MERCENARY SKANK - Live @ The Marquee 19/1/85

Several treasured slightly blurred and hazy memories of these guys from 25 years ago, Fuck that’s a quarter of a century, where does time go? Blasting the past into the present Here’s Mercenary Skank, old faves of mine on this blog with a live set from The Marquee Club in London. Aaah! I can smell the beer and feel my feet sticking to the rubber floor awash with spilt pints and sweat as I type this. Great venue. Back to the music. This recording captures the rough and ready raw soul of a band out there on their own. Warts’n’all Rock’n’Roll; perfect with it’s imperfections. Passion aint a fashion!

MERCENARY SKANK - The Amazon Studio Recordings

Right then, lets get rock’n’rolling. You’ve got a bit of an exclusive here; these two tracks aren’t even up on The Skanks mighty pink myspace page, but there’s a bunch of other stuff available there, some of which I’ve posted here, some I haven’t. I highly recommend you check them out if you’re into stuff like The Clash, Johnny Thunders etc, they’re all there, but Mercenary Skank were more than the sum of some of their influences. They had a no nonsense, no compromise approach to the music biz, that’s reflected in these two tracks (Tell Me Why/12 Midnight) and the vital rough’n’raw feel to them. They were recorded sometime in 19.. But time and dates are irrelevant when something is still relevant and these uncovered and rediscovered gems are. I’d like to think that just as in the 80’s when times were tough, the 00’s will produce some music with as much passion and emotion as Mercenary Skank. The cynic in me isn’t holding his breath, cos I aint gonna turn blue on account of a generation that have had everything yet got nothing , the optimist in me hopes I’m wrong.

MERCENARY SKANK - The Best Band You've Never Heard

The 80’s. Thatcher’s free market economics seemed to unleash a free market of music. From yer anarcho punk, Oi, New Romantics, Goths, Rockabilly, Glam Rock, Post Punk and Power Ballads. You name it and everything was up for sale. How did Mercenary Skank fit into the picture? Well unfortunately they didn’t really, which was/is a real fucking shame and travesty, cos they were/are one of the great lost bands of that era/error. From Rhyl in North Wales to London, they came marching with a mission to blow the city away with their fire brand Rock’n’Roll. The mainstays of the band were Vocalist Scratch, and Guitarist Andrew Tunnicliffe, and they meant business with every song they wrote; Andrews music being inspired by Scratch’s poetry, if there was any justice their partnership would have been recognised as the Strummer/Jones of the 80’s. The band only released two 12” singles No More Dancing and Work Of Giants, both brilliant pieces of work, that defied any genres. I saw ’em live a couple of times, once with anarcho upstarts The Assassins and another time with Rock’n’Roll Glamsters The Dogs D’Amour, other bands like Sigue Sigue Sputnik and The Stone Roses found themselves opening for the skank and their live experimental chaos. The band recorded a couple of BBC Radio Sessions and a TV appearance for HTV’S Rock Solid, one of the radio sessions didn’t go down well with the producers, who were expecting a performance of the bands new, but never released single Ghosts; a slick, haunting , and brooding love song, but instead they got a track called Gulliver’s Thunder Machine; an uncompromising lyrical attack on state power , musically it’s a guitar wall of sound, (similar to some of Primal Screams Xterminator album, but 20 years earlier) Their TV appearance wasn’t without controversy either, with the band only being allowed to play one song due to Scratch causing a security alert by waving a replica 3.8 revolver on stage and the band being wasted on speed and whiskey. That was then and this is now, and just recently a shoe box of old Mercenary Skank recordings and memories surfaced on the South coast of England. A myspace page was set up and the past has now become the present. The songs are all there for you to download and enjoy, but just for a sample here’s four of the radio session tracks, including the afor mentioned Gulliver’s Thunder Machine, a beast of a song, which like the rest of ’em hasn’t dated one bit, they’re the most positive songs of hope and despair you’re gonna hear for a long time, they still sound fresh and relevant 20 years later. If Mercenary Skank were up for sale they could have been the skuzziest stadium rock band ever, but alas we got U2 instead, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again “It’s a funny old fucked up world” and it always has been! Will it continue to be? Well that’s up to us! In the mean time do yerself a favour click here for the Radio Sessions and take a trip to the Mercenary Skank myspace page for the singles and more unearthed, unreleased recordings. You wont regret it!

Gulliver’s Thunder Machine

Man on the news with petroleum eyes /Grins like a maniac whilst all around him fries / Down through the ages-tell you what I’ve seen /Total control with the Thunder Machine / Used it in Belfast, used it in Iran /Send thanks to the government man / Call out the riot squads to vent their spleen / And don’t forget to bring your Thunder Machines /We do it fast, we do it clean / Everybody runs from Gulliver’s Thunder Machine /New methods for the LAPD / Heard about them on the BBC /Imagine Dirty Harry in Soho Square /Blasting away without a care / We do it fast and a little bit obscene / Everybody runs from Gulliver’s Thunder Machine / Daily Mirrors keep reflecting The Sun / Telling people go and have some fun / White regimes keep the newsreels clean / No time to lose fetch the Thunder Machines / Last pit in the valley is closing down / Better cordon-off the whole damn town / Put all the trouble-makers behind a screen / And give them a blast of the Thunder Machine / Protect your home and the neighbouring hills / Cures all ailments, it cures all ills / Clears the air like nothing you’ve seen / No time to lose bring the Thunder Machines / We do it fast, we do it clean / Everybody runs from Gulliver’s Thunder Machine / We do it fast and a little bit obscene / Everybody runs from Gulliver’s Thunder Machine//

MERCENARY SKANK - Work Of Giants (12" Vinyl rip)

Over at PHOENIX HAIRPINS, Curious Guy posted the first Mercenary Skank 12" No More Dancing, so in order to complete the collection of Skank releases, thought I'd post their second one Work Of Giants. Both are essential listening for anyone with a love of all things 80's and alternative, when indie meant indie and Thatcher meant she would make sure there was 'no such thing as society' There's a lot more I could say about Thatcher, but not a lot more I can add about Mercenary Skank that CG didn't say on his post, and I aint gonna re-invent the wheel. What I can add is that I saw 'em live once, and from what I can remember they were bloody good. But my main memory of that gig was an altercation that took place between the Theatre group and The Assassins over something and nothing, while Mercenary Skank looked on bemused. Anyway enough of that here's The Work Of Giants 12" scratches'n'all, no cover art cos I can't get to grips with scanning and pasting stuff using whatever software, a bit like removing crackles and pops, cos when I do that it seems to sound worse, more muddy. I dunno, computers, who'd have 'em. More than likely a user error though.