Saturday Night on BBC London 94.9 FM

12 July 03

Live Session by Blurt

A conversation with Ted Milton of Blurt is disconcerting – our words seem to fly over each other’s shoulders, just missing their targets. But we usually manage to grab enough familiar words to get a rough idea of what the other is trying to say. Noticing that Blurt was due to come in this week, listener Matt Cooper had sent an email to remind me that Ted was once a puppeteer. I asked Ted if he had brought any puppets with him for this radio performance. No, he said, most of them were burned and the few that survived are in Alaska. (Is he making this up? You never know.) Once he had swapped papier-maché for the alto sax, he never turned back.

I’ve acquired a motley assortment of about ten records by Blurt, from 12” vinyl through promo CDs to fully fledged albums on labels I’ve never otherwise heard of. But I see from his website that Ted Milton and/or Blurt have released as many as 30 records since 1980, starting with a 7” 45 single on Test Pressings, an offshoot of Stiff. Like many other wayward UK talents, Blurt is better appreciated in the rest of Europe than here. Among the band’s greatest supporters is Francis Falceto, compiler of the Ethiopiques series, who has regularly promoted the group live in France.

So here we are, wondering what’s going to happen next. Hair cropped short at the sides, eyes alert to any possibility, Ted menaces the microphone with a flurry of words and a barrage of honks. Steve Eagles on guitar and Paul Wigens on drums maintain a propulsive funk rhythm, sticking to one chord per song as far as my ears can judge. There’s an exciting sense of drama and suspense – will they take off, will they explode? Exhilarating and unique, they play the Union Chapel, Islington, on Wednesday 16th July, in a show that also features Icarus and DJ Bruce Gilbert (from the group Wire).