Robbie Coltrane’s 50th birthday, Dan Aykroyd, Badly Drawn Boy and Twisted Nerve Records.
A few words on Robbie Coltrane’s 50th birthday party, Dan Aykroyd, Badly Drawn Boy and Twisted Nerve Records taking in: Rough Trade Records, Bends For 166 Miles, Andy Votel, Alfie, Dave Tyack’s Dakota Oak, Aidan Smith, Delia Smith, Voice of the Seven Woods, Twinkranes, John Peel, On the Nose, Brenda Blethyn, Harry Potter, Rubeus Hagrid, Elwood Blues, The Blues Brothers, Don Baker and Dan Aykroyd’s House of Blues.
Robbie Coltrane, Dan Aykroyd and Badly Drawn Boy.
Whenever I hear Badly Drawn Boy’s ‘Once Around the Block’ I automatically think about Robbie Coltrane and Dan Aykroyd.
It became a running joke in our house when the lads were smaller. Watching a Harry Potter film, whenever Robbie Coltrane appeared on screen I’d say: “You do know that mum and dad were at Hagrid’s 50th birthday party?”
“You’ve told us before dad,” comes the jaded retort from my lads. “Hagrid AND a Ghostbuster!”
25 years ago, on Saturday 01 April, 2000, I started the evening at a Badly Drawn Boy gig as part of a Twisted Nerve Records label showcase in Whelan’s and ended the evening in a small bar at a private function to celebrate Coltrane’s half-century.
‘Once Around the Block’ (2x7”, Twisted Nerve/XL Recordings, TNXL003s & TNXL003r, Sep 1999). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
In August 1999 I was in Rough Trade Records at Neal’s Yard in London. That was the Rough Trade shop in Covent Garden, it was in the basement beneath Slam City Skates. It closed in 2007 around the same time as Rough Trade East opened just off Brick Lane.
As I descended the spiral staircase a beautiful, hypnotic tune drifted upwards to meet me.
“You quiver like a candle on fire
I’m putting you out
Maybe tonight, we could be the last shout
But I’m fascinated by your style
Your beauty will last for a while”
I was instantly smitten. I asked the guy behind the counter what was playing and he handed me a 7” by Badly Drawn Boy.
As I studied the sleeve he told me that there was a second 7” with a remix of the song. I bought both.
I LOVED ‘Once Around the Block’.
I still do.
EP3 & ‘Road Movie’ featuring Doves (2×7”, Twisted Nerve/XL Recordings, TNXL001t & TNXL001r, 1998 & 1999). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
In late 1999 I picked up a few more Badly Drawn Boy singles from Road Records in Dublin - ‘Road Movie’ and ‘It Came From the Ground’ - and I found EP3 which had come out the previous year.
Twisted Nerve was founded by Damon Gough (aka Badly Drawn Boy) and Andrew Shallcross (aka Andy Votel) in 1997 to release Gough’s music. By the time I became aware of the Manchester label, the first two Badly Drawn Boy EPs were impossible to get, they’ve remained elusive.
Badly Drawn Boy and Votel expanded the Twisted Nerve roster. My next purchase was Modern Music For Motorcycles, a 10” compilation, it introduced me to the other artists. Joining Badly Drawn Boy on the record were: Mum & Dad; Dakota Oak; Alfie and Sirconical. It’s a lovely thing on gorgeous yellow vinyl and according to Discogs the B-Side has a double groove and Mum & Dad’s ‘The Human Fly’ “has two different possible endings depending on where you drop the needle”.
It’s never worked for me, but I like the idea that it might be true.
Modern Music For Motorcycles (10”, Twisted Nerve, TN009, Jan 2000). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
Modern Music For Motorcycles - back and front sleeve. Photograph by Paul McDermott.
Bends For 166 Miles - flyer (front). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
On 30 March 2000 Twisted Nerve published the following news item on their website:
Twisted Nerve in Dublin - Bends for 166 miles
“About two months ago, everyone at Twisted Nerve HQ was sat around with a serious issue to discuss - where to go on tour next. As Badly Drawn Boy and Alfie had just finished a nationwide tour, we wanted the first-ever collective outing outside of Manchester to take place in a city they hadn’t already been to. Of the potential places to have the gig, one city stood head and shoulders above the rest - Dublin.
It was decided that the label party would take place this Saturday on April 1st at Whelan’s in Dublin and it would be called “Bends for 166 Miles” (the distance between Manchester and Dublin).
More importantly to celebrate this visit, Twisted Nerve would release a compilation of the same name and make it only available in Ireland. Not only that but it’ll be the label’s first CD release and will contain 6 exclusive tracks from all the artists on the roster, making it a bit of a collector’s item.”
A Twisted Nerve night in Dublin and an Ireland-only compilation CD! It sounded almost like an old school revue show.
I was in.
Bends For 166 Miles - flyer (back). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
The gig was great. Dakota Oak played first and took to the stage as the room was filling up. My contemporaneous review for Zeitgeist lazily called them “Twisted Nerve’s very own Tortoise.”
Dave Tyack’s band deserved more from me. Am Deister, their debut album which came out in 2001, is a classic. Tyack went missing in 2002 on a holiday in Corsica and tragically was found dead in June 2004, having apparently fallen to his death. He was an incredibly talented musician.
My review mentioned Badly Drawn Boy playing ‘It Came From the Ground’ and ‘Once Around the Block’. It was fantastic to hear these live.
The highlight of the night for me was the Manchester band Alfie. My review is below, it’s embarrassing to reread it 25 years later, I was trying too hard, but it is what it is.
Bends For 166 Miles (CD, Twisted Nerve, TN015cd, Apr 2000). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
In March and April 2000 Robbie Coltrane, Dan Aykroyd and Brenda Blethyn were in Dublin filming On the Nose. The caper film was directed by David Caffrey who would go on to direct Love/Hate and Peaky Blinders.
Robbie Coltrane plays Delaney, a hapless gambler, and Brenda Blethyn stars as his long suffering wife. Delaney works as a porter at a Dublin college. He discovers that a preserved head of an aboriginal tribesman can pick the winner of a horse race. Aykroyd plays a college professor and with Delaney must hold off a representative from an Australian university, who has come to reclaim the head. Don Baker, plays a local mobster owed money.
Robbie Coltrane and Brenda Blethyn in a still from On the Nose.
I’ve just read that synopsis back, it sounds mental. It is mental.
Variety called On the Nose: “A familiar but enjoyable comedy-fantasy about an ex-gambler who finds a mysterious, preserved head that can pick winning horses, On the Nose is able entertainment in a light vein.”
On the Nose (2001).
Variety were being really kind, but…
I have a soft spot for the film because it was one of the first films that my wife worked on and I have fond memories of its production.
During his time in Dublin, Coltrane celebrated his 50th birthday on Thursday 30 March 2000. A party was held for him on the following Saturday. That’s why I ended up leaving the Twisted Nerve night in Whelan’s and making my way to the Odeon on Harcourt Street.
Andy Votel w/ Jane Weaver - ‘Girl On A Go-Ped’ (Remix) (7”, Twisted Nerve/XL Recordings, TNXL006R, 2001) & Alfie - ‘You Make No Bones’ (7”, Twisted Nerve, TN033, 2001). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
When I arrived at the party, in a little function room upstairs in the Odeon, Don Baker and his band were on a small stage in the corner of the room entertaining a crowd of about 40 or 50 people with his harmonica-infused Blues standards. It sounded great.
Robbie Coltrane stood alone at the end of the bar nursing a drink and smoking a cigar. Dan Akyroyd was standing near the stage.
Baker invited Aykroyd to join him. The band started the introduction to Soloman Burke’s 1964 classic ‘Everybody Needs Somebody to Love’. Wilson Pickett’s version of the song became a hit in 1966 and it was famously covered by Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi as Elwood and Jake Blues in John Landis’ 1980 film The Blues Brothers.
Aykroyd stepped onto the stage, pulled a pair of black sunglasses from his pocket and went for it.
I was standing a few feet from him. I was dumbstruck as he literally transformed into Elwood Blues.
He leaned into the microphone as Baker and band kept the groove going, riffing on his original 1980 introduction he uttered:
“We’re so glad to see so many of you lovely people here tonight. And we would especially like to welcome everyone from the On the Nose community, who have chosen to join us here for Mr Coltrane’s birthday.”
He had the room, everyone was on their feet starring at him.
“We do sincerely hope that you all enjoy the show and please remember people, that no matter who you are and what you do to live, thrive and survive. There are still some things that make us all the same: You, me, them. Everybody! Everybody!”
Everyone in the small room screamed along with Elwood and Baker:
“Everybody
Needs somebody
Everybody
Needs somebody
To love.”
The place went crazy. Absolutely crazy. It was nuts.
Elwood and Baker then proceeded to tear through a few more songs from The Blues Brothers soundtrack.
Coltrane was still at the end of the bar, having another drink, smoking another cigar. In his own world.
And that’s why I immediately think about Robbie Coltrane and Dan Aykroyd whenever I hear Badly Drawn Boy’s ‘Once Around the Block’.
Or “Hagrid AND a Ghostbuster” as my lads would have it.
The best April Fool’s Day I ever spent in Dublin.
Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Twisted Nerve But Were Too Afraid To Ask (2xLP, Twisted Nerve, TN030, Oct 2001). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Twisted Nerve But Were Too Afraid To Ask - gatefold. Photograph by Paul McDermott.
Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Twisted Nerve But Were Too Afraid To Ask - inner sleeve. Photograph by Paul McDermott.
Postscript:
A few months later, in June 2000, Badly Drawn Boy released his debut album, The Hour of Bewilderbeast. It would go on to win the Mercury Music Prize. It’s fantastic.
On the Nose could be described as a “stop gap” project for both Aykroyd and Coltrane.
In 1992 Aykroyd established the House of Blues, a chain of live music venues, with Isaac Tigrett, the co-founder of the Hard Rock Cafe. Before leaving Dublin Aykroyd gave a few House of Blues baseball hats to members of the On the Nose production company. I know we have one of Aykroyd’s caps in the house but typically I couldn’t find it while I was writing this. It’ll show up.
Aykroyd’s next role was playing Captain Harold Thurman, a US Naval Intelligence officer, in Michael Bay and Jerry Bruckheimer’s Pearl Harbor.
The next film that Coltrane starred in was Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. He played Hagrid, the half-giant, in all eight of the films in the series. He died on 14 October 2022.
Badly Drawn Boy - The Hour of Bewilderbeast (LP, Twisted Nerve/XL Recordings, TNXLLP133, Jun 2000) & ‘It Came From the Ground’ (CD, Twisted Nerve/XL Recordings, TNXL002cd, Mar 1999). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
There was one more Twisted Nerve night in Dublin. On 17 September 2003 Twisted Nerve announced, via their online newsletter:
“Pint of Stout? Twisted Nerve Pay a Visit to Ireland”
“Pint of stout” - FFS.
I was really disappointed by that.
The Irish tour visited Cork, Limerick, Dublin and Belfast. The Dublin gig was in The Village on 27 September. Misty Dixon, Aidan Smith, Jukes and DJ Andy Votel were on the bill. The flyer and ticket stub (pictured below) teased that the first 100 people would receive a free Twisted Nerve lucky bag.
My lucky bag had a few CD singles (Badly Drawn Boy’s ‘Silent Sigh’ CD1 and CD2 if my memory serves me well) and a Twisted Nerve sticker (pictured below).
The gig was quiet, very quiet. I reckon the Twisted Nerve gang took lucky bags all the way back to Manchester with them, all 166 miles.
The star of this night was undoubtedly Aidan Smith. His two mini-albums had come out a few months earlier and the highlight for me was ‘Song to Delia Smith’ from his first mini-album.
It was an infectious song that I loved back then. I hadn’t listened to it for over 20 years. While writing this I played it again, it brought a huge smile to my face. I’d forgotten how much I love this song.
“Delia
I’d like to feel yr hands upon my chopping board tonight
Good looking, whatcha got cooking?
Underneath the TV kitchen electric light
You share my name and I’ll share your fame
We’re just the same
We both like brandy”
Aidan Smith - At Home With Aidan Smith (CD, Twisted Nerve, TN049, Apr 2003) & At Home With Aidan Smith 2 (CD, Twisted Nerve, TN052CD, Jun 2003). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
Upon the release of At Home With Aidan Smith the Manchester Evening News picked up on ‘Song to Delia Smith’ and asked Aidan where the inspiration had come from.
“Being at home and watching too much TV at university, and having a piano in the room. I just wrote it in 10 minutes and thought the tune was alright, and she was on telly at the time,” said Aidan.
“She just struck me as a very nice, personable, pretty sort of, nice person to have around.”
John Peel played ‘Song to Delia Smith’ on his BBC radio show and then rang up Twisted Nerve requesting another copy of Aidan’s mini-album for his neighbour - Delia Smith!
Peel told Twisted Nerve that his neighbour was, “a lovely lady, who would be quite flattered by Aidan's song”.
And Finally…
While I’ve a real soft spot for many of Twisted Nerve’s output for me the two gems in the label’s catalogue are later releases.
Voice of the Seven Woods was Rick Tomlinson’s psychedelic folk album. It’s an amazing record, highly recommended. Tomlinson followed up Voice of the Seven Woods by renaming his project Voice of the Seven Thunders and releasing another absolute classic in 2010.
Twinkranes were from Dublin and described themselves as a: “psychedelic power trio specializing in zone-out progressive pop musik”. They released their one and only album on Twisted Nerve in 2009. Spektrum Theatre Snakes is another lost classic, a kraut-psych masterpiece. Also worth finding.
Voice of the Seven Woods - Voice of the Seven Woods (LP, Twisted Nerve, TN077, 2007) & Twinkranes - Spektrum Theatre Snakes (CD, Twisted Nerve, TN090, 2009). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
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