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| The Blubbery Hellbellies |
August
1987
The
Venue, Edinburgh
I
saw The Blubbery Hellbellies during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August
1987, and one might be forgiven for thinking at the time, given the silly name,
they were perhaps a bunch of Oxbridge arseholes performing some revue or other.
But
not a bit of it. These guys were the
real thing, purveying what was being called at the time Psychobilly – a sort of
bastard son of punk and C&W, played at around 100 mph.
There
were four Blubs, I seem to recall; three of them very (ahem) well nourished, sporting
beer guts and impressive sideburns. The
fourth Blub, a guitarist, was but a skinny runt of a chap in comparison. This individual, we were informed was an
honorary Blubbery, having recently lost 10 stone in an unfortunate “gardening
accident”.
The
band, so I have learned since would play raucous cover versions of such tunes
as Walk Tall and Champion the Wonder Horse, but I cannot truly remember if either
of these two classics was aired.
In fact the only song I do recall with any clarity was (what I took to be) a cover of Jerry Irby's Hillbilly Boogie, (inevitably rebranded as Hellbellie Boogie), which they played both early in the set and as a final encore. My assertion above was incorrect though - see Comments below.
In fact the only song I do recall with any clarity was (what I took to be) a cover of Jerry Irby's Hillbilly Boogie, (inevitably rebranded as Hellbellie Boogie), which they played both early in the set and as a final encore. My assertion above was incorrect though - see Comments below.
Almost
as entertaining as the band themselves were their hard core support;
Psychobillies, I guess they were. Pretty
much exclusively male, a number were impressively mohicaned. They had developed this unique method of
dancing, I suppose to get round the connotations of males dancing with
males.
They would stand facing each other, feet never moving, and rapidly punch away at the space between them, rather in the manner of boxers hitting a punch ball. Often three, four or more of them would gather in a circle all flailing away. I don’t think they were hitting one another, but then perhaps they were and it was part of the fun.
They would stand facing each other, feet never moving, and rapidly punch away at the space between them, rather in the manner of boxers hitting a punch ball. Often three, four or more of them would gather in a circle all flailing away. I don’t think they were hitting one another, but then perhaps they were and it was part of the fun.
I
was genuinely disappointed when the gig ended and, over the following years
would find myself occasionally glancing through each new Edinburgh Festival Fringe
Programme hoping to see their name. But
I never did, although I did discover on the web recently that The Blubbery
Hellbellies are still going strong, popping up regularly on the festival circuit
both in the UK and on the continent.
im arthur singer of the blubbs as were known , we were never a psychobilly band , although a few of those types did frequent our gigs , the song you heard was an original by me called hellbellie boogie.
ReplyDeletewe have only played 5 gigs in 25 years , as were all too spread out to play regularly, also were all involved with other bands , myself with THE LURKERS and also 999.
Arthur
DeleteThak you for taking the time to email me with your comments. I do feel rather privileged.
Please accept my apologies for the many errors and assumptions in the piece, I shall amend the entry appropriately.
My only excuses are that it was a long time ago, and I am relying on a far from reliable memory these days. Also I was rather drunk.
Although not so drunk as to fail to recall that it really was a fun evening, for which I belatedly say "Thanks".
Are you able to remember what sort of a set-list you guys would have been perfoming back then?
Regards
Ian
So happy to come across this. I know I'm arriving 10 years late to the convo, but are you still out there, Arthur?
DeleteI remember you did a gig in Galashiels - I'm thinking 1986. My friend was social convener at Scottish College of Textiles (as was) and booked you in because we were fans. Such abuse of privilege hahaha.
The stage was basically some pallets balanced on trestle tables and disguised, so we were a wee bit apprehensive when you ample lads started stomping around on it.
Wish I could remember the date though, would love to put it up on setlist fm. Don't suppose anyone here could enlighten me?
Haven't got a blogger account but will bookmark this page to check back in. Also, my email is velvetdonkey676@gmail.com
Ray was my friend and lead singer of the blubbery hellbellies,a true gentleman and great talent.Was hoping he's still around, am going to see Billy Childish in Maidstone next Sat and need an overnight crash..
ReplyDeleteI think the genre was dubbed cow-punk , which unfortunately tends to reduce their music to a fad, when in fact they were a great band , with some expert musicians. Slim on the accordion was really good, and Arthur was a great singer, I dont know wht he did nt sing in the lurkers
ReplyDelete