Luton: Centre of the Punk Rock Universe

With Abbo and Spon….

Spon (left) Abbo (right) at DV8 2012

Spon (left) Abbo (right) at DV8 2012

Abbo and I will be at Luton’s Hat Factory Art’s and Media Centre on Friday 25th November to talk about Punk in the Luton area back in the late seventies. This is part of the “40 years of Punk” celebrations going down over November at that venue and widely across the country. I am hoping to put together a few slides of various characters, bands, venues, fanzines from Luton and the surrounding are during the late seventies early eighties period. Hopefully this inspire discussion among ourselves and the audience.

Then Justin Saban will join us and we shall perform a couple our punk platters ‘unplugged’ style. So after I have written this I had better dust off the cobwebs of my guitar and get practicing!

When are UK Decay returning for more gigs and recordings? – As part of the talk we shall be hosting a questions and answers session hopefully this question and many others will be answered!

Tickets are just £5.00 bookable in advance from here

Further info

 

Save

Crimewave hits Luton

Sat 7 May, Russ CrimeWave performs UK Decay lyrics in front of Luton Town Hall.

There wasn’t exactly a crowd but a series of puzzled onlookers who thought they were watching a priest or some sort of crazed politician. The mayor with his gold chain was sat there looking quite unsure for a while before moving on. When he read out the lyrics for  “Killer for the USA” , a bemused asian youth shouted out “what do you mean?” “Killer for the USA” . After a moment of explanation and on receiving a free “God So Loves Decay” lyric book, the youth and his pals walked away puzzled.

All in all , it was a really surreal experience, the poet enjoyed his performance and so did a group of us, the public registered a strange happening under the statue of liberty by the town hall for two hours.the point had been made! Heavy Metal Jews in mind of all the anti-semetism stuff that had gone down, was a bit nerve racking but, I think in the name of punk and poetry , it prevailed!
It was actually really interesting hearing the songs, read out in this way, could this be the start of something new in a similar vane perhaps (sic) ‘punk poetique?’

Finally a confused and indignant looking raconteur priest type chap arrived , apparently he was the regular bible basher for that spot, he had to wait his turn, he turned out to be good humoured thankfully!

 

New four-track EP WONDERFUL TOWN Now available

LTFC have been crowned Conference Premier Champions 2013/14 !

LTFC 2014 Meet the Players – Luton Town Football Club Press Release..

The Town are aiming to help Lutonian punk band UK Decay hit the top of the charts and raise money for Solyd with the release of the group’s new EP Wonderful Town.

To help celebrate the release of this fantastic album and the news that LTFC have been crowned Conference Premier Champions 2013/14, four of your favourite Luton Town players will be in Smith Square in the Mall on Thursday 17th May between 3.15 and 4.15pm.

This is a great opportunity to meet your stars and get Mark Tyler, Steve McNulty, Luke Guttridge and Andre Gray’s autographs on your copy of the Wonderful Town EP.

You will be able to buy your copy from the stall and then have it signed instantly by the heroes that have helped us secure promotion back into the Football League.

The CD can be bought for as little as £5 or why not go old school and pick up the 7 inch Vinyl for just £10. 

You can also buy the individual tracks on itunes from as little as 79p and remember that every copy you buy counts towards our push for another title: The charts title. 

If you cant make it down to the Mall on Thursday, you can still buy it online at www.hattersworld.co.uk 

 end of hatters press release….

Why not come and see UK Decay and Bowfinger Live in Luton on May 3rd….

UK Decay and Bowfinger live at the Hat Factory Arts Centre. Saturday May 3rd

UK Decay and Bowfinger live at the Hat Factory Arts Centre. Sat May 3rd

Saturday 3 May 2014, Luton Hat Factory, Luton Tickets available here

Wonderful Town Vinyl, CD and Download…information..

Wonderful Town EP

The Wonderful Town Ep – is now available on iTunes from Monday April 7th

UK Decay’s new WONDERFUL TOWN EP is available in shops and download stores now. The EP is available as a limited edition 7” vinyl gate-fold sleeve with art print insert, limited edition CD gate-fold single with lyric sheet and as a download.

‘I had the idea for a song about the town I love when walking back to the train station after a Luton game 2 years ago . It dawned on me that it is the common aspiration to live in the countryside , but I thought about the generations of my family that had walked the same streets I was walking , and how , even unbeknownst to me , they had probably helped shape the town in both physically contributing to building the environment around me and as spirits that drank in these pubs , rode their bicycles through these streets , came back from 2 world wars ,I wouldn’t have wanted to be from anywhere else ’ says singer Abbo. ‘ Luton educated me about how to get along with people , their cultures , their music and it gave me probably the biggest interest and thread in my life , Luton Town Football Club . I’ve lived in New York and London for most of my life now , but this powerful magnet brings me back . “

The band worked closely with others in the town to produce the EP, using local recording facilities, design studios and pressing plants. Luton Town Football Club also got involved, with the full first team and manager joining the band in the recording studio to put down cover versions of LTFC fan favourites Bring Me Sunshine and Hatters Hatters. The fourth track is a second version of the lead track, but with lyrics linked directly to LTFC. WONDERFUL TOWN is also available to pre-order and buy through the club shop.

‘Luton moulds and shapes anyone who lives there, it gives you a sense of identity that is rarely reflected in the wider media,’ says guitarist Spon. ‘But the production of this shows how wrong those assumptions can be; everyone involved in this has done it for love and a wish to show that the town is not as it is viewed by others.’

All the proceeds from WONDERFUL TOWN will be split between two charities: Luton Foodbank and SoLYD – a supporters’ initiative that helps fund the club’s youth development. Its production has received the kind support of Latent Lemon Audio, ATP Media and Diamond Black, in addition to Love Luton and LTFC.

Digital Download through iTunes

Wonderful Town EP Vinyl Version

Wonderful Town EP CD Version

Direct Order Links below

Rough Trade

http://www.roughtrade.com/albums/82607

Hattersworld

http://www.hattersworld.co.uk/

iTunes

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/wonderful-town-ep/id850357245

Amazon

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wonderful-Town-UK-Decay/dp/B00JBROLTE/

The Decadents are back in Town..

The decadents burn up Latent Lemon in the 'Wonderful Town'

The decadents burn up Latent Lemon in the ‘Wonderful Town’

So it’s been a busy week for the band. Monday and Tuesday were spent recording four tracks for the Wonderful Town project at Justin Saban’s Latent Lemon Studios in Luton.
On the Wednesday we then spent the day filming the live sequences for a video that will support the above, before Spon and Ed headed back to the studio to lay down final overdubs.
In between all this, Abbo also managed to squeeze in the time to sing with some very special guests at the Hat Factory (thanks Fahim and Paul for sorting out the venue and recording at such short notice!).
We’ll be sending out more updates on the Wonderful Town project over the next few weeks – see you then.

UK Decay on BBC twice in 24 hours.

Decay have experienced something of a a double whammy on the Beeb early this week.

TV

UK Decay on BBC twice in 24 hours. First on Monday evening just before East Enders, BBC journalist Sarfraz Manzoor returned to his hometown Luton on ‘Inside Out – East’ at 7.30pm. He talked to people in the town about the recent years of bad press the town and it’s inhabitants have endured. The town has often appeared in the national news for the wrong reason’s and this has somewhat ingrained itself on to the national psyche – how does this effect Lutonians? In complex ways it seems to say the least! Sarfraz wanders about meeting students with mixed opinions and later he talks to artists and musicians associated with the town.

Cue to a meeting and an interview by Sarfraz with “school classmates” – Fahim Qureshi the chief at The Hat Factory Arts Centre and Steve ‘Abbo’ Abbott, music impresario and lead singer with Punk band UK Decay. Both ‘Fame’ (Fahim) and Abbo were involved in the early Luton Punk scene either in bands or promoting gigs – both once spikey-haired do it yourself alternative revolutionaries. Now both matured with the years but underlining the same basic ethos underscoring their current positions. The discussion was about Luton and it’s musical and punk intercourse with the outside world. How in order to ‘make it’ you would have to leave the town for the capital and the outside world. Then it was all important to remember your special relationship with your hometown. Abbo pointed out that Decay were spawned out of Luton but were now an international band and everywhere the band plays, the audience is made aware of the bands hometown – Luton.

Sarfraz Mansoor interviews Abbo and Fahim

Safraz found optimism in this – he too had left Luton ‘Dick Whittington’ style and was now perhaps ready to think about returning and setting up home once more in the town.
The interview was interspersed with four or five seconds of live footage from UK Decays recent Hat Factory gig.

You can catch up on this on BBC Iplayer for the next few days….

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03flh9z/Inside_Out_East_28_10_2013/

Radio

A few hours later actually at 3am UK Decay’s 1981 Peel Session was re-broadcasted on BBC 6 Music’s ‘Live Hour’. This session was broadcasted earlier in the month on Gideon Coe’s October 10th Show.

Last nights ‘Live Hour’ also included The Sex Pistols live from Finsbury Park London in1996 and a another Peel session by Dawn of the Replicants.

The Gideon Coe show has now finished on Iplayer but for the next seven days you can catch up with the Live Show. Furthermore it seems you can link the individual tracks to a BBC playlist thingy (Not entirely sure how that works or whether it’s limited to seven days or permanent?)

Make of it what you will, here’s the link to the Iplayer and the playlist for the Live Show.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03fq44l

Live and Gigging at The Hat Factory – Luton

Live and gigging at The Hat Factory Poster

Live and gigging at The Hat Factory Poster Landscape

UK Decay are returning to their home town to take part in a “Live And Gigging” event run by Luton Cultural Services in conjunction with BBC Introducing. The evening will include a live performance in front of a home crowd and before that band members will be taking part in workshops, mentoring a support band, and a general networking question and answer session. The Live and Gigging event will also offer one local artist/band a one to one session with UK Decay and a support slot during their gig; plus additional industry prizes and opportunities.

Further information and tickets