South London Hardcore go live tonight

I guess Transpontine is concerned with 'the Matter of South London', starting from the basis that historically much that goes on in the capital on the south side of the river has been marginalised, overlooked and treated with condescension. The word 'transpontine' itself expresses that - on the other side of the bridges from the centres of political, financial and cultural power, an area regarded as 'common', vulgar and lawless. Coming across that word for the first time ten years ago gave birth to this blog, as reclaiming it provided a framework for the half-formed notion we had of documenting interesting things that were going on in our area.

Many others in the blogging world are doing similar things for particular areas (Brockley, Deptford, Hither Green etc.), but in terms of the broader 'Transpontine Question' the biggest contribution is being made not by a blog but by a series of podcasts - South London Hardcore. Started by Steve Walsh and Jack McInroy in December 2011, they are now approaching their 100th episode. There is a quite an overlap with some of the interests of this blog, particularly in terms of music, film, literature and general weirdness. But they do have a broader geographical focus, covering the whole of greater London south of the Thames, and stretching out to the western lands of Barnes and Wimbledon. Over the last couple of years they've had some very interesting guests, including comic writer Alan Moore (talking in particular about Shooters Hill) and recently Sean O'Hagan of Microdisney, Stereolab and the High Llamas.

To mark their 100th episode, they are doing a live show tonight from the Old Kings Head off Borough High Street, starting at 7:30 pm. Admission is free.

 

I have travelled the buses late at night

One of Margaret Thatcher's many reported contemptible utterances was that '"A man who, beyond the age of 26, finds himself on a bus can count himself as a failure" (though actually there's some doubt exactly what she said, when, or even whether she said it all!).

Was it prophetic that just two days ago The Band of Holy Joy posted a refutation of this sentiment on youtube, with a film to accompany their gorgeous song 'I have travelled the buses late at night' (from their album City of Tales): 'I have seen the rich take the goodly fight, to drive the poor neatly out of sight,  I have seen the poor chase the shadows of the rich, they want to scale the Shard but they end up in Shoreditch'.



The song perhaps also references an earlier response to Thatcher's alleged remark - 'Only Losers Take the Bus' by The Fatima Mansions (1989).



The Band of Holy Joy are arguably the finest band to ever emerge from New Cross. The Fatima Mansions were an Irish band named after a Dublin housing estate, so no Transpontine connection there... Although Fatima Mansions' singer Cathal Coughlan was previously in Microdisney with Sean O'Hagan who apparently lived in New Cross at some time and rehearsed at The Music Room in New Cross with his later band The High Llamas. O'Hagan is evidently still around South London - someone mentioned seeing him at a recent Dulwich Hamlet FC match. See it all connects.

High Llamas - Pipas - Stereolab - New X

Some more New Cross music connections towards the indie end of the spectrum.

Lovely indie-pop duo Pipas used to live in Jerningham Road, and indeed have a song called Old Kent Road on their 2002 album 'The Cat Escaped'. In this 2001 interview they mention Telegraph Hill Park and also refer to another band living in the same area: 'we think that we have these superstar neighbors, the High Llamas, and this whole year one of my projects has been to look into everybody's window as I walk up and down the hill and I've studied everybody's house and there's some people who look like they're into '60s tropicalia kind of stuff and it's got to be them'.

In a 1996 review of the High Llamas and Stereolab in Mojo magazine, Barney Hoskyns refers to them as 'two musical ensembles who dwell in the New Cross netherlands of south-east London, whose metier happens to be an uncanny kind of mimicry or pastiche. They do it brilliantly'.

Intriguing, somebody mentioned to me before that Sean O'Hagan (High Llamas and before that Microdisney - who I once saw at Glastonbury) used to live in the area but I didn't know that anybody from Stereolab did too. I would love to be able to weave them into the South East London musical history narrative so if anybody knows any more, do tell...

Anyway here's The High Llamas' Bach Ze to brighten up your day: