Seizing on the tendency of towns to give each other derogatory nicknames – Smacklesfield, for example – the legendary Macc Lads are back with a new single, the closing track on their new album (“brand new LP, 40 years after the first one”), “The Cider Wife”.
The song pays tribute to the alleged breeding habits of Congletonians, and it had me nodding both my heads and tapping along with my 13 fingers. Sometimes performers say “This is not for the faint hearted” or “This is not for the easily offended”, but this new single from the infamous punk trio is only for the very stout hearted but those who stopped being offended by anything a long time ago.
If you don’t take offence, it is very amusing, the tune is good and the Lads ham it up on the video for all it’s worth. If a serious band recorded a single paying tribute to paedophilia and incest they’d be on the front page of the “Daily Mail”, but this is the Macc Lads and criticism is futile. (Though in the video, the drum heads have practice pads on – clearly the fearless Lads don’t want to upset the neighbours).
Worth a listen, just don’t play it in the presence of any children, priests or the moderately easily offended. The only line I can quote is that in Congleton we still point at planes, apparently, probably because we’ve got more fingers to choose for the pointing.
You can find them on Bandcamp. If the band reads this, you can send us a copy of the album. It’s hard to use PayPal with no thumbs.
JMC
