Put Your Money In My Box

Acid Klaus played The Golden Lion, Todmorden, on Friday night, a launch party for a five track EP P.T.S.D. By Proxy that came out on Golden Lion Sounds last month, with a DJ set afterwards by Maxine Peake. Acid Klaus came on stage under the Lion's mirror ball and red lights to a busy and excitable crowd, the pub filled with people young and middle aged determined to have a party from the moment the first note was played. The recent EP was played in full, Adrian with hat pulled right down and collar of coat pulled right up and dark glasses too, on keys/ synth and vocoder, a poncho'd and behatted stand up drummer and twin vocalists who gave it all, Cat Rin stage left, singing in Welsh and English and Philly Piper, centre stage, wearing a helmet. They powered their way through the songs from P.T.S.D. By Proxy, from the revved up synth pop call for revolution The Solution, to the Detroit techno sounds of Aerodromes, Philly singing of cruising the council estates and having to get it right. Pour Some Wood On The Fire mixes Hi NRG and blurry acid house with Adrian on robotic vocals, and then abandoning the synth completely, leaving the stage and entering the heaving throng on the floor with microphone firmly clenched for Losing Our Way, his north Manchester vowels and the 303 ricocheting round the stone floor and walls. Adrian says the EP is 'dance music you can cry to', electronic sounds to frug around to while the world goes up in smoke. The last song is a riot, the twin vocalists chanting 'put your money in my box' while Adrian counters with the robotic 'everything's for sale' and the crowd dance like no one's watching. Or cares about anyone who is. 

The EP is still available at Golden Lion Sounds, 10" on yellow vinyl. If you buy the vinyl you get a digital only remix of Aerodromes by David Holmes with a video filmed in the Golden Lion

Maxine Peake played records afterwards, the self described 'leftie luvvie' spinning Northern Soul 7" singles and floor fillers, psyche, indie, guitar bands, Motorhead and more. I had to run for the 11.36 train back to Manchester and found myself sitting on the train with a group of twenty- somethings who, on finding out I teach history for a living, asked me to tell them some history. There followed a long, rambling and probably incoherent monologue about the Spanish Civil War with multiple digressions. If you're reading this kids, thanks for humoring me/ looking after me.