Clockwork punk - played with heart and soul

What happens when you put together two men in their mid-forties, one of them Leeds, the other from Montreal (NDG actually), a girl from Kyiv, and a third guy who is just more than half a century old? I myself wasn't too certain myself until Saturday September 27, when I went out to O'Brien's Irish Pub in the centre of Ukraine's capital city.

I had met three of the four before that Saturday, but until you have all the personalities in one place its a hard one to call, especially when the second Brit is the guy who helps keep everything running like punk clockwork.

They're called the C-MEN. Don't ask me why? But I will find out someday! [Blair, maybe you can elucidate us all?]

The band has branded themselves as Kyiv's "oldest punk band" and this is quite clear that they are, just do the math.


The gig was a lot of fun and brought back memories. Songs like Blitzkrieg Bop by the Ramones but played with such energy that not many people could stay still, and their own rendition of ABBA's Mama Mia... well that was something else!

While this isn't Ukrainian music all the musicians played with a great deal of soul and simply showed that they love music and producing it. But besides, this most of those people in the audience seemed to be enjoying what they were hearing, and the mean age at the gig was probably about 36 years of age... a mix of ex-pats and locals.

You may wonder why I bring up the mean age at the gig. It's quite simple, it stems from an interview I read of a friend of mine, Andriy Riffmaster Antonenko, in a local music trade publication MuzTorg.

When asked if it was difficult to be a professional rock-guitarist in Ukraine, Riffmaster replied:

Here – is more than difficult. The reason – the need for rock music ends with teenagers. In the West concerts are attended by 40 and 50 year old's, there, its part of the culture, and no one considers that heavy rock is the emission of aggression. Here, unfortunately, there is no mass consumption of rock music. Groups grow to their level and... they begin to bend over under the weight of their own mastery. Also here we don't have any interested management, that is capable of bringing rock up to an appropriate commercial level, in the right understanding of this word. For producers – its straighter, and more important, to quickly make money by take the sweet voice of a young girl, or create some “drinking songs”. Slavic mentality is playing a nasty joke with rock music.

Well, it clearly hasn't been playing any tricks on those of the younger crowd at the gig last Saturday night, nor they youngest member of the band Irina, who clearly has a great knowledge of music compared to most 19 year old's I meet here. She can handle her bass guitar pretty well too.

If you are in Kyiv, this coming weekend, and want to hear Kyiv's "oldest punk band", head down to Bochka Khmilna located at 3 Bohdana Khmelnytskoho on Sunday night at 20:00...

Why such an early start? They will be opening for Australia's Asleep in the Park and Kyiv's very own @Traktor, a new project of Oleksandr Pipa's, formerly of VV and Borsch. And there you will see: Mick Lake,David Michael Rothwell Lee, Irina Nalivaiko and Blair Sheridan.

Another birthday of those close to the top

A couple of nights ago I dropped by The Drum nestled in the courtyard behind 4 Prorizna Street just off of Khreschatyk in Kyiv's downtown core. I found the usual suspects there, but primarily journalists from the FT, BBC and Bloomberg(Warsaw) as well as Euan MacDonald... of Speeding Lisa and co-owner of The Drum.

Euan came over and sat down as I greeted Nate (Bloomberg) whom had seen last time on my sojourn to Warsaw in April, Euan (BBC), who I guess I saw about about a month or two ago, and Roman(FT) who had just returned from Georgia. Not the state but the country!

"Bill, I guess you know that Speeding Lisa is pretty well dead, but a few weeks ago Blair and Mick asked me to join them to play bass at Sean Carr's birthday party somewhere out near Rivne!"

Now for a short digression. As it turns out Mick Lake, the guitarist of the Death Valley Screamers would frequent The Drum quite often and at some time back in about 2005 I had met him there and a number of other times as well. Somewhere along the way his common love for music he ran into Blair Sheridan, one of those other Montrealers who sort of ended up in Kyiv. Blair at one point had started talking with Mick about starting a new band here in Kyiv, but something that they had sort of grown up with... and lived through... The Punk of the UK (Mick) and Montreal (Blair).

Euan, continued: "So we all had to meet some bus out at the Zhytomyrska Metro station, we got out there on a Saturday morning and eventually found the bus, and the other bands that had Mick had set up to play at Sean's birthday bash! We were on the road for about 5 and a half hours! And as you can imagine there was plenty to drink on the bus," he paused and took a sip of his beer. "There were quite a few bands there at the gig," as he started to show me some of the pictures on his phone and then handed me the earphone to listen to what he had recorded. "Don't mind the sound quality," added Euan, "it was pretty loud and a lot of it just comes out as noise on the phone," as he started one of the video's running.

"I can't remember all the names of the bands that played there that night but there was one band that was pretty good, and they got this guy in a kilt!" Euan then added.

I saw a video of these guys a few nights ago as I was dozing off, but can't remember their name either...

Well it turns out that the band that Mick and Blair are called the C-men... and they will be playing at O'Brien's Irish Pub in Kyiv tomorrow night. OOOPS... Blair has corrected me, they are playing on Saturday, September 27th - Thanks, Blair! I will try to check them out... Maybe just a little of Ukraine has rubbed off on them.

Some other music, but not necessarily Ukrainian

As usual I try to head to the Canadian Embassy in Kyiv every second week to do a little networking and socialize. This past Friday I saw a few familiar faces that I was not expecting to see at the Embassy and it was a pleasant surprise, when Blair Sheridan, a fellow former Montreal walked up to me and said, "Hey I've been reading your blog, some pretty interesting stuff!" I thanked him and continued my conversation with friends at our table.

Later on when I had decided to leave to meet with some other friends, I took another friend over and introduced him to Blair, then Blair asked, "Why don't you write anything about Speeding Lisa?" I didn't have an answer for him but I told him I would think about it.

Speeding Lisa is Kyiv's only ex-pat band that plays good old rock'n'roll. Formed about seven or eight years ago the band has gone through some transformations over the years. For a while they even had a Canadian female singer named Jennifer AuCoin. Jen added something different to the all guy band. Blair joined Speeding Lisa about three years ago and at one time we realized that we had a friend in common back in Montreal.

Euan MacDonald, a good friend of mine and co-owner of The Drum, or Baraban as it is called in Ukrainian is also a member of Speeding Lisa.  Back in September of last year I had organized an impromptu concert for British friend and songwriter Nicky Rubin at The Drum, which Euan joined in on with guitar just to have some fun. And then about a week later at Kupidon. You can check out the photos from both gigs here. And my review of the gig at the Drum in the Kyiv Weekly.

Speeding Lisa hasn't played for some time now, but I know all of those who have been following them over the years can't wait for their next gig.

While not in the same vein, there is one other ex-pat who also has a desire for music, but a slightly different type.

Canadian Karolina Patocki sings with the Kyiv Salsa Kings on a regular basis at a few different venues in Kyiv, including this evening at Art Club 44. Having spent nearly two years hosting a latino radio program in her home town of Ottawa, Karolina has brought some new depth to the Kyiv Salsa Kings. Her combined knowledge and love for the Spanish language and desire to help the band develop is changing the band's repetoire. Last week Karolina told me that she has been writing lyrics for new band material, and some of her Spanish speaking friends who dot the globe, have even made contributions to which the band's leader and musical wonder Iliya is to write the music and arrangements for.

I'm looking forward to check out the band tonight at Art Club 44. If you are in Kyiv, keep your eyes open for performances of both Speeding Lisa and the Kyiv Salsa Kings.