03.12.05 SPEAR OF DESTINY / GENE LOVES JEZEBEL / Dead Girls And Boys, Voodoo, 8pm, 2

Lemmys Mole

03.12.05 SPEAR OF DESTINY / GENE LOVES JEZEBEL / Dead Girls And Boys, Voodoo, 8pm, 20.00euro

SPEAR OF DESTINY

Let's face it – in nowhere but Britain could a band like Spear of Destiny have surfaced and survived. In that broad grey twilight which spans UK rock's no man's land between all-out pop glamour and the blood and iron hues of Gothdom and Metal, a thousand dark and different ideas have found a musical voice during the 20th century's last two decades. When we think of Spear of Destiny we think of imagery. It is encapsulated in the angular, European visage of the band's leader, Kirk Brandon.


Their album covers, with their Cyrillic graphics and strong, propaganda art styles, hark back to another time. As the pop world around them shifted and changed between sequins and make-up, strange trousers and rolled-up jacket sleeves, S.O.D. dared to be different with a music, lyrical approach and a look which crow-barred its way into your consciousness with a Spartan strength, courting controversy along the way.

Spear of Destiny have their roots where so much of today's good popular music was germinated – the punk explosion. They began back in 1978, even before the Iron Lady had ascended her regal throne, then known as The Pack, knee deep in the chaotic period of punk anarchy. The line up then was Kirk Brandon, with guitarists Jon and Simon Werner, from Canada, and Scottish drummer Rath Fae Beith. Their aggressive stand and lyrical approach represented the world they lived in at that time; they were young men, struggling in the squats of South London in a grim period of political history which only promised worse to come. The Pack ended their short, vibrant career as they had begun, in Clapham, and although their last gig at the 101 Club had been a complete sell-out, the record industry had avoided them like the plague.

And so was born the new line-up, uncompromisingly titled Theatre of Hate. Music journos around Europe never quite knew what to make of it all. What were TOH about? What was all this revolutionary imagery, and why were fans from Sheffield to Stuttgart hanging on this band's every word? Perhaps there was something in the band's name which the cynical music press could get a handle on, yet try as they may, no-one managed to fit Kirk's hard-working outfit into a musical pigeon hole. They were huge in Scandinavia, and during the three years of TOH's existence, they played a storming 400 gigs, with albums He Who Dares Wins (1981, produced by The Clash's Mick Jones), hitting number 15 in the NME charts in April 1981, with Westworld doing the same in April 81 and Revolution entering the top 40 in August 1984. By this time Kirk Brandon had become a pop icon throughout Europe, where his face could be seen on the cover of magazines throughout the continent. Yet as the Theatre of Hate project waned, its leader, along with bassist Stan Stammers, was about to surprise the music world yet again with his next undertaking.

This time the pop pundits would have something to get their teeth into – yet they still failed to identify the flavour. Spear of Destiny fans need no educating as to the origin of the band's name. But for the uninitiated, it goes like this. The history of Christianity tells us that as Jesus was dying on the cross, one of the Roman centurions by the name of Longinus, ( a German) who was on duty at the scene, plunged his spear into Christ's side. The spear became a religious artefact possessing all the mythical magic of the Grail itself, and over the centuries has been rumoured to have changed hands among the many European and eastern kings and emperors. The legend which has built up around the 'Spear of Destiny' – that he who owns it has the power of good or evil - largely came from a best-selling book of the same name by the late Trevor Ravenscroft, in which he tells us that when Hitler conquered Austria he purloined the spear (yes, it does exist) from a museum, the Hofburg, and took it to Nuremburg. The next man to get his hands on it was the US Army's Gerneral Patton, shortly before Hitler's suicide. The artefact is now back in the Hofburg.

That's the end of the history lesson – except that Kirk Brandon did have a very interesting meeting with Spear of Destiny author Trevor Ravenscroft before his death. It needs no stretch of the imagination to realise that the quasi-intellectual scribes of the early UK 80s music scene were going to have a field day with this. Yet to Kirk Brandon and his legions of fans, the combined forces of hackery were water off a duck's back. Spear Of Destiny forged on and built strongly on Theatre of Hate's brush with success. The early recordings, on the SS label (which became Burning Rome), did well, and by April 1983 SOD had signed to Epic and their album, The Grapes of Wrath slammed straight into the album charts at number 23 on the last day of the month. TOH had been the messengers; Spear of Destiny were the message, and that message was success. For the next four years they would repeat the achievement. For a couple of months, April and May 1984, their album, One Eyed Jacks, its title taken from a 1961 Marlon Brando movie, lodged firmly in the charts to rub shoulders with the likes of Rush and the Eurythmics. This unstoppable rhythm continued in the autumn of 1985 when the album World Service beat the previous release by this time getting into the NME top five. Although there was a two year break, May 1987 saw not one but two Spear of Destiny albums bouncing into the best sellers. First came a compilation, S.O.D. – The Epic Years, which entered the chart in the lower end of the top fifty and then climbed steadily, to be followed shortly by the highly successful Outland, which sold steadily for weeks alongside The Epic Years. However, in the midst of this success Kirk was suddenly diagnosed with a rare blood disorder. As he recalls; "After all that hard slog and progress, it was a real knock-back. It also meant cancelling our appearance at the Reading Festival". Yet there were still records to release. By now the band were on the Virgin label, and The Price You Pay saw them back on the chart yet again in October 1988. They had already got their act over to a lot of new fans back in 1987 when they supported U2 at a crowded Wembley Stadium, which was followed by a sell-out concert at the Hammersmith Odeon.

Throughout all this varied album success SOD's accomplishment in the singles market was every bit as impressive. It began with The Wheel in June 1983 and peaked after ten chart singles with So In Love With You in 1988. So with five hit albums and ten hit singles in the space of less than half a decade, Spear Of Destiny had achieved more than enough to guarantee their place in British and European pop history.

Today Kirk Brandon's life is as creative and busy as ever. Throughout the 1990's and into the new millennium the band's live output has made for a clutch of fine CDs and their studio work continues to reach more mature, artistic heights. Recent albums such as 1997's Religion and Volunteers in 2000 have further enhanced their strong reputation. Perhaps the secret is that Spear Of Destiny are not a 'band of their time'; like most creative acts they continue to develop, not only keeping their old fans but regularly adding new blood to an army of SOD enthusiasts. As to what Kirk Brandon has up his capacious sleeve for us next is anyone's guess – so watch this space!

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GENE LOVES JEZEBEL

Twin brothers Jay and Michael Aston began playing music in 1980 when they formed Slav Arian with guitarist Ian Hudson and a drum machine. Though the Astons grew up in Porthcawl, South Wales, they moved to London in 1981 and renamed the goth-influenced group Gene Loves Jezebel. The trio played several live shows and was quickly signed by Situation 2. In May 1982, the label released Gene Loves Jezebel's demo single "Shavin' My Neck." The band then added bassist Julianne Regan and drummer Dick Hawkins. Regan left soon after to form All About Eve, leaving Ian Hudson and Michael Aston to alternate on bass until Peter Rizzo joined in 1984. Hawkins also split for a time -- replaced by John Murphy and later Steve Goulding -- but returned in 1983.

Gene Loves Jezebel released two more singles in 1983 before their debut album Promise hit number one in the U.K.'s indie charts. In 1984, the group recorded a John Peel radio session for BBC and toured America with John Cale. After returning to England, Gene Loves Jezebel released the singles "Influenza (Relapse)" and "Shame (Whole Heart Howl)," but then waited a full year before second album Immigrant appeared in mid-1985.

In a small twist of fate, Gene Loves Jezebel gained its highest-charting American single the following year, when "Jealous," the major single from Kiss of Life , reached number 68 in August 1990. Two years later, Jay Aston and co. released Heavenly Bodies, which did well in Europe and on American college radio; the group's American label folded one year later though, and after a few sporadic live shows, Gene Loves Jezebel called it quits. As early as 1992, Michael Aston had been working with a new band called the Immigrants. Two years later, he re-formed the band as Edith Grove and released a self-titled album. Michael and Jay began working together again that same year, and later recorded two songs with Stevenson, Bell and Rizzo for a GLJ best-of compilation, released in September 1995. While Jay performed occasional acoustic shows under his own name, Michael played with members of Scenic and released a solo album, Why Me, Why This, Why Now, in 1995. Gene Loves Jezebel reformed in 1998 for VII, released in 1999 on Robinson Records. It was followed that same year by both Love Lies Bleeding and Live in Voodoo City. Giving Up the Ghost appeared in early 2001.

www.kirkbrandon.com / www.genelovesjezebel.com / www.deadgirlsandboys.com / www.tickets.ie

Frank Cronin

I was torn on this one, but NMA are no contest, they do Dublin every December, and this time round they have a new album to plug!