Back in the early eighties a Brighton ‘thrash skiffle’ band called Daddy Yum Yum used to play a Sunday night residency in the Alhambra Club. They also played a number of gigs in hip London joints like Dingwalls and the Hope and Anchor, and supported Ian Dury and The Clash. They were a brilliant live band. They turned down a record deal with Pete Waterman, and then disappeared without trace. I often wondered what had become of them. Then I found out.
John (then ‘Kid’) Crampton was one of their two main singers, who played a mean guitar, too. He’s now a hard-gigging one-man blues band who regularly packs out the Lansdown. Willi Kerr was the other singer: his Yum Yum name was ‘The Reverend Suede Hatchett’ and he was the wild man of the band, who rattled a washboard and made his eyes look pop-out mad. Willi now leads The Curst Sons, along with Dave Simner (DYY’s banjo player) and Tim Dunkerley (ex Red Guitars). I saw The Curst Sons in the Snowdrop about a year ago, eager to see what they’d be like. I wasn’t disappointed. The same raw energy of Daddy Yum Yum, despite all those years. And, amid all the hillbilly silliness, a dark creeping tombstone edge. Listen to their sound - ‘inspired by the short stories of Raymond Carver and the originality and spontaneity of early American folk music’ - here. The Curst Sons are headlining tonight, with Hastings band The Dawgs supporting.

Meanwhile, on Saturday night, nu-folksters the Drookit Dogs are playing what is likely - if their last concert was anything to go by - to be an unforgettablt gig at the Lansdown. See VLH no9 for more details.