This is a picture of the anarcho-syndicalist Rudolf Rocker. He has a splendid beard, a pair of nice glasses and some interesting ideas about political rights, the freedom of mankind and nationalism. However this post is not about him. His thoughts are available to anyone via the anarchy of Google.
This is about the Whitby band of the same name. As Rudolf Rocker are playing at the fantastic Waiting Room next to Eaglescliffe station on Sunday 25th October with John Peel favourites The Hepburns (swathes of jangly Smiths guitars swamped in expansive, almost Morricone-esque arrangements, all providing the unlikely musical setting for happy/sad songs about milkmen, Charlie Cairoli and even a jaunty tribute to their original drummer Les Mun :‘You’re A Queer One, Les Mun’) it seems a good time to introduce Rudolf Rocker to Popwatch readers.
The Waiting Room is a splendid venue and also a highly rated vegetarian restaurant. Popwatch favourites Nocturnal Dictionary and the now defunct The Pier have both played there.Anyway, the band released a CD a couple of years ago on the Postgate Records label, but I think it's fair to say they have a low level web presence and have slipped under the radar of most people who follow the local scene. Rudolf Rocker's songs are grounded deeply in Whitby's folklore without being folk songs, and we should be putting this band on at The Rifle Club and The Friendship Club because they don't sound like anyone else around here at the moment.
I interviewed singer and guitarist Mark Goodall one night in the appropriate surroundings of The Black Horse to delve into his relationship with the folklore and history of the district that informs the songwriting. A quick glance at the track listing shows the subject matter we're dealing with here. Some of the songs are unashamedly boisterous knees-ups, but the ones I'm interested in have a haunting, arcane quality to them.During our conversation, which was recorded for presentation on this blog, the pub gradually filled up with drinkers, so there is a bit of incidental conversation. Also fans of the glam rock outfit The Sweet will notice their hit tune Ballroom Blitz forming a slightly incongruous backdrop to our talk of ancient artifacts. Postmodernism of the highest order.
I must apologise for the occasional rumbling sound picked up by the microphone. I suspect its caused by a slightly unsteady table. In these extracts we discuss four of the thirteen tracks.
SHOWERBATH OF THE PATRIARCHS
I knew nothing of this, but apparently around 1934 a local man had the idea of building a swimming pool and a boating pond in Litllebeck. By 1945 due to disuse it became silted up and was populated only by hundreds of frogs. A film exists in the Yorkshire Film Archives showing boys bathing in the pool.
MAIDEN'S GARLANDS
In Old St Stephen's Church, Fylingdales hang four maiden's garlands. They were made to commemorate the tragic death of a young girl, and would be carried along at the funeral procession.
CRETEBLOCK
The wreck of this concrete ship stands forlorn on Whitby Scar. The subject of these strange vessels was covered more extensively on OUT ON YE! here.
HAND OF GLORY
The mummified, severed hand kept in a cabinet in Whitby Museum is purportedly the only surviving Hand of Glory. It was found hidden in the wall of a thatched cottage in Castleton.
Rudolf Rocker interesting fact: Fans of BBC TV's "The League Of Gentlemen" series may already be (unwittingly) familiar with Rudolf Rocker: their song "Voodoo Lady" featured in the episode in which the legendary Creme Brulee stage their reunion gig.
So there.
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| Maiden's Garlands, Old St Stephen's Church, Fylingdales |
