Playlist: Winds of Change

There’s more to North Shields than Neil Tennant’s birthplace. Not that there’s anything wrong with the Pet Shop Boys frontman, but these days the antidote to Being Boring is better found at underground venues like Three Tanners Bank and The Engine Room. Small, but perfectly formed, they’re working together this weekend for a mini-festival that informs the latest, much-delayed playlist.

The Peevie Wonders – Food Shop

In which a trip to the supermarket veers towards an existentialist crisis. Our heroes head to the shops in search of breadcrumbs and find themselves swept away on a tide of consumer choice. But not the right breadcrumbs for the planned deep-fried cauliflower on tonight’s menu. This is what you get when you take a perverse Tyneside sense of humour, marry it to some good old indie rock and unleash the scanner into the mix.

Peevie Wonders define themselves as a band that likes to get drunk (Peevie) and wonder about stuff. More post-Pulp than post-punk, there’s a stream of consciousness feel to this deliberately absurd slice of life. It’s a bit like eavesdropping on a rambling, drunken conversation, but with the enormous advantages of editing out the dull, repetitive guff that most of us talk in our cups and replacing the throb of a bassline through the toilet wall with a proper soundtrack. Overall, it’s very much in the same vein as debut release “Indie Dancefloor Kid” and its takedown of musical snobbery, or “I’m an Influencer” and fish-in-a-barrel fusillade against vapid online culture. After a brief spell State-side, the boys are back in town and will be opening Saturday’s proceedings at Three Tanners Bank at 2:15pm.

HMRC – Boots on the Ground

If you wanted to criticize, you could accuse the Peevie Wonders of aiming for soft targets. That’s not a charge you’d lay against HMRC. Self-defined socialist political song-writers, this is less talking with the taxman about poetry and more howling with rage at a society cheerily waving itself off to hell in a handcart.

Latest single “Boots on the Ground” is a monster of a track, all sinister sinewy bass and ominous, repeated warnings that bombs are overhead. It’s a desperate call to arms, a plea for a passive populace to react less to the symptoms (price rises, cancelled holidays) and belatedly address the cause.

On stage, HMRC has garnered a reputation for raw, in-yer-face shows that leave ears ringing and consciences pricked. The band’s own manifesto states: “The UK is on its economic and cultural deathbed and 99% of us are being exploited by what is basically an imitation of a 15th Century feudal system. We feel compelled to write about this depressing era instead of personal relationships and emotions.” But amid the cynicism, there’s a foundation of tongue-in-cheek humour waiting to be unearthed, and you’re as likely to find a track about Frank Bruno or Miley Cyrus as a slice of rage against the neo-fascist machine. HMRC has a Saturday 4:30 slot at The Engine Room.

Pit Pony – Accidental Doom

Tyneside-based, but drawing on the whole of northeast, five-piece Pit Pony picked up plenty of plaudits following the release of debut album “World to Me” in 2022. It’s fuzzed-up rock with a social conscience, but it’s also hugely danceable. Best of all, in Jackie Purver they have a singer with a voice like a clarion call.

However, amid the band’s rise to prominence, there was a certain amount of trolling and grumbling. It happens a lot. Jackie is a woman, which somehow still upsets some people in the 21st century. She sticks with her South Shields accent – quite deliberately – which also seems to get a few of the knuckle-draggers riled up. Accidental Doom hits back against this kind of bullshit and wrestles against the dangers of unintended self-censorship. While, best of all, continuing to rock a good ‘un.

“Accidental Doom” was released last October and since then the band has been busy on stage. But, with a return to the northeast this month, there’s a promise of new material – some of which got a first airing in Middlesbrough at the weekend. So the Trade Winds festival set should be a great mix of old favourites and fresh sounds. Pit Pony play Three Tanners Bank in the 5:15 slot on Saturday.

Trade Winds is on Sep. 13-14 at Three Tanners Bank and The Engine Room in North Shields. Tickets are £11 per day, or £19.80 for the weekend. Click this link for tickets and more.

Thanks for reading another playlist. If you liked it, give a like and subscribe. If you really liked it, consider buying me a coffee. But, most of all, please consider supporting the artists by buying their music or attending their gigs.

Previous playlists: Folksy flavours / Politics / Stockton Calling / Russia / Aelius / #6 / Border Crossings / #8 / Safe hands throwing stones / More Than a Stone’s Throw / Fusion / Pigs, parties and Portuguese / From Bronte to Black Metal / Punk Princesses / Mackem magic and a mystical remix / Narc.Fest / Fringe Benefits / Peterlee Psalms