26 miles from Rugby...

[Stuart X.Hunter]

So, I'm nr Leicester at the minute and apart from getting lost driving in and out the city-centre at night, there aint a lot too do.

I'm ~26 miles from Rugby so was wondering if there was anything there too see...maybe a small pilgrimage in the offing

Any info???

Merci,

Stuart

[clewsr]

I haven't been back to Rugby for several years now. I'm hoping that one day a statue on Pete and Jason will appear in Church street but I don't think its there yet.

If you do make the journey then there may be a couple of pubs you wish to check out:

The dirty duck, which may actually be called the Old Swan off church street hosted a few Spacemen 3 gigs I believe.
The William webb Ellis and if it is still there 'ye old court house' a rubbish name for what used to be an excellent pub called the Saracen's head may also be worth a visit.

But really I fear if you do make the visit it may be laced with disappointment. Maybe it is better to keep it in the imagination. I found when I have returned over the years that many of the things that I used to like such as a the record store in the indoor market have been knocked down. Progress. bah.

Hopefully someone who actually lives in Rugby can offer more of a sales pitch!

[andyblacktoo]

i bought far too many records from that guy in rugby indoor market, i think he relocated to leamington, but is probably long gone these days. he always had a good stash of spacemen 3 stuff, which i assumed kind of kept appearing from various rugby peoples stashs.....

leicester is far nicer than rugby, but then i would say that. theres little if anything in rugby to pay hommage to, amusingly, the last time i spoke to mr pierce, he was asking me if berwicks record shop was still there. sadly its long gone.

[jesus son]

Pete used to be in the indoor market a lot swapping stuff for his spare Spacemen records.

Berwicks was absolutely fantastic and sadly missed.

[mat1922]

I don't know why it is that Rugby gets such bad press. I appreciate it is my home town so I am biased, but it is only a small little town, and I think it has a certain charm. Sure Berwicks and the market record stall are gone but Rugby was never the place to go to get music. We always used to jump on the train to Coventry or Birmingham anyway.

Anyway Elektronik there are still some things worth coming to see, even some with an (admittedly distant) Spacemen link.

Every month there is a good club night at the Carribbean Club on St Peters Road. It is called the Strip Club (not because the bands play naked, but originally because the music was going to be stripped down acoustic- in practice that hasn't happened...) The music is varied and can be a bit of a mixed bag but they have had some good bands in. I am slightly biased when I say that as I played in a band called Uberfuzz there last year. At the risk of name dropping (sorry!) we had Tim Morris (the Spacemen's original drummer)) drumming for us. The benefit of playing in bands in Rugby- it is quite a small scene!

Anyway this Friday Pat Fish (the Jazz Butcher) is playing a set. Pat was the guy who discovered the Spacemen 3 and recommended them to Glass records. He also played on Recurring (and features on vocals on a particularly good live version of Walkin' with Jesus that is doing the rounds dating from '87). You should make it over- should be a good night.

Pete Bassman is involved in the club and has played with his garage band there the Urgz a few times as well. They have a new drummer and are well worth seeing if you like your earlier Sound of Confusion era style intense guitar. They do a great cover of Primitive by the Groupies. Pete is resurrecting the v underrated Alpha Stone this year too so no doubt they may be making an appearance soon also. He has got plenty of stories from the Spacemen and Darkside days, as well as an encyclopaedic music knowledge, and he still runs the Alphasound Studios on Lower Hillmorton Road- a great little reheasal place if you ever need somewhere to rehearse. The cover of Sound of Confusion was shot upstairs there I think....

Will Carruthers also plays pretty regularly at the Squirrel pub. This is not far from Gas Street/ White Room (or whatever it is called this week) nightclub. This used to be the Blitz Club, home of the infamous Reverberation Club hosted by the Spacemen.

Otherwise in addition to the Duck the Merchants Arms is a pretty nice place for a drink or two.

Anyway, as long as you don't have unrealistic expectations and pick the right places to go, a good night can still be had in Rugby.....

Cheers

mat

[andyblacktoo]

your not the only one, rugby was my home town till the 12+ exam sent me packing.

aaah the blitz. it used to have this wierd pub sign with a revolving 12" record on it.......

[jolisa]

What TV channels can I find competitive Rugby on? I recently joined a city league rugby team and was suggested by my coach to start watching rugby on TV. Unfortunately I have no clue as to what channels provide this sport.
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[jesus son]

your not the only one, rugby was my home town till the 12+ exam sent me packing.

aaah the blitz. it used to have this wierd pub sign with a revolving 12" record on it.......

Up for sale (again), if anyone fancies starting the House Of Spacemen museum

http://www.egpropertylink.com/EGPLPROPERTY12507709.htm