Hell's Belles

Vintage sounds, dusty grooves, and 21st-century freaks.

Danish purveyors of garage rock goodness Crunchy Frog (they who brought us Jon Spencer‘s Heavy Trash and The Raveonettes) are bringing their fuzztastic trash palace to London for three wondrous Thursdays at The Wheelbarrow in Camden from February 23rd.  Joing the mayhem will be PowerSolo, who have already graced this site’s pages, Snake and Jets Amazing Bullit Band, Thee Attacks, Lars and the Hands of Light, and more to be announced.

I’m also extremely honoured to have been asked to join the ranks of the Crunchy Frog DJs for the first show with Thee Attacks and Lars and the Hands of Light on February 23rd.  Expect even more fuzz, filth and tittyshakers between the bands and beyond.

The shows look a little something like this:

23 Feb Thee Attacks + Lars and the Hands of Light (facebook event)
08 Mar Snake and Jets Amazing Bullit Band + support TBC
04 Apr Powersolo + support TBC

Thee Attacks’ debut album, That’s Mister Attack To You (produced by Liam Watson of Toe Rag studios, and the White Stripes’ Elephant) is a slice of Scandi fuzz par excellance.  Sample one of its delights here:

Thee Attacks – Love in Disguise by hells-belles

Tomorrow night’s the first Shake Rattle and Bowl of 2012, and since it would’ve been The King’s 77th birthday at the stroke of midnight, we thought the perfect way to shake off the January blues would be a big ol’ Presley-a-Thon.

Betwixt our usual stellar (if I do say so myself) mix of rock ‘n roll, r’n'b, popcorn, soul, psych and garage, we’ll be dropping a whole lotta Elvis – from the early rockabilly days right through to the 68′ Comeback*. And we will TOTALLY play Do The Clam.  It’s a floor filler. FOR REALS.

Tweet me @hells_belles with any special Elvis requests, or you can post them in the comments here if you’re not on twitter.

To top it all off, there’s drinks specials for SRB members (sign up here for a badge), including a special Rock-A-Hula cocktail that the lovely bar blokes at the Holborn All Star Lanes have made in honour of the King, we’ll be screening some classic Elvis videos on the monitors, and there’ll be a free raffle of Elvis DVDs, buckets ‘o beers, and bowling.

Entry to the party is free.  Raffle kicks off at 11pm, so get there by 10pm to grab a free ticket, and make sure you’re in the DJ room by 11pm for the winner announcement.

68′ Comeback Special action for you right here, and some more obscure Elvis download love below:

Elvis Presley – Adam & Evil (MP3)

* SRB is normally strictly 50s and 60s, but I’m sure Suspicious Minds will make an appearance anyway.

Click the image for a larger map.

Tonight at the All Star Lanes, Holborn, 8-2am. Free! More info here, and a Watusi Zombie MP3 for you after this awesome pic:

Jan Davis – Watusi Zombie by hells-belles

A bit of French garage rock in a tenuous link to the fact that I’ll be DJing at Secret Garden Party at various points during the weekend between July 21st-24th (most likely on Friday and Saturday – if you’ve ever been to SGP you’ll know that’s how they roll there).  Gardeners can swing by our little oasis and have a bubble bath (yes, really) to swingin’, rockin’, groovin’ and erm, kitsch’n tunes at The Tepidarium.

The main stages boast a few of our friends and nefarious associates in the form of Smoke Fairies, The Jim Jones Revue, Guillemots, Last Man Standing, Secret Sisters, The Pierces and Vintage Trouble.

In the meantime, some tunes to get you in the mood:

Ronnie Bird – On S’Aime En Secret by hells-belles

The Jim Jones Revue – Big Len by charmfactory

Guillemots – I Must Be A Lover (single edit) by Guillemots

Vintage Trouble – 2BHMD

As I’ve mentioned before, I have a DJ residency at Shake, Rattle and Bowl, at the All Star Lanes in Holborn, with my DJing, band and general girly partner in crime, DD.  I’m not one of those “I am DJ. No! I am GOD!” types, but there are few things more annoying than people who stand next to the booth, drunkenly shouting a list of requests while you’re trying to cue up the next record.  We do play actual vinyl records (and CDs) as opposed to running off a laptop, much to the surprise of one girl who asked to “see the playlist”.  She looked mightily baffled when I pointed to my record bag and (politely and cheerfully) said, “That’s my playlist”.

Very rarely occasionally they ask for something appropriate, but more often than not it’s a request for stuff like Dolly Parton,  the Grease soundtrack (um, it’s a 50s / 60s night, which means music recorded in those decades, not 80s movies inspired by those decades) or for something genre-appropriate, but completely wrong for the time of night – for example, the ultra-slow “Leader of the Pack” by the Shangri-Las at peak dancefloor time.

There’s almost always that one person who comes up every four songs to ask if you’re going to play their request next and even a fairly easygoing lady like me can get a tiny bit irritated by it.  Except on Saturday, that person was Scott Asheton, otherwise known as drummer of The Stooges (*squeeeeee!*).  Scott wandered up to the booth a few times, and among the tracks he asked for was The Clapping Song by Shirley Ellis.  We’d already played it that night, but he said “So what?  Play it again, it’s a great tune.”  Well, okay then:

Shirley Ellis – The Clapping Song by hells-belles

The Clapping Song