Tuesday's Overlooked A/V: The CundeeZ

Wi language az rough az a rhino's erse
Oary Dundonian in poetic verse
Itz oor tongue, oor dialect, itz how wi converse

I heartily recommend The CundeeZ: punk rock with Dundee accent and a DIY can-do spirit. And not just because lead singer/songwriter Gary Robertson was the punk rock cupid that brought me and my sweetie together :-) but because the music is terrific. I've written before about Gary's book Skeem Life (which he tells me he's now turning into a musical) and about finally seeing them play -- albeit briefly -- for the the first time back in December. I suspect I will have plenty of opportunities to see them again when I am back in Dundee.

Their latest CD Lend Wiz Yir Lugs can be bought or downloaded for just £5 and it's a fine set of ear scorchers, veering from punk to ska to a little old school rock-n-roll. It's a wild ride from the evocative pipes of "Caleil" to the blistering "Mr E Go" and the plain-talking "Yir Talkin' Shite" (dedicated to politicians everywhere and all the rest who sling manure). It's all good: check out their first CD, Cundee Radio, too.

Find them on ReverbNation, Facebook and Twitter. Here are some of their videos to give you a taste; if you are of delicate constitution or easily alarmed by frank language, this is not the band for you. Everyone else: Enjoy!

As always, see the full round up of TOA/V at Todd's blog.

Rocking with The Cundeez

Awesome to finally see The Cundeez in Dundee and talk to Gary and Stevie in person. I even got a shout out from the stage. Alas, we were too late to have a chance to sing back up (we just missed the bus!). Doubtless there will be other opportunities in the future. Headliners TV Smith and the Valentines did a great set of Adverts tunes. And I got a signed copy of the new CD. Wonderful night out!

Carnival & FFB: Skeem Life

Tonight! The Saint Rose Camerata plays Camille Saint-Saëns' Carnival of the Animals. I will read some Ogden Nash poems between the songs. Unfortunately not among them is one of the tiny number of poems I can recite by heart (which includes Lewis Carroll's Jabberwocky and Dorothy Parker's Résumé):

The wombat lives across the seas
Among the far Antipodes.
He may exist on nuts and berries
Or then again, on missionaries.
His distant habitat precludes
Conclusive knowledge of his moods,
But I would not engage the wombat
In any form of mortal combat.


Wise words!



Get the full round up of Friday's Forgotten Books over at Patti Abbot's blog. I'm stretching the definition of FFB to cover a book that hasn't had much exposure and should: SKEEM LIFE by Gary Robertson. I met Gary on Twitter, first because of his band The Cundeez -- probably because I was touting the Punk Rock Juke Box with Marko (every Thu 12-3 and Fri 11-2 Eastern). Good stuff! As we got to talking, we discovered we both wrote and chatted about plays and books. Gary sent me a lovely package with Skeem Life and his book of poetry, Pure Dundee, and his historical study Gangs of Dundee. You're sensing a theme, eh? He also sent me The Cundeez CDs and a DVD of a performance of his play The Berries.

Well, you know that I'm usually quite good with languages and accents, but I have to admit while I had little trouble reading Dundeez, I have had to listen very closely while watching the play! I'm going to have to watch it again after reading and assimilating the books, but it's a very funny and often rather touching account of a day's work picking berries. Apparently buses would take people out from the city to pick berries during the height of the season, a welcome addition to their often meagre incomes during the tough times, but also a kind of break from the usual routine.

As Robertson puts it in "McGonagall's Disciples" (a reference to the legendary Scottish poet),

We are thi Dundee lihterahti
Ejicated on thi streetz an a but bren scatty

and they speak

Wi language az rough az a rhino's erse
Oary Dundonian in poetic verse
Itz oor tongue, oor dialect, itz how wi converse

You get acclimated quickly. And the stories in Skeem Life are often hilarious though also often relating dangerous events and somewhat scandalous situations, but the matter-of-fact spirit and unflagging sense of fun triumph. It's a hard life, but there's never any self-pity. Great stuff.

Check out the music, poetry and books, and be sure to keep it oary!