Port Sulphur –Valentino’s on February 14th

It’s been a busy start to the year for the Creeping Bent Organisation with a flurry of activity to celebrate its 25th birthday. We invited head honcho, Douglas MacIntyre to pen a guest blog about the forthcoming ‘companion’ album Valentino’s from Port Sulphur which will be released on Feb 14th.

Circa 1981… hanging around in teenage Edinburgh with Article 58.

Aesthetically speaking, it always struck me that there was a subtle dislocation between Edinburgh and Glasgow. The East seemed to dig Parliament, Funkadelic, James Brown, while the West seemed to dig Al Green, Aretha Franklin, Stax Records. As teenage existentialists (sic) from deepest South Lanarkshire, it was as easy for our gang to go through to Edinburgh as it was to go to Glasgow. My group (Article 58), had recorded a single (Event To Come) produced by Postcard’s Alan Horne and Josef K’s Malcolm Ross and were signed to Josef K manager Allan Campbell’s Rational Records. Article 58 favoured the Edinburgh triumvirate (Scars, Josef K, Fire Engines), ergo, we spent a lot of time as under-age drinkers in Edinburgh in the Tap O’ Lauriston, Valentino’s and JJ’s, then later the Fire Engines’ club, Manifesto. Article 58 supported artists like A Certain Ratio, Scars, Josef K on their Edinburgh shows, as a club Valentino’s was an important melting pot for modernist ideas.

Perhaps the apex of critical mass was an evening at Valentino’s featuring a bill of live performances by Scars, Associates, Josef K, and Fire Engines, at an event curiously titled A Tribute To Frank Sinatra. The stars were swinging on a moonbeam.

There was a crucial moment where there was a shift in emphasis, and abstract punk-funk became the new aural pop template. This was exemplified by the new sonic scratch Josef K were making on their final tour (on which Article 58 supported on some English dates), which was captured on the second John Peel session Josef K recorded for the BBC. Artists such as the Pop Group, James White & the Blacks, 23 Skidoo, James Blood Ulmer, A Certain Ratio / Factory, Boots For Dancing, were also adopting the same furious funk approach, with their records being staples on the turntable at Valentino’s / JJ’s club night, played by resident DJ, the Duke.

The tracks on this Port Sulphur ‘companion’ album – Valentino’s, Amphetamania, Co-Pilot, Blood Dub, Manifesto, JJ’s, are directly influenced by the distressed ambient drone-funk of Edinburgh 1980 / 81, the music being played in the clubs by the Duke, and hanging around.

Douglas MacIntyre

Valentino’s will be available  from www.creepingbent.net Release date is 14th Feb 2019.

PORT SULPHUR – Valentino’s
All songs produced by Port Sulphur, mixed and mastered by S.J.Smith / Green Door Studio