Long lost music tracks from an early 80’s pioneering synthesiser-based band have emerged resurrecting memories of Newcastle’s post new wave scene and highlighting a notorious den of iniquity in Scotland’s capital city.
Punching Holes were created in 1980 when singer Brian Bond (Brian Rapkin) left established Gateshead band, Punishment of Luxury to pursue a new musical career. Teaming up with ex-Neon guitarist, Tim Jones, ex-Big G Norman Emerson, Sid Smith and Steve Cowgill, the band fused catchy melodies with interesting lyrics about blind albinos, nuns, crocodile birds and life in a zoo.
Following a number of line-up changes, the band rapidly gained a good following and regularly featured on TV and radio. Their one and only single, a cover of Charles Trenet’s, “La Mer” was Noel Edmunds’ Radio One record of the week, was then played by Terry Wogan and rose up the charts attaining a respectable number 27.
The band recorded a number of demo tracks in the now long gone Spectro Arts Workshop in Bells Court Newcastle. Titles recorded include Mad Mother, Joke Elaine, Spots on the Sun and the “haunting” Ghost of Danube Street.
Now some 38 years later, the tapes have been found and a new 10-inch vinyl offering will be released later in the autumn bringing back to life the electronic new wave music of the early 80’s.
Although there are no plans for the band to reform, a video to accompany the song, “The Ghost of Danube Street” has been made to promote the vinyl release and it tells the story of a notorious brothel in the Edinburgh district of Stockbridge as Brian explains:
“Number 17 Danube Street has a very murky past. A lady called Dora Noyce operated a hugely successful brothel from the property just after World War 2 right up to the mid 1970’s. Up to 15 girls were employed at any one time with more brought in from Glasgow when demand was high.
“She was a loveable rogue and dressed in furs and pearls to reinforce her image of a well to do Edinburgh lady while in reality, Dora had a criminal record with more than 40 offences for living off immoral earnings. She really was a character who was very well known in the city and that’s why the song “The Ghost of Danube Street” was written.
“The video to accompany the song really is a family affair. My wife Kath plays Dora, I play the narrator who tells two passers-by my story and my son Max plays a younger version of me. Max’s wife Prae plays the lead sex worker while my daughter Tash and her partner Natalie play “girls” in the brothel. Steve Cowgill, the Punching Holes keyboard player is a brothel punter and the passer-by with his partner Christina, and Tim Jones is shown doing the guitar solo. We had great fun in Edinburgh filming the video and it was good to catch up with the band members after all these years.”
The eight track 10 inch vinyl will be called The Ghosts of Pilgrim Street and will be available in the autumn.
The video can be viewed here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCH6yWRux3Q
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Photo 1 and 2 shows Brian Rapkin in Pilgrim Street PHOTO 3 – THE GHOSTS OF BRIAN…..
BRIAN Photography by For You Photography