BOZ BOORER
Polecat and Morrissey guitarman brings comedic fright, desperation and punk.
1 THE MUSCLE SHOAL ACCEPT YOURSELF (Mush 10-inch, 1991)
“I was the recording engineer at Chrysalis Music and this band came in. I didn’t do much work on it, I just popped in every now and again and said, Oh, that’s great! It’s like pre-Britpop, sounds very live: you’d think it’d be soulful with that name, but it’s more summery, very up, very positive, with jangly guitar, brilliant vocal harmonies and a great compressed drum sound – things that tick all my boxes! What I like about this is, it’s very honest. I’ve no idea what happened to them or anything else about them, which is also a brilliant thing.”
2 SORE THROAT ZOMBIE ROCK (Albion 45, 1978)
“It came out on Albion, which I think was to do with the drummer from 999. It’s punky rock’n’roll with keyboards, saxes and backing vocals, like The Cramps meets Darts. It’s comedic as well, ’cos it’s got the rock’n’roll stops, a punchline, and a Farfisa organ solo – a bit Johnny And The Hurricanes, and the Rocky Horror Show, too. I bought this after seeing them on the Revolver TV programme in 1978. I was very excited when I finally found their album, but there was nothing at all anything like the single on there, very disappointing ! But this left an indelible mark.”
3 THE STRAPS JUST CAN’T TAKE ANYMORE (Donut 45, 1980)
“I think it was Phil Polecat who first found this, it’s almost rockabilly – like punk rockabilly, like The Polecats were, or like Fiery Jack by The Fall, almost country rockabilly. It’s that triplet sound, a little bit like Dancing With Myself by Gen X, but more roughly recorded and played. He’s a desperate man – what can’t he take any more of? Anything, I think! I don’t know why but I assumed they were Scottish, and when I researched the single I find out it was written by my mate Stan Stammers who I met in the early ’80s when [Boorer side project] The Shillelagh Sisters opened up for Spear Of Destiny. There’s a clip of a Straps reformation gig at the 100 Club – the singer drinks a beer during the guitar solo.”
4 THE RINGS I WANNA BE FREE (Chiswick 45, 1977)
“This is Twink – from The Pink Fairies – and it’s a great-sounding punk rock record, a little bit Damned, New Rose-ish, with a chord sequence like Brian James did. It sounds like it could’ve been recorded at Pathway, an 8-track studio in north London. (Sings) ‘I’m sick of this prostitution of you and me… I wanna be – er, er, er, uh – free!’ Great! The last time I sung this was in my kitchen in Portugal with Segs from The Ruts! And we both agreed that it’s such a great record. A mate from Austria came over and I played it to him and he said, ‘I’ve got to have that.’ He went down to Out On The Floor Records [in Camden] and Twink was in there, he got him to sign it!”
5 TUPELO CHAIN SEX DR. NIGHTCALL! (Selma 45, 1984)
“This band taught me a lot about strange musical fusions, taking in jazz, rockabilly, dub, ska. There’s a picture of a witchdoctor carrying a doctor’s case on [the label], it’s got the girl backing vocals and the singer asking, ‘Where’s my black bag?!’ so it’s Screamin’ Jay Hawkins as well, but it’s Sugarcane Harris on vocals, who was in the R&B duo Don And Dewey and played with Frank Zappa. I virtually reformed the band for the song Chasin’ The Devil. Every couple of weeks files would arrive and I’d place them into the track, a country song I’d written about a wild character called Joseph Stillwell Cain who [is credited with founding] the Mobile Mardi Gras. This single took me years to find.”