The Men They Couldn’t Hang, with support from Briar & Bramble, at the Brewery Arts in Kendal. Friday, December 13, 2024.
IT is a scary thought when you realise this year marks the 40th anniversary of The Men They Couldn’t Hang (TMTCH) playing their first gigs together back in 1984.
They emerged with their own distinctive blend of folk/punk around the same time as The Pogues, and band’s name was originally coined by none other than Shane MacGowan as a potential moniker for his own band.
He got the inspiration from the book The Man They Could Not Hang which chronicled the life of John Henry George "Babbacombe" Lee who was famous for surviving three attempts to hang him for murder.
Original band member Stefan Cush was a roadie for The Pogues at the time and, when the name was not used, he decided to keep it for himself and the rest is history.
Having said that I was relatively late to the party as I only really discovered the band with the release of 1987’s Waiting For Bonaparte breakthrough album but I quickly caught up by buying the two albums that preceded it.
As you might expect the band has faced adversity over the years – including a break up and the subsequent reunion – but nothing could have prepared them for the unexpected death of co-lead singer Cush in February 2021 after suffering a heart attack.
That could have been the end of the road for them but the remaining band members decided to keep on going with Tom Spencer (guitar/banjo) stepping forward to take more of a leading role than he had previously enjoyed.
To mark the band’s milestone anniversary they released a compilation album – The Magnificent 40 – which featured 40 tracks culled from across their career with a cover depicting them as Wild West heroes (or villains) and it was a nice touch that a ghostly figure of Cush was also depicted because it goes without saying that he is still with them in spirit.
They also embarked on a 40-date tour earlier this year and by the time you read this they will have wrapped things up with a triumphant final date in Glasgow last Saturday (December 14).
Putting aside the associations of the date of Friday 13’s gig - the bad luck and slasher horror movies - it was something I was looking forward to.
Support on the night was provided by duo Briar & Bramble, featuring Mike Turnbull and Kate Hewson, with their own take on contemporary folk with a dark Cumbrian twist. One of the songs told of summoning a demon from a dead animal’s corpse. They were well received by the appreciative crowd.
It seemed appropriate that TMTCH took the stage to the theme tune from the film The Magnificent Seven, given the title of the compilation album, and they kicked off proceedings with a rousing version of the track Raising Hell.
Given that they had material from a 40-year career to choose from it was no surprise that fans would be disappointed that their favourite tracks would not be included and my mate Garth was sorry that they did not play Scarlet Ribbons from the first album.
I mean when I first got a look at Friday’s setlist I was also disappointed to learn that, despite Rosettes being included, they would not be playing it.
Having said that it was packed with crowd pleasers including a few personal favourites such as: Shirt Of Blue, Going Back To Coventry; The Ghosts Of Cable Street; The Lion And The Unicorn; Smugglers; The Colours; The Crest; and Ironmasters to name but a few and it was also nice to hear new material such as Red Kite Rising which is basically the band’s tribute to Cush.
One highlight of the night for me was to witness the connection between the band and one particular fan, Lewis Rose from Whitehaven, because you clearly see he was really enjoying the show. And he was not alone there as the crowd really gave the band a warm Cumbrian welcome.
Having seen the band on a few occasions over the years it was the first time I had seen them joined by fiddle player Bobby Valentino.
They finished with tracks including Walkin’ Talkin’ and A Night To Remember which is basically a headline writer’s dream, as that is exactly what it was.
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