Before Coldplay’s viral curtain-closer to Radio 1’s Big Weekend at Stockwood Park, came a homegrown Luton Irish anthem for the town, which has just been unveiled in special live session performance.
Tunesmiths Missing The Ferry first performed their new track ‘Luton You’re A Lady’ in a St Patrick’s Day show at the Hat Factory earlier this year.
And now they’ve recorded it for the first time as part of a three-song set in the latest episode of music collective Vandalism Begins at Home’s Live Sessions YouTube series, which is on a mission to highlight the importance of grassroots live music.
Filmed at Luton’s alternative music venue, The Castle, three of the five Missing The Ferry boys – brothers Chris and Paul Anderson and Rich Herity – showcase live favourites ‘Castlebar’ and ‘The Dalston Railway Tavern’.
And alongside those is the new track, packed full of references about Luton, including Hatters football legend Ricky Hill, the shopping centre’s pink flamingoes, rave collective Exodus, Vauxhall workers and Vandalism Begins at Home themselves.
The ditty slips seamlessly into Missing The Ferry’s cannon of Irish-influenced songs about identity and belonging and two of the songs were played on the Vandalism Begins at Home Radio podcast.
“I had the idea of celebrating the town, putting an Irish lilt on it,” Chris said of ‘Luton You’re A Lady’, adding of its debut outing: “It went down really well. It was brilliant to play it in Luton. And then we had a gig in Watford and we didn’t play it!”
Between the performances, the trio chat with Vandalism Begins at Home co-conspirator Ben Barry and he told The Lutonian: “I was one of the lucky ones that got to see Missing The Ferry perform ‘Luton You’re A Lady’ for the very first time at The Hat Factory.
“It was a great show and fans were somehow singing along with it, even though they’d never heard it before. That’s no mean feat, but the song and Missing The Ferry have that party vibe about them.
“Like the band, I’m a proud Lutonian, so we’re made up and honoured that our Live Sessions series is the first place they thought to record it in all its glory for all to see and hear. Give me Missing The Ferry over Coldplay any day.”
In the Live Session video, the band also chat about their music, including their recently released ‘Lonely Londoners EP’, plus the importance of venues like The Castle.
“There’s lots of talented people, lots of people that have got songs in them and without these places where would they show them off?” said Chris, adding: “We need more of that.”
VB@H Live Sessions also shine a light on the talents of other local creatives, with filming by Luton-based production outfit Two Side Studios, sound from The Castle’s live house sound engineer Arnie Darmanin and support from Bedfordshire-based rock n roll drink of choice Seeing Eye Rum, which is available exclusively at The Castle.
Missing The Ferry will also be performing at The Castle on August 10th for Vandalism Begins at Home’s third annual Bloomin’ Luton show, alongside previous VB@H Live Session alumni The Barrys, plus Scummy and Cher.
And before that, you can catch Missing The Ferry at The Hat Factory on June 21 with support from Luton singer/songwriter Joe Cullen.
Vandalism Begins at Home’s next show the Assembly Rising night is on July 13 at The Castle (tickets £5 on the door), a precursor to their Summer Assembly all-day music festival at the Venue on July 27 (early bird tickets £5). First, Assembly Rising will showcase three of the best up ’n’ coming newcomers to the scene, The Prospect, Greensands and Monochrome.
Find Missing The Ferry at: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter/X | YouTube | Bandcamp | Spotify | Buy the Lonely Londoners EP
Find Vandalism Begins at Home for news of upcoming VB@H Live Sessions, live gigs and record releases at: Website | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter/X | YouTube
