London N8 Garage Rock
I recently took a winter visit to a place I haven't been to for at least 25 years up in North London N8 called Crouch End, I hopped the over ground train from Wanstead Park to Gospel Oak, I had to jump off at Blackhorse Road as the particular train I was on wasn't going as far as I wanted to, so I waited a couple of minutes, got the next one and jumped off at Crouch Hill station and made my way....
In The Wrong Direction...As Usual!
In typical fashion I had previously looked up the route the night before and sussed out which trains and buses I would need and lo and behold! I got there and still ambled off... in the wrong direction, doh!
Still it wasn't wasted I passed a couple of wonderful looking pubs (both of which I popped into later during the day) and some great street art. The route I seemed to be taking was in the opposite direction to where I wanted to go and I was heading to Finsbury Park instead of Crouch End, as I say it wasn't a waste I popped in to a cafรฉ called Angels and had a nice bit of lunch and a coffee and hooked up on some free WiFi and reassessed my route. I hopped over the road an caught the W7 bus up to Crouch End heading up Crouch Hill (and they aren't kidding when they said hill!). The bus had to stop part way up as the engine was overheating, so rather than wait about I jumped off and made my way uphill on foot.
I think even the walk was a good thing, it was although temperamental weather wise, it was pleasant enough and it didn't take so long. The houses along the way were as usual for North London really quite gothically beautiful and also huge (I am so jealous!). I reached the peak of the hill and then headed down into Crouch End.
Recording Studios, Clock Towers & Pubs
As a bit of an architecture nerd I passed by and had to get a snap of this 'bad boy' of a church, what a massive and impressive building, I say church, it is in fact a Recording Studio once owned by Dave Stewart from the Eurythmics and has been graced by many well known artists recording their sounds there, you can catch the History and acts at the website 'The Church Studios' at the link.
I then carried on past a bunch of lovely little shops and onto to the 'crossroads' where stands the thing I had actually come along to see 'The Clock Tower' in all it's glory, how beautiful! Evidently it was built in 1895 to commemorate Mr Henry Reader Williams who services to his local community were recognized, you can read more about it at the website hornseyhistorical.org.uk.
I mooched around the town a bit and popped in some shops, thrift stores and a couple of antiques places before hitting another place I wanted to visit, just because it looked like a beautiful old pub with wonderful stained glass windows, I wasn't disappointed. There are quite a few nice pubs in Crouch End and I couldn't visit all of them so I am glad I managed to pop into this one called The Queens, labelled up as the Queens Hotel, have a nose on the website at some of the pictures of it.
I headed back on the W7 past Crouch Hill station and had a drop into to the other two pubs near the station. The first although very grand looking from the outside was a little dull inside which was a shame, I moved to the next which looked neither grand on outside or inside but however the vibe and the volume of people dropping in an out was brilliant, it was more of a 'micro pub' style joint and catered for everyone, kids, dogs all sorts, a real 'community style pub', the beer was fabulous and I was pleased to see the sticker on the door saying it had been voted one of the top 50 best pubs to visit in London.
Encore Une Fois
I took Mrs Akin back there again this New Year, I know how she loves the gothic style grand old houses and architecture and also loves a thrift/antique shop or two and there are quite a few thrift type shops in Crouch End and also a couple of nice little antique ones too, we also headed further onto Muswell Hill, again loads of thrift stores and some very impressive views over London (it is after all on a hill!). We popped back on the bus to Crouch Hill and dropped into the 'Brave Sir Robin' aka 'The Robin' for a wonderful winter 'Triple Choc' pint of Stout and a delicious fruity Apple Pie Sours beer and had a lovely candle lit chat before jumping the over ground back homewards.
As I mentioned I originally went to Crouch End many years ago, I can't even remember that much about where it was but I vaguely remember it was some form of New Year's Eve party held at someone's house, Think I'd had to drive and got horribly lost heading towards Alexandra Palace (I hate driving so much!).
Crouch End On A Big Beat
Musically this time I looked for a band that were from the same area, surely there must be one I thought and I was rewarded with The Sting-Rays a Garage Rock, Psychobilly band and on the 'Big Beat' Independent Record Label from the same area. Have a listen to this madness by them called 'The Crusher' recorded in 1983 under the alias 'The Bananamen', in my humble opinion a pretty cool cover version of a great song, you can catch the original by The Cramps at the link here.
The Sting-Rays E.P. under the alias 'The Bananamen' contained the following cover tracks:
- The Crusher
- Love Me
- Surfin' Bird
It was released in '83 on the Big Beat label, they released this E.P. and also the album 'Dinosaur' in the same year and on the same label.
They were:
- Bal Croce - Vocals
- Keith Cockburn - Bass
- Alex Palao - Drums
- Mark Hosking - Guitar
Other members also included Lloyd Tripp (featured on another post on this site at the link ' Essex Garage Rock Vibes'. They lasted until 1988 releasing a good number of albums and singles under many Indie Labels, check out their catalogue on Discogs.
ย
Pictures
Photos ๐ ๐โ ฐ๐ฌ๐ รีผแซโ ฐ๐ฎ ๐๐๊โฑฟ