For the latest news on the V2001 festival in Chelmsford this August, click here: v2001chelmsford.co.uk The funk phenomenon

Those Longo Allstar lovelies are back up the big smoke on July 1 for a swish bash supporting the Soul Destroyers.

They'll be back at the Jazz Cafe in Camden, London for a seriously deep funking night.

The Longos - nee Veiculo Longo - are a funky Hammond-based band from Southend who have been banging the circuit for a couple of years now.

Borne of ELBOW - the Easy Listening Band of the World - and Southside, they've perfected the deep down and dirty humpy-funky sound which has kept sophisicated London folk on their feet for hours at a stretch.

Recently signed to Soul fire Records, the Longo Allstars have had two hard-to-find demo CDs out, the best of which is the United States of Longo.

While London can be a bit of a jaunt for Essex-folk, if you're a fan of jazz funk in all its forms then I can easily recommend the Longos to you.

Doors open at 7pm with tickets £8 in advance from Jazz Cafe or £10 on the door. The informatoin line at the Jazz Cafe is 020 7916 6060.

www.longoallstars.co.uk

Buster's alive and kicking

Punksters Swindle are to support the much loved Ska gods Bad Manners at Chinnerys on Marine Parade this Friday.

Bad Manners, as I hardly need tell you, still feature the irrepressible Buster Bloodvessel who is still alive and kicking - probably the can can rather than the bucket bucket - despite rumours to the contrary by a national newspaper that he recently died!

Buster is instantly recognisable by his vastness, his long tongue and his bald head and you can foot-stomp along to Bad Manners tunes such as Lip Up Fatty, My Girl Lollipop, the Cann Can and Special Brew.

Swindle are fresh from a series of local gigs over the last month or so where they have entertained in excess of 5,000 happy punters in the process including supporting the latest local TV celebrity Tony Perry - from Little Wonder - who won "Stars In Your Eyes" as David Bowie.

If you liked punk you'll love Swindle who give note-perfect renditions by bands such as the Sex Pistol, the Damned and the Buzzcocks.

They also appeared last week at the Burnham Festival where they gave it a bit of a shaking and consequently frightened the locals.

Tickets are on sale from Fives Records in Leigh and Rayleigh, Honky Tonk Music in Southend or from Chinnery's itself, and they're only £7. www.badmanners.net

www.swindled.co.uk

Appetite for destruction

Ekidna's Ben Andrews is feeling a little low.

He feels Ekidna - the maddest and possible the most destructive band around Basildon - have lost out at Jumpin' Jaks's battle of the bands competition in the Basildon night spot.

He said: "First, we only got to play two songs - My Time Will Come and Sara In Stasis - but we played them very well. We handed out lyrics to Sarah In Stasis and in turn the crowd sang along with it.

"The atmosphere was very good and at the end we did our routine of smashing up our equipment.

"Paul smashed his bass to pieces and the crowd absolutely loved it.

"The trouble was one of the judges took offence to this and because of this we finished last in the competition when really we had done enough to win.

"We're very disappointed because at the end of the day, it's only rock and roll and all we're trying to do is entertain people. Maybe this is lost on people brought up on a diet of bubblegum pop.

"Having said that, the other bands were very good and I would like to say good luck to the winners Groove and Finer who will be at the Basildon Festival in Gloucester Park on July 21."

At the time of writing this column, Jumpin Jaks was unavailable for comment. But hey, that - as the Ekidna lads perceptively note - is rock and roll.

Haven in Essex

Small reminder the interesting Manc four-piece Haven will be in the Essex area just a month before they end up playing V2001.

They're one of the most hotly tipped bands this year.

Signed to Virgin Records they've already garnered great reviews from the NME and their debut single Till The End scraped the top 45.

You can catch them - plus support from Murmur - on July 4 at Chinnery's in Marine Parade, Southend (01702 613066). Tickets are just £4 and the doors open at 8pm.

Ska gods - Bad Manners are at Chinnerys this week.

Most destructive band in Basildon? - Ekidna

By Carl Eve

Reporter's e-mail: carl.eve@notes.newsquest.co.uk

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.