The Wednesday Club

ST ALBANS has its very own Olympic song which is attracting a growing number of fans on video-sharing site YouTube.

The track, entitled 2012 (The London Olympic Song), is the latest offering from The Wednesday Club, and was written and sung by comedy writer Andrew Barclay, who lives on the Verulam Estate in the city.

His professional credits include a rude late-night puppet show for Channel 4. A former St Columba’s College pupil, he says he doesn’t believe he is listed in the school’s noteworthy graduate list!

The Wednesday Club is also made up of Sav Gatta on bass, Bryan Smith, guitar and vocals, and drummer, Darren Smith, who have supported many headline acts such as Jools Holland and appear across the district as The Push.

The lyrics developed from a rant at Bryan’s London Colney studio. They noticed that the build-up to the London Games seemed to be less about sporting excellence and more about corporate sales opportunities.

Andrew joked: “As musicians, we felt we should put our endless whining and moaning to good use. But then we decided to write a song, instead. It’s just a bit of satirical fun. To be fair, I actually went with my family to watch the torch pass through St Albans. But I shut my eyes.”

They have created quirky songs on themes that irk them – from alien abduction to Bank Holiday traffic – over their Wednesday evening sessions, which began as designated male bonding time. Childbirth was born out of two of the band members having babies, and explores the differing female/male perspectives of trauma and complaint.

Speaking of the Olympic number, Andrew added: “We’ll be happy if people get a laugh from watching the video. It only has a few more weeks’ life left anyway. So, probably, we need to start complaining about the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. I bet they’ll put a park-and-ride in Redbourn for that, too.”

2012 and Childbirth can be found on their YouTube page at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YUnsMfK6_g&feature=plcp. Or visit www.thewc.biz for more information.

CAROLINE THAIN