NEWS: Blue Orchids @ Westgarth Social Club

Starting up a band is one thing – picking out a name for your musical ensemble is another thing entirely. It’s lucky for Blue Orchids that they had acclaimed punk poet John Cooper Clarke to advise the start-up Mancunians on theirs all the way back in 1979 – even if a founding member misremembered “blessed” for “blue” – but no matter, because the name they settled on has become renowned in post-punk circles for generations.

Over the course of their 40+ year career, there have been a few starts and stops where life got in the way of music-making. But despite line-up changes and fluctuating productivity Blue Orchids persisted, and they’ll bring their show to Middlesbrough’s Westgarth Social Club on Saturday 24^th September. They’ve performed alongside the likes of Echo And The Bunnymen and The Velvet Underground’s Nico, and the ripples of their influence has been felt throughout the underground punk scene. The one constant throughout Blue Orchids’ rises and falls is original vocalist Martin Bramah, whose musical vision continues in latest release, Angus Tempus Memoirs. It harks back to the hazy psychedelia of Blue Orchids’ very first record The Greatest Hit (Money Mountain), but with a reinvented sound ready for post-punk’s next wave. Let Blue Orchids be your inspiration to prove that it’s never too late to hit your stride.

Blue Orchids play Westgarth Social Club, Middlesbrough on Saturday 24^th September.