Plinth - Drastic Spatula (2005)

 



"If I've learned one thing from 27 years in the music business it's that you can't just go around biting people on the leg" - the words of Plinth Drummer Nobby Cobworth, shortly before his death from Psoriasis last year.

It would be easy to dismiss such characteristic outbursts as mere attention-seeking, but if anything Plinth were a band that should've sought more attention, and such much-sought-after attention would've been richly deserved.

Cobworth first met guitarist Ron Broth and bass player Andy Whelks in the mid-1990s when the duo were working in the Dragon, Wagon and Flagon pub in Droylsden, and performing as Chocolate Sikh every other Friday with singer Hattie Latimer. He convinced them that success was imminent, so long as they changed their name and let him join the band. And had a flexible definition of the word 'imminent'. Also, Hattie wouldn't be allowed to sing, but had to provide sexual services.

A demanding set of requests, perhaps, but it all proved somewhat prophetic; Of all the Britpop outfits of the 1990s, Plinth are arguably the most widely forgotten and the least widely remembered. Their debut album sank without trace and its follow-up fared even less well. It wasn't until the release of Drastic Spatula that the band finally established themselves, but by then the ship of pop of Brit had long since sailed.

Which is altogether a great shame, because this is an excellent record. Albeit one that excels primarily in not being excellent per se. That said, it sees Plinth finally getting to grips with their own mediocrity. It took four albums to get there, but hey, "we have many lifetimes of cool music ahead of us, and we are all memories of a Tiger" (another Nobby Cobworth quote)

The standout track is clearly 'My Previous Nipples', which closes side one. Although there is only one side, obviously. 

 

Lineupz

Ron Broth - guitar, vocals
Jason Hygiene-Jasin - keyboards
Andy Whelks - bass
Nobby Cobworth - drums, coxcomb




Discographicalz

  • Sintering Frimpage (1996)
  • Bastard Tailor (1998)
  • Ahoy (2001)
  • Drastic Spatula (2005)
  • Moo Face Trilby Jest Echo Set (2008) 


 

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