Stefan Cush, the co-lead vocalist of The Men They Couldn’t Hang has died following a heart attack, he was aged 60.
The band’s facebook page announced:
With unbearable sadness we have to let you all know that our brother, friend, inspiration, life of the party and soul of the band Stefan Cush died of a sudden heart attack on Thursday. We are beyond devastated. Our love goes out to his family. We will say more when we can. We loved him.
Did the band play the last post and chorus? Did the pipes play the flowers of the forest? God bless you Mr.C.
Their 2014 studio album The Defiant was a Featured Album of the Month on Folk Radio (reviewed here) for which we interviewed them. Each band member was introduced…with Cush introduced as A colourful man of Irish and Welsh descent; he claimed variously to be a courier of valuables, a rider, a writer, a roadie, a singer, a busker, a one-man road movie and the mythic offspring of Dylan Thomas. And he was many of these things; but at this time he was a motorbike mechanic.
Cush was also a roadie for The Pogues; Paul Simmonds, Philip ‘Swill’ Odgers and his brother Jon, met him whilst busking in Shepherds Bush in London…
From the interview – “Together with Mr Jon Odgers and Mrs Shanne Hasler they learned some old skiffle songs in a squat close to Askew Road in the Spring of 1984. They called themselves The Men They Couldn’t Hang. Great times followed …”
At one point in the interview, Simon Holland asks Where did the songs on The Defiant come from and what inspired them? He could hardly have expected a straight answer…
Cush: They Came From Outer Space.
Phil Odgers: They came from Beyond Space!
Cush: One Step Beyond.
(Cush and Swill play imaginary trumpets and start a funny walk)
Cush: Most of these songs are based on real events, either from our own experiences or from a historical perspective. Things that have happened and shaped the men we are today or points in history that have been pivotal or damning. Anyone that fails to learn from history is destined to make the same mistakes again and again. The Defiant makes a strong point.
Phil Odgers: Did you say strong pint? (Swill points at his pint which is almost empty then points at Cush).
Cush: No, “Point!”
Phil Odgers: There’s always a point Cush.
Cush: There’s a terrific draught in here.
Cush: (sounding serious) Our songs come from the heart.
Phil Odgers: “I was never really insane except upon occasions when my heart was touched.” Who said that??
Cush: You did just then
Paul Simmonds shared this story with me about Cush this week (he had many)…
We had Cush’s stag night in New York. It was a sedate affair, Not. When we finally crawled out of the 11th Avenue Irish bar that we had drunk dry, we hailed a yellow cab. It was about 2 am. ‘Let’s go to Harlem’, he said. ‘I want to play pool’. Damn. I looked at the cab driver. He shook his head. ‘No way. There’s been two shootings up there tonight. I’m not going’. Cush was wavering back and forth unsteadily, fag in hand. ‘It’s my stag night and I want to go to Harlem’. I leaned into the cab…’Can you drive us around a couple of blocks and end up near our hotel and just say it’s Harlem?’ ‘Yeah’ he said, ‘ I can do that.’ Twenty minutes later we pulled up at the hotel. Cush was sleeping soundly on the back seat…
Live (1987):
Simon Holland (Extract from his Defiant Review on Folk Radio): Their first single titled the Green Fields Of France, was an anti-war song written by Eric Bogle that imagined a conversation between a worker tending the military cemeteries in Flanders and Northern France and a young man occupying one of the plots. It’s a powerful piece of songwriting and something that has an extra relevance this year [written in 2014] as we commemorate the Centenary. Even without that context, the record made the top of the Indie Charts in the UK and also hit the number three position of John Peel’s Festive 50, behind The Smiths and The Cocteau Twins in the much-coveted list.
The Festive 50 acted as a barometer of both the DJ’s support, but also what you might call the prevailing tastes of the more discerning record buyers. It held a sway that is hard to imagine amidst the instant access culture today, becoming an important fixture of the Christmas period for Peel’s many thousands of regulars. In truth, however, the run-down, voted for by listeners, would never match Peel’s eclecticism and ultimately proved a frustration, so The Men They Couldn’t Hang’s ranking would have been something of a personal triumph for the DJ. After all, their single’s six and a half minute running time and subject matter meant that it would get scant attention anywhere else on the radio, so Peel’s championing of the band genuinely made its mark and set them on their way.
The choice of a potent anti-war anthem as a first calling card perhaps had its roots in the Falkland’s conflict, but signalled the arrival of a band that were prepared to put politics to the fore. The Men They Couldn’t Hang had also realised the value of folksong’s use of strong narratives in putting the common man (and woman) to the fore, but mixed a healthy dose of punk-attitude into an electro-acoustic update of the format. Contemporaries such as (The) Oysterband and The Pogues did much the same. The Thatcher Years provided a natural fuel and The MenThey Couldn’t Hang cemented their style and agitant status with their debut album, Night Of A Thousand Candles. As well as that first single, it included the self-penned follow up, Ironmasters, a song that covered the industrial revolution, the fate of the working man and targeted enemy number one, ‘the iron lady’, into the bargain. This also reached Peel’s festive list, while the album made a strong showing in critics’ end of year polls.
…This is brilliant stuff and 30 years into their journey is as uncompromising as ever. Sure there’s room for some romance, some reminiscence a little of the toil of the road and even a bit of historical re-enactment, but The Defiant still packs bile and bite, with equal measures of wisdom and the devil may care to chew on. Resistance is not futile after all! The Men They Couldn’t Hang are here to prove it, and boy do we need them.
Tributes have continued to pour in from TMTCH’s large fan base paying tribute to the great man.
The band also made this appeal:
Monday and we are still coming to terms with the loss of Mr Cush….but importantly so are his family, especially his 3 children, Stanley, Joe and Imogen. They are also facing the realities of arranging his funeral and all the associated costs. To that end, our friend Nigel has set up a fundraiser to help. We know times are hard for many but if you can give something, no matter how small, it will help enormously. The band have already contributed and are looking at other ways to help but in the meantime, the link is here…
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/raising-funds-towards-stefan-cushs-funeral-costs
Our thoughts are with Cush’s family and friends.
Stefan Cush: 23 May 1960 – 4 February 2021
Photo Credit: Marvey Mills, Marvellous Gig Photography