[TVD Austin readers, let’s welcome contributing writer Joe Johnston Turner to the fold. Joe is a walking encyclopedia when it comes to music, literature, comic books, and much more. We’re proud to have him on board.]
So SXSW is over and you’re done, beat, stick a fork in it ’cause it’s finished, and the last thing you want to do is go see another show. You’re wrong. Hugh Cornwell is playing a free show this Wednesday (tonight!!) at Lovejoy’s Tap Room & Brewery on Sixth and Neches.
I hear some of you in the back asking who Hugh Cornwell is. I can understand that. To the really old and English, you might know him from being in a band with pre-Fairport Convention Richard Thompson. But I think that number is probably 10 and doesn’t include anyone reading this blog. To the rest of us, he was the primary singer and songwriter for the much reviled and celebrated punk band, The Stranglers.
Like their contemporaries The Police, The Stranglers were a mess of over-educated, pushing 30 (and in the case of the drummer, pushing 40) musicians who’d been around the block for a while and got caught up in the vortex that was late Seventies British punk. Though never treated like one of the gang, The Stranglers walked the walk and talked the talk and put out a slew of amazing singles like “Peaches,” “No More Heroes,” “Hanging Around,” and, my favorite, one of the best songs written about heroin, “Golden Brown.”
Eventually, after the Eighties came and went and The Stranglers’ sound evolved into more of baroque pop direction, Hugh Cornwell walked away from the band to pursue a solo career.
Now, with a band that includes Clem Burke from Blondie on drums, he is presenting a two-set show at Lovejoy’s. The first set is a collection of new and old songs while the second one is a complete performance of The Stranglers’ debut album, Rattus Norvegicus. This is gonna be killer. The Stranglers were my favorite punk band just barely below The Clash.
The Chumps are opening things up at 9:30 and Hugh is supposed to come on stage around 10:30. This show is free so get there early so you can be part of what I hope to be a truly amazing show.
