RGG December 2015 - p.34
The Urban Voodoo Machine is a collective of
shadowy, London based, ne’er do wells, led by
Norwegian
born
songwriter/frontman
Paul-Ronney Angel. Featuring up to twelve
musicians at any given time, The ‘Machine
mash-up guitars, twin drummers, fiddle,
trumpet, tuba, banjo, washboard, upright bass,
gong, mandolin, accordion, harmonicas,
saxophone, sousaphone and even empty
bottles and tie racks to create their unique brand
of Bourbon Soaked Gypsy Blues Bop’n’Stroll.
With their lurching sea shanties, debauched
murder ballads, messed-up tangos and
whiskey-soaked gypsy stomps, some reckon
they’re from the same stable of stallions as Tom
Waits and Nick Cave; others point out the last
gang in town swagger of The Clash and the
hellbound blues that John Lee Hooker first
dragged out of the swamp
The stars were very much aligned the night
Paul-Ronney Angel was begged by a promoter
to be the filling in a triple-bill band sandwich.
Never one to turn down a knees-up, P-R
realised he had 48 hours to put a band together.
No problem! Trawling the dives and doss
houses of London, he called in some favours,
cracked some whips and so it was that The
Urban Voodoo Machine lurched into life. That
was April 2003 and since then, this shadowy,
rambunctious troupe of rabblerousing
troubadours has been bringing the spirit of the
carnie and their now legendary ‘Gypsy Hotel’
nights (famous for the attendance of strippers,
fire-eaters, jugglers and sundry degenerates,) to
the stages of clubs, festivals and theatres across
London, the UK and Europe at large.
In 2008 the Urban Voodoo Machine opened for
The Pogues on their American tour after a
personal invitation from Spider Stacy, which in
turn led to them being offered The Pogues full
UK & Ireland X-Mas tour later the same year.
The following year saw the release of their debut
DEC
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