The Men They Couldn't Hang

Biography

The Men They Couldn’t Hang combine folk, punk and roots music to create an essential live act alongside a wealth of recorded talent. The band emerged as the Pogues’ sparring partners but, despite a blaze of early publicity and praise, they failed to follow them upwards, dogged as they were by numerous label changes. Busking in Shepherds Bush, Welsh singer Stefan Cush met up with bass player Shanne Bradley (who had been in the Nips with the Pogues’ Shane MacGowan), songwriter and guitarist Paul Simmonds, Scottish guitarist and singer Phil (‘Swill’) Odgers and his brother Jon on drums, in time for a ramshackle folk performance at London’s alternative country music festival in Easter 1984. Labelled as part of some ‘cowpunk’ scene, the band was quickly signed by Elvis Costello to his Demon Records label, Imp. A cover version of Eric Bogle’s ‘The Green Fields Of France’ in October 1984 became a runaway indie...

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