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Legendary poet redefines Black History Month – the Benjamin Zephaniah feature

Posted on October 3, 2014 by writewyattuk

History Maker: Benjamin Zephaniah at County Hall (Photo: Denis Oates Photography)

It made perfect sense to invite legendary dub poet and writer Benjamin Zephaniah to launch Lancashire’s Black History Month celebrations.

But somehow there was no real surprise that the star attraction was soon questioning the validity of the event he was booked for.

That said, in so doing, this 56-year-old from the West Midlands made the message behind the ethnic awareness initiative all the stronger.

“Although this may sound like a contradiction, I want this country to reach a place where we don’t need a Black History Month.

“The history of black people should be integral. We’re not there yet, but that’s what we should be working to.

“I’m fed up of going to people with an idea and being told we can’t do something now, but may do it in Black History Month.

“It becomes a little ghetto for black people. The history of black people is not just important for black people.

“When I was younger I wanted to read Marcus Garvey, Malcolm X and all these writers. But there was something missing.

“I wanted to know the real history of white people too, of the working white people’s struggles, fighting for what we now take for granted.

“It’s about the history of all of us, getting to a place where we don’t need a Women’s History or Black History Month, just a good rounded history of everybody.”

Question Time: John Gillmore and Benjamin Zephaniah (Photo: Denis Oates Photography)

Answering a further question from a young woman from East London about how far things had moved on in the last few decades, the star guest took a similar stand.

“Two years ago I understand there were more black people in prison than there were in higher education, which is very sad.

“The other day I got stopped by a policeman. I had a hat on, and he opened the door and said, ‘You were on a mobile phone’.

“I said, ‘Are you sure?’ OK, here’s the deal. I am inviting you to search me and this car. You see if you can find a mobile phone’.

“He blamed my hat, said it was the way it bulged out. Then his friend joined us, saying,‘I’ve seen you on the television! Can I have your autograph?’

“Now if I was a young black man, 18 or 19, just hanging out, the end of that could have been very different.

“It’s hard for a lot of people to understand. They don’t know our reality. Things have changed since the 70s and 80s, but not enough.

“We need to do more in terms of campaigning, organising ourselves, and education is so important.

“Racism is so deep-rooted in the culture here. Sometimes you can see it in the way people celebrate Empire, you can hear it in the language, you can see it in the media.

“There really is institutional racism, and it’s going to take years and years to dig it out.

“How did Barclays Bank start? Slave money! Where did the Queen get most of the jewels in her crown? How are you going to deal with that stuff?

“That’s why the history of black people is for everybody. Once you start to realise that, you can start to really attack the racism we have today.”

Council Chamber: Benjamin Zephaniah faces his audience at County Hall (Photo: Denis Oates Photography)

The County Hall guest, who famously turned down an OBE in 2003, certainly proved a natural with the microphone, responding candidly to questions from his Q&A session host, BBC Radio Lancashire presenter John Gillmore.

And the same applied when he was quizzed by the audience, which included lots of local schoolchildren, and members of Preston’s ethnic communities.

Benjamin has worn many labels over the years, from dub poet and writer to musician, playwright, political activist, animal rights campaigner, and even rasta folkie.

He prefers trouble-maker though, and told a packed Council Chamber, “My mum still says I’m just a naughty boy!”

Yet while his birth name suggests he’d make a perfect ambassador for the world’s conflicts, he’s not so sure.

“My full name is Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah, which is Christian, Moslem and Jewish. So people think I should be head of the United Nations.

“But it just means I get stopped at every airport in the world – someone’s always got a reason to stop me!”

While raised in Birmingham and making his name in London, Benjamin divides his time between rural Lincolnshire and Beijing these days, the latter location where he has written most of his novels.

His Lancashire drop-by also involved a number of school sessions, part of an on-going bid to inspire children into the kind of reading this dyslexic Brummie never managed as a youth.

He was also publicising his latest novel, Terror Kid, and there was certainly a long queue for the book-signing session after this event.

The new book – dedicated to the late Tony Benn – follows a teenage computer whizz-kid of Romany extraction.

In rallying against the injustice of foreign wars, famine and political corruption, Benjamin’s protagonist somehow gets embroiled in a terrorist plot, then has to deal with the aftermath of those actions.

“One of the inspirations behind this was a kid in New Zealand whose parents thought he was upstairs in his bedroom playing on his computer, when he was really robbing banks all over the world.

“It fascinated me how much kids often know more about computers than their parents.

“Sometimes young people are enthusiastic, but that enthusiasm can be abused by adults in lots of different ways.

“It’s partly about the power of the internet, but also about an enthusiastic young person with nowhere to go who gets himself in trouble then has to consider if he’s guilty or innocent.”

There was a personal link to the issue too, something further discussed by the author on the night.

“I left London around seven years ago, when a friend of mine there was around 13 at the time. I called his parents the other day and they told me he’d gone to Syria.

“I asked if they’d heard from him and they said they’d only had one message. This was just a kid I used to play football with. He was very passionate about things, but not particularly religious.

“His mother said one of the main inspirations for going there wasn’t jihadist, it was the British Government saying ‘We must fight Assad’.

“He then got caught up in something else. We think he went to Syria to fight Assad but realised he’d just be killing other Muslims.”

Think On: Benjamin Zephaniah (Photo: Denis Oates Photography)

So how did this established author and performance poet end up where he is today, not least when you take into account his own troubled teenage years.

“I’m just a creative being, so any way I can express myself … I wasn’t trained or educated in literature. I’ve been really lucky to meet people.

“And as it’s Black History Month, it would be hypocritical to come here and not talk about what I’ve come through to get here.

“Driving down today, I remembered in the ’70s and ’80s – as a black man driving in England – three or four times a night being stopped by the police, sometimes stopped and beaten up.

“If you weren’t stopped by the police it would be the National Front. We had no black politicians speaking for us, and I remember one television programme where an academic came on and his title was ‘an expert in black people’.

“I wanted to use my art to express my feelings and my experience, and it just so happened that experience was also common with lots of other young black people.

“It really was as simple as that. Sometimes people say my poetry and my work is political, but I consider it anti-political.

“A great Jamaican poet, Elean Thomas, said ‘I am not one of those people that say I don’t deal with politics. Because if I don’t deal with politics, poli-tricks will deal with me’. And that’s so, so true.

“And using my art was necessary, otherwise I could have gone down a different route.”

Benjamin went on – with John Gillman’s encouragement – to share a few examples of that journey to fame.

Heavens Above: BZ searches for answers as John Gillmore looks on (Photo: Denis Oates Photography)

That started with his formative days, the son of a Barbadian postman and Jamaican nurse in Handworth, which he has dubbed ‘the Jamaican capital of Europe’.

“My mother says as soon as I was using language I was using it poetically. Apparently the first word I learned was Mummy, the second was Daddy, and the third word was money!

“I used to love rhyme. I didn’t call it poetry. I was playing with words. I loved the way you say something and depending on the way you say it, it could have a different meaning.

“My first performance was in church, in someone’s home in Aston. The priest would invite members of the congregation up, and one day my Mum invited me to speak.

“I’ve a very good memory for words, and I learned the Bible the same way people learn the Koran – by heart.

“So I went through the books of the Bible … Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers … And when I finished, they said ‘Praise the Lord – we have a prophet among us!”

That love of rhyme ensured he soon made a name for himself in his community, and in time word spread.

“I knew what I wanted to do. I wanted to be a poet. I knew that deep down.

“I got involved with sound systems, illegal dances and raps over instrumental music, Jamaican-style.

“What was very different was that I started speaking about what was happening in England, and what was happening in Handsworth.

“If something was in the news last night, I’d be free-styling about it. I made a name for myself because I was doing something very Jamaican but making it very British.

“My hero was Big Youth, but most of the stuff we were singing along to, we didn’t really know about.”

County Call: Benjamin Zephaniah with Lancashire County Council chairman Kevin Ellard (Photo: Denis Oates Photography)

It probably helped that he UK was in the depths of recession and industrial strife at the time.

“Some of you may remember the electricity strikes, and I remember being in a party where they were playing music and then there was a black-out.

“If that happened, people would walk out and they’d lose money, but I’d say, ‘Stop! I can do this without music’. I’d do my poetry, and impersonations as well.”

It wasn’t as simple as that though, and Benjamin admitted that he ‘got lost’ along the way. A long spell on the wrong side of the law followed.

“When I got kicked out of school, my teacher said ‘you’re going to end up dead, or doing a life sentence. And she was almost right.”

His turning point came later. But before then he spent a spell in prison, and struggled to stay away from crime on his release.

John Gillman asked what kind of crime he was talking about, and this time he seemed a little more reticent to elaborate.

“I don’t want to go into too much detail – there’s still people looking for me, man! It was petty crime, then it was burglary, then it got more serious.

“We started to do robberies, although I never really hurt anybody forcibly. It got to a stage where I went onto a managerial role, managing a gang of kids who would go out, open the boots of cars and take out the tools. Then I’d sell them on.

“My gang went onto the territory of another gang and one got shot. And then one of them shot somebody else. And so on. That was the turning point.

“One night I was lying in bed, with a guy at the door protecting us armed, while I was in bed with a gun beneath my pillow, listening to Marvin Gaye’s What’s Going On, thinking about what that teacher said.

“I was no expert statistician, but the law of averages said if my life carried on like this, it’s going to happen. What’s so special about me?

“That next morning I told everybody, ‘That’s it – I’m finishing. I’m out of here!’ They begged me to stay, but I said no, got in my car – or somebody’s car, a Ford Escort, part-way through being re-sprayed – and drove to London.

“And I was really fortunate I met some other people who were being creative.”

That group just happened to include performers coming through on the alternative comedy circuit, including Rik Mayall, Alexei Sayle, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders.

“I was really lucky. Within a year, Channel 4 had started, Margaret Thatcher was in power, and there was such a feeling in the community.

“I went on a programme called Black on Black and did a poem, Dis Policeman Keeps On Kicking Me To Death, and all over the country the black community identified with it.

“The next day I was walking through Piccadilly and people kept stopping me. One guy actually stopped his bus to talk to me.

“I was very good at organising, making a plan, even when I was on the other side of the law, I was always on time! I had confidence in myself.”

Fame followed, and in 1982 he became the first person to record with The Wailers after the death of Bob Marley, with a musical tribute to Nelson Mandela on his Rasta album.

“Family Man, the bass player, had heard my tribute to Nelson Mandela, who was still in prison at the time. I wanted to record one song again in a more Jamaican style.

“When Bob Marley died, his band went to war with each other, because Bob never did contracts with them, with counter-claims over who helped write which song.

“But they looked at the words of this song and decided to come together ‘to do this for Mandela’.

“It was almost like they called a truce, made the recording, then went back to war.

“It was a real honour though, and the reason why was because I wasn’t trying to be a Bob Marley impersonator, I had a message, and they really respected Mandela.”

Asked about some of the poets that inspired him, Benjamin cited Jamaican poet Michael Smith and the late Maya Angelou, ‘a dear friend whose poetry was great’.

He went on to tell us about her legendary night owl reputation, recalling a past meeting in a hotel they were staying in during the Hay Festival, when the author was in her 70s.

“She’d lean on the bar and sink whiskey after whisky. That night we took over the lobby of a hotel and got talking until it got to around four in the morning.

“I went to bed, but forget something and went back at seven, and she was still talking!”

Asked about his most meaningful piece of writing, Benjamin seemed to be stumped at first, but then illustrated how it’s all important to him.

“I was making a film with Beryl Reid once, and this big tall Nigerian came back with a book of mine, the only one I don’t really like.

“I said as I was signing it, ‘This book is not my best’, and he went crazy, saying, ‘I love this book – this book saved my life and brought me back from the dead!’

“It may mean something to you, but something else to others once it’s in the public domain.

“Imagine you’ve a beautiful girlfriend and you go to her Dad to say you’d like to take her hand in marriage, and he says, ‘She’s alright, but I’ve got a better one here’.

“All my books and all my poems are my children, and I love them all equally.”

Signing On: Benjamin Zephaniah poses with the blogger and his youngest daughter (Photo: Malcolm Wyatt)

So what was the first poem he had published? Apparently it was Fight Dem Not Me, printed in a local newspaper, and he gave us a rendition.

He added: “This group of racists called the National Front would go around the country beating up black people. And I couldn’t understand why they would attack us.

“They said we were taking their jobs and their houses. I wrote this poem, saying us people, we live in bad housing and live in bad conditions. You’re the same.

“So stop fighting with each other and let’s go and deal with the politicians who cause all these problems. Black and white, unite and fight!”

There was another answer too, with Benjamin moving on to the first poem of his aired on TV, in the days when an announcer would read a poem before closedown.

“I wrote one and sent it in. I was living in Birmingham, but told them I was Wilbert Smith and lived in rural Evesham, just wanting to prove a point.

“It was a load of rubbish, but it was read out on the BBC!”

And before Black on Black, it appears that Benjamin had an earlier appearance on the small screen, albeit in bizarre circumstances.

Amid giggles from himself and the audience, he recalled the day he was taken – while in custody – to the Pebble Mill at One studios in Birmingham to receive a prize for a design competition from none other than Cliff Richard.

Evidently, the officers released him from his handcuffs just before his big moment. What’s more, he revealed how he was heavily influenced by Angela Davis and the Black Power movement at the time, with his civilian clothes matching that look.

So who influenced Benjamin’s love of literature?

“I didn’t really read much. I was dyslexic. But one of the reasons I do school visits is that I think it’s really important that young people get into the habit of reading at a young age.

“I didn’t really have that habit. The poems I liked were the ones I heard, like those by a poet called Louise Bennett from Jamaica. I started to collect poetry and make poems, but struggled to read.

“One of my favourite poets is Spike Milligan. I loved him because he wasn’t writing for money, or for an audience, but for his children. On the other hand, he did some very serious war poetry.

“But when I was growing up there weren’t many poets to look up to, so I had to create my own style.”

Did he have a book that changed his life?

“I have two, for completely different reasons. The first was The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey.

“That is important for any Rastafarian or any person of colour, especially back then when we were struggling with identity and black history, coming out of the slavery of chains and going into the slavery of the brain.

Mighty Influence: Marcus Garvey

“Marcus Garvey liberated us from all that. That was very important to me. That’s when I realised as a black person I could have dignity, walk proud, accomplish all kinds of things, and that I come from a people who have accomplished all kinds of things.

“The other book is A Book of Nonsense by Mervyn Peake, which is absolutely brilliant. It was crazy, but what I loved about it was the rhyming. He was a serious poet but he could rhyme all over the place.

“So one of those books was about taking my place in the world and pride itself, and the other was the love of rhyme and the love of language.”

But Benjamin was at his most open when further quizzed on past gang membership by one youngster, using that question to further press home his belief in following your own path.

“It was just pressure. I wanted to be a poet, I wanted to be an intellectual, think about life and question society, but around me people wanted to rob and fight.

“I didn’t really know anybody with the love of poetry and literature I had. So it was just peer pressure that made me join a gang.

“If you weren’t in a gang you wouldn’t have people to back you up and you’d be on your own.

“But once I liberated myself from the gang and was able to get away, I could be who I wanted to be.

“That’s my message to young people. Never deny yourself. If you really want to be somebody who’s different from everybody else, then be different.

“It’s the different people that change the world. Blessed are the cracked, for they let in the light!”

Terror Kid is published by Hot Key Books, priced £6.99 and available from all good bookships and online.

With thanks to event organisers Jake Hope, SilverDell of Kirkham and Lancashire Libraries, plus Lancashire County Council media officer Greg Bowen and Denis Oates Photography for use of some of the photographs used here.

And for more detail about Benjamin Zephaniah and his work, head here.

Posted in Books Films, TV & Radio, Music | Tagged Benjamin Zephaniah, Birmingham, Black History Month, Bob Marley, Elean Thomas, Handsworth, John Gillmore, Louise Bennett, Marcus Garvey, Maya Angelou, Mervyn Peake, Nelson Mandela, Preston, Spike Milligan, Terror Kid, The Wailers | 1 Comment

Consequentially speaking – the Fish interview

Posted on September 26, 2014 by writewyattuk

Remember Marillion’s 1980s heydays, with the band led by a compelling Caledonian performer and singer-songwriter going by the name of Fish?

While his old band remain a thriving concern – with 17 albums to the name – their former vocalist has since enjoyed a solo career spanning more than quarter of a century.

Fish now has 10 of his own studio albums behind him, feeling the latest, A Feast of Consequences, is his best yet.

And there’s a chance to witness his five-piece band in the UK and across Europe from now until Christmas.

My excuse for speaking to Fish was his return to Preston, Lancashire, for a show at the 53 Degrees university venue own he first frequented in the 1960s.

“It’s very strange to come back. My uncle came from Preston. I used to come every year when I was a kid, in the late ‘60s and the ’70s.

“I remember the very first service stations, thinking, ‘Wow – there’s a bridge over the motorway!’ It was the first time I’d ever been on a motorway.

“My uncle worked at a power station just the other side of the Ribble, and I remember walking across a rickety old bridge. That used to scare me!

“There were holes, with the planks rotten, and at seven years old, that was a big river!

“I remember buying shoes and going to the market to buy Supertramp’s Crime of the Century, paying £1.99 for the vinyl!

“My uncle, married to my mother’s sister, was a regimental sergeant major in the Highland Fusiliers. He was English, but served in a Scottish regiment.”

While you can date the 56-year-old’s love of music back to the 1960s, there was a defining ground-shift in April 1974, just days before his 16^thbirthday.

And for a singer whose voice has often been compared to Peter Gabriel, there’s no surprise that it involved that inspirational artist’s first band, Genesis.

Defining Moment: It was a big week for Fish (Photo: http://www.edinburghgigarchive.com/)

“I saw Yes and Genesis within 48 hours at Edinburgh’s Usher Hall in 1975. Yes were on the Relayer tour and Genesis were on The Lamb tour.

“Those were the first gigs I was ever at, with tickets £1.25!”

I checked up on that after our chat, and found each band played two nights at that venue, right after each other, The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway dates for Genesis having been rescheduled from the previous November after a hand injury for Steve Hackett.

Edinburgh-born Fish joined Marillion in 1981, the Aylesbury-based outfit hitting the big time with top-10 debut album Script for a Jester’s Tear two years later.

Major success followed, with top-10 hits in 1985 with Kayleigh and Lavender, then again in 1987 with Incommunicado. But a year later Fish went solo.

He’s followed his own path since, and although there was a six-year gap between 2007’s acclaimed 13^th Star and his latest release, that wasn’t helped by a six-month enforced break after throat surgery.

But now the 56-year-old is back, enjoying a fair amount of critical acclaim, and more proud of A Feast of Consequences than perhaps anything else he’s brought out.

“I really enjoyed making the album. There was a lot of pressure on us and on me, six years after 13^th Star, which set such a high benchmark.

“There were the two notorious vocal operations, then disappearing on the road for 170 shows with the Fishheads Club tour, with questions over whether I could manage to do it again – put something together up there with the previous album.

“But we did it, and I think it’s up there with Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors, one of my best solo albums.

“I think as well that when you’re 56 and have come through a career with all its ups and downs – some quite extreme – to be able to deliver an album comparable to your first solo album is a nice feeling.

“There have been positive reviews across the board, especially in Europe. It’s been really gratifying to see.

“It was a very difficult period in 2008/09 with the vocal thing, and social media’s got its ups and downs.

“It’s great when you’re on a high and everyone’s saying how wonderful it is, but when you’re taking hits and after gigs there are comments about my voice not being the same, it can get quite depressing.”

Can you tell me more about those voice complications?

“The first vocal operation I had was at the end of 2008, after they discovered a cyst that had been there for more than two years while I’d been singing.

“It was the equivalent of a footballer playing with a stone in his boot, not knowing it’s there. The breath of relief after that blew down the house, you know!”

That’s had a major impact, and those thinking of the Fish of yore and his Marillion era may be surprised by his voice on the new album, not least on the beguiling Blind to the Beautiful, which brings to mind Del Amitri’s Justin Currie.

“It’s more that I’m singing in a range suited to my voice now. Back in the old days, on the first two Marillion albums especially, it was an untrained voice and I was singing in a falsetto that was not a natural part of my range.

“That’s why I developed so many problems by the late ‘80s. Even on this tour, there’s two or three songs we’re playing from 1983. And your voice changes a hell of a lot in that period.

“But we’ve sunk it down and it sounds better, so you’re able to find the richness and find the soul in it all.

“This isn’t the high jump. You try to express yourself and find the delivery from your voice and emotion in the song. And I’m lucky that the writers I’m working with these days appreciate that, and we gauge the keys.”

There are also the more rocking numbers on the latest album, and those which would clearly appeal to the Marillion fan-base – perhaps more what we might think trademark Fish. But he’s clearly moved on.

“Yes, a wee bit.”

A Feast of Consequences was a long time in the making. Will there be a similar gap before the next album follows?

“No, I’m planning to write my last album at the beginning of next year.”

Last album? Yes, we’ll come on to that. But for now, has he got anything pencilled in?

“Not at all. I’ve got ideas, but that’s the way I work on an album. I don’t get together with a bunch of guys in a room and say ‘OK, let’s write an album’.

“I say, ‘Right, this is what I’m kind of aiming for, this is the direction’, then I start to assimilate ideas.

“When I’m out on the road I’m thinking, taking photographs, reading, observing.

“I get a feel for things and know kind of roughly where the core idea is, and already know where that is for the next album.

“Once I’ve got that done, it starts to build, forever taking notes, then you get an idea. I know the textures I want to work on for this album.

“With A Feast of Consequences I remember sitting there in a Parisian café with Frank Usher and Foss Patterson way back in 2011.

“I said to them it’s an acoustic album, so we write everything from an acoustic perspective rather than relying on technology and cut, copying and pasting in the studio. We write songs, then we embellish them.

“That was even before Steve Vantsis came in the door. So when he came up, it was like ‘Don’t bring your computers. Bring your keyboard, bring your guitar, and this is where we start.

“And I think that’s why A Feast of Consequences is so special.”

The resultant album was released alongside a hardback book chock-full of artwork, a DVD, live footage, and more – somewhat typical of Fish’s attitude to recent changes in the music industry.

“This is a different era. Everybody talks downloads, but the bulk of my fan-base came with me through the ‘80s, and like that tangible product in their hand and the idea of opening up a sleeve, reading the lyrics, looking at the illustrations.

Art Class: Mark Wilkinson (Photo: http://www.metal-archives.com/)

“You’ve got to give them room to play, and it was our artist, Mark Wilkinson, that came up with the idea of a 90-page hardback book with a deluxe version.

“It grew from there and it made sense. Yeah, we sell downloads, but if you look at that percentage compared to the deluxe version of this album it’s obvious the fans still want the physical version.

“I hate jewel cases. They’re cheaper, and they’re better than downloads, but at the end of the day, for those who can afford it, deluxe is the way they want to go forward.”

Is the collaboration with Mark and Julie Wilkinson your answer to those old glory days of vinyl gatefold cover art?

“Yes. We do vinyl as well, but again the model I use these days is very different.

“But this isn’t the ’80s anymore. You don’t have the box of fireworks that coincides with every release.

“I’m now going out on a 60-date tour of the UK and across Europe, promoting an album released a year ago. It’s still active, not a catalogue item by any means.

“We’ve got major radio stations in Holland, with a single out there and active in Germany, Denmark, Norway, and already a top-20 single in Poland. This is how you work it. It’s a slow burn.

“I like to compare independent artists like myself to Sioux Indians. The corporations are the big-time hunters coming out of the cities, shooting hundreds of buffaloes, taking away the carcasses lying in the field.

“We take them out one at a time, and when we take a beast down we make sure we use everything before we move on.

”Too many albums just go missing. If they don’t spark the firework box in the first instance, it’s like ‘Next!’

“That’s why I got tired of dealing with corporate labels. Because a lot of work goes into an album.

“When you’ve been working six years on one you don’t work it for six months, you keep it active as long as you can before it becomes a catalogue item.”

Revered Work: Calum Malcolm (Photo: http://www.recordproduction.com/)

A Feast of Consequences was produced by Calum Malcolm, who has past links to The Blue Nile, Deacon Blue, The Go-Betweens, Orange Juice and Prefab Sprout, among others.

“Calum’s a brilliant producer, and understands how to get the best out of me. He also stands there between myself and the writers and balances all that out.

“It was his work with The Blue Nile that made me wake up to what he was doing.

“He’s been mixing material for me a while but it’s only the last two albums he’s produced. And the next album.”

As hinted at before, that next album will be his last one. At that point he plans to swap music for writing, most likely moving with his family to Germany.

But until then, he has plenty to do, and is still extensively touring, with the next shows at Durham Gala Theatre (September 29), Preston 53 Degrees (September 30) and Southampton The Brook (October 1).

Then there will be four shows in the Netherlands, the first of more than 40 dates in mainland Europe, then 13 more in the UK up to Christmas, ending on home soil on December 21 at Glasgow 02 ABC.

“Some of those were cancelled last time. My guitarist, Robin Boult, was ill with chicken pox for more than six weeks. So all the UK tour dates were moved towards the European dates.

“That’s why it’s such a long run at the end, but it’s something I’m looking forward to. It works really well and we’re all ready to go.”

“And there’s a good balance from the Marillion era to the solo material. I’m very aware that people want to be entertained. They don’t just want to hear a brand new album.

“Anyway, we’ve tried the set out, and there were no complaints.”

Does it seem like more than 30 years since that first Marillion album, Script for a Jester’s Tear?

“No, but when I go out on the road and get up on stage, I know it is. I took Ibuprofen to keep my voice in order, but now take it to keep my knees in order!”

There’s been a wealth of material from those Marillion days right through to a very long solo career.

I take it there’s been a loyal fan-base there to see you through the more lean years?

“Yeah.”

I note the last album was available exclusively through your website. That seems to fit into your independent spirit.

“This is the thing. It’s a completely different industry. When I started there were no CDs. It was vinyl, and you sold a lot of vinyl.

“Then you had people with the ability to record the vinyl albums and suddenly those sales dropped, and the recording media sales went up.

“Then you had the ridiculous situation where the Sony corporation was saying ‘home taping is killing music’, yet at the same time were selling ferro-chrome cassettes.

“Those weren’t made to send a message to your grandmother in Australia. So as far as I’m concerned there was a lot of hypocrisy in all that.

“It’s all evolved, and a think a lot of the major record companies were hoisted by their own petard, becoming victims of their own greed.

“I think that’s why our model works. We’re small, we’re independent, and we make the most of what we’ve got.

“You’ve got to make the budgets balance, you can’t afford to be over-flamboyant, but at the same time you’ve got to be brave.

Solo Debut: Fish’s Vigil in a Wilderness of Mirrors

“You’ve got to be sure that what you’re doing is right, keeping the quality base up and ensuring you’re not abusing the fan-base by selling them not only shit, but expensive shit.

“I think that’s one of the reason why we’re here. You’ve got to respect your fan-base, and having social media at my disposal – especially Facebook – is a very important part of my armoury as far as promotion goes.”

Thinking of that fan-base, and getting back on to the forthcoming tour, are there a few hits you can’t bring yourself to perform these days?

“I don’t play Kayleigh, and haven’t for quite a while, although it’s seen as a greatest hit.

“When we were doing acoustic gigs, we asked, ‘Do you want to hear the pop song or the rock song? Nine times out of 10, they’d go for the rock.

“It’s a great song, I’m very proud of it, but I’m not really keen on playing it, not least because the person I wrote it about died of cancer a couple of years ago.”

It’s been more than a quarter of century since Fish left Marillion, but clearly us media types still hark back to that seven-year era. Not as if it bothers him too much.

“It’s a proud seven years, and I’m the same guy that was in that band. There wasn’t a metamorphosis that occurred in 1988.

“People can listen to the latest album and see the links, even though it’s more mature songwriting now.

“But next year is the 30^th anniversary of Misplaced Childhood and I’m taking it out on the road for the very last time, doing open-air shows next summer.”

So how long has your current band been with you?

“Months! It evolves all the time. The keyboard player, John Beck, joined from It Bites in May after Voss Patterson decided on a sabbatical.

“That said, we all still get on really well, and Voss is popping in for coffee tomorrow.

“As well as John Beck on keyboards and Robin Boult – who came back a couple of years ago – on guitar, there’s Steve Vantsis on bass, and Gavin Griffiths on drums. So we’re a five-piece these days.”

There were several day-jobs before Fish, real name Derek Dick, made his mark in the music business, from petrol pump attendant to gardener and forester.

That’s when he gained his nickname, supposedly spending so long wallowing in bathtubs. Is that still the case? Only it must be good for acoustics in there.

“Put it this way, when I’m on a big tour, one of my favourite things is to get a hot tub and a steam room on a day off. That for me is heaven.”

Bar Collective: The Clutching at Straws cover

Fish has a reputation as a voracious reader too, and you may recall from way back the sleeve of Marillion’s Clutching at Straws depicted several of his favourite writers of the time, from Robert Burns and Dylan Thomas to Jack Kerouac and Truman Capote.

“I love words. That’s why I’m retiring in two years. I’m going to be writing books.”

A whole different chapter, so to speak.

There was also the legendary ‘Fish out of Marillion’ status in Viz, the man himself joining Billy the Fish at Fulchester United – as I was reminded by my former regional sports journalism colleague and rock fan Dave Seddon. But I don’t go on to that.

And of course there’s the acting, from playing himself in The Comic Strip Presents More Bad News in 1988 onwards.

Those roles have included The Bill, Rebus, Taggart and Snoddy for TV, and films such as Chasing the Deer, Quite Ugly One Morning, 9 Dead Gay Guys, and The Jacket. So is Fish still actively seeking acting work?

“Not as much. I don’t have the time. And as I always put myself forward for action stuff, with my knees those days as an action hero are numbered!

“I’d love to do more, but more for the experience of working on a film set.

“And in 2016, in all probability I’ll be calling it a day as a musician to become a writer and screenplay writer – something I’ve always wanted to do.

“I’ve a lot of ideas, but because of my commitments in the last 20 years I’ve never had time to sit down and put my mind to other stuff.

“That’s my next move, but I don’t think I’ll ever completely give up music. I love the stage and I think there will always be the call of the stage, but it’d be more going out to do acoustic stuff and maybe a weekend here and a weekend there.

“And again, in all probability, within two years I’m going to be moving to Germany.”

Market Days: Fish during his time with Marillion

His planned move to Germany was mentioned during the Scottish referendum debate, with Fish – a major supporter of independence and a card-carrying member of the SNP in the past – declining to campaign, saying it would be ‘hypocritical’ in the circumstances.

But this Edinburgh-born, Dalkeith-raised performer, who’s lived all bar eight of his 56 years in his home nation, was still drawn in when I mentioned it.

“I do believe it’s important and it’s exciting in this day and age after general elections in the UK with 60 per cent turn-outs and less, to be looking at around an 85 per cent turn-out.

“What really excites me – forgetting the issue of the ‘yes or no’ – is that people in pubs, cafes, colleges and the street are engaging in politics.

“Whichever side you‘re on, I find that really invigorating. What really got to me in recent years was the apathy and ‘what’s the point’ attitude.

Aye Level: Not to be confused with the band that brought us Relayer

“There is a point to what’s going to happen. And I’ve watched the debates on telly and found them extremely interesting.”

Is there a correlation between that and the independent movement in music we were discussing before?

“Yeah. That’s what we’re looking at. There’s so much wastage. Not just in Scotland either.

“I remember Preston way back, when the mills were there, and it was a bustling town.

“I’ve been to the North-West and the North-East. You go to places like Hull and Stockton-on-Tees, then look at Preston and Blackburn. It’s sad the way they’ve been run down.

“Yet I’ve a friend who’s a record producer in London telling me he’s going to have to move out as he can’t afford to live down there.

“We need a redistribution of wealth. It’s all very well talking about high-speed rail lines, but we need something else.

“A lot of communities in the North of England need serious Government investment to get re-invigorated. Give people hope – treat them like people again!”

Finally, we get on to football (so if you don’t want to know all about that, look away now), neatly side-stepping Fulchester United and getting on to his beloved Hibernian.

Is 2014/15 promising to be a good season for Hibs?

“Oh … don’t go there!”

Are you still a regular at Easter Road?

“I used to be a regular, but I’ve seen Karlsruher SC more lately, and I’m quite pleased with how they’re doing in the Bundesliga 2 at the moment.

“It’s just the whole British football thing. I was watching England last night and they were bad.

“You’ve got the same problem – too many foreign players coming into the game. As for the Scotland team, I don’t know anyone who’s in that team now. They all play in the Championship or whatever.

“When you see the money that’s getting spent on players in this day and age it really sticks in my craw. How can a single individual be worth that much money?

“I love football and still enjoy watching it. And I’ll always be a Hibs fan, but I’ve just become a bit despondent with the way it’s been managed. And the Scottish game as a whole is …ugh.”

I confess to Fish that I can’t get my head around Scottish football at the moment. It’s only early days, but when we spoke Inverness Caledonian Thistle and Hamilton Academical were topping the Premier, with Hearts, Hibs and Rangers in the second-flight. That can’t be right, can it?

“Again, it’s the money and financial management of these places. Hearts were £20 odd million in debt and then suddenly had no debt and have a happening team again.

“Meanwhile, Hibs looked after their money and now sit in the same division. Then you have Rangers looking for a £5m investment or they’re going to go bust, and you just think, this is all screwed up!

Bundesliga Boys: The Karlsruher SC badge

“When I was a kid and used to go and see Hibs, everyone came from Leith, the players went to school together and were brought up together.

“We brought in our first foreign player from Norway, and it was like, ‘Wow!’ That’s what it’s lost. That sense of community and working class.

“And it’s so expensive to go to a game now. How can a father take two children to a game now when they end up playing £70 with a pizza and a Bovril, the car parking charges and all the rest of it.

“Then you see players not playing for the crest. It’s just a wage packet.

“I’ll be watching Scotland against Germany this weekend though, although I’m caught between a rock and a hard place with a German partner and a German daughter!”

This is a revised and expanded version of a Malcolm Wyatt feature first published in the Lancashire Evening Post on Thursday, September 25, 2014. For the original online version, head here.

And for more details about Fish and his forthcoming tour, head here.

Posted in Music | Tagged A Feast of Consequences, Calum Malcolm, Dalkeith, Edinburgh, Fish, Genesis, Hibs, Karlsruhe, Marillion, Misplaced Childhood, Peter Gabriel, Preston, Scotland, Yes | 4 Comments

Lisbee Stainton / Glyn Shipman – Ribchester Village Hall

Posted on September 22, 2014 by writewyattuk

Having fallen foul of weekend gridlock on English motorways many times between the South-East and North-West, my heart went out to Lisbee Stainton on Friday night.

After an eight-hour stop-start drive from London to rural Lancashire, she had barely half an hour to spare before facing a small but appreciative audience at Ribchester Village Hall.

Lisbee was topping the latest Hollow Horse bill, Carl Barrow’s inspired idea bringing acclaimed musical acts to under-used community venues in the Ribble Valley.

Behind the friendly welcome, the promoter appeared a little anxious about his star attraction’s delay. But thankfully, special guest Glyn Shipman was playing a blinder, adding a few songs to his set – a half-hour slot becoming much more.

Special Guest: Glyn Shipman played a key role (Photo: Malcolm Wyatt)

Special Guest: Glyn Shipman played a key role ahead of Lisbee’s Ribchester visit (Photo: Malcolm Wyatt)

Glyn’s Ian Broudie-like acoustic guitar and harmonica delivery was nicely augmented by nervous but personable between-song chat with a crowd that was always on his side.

His songs are as personal as they are pensive, and while he was eventually looking at his watch and set-list, working out what to try next, he was willing to try a couple for the first time in public.

Then there was ‘growing old’ song Woke Up This Morning and story songs tackling everything from Jack Ruby to displays of love on motorway bridges and a zoo-bound monkey with a plan.

We were also treated to a poignant WW1 tale about his Grandad, Maple Gardens, and one about his father’s enthralling conjuring tricks, My Dad’s Magic, the audience wondering if the whole family were going to be name-checked before Lisbee arrived.

We weren’t to be disappointed though, this critically-acclaimed Hampshire talent appearing red-faced and nervous but quickly ready to roll. And 17 songs later she’d made a lot of friends in this tucked-away pocket of Lancashire.

Woodland Setting: Lisbee Stainton, live at Ribchester Village Hall (Photo: Malcolm Wyatt)

If taken aback by the pantomime woodland backdrop at this near-perfect setting, Lisbee never let on, and from the Joni Mitchell-like opener Is Whispering, she was away.

All that time on the road (sorry) in her own right and as part of Seth Lakeman’s band has clearly ensured a consummate performer, one at the top of her game too.

Wrench was next, from 2011, the twang of the low strings beguiling, then the title song of 2010’s Girl on an Unmade Bed, covering this young artist’s future prospects, written while still at uni, no less strong without the LP version’s glorious harmonies.

Eloise was the first of several fine cuts from current album Word Games, Lisbee soon reminiscing about a night supporting Joan Armatrading in Europe when traffic woes meant she was even later – arriving on stage 15 minutes before showtime.

She’s clearly big on audience participation, something perhaps honed from all those living room gigs in recent years, and split us into three sections to sing along on third album Go’s title track, again with those inventive chord sequences to the fore.

We were given a choice of ‘sexy’ or ‘dark’ next, and not surprisingly the gigging folk of Ribchester went for the former and were treated to the sensuous Dance with Me, one of at least two songs taking me back to Judie Tzuke.

Perfect Venue: Ribchester Village Hall

Powerfully-brooding Word Games track The Poppy followed, one of several with horticultural links, part-homage to Lisbee’s mum’s background as a garden designer.

Our ‘English Rose with the eight-string guitar’ was soon among us, happily talking tuning techniques and traffic nightmares during a break, then returning for an assured second set.

She re-started with songs from each of her four albums, first requesting us to stomp and clap along in lieu of percussive backing on Navigating, before the upbeat Just Like Me and more pensive The Author kept up the high standard.

The latter was delivered with a haunting vocal bringing to mind Cocteau Twins’ Elizabeth Fraser or The Sundays’ Harriet Wheeler, while one of the tracks that launched her, the beguiling Red from 2006 debut Firefly, offered a further example of Lisbee’s ‘plant music’, her audience increasingly engrossed.

When she introduced the gorgeous Sundays-esque We Don’t Believe in Monsters, one female audience member responded with a matter of fact ‘We do!’ – a further example of the laidback heckling at this intimate soiree.

Our would-be holiday camp entertainer then led a sing-along on Red Dog Running, the catchy Word Games opener, an impressed Lisbee subsequently asking if this talented audience could join her tour. There was a major take-up, although someone added a stern ‘as long as you’re on time’, bringing audible gasps from elsewhere.

From there we had the laidback crossover pop of Never Quite An Angel, then the new album’s title track Word Games, a slow-builder that again went down a storm.

It was never in doubt that we were getting an encore, and Lisbee obliged with two delicious cuts from Go, starting with the wonderfully-optimistic Sidekick – telling us about its accompanying ‘on the cheap’ video, filmed in central London.

Then there was Find Me Here, a gem of a finale, neatly rounding off a great night’s entertainment.

Lisbee’s star is ever-rising, but at least for now we can enjoy her on a more intimate level, whether guesting with others, playing with her own band, or on her tod.

And those who experienced her live at Ribchester certainly won’t forget her.

For an interview with Lisbee Stainton on this blog, and further links to find out where you can catch her on tour, head here.

With thanks to Carl Barrow, with more details about his forthcoming Hollow Horse shows to be found here.

Posted in Music | Tagged Girl on an Unmade Bed, Glyn Shipman, Go, Lisbee Stainton, Ribble Valley, Ribchester, Seth Lakeman, Sidekick, The Sundays, Word Games | 1 Comment

Northern Soul icon back and raring to go – Judy Street’s UK return

Posted on September 21, 2014 by writewyattuk

Four months ago, it was announced that Judy Street – the subject of a feature on this blog barely a week earlier – had been turned back on arrival at Manchester Airport ‘due to an inadequate work permit’.

That scuppered a planned five-date visit for the Nashville-based Northern Soul cult legend, the promoters of her Preston’s Got Soul special appearance apologising for a situation they said was ‘out of Judy’s and our control’.

The singer and music teacher was devastated by that turn of events, although moves were soon afoot to rearrange part of that visit for later in the year.

That has now become a reality, with the performer set to headline the next Preston’s Got Soul show at 53 Degrees on Friday, October 3.

Judy remains something of a cult hero on the scene after recording one of Northern Soul’s most-coveted tracks of all time 45 years ago.

The Tennessee resident only recorded two songs in the 1960s, yet passed into the annals of soul history thanks to Hollywood-based songwriting legend HB Barnum.

Cult 45: You Turn Me On/What, the original 1968 pressing

As a sweet teen – just turned 19 – she delivered slow-burner You Turn Me On and seminal dance track What in 1968, the flip-side of the single going on to catch the imagination on Wigan Casino’s legendary all-nighter scene around five years later.

That B-side has never been out of fashion since, and although only 1,000 copies were initially pressed, it is rated among Northern Soul’s finest moments.

Judy was born in Indiana, discovered in Arizona and recorded in California before settling in Nashville, Tennessee, where I caught up with her before her re-arranged UK trip.

So Judy, everything went a little awry last time you turned up in England. You wrote a bit about it on your website, but if the memories aren’t too painful, try and tell us what happened and why you were refused entry.

“I guess I have told this story 1,000 times already. Here is the short version!

“In all my negotiations for singing at five venues in England and Scotland in May, not one person – myself included – thought about asking if I needed a work permit for these engagements. So I did not have one when I arrived at customs in Manchester.

“After a six-and-a-half-hour delay in a small room, interrogation, searching, finger-printing and being treated like I was a criminal, they allowed me to go all the way to Preston to stay for one night.

“But that was on the strict understanding that I would return the very next morning at 7am for my deportation back on Delta Airlines to the US.

“I was not allowed to have my passport back until I touched down on American soil the next day. I was just sick to my stomach over this.”

But there was a little light at the end of the tunnel, and it came shortly after you arrived back on American soil.

“Well, as soon as I touched down in Nashville back in May, I was at the baggage carousel when my phone rang.

“The display suggested it was my son, so I answered, ‘Hi honey!’ And this voice said, ‘This is not your honey, it’s Russ Winstanley!’”

I’m guessing that’s Russ Winstanley, the famed Northern Soul promoter and DJ?

“Yes! He said, ‘I would like to invite you to sing at one of the largest Northern Soul weekenders in England this year, in September. Would you consider doing that?’”

A plan quickly formed, and that’s where Judy is now, with a trip to Skegness in Lincolnshire sketched in, and the original Preston date back on the cards too.

There was a big reaction via social media and your website to that customs nightmare at the time, suggesting the strength of your UK fan-base today – all these years after recording the Northern Soul anthem that made your name.

“My fans were wonderful in all their support during that time.”

I take it everything’s in order this time around, and you’re raring to go.

“If you mean do I have a work permit number … yes, I do!”

Your eldest son was at your side last time. Is he coming over with you this time?

“Since things were so crazy last time, I don’t want to put anyone in that position again, and I am coming alone this time.

“My son is all out of time off work for this year. Maybe next time, but that is getting ahead of things.”

What’s your itinerary? Will there be time for a little sight-seeing while you’re over? Is there anywhere in particular you want to see?

“Yes, I do have the weekdays off, and plan on doing some sight-seeing. Pretty much like in May – to Wigan, Liverpool, Preston …”

What will you be up to in Skegness? The Butlin’s bill looks impressive for Northern Soul fans.

Esteemed Company: Judy with HB Barnum in 2012 (Photo: Judy Street)

“The Butlin’s Northern Soul weekender is pretty much the bee’s knees – so cool! I will be the opening act on Friday night of that event, just before Archie Bell and the Drells.

“Make sure you get there early, so you don’t miss me. I’ll be singing with Diane Shaw’s band. What a privilege that will be!”

Do you think you’ll finally get to learn first-hand that Preston’s Got Soul the following weekend? And will you be singing live?

“Yes! That following weekend I will get to do a ‘re-do’ of my Preston’s Got Soul date.

“It will be me singing with my tracks, like I had planned in May. Two sets, two changes of outfits. This girl is happy!”

While back in the UK, Judy also aims to promote her new Cover Girl CD, a collection of original songs and much-loved Northern Soul tracks.

That latest recording includes new versions of Northern Soul classics like Do I Love You (Indeed I Do), Long After Tonight Is All Over, Sunny, and Tainted Love.

Will we be able to get our hands on a copy during your visit?

“As far as Cover Girl is concerned, we decided to hold out for its release until I can perform it live.

“So yes, September 26 to 28 in Skegness and then October 3 in Preston it will be available to purchase!”

Judy was also set to make public appearances in Wigan, Edinburgh, Manchester and Bolton last time around. Will she be coming back to do more UK shows soon?

“Now I know all about how my work permit works, I plan on being able to come back many times in the near future. And I’ve already been asked to come back to Scotland.”

For the original Judy Street feature on these pages, head here.

Judy’s Preston’s Got Soul headline appearance is part of a Wigan Casino 41st Anniversary Special at Preston’s 53 Degrees, featuring the best in Motown and Northern Soul and also including DJ sets from Dave Evison, Glen Walker-Foster, Wigan Young Souls, Derek Smith, and Roman.

For ticket information go to http://www.53degrees.net/ or https://www.facebook.com/PrestonsGotSoul.

The Butlin’s Skegness Northern Soul Survivors Weekender runs from September 26 to 29, headlined by Archie Bell and the Drells and also featuring – along with Judy Street – Dean Parrish, Tommy Hunt, Chuck Jackson, the Flirtations, The Diane Shaw Band, Johnny Boy and The Wigan Young Souls Dancers. For more details head here.

Alternatively, check out Judy’s own website for her own updates and information here.

This is a revised and expanded version of a Malcolm Wyatt feature for the Lancashire Evening Post. For the original online version, head here.

Posted in Music | Tagged Archie Bell and the Drells, Chuck Jackson, Dean parrish, HB Barnum, Judy Street, Preston's Got Soul, Russ Winstanley, Skegness, Tommy Hunt, What, Wigan Casino | Leave a comment

Phil Cool, John Foxx and the Swing Park Incident

Posted on September 19, 2014 by writewyattuk

To coincide with my recent John Foxx and Phil Cool interviews on this blog, here’s the part of the jigsaw that links those features – the true story of that broken nose incident, or at least Phil Cool’s version of the tale.

My Version: Phil Cool puts it his way

Heard the one about the rubber-faced funnyman and future electronic music star who had their first hit on a Lancashire swing park?

It’s been 30-odd years since Chorley schoolmates Dennis Leigh and Phil Martin met, but a recent feature on this blog and in the Lancashire Evening Post may well have re-opened the lines of communication.

Not recognise the names? Well, try their stage names instead – the former having made his name as musician John Foxx and the latter as comic Phil Cool.

An interview with the ex-Ultravox frontman in late July, marking his honorary doctorate from Edge Hill University, included a few lines about his school-days with Phil.

John, arguably best known for solo hit Underpass and his pioneering career in art and music, told me at the time: “We knew each other very well at school and after.

“He broke my nose on St Mary’s Rec and says it’s one of his greatest achievements!

“Later on, I sometimes used to go with him to club gigs at Horwich Loco and Wigan Labour Club. He did about 20 years of that. No wonder he’s good.”

As it turned out, Phil read those words and felt the need to tell me more, to cast more light on that infamous incident.

The Chorley-born and bred impressionist was at St Augustine’s Secondary Modern School with John, who was then known as Dennis.

Park Survivor: John Foxx has never looked back since (Photo: Edge Hill University)

That seat of learning later amalgamated with a girls’ school and became Holy Cross High School. But that’s another story.

Phil said: “It was nice to hear about my old mate again. I haven’t seen him for 30 years. We both had a contract with Virgin Records at one stage.

“Last time I saw him was in London while doing a video shoot. We might have spoken a few times on the phone since, but it would be nice to talk again.”

Phil’s own Virgin deal was for the album, Not Just a Pretty Face, and he added: “They wanted a single to go with it, so I took up this suggestion to do Bridge Over Troubled Water in a Rolf Harris style.

“That was something I’d done a snippet of on my BBC television series at the time, but was trying to get gags in between the lines. In retrospect it was a real mess!

“It’s probably the worst single that’s ever been made, although it was good fun to do at the time.

“They made a video of it as well, with me in a recording studio and lots of kangaroos working the faders and knobs in the control room.”

I’m not so sure it would be getting too much airplay these days, not least in light of Harris’s recent court case.

Phil added, in a deadpan style: “I don’t think you’ll find it anyway. It’s only me that’s got a copy … and I’m going to burn it!”

So is that right about giving John a broken nose on Chorley Rec?

“Yes, it just sounded more romantic than it actually was. As if I’d been in a fight with him.

“He must have been about 11 at the time. Like a stupid kid I more or less invented this silly game, which I’d just tested myself, and said to him, ‘Try this, Dennis.’

“We were kneeling down with our eyes level with this swing – the old sort on chains, with a wooden base rather than rubber like today – then throwing it as hard as we could away from us.

“Then, when it swings back and it’s about to hit you, move away. I’d done it myself a couple of times, then he tried but didn’t get away quick enough.

“The damn thing hit him straight in the bridge of the nose. There was blood all over the place, and an ambulance came and took him away.

“I felt really stupid and guilty for being so daft. I turned up at his house the next day, knocked on the door, it opened and he stood there like a mummy, his head wrapped in bandages.

“His mother was stood at the side of him. He couldn’t talk, but she said: “Our Dennis has broke his nose and he’s not coming to school today.”

Did she know of your involvement?

“I suppose he hadn’t had chance to tell her by then, because he couldn’t talk!

“I’ve often thought of that and how horrible it was. But I guess it was just lads mucking about, daring each other to do things.

”Besides, in the photograph you used, his nose seems alright. So whoever patched his nose up did a good job.

“And when we met again in our mid-30s he looked fine to me then too.”

Phil mentions more about his Chorley childhood and early work-days in a cotton mill and as an electrician in his autobiography, Phil Cool – Stand Up Chameleon.

He said: “I was at that school from around 1959 to when I was 15 in 1963. It was a horrible time. I hated it. But Dennis and I were in a class together for a short while.

“He was nearly 12 months younger, but a really good artist and used to get lots of pictures up on the wall, as I did with my own.

“There was another good artist actually – a fella called Psychedelic Sid, also known as Michael Kavanagh. He was from Brinscall. A real character, and a good friend too.”

For a full interview with the ‘stand-up chameleon’ – including more anecdotes about his Lancashire upbringing, his TV days, his past health struggles and farewell live shows, head here.

And if you missed the John Foxx feature that prompted this feature, try this link.

Posted in Books Films, TV & Radio, Comedy & Theatre, Music | Tagged chorley, John Foxx, lancashire, Phil Cool, Ultravox | 2 Comments

End of an impressionable era – the Phil Cool interview

Posted on September 19, 2014 by writewyattuk

Forty years after swapping the electrical trade for the comedy circuit, Phil Cool is all set for his final shows back in his native Lancashire.

And it’s perhaps rather apt that there’s been no great fuss about the former TV regular’s retirement.

I found a cutting recently of my last Phil Cool live review, from when I was a reporter for the Chorley and Leyland Guardian. The date was missing, but the only record I could find online suggested my last chat with the Chorley-born comic – carried out around a week before – was in October 1999.

Rather poignantly I recalled how this down-to-earth entertainer seemed genuinely surprised that the audience at that Chorley Town Hall show had stuck around for the second part of his set.

That seemed to sum him up. There was nothing ‘showbusiness’ about this performer. He just happens to have that ability to make people laugh, and not just because of that ridiculously rubbery face he uses to such good effect.

I was genuinely surprised recently when he called me, via the Lancashire Evening Post.

He really only wanted a number for his old pal, John Foxx, the original Ultravox front-man I’d just interviewed. But there and then we arranged a proper chat, not least on account of the fact that his farewell shows were approaching.

In 2013 he’d set out on his ‘last tour’, having grown tired of all the the travelling between his home in Lancashire’s Ribble Valley and the UK comedy circuit, while celebrating his new-found status as a pensioner.

Now we have what look like being his last-ever gigs, one in Chorley, the other in nearby Ormskirk.

When I mentioned our last interview 15 years before and my cutting from that Town Hall show, the 66-year-old replied, typically deadpan, ‘It’ll be faded now, won’t it?’

Pretty soon, we’d travelled back another 15 years, recalling Phil’s pre-TV period at Chorley’s Royal Oak Hotel.

“I had a comedy club there in the cellar bar, then called Clouseau’s. It was a really good venue.

“When you go down steps I always think you’re going to get value for money when it comes to comedy.

“The guy that ran the Royal Oak, now based over Ramsbottom, was Steve Taylor. We met under strange circumstances.

“I told him I used to be a patron of the Royal Oak. In other words, I drank there! I went and had a look, and when I saw that cellar I said, ‘this is just the place’.

“My comedy club at the time was at the cricket club on Fox Lane, Leyland, called The Laughing Gas. So I asked Steve if I could switch it to the Royal Oak.

“He said yeah, and when I told him I was getting fed up of booking acts, he said he’d sort all that out. So I let him do all that and just came and did my stuff.

“I didn’t get paid for it, but I was just limbering up for my TV show then. That was in 1985. I was doing my Young Ones routines and that. They were all worked out at the Cellar Bar.”

Phil soon hit the big time, finding national fame through the success of his BBC series, Cool It, which ran for three series and led to tie-in album, book and video releases.

The story of that rise to fame is told in his autobiography, Stand Up Chameleon, alternatively titled, Phil Cool Died Here (And Lived to Tell the Tale).

“I’ve written it for my family, really, so they’ll know in time to come how their Dad and their Grandad made it, and just how it was in those days.”

That autobiography starts in 1985, with the entertainer about to go on stage at Leeds Grand Theatre to a crowd of more than 1,500.

“That was the first big theatre I did, the pinnacle of my career at a time when I wanted to escape working men’s clubs, the nightclubs, the strip-joints, and all that rubbish.

“I wanted to be like Billy Connolly, Mike Harding and Jasper Carrott.”

Phil goes on to cover his formative years in the book, including those at Chorley’s St Augustine’s Secondary Modern School in Chorley.

That includes him pulling faces in class and getting his first laughs, the front cover featuring Phil pulling his famed Quasimodo face, one he tried out on his schoolmates.

“I got in real trouble for doing it, getting the cane.”

Those school days weren’t happy ones for young Phil Martin, as he was known then, despite his friendship with people like Dennis Leigh, the slightly younger lad who would also go on to become a star in his own right as John Foxx.

I get on to that Cool/Foxx friendship in more detail in a further piece on this blog here, but they were clearly defining times, as was his spell as a young warehouseman in a cotton mill near Harpers Lane, Chorley.

“I was there nine months. My mother knew it was a dead-end job, as did I, so she asked an electrician in the main street at Chorley, and I moved to his firm.”

A lot of great material followed, as detailed in the autobiog, including Phil’s tale of the day he dropped his toolbox as he was getting off the bus one morning, its contents scattering across the road.

Then there was the time he got into big trouble when left on his own to finish a job on a big house in Chorley.

“It was the most frightening thing in my life at the time. I hit a gas pipe, and there was a fire on in the house. Mercifully, the house didn’t blow up.

“There are lots of stories like that. It’s not just showbusiness. It’s me telling how I made that transition.”

Having always had a hankering for art and music, Phil started writing songs, but didn’t take to the stage for a few years yet.

“I was just struggling day to day, and when I was about 26 I’d done electrical jobs all around the country for big firms.

“There was one at Pembroke Power Station with about 1,000 guys on that job. It was like being paid for being in jail really. I hated it so much.

“Getting up on stage and singing songs, telling funny stories and doing impressions was my ticket out of there.”

Impressionists like Mike Yarwood, Aiden J Harvey and Fogwell Flax were cited as influences, but Phil said he ‘always wanted to do it differently’.

“I’ve never been an act that wanted to do summer seasons, pantomimes or all that nightclub stuff. I’ve always been more of a musician’s comic really.”

“I really admired styles of folk club acts, those who didn’t particularly tell jokes but told stories, like Billy Connolly, Max Boyce and Mike Harding.

“Mike was instrumental in me getting a break. Then there were other local acts like Bernard Wrigley and Bob Williamson.

“I thought, I’d love to do what they do. I just kept doing it gradually, and got good at it after about 10 years.

“I always like those who told a story then sang a funny song at the end, finishing the story off.

“I was just doing a few songs and impressions in between, but it was quite disjointed. I knew I had to remedy it, make it a little more palatable for the audience.

“Actually, I wanted to be a singer-songwriter, like my son is now. I’m hoping he’s going to reach the places I wanted to but never did, having got side-lined with comedy.”

In fact, father and son – Joe Martin – are about to join forces for Phil’s forthcoming retirement gigs.

“Because I’ve retired I’m not taking any money, but Joe’s got to pay the taxpayer back for lending him money to go to university.”

Phil’s career started to turn when, influenced by Mike Harding, he wrote a song about his car, a Morris Minor Traveller – The Deadwood Morris.

“It was to the same tune as The Deadwood Stage, as sung by Doris Day in Calamity Jane. It was a song about meeting this copper, having had too much to drink.

“This was back in the days before the breathalyser. I thought I’d get away with it because only nuns and little old ladies drove those cars usually. But I got pulled up.

“This story was born, went in my first TV series, and got me talking to the audience rather than at them.

“And from that moment on, I became Billy Connolly, Mike Harding and God knows who else all rolled into one.”

Another prime influence was Birmingham comic Jasper Carrott, who produced his early TV series, the pair going on to tour in the early ‘90s as Carrott and Cool.

“He was one of my heroes, and got in touch with my agency back in 1980, after I’d been on Yorkshire TV’s Rock with Laughter.”

Big Fan: Jasper Carrott

I was just about to mention that. Wasn’t that your first small screen experience?

“Yes, and it was a dreadful show! But I stood out among the other acts. I looked different and acted different, I suppose.

“I had denims on and a Yates’s Wine Lodge t-shirt. Everyone else had a shiny jacket and dickie bow. I stuck out like a sore thumb.

“Bev Bevan from ELO apparently taped everything at the time. When he saw me on TV he called his mate Jasper and said, ‘You’ve got to see this Phil Cool fella’.

“Jasper got in touch, saying, ‘Can we meet up?’ He wanted to see if I could write for him and we met at the Apollo in Manchester after he did a fabulous show, supported by Telephone Bill and the Smooth Operators.

“After everyone else had gone home I was invited backstage. We had a sandwich, a laugh and a cup of tea, then a bit of wine.

“When I came back on stage I looked out at all those empty seats – nearly 3,000 – and asked Jasper how the hell he made contact with all those people.

“It seemed such an awesome task to get through to them. But he said (in Phil’s best Brummie accent), ‘Ah, one day, Phil. You’ll see, you’ll be doing it yourself.

“He planted the seed then that I was going to make it, and helped me along the way.”

One of Jasper’s associates, Les Ward, ran a rough and ready folk club in Solihull, The Boggery, and asked Phil to do a show.

“I went there, did a set and really tore the place apart. A year or so passed and my association with Jasper and Les got stronger, and when my five-year contract with a guy in Wigan ran out, I switched over.

“By that time the break I desperately wanted had come, doing Pebble Mill at One.”

Fame followed, but did Phil ever get time to enjoy his success in those days?

“I did, and the great enjoyment came from the fact that I was going out to gigs without a twisted knot in my stomach.

“People were paying to come and see me, were all facing the right way and in the right mood! I wasn’t up against hostile audiences like for the last 10 years.

“I could relax and just go around touring, sometimes doing three nights in a place, sometimes a week. It was great!”

I take it you were happier doing repeat nights rather than playing enormous venues, as became the case in the years to come with some comedians.

“I see these arena gigs by some of the bigger comics today, and don’t think I’d have enjoyed that. What I do is quite intimate really, with the facial and visual stuff.

“The big screens are not the same, and there’s no atmosphere in those places. The only time I’ve played a massive place was when I did a charity show for Jasper.

“That was at the NEC in Birmingham, with 12,000-plus in there. I did 10 or 15 minutes, but don’t think I’d have liked to have done two hours.”

It’s now 25 years since that last Cool It series, after which Phil swapped the BBC for ITV’s Cool Head.

“Yeah, and the first series will be 30 years ago next year. It doesn’t seem that long ago really though.”

When I saw Phil at the end of the ’90s, it wasn’t just the songs and stories, and I mentioned how ‘it’s not every comic can pull off an impression of a seahorse’.

He did though, along with octopuses and bottle-nosed dolphins meeting David Attenborough at the water’s edge.

Then there was the famed Rolf Harris impression, something I’m guessing we won’t see this time around, and his surprisingly accurate version of Nick Park’s cartoon favourite Wallace.

He was at his best talking about his Chorley childhood, in a typical down to earth style, not least reminiscing about the days when youths wore balaclavas to shield themselves against cold Lancashire winters and ‘looked like midget terrorists’.

And it all ended up with a bizarre Bob Dylan/George Formby medley. Now that’s what I call North Country folk music.

Not long after that comeback, Phil had a major run-in with his health though, including eight days in hospital with a heart problem.

“It wasn’t technically a heart attack, just a big scare, but by 2011 my specialist said ‘go and get it done’, so I went on to Blackpool and had a quadruple bypass.”

I tell Phil that sounds scary, or at least a little sobering. His response is typically deadpan.

“I wouldn’t recommend it. Although the chap that did it must have done a good job, because I feel good now.

“I had angina pain when I set off walking, or heading up a hill. They call it ‘warm-up’ angina. If you keep going it disappears. But now I don’t get that.”

Something like that must have given you a fresh focus, making you think about where you’re going with your life and just what’s important.

“Yeah, and career-wise I knew I wasn’t going to go on much longer though. I decided when I was 65 I’d pack it in, not least because I was fed up of the travelling.

“If I could just snap my fingers and arrive at a venue, it would be fine. I love the actual getting up there and making people laugh. It’s just getting there and back.”

Phil’s lived in Chipping for 27 years now, and loves life in rural Lancashire.

“It’s very good here, way out in the country, with lots of farmers muck-spreading and what-not.”

Is it a bit different from growing up in Chorley?

“Not that different. When I was there I was on the edge of Cabbage Hall Fields, just off Harpers Lane, where the River Chor ran though. A magical place for kids.

“There was countryside, a canal, lots of trees, ponds, catapults, bows and arrows, swings, camp fires and all that stuff health and safety would hate.

“It was brilliant. But now that’s all gone, and that area is just an industrial estate.”

It’s rather fitting that one of his final live dates is at Chorley Little Theatre, not least as he was one of a small band of comics who helped resurrect that town venue.

“Yes. The chap that runs it – Ian Robinson – seems to have done a great job. At one stage it was just amateur dramatics and they weren’t making anything of it.

“He thought, ‘Let’s just do the place up and get some acts on that will fill the place’.

“John Bishop was on recently, warming up for his next tour, and I managed to see Jeremy Hardy and Anthony McGowan, who previously saw me at Redditch.”

Anthony McGowan? Now there’s someone with whom I’m guessing you share a mutual respect.

“Yeah, very much so. I think he’s great. And he’s been very good to me in the past, mentioning me on shows like Steve Wright on Radio 2.”

Despite his farewell gigs, I get the impression (sorry) if an offer comes up, Phil might yet be tempted to do more shows.

“Well, it would have to be something near by. I’m through with going to Norfolk, the South Coast, Scotland and all that.

“But if someone offers me something in Preston, Blackburn or Lancaster …”

Phil Cool and Joe Martin play Chorley Little Theatre on Saturday, September 27 and Edge Hill University’s Rose Theatre, Ormskirk, on Saturday, November 22. For more details contact the venues via the above links.

If you missed it first time around, the John Foxx feature that prompted Phil Cool to get in touch can be found here.

Meanwhile, Phil Cool – Stand-Up Chameleon is available as an e-book via http://www.philcool.co.uk.

This is a revised and expanded version of a Malcolm Wyatt feature first published in the Lancashire Evening Post on September 18th, 2014. For the original online version, head here.

Posted in Books Films, TV & Radio, Comedy & Theatre, Music | Tagged Billy Connolly, chorley, Chorley Little Theatre, Jasper Carrott, John Foxx, lancashire, Leyland, Mike Harding, Ormskirk, Phil Cool | 5 Comments

alt-J – This Is All Yours – a writewyattuk album review

Posted on September 17, 2014 by writewyattuk

From the spiralling choral introduction that sees us on our way, we’re clearly back in alt-J country on This is All Yours. But that’s not to say this is An Awesome Wave pt. II.

The celebrated quartet – who won 2012’s Mercury Prize with their impressive debut LP – pared down to a trio earlier this year, but all the same suggest a harder edge in places here.

It’s first hinted at around the two-and-a-half minute mark, suggesting a rockier path, Intro building steadily while aurally painting another soundscape to savour.

Like many of the finer listening experiences, This is All Yours becomes all the more powerful around the third play, Joe, Gus and Thom perhaps redefining the band’s path.

Second track Arrival in Nara – the first of a trilogy name-checking the Japanese city, and perhaps indicative of a sense of creative freedom within this work – is a more likely starting point.

Its almost-wistful arrangement of simple piano and guitar proves vivid, the vocals only arriving a couple of minutes in.

The ensuing harmonies bring to mind an other-worldly Simon and Garfunkel, although arguably more Art than Paul.

That leads us to Nara itself, and it’s as if Fleet Foxes were tackling the band’s heroes, Radiohead.

And pretty soon it’s like someone’s turned the power on, the piano suddenly having to work harder, Gus battling away amid those swirling melodies.

The overall musical storyboard proves alluring, with Peter Gabriel-style World Music sensibilities to the fore, the album’s new dynamic by now well and truly established.

That sonic capture of the senses continues with the more bluesy Every Other Freckle. Think 21^st-century John Lee Hooker with telling dashes of Gomez and XTC-like invention as the backdrop, and you’re not far off.

The lyrics certainly throw off the band’s old geek label. There are Mumford & Sons touches too, but the neo-folk is always secondary to the down and dirty r’n’b.

That’s also the case on Left Hand Free, although whether this was just a jam that took hold or the trio’s new direction remains to be seen. Either way, I hear echoes of early-’70s Free.

There were a few hints of all that on the first LP of course, not least on Fitzpleasure, but they’ve moved it on a few notches here.

The pastoral Olde Englishe mood resurfaces on the Garden of England recorder interlude, and it strikes me that perhaps we’ve finally found an Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding for the new generation.

We’re back to the ethereal again on Choice Kingdom, floating above the clouds, those soaring harmonies again sensuously under-pinned.

For many of us, The Hunger of the Pines was a first indication of the band’s new material, and it remains as strong many more listens later, mesmerising and chock-full of imagery.

I’ve said it before, but I’m surprised this track hasn’t been commissioned for the latest Hunger Games film, seemingly a perfect vehicle for fictional ‘female rebel’ Katniss Everdeen, even before we hear that Miley Cyrus sample.

There’s a folk-pop quality to the Iris Murdoch-inspired Warm Foothills, the band going off at a tangent again yet somehow staying on track, with the duelling harmonies sublime and the song highly atmospheric.

It also brings to mind Noah and the Whale and a spirit of sunshine after the rain. In the old days, I might have nodded sagely and claimed ‘single’, but I’m not sure that means much to the alt-J download generation.

The Gospel of John Hurt is a further departure, again slowly building, heading from the monosyllabic to the polyphonic, the band truly ‘coming out of the woodwork’.

After that claustrophobic outbreak and release, there’s a chance to breathe again with the searing yet subtle Pusher, as we gather strength again for the album’s climax.

The brass on Bloodflood pt. II – carrying on from the first album offering that gave us its title – brings to mind fellow Mercury Prize winner Badly Drawn Boy’s The Shining.

But again it’s unmistakably alt-J, and the deep bass rumble that duly arrives around 100 seconds in pushes us on to the finale, the overall feel reminiscent of Athlete’s Wires.

It’s as if there was unfinished business last time around. But this time they’ve duly nailed it, the album closing with an ‘as we were’ moment, Leaving Nara our celebratory reprise.

If ever a band didn’t need videos to promote their music, this is them. For alt-J already offer sonic visuals to the nth degree.

In short, This is All Yours is a near-perfect second offering that lives up to the inevitable hype, cleverly showcasing a pared-down outfit on a creative high.

And I’d go as far to say that pound for pound it’s even better than that first album.

For this site’s feature/interview with alt-J’s Gus Unger-Hamilton, first published on August 14, head here.

This Is All Yours is available to pre-order in the UK, and will be released on September 22, 2014, via Infectious Music on CD, digital and double-vinyl editions, released in North America on the same date via Canvasback.

The band’s European eight-date tour starts at Glasgow Academy on Thursday, September 18, and is followed by a major North American tour in October and November. For more details head to their website here.

Posted in Music | Tagged alt-J, An Awesome Wave, Every Other Freckle, Gomez, Gus Unger-Hamilton, Hunger Games, Hunger of the Pines, Joe Newman, Mercury Prize, Nara, Radiohead, This Is All Yours, Thom Green, XTC | Leave a comment

From unmade beds to living room word games – the Lisbee Stainton interview

Posted on September 12, 2014 by writewyattuk

Rising singer-songwriter Lisbee Stainton is going places, even if that list of locations still involves the odd living room and village hall.

This ‘English rose with the eight-string guitar’ is barely 26 but already has four albums behind her and is attracting plenty of critical acclaim, not least through her work with award-winning folk artist Seth Lakeman.

But while she’s turning heads on the road and on record with her innovative guitar sound and sweet vocals, you’d struggle to easily categorise her.

Of the music media, Mojo have talked about Lisbee’s ‘slowly revolving rhythms, wistful English melancholy with a soul undertow, and a sweet folk-pop voice’.

Meanwhile, Maverick suggest ‘a unique genre-less artist who is slowly but surely making her global mark’. So is that fair praise?

“I don’t know, to be honest. I’ve had so many problems trying to describe my music.”

As a young female regularly mentioned in folk circles, I guess Lisbee gets compared to Kate Rusby a fair bit too.

And after playing her latest album Word Games a few times, I have to say my first impressions might include Judie Tzuke in places too, not least on the sensuous Dance With Me.

Tracks like Pulse, Madron’s Well and the building finale – the title track itself – certainly show true maturity as a songwriter, while the harmonies on Make Me Stay are sublime.

I might even add a couple of more mainstream references from across the pond, like the Dixie Chicks or even Taylor Swift, surely a sign that Lisbee can really take off soon. What does she think?

“Joni Mitchell comes up a bit. I don’t see it personally, but I’m a huge fan of hers, so if that influence comes through, I’m very pleased with that.

“Usually, it’s people I love who are compared me to, those I listen to a lot, like Fleetwood Mac and Joan Baez.

“It’s lovely being compared to these artists. You could say nothing’s original in music, but you do strive to find something.”

Among those who mentioned Joni Mitchell was Paul Carrack, the former Ace and Squeeze vocalist taking Lisbee on tour with him in 2011.

But whoever she’s compared to, Lisbee’s certainly on the rise, with fans and critics alike truly sitting up and taking notice.

“Yeah, it seems so. We’ve been gigging and writing, and it’s all really good.”

The ‘we’ suggests it’s not just Lisbee, and as well as solo appearances, like those at Ribchester Village Hall – the latest from Carl Barrow’s Hollow Horse Events – on September 19, there are band gigs too, like another on Lancashire soil two days after that, at Ramsbottom Festival.

Then there’s the work with Seth Lakeman, including her involvement on his latest album Word of Mouth and her key part in his touring band.

Hampshire-born Lisbee has been singing since she was five and writing songs since she was nine. Is there still space in the set for some of those formative efforts?

“Not the very first ones! They’re probably not good enough to be aired publically. But there are a couple I play which I wrote when I was 16 or so.”

Lisbee graduated in 2009 from Goldsmiths College, part of the University of London, with a degree in popular music, by which time she’d released her first album, Firefly.

Two years earlier, at the age of 17, she became the first unsigned singer-songwriter to play London’s O2 Arena, performing two shows to 30,000 people.

“It was a big variety show. I knew the producer, who said he was putting something together at the Millennium Dome and had one of my songs in mind.

“He said he would love me to come along and play it. It was a song called Follow, which I wrote when I was around 15.”

When new wave icon turned BBC 6Music presenter Tom Robinson asked Lisbee for a copy of her single Red after hearing it on her MySpace page, the ball really started rolling.

He described her on air as ‘a serious young talent’, with Red then play-listed by BBC Radio 2 and followed by the release of second album Girl On An Unmade Bed, produced by Rupert Christie – known for past collaborations with U2, Green Day, Echo & the Bunnymen, and Lou Reed – and recorded at Abbey Road Studios.

A second single, Never Quite An Angel, was also play-listed by Radio 2, with the third, Just Like Me, BBC 6Music’s Radcliffe & Maconie Show’s record of the week.

Lisbee was soon brought to the attention of Joan Armatrading, who personally chose her as the main support act for an extensive UK and mainland Europe tour, including a sell-out at The Royal Albert Hall.

“That tour was amazing. It was the first I ever did, doing 76 dates with her around the UK, Europe and Scandinavia.

“She’s a fantastic performer, and seasoned too – she knows what she’s doing. I learned a lot over those four months.”

Shortly after, Lisbee featured on BBC Radio 2’s In Concert before a 44-date headline European tour, and further supports with Tom Dice and The Mavericks’ Raul Malo.

In early 2011, Paul Carrack invited her to be the main support for his European tour, and her third album, Go, also received national acclaim, word spreading about Lisbee and her eight-string guitar sound.

Eight Strings: Lisbee Stainton with her custom-made guitar (Photograph copyright: Eleanor Doughty)

So what’s the story with the guitar?

“I got it hand-made by a guy called Joe White, down in Ash Vale, Surrey, who’d been sorting out my guitars for years.

“In my final year of university I’d been saving up for him to make me a 12-strong guitar. I turned up in his workshop and had a play around with a draft of the sort of eight-string I play now.

“He’d been looking for a suitable guinea pig, I guess, who would suit the guitar and be interested in it. Because I’m a picky kind of player, it works really well. I’ve been playing it ever since, and it’s brilliant.”

And pretty soon, Lisbee joined Seth Lakeman’s band as a special guest, singing and playing banjo, harmonium, guitar and harmonica, winning a whole new audience.

So how did the link with Mercury Music Prize nominee Seth come about?

“I supported him in Germany in 2012. I’d been a fan since I was about 17 and he emailed me to ask if I fancied doing a couple of harmonies on the tour.

“I thought that was putting rather a lot of faith in someone he’d never met, but I knew the songs already, so I said, ‘No problem!’”

Those songs were Changes, from 2010’s Hearts & Minds, and King and Country, from 2006’s Freedom Fields.

“We still do King and Country on tour now. And having got on stage with him, it just really worked. Something just clicked.

“He approached me at the end of the tour and asked if I would like to be involved with a big tour. From then on I kind of ended up being in the band!”

Word Up: Lisbee on stage with Seth Lakeman’s band (Photo: http://folkall.blogspot.co.uk/)

Lisbee features on Seth’s latest album, Word of Mouth, including harmonies and backing vocals. Was that a learning experience?

“Every album is different and every recording process is different, so it’s always interesting to see how other artists work.

“He loves the concept of organic spaces, and the church where we recorded – in North Tamerton, Cornwall – was great. It was a lot of fun but a challenge to record in – getting it all right.”

Furthermore, Seth makes an couple of appearances on Lisbee’s Word Games, contributing vocals – notably on Pulse – as well as viola and bouzouki, and co-wrote a couple of songs, not least the wondrous Madron’s Well.

Eleanor McEvoy, Lisbee’s own special guest on the album tour, also chips in, as do Rupert Christie and her guitarist Simon Johnson.

Word Games was recorded at Monnow Valley Studios in South Wales and released last November, produced by fellow Goldsmiths graduate Mikko Gordon, who previously worked with Lana Del Ray and Chris Difford, and Rupert Christie again.

And again the reception has been very good.

“There’s been a really lovely reaction, especially from live audiences. People have really taken to it.”

Flower Girl: Lisbee Stainton (Photo copyright: Tom Griffiths)

Her music has evolved a little over the course of those first four albums too.

“Definitely. You always need each album to be a step up from the last in every respect, so I’m constantly trying to make sure I’m pushing myself, not only as a songwriter but as a performer in terms of arrangements and the musicians you’ve got, the details, the spaces you’re in …”

Beyond her current solo shows, Lisbee’s joining Seth Lakeman’s main album tour in October, before a few more of her own dates, continuing to promote Word Games.

The Seth Lakeman dates include celebrated venues like Shepherd’s Bush Empire, The Lowry in Salford, Birmingham Town Hall, Edinburgh Queen’s Hall and Gateshead The Sage. But she sees little difference.

“I play anywhere and everywhere, and even in the last few months I’ve done the most bizarre locations. But I enjoy that, and it keeps things interesting.

“If you’re in the same theatres all the time, I’d imagine you’d get lazy. I was recently in Devon playing an art gallery, then a little club in Ascot. I like that variety.”

So are the solo dates a continuation of your Word Games tour?

“Pretty much. I’ve been touring this album on and off all year, and will continue to do so until the next. There are just so many people to reach and so many places to go.

“If you’re a massive artist, you can do one big tour and everybody will turn up. When you’re on my level you’ve got to keep plugging away to reach people where you can.”

Turning Leaves: Lisbee Stainton (Photo copyright: Tom Griffiths)

What’s the set-up when I get to see you up in the North-West?

“I come in various guises! At Ribchester it’s just me, then at Ramsbottom it’ll be a full band – me and three others. Occasionally I’ll go out with just a drummer too.”

The day I spoke to Lisbee, she was heading to Dudley in the West Midlands for a house gig, but this is an artist who completed a series of intimate ‘living room’ concerts – including one aboard nuclear submarine HMS Vigilant – for the Go tour.

Several big festival appearances have followed Lisbee’s initial success too, including Glastonbury, Cropredy and Beautiful Days.

That said, there’s also footage of her performing in her hometown, Basingstoke, with a lot of talking in the background. Is that the bane of all semi-acoustic musicians?

“It depends on the gig really. Generally people are very quiet. That’s the etiquette, but if you’re in a club you can’t stop people talking.”

True. I wasn’t actually suggesting you launch yourself into the crowd and test how sturdy your custom-built guitar is.

“Well, performers have ways to getting people to shut up!”

Does she tend to rock out a bit more when she’s got a full band with her?

“It’s just a different vibe, to be honest. I love playing both ways, but with the band you can dig into the arrangements a lot.

“I love taking a bit more of a back seat in terms of the guitar and really enjoying the vocal side.

“That way I can bring out parts of the album I couldn’t do on my own, lacking the number of limbs needed!

“I also work with some brilliant musicians, so love hearing their musicality and character come through in live performance.”

For full details of Lisbee’s forthcoming solo shows, appearances with Seth Lakeman’s band, and much more, head to her website here.

* This is a revised and expanded version of a Malcolm Wyatt feature first published in the Lancashire Evening Post on September 11, 2014.

Posted in Music | Tagged Basingstoke, Eleanor McEvoy, Goldsmiths College, Joan Armatrading, Lisbee Stainton, Mikko Gordon, Paul Carrack, Rupert Christie, Seth Lakeman, Word Games, Word of Mouth | 2 Comments

From Mary, Mel and Sue to motorbikes and binned Baked Alaskas – the Paul Hollywood interview

Posted on September 5, 2014 by writewyattuk

Grown women get excited at the mere mention of his name, and it’s fair to say this island nation has risen to the charms of celebrated master baker Paul Hollywood these past few years.

The one-time sculpture student from the Wirral has certainly made his name alongside national treasure Mary Berry on BBC One ratings hit The Great British Bake Off.

He’s also proved a live success, and is set for another big tour this autumn, British Baking Live, having played to more than 30,000 fans across the UK with his first tour, Get Your Bake On.

Paul’s latest 20-date itinerary sees the twinkly-eyed celebrity chef and housewives’ choice promising an evening of baking, comedy and fun, demonstrating recipes and talking about some of his favourite regional baking.

He also aims to reveal some of his kitchen secrets, while taking his audience on a culinary tour of the UK, showcasing some of the country’s best-loved regional specialities, the evening culminating in four randomly-chosen audience members invited up on stage to bake with him.

Paul also recounts the story of how his father persuaded him to ditch his path as a trained sculptor and join the family baking business, including tales of his time as head baker at some of the world’s most exclusive hotels.

And the 47-year-old, acclaimed as one of the country’s finest artisan bakers, will demonstrate a few favourite recipes too, and field questions from his audience.

It’s something he was certainly sounded fired up about when I spoke to him earlier this week, despite a mountain of media interviews to get through.

It’s now been four years since BBC One first aired The Great British Bake Off. That’s five series now. Has that time flown?

“It has actually. You look back and think, ‘Wow, that was 2009 when I was approached! It’s gone very, very quick.”

Have you taken to being recognised in public?

“Yeah, you sort of get used to it. It’s a slow creeper really. The first year a few people, the second a few more, the third year … bang!

“It still makes me nervous. If I’m with the family, or with my lad, I tend to shy away. But elsewhere, there’s no problem.”

The media love to categorise their talent show judges. Do you find you’re expected to be the Simon Cowell or Craig Revel-Horwood of the catering world?

“I suppose so, but I’m probably not as cruel as them. I only critique what’s on the plate, rather than the person or the style.

“And it’s constructive criticism, not destructive if something’s gone wrong. I even give them hints when I’m going around, asking ‘Why are you doing that?’ or ‘What are you doing that for?’ So I give them a chance to rectify it.”

Awesome Foursome: Sue Perkins, Mary Berry, Paul Hollywood and Mel Giedroyc (Photo: BBC)

He’s in good company too, with fellow judge Mary Berry hugely popular, and the show expertly anchored by comedy duo Mel Giedroyc and Sue Perkins.

Has Paul ever analysed why the series works so well? Only it seems to me that – as opposed to some of those other shows – it’s not easy to take a dislike to you or Mary.

“I think it comes down to nostalgia. We’re a nation of bakers, and based on that fact people like The Great British Bake Off.

“I think people have started baking because of watching the programme. The sale of the books and bakeware has rocketed these last few years, and I think that proves people are really into baking.

“All we’ve done is put it in a tent, give it a load of bakers, and stick Mel and Sue in front.”

Have you been known to go for a swift beverage with Mary, Mel and Sue after the show?

“Oh yeah, all the time. When we’re filming we always have a meal together, have some wine and have a chat. We always unwind together at the end of a show.

“We all get on really well. We’re good friends, so it works out quite well.”

Tell us one thing we perhaps don’t know about Mary Berry?

“Err …. all she drinks is water on set. Warm or hot water, normally.”

His TV work has also included Paul Hollywood’s Bread and Paul Hollywood’s Pies and Puds, and work alongside fellow celebrity chef James Martin. So does he ever socialise with fellow TV chefs and bakers?

Top Mate: Tom Kerridge (Photo: BBC)

“I tend not to. I see a bit of Tom Kerridge, and he’s a good lad. I see Tony Tobin, who used to work on Ready Steady Cook, and see James Martin occasionally when I’m doing demos. But it’s Tom I probably see more than most.”

Is there ever a chance that he might don the leathers and join the Hairy Bakers, aka my hirsute celeb chef favourites Dave Myers and Si King, on the road?

“I don leathers, sure, but I ride sports bikes and they ride quite different ones!”

The photographs of Paul out there posing on his Ducati seem to back that up. I couldn’t quite see them mixing in the same circles. But I’m sure it would be entertaining all the same.

Do you find time to get in the kitchen for pleasure these days, alongside all your other business and media commitments?

“It’s difficult nowadays, very tricky, but if I have a quiet time I’ll duck in the kitchen and my lad will join me, and we’ll bake something together.

“I’ll normally give him a book and say ‘Which one do you want to do?’ Then we’ll do it together. We do enjoy that.

“I don’t mind cooking when I get the time, but nowadays it is quite difficult.”

Did you have to work hard to learn the skill of delegation? I can’t imagine you being anything other than ‘hands on’.

“That’s been part of the problem. I closed my business down last year because I just wasn’t there … at all. And it was purely that – I couldn’t delegate.

“They were good lads but they wouldn’t do what I do, and you can’t run a business like that. It’s just a shame. I’ll probably do it again in the future, but not yet.”

Can we all become bakers in your eyes, with a little application and professional advice?

“Yes. Of course you can. It all comes down to whether you want to do it. Do you enjoy doing it? Then use that little bit of artistic flair and passion. When you’re in love with something, it’s beautiful.

“But always bake something you want to eat, rather than just because everyone else wants you to do it. Do something you want and you’ll get more enjoyment out of it.”

TV Legend: Keith Floyd

I remember late great TV chef Keith Floyd talking about a guilty passion for beans on toast while he’s away from home. Do you have a simple secret craving in food terms?

“Err … probably … I’ve got a penchant for doughnuts. I love doughnuts. If I see a doughnut or a sausage roll, I’m on it like a rat! Or a pork pie, actually. I’ll have a pork pie for breakfast!”

Is that the Northerner in you?

“Yeah, it is!”

You seem to be taking to the Paul Hollywood on the road experience well.

“I enjoy it. It’s great meeting people, and a real privilege getting out there, meeting the general public.

“They’ve been very kind to me on the tour. We’ve had a right laugh together, and very supportive. I love that part of the job. It’s great.”

There are some big audience numbers. Do you get nervous before you get on stage? Only that wasn’t what you set out to do when you baked you first loaf, was it?

“Not at all. It’s something I got used to, and quite quickly. It was incredible the response I got. But it was enjoyable.

“I knew they were enjoying it, so likewise it put me at ease and I could just carry on with what I do.”

Has it ever gone wrong on stage or on TV? Has your loaf ever failed to rise to the occasion, so to speak?

“No, it hasn’t!”

Dream Team: Paul Hollywood and Mary Berry

There are 30 dates altogether this time. That’s quite a slog, isn’t it? I’m guessing you’ll be ready for a Christmas break beyond that commitment.

“I definitely will be. I’ll try and get away ski-ing again, as quickly as possible. I’m straight into other filming after, so don’t have much of a break until January. But oh well … I’ll take the work while it’s here.”

Paul’s based in Kent these days, not far from Canterbury. So will it be nice to return to his native North-West and catch up with old friends?

“Yes, I’m going to Liverpool as well, so that’ll be nice. I did Manchester on the previous tour, the closest I got to home, and that was great as well.

“I’m looking forward to travelling around. I’ve got a lot of friends up in the North-West, as far as Lancaster, so it will be nice to see everyone again.”

One of Paul’s several-times-great-grandfathers was a head baker at the Adelphi Hotel in Liverpool, and that love of cookery has clearly continued, with his parents big influences on his career.

“My Dad was a baker, my uncles are bakers, my brother’s a baker, so I’ve grown up in a family of bakers.

“My mum taught me the pastry side of things, cakes, while Dad was more pies and bread. So I became a hybrid of both.”

Could he ever have made his living as a sculptor?

“I don’t know, I still sort of sculpt now, with sugar paste and dough, create mediums to create a shape, so I’m still sort of doing it. It’s just slightly different, because you cook it and eat it!”

Donned Leathers: Dave Myers and Si King, waiting on a ride-out with Paul Hollywood

Do your ever get back to the Wirral and to Wallasey?

“I do, and not long ago met up with my brother and we went on a bike ride over to North Wales to the Horseshoe Pass, where all the bikers meet on the top.

“There were six of us, and we had a lovely ride-out. Great fun.”

Do you still have lots of family that way?

“Yeah, all living in the Wirral, lots of them.”

Finally, it was time to ask the big question on the nation’s lips this past couple of weeks, the one involving bearded Belfast construction engineer Iain Watters, 70-year-old fellow contestant Diana Beard, and the dumped pudding that led to a headline-grabbing walk-out by the former on The Great British Bake Off.

And if he’d already answered it a few times, you wouldn’t have noticed. In fact, there was no stopping him.

So what really happened with Iain, Diana and the soggy bottom-of-the-bin Baked Alaska?

“Well, at the end of the day, it was Iain’s fault, and he never ever blamed Diana for what happened but Diana apologised to him. He shouldn’t have put it in that freezer, anyway, but that’s by-the-by.

Soggy Bottom: Iain Watters paid the penalty (Photo: BBC)

“It comes down to the fact that he’d lost it before that happened. He was never going to freeze that ice cream in time anyway, and shouldn’t have thrown it away.

“He lost his rag, threw it away. He’s a great baker, Iain, but in the heat of the moment, he threw it away, and we need to judge something.

“You can’t bring nothing and expect to get by. That’s not on! It wasn’t Diana’s fault, it was his fault, and 40 seconds doesn’t quantify melting ice cream, so whichever way you cut it, it was Iain’s fault.”

He hasn’t finished yet either. He’s still mulling it over.

“A lot of kids watch that programme, and you can’t let someone bring nothing and get by. That’s not a good example.

“You keep calm, carry on, bring up what you’ve got, and we’ll look at it. Everyone else is in the same position.”

Tickets for Paul Hollywood’s British Baking Live tour, including limited VIP packages, are available from the venue box offices, select ticket agents, a 24-hour ticket hotline on 0844 871 8803, or via www.paulhollywood.com.

You can also try via http://kililive.seetickets.com/go/paulhollywood,

www.theticketfactory.com/paulhollywood or

www.ticketmaster.co.uk/paulhollywood.

Meanwhile, Paul Hollywood’s British Baking is published by Bloomsbury, and priced £25.

This is a revised and slightly-expanded version of a Malcolm Wyatt interview/feature published in the Lancashire Evening Post on September 4th, 2014. For the original, head here.

Posted in Books Films, TV & Radio, Comedy & Theatre | Tagged Diana Beard, Hairy Bikers, Iain Watters, James Martin, Keith Floyd, Mary Berry, Mel Giedroyc, Paul Hollywood, Sue Perkins, The Great British Bake Off, Tom Kerridge, Wirral | Leave a comment

Thirty years in the business – the David Gedge interview

Posted on September 2, 2014 by writewyattuk

In Touch; The Wedding Present, 2014 (Photo: http://www.scopitones.co.uk/)

It’s never easy preparing to interview someone whose music has played such a big part of your life. It was a similar tale with my recent That Petrol Emotion three-parter. Sometimes you know too much and overlook the obvious questions.

By the time I felt I was ready for David Gedge, the inspiration and main-man behind The Wedding Present and Cinerama, I realised most of my questions were really just statements. There wasn’t a great deal he could get his teeth into.

I re-drafted a few times before heading across the Pennines for a pre-gig meet in West Yorkshire, and when I arrived it didn’t help that I couldn’t properly see my notes, the light poor to the side of the Hebden Bridge Trades Club dance-floor where David was set up.

Then there was an added dilemma, with support act The Treated set to sound-check. As it was we managed half an hour before we got to shouting at each other, and by then I was more or less done, albeit going round the houses with my quizzing.

Hopefully it works though, and David was – as I suspected – always forthcoming and never less than the true pro and top bloke he’s always appeared to be.

We met on a hot evening in late July, before the first of two consecutive Weddoes dates at the Trades Club, with The Boy Gedge (© John Peel) on a high after the previous evening at one of his favourite venues, Sheffield’s Leadmill.

It was his 18^th show at the Leadmill, and this would be The Wedding Present’s first at the Trades Club in 20 years, which quickly took us on to the comprehensive gig list on David’s website, this blogger putting a spanner in the works by suggesting he’d missed at least one.

To The Bridge: The Trades Club in Hebden Bridge, with on-loan Sam, left, joining David, centre, on guitar (Photo: Tee H)

I was referring to a slight gap in the itinerary which should have included the Weddoes’ 1987 assault on Glastonbury. David wasn’t convinced I had the right year, but reached for his notebook all the same, and I’ve since noticed it’s now on the list.

That was one of four TWP gigs I saw that year – also including my first at Reading Majestic in late February and two more at the University of London Union, the second marking the launch of seminal debut LP George Best.

Great days, of course, and better described in an earlier appreciation of the band on this blog, with a link here.

Whether challenging David on his database was the best way to start this interview is debatable. He had after all described himself as ‘quite anal’ in respect of band stats. But once I got that out of the way I felt we could properly start, after a brief chat about those formative dates.

“I kept a lot of records from those early days, with scrapbooks of all the reviews, but didn’t really list all the concerts, so had to go back through old diaries. Sometimes I wrote in a venue we were offered but might not have played in the end.”

That took me on to what should have been my first TWP outing, at Fetcham Riverside Club in Surrey in July, 1986, the night we showed up to find a hand-written note from the band apologising that the venue had double-booked them, deciding to pull out accordingly.

“It wasn’t us – it was them! We turned up for the sound-check and they said, ‘What are you doing here?’”

Were there a few nights like that?

“No, that was the only one, thankfully.”

I’m sure it all must run together in the mind, though, keeping track of those gigs.

“It is quite hard to remember, but now I’m more meticulous.”

Is the Trades Club a venue you know well from over the years? It’s not too far from your old Leeds Uni patch, or even your youth in Middleton.

“I came to Hebden Bridge here loads of times as a kid too, but think the last time was when we last played the Trades Club. I used to cycle here from Manchester. A bit of a trek.”

Green Scene: David Gedge in action at Hebden Bridge Trades Club

Green Scene: David Gedge at Hebden Bridge Trades Club (Photo: Tee H)

You spent a fair bit of time in Yorkshire, so it must all be pretty familiar.

“I lived in student accommodation in Leeds while at university, and then bought a house in Otley.”

David’s become an adopted Southerner since, having lived away from the North for the last 10 years or so, the last couple of those in Brighton. Does he miss Yorkshire?

“I do. It’s a very beautiful part of the world and it’s nice to be in a place where people talk like me! There’s a cultural thing too – it feels like you’ve come home to a certain extent. All the same, I don’t miss the weather.”

I mention how it had proved a cracking summer, but to a bloke fresh from mixing tracks in southern Spain for a new Cinerama album and having visited America again this year, perhaps that didn’t wash.

So when’s that new Cinerama album out?

“To be honest, that’s not a priority because I’m busy doing quite a lot of other stuff, so it’s been more like a side-project that we fit in as and when we get the time.

“We recorded the vocals in Los Angeles in January, and the band was recorded in Asturias, Spain, last summer, yet last week was the first time our schedules allowed us a week to mix it.

“Now I’m looking at the mastering and the artwork, and imagining next Spring.”

You seem to be busy gearing up instead for the Edsel Records TWP reissues at the moment.

“That’s it, and there’s also another Cinerama album – a third compilation featuring various b-sides and so on, which has also been a long time in the pipeline.”

As someone earning less money now than all the time you’ve been making records, the initial response to news of the Edsel deluxe editions was ‘Not more Weddoes product I’ve got to buy!’ So you better give me the sales pitch and tell me what’s different this time.

Ultimate Product: The latest TWP re-packages are on their way

“Well, they are pretty cheap! It’s the definitive Wedding Present product after all, with everything you can get your hands on – all the albums, extra tracks, John Peel and other radio sessions, all the videos and live tracks.

“For each release there’s three CDs and loads of sleeve notes.

“Actually, we first had a meeting about this over a year ago when Demon and Edsel Records pitched the idea to me.

“They were saying what a fantastic idea it was. But while they were all raving, I was just thinking, ‘This is so much work!’

“It sounds weird, but I’m the only one who can do it. Everyone else chips in and helps but sometimes people will get it wrong and I’ll step in and put them right, say ‘No, that track was not on that album’, and so on.

“Then I’m being asked, ‘David, have you got the master-tape for this Swedish radio session?’ So I’ll go to my storage unit, where I’ve got tons of boxes …”

I imagine you’re not too good at delegating.

“Well, as I say, I’m very meticulous, and there are so many times where you just say, ‘You can go and find it’, and they’ll come back with the wrong thing. So I’ll just do it myself. But it takes time.

“So I’ve got mixed feelings about it really, and it’s been quite stressful … but it’s going to be great!”

Present Arms: David and Katharine at the Trades Club (Photo: Tee H)

That took us on to Watusi, the subject of the band’s forthcoming 20^th anniversary tour. In fact, I pointed out how I was listening to the album – one that met a mixed response from Weddoes fans, supposedly – while driving over the moors from Lancashire, and how it remains a bit of a favourite.

“Well, Watusi’s not actually been out before, as it got deleted fairly quickly first time around.

“It’s one of my favourite albums actually, but we left Island pretty soon afterwards, so they didn’t bother re-pressing it.”

Can you understand all this talk of that being your ‘Marmite’ album? I don’t get that – what’s not to love?

“Well, it did seem to alienate a lot of people …”

Maybe you were just ahead of your time in certain respects with that lo-fi Seattle underground sound.

“I just think a certain type of fan expects that high-velocity loud guitar, jangly, with Steve Albini distortion, and it’s obviously a long way from that.

“With some of the other albums they think. ‘I quite like that’, but with Watusi they just didn’t understand what we were doing, asking why there’s piano and acoustic guitars on it. I think really big fans like it, but …”

Is it just that you like Marmite, perhaps?

David laughs. “Yeah, I love Marmite!”

Either way, by the time of the Hebden Bridge gig, David was already filtering some of the songs from Watusi into his live set, in readiness for the autumn tour.

I go on to confess that I was singing along – way too loud – to Click Click on the way over.

“You see, I love that song! I’m not blowing my own trumpet but it’s a great idea to have that layered vocal. It just sounds great, and I get shivers down the spine when we do that.”

This whole LP anniversary malarkey has been going on a while, and it seems an age since the big countdown by the on-stage bunny for the George Best celebration gig, a big moment for me back in my days seeing you at the Hop & Grape in Manchester.

The Boy Gedge: David Gedge, live in Hebden Bridge, flanked by Charles Layton and Katharine Wallinger (Photo: Tee H)

Now you’re up to Watusi. Is there a danger of you being all anniversary’d out?

“Yeah. To be honest, I’m thinking … if we’re doing Watusi this year, then we’ll do Saturnalia next, but I’m not really sure if I want to go on to that at this point.

“We don’t want to be known as this band that plays their old albums all the time, even though I do actually like the concept.

“Half of me wants to do it, the other half wants to get away from all that.”

Where do you draw the line? Besides, there’s another big anniversary coming up next year –it being 30 years since Go Out and Get ‘Em Boy started The Wedding Present recording story.

“True. The longer you go, the more anniversaries there will be. And someone asked the other day what we’re going to do with the Cinerama anniversaries!”

On the band’s second night at Hebden Bridge, they were set to play the automobile-themed Mini album in full, the six-track release between Watusi and Saturnalia.

Has David ever thought of expanding that album with a few more car-related songs? Perhaps you could call it Maxi.

David laughs at this, but clearly it’s not on the cards.

“I did think I was stretching it a little with that. They’re not really car songs anyway, to be fair.”

Bass Instinct: Katharine Wallinger in action at the Trades Club (Photo: Tee H)

Its been another busy year for David, the Hebden Bridge gigs followed by appearances at Camp Bestival, his own curated festival in Brighton, At the Edge of the Sea, which started back in 2009, the re-release project, the Cinerama work, then November’s Watusi 20^th anniversary tour, with plenty more live dates. All go, eh?

“There is a little time off though. Well, when I say time off, that’s when we’re actually writing new songs, hopefully.”

Is there plenty of new material in the offing?

“Yeah, loads, but again it’s just finding the time. This was supposed to be a quiet year! We knew about the reissues but I thought we’d do that and a few festivals, then write lots of songs. But those gaps soon filled up with the Cinerama work.

“I can’t really blame anyone but myself. But I want to get back to writing songs again now.”

You’ve never really stood still over the years – maybe that’s why you’ve survived while so many other mid-’80s contemporaries fell by the wayside.

For example, rather than write George Best part two back in 1988 you came up with Bizarro, then moved on again with Seamonsters.

Then there was the Ukrainian project, the Cinerama albums, the year of hit singles, Watusi, Mini, and so on – all the way through to Valentina and beyond.

We never really know what we’re going to get next, but normally end up loving it all the same. Not bad for a band whose songs supposedly ‘all sound the same’.

“I think some people appreciate it but at the same time you do lose fans, and there’s a certain section of the audience who don’t want to change.

“I’ve compared it in the past to breakfast cereals, how if you buy Kellogg’s Corn Flakes you don’t expect them to taste like Weetabix.

“Possibly, we’d have become more commercially successful had we established a certain formula, like Oasis or REM. You knew what you were getting with them.

“But in the Wedding Present, we’ve always deliberately set out to change what we do – hence Cinerama, The Ukrainians, and all that.

“And once you’ve done an album one way, my personal feeling is ‘what else can we do?’ rather than ‘let’s do that again!’”

Similarly, we quickly realised it wasn’t just a case of the Weddoes for the lads, and Cinerama for the couples. The lines were increasingly blurred.

Sometimes I get the feeling both sets of songs would cross over fairly easily. And by the time of the third and fourth Cinerama albums, those guitars had definitely encroached!

“Well, again it was like a natural progression really. I started Cinerama on my own really and was trying to get away from the guitar really.

“But then my chief co-writer Simon Cleave came in and was a guitar player, and we shared that love of the twangy guitar.

“So in time it became more like The Wedding Present. I didn’t really plan it like that, but these things happen sometimes.”

You’ve always struck me as fiercely independent, someone who knows what he wants and won’t settle for second-best.

Not a bad philosophy in what appears to have become an increasingly cut-throat business. Is that why you’re still out there?

“Well, there are two ways of doing it. You either play the game a little bit more, something that might lead to more commercial success, or you can just be a bit more immune to all that.

“Everyone’s got to find their own comfort level. I’m quite happy with the success I’ve had, given that I know I’ve not been forced into doing anything, and not ruled by business people asking me to change this and that.”

Valentina Days: From the left – Pepe le Moko, David Gedge, Charles Layton, Graeme Ramsay (Photo: http://www.scopitones.co.uk/)

It soon became clear that this was your band, rather than a collective. Or at least that’s the perception.

“Well, you say that, but I don’t think it is really. I can see why people would think that, and I’m obviously the main songwriter and the person who gets interviewed, but it’s always been a bit more democratic than that.

“I’ve always said that the sound of The Wedding Present is the sound of the people in the band at that time. I think that’s one reason why we have changed over the albums, with totally different styles and influences.”

That said, it doesn’t seem to be a job for life, being in the Wedding Present … unless you’re David Gedge.

“Yeah … I suppose so. But that’s just the way it’s happened really.”

In Mark Hodkinson’s 1990 biography of the band, Thank Yer, Very Glad, there’s quite a bit about Shaun Charman’s sacking, the first of many departures over the years, and I guess perhaps the one that went down least well.

In fact, sometimes I get the feeling that you introducing a new band member on stage is part of your live set.

“It’s different every time really, because people come and go for different reasons. Some just decide they’ve had enough, some aren’t fitting in, some are missing being away from home, so it’s hard to generalise.

“With Shaun, it sounded like there was a lot of animosity but (a) we were a lot younger then, 20-somethings squabbling about stuff, and (b) Shaun’s one of my best friends now. He lives in Brighton, so of all the ex-band members he’s the one I see most of all.

“Sometimes it’s just not meant to be, and he would probably accept that now, even though he didn’t want to get kicked out of the band.”

‘You should always keep in touch with your friends’, as someone wise once said.

I haven’t got time to go through all those old members, but do you ever hear from fellow originals members Keith Gregory and Pete Solowka?

“Keith lives in Australia, so that makes it a bit difficult. But I don’t see any of them to be honest, apart from Shaun, but primarily because I’m not in the country much myself.

“Being in this career, if you like, it’s hard to maintain a social network, because you just don’t have the time.

“That’s one of the reasons people leave. At first they might think, ‘Great, I get to travel the world, play music and make records’. It’s exciting. But at the same time you can be away for nine months of the year.”

I was thinking back to those early days and your ‘Status Quo – 25 years in the business’ homage with Pete during Take Me, on the Bizarro tour. I hate to point it out, but you’re up to nearly 30 years in the business yourself now, aren’t you?

Ukrainian Days: TWP’s Eastern European rebirth, with Peter Solowka a central figure

“Well, funny you should say that, because another band member – Darren Belk – was at Sheffield last night, and he mentioned that.

“It was never a criticism of Status Quo though, but more of a celebration if it, albeit a jokey one. And now we’re in exactly the same position, the joke’s on me!”

A quick jot-up suggests 17 full members over the years plus the four of you currently involved. Then there’s Sally and the many others on the Cinerama side of the operation.

I always loved the ‘Bramley, Gateshead, Hassocks, Middleton’ logo in the early days. Ever wish you’d kept that up through all the line-ups? Maybe you could have created a graphic for the stage that flicks through all the permutations.

“That would be an interesting geographical tool … and a visual one.”

It would be very educational too. I could see people asking, ‘where the hell’s Hassocks?’

“It was interesting that some people actually thought we had offices in all those places! We’d have people getting in touch, saying, I’m actually quite close to your Hassocks office, and …”

All those line-up changes suggest this affable bloke we hear chatting between songs or to fans before and after gigs has a harder streak – are you a Gordon Ramsay character behind the scenes? Are you a secret tyrant?

“No.”

Are you still just a bit shy then?

“I think I’m that. I’m obviously the leader, but it’s definitely not a dictatorship, by any stretch of the imagination. And I’d be a bit stupid to try and insist on that.

“We definitely benefit from individuals coming in and changing the dynamics of the group, so I kind of thrive on that.

“I do feel like I’ve been in about six different bands over the years, and think that’s a good thing. I don’t want this to be The David Gedge Band.

“That was never my intention, even with Cinerama. That was obviously a solo project at first, and people said, ‘Just call it David Gedge’. But no, again I just wanted it to be a band and to have people involved, the way it went really.”

Have The Lost Pandas – the band featuring David and Keith that preceded the Weddoes – been found yet? I believe the other two members went to New York. Do you think there will be a time when you let the world hear those early recordings?

“I’ve not decided about that, because in some ways there’s a lot of interest from the fans. On the other hand, it’s not The Wedding Present.

“It’s me learning how to be in a band, really. I’m not sure the standard’s too great, but I think one day I should go back and get all the tapes out and see if there’s enough musical value in it.”

The story of The Lost Pandas is also covered in the comic David’s working on, another of his many side-lines. Is that the closest he’ll get to an autobiography?

“Well, that’s my plan, because I don’t really want to do an autobiography. To me, that seems a little bit pompous. Who wants to read about my life?

“At the same time, I’m a massive comic book fan and really enjoy that aspect. It’s not biographical so much as little stories covering the history, and just seems more appropriate to me for some reason.

“Don’t get me wrong, if some publisher offers me a million pounds, I’d probably write an autobiography! But I’m not planning to.”

First Footing: The debut release from The Wedding Present, from 1986

It’s odd to think that your old friend and broadcasting hero John Peel would have been 75 at the end of August. In that Mark Hodkinson book you said you quite liked the idea of replacing him on the nation’s airwaves one day. There’s been a fair bit of DJ-ing for you since. Still fancy the job?

“I think I’d definitely be interested in doing that, but again it’s just time. There’s a radio station in Brighton where I’ve been told, ‘Anytime you want a show, come and do it down here, and we’ll sort it out.’”

There seem to be a lot more internet shows as well now, broadcasting from America or to America and the world over.

“Well that’s it, you can do a little radio show on a small station in Brighton and get thousands of listeners across the world, which in some ways I’d love to do.

“At the same time I know if I did do it, I’d want to do it really well, and an hour show would take at least a day a week to prepare, choose my music, make sure it works, and so on.

“That would just detract from all the other things I do. I’ve bitten off more than I can chew, really. If I was three people I could do all these things, but it’s just kind of juggling stuff really.”

It’s now been almost 10 years since John’s passing, with quite a few commemorative gigs based around that in recent times. Then there are the C86 anniversary events and recent expanded CD reissue. There’s certainly a taste for indie nostalgia at present.

“I’ve never actually done any of those events. It’s always something where we’ve been invited to play but have always been unavailable because of other commitments.

“But the C86 project was an interesting celebration, not least as it was said it was marking a scene that wasn’t really a scene. I can see that in a way.”

Then there was the BBC Big Band Celebration project in 2001, and what with that, the annual At the Edge of the Sea festivals, the Scopitones label and other releases, the DJ-ing, the comic book biographies, and the two bands on the go, you remain a busy man. Does that just keep it all fresh for you?

“It’s not so much that as the fact that I just have all these ideas, and like to see them all to fruition!”

At this point the support band start sound-checking and we can hardly hear each other, but I just add one more question. On behalf of my friend Collette, an ex-Gedge gig regular along with her hubby Jon – a fellow frequent flyer in our Hop and Grape era – I ask David ‘whether he’s EVER been lucky in love’.

“Of course I have! It’s not all doom and gloom!”

I thought that might be the case, but suggested that if he’d poured all those positive moments into his songs The Wedding Present might have sounded more like The Lighthouse Family instead.

David laughs at this, albeit over the sound of The Treated bass player, Stephanie, testing her levels.

But who knows, maybe he’ll reflect on that, and the Weddoes will incorporate Lifted in their set pretty soon. I think Radio 2’s Ken Bruce might appreciate that. And who knows, maybe the subsequent airplay will open up a whole new market.

If you missed it first time around, there’s a review of The Wedding Present at Hebden Bridge Trades Club on this blog, with a link here.

For more about the Edsel Records deluxe version repackaging of classic TWP material, and the very latest from the world of David Gedge, head to the Scopitones website here.

Further details of the Watusi anniversary tour in November – preceded by a live Marc Riley session for BBC Radio 6 and including dates in England, Scotland, Ireland, Belgium and France – can be found on the same website.

* With thanks to David Gedge for his time, Mal Campbell at the Hebden Bridge Trades Club, Mike Middleton for acting as my Happy Valley go-between, and Tee H for the Trades Club live pics. Much obliged.

Posted in Music | Tagged Brighton, Cinerama, David Gedge, Edsel Records, George Best, Hebden Bridge, John Peel, Keith Gregory, Pete Salowka, Shaun Charman, The Wedding Present, Watusi, Yorkshire | 11 Comments

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