Alan Jenkins & The Kettering Vampires
Minds as Different From Those of Humans as Human Minds are From Those of Spiders
U.K. CORDELIA RECORDS CD108 C.D. (2023)
When it comes to aiming a spotlight on those movers and shakers of the U.K. cottage industry during early post-punk times, I think it’s fair to say that Alan Jenkins (Deep Freeze Mice etc etc) laid some of the foundations, thatched the roof and probably fitted all of the leaded windows. But where the likes of other pioneer types such as The Desperate Bicycles quickly faded from public view, Alan’s endeavours have continued, spanning five decades and counting. A brief tour of Jenkinsville goes much like this…. label boss of the ‘Mole Embalming’ and ‘Cordelia’ empires, (I wonder if the latter refers to Sue Lloyd’s character in ITV’s “The Baron” adventure series?)…the shadowy figure behind Jody & The Creams, The Chrysanthemums and Ruth’s Refrigerator… the originator of Leicester’s beach culture scene with The Thurston Lava Tube, then, re-imagining the banana appeal of V.U.’s debut waxing, alongside visits to ‘Nosetown’, ‘Ratville’ and ‘The Temples of Fido’.
The thing is like then contemporaries The Fall; with another obtuse lyrical talent at the helm (via Wyndham Lewis), I kinda lost track of Alan’s work over the decades. This of course wasn’t helped by the severe lack of music press interest in anything bearing the ‘A.J.’ handstamp. All I can ever remember is one lousy Deep Freeze Mice full-pager in “Sounds”. Shameful. Nevertheless, it’s good to play catch up every once in a (very) long while. With seventeen, almost segued tracks in capsule form, it’s business as (un)usual. Much like past gems like “…Geraniums…” and “The Gates of Lunch” – absurdism runs rampant. The brief opening salvo of “This isn’t Your Desk” wrongfoots the expectant listener immediately. Its gloom-laden mellotronics tell us that expecting the unexpected should surely be second nature by now. Sample “Sonic Disaster Channel” for example, where elements of The Monochrome Set’s clean/lyrical guitar lines carve out a tribute to early seventies testcard muzak (small girl & clown era). and then in stark contrast, guitar amps are nudged up considerably for an extended solo showcase on the gnarly beast that is “You Must Now Decide”, while the rather lovely “One in Five Crows” odd-man-outs in fine style by recalling German acid-folkies Witthauser/Westrupp. And let’s not forget the pure Stanshalled wordplay dotted around …rhyming ‘spaghetti’ with ‘yeti’ on “Tubenose” being a particular favourite, as is “…you wouldn’t say that to Astaroth!” (on “Jerry”). A sensible word of caution there, contact and chit-chat over tea and biscuits with ‘The Chaos God of Time & Space” can only end in tears or something far worse. Alan knows. Follow his initiative I beg you.
As the Vampires’ cast list namedrops erm, the likes of Lenny Snake, Neil Ska, Lenny Din… Karen Lissitzky and Minnie Bannister (!), I’d suspect that “Minds…” just might be a solo project? Those last two names mentioned though, would be a useful, off-the-cuff description of just what your grey matter has been witness to… Russian Constructivism meets “The Goons”. Splendid.