more so than to a hippie in a wheelchair. "This one's for him....'The Rocker'", which seems to have put a smile back on his face. In years of old the Rejects got a lot of bad shit kicking off at their gigs with the football hooligan scene, which would be dealt with by the band themselves but tonight its all about the music, and they don't disappoint. You name it and they played it, well apart from 'Bubbles'. But we were given great versions of 'I'm Not A Fool', 'Bad Man', 'Flares And Slippers', 'We Are The Firm' and 'The Greatest Cockney Rip Off'. To round it all off we got 'Hate Of The City' and many other tracks in-between but the boys ain't done with yet, the encores come and Punkers bopped to the unforgettable night the Rejects came back to Nuneaton Town. SID (NUNEATON) |
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