Indie kids of a certain age (do I have to say? I am not really that old, surely?) will remember all the cool indie clubs usually finishing nights with the wonderfully wacky, ‘Where’s Me Jumper?’, a simple but catchy bounce-along anthem dedicated to the hurt of lost knitwear. I am sure that most of us have been there.
Some indie kids even discovered that there was an album containing more stuff, in a variety of different themes, ranging from stupidity to the phrases and sayings of Brian Clough, the ex-Forest and Derby (I guess we shouldn’t forget his time at Leeds, Hartlepool or Brighton, either) manager.
Now, some *mumbles* 25 years *grumbles* after its initial release, Casual Sex In The Cineplex has been re-issued as a two disc offering, with disc one featuring the original album listing, and disc two featuring a mix of B-sides, live performances, and never released on CD tracks.
Originally hailing from Cork, the Irish band gained some notoriety after the release of ‘Where’s Me Jumper?’, and as well as touring with bands like Carter USM (a raucous and amazing show I was lucky to see for myself, not that I am that old, of course…), they also toured in their own right. The follow up Teenage Drug, sadly, did not fair as well as the debut album.
Featuring just drums, bass and guitar, as well as the distinct vocals of singer, Niall O’Flaherty, musically it’s about as simple as you can get. Alan McFeely’s melodic bass line complemented the simple, distorted chords of Pat O’Connell’s guitar, and Morty McCarthy’s enthusiastic drums could create quite some noise. The Sultans Of Ping FC could, however, slow it down (in a fashion) on the love song, ‘Veronica’ (“And you think that you’re not good enough for me, And it’s true but I like you anyway“).
The references to Brian Clough aren’t just confined to ‘Give Him a Ball and a Yard of Grass’, but ‘Stupid Kid’, one of the other singles too. ‘Give Him a Ball…’ is one of the best footy songs after Thousand Yard Stare’s ‘0-0 AET’, and the obvious ‘World In Motion’ from New Order (credited as Englandneworder).
For me, the Sultans have been vastly underrated. There is a place in music for random life, for Bulgarian sheepdogs, and Irish TV presenters. People overthink music, searching for something deep and meaningful, but really, what we all want is memories of what we know, who we can identify with, and something that we can learn to sing and play along with. Preferably something that we can just jump around to. And most importantly, a place where we can lament over where we last saw our jumper, because at the end of the day, we have all been there, even if you cant admit it. It still sounds as fresh today as it did back in whatever year it was, but really, it wasn’t that long ago. Not really.
Casual Sex In The Cineplex, re-issued in a 2 disc set, is out now on Cherry Red.
