The Cock Has Risen

On the twenty first of December, 2004, I departed Twickenham by train for Devon. I was going specifically on that date to see a live performance by The Cock, at The Ariel, near Ilfracombe. Now, I have mentioned The Cock before in this blog, and told of my relationship with that entity. Let me re-cap briefly for those who have missed it. I used to be in a band called The Dead Bell with Pete Black. Pete Black is in a new band called The Cock. I have been asked to reprise my role as lyricist by Cock member (if that’s not tautology) Pete Black. I have gladly done so. However, until the abovementioned date I had never actually seen The Cock in action. It has to be said, though, that from my stay in Devon, what stands out proudly in my memory is an image of The Cock. Well, many images, in fact, some of which I will use to decorate this entry.

I arrived in the sprawling metropolis of Barnstaple, at the end-of-the-branch-line train station, laden with luggage and gifts like a sort of cheap noir version of Father Christmas. The rendezvous point was the corner opposite where the bus station used to be, before they moved it, on the square with the clock tower. However, since I had arrived early I went to Chatterbox to have myself some tea and a tea-cake, and write a little on my story 'The Antiquarian'.

The hour came and I went to meet Pete, who was there with Mark, of bumbishop fame, bassist for The Cock. Since they had not eaten we proceeded to the cafeteria of Marks and Spencer, where we ate a Green Room-type meal and the Cock members seemed to be in nervous, pre-gig mood. We exited via the lingerie section, which is, of course, obligatory whenever visiting M and S.

Well, there was a lot more of this general waiting around, with which I won’t bore you. The two Cock members went on to the venue ahead of me, because of logistics with cars and musical equipment. I caught a lift with the drummer, Steve. Inevitably the conversation in Steve’s car turned to music and musical tastes. I was my usual coy self when asked what kind of music I like. I don’t know why, but the question always embarrasses me into near silence. "The usual kind of thing," I said, "You know." Eventually, however, I managed to confess to specifics, that recently I listen to a great deal of God Speed You Black Emperor, A Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra, and Do Make Say Think, all of which we apparently had in common.

Well, we arrived at The Ariel Centre, which held memories for me from times I had practised there with The Dead Bell and other bands. The Ariel Centre is basically a place to practice and record music for local musicians. The musicians began to set up, and very soon people began to arrive. Now, this gig was more a private event than a public one. All those who came had been invited, or were brought by someone invited. I asked how many were expected, and it seemed that, at most, there would be about thirty people. I had heard a little of the rehearsal and assisted with sound-check (in other words I listened and said, "It sounds fine"), so I thought the gig was probably going to be good. But I still had a notion that what really makes a gig is the audience, and therefore wanted as many people as possible to turn up. I don’t know exactly how many people came in the end, but it was less than thirty.

We waited for some others who were expected, but they didn’t arrive, so eventually the band decided to kick off. Now, allow me to insert the set-list of the gig:

Sympathy for the Devil – The Rolling Stones

London Calling – The Clash

There Will Always be a Place for you in my Heart – The Cock

And she was – Talking Heads

Hit me Baby – Britney Spears

Girlfriend in a Coma – The Smiths

Meet on the Ledge – Fairport Convention

Missing – The Dead Bell/The Cock

I'm your Fan – The Cock

Seven Nation Army – The White Stripes

Shadowplay – Joy Division

Enculez Moi – The Cock

She Don't Use Jelly – The Flaming Lips

As The Cock kicked into Sympathy for The Devil, I leant against a pillar and, well, moved parts of my body. Honestly, as the previous sentence might well convey, I’m a hideously self-conscious person, but the fact is, I couldn’t help moving parts of my body. The music was good. There will be some eloquence coming later, I promise. (I hope.) Normally my self-consciousness would be hugely exacerbated by the small numbers of people present – the intimacy of the occasion – but in this case I came much closer to forgetting the eternal curse of my loathsomely repressed identity than I have at gigs where I have been rolled between heaving masses of sweating bodies. My mind did not wander during the entire gig.

Sympathy For The Devil – mid-paced, nice starting number. London Calling – you really can’t go wrong with this song, and The Cock acquitted themselves well. There Will Always be a Place for You in My Heart – Now this was the acid test, so to speak. This was pure Cock material. And I was happy and excited to discover that, to coin a phrase, it rocked, and not only rocked, but seemed to thrust itself up majestically above the cloud cover of the previous material.

Well, I’m not going to describe every single song. I think some people will suspect me of bias, but the fact is, it was the best gig I have been to in a long, long time. If I had to be critical of anything I’d say that, however well you play it, Hit Me Baby is just a badly written song and you have to trade to some extent on novelty if you cover it. I did crack up, however, when Mark introduced the song as a number about "domestic violence".

Highlights for me were, most of the set, actually, but, let’s see, There’ll Always be a Place For You In My Heart, Missing, Enculez Moi, Seven Nation Army, Shadowplay and She Don’t Use Jelly.

Hearing Missing, a Dead Bell number, I was very pleased to discover how well it seemed to build and shift. During Shadowplay it occurred to me, not for the first time, that this was basically heavy rock. But, as I said to Peter afterwards, it was heavy rock with clarity. There were no clouds of distortion to hide behind. It was not a mere wall of noise. The arrangements built up and fell away in such a way that it was simply very involving for the listener. I’m not sure exactly what the sound of The Cock is, but to take the time-worn combination of drums, bass, guitar and vocals and still be engaging is an achievement. When I spoke to Peter he said that writing for a three-piece was a very different discipline than writing for The Dead Bell. The Dead Bell was very much about recording songs – the emphasis was therefore on what sounds we could get when recording. The Cock is much more about performance.

The band took a break after Shadowplay, and Mark asked me what I thought. I told him that it was very good, and that the original material was at least as good as anything else they were playing.

After this break came the encores, Enculez Moi and She Don’t Use Jelly. I had not heard Enculez Moi before, but it was another impressive number, buoyed up on a very tight rhythm section that reminded me a little of some of the material on James’ album, Stutter.

Finally, we had the Flaming Lips cover, featuring Mark’s vocal and a dizzying spiral of riff acceleration at the end.

When the gig was over, I told Peter that they must do more gigs in front of more people, and was happy to hear that he agreed.

Now, allow me to be grumpy for a few moments. I happen to know that the Dead Bell tracks on Pete’s website have been downloaded hundreds of times, and that at least fifty times, whoever was downloading went there via my blog. (It’s scary, isn’t it? Just call me ‘Big Brother’.) Anyway, that’s all good and lovely. I’m just a teensy bit disappointed that no one has left any comments about the songs. Of course no one is obliged to. This is the Internet. The songs are there for you to enjoy. Gratis. Free. Etcetera. It’s all very cutting edge and grass roots. But, it would be nice, if you did actually enjoy the songs, if you just let me and The Cock know. You know, it’s encouraging and all that. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

By the way, the recording of The Cock playing London Calling to which there is a link in this entry is not from the above gig, just to let you know (same goes for the links to Missing and There'll Always Be a Place For You in My Heart).