South East London blogzine - things that are happening, things that happened, things that should never have happened. New Cross, Brockley, Deptford and other beauty spots. EMAIL US: transpontineblog at gmail.com Transpontine: 'on the other (i.e. the south) side of the bridges over the Thames; pertaining to or like the lurid melodrama played in theatres there in the 19th century'.
As always lots going on in the SE London beer and coffee zone.
Best news is that a new pub is set to open shortly on the site of the former White Hart in New Cross Gate. The Broken Wheel, as it will be named, will occupy the iconic junction of New Cross Road and Queens Road, a place where there really should be a pub. The White Hart was there for over 170 years, it had its ups and downs but in its most recent incarnation was doing really well with great Sunday lunches including a fine Irish music session. Unfortunately it closed in the Covid period and has been empty since. In the mean time rooms above the pub have been converted to flats which may put some limits on noise and late hours, but hopefully not hamper the pub's success (see more about the pub's history at this earlier post).
work underway at the Broken Wheel (ex White Hart), photo from their insta @thebrokenwheelpub
Not far away the famous Montague Arms is up for let but no sign of a tenant as yet. Like the White Hart the pub closed during the pandemic and at one time looked likely to be demolished. Instead the upstairs has been converted to flats leaving the space downstairs refurbished but smaller. The famous stage is long gone (more about the Monty here), but scope for a good neighbourhood bar. See previous posts about history of this place.
Montague Arms - done up but still empty
A new coffee shop is set to open by Nunhead station soon. I know it sometimes feels like there's coffee shops everywhere but there actually isn't one here for caffeine-hungry commuters and other locals at this end (though there is Goodcup of course by Nunhead Green). Servesmiths, which runs two shops in Catford, is coming to the site of the former Tony's barber shop at 52 Gibbon Road (next to Silver Fish Chinese takeaway).
Site of new Servesmiths coffee shop by Nunhead station (building in middle to left of Silver Fish)
Hopefully some of these places will become community hubs with space for music and meetings, as happens with many of our existing bars and cafes. It's been amazing for instance seeing the Old Nun's Head become a queer destination pub, and so many people enjoying the music and the craic at Skehans.
Here's a few more examples from next week:
Welsh electronic duo Overmono are celebrating the launch of their new album Pure Devotion by running a pub for the day, The Two Dogs, in Deptford on Friday 7 August. Actually judging by the address they are actually doing this at the famous Dog and Bell pub in Prince Street SE8.
Bar D4100 (Dinner for One Hundred) are having a party on the 8th August at their Nunhead bar. The pizza people started out at the Hill Station Cafe SE14 (actually I think they started out in a family garden even before) and are very much rooted in the New Cross/Nunhead community. Locally based singer Jessie Ware recently declared them to be the best pizza on London in an interview with Topjaw (she also name checked Eat Vietnam in Deptford)
Joyce in Brockley are hosting another Brockley Queer FLINTA social on 11 August. If you haven't been keeping up with your acronyms that's 'Female, Lesbian, Intersex, Non-binary, Trans, and Agender'.
Was it really only a month ago that the pubs of New Cross (and indeed of the whole country) were filled with excited crowds cheering on England in the World Cup? It seems like another age in another country now, and faded away so so very quickly, but there were some moments of collective joy along the way weren't there? So just to remind you here's a few photos from those heady July days.
Skehans, Kitto Road, SE14 - after England beat Colombia on penalties people poured out on to the street, singing 'football's coming home' and cheering as passing cars tooted their horns:
Inside a packed Skehans for the England (2) Sweden (0) game. Standing room only and the most luv'd up atmosphere I have experienced outside of a rave (E for England?). Random strangers hugging each other and sharing round drinks (getting to the bar was difficult) like it was Club UK 1995. And exploding when England scored with beer going everywhere. There were a few Sweden fans in there too, yes including viking hat, but that was all part of the fun and there was no hassle.
It all began to go quiet during the Semi-Final against Croatia. I was in the White Hart when England scored which was pretty joyous, but things soon sobered up. The picture below is from The Montague Arms as time ran out for England. Nobody singing now...
I'm not totally sold on Billy Bragg's 'progressive patriot' notion of Englishness, but one thing that was clear was that the feeling in the pubs during those weeks was a million miles away from the racist, macho hatefulness of the post-English Defence League/Tommy Robinson crew. Like the England team itself, the crowds were diverse, inclusive and good natured. How it would have turned out if England had won the World Cup... who knows?
It's the 22nd annual Telegraph Hill Festival next month, with more than 120 events taking place from 5 – 20 March 2016 at various venues in the New Cross/Brockley border zone. You can check out the full programme here, but for now here's a few of the events that caught my ere.
'Painting & Sound Improvised Performance – audio - visual action - interaction. First meeting of reknowned painter and performer Pauline Amos and English experimental improvising musicians Mark Browne and Richard Sanderson.
PAULINE AMOS - (painting and sounds) Pauline Amos is an internationally renowned artist. She has collaborated with William Orbit, Poppy Jackson and dancer Anna-mi Fredriksson amongst others. She says of her work: “The paintings are documents and a recording of an event that happened - the action, the performance, the life, the improvised and impulsive moment is the work.” Her work is dramatic, her subjects: the female body, feminism, war, global politics, the environment, women, sex and relationships – the human condition. She has featured on YouTube and bill boards around the UK using her naked painted body to promote democracy.
British improvising musicians Mark Browne (saxophones and collected objects and Richard Sanderson (amplified melodeon and small instruments) have been playing together off and on for some 20 years, including in the quartet Fraction and the trio Browne/Thompson/Sanderson - creating instant and constantly changing music from instruments, objects and debris described as probing, adventurous, and uniquely textured exploration, haunting and fascinating. Together with Amos they will craft a totally immersive show.
This unique collaboration is presented as part of the Telegraph Hill Festival. The evening will include a discussion with Pauline Amos of her work. Admission £5 on the door.
At the Montague Arms on Saturday 19 March, band My Midlife Crisis will be backing various singers having a go at songs from the golden age of punk. As they didn't have any Crass songs on the list, I have gone for 'Boys don't cry'.
Prefab Walking Tour - Saturday 12 March 12 noon-1.00pm 'Meet at Brockley Station exit,
Mantle Road
Free but donation to museum
funds gratefully received
This moderate walk visits post war
prefab locations past and present,
derelict and inhabited. Finishing
at the Ivy House, London’s
first community-owned pub.
Booking essential, email
elisabethblanchet@hotmail.com'
Saint Patrick’s Day (17 March) 8.00pm-11.00pm
Skehan’s, Kitto Road (Free) 'Skehans is proud to invite you along
for bowl of our delicious Irish Stew
with soda bread (while stocks last and
daytime only). From 9pm The Clarkes
will rock the joint in their customary
style'
Indie pop/soul club How Does it Feel to be Loved? is back at the Montague Arms tomorrow night (Saturday February 6th), scene of its packed New Year's Eve party recently:
'We're doing a series of one-off nights at venues in south London for the early part of 2016, and the first of these is at the Montague Arms in Peckham on Saturday February 6th. We've had two storming New Year's Eve parties at the Monty, and we're excited to come back for a regular HDIF. The Monty was one of south east London's most characterful pubs, famed as a live venue and eccentric hostelry, until it closed in 2011 - it reopened in 2014, and has lost none of its former charm. The pub itself has a good sized stage and dancefloor in one third, and then the bar and seating takes up the rest, so there's no pesky bar queues getting in the way of the dancing. Our night on the 6th will start at 9pm and finish at 2am, with a guest DJ TBA.
How Does It Feel To Be Loved?
Saturday February 6th
The Montague Arms, 289 Queen's Rd, London SE14 2PA, map of the venue here
We play:
The Smiths * The Supremes * The Go-Betweens * Dusty Springfield * Belle & Sebastian * Love * Tammi Terrell * Aztec Camera * The Ronettes * Orange Juice * Beach Boys * The Temptations * Velvet Underground * Felt * The Shangri-Las * Primal Scream * Otis Redding * The Field Mice * Dexys Midnight Runners * Camera Obscura * The Four Tops * Melba Moore * The Orchids'
'Imagine Scott Walker fronting The Associates and then covering David Bowie’s Cat People, but straight outta Kernow' (The West Briton)
South London's number one Cornish band Trelawney have been featured at Transpontine before - their song Beast of Blackheath is partly a reference to the crushing of the 1497 Cornish revolt which came to a bloody end in a battle at Deptford Bridge after camping out on the heath.
The band, who hail from Cornwall but now mostly live around New Cross/Brockley and surrounds, have a new album out tomorrow and will be launching it on Saturday 30th January at the Montague Arms
The album is entitled United Downs. Ben Trelawney, speaking about the album said, “It’s named after a neighbouring village to where I grew up in Cornwall. It used to be a tin mine, or copper mine, I forget, but since I was a child it was the local rubbish dump. This for me conjures up the mood of the album, and the Cornwall that I grew up in. Remnants of its industrial heyday surround you, you can’t escape them. But it’s bleak, it’s run down, and there’s a real beauty in that.”
It's the closing weekend of this year's Peckham and Nunhead Free Film Festival, with some great events still to come including the Welcome to Busseywood African film festival tomorrow (Saturday).
Tonight at the Montague Arms (Queens Road SE15) there's a Rolling Stones night, with a showing of the definitive Stones documentary Crossfire Hurricane followed by a live gig with cover band Not the Rolling Stones. There's also an alternative take on the band's history with an exhibition of 'Astonishing band facts and unearthed artifacts from the Nunhead & District Municipal Museum and Art Gallery's archives'. 7 pm start, free entry, no ticket required.
As mentioned here before, Bill Wyman and other members of the Stones did actually drink in the Montague Arms in the 1970s.
When the Montague Arms (289 Queens Road SE15) closed in late 2011, many people feared it was gone for good. Stan and Bet, who had been working there for many years, had passed away, and the famous contents of the pub had been put up for sale Today though the pub is going strong having been 'resteamed, rebooted, repunked' as it says outside - it remains a good music venue with a different but equally idiosyncratic style.
Meanwhile the memories of its previous incarnation live on, not least in a series of remarkable albums put out in the 1970s. Thanks to my friend David W. who has found copies of them in various SE London charity shops.
Live at the Montague(1971)
A sleevenote on the back of this first album by Peter Latham, BBC presenter, says 'New Cross may not be within the sound of Bow Bells, but you can certainly find more than a touch of Cockney in its pubs. The Montague Arms, featured on this record, is not only in New Cross, its also vibrantly alive... the 'Mont' has the secret of making you forget the drab day's grind, the dismal weather and the disastrous news'.
The sleevenotes also instoduce the two musicians who were in effect the house band at the pub. Peter Hoyle, the Mony's landlord and drummer, is described as looking 'like a wilder edition of Peter Ustinov and plays the drum like a demon'. Peter London on organ and piano and vocals is said to be 'blind and works with music in Braille', his musical career including recording with his wife Marilyn as 'Man and Wife' (including the single Who Shot the Piper Man?), and being Musical DIrector for the BBC TV series STRAMASH featuring Lulu
On this and the next three albums the two Petes are also joined by comedian/compere/singer Jimmy Jones.
Live at the Montague Arms - Volume Two (1972)
More great cover versions, with Peter London now adding a moog to his keyboards. Songs include The Beatles 'A Day in the Life' and Gilbert O'Sullivan's Alone Again Naturally.
The crowd photo on the back is great, very evocative of early 1970s pub life:
Live at the Montague Arms - Volume Three (1972)
I haven't got the sleeve of Volume Three, only the vinyl (anyone help me?). Another diverse offering - Eleanor Rigby rubs up against Elgar's Nimrod and Jimmy Jones' comedy routines. Note that the recording engineers are listed as John Hassell Recordings. The Barnes-based Hassell assisted many people to self-release records and is now justly celebrated for his role in pressing dub-plates for the UK reggae scene.
Live at the Montague Arms - Volume Four (1973)
The semi-psychedelic cover art stands out on this one.
Recording engineer this time is Bob Auger, who worked as sound engineer with The Kinks, The Animals and many more.
The two Petes pretty much invented the look for the guys from Abba didn't they?:
Once again the crowd picture is a 70s fashion classic:
This album also has a gatefold sleeve, with the inside promoting the King and Queen, Kimmeridge Road, SE9 - described as the 'The Biggest Live Strip Comedy Scene in London' (the Montague Arms also featured strippers at this time). I think this pub/disco in Mottingham was run by the same people.
Live at the New Montague Arms (1977)
Note the address is given on the back as Queens Road, Peckham on the back - the confusion about whether the pub is in Peckham or in New Cross continues to this day. I guess as it's on the border it can be said to be either.
The picture in the top left of the cover shows, I believe, Bromley's Christopher Greener (1973-2015) - at the time Britain's tallest man - standing next to the pub's Stan Pownall.
The duo continued to perform in the Montague Arms, as the Two Petes, into the 21st century. I saw them many times on Sunday lunchtimes - who can forget their version of Wonderwall!
Are there any more albums?!
Here again is their version of MacArthur Park/Popcorn, which I put together with some pictures of the pub (see also their version of America):
Peter London
Before his Montague Arms days Peter London released the single 'Bless You' on Pye records in 1965, produced by the legendary Joe Meek
Who shot the Piper man? by Man and Wife (Peter London and his wife) was released on CBS in 1970
Update (2 April 2015): Jimmy Jones's account
In his autobiography, 'Now this is a very true story' (2011), the comedian Jimmy Jones mentions working with Peter Hoyle (pub owner) and his brother-in-law Stan (the bar manager) to get the Montague Arms going as a venue, and describes how the records came about:
'We would have strippers on Monday and Wednesday nights, and Sunday nights we'd put on drag acts... Peter Hoyle noticed that there were more and more punters coming in just for my comedy routines. And he had a very bright idea. 'Wouldn't it be nice', he siad, 'if we had something to sell all these lorry drivers who are spreading the word about you'... No stand-up comedian had ever released a vinyl long-player of adult material before. So we recorded 'Live at the Montague Arms' relased on the Montague Arms label. It was very popular, we sold thousands of copies of them in the pub. Bill Wyman certainly bought a copy. We finished recording five stand-up LPs from the Montague Arms. '
Jones mentions that all of the Rolling Stones with the exception of Mick Jagger came down to see him at the Mont, as did other other comedians including Mike Reid, Roy 'Chubby' Brown and one Cameron Davidson from Blackheath - soon to launch a successful career not uninfluenced by Jones' 'adult' comedy routines as Jim Davidson (he also performed at the Montague Arms).
By Jones' account he fell out with Hoyle after he started getting success and offered gigs elsewhere. A dispute about royalties from the records led to a court case, with Jones claiming that 'No one was buying those records to listen to the drums and keyboards'. As is often the way it became 'a very nasty and expensive court case which - to be honest with you - neither of us won'.
Jones also says that when Hoyle 'opened a second pub, the King & Queen at Mottingham' he [Jones] opened it for him with my dear friend Dave Lee Travis, the DJ, and an act who became very close mates of mine, a dwarf cabaret act known as the Mini Tones - Kenny Baker and Jack Purvis who went on to be in Star Wars as R2D2 and a Jawa'.
Update (8 April 2015)
Just came across this article from The Independent (29 June 2008): The Entertainers: 'The Two Petes' are the house band at The Montague Arms. Peter Hoyle says: ''I've been the proprietor for 40 years. My brother-in-law and sister run it now. It's changed a lot over the years. In 1978 we refurbished and now there are moose heads on the walls, a zebra head, skeletons, a penny farthing". Peter London is quoted: 'We go for stuff people know: the Stones, Beatles, some Ray Charles. We've also dabbled with Oasis, a bit of Ronan Keating. You’ve got to give people what they want. One song that has always gone down well is "Whiter Shade of Pale"... You can't buy atmosphere. In modern pubs, you don't feel welcome. Customers here know they're going to get called "love" when they come in. It's just like home.'
This Saturday 22nd November there's an all day benefit for the Focus E15 Mothers campaign, who have been fighting in East London to retain social housing. Lots of great punk rock/riot grrrlish musical action, plus cakes, zines, stalls and a raffle.
Coming up next Monday 17th November at the Montague Arms, a night of bands from New Cross/Brockley area with some great punky/garagey/riot grrlish noise, some of them so lo-fi that they have released cassettes (and in the case of PAMs recorded at Brockley Studios in Arabin Road)
'From the Burning Streets of Brockley! The ‘Boss’ from the ‘Cross! An SE4-Real showcase with
Flemmings: Future ‘90s rock heroes! Take the money you’d otherwise spend on a sub-par Thurston/Mascis solo album, and GIVE IT TO THESE GUYS INSTEAD.
PAMs: Short! Fast! Loud! Stupid..? You be the judge, they’ll be the executioners.
Charla Fantasma: Long-rumoured new trio emerge from practice room cocoon as magnificent butterfly! Expect fuzz, melody, chaos, eternal love, etc.
Cat Smell: Barbed disaffection hides beneath sugar-coated joy as Give It Ups veterans shift gear toward garagey, two-guitar kerfuffle.
MONDAY 17th NOVEMBER at THE MONTAGUE ARMS, Queens Rd, SE14 2PA (Overground: Queens Road Peckham / New Cross Gate). £3 on the door. Music begins from 8ish.
New Cross has a good tradition of experimental music (remember the Gluerooms at the Amersham Arms?). Latest in this continuum is Sonic Imperfections, 'South London's leading experimental night' at the Montague Arms. Next one is tomorrow night (Tuesday 14 October), with Barrel, Iris Garrelfs and Webster & Dunning.
Can't quite believe that this blog is ten years old. The first posts were on 9 October 2004, covering a talk on witch trials at South East London Folklore Society, a gig by our then favourite local band The Swear at the Montague Arms, and another gig by The Fucks at Goldsmiths . The blog really grew out of a period of being involved to a greater or lesser extent in some interesting but disconnected scenes locally - South East London Folklore Society itself (then meeting at the Spanish Galleon pub in Greenwich), the South London Radical History Group and other stuff at the Use Your Loaf social centre in Deptford (evicted in September 2004) and the New Cross music scene centred around Angular Records and the Paradise Bar (now the Royal Albert).
Now would probably be a good time to stop, I'm not particularly feeling 'the local' at the moment, and blogs have partly been superseded by other social media platforms. But sure I would regret having somewhere to post things that do interest me, or to let people know about some good and bad stuff going on. And if nothing else the last ten years of Transpontine do serve as an archive of a decade in the life of South East London.
In the early days, Blogger wasn't very photo friendly so there weren't many pictures on early Transpontine. To redress this here's some New Cross-related images from 2004 I found on flickr.
Art Brut getting ready for a photo shoot by the Paradise Bar in July 2004 (photo by Adie Nunn from flickr)
A 36 routemaster bus to New Cross Gate (photo taken at Victoria by Bingley Hall on flickr)
The much loved Montague Arms on the New Cross/Peckham border in Queens Road closed last year (see appreciation here).
Now comes news that in some form it may be reopening. A notice displayed on the pub states that Appleglass Limited have applied to Lewisham Council for a premises licence 'to use the premises to be known as Montague Arms... for recorded music and the retail sale of alcohol'.
I haven't found anything out about Appleglass and it's unclear at this stage exactly what they've got planned. It won't be the old Monty and nor should it be really - its previous decor and atmosphere was very much associated with the people who ran it for a generation, including of course the late Stan and Bet. It does look likely though that the premises will continue as some kind of convivial social space rather than being converted to flats like so many other former pubs locally.
So last night there was an event at the Montague Arms, a Christmas party for the Nettleton Road Housing Co-op. Sorry for any confusion about this - last week somebody involved in it sent us the flyer (below) and asked us to promote it, so we put up a post about it. Then somebody else contacted us and said it was a private party and that if we didn't delete the post, it might be cancelled. So we took it down.
Pleased to report that party went ahead (photo below was posted on Twitter by My Tiger My Timing), but it seems that this was the last event before the building is handed over to new owners next week. The place is fondly remembered by many, as recalled here before, but other than the odd private event it has been closed as a pub for almost a year.
So what next? Property Company Kingsbury has announced that the building has been 'acquired for development' (see below, accessed from their website yesterday). They say that it 'will be subject to a planning application to restore viable commercial activities at ground floor level, with a number of residential apartments above'. It's unclear whether the intention is to refurbish the existing building, or to put in planning permission to demolish and rebuild, but Kingsbury have told the Newsshopper that it won't be a pub. So it looks like another good pub gone, unless the new owners have a change of heart. There is certainly scope for a viable pub in that area, for a start Southwark Council has opened a big new office opposite Queens Road station with nowhere nearby for staff to drink after work on Queens Road between Peckham and New Cross.
Very sad to have to confirm reports that the legendary Montague Arms (289 Queens Road SE15) has closed - at least in its current incarnation. The pub hasn't been open since the New Year, and its future has been in doubt since the deaths of Stan and Bet Pownall (both in their 80s) who had been running the pub with owner Peter Hoyle since 1967. I'd heard that the family had decided to close it, but was waiting for an official announcement and hoping that there would be some change of plan. But last week the pub's famous stuffed animals were put up for auction at Toovey's.
Pete Hoyle (left), the late Stan (centre) and Bet (right)
The pub managed to combine being one of the last old style South London boozers with being the home for succesive waves of people looking for somewhere welcoming and quirky to put on interesting events.
In the past ten years the pub has hosted various great music and club nights including Throbb, Fear of Music , Greenwich Pirate, Wolfgang Bopp, Coronary Crumpage (where Anna Calvi played an early gig in 2008), Frog Morris, White Noise and The Ticket that Exploded. Paul McCartney popped in for a drink once in the 1980s, and in 1989 the NME intervewiewed Nick Cave, Shane MacGowan and Mark E Smith in the pub.
Its decor was unique, combinining maritime memorabilia (diving helmet, ship model) with Victorian stuffed animals (zebra, oryx). Not to mention that scary Santa they used to bring out at Christmas with the plastic bags over its hands. The pub's fame travelled far and wide - it was selected as the best pub in the country in the Rough Pub Guide book (2008) and highlighted as 'one of our strangest, and best, boozers' in an unusually good article in The Sun only last November.
People used to sometimes joke about the 'coach parties welcome' sign outside, but for many years they did a deal with coach drivers from the continent driving up the A2 into London who would stop off (no doubt for free food and drink) at the pub with their passengers. I was in there one night when a coach load of Dutch tourists came in - they loved the place, what a great introduction to London.
Here's some of my top Montague Arms memories:
- Sunday lunch with the family being entertained by The Two Petes - the legendary house band consisted of drummer (and pub owner) Pete Hoyle and Pete London on keyboards and vocalists. They actually put out three limited release 'Live at the Montague Arms' albums in 1971/72, featuring their inimitable cover versions of songs, and were still going forty years later. In their early days comedian Jimmy Jones also joined the act. I particularly remember their version of Wonderwall - and my son getting up on stage when they were performing and singing Twinke Twinkle Little Star.
- Gang of Four (2005) - one of my favourite ever bands played their first gig for twenty years in the pub. I was there, standing next to Phil Jupitus I recall.
- Bloomsday (2008) - one of those random nights when you end up watching some Eastern European avant garde jazz band (Tudósok) and loving it.
- Brockley Ukulele Group - my first time on the stage was giving a short talk on New Cross history at a My Eyes, My Eyes film night, but then in 2008 I performed there a few times with the Brockley Ukulele Group, including once on the same bill as my old faves RDF (or rather their later incarnation The Faction).
- Band of Holy Joy last December - so glad I went to that, my last visit to the pub. Fitting that it should have been one of the finest bands ever to emerge from the local area playing at one of last gigs at the Montague Arms, if not the final one.
I guess it's still possible that the pub may be resurrected in some form rather than be converted into flats. Any recent lottery winners who want to do the world a favour get in touch with the family quick.
Post your Montague Arms memories and stories in the comments (if you've got any evocative photos email me).
Here's a little tribute video I have put together quickly with images found online plus a recording of the The Two Petes performing MacArthur Park:
Update: by a strange coincidence, Greg Hoyle (son of Pete) also posted a video on youtube a couple of weeks ago made up of pictures of the pub set to a Two Petes soundtrack (in this case America). I swear I didn't see this until after I'd posted my film!
The Band of Holy Joy are surely one of the greatest bands ever to have been associated with New Cross. In the late 1980s they were fairly massive on the indie scene with their lush Brechtian/Brelish/folk-tinged tales, but they split up in 1993.
Next week, on Thursday December 22nd, they are playing at the Montague Arms. Obviously if you loved them then you will want to see them now. But apart from nostalgia, why bother? Well since they reformed they have been putting out some fine new music - their new album How to Kill a Butterfly (Exotic Pylon records) got a 4-star review from Mojo.
I saw BoHJ several times in their heyday (including at both Town and Country Clubs), and have seen them once since they got back together, playing at The Windmill in Brixton a few years ago. I thought singer Johny Brown acually sounded better at the latter. Rather like The Pogues, their music was always 'mature' - back in the day they were young musicians singing as if they old men and women looking back on lifetimes of passion and regret. Now maybe they've grown into the songs!
Anna Calvi has been generating a lot of press on the back of her recent debut album release (e.g. this piece in the Guardian on the 'gothically inclined singer songwriter').
Quite liking this, so naturally would like to be able claim her for the Great Work that is South East London music making. Not entirely sure what the connection is yet, but Ceri James recalls her hanging round the old Goldsmiths Tavern in New Cross as a teenager, and she seems to have played some early gigs locally, including at at the Montague Arms in 2008. Anyone know any more?
