The Bobby McGee's In Five Easy Steps

Words: Everett True

WHO: From Brighton, England; Eleanor, one pretty flower dress girl (English and philosophy academic) with a neat line in sardonic putdowns; Jimmy, one mouthy bearded Glaswegian (a sacked schoolteacher and former wrestling coach) with a penchant for face paint and feather boas; two dancing ukeleles plus a Jew's harp and sundry Snooper's Paradise instruments; a series of very childish songs with titles like 'Billy & Tracey' ("Please don't dump me / Please don't dump me / I won't dump you / I won't dump you") and "Best song in the fucking world"* 'Ivor Cutler is Dead' ("I've got no friends / Not one / I'm a sad and lonely little boy"); a red-headed rhythm section, Graham and Francis Tallulah; "Domestic violence with ukeleles," as Monster Bobby of Brighton's Totally Bored nightclub puts it. There's a six-track seven-inch EP out, on Cherryade, and it's full of petulance and pertness.

WHY: "To be on Top of the Pops. Is there any other reason? I got a letter from Parlophone saying 'Bobby McGee's, send us some demos and some live footage' - not even a please or anything. I wrote back and said, 'Arrange us a meeting with Kylie and we'll talk'. We're still waiting for the phone call." (Jimmy)

HOW: Jimmy champions slam poetry: he attends meetings dressed in a deerstalker and waxed moustache, with a fob watch in his waistcoat to time his own set. He and his friends aim to run a 'poetry bordello' at next year's Brighton Festival, leaving calling cards around town, with a madam in place at each open house to help the punters decide which poet they like best. How much would you pay for five minutes of intimate poetry in the bedroom?

WHAT: Part of the notorious UK antifolk scene, wherein anyone who doesn't fit in with with any other ridiculous description gathers every so often at 'open mic' nights around the country to argue drunkenly over the tunings of mandolins, the lyrical subtleties of The Moldy Peaches, who's more twee, Syd Barrett or Shane MacGowan, and the correct way to reject corporate sponsorship.

BEST LISTENED TO: On an old grey and gold mono Dansette with a torn cloth cover, in the early evening, in the highest house in Brighton, with a chunky Vegan anti-folk troubadour and his charming lady-wife in attendance.

*Not our opinion, but Jimmy's mum's.

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