Men With Ven

The Duke, Whitstable, Thursday 8 August 2013

 

Men With Ven, as any idiot knows, is plural for Man With A Van. Well, I didn't know; but I do now. because I've been told. But Men With Ven took on a meaning of its own; these men aren't just any men, they are men with ven. Still with me?

 

Spend an hour in the company of these guys - black suits with pearly additions, including MOT-ish warnings - and all will be clear.

 

First, get the context right; we're talking south east London; we're talking Deptford Market; a number which owes more than a little to Chas & Dave, but with added je ne sais quoi, and much rockier.

 

Next, get your values straight - we're talking cars, cash, guns and birds, are we not? Of course we are. So why not an anthem in praise of Jason Statham? Why not indeed; bish bash bosh ... delivered.

 

As you may (or may not) have gathered, Men With Ven are entertainers. Great fun, but with a strong measure of irony. Having established that Men With Ven ooze culture, sensitivity, style, humour, it didn't seem unreasonable that they'd ooze Special Brew - so that unlikely cultural icon has a hymn of honour too.

This took us to What Is He On (And Can I Have Some), which brought us back to more familiar ground. And said ground was explored further in a Science Project; Marijuana and Bacon, which probably proved something we've long suspected. Or not.

 

I'm all for a bit of harmless annihilation of things we all can do without, but String 'Em Up - in my view - stretched a little far in its inclusion of George and Ringo ... but they may have needed a rhyme for Bingo, so perhaps I won't string 'em up just yet ...

To round out the hour, we were treated to a Conga, on some pretext, followed by Knees Up Mother Brown for the finale.

 

A great show, and Men With Ven were much enjoyed by the Whitstable crowd.

Submitted by Andrew