The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
The Stranglers
Perth Concert Hall, March 3
Crossing the divide between pub rock and punk, the Stranglers were founded in 1974 in Guildford, Surrey (their original name was the Guildford Stranglers), but by the time they became successful three years later, punk had taken hold of the nation.
They would go on to be associated with the scene for the rest of their career, although they retained a definite pop sensibility to go with the attitude, which brought them no small amount of chart success.
In 1977, the tracks Peaches, Something Better Change and No More Heroes were all top 10 hits in the UK, capping a rapid rise to fame for a group who were based out of The Jackpot, a Guildford off-licence owned by drummer Jet Black.
Alongside Black, the founder members were singer Hugh Cornwell, bassist Jean-Jacques Burnel and keyboard player Hans Warmling, who was replaced by Dave Greenfield within a year.
If such beginnings make them sound like a bunch of Surrey spivs, it doesn’t quite take into account the contradictions within the band. Burnel was a classical guitarist, Black a jazz drummer and Cornwell a biochemistry graduate and former guitarist with Richard Thompson of folk group Fairport Convention.
A music press obsessed with the rawness of punk didn’t trust their musical credentials, yet the Stranglers went harder than any of their contemporaries, fighting between themselves and roughing up journalists who had slated them.
The band have been through various phases in their career but the line-up has stayed remarkably unchanged for more than 40 years. Although Cornwell has long since gone, Black, Burnel and Greenfield remain alongside singer and guitarist Baz Warne.
The last time the Stranglers took an album into the UK charts was 1995, although they’ve released five more – most recently 2012’s Giants – to the delight of their fans since, while their last charting single was in 2004.
There’s another contradiction here, with an early hunger for work, which saw them release their first three albums within 13 months, pointing to a burnout which never came.
This latest tour sees them revisit their 1978 third album Black and White, a minimally stark and downbeat record but still a number two hit which produced the single Nice ‘n’ Sleazy. Alongside it, expect a bunch of hits from a unique recording career.