The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Punk fans set for wham bam, thank you Sham
Original punk firebrands Sham 69 are set to blitz Beat Generator next week. The Surrey legends, who first cracked the charts in early 1978 with their major label debut single Borstal Breakout, are at North Lindsay Street next Friday with their original line-up.
BACK IN THE SPOTLIGHT
They’ve been attracting plenty of positive reviews in recent times.
Sham 69’ sever controversial front man Jimmy Pursey last played at the Dundee venue in February 2019, although the reformed four-piece band had been due to appear at Beat G back in April.
It was the band’s classic early line-up spearheaded by Pursey, alongside guitarist Dave Parsons and bassist Dave Tregunna, that initially propelled them on a wave of establishment baiting success.
The big breakthrough came with their fourth single Angels With Dirty Faces – No 19 in the charts in June 1978 – which paved the way for top-10 hits If The Kids Are United and Hurry Up Harry.
Sham 69’s early albums
Tell Us The Truth and That’s Life partially filled the void created by The Sex Pistols’ demise, ahead of 1979’s The Adventures Of The Hersham Boys.
Now 67, Pursey went solo in 1980, but an inevitable reformation in 1987 led to more band work. He again parted company with his cohorts in 2006, returning to the fold in 2011.
The three original Sham mainstays are joined in the latest line-up by drummer Robin Guy, who was first recruited in 2012.
Separately, Blue Rose Code, aka Edinburgh alt-folk troubadour Ross Wilson, is at Beat Generator on Wednesday with his full band, fresh from supporting The Proclaimers on the Reid brothers’ sell-out tour.
Over at Church, there’s a Queen-meets-fleetwood Mac tribute tonight, with Dundee’s own Pete Smith being joined by Craig Weir and The Cabalistic Cavalry, Ian Black, Stewart James and Steven Magners at the Ward Road venue next Friday.
LINDISFARNE
Elsewhere, folk rock veterans Lindisfarne kick off three shows in Kinross in three days to mark their half-century tonight, ahead of ex-housemartins and Beautiful South favourite Dave Hemingway bringing his latest band Sunbirds to the Green Hotel on Wednesday.
The following night sees soft rock legends Climax Blues Band taking to the Backstage Green gig room, where fans will be doubtless eager to hear the Midlands outfit’s classic 1976 top-10 hit Couldn’t Get It Right.
The live music continues in Kinross next Friday with an appearance from ever-popular blues rockers Gerry Jablonski and The Electric Band, with Status Quo tribute Ma Kelly’s Boys at the Green next Saturday December 10.
NITEWORKS FOR PERTH
Meanwhile, electro-celtic fusion exponents Niteworks hit Perth Theatre’s Joan Knight Studio next Saturday.
The Skye bagrock fourpiece started out in 2008, with their Obair Oidhche EP released three years later and debut album NW landing in 2015.
Fronted by vocalist/ keyboardist Innes Strachan, the four-piece’s third album A’ghrian was shortlisted for this year’s Scottish Album of the Year award.
Elsewhere in the Fair City, it’s Edinburgh indie soulsters The Super Moons and funk-rock three-piece Bicycle Trip – another breaking capital-based outfit – at the Twa Tams tonight.
Perthshire housefunkster Sophie Staniforth and her band are at the Scott Street venue tomorrow.
ROCKING THE KINGDOM
In Dunfermline, View frontman Kyle Falconer is playing a sold-out solo show at PJ Molloy’s tonight, where the support’s coming from fast-rising four-piece Dictator.
The Canmore Street venue has a set from Fife alt-pop noiseniks Moonlight Zoo tomorrow, with Glasgow-based kindred spirits Cloud House and Resister also on the bill. Blue Rose Code are at Molloy’s on Thursday, with psychedelic rockers Jupiter Strange playing on home turf next Friday.
Still in the kingdom, legendary Love And Money frontman James Grant is playing at the Woodside Hotel in Aberdour both tonight and tomorrow.