Namesakes #89: The Vultures

After my Half Term break, George stepped up to ease the pressure of keeping up with a daily posting schedule...

Jo and I have been fortunate enough to see a real live committee of vultures (yes, that’s the collective term for a group of them on the ground), in the Pyrenees. We had seen a kettle of them when we stopped for a coffee before that (kettle, as you know, is the collective term for a group of vultures in flight), but we were unaware that they were vultures. It was only when we saw them land that we realised what we had actually seen……….and Man Alive these are big birds. It was quite the sight to see them coming to land about 30 m from where we were standing. Hence today’s choice of bands in Rol’s Bands With Same Name (to give the series its proper name). 

THE VULTURES #1

Firstly, a committee of vultures every single one of you will be familiar with:

The Vultures - That's What Friends Are For

THE VULTURES #2 

Now some (were they noisome?)  Dutch punk vultures from 1981.

The Vultures - Alcohol

THE VULTURES #3

Some very indie-sounding 1988 Scottish Vultures...

The Vultures - Good Thing

I suppose if you call your band after a massive bird with a rather unfortunate evil demeanour, there’s little chance your music will be softly, genteelly melodic. Let’s see what the next gang bring to these pages:

THE VULTURES #4

Millennial Australian vultures...

The Vultures - Alcoholic Lady

THE VULTURES #5

Salvation comes from Norway. Well, it could have done, judging by the song (You Better Move On, the Arthur Alexander song I assume), but I have been unable to find a link.

THE VULTURES #6

So it’s back to punky-vultures, this time from England (Stockton-on-Tees, since you asked)...

The Vultures - Is This A Man?

Whilst those youths were doing that, us more serious 15 year olds were working hard for our “O”-grades. And looking at what appears to be a needless apostrophe, maybe those Teesside youths should have paid more attention in English lessons.

English teacher needs to step in here. I'm presuming the "needless apostrophe" George refers to is in the A-Side of that tune (I got extra confused, because his link led us to the B-side), which is called (on the label, at least), Time Let's Go. As the track is an instrumental (and not half as good as the B-Side), I question the title's meaning. If they're saying "time is letting us go" (i.e., they're using the third-person singular present tense form of the verb “to let.”), then George is correct and an apostrophe isn't needed. However, it is quite possible that what they're actually saying is "Time - let us go!", in which case the apostrophe of contraction would be quite correct. Isn't grammar amazing?

There are, or were, some Swedish punk Vultures, that I have chosen to ignore, and I am disappointed at not being able to track down those lesser known surfing Vultures once seen in the USA. There were, allegedly, some hard.core punk Vultures from north east USA with tantalisingly amusing songs such as I Do Drugs When No-One’s Looking, and If You Love Something, Kill It (So No One Else Can Have It), but instead I have a sighting of some Minnesotan Vultures, in the form of a rather tame cover of a Jimmy Reed song:

THE VULTURES #7

The Vultures - Baby What You Want 

You’re getting no Vulturean hip hop, alas, and I can’t relay just how disappointed I am that I cannot find those Malaysian Vultures and their track Hati Ku Pada Mu. I am also sure you will be as upset as I am that there will be no Vulturic “Mashup & Remix “ from Esbjerg, Denmark.

But from New Haven we have this:

THE VULTURES #8

The Vultures - Go

THE VULTURES #9

When a band is described in this way: “As an undeniable ’in the pocket’ chemistry on stage and in the studio, they describe themselves as ‘trippy rock and roll’, but aren’t shy of taking risks to push the boundaries of their sonic palette.” I’d expect these two Australian Vultures to create something special...

The Vultures - Two Decades

…and not that load of old bobbins. Writing as a chemist, I have no bloody idea what “in the pocket chemistry” is.

(The English teacher is far more concerned about the paragraph quoted above than the questionable apostrophe usage seen earlier.) 

THE VULTURES #10

Next, some (tongue-in-cheek?) gothicly pop Vultures from London;

The Vultures - Vlad

I actually quite like that. There are a few isolated punk Vultures dotted around the USA and Sweden who can be found courtesy of Bandcamp, but they all get tedious very quickly.

THE VULTURES #11

Saving the best ‘til last, with this introduction to a song by some Californian Vultures: “If a man chased chickens for a living with a Two by Four, well, this would be the theme music”:

The Vultures - Two by Four

The picture at the top of the page is of a Black Vulture: Jo and I think we saw a couple of them  when we stopped for a picnic whilst in Cortegana (Spain), a few weeks ago, but alas we had no binoculars with us to confirm this.

And thanks to Rol for posting this piece in his excellent series BWTSN.

Many thanks to George for stepping in and providing another excellent Namesakes (for that is what this feature is actually called, despite George's continuous attempts to rename it). Below is my favourite Vulture - proof that even grumpy old men can become super-villains if they put their minds to it. Sadly, Adrian Toomes has never released a record.