Comedian goes ape over the King of punk rockers
Robert Lloyd, who fronted Brum’s first punk rock band as is still going strong, has never had the acclaim he deserves, says comedian Stewart Lee. GEORGE KAPLAN reports
COMEDIAN Stewart Lee is such a big fan of Birmingham band The Nightingales he’s made a film about them! Entitled King Rocker, the 90-minute documentary receives its official premiere as part of Sheffield Doc/Fest at the end of October. Further cinema screenings are due in the spring of 2021, with a broadcast on Freeview also planned.
Written by Lee, directed by Michael Cumming (Brass Eye, Toast Of London) and produced by Fire Films (The Ballad of Shirley
Collins), King Rocker traces the band’s history, and ponders why Robert Lloyd’s combo have curiously remained outsiders – despite widespread acclaim.
The Nightingales’ story begins in the late-1970s when Robert was fronting The Prefects, who are often credited as Birmingham’s first punk band.
“I think that is right, yes, even though there were a couple of other bands at the same time,” confirms Robert, speaking to Birmingham Comedy Festival as part of a special festival podcast. “There was a band called the Suburban Studs, for example. They were, like a lot of other bands around the country, a sort of pub rock band really, who cut their hair and played their songs a bit faster... gatecrashed a new scene. I never thought of them as an authentic thing. “The only other band I can think of from around that era were called Model Mania, but they weren’t really punk, they were a bunch of David Bowie fans really I supppose.
“Maybe there are people out there that would dispute it,” says Robert, of The Prefects’ mooted position as the city’s first punk act. “But frankly I don’t care. I think it’s actually one of the true things that were said about us.”
Strengthening their punk credentials, The Prefects landed a slot on The Clash’s famed White
Riot package tour in 1977, sharing a stage with The Slits, The Buzzcocks, The Subway Sect and The Jam.
But as their fanbase grew, The Prefects collapsed, only to morph into The Nightingales. A firm favourite with Radio One DJ John Peel, The Nightingales’ first incarnation continued into the mid-1980s (when Robert went solo), before returning in 2004. Despite rolling
The NIghtingales today
personnel changes, they’ve continued to tour and record, and recently released their tenth album, Four Against Fate.
The record has proven to be something of a landmark for the quartet. Greeted with uniformly positive reviews, the 12 tracks underline the band’s restlessness, along with their varied influences, which span so-called ‘krautrock’, new wave and, on Devil’s Due, Booker T-tinged Stax soul.
Surprisingly, Four Against Fate marks the first time the band have released more than one album on the same label (in this case Tiny Global Productions), and the first time the same line-up has recorded more than one long-player together.
Perhaps that stability, so missing from much of the band’s four-decade career, is the key factor in their current unexpected rise in popularity?
“I think both of those things are part of it, yeah,” says Robert, who reckons the current line-up represents a new peak for the band. “I know what pop stars are like and they all say their latest record is the best one they’ve ever made, even if they know it’s toilet in their heart. But I genuinely think that the band has got better and better,” he smiles. “Four Against Fate is probably the first album I’ve made in any incarnation where once it’s completed, and I listen to it, I still like all the songs! There’s normally one or two where you go ‘naaaah,’ but there isn’t any [like that] on this. “It’s been coming slowly but the interest has been increasing,” he laughs. “The record sold really well.” 2020 should have been the year The Nightingales finally broke through. The lauded Four Against Fate was due to be followed by a major cinema release for Stewart Lee’s film, big tours were booked, and festival appearances scheduled (including a slot at the postponed Moseley Folk and Arts Festival back in September).
But the current pandemic has curtailed King Rocker’s release, touring commitments have been pushed into 2021, and even writing / recording plans are very much up in the air, as members find themselves scattered and unable to meet. Nonetheless, despite having the wind knocked from his sails, Robert is positive, and keen to get back out on the road to debut tracks from what he believes is The Nightingales’ most consistent and best album.
“We’re really looking forward to playing these songs live, because we haven’t done so yet. We are a great live band too. Come and see us live – we’ll blow your socks off!”
The Nightingales’ Four Against Fate is out now. The band’s next tour, which includes a date at The Hare and Hounds, Kings Heath, Birmingham, is set for spring 2021. Details: thenightingales.org.uk