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MYsTerioUs
wheels
It’s berlin, paris… Lewes for the pogues drummer
When I call Andrew Ranken he sounds knackered,
beca<strong>us</strong>e he’s j<strong>us</strong>t had a long journey back from his
latest Pogues gig, in Moscow. Andrew is the Anglo-
Irish band’s drummer, and was so in the barmy old
days of Rum, Sodomy and the Lash, too.
So is it still, er, rock and roll, on tour with front man
Shane McGowan, a notorio<strong>us</strong>ly heavy drinker? “Not
as bad as it was,” he replies. “Not for most of <strong>us</strong>, at
least. Or not very often.” And was touring with the
band back in the 80s as chaotic as it’s been cracked
up to have been? “Worse than you could possibly
imagine.” In what way? “I couldn’t tell you without
getting into trouble.”
Andrew is coming to Lewes with his other band, for
which he’s the lead singer, Mysterio<strong>us</strong> Wheels. It’s a
homecoming, of sorts: he went to school at Priory,
and so did three other members of the band. He
still comes here regularly to see his late girlfriend’s
mum, the grandmother of his first son. He’s looking
forward to this gig, beca<strong>us</strong>e he hasn’t played one
in Lewes for 40 years. So long ago, in fact, he can’t
remember where it was, though he thinks it might
have been the scout hut.
So should we expect a Pogues-like riot of a concert?
“You can expect to dance, beca<strong>us</strong>e we play dance
m<strong>us</strong>ic, and we always get people onto the floor.
But the m<strong>us</strong>ic is very different from the Pogues.
Mysterio<strong>us</strong> Wheels has been going, in one form or
C I NGE MI GA
another, for thirty years, and we’ve always been a
blues band, more or less. We do one Pogues song,
Amadie, from the second-to-last album, but it’s not
characteristic of the band. It’s more of a rockabilly
number. We also do a bit of Country.”
Having looked at the itinerary of the Pogues tour, I
wonder how difficult it is to flit between drumming
with a once-massive band in big stadiums, and
singing for a much less famo<strong>us</strong> one in places like the
Con Club. Berlin, Moscow… er, Lewes. Isn’t this
a bit of a comedown? “Not at all,” he says. “I like
playing with different people, in different bands.
And Lewes is one of the m<strong>us</strong>ical capitals of the
world, as far as I’m concerned. It’s produced a lot of
famo<strong>us</strong> m<strong>us</strong>icians.” Like who? “Well, j<strong>us</strong>t looking
at my year at school, there was Wreckless Eric. And
there was Pete Thomas, drummer for Elvis Costello.
I’ve got to mention John Whippy, as well, who <strong>us</strong>ed
to play with the Elevators, and was one of the very
special guitarists. Sadly, he passed away recently.”
Finally, the name. Mysterio<strong>us</strong> Wheels. What’s that
all about? “We’ve had a few names over the years.
Mysterio<strong>us</strong> Wheels actually comes from something
my son Danny said when he saw band member
Simon’s car. He was three years old at the time. He
found the hub caps fascinating.” We’re not quite in
Pogue Mahone, territory, then, but there you go. AL
Con Club, 10th Sept, 8.30pm, £3, members free
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