Rum, sodomy and the whip

BIT of a buzz, as we media folk like to say, about Whipping Boy over the water at the moment: the Dublin(ish) band kicked off their British campaign by picking up some frothy reviews in the notoriously xenophobic British press; their new single When We Are Young is knocking away at the bottom reaches of the charts; and their headlining London gig had to be moved from the University of London venue to the much bigger and far more prestigious London Astoria 2.

Just as well the gig moved down to the LA2, as ULU is full of snotty nosed stew-dents who are mind numblingly indier than thou in their musical "tastes".

The band got a bit of a moshpit going during the early numbers and charmed one and all into submission with a fervent version of the thoroughly wonderful Twinkle. Lead singer Feargal McKee was only semidemonised during the performance, but still threw enough shapes to give the industry heads down the back something to think about.

The band slashed through a fair chunk of their most recent album, Heartworm - and showed just how far they've moved from the guitar distorted, vaguely My Bloody Valentine influenced noise of their previous album, Submarine. They won't thank me for saying it, but Heartworm comes over as if they have Radioheaded their whole sound into a more panoramic rock sound.

There's more happening below the surface though; and on the current single, When We Are Young, McKee opts for the type of vocal phrasing so reminiscent of Shane McGowan era Pogues (particularly on The Sick Bed Of Cuchulainn) to deliver a spirited paean to nostalgia. Or something like that.

Support on the night came courtesy of the Roscommon band Mike TV, who spent their time in the capital schmoozin some of the major label record companies - and apparently with some success. But back to the main feature. Whipping Boy continued their short British tour this weekend they're off to the US in March to give Heartworm a bit of a plug over there - but before all than they're on tour all over Ireland over the next few weeks.

Confirmed dates are these:

Theatre Royal, Limerick tomorrow night; St Patrick's College, Maynooth next Monday night; Club LA in Waterford on Tuesday night; The UCG Canteen (!) in Galway on Wednesday night; and The Forum in Cork next Friday night.

The gigs are are part of the Rollercoaster Tour which is organised by a well known beer company (no free beer, no mention - it's that simple) and sharing the stage with Whipping Boy on all the dates are Revelino, The Bedhangers and - Big Bag Of Sticks.

IF you want to express your identity by wearing an overpriced, badly produced T shirt that name checks an emotionally illiterate bunch of drunken indie slobs - that's your problem. I broke the habit of a life time last Saturday night in Brixton Academy by queuing hours and hours to pick up a very special T shirt to mark a very special occasion: it was the last ever Ramones gig.

The Noo Yawk brothers are bowing out after 22 years - during which time they saw, if not it all, then most of it. They exploded out of New York's CBGBs back in 1975 at the same time as Patti Smith, Talking Heads et al, they practically invented the two chord two minute song and they're one of Beavis and Butthead's favourite groups.

The gig was incendiary; they played 30 songs in 90 minutes, and they could have got that down a lot more if Joey Ramone had left out all the "one, two, three, four" intros. The Ramones were a great band and while we re waiting for them to re form (usually only takes a few years) we'll have to content ourselves with the legions of Ramones tribute bands hey ho ing their way around the circuit.