Tag Archives: The Jam

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

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

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

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

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Celebrating Slade’s ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’, 50 years on

I was barely six years old when ‘Merry Xmas Everybody’ became Slade’s third single of 1973 to go straight in at the top of the UK charts. But I have vague memories from around then, and the Radio Times listings … Continue reading

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Daylight turns to moonlight – the Mick Talbot interview

Mick Talbot was at home when I called, ‘learning stuff, swotting up on homework.’ And four decades after truly making his name with Paul Weller in The Style Council, he tells me he still has ‘various things going on, no … Continue reading

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Looking back on The Jam, 1982 and all that – back in conversation with Rick Buckler

This time 40 years ago, Rick Buckler must have been wondering just what was next, Christmas and New Year behind him, the ultra-successful group that had been his life for the past decade disbanded, his future uncertain. But as the … Continue reading

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A Man You Don’t Meet Every Day – talking A Furious Devotion: The Authorised Story of Shane MacGowan with Richard Balls

After acclaimed music books on Ian Dury and Stiff Records, you could argue it was almost inevitable that established rock biographer Richard Balls would turn his attention to Pogues frontman and somehow living legend Shane MacGowan next. But there was … Continue reading

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Stone Foundation / Steve Brookes – Guildford Boileroom

We’ve clearly still got some way to go with this bastard virus, and I’m not likely to go easy on preventative measures as we look for a continued safe return to the joy of live music and all that. But … Continue reading

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From George Abbot and Godalming College to the Marquee and the Whisky a Go Go – in conversation with Howard Smith

Howard Smith was just back from a family holiday in Suffolk when I called, setting up his children with a Disney classic before chatting about his own golden era. In his case that involved a comparatively short but incident-packed period … Continue reading

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Evoking the spirit of early Uriah Heep – a tribute to Ken Hensley

So many times I’ll put a record on and be transported back to specific times and places, that ability and chance to reflect involving many a genre, many a style of music, many an evocative memory. And while there was … Continue reading

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How we got there – talking Together with The Vapors’ Dave Fenton

Four decades to the week of the release of their debut LP, The Vapors delivered a new album, and it’s one that proved beyond doubt the staying power of a band that were always about so much more than one … Continue reading

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