{"id":5647,"date":"2021-03-05T18:34:59","date_gmt":"2021-03-05T18:34:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ipamusic.co.uk\/?p=5647"},"modified":"2021-03-06T12:21:23","modified_gmt":"2021-03-06T12:21:23","slug":"the-men-they-couldnt-hang-release-new-album-to-raise-money-for-cushs-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ipamusic.co.uk\/?p=5647","title":{"rendered":"The Men They Couldn’t Hang release new album to raise money for Cush’s family"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Folk-punk band The Men They Couldn’t Hang<\/a><\/strong> have today released a new album as a fundraiser for the family of their late singer Stefan Cush.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Shun Fame <\/strong>has been released today as a CD and digital download via TMTCH’s Bandcamp page<\/a><\/strong>. CDs are expected to ship at the beginning of April, but anyone who buys one gets an immediate download.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The album includes 15 tracks from across The Men They Couldn’t Hang’s career, all written by Cush, and with him singing lead vocals. He died on February 5 of a heart attack, at the age of 60 (read our tribute here<\/a><\/em>). All proceeds from its sale will go to his three children, Stanley, Joe and Imogen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A post accompanying the album release says: “Cush was musically unique in so many ways; his voice could soar like a sail or batter like a cudgel; he could freestyle, toast, scat, rap and he could testify. He could roar a lullaby and whisper an anthem. He never met a melody he didn\u2019t want to change and make his own. His timing as a singer could be so risky you would have your heart in your mouth as he zigged-zagged to the end of a line. And if he wasn\u2019t going to make it, he would just dive into the crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“As a songwriter he was an original. If Syd Barrett had co-written with Ian Dury it might come close. But not really. His lyrics are full of myths, rural utopias with a dark edge, mad skewed characters with a Dennis Hopper vibe. I think of the bitter impotent prison warder of Life Of A Small Fry, the solitary DJ of Archangel, bringing rock and roll to the frozen tundra of the Arctic Circle, the grave robbers of Gig Harbour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Many of his tales were set in his beloved Wales; the homage to Dylan Thomas that is Dog\u2019s Eyes, Owl Meat and Man Chop, the beautiful idyll of Turquoise Bracelet Bay, the sinister edge of Beast of Brechfa. And throughout the surreal stories, a thick vein of humour and word play runs freely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“His melodies and arrangements were also unique. He didn\u2019t do traditional formats. Listen to Denis Law and Ali McGraw. There are four completely different bridges, each coming in at totally random intervals. And there\u2019s no chorus at all. When we recorded it we all had to face him as he played and hope we could hold onto the changes and pauses as he played. Listening to it now I hear the sound of a band swinging in the wind, hanging on, always just about to make a mistake. And that\u2019s no bad thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Cush tried to call every album we ever made Shun Fame. It appealed to his humour and his wordplay. We\u2019d sit around swapping titles and he\u2019d always throw it in. Well here it is at last, though a good subtitle could be taken from another of his underrated classics, the epic Wonder Of It All. We\u2019ll call it Shun Fame. It\u2019s The Wonder of Cush.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n