THE MEN THEY COULDN'T HANG
+ Guests

SATURDAY 13TH SEPTEMBER

The Men They Couldn't Hang were officially formed in early 1984. The founding members were Phil "Swill" Odgers (vocals, guitar), Paul Simmonds (guitar, bouzouki, keyboards) and Jon Odgers (drums) from punk-pop band "Catch 22" with Shanne Bradley (bass, flute - former member of Shane MacGowan's band "The Nips") and Stefan Cush (vocals, guitar), whom they met while busking in West London.

TMTCH appeared at a St Patrick's Day festival in 1984 and were also asked to play at a benefit gig for the striking miners. Paul Simmonds wrote the song "Shirt Of Blue" on the way to the gig when he watched a whole police force gathering.

The Men's first big hit was their cover version of Eric Bogle's "Green Fields Of France", which ended up in John Peel's Festive Fifties two years running!

In 1985 they released their first album "Night Of A Thousand Candles", closely followed by "How Green Is The Valley" in 1986. Among the TMTCH fans, these two album remain the most popular due to now classic Men songs like "Ironmasters", "Ghosts Of Cable Street" and "Shirt Of Blue".

Shanne Bradley left in 1987 and was replaced by Ricky McGuire, a former member of punk band the UK Subs.

The third album "Waiting For Bonaparte", released in 1988, was again bursting with great songs such as "The Colours", "Smugglers" and "Bounty Hunter", which became live favourites.

By now they had attracted the attention of the rest of Europe and by the time they released their album "Silvertown" in 1989, they were asked to play at a big festival in Estonia in front of thousands of people.

Their fifth album "Domino Club" released in 1991 showed a darker mood with the songs "Family Way" and "Great Expectations", while the single "The Lion And The Unicorn" was very reminiscent of their first three albums.

By this time cracks and uncertainty about the way forward started to show in the band's makeup and they decided to call it a day. A Farewell Tour produced the live recording "Alive, Alive-O" and filming "The Shooting" at the Town and Country Club in London (now known as The Forum).

Paul and Swill, together with Paul's equally talented brother Neil Simmonds, started a new project called Liberty Cage while Cush and Ricky played and toured extensively with Folkfinger. Jon Odgers meanwhile decided to settle down and worked for Northern Irish noise merchants Therapy? as a drum technician.

By 1996 they were missing the thrills of working together as TMTCH too much and duly reformed the band after playing the occasional gig together.

They released the album "Never Born To Follow" and the EP "Six Pack" in 1996 and 1997 respectively and toured Germany with their new sound less mandolin, bouzouki and 12-string guitar which Paul used to play.
In 1997 they were invited to play in Egypt. Click here to read Swill's report on this rather unusual tour.

Two compilation albums of their best songs were released in 1998, which were followed in 2003 by "Cherry Red Jukebox", an album with all new songs written by Paul Simmonds.

Last year TMTCH have played an acoustic gig at the St Patrick's Day festivities organised by the Mayor of London, where Paul decided to pick up the mandolin again. Having gotten the taste for playing acoustic shows, they are planning on more as well as having the recording studio booked to record new songs and adding old ones in acoustic version for a brand new album. Watch this space for more news soon!

An extensive discography can be found at their Official Website.

Tickets on sale now at £14 from www.ticketweb.co.uk or by calling 08700 600 100 (24hrs) or with no booking fee at the Tower Box Office, Romsey Road, Winchester, SO22 5PW. Tickets are cheaper in advance.

This show is standing and ages 14+
ID is required for everyone under the age of 25
Doors Open 19:30. Show Starts 20:00