Paul Vickers and The Leg - Itchy Grumble

Itchy Grumble is immortal.
His immortality was sealed the day he drank the tears of witch.
One day Itchy was asked to revolve a lighthouse on the Firth of Forth to reveal the ghostly replicate underneath…

ITCHY GRUMBLE is the new rock opera album concept from leftfield post-punk icons Paul Vickers and The Leg. Combining the surrealist worldview of Vickers and the alternative pop sensibilities of The Leg, ITCHY GRUMBLE is an epic in which an immortal anti-hero is given the task of revolving a lighthouse on the Firth of Forth.

Paul Vickers and The Leg started life during a collaboration to celebrate the hundredth anniversary of Edinburgh College of Art. The highly acclaimed TROPICAL FAVOURITES album and a brace of singles followed. Vickers was already renowned as singer with John Peel-approved wonk rock outfit Dawn of The Replicants, and The Leg are the latest vehicle for Dan Mutch's musical maelstrom following tenures as Khaya and Desc.

ITCHY GRUMBLE was produced by Pete Harvey, cello player with The Leg whose recent credits include Withered Hand’s acclaimed GOOD NEWS album, Scottish Opera and The Rose Street Ensemble. Third Leg is percussionist and drummer Alun Thomas, who has plied his trade with Withered Hand, Thomas Truax, Ballboy and Saint Jude's Infirmary.

ITCHY GRUMBLE was recorded in a cottage on the Isle of Tiree, and now appears with cover art by Peter Liversidge.

ITCHY GRUMBLE was first preformed in it entirety at the 2008 SL Records Christmas party, and has been honed in the heat of some truly stunning performances over the last year featuring projections and a revolving lighthouse.

With a view to developing the album into a full theatrical stage show, ITCHY GRUMBLE was performed in concert at this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe and at The Arches Theatre in Glasgow.

Last updated in December2009

• ITCHY GRUMBLE ALBUM LAUNCH

  Saturday 13th March

  Bang Bang Club, Electric Circus, Edinburgh

  Doors 7pm. £8

• Thursday 27th May

  13th Note, Glasgow

  Doors 7pm.

Last updated 28th February 2010

The banjo plucking majesty of The Ballard of Bess Houdini is a treat Record Collector

Sweetly whimsical and plain weird, it proves that Vickers' magic powers are still intact **** UNCUT

Smart, sardonic, literate, mickey-taking pop Everett True (Plan B)

Vickers sings like MacGowan and Waits . . . The Leg play hard to resist jugband blues **** The List

...somewhere between Tom Waits and Nick Cave...the music veers from the surreal to the artful heartache Q

Vickers is an eccentric but hugely talented songwriter Time Out