Category Archives: Music

Shouting to the top and from the roof – remembering Rick Buckler, while celebrating The Jam’s legacy

I wanted to shout to the top and from the rooftops about all this last week… but then came Tuesday’s devastating breaking news about Rick Buckler, and everything (quite rightly) went on hold. That all remains very much on my … Continue reading

Posted in Books Films, TV & Radio, Music | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Set the house ablaze – celebrating 50 years of Slade in Flame

In honour of the British Film Institute (BFI) marking 50 years of Slade in Flame with its return – newly remastered – to the big screen in the UK and Ireland, then a BFI Blu-ray/DVD release, WriteWyattUK presents the first … Continue reading

Posted in Books Films, TV & Radio, Music | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Slady – Vinyl Tap, Preston

Can it really be a staggering 44 years this weekend since Slade’s Reading Festival rebirth? Apparently so, the Black Country’s finest spectacularly seeing off the critics in what proved to be the inspiration for an 11th-hour career resurrection, acceptance from … Continue reading

Posted in Books Films, TV & Radio, Music | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Echoes of The Bunnymen – Preston, The Continental

I was nervous enough ahead of this live show, let alone the band. Four fellas with deserved acclaim for their own adventures in music tackle a tribute set to a much-loved Liverpool outfit with such a revered back catalogue… and … Continue reading

Posted in Books Films, TV & Radio, Music | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Preston Weekender: Sunday on the Square – From The Jam / Buzzcocks / Space / Evil Blizzard

‘Hello hooray, what a nice day…’ Forty years to the week from my first live solo sighting of Bruce Foxton – at Guildford Civic Hall on his Touch Sensitive LP tour – the Flag Market in Preston was transformed into … Continue reading

Posted in Books Films, TV & Radio, Music | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Attila the Stockbroker – Foxtails, Chorley

Mick Pike, frontman of Preston post-punk outfit Pike and Lancashire alt world music faves Deadwood Dog, has a new venture on the go alongside his day-job. He tells me, ‘We haven’t a clue what we’re doing,’ in a ‘Blockbuster’ style, … Continue reading

Posted in Books Films, TV & Radio, Music | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Keeley / Sweet Knuckle – The Ferret, Preston

My second live sighting of Keeley, and another triumph, albeit in this case with a rather less frenetic audience than that encountered in Manchester on their first English mini-jaunt. Thirty miles further North West in the heart of Lancashire, I … Continue reading

Posted in Books Films, TV & Radio, Music | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hot desking it in Nuevo Cottonopolis – examining John Robb’s continued belief in the power of rock ‘n’ roll

Do You Believe in the Power of Rock ‘n’ Roll? John Robb does, and I’ve got to realise in recent years that you don’t have to do quite so much preparation for a chat with this ever-entertaining Manchester-based, Fylde coast-born … Continue reading

Posted in Books Films, TV & Radio, Music | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

In praise of a ‘beautiful distraction’ – marking John Winstanley’s Lancashire Rocks archives exhibition launch

I can’t truly pinpoint when I first met John Winstanley, but in self-published 2014 memoir, Unsigned Unscene, he mentions a late summer 2002 news story I wrote in my Chorley Guardian newspaper days that created a spark, about a dozen … Continue reading

Posted in Books Films, TV & Radio, Music | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Celebrating the Sounds of the Street – Introducing Solid Bond in Your Heart: A People’s History of The Jam

‘What’re you trying to say that you haven’t tried to say before?’ Yep, it’s the ‘Time for Truth’. After spending much of 2023 working on Wild! Wild! Wild! A People’s History of Slade, I can reveal a few basic details … Continue reading

Posted in Books Films, TV & Radio, Music | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments