Since the Membranes post actually garnered a comment, I thought I'd put up something else in that vein. Like the Membranes (and the Noseflutes, the Shrubs, Jackdaw With Crowbar, and A Witness), Bogshed combined impossibly mangled guitar riffs, sledgehammer bass, and near hysterical, shouty lyrics into something utterly ludicrous but still compellingly melodic. All of their songs seem to be about something, but not being British I have no idea what they're talking about most of the time, which just adds to their absurdist appeal.
They were another one of those bands that actually appeared on the C-86 cassette, although that label seems to be pretty much interchangeable with "twee" these days. There's still something about them that seems quintessentially British, like the words "yob" or "gormy".
I thought they were one of Ron Johnson's deranged cohorts, but a little googling reveals that they were in fact signed to John Robb's Vinyl Drip label. John Robb was in The Membranes, who weren't on Ron Johnson, either. So there's that. Anyway, now that we've gotten that straightened out, here's a pretty good bootleg of one of their live shows.
Old Cock
The unofficial Bogshed site
Bogshed on myspace
Posts
1 Blurt:
Many, many, MANY thanks for this! I saw Bogshed several times "back in t'day" (I even taped them a couple of times but the results were unlistenable) & loved 'em to bits, along with a lot of other likeminded idiots. The songs were terrific & they were lovely, strange blokes but what everybody neglects to mention is that they were a great DANCE band too - audiences didn't stand by & politely observe, they leapt into the fray & drunkenly hopped about as a sign of their appreciation!
It's strange how Bogshed, & most of the other Ron J bands for that matter, have been sidelined for the last 20 years but hopefully John Robb's new Death To Trad Rock book might help rectify things? A Witness are one of the truly GREAT "forgotten" English bands I reckon...
Anyway, thanks again. x
Blurt!