THE MEN THEY COULDN'T HANG - Astoria 1987

The Men They Couldn't Hang (TMTCH) are a British rock band whose mixture of folk and punk is not dissimilar to that of The Pogues (in fact founder member Shanne Bradley was an original female punk artist and founder of Shane MacGowan's first band, The Nipple Erectors).

The original group consisted of Stefan Cush (Vocals, Guitar), Paul Simmonds (Guitar, Bouzouki, Mandolin, Keyboards), Philip "Swill" Odgers (Vocals, Guitar, Tin Whistle, Melodica), Jon Odgers (Drums, Percussion) and Shanne Bradley (Bass).

Their first single, "The Green Fields of France", was released in 1984. Written by Eric Bogle (of "And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda" fame), the song's protagonist imagined having a conversation with one of the fallen soldiers of World War I whilst sitting by his graveside. It received considerable airplay on the John Peel show on BBC Radio 1 and finished at No.3 in Peel's Festive 50 for that year. It became a big hit on the UK Indie Chart.

The following year they were signed by Elvis Costello to his Demon label, and released their debut album, Night of a Thousand Candles, and its accompanying single "Ironmasters", a self-penned number by main songwriter Simmonds, linking the Industrial Revolution to the present-day treatment of the working class. The original final line of the song - "and oh, that iron bastard, she still gets her way" (a reference to the then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher) had to be removed for the single version to ensure radio airplay. They were again named in Peel's yearly Festive 50, this time at No.11. They followed this up with a new single not taken from the album, "Greenback Dollar", a cover of the song written by Hoyt Axton and made famous by The Kingston Trio. The single was produced by Nick Lowe.

In 1985 the band signed for MCA records and released How Green Is The Valley. The record included "Ghosts Of Cable Street", a political number concerning The Battle of Cable Street in 1936 and "Shirt Of Blue", which regarded the miners' strike of 1984-5. At the end of promotion for the album Shanne Bradley left to create music with Wreckless Eric and The Chicken Family, she was replaced on bass by Ricky McGuire (ex UK Subs).

In 1987 the band switched to Magnet Records and the new record released was, what many fans consider their best Waiting For Bonaparte. Once again the strongest songs were stories of historical origin. "The Colours" told of an English mutineer sailor during the Napoleonic War and "The Crest" a stretcher bearer during World War II. Sadly whilst "The Colours" was at no.61 in the British top 75 it was blacklisted by BBC Radio 1 due to the line "You've Come Here To Watch Me Hang", which echoed the events happening in South African townships at the time. However it didn't stop the album propelling the group to stardom in Europe.

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