The Britishers Cup Of Tea

The Britishers Cup Of Tea.

Sitting down to a calm cup of char. Hand made cup & saucer. A rather handy weapon of a teapot (in the right hand). God given leaves, hand picked by a village of ladies, that are hopefully getting well paid for it. For hope is what it is all about. Hope and reflection. The clink of served tea apparatus is like waiting for the start of yr vinyl record to bust. The pouring process is like the conductor tapping their baton, and the rest is pure symphony.

When we were growing up in the Black Country, or as Slade put it “down our way,” like most Asian families the tea was constantly on the boil – every 23 minutes, even faster if visitors came round, and they regularly did. The news of the day was not over the garden fence, or on the door step, but in the kitchens being overheard from the pantry of every self respecting Wog household.

The Indian way of making tea is to heat water, add tea, and sugar and cardamom and cinnamon & whatever else you require & leave to reach boiling point, for as long as it takes to get yrself up to date with all the shit that’s going down, especially if Dave Hill, or Enoch Powell were to drop in.

The television remote control was for other children a chore, a heavy responsibility to behold, but in an Asian household it was a rather handy weapon, with which to conduct whose turn it was next, to make the tea. I hear sheet music again.

Going back to finishing off that tea – after bringing to boil, add milk and let it simmer for as long as further gossip does hold.

A bad cup of tea though, is like the chalkboard rubber being chucked at you in the middle of a maths lesson, for a maths lesson is a maths lesson, not a wiggle yr pencil lesson.

Thankfully, the Commonwealth is not like it used to be, but in India as with England and most of the modern world, it is a sad footnote that denotes the traditional more time consuming hot cup of char, or even coffee is being out paced by Fanta and Rola Cola. Does nobody like to chat nowadays? I say, …he’s gone.

The health benefits of a good tea cup are continually applauded & demoted, but I certainly feel tanned. However, due to the tonnage that I drink I’m a furry old, copper kettle myself, still longing for Lyons tearooms to return as much as vinyl records and Willie Rushton. There is hope and there is reflection.” Tjinder Singh, p&c ample play 2009.

Hold On It Hurts LP

Hold On It Hurts, album by Cornershop 1993
Cornershops first album Hold On It Hurts, 1993

Amazon.com reviews:

5.0 out of 5 stars A pivotal moment for indie rock, June 17, 2004

This review is from: Hold on It Hurts (Audio CD)

Forget “Brimful of Asha“, this band’s noble yet watered-down attempt at a crossover hit song… “Hold on it Hurts” is their finest moment.

As has been mentioned before, the influences are there – Velvet Underground, Pavement, 60s garage, and traditional Indian music. What you might not hear – unless you’re familiar with the band’s history – is the influence of the scene that they grew out of. As documented in the underground – and criminally unknown – video fanzine “Getting Close to Nothing”, Cornershop were part of a somewhat politicized, new scene of socially aware London indie rockers, where issues of race, gender and sexuality were focal points and even central themes for many bands of the time (Huggy Bear, Voodoo Queens, Sister George, etc.). It’s notable that – in their call-to-arms anthem “England’s Dreaming” – they not only urged a protest against racist attacks, but also against sexism and homophobia as well. That song mixed Morrissey’s lyrics with Public Enemy, as both a way to critique Moz’s recent flirtation with fascist imagery (“National Front Disco”) and as a statement of cross-cultural protest… by namechecking icons of both black and white music, they subverted the usually polarized and simplistic ideas of race and made a name for Asians – especially South Asians – in the rock scene.

All that aside, this is a really fantastic, interesting, provocative and heartfelt album, succeeding as only the best music does… by allowing you to transcend your normal existence on this planet and to imagine a greater one.

Live gig list/history

RadioCSHP Live history (cropped) Hello there, as a few people have asked for a list of live concerts and gigs, I thought it would be a good to put up some dates here for people to add to, and even talk about the gigs. Thereby we can slowly build up the jigsaw of what has been a pitifully restricted yet rare catalogue.