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'Beach Boy' Brian Wilson returns to EMI!

20/05/2008

One of the troubled geniuses of sixties rock n pop, Brian Wilson yesterday announced a return to EMI, the label he first called home. When 65-year-old Wilson made the announcement, EMI probably breathed a huge sigh of relief, before muttering: “God only knows what I’d be without you”. For times have been pretty bad for a label that once claimed the likes of The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, and of course the Beach Boys on their roster. Recently, EMI have been dogged by falling CD sales and financial problems, due largely to the online download privacy boom – sparking rumours that Wilson could be the labels ‘Knight in Shining Armour’. Singer and composer Wilson will be releasing the first album since his return, ‘That Lucky Old Sun’, in September. EMI have described it as a “musical love letter from Southern California”, with the music interspersed with the spoken word. The Beach Boys released their first smash-hit, Surfin’ Safari, under EMI1, who yesterday dubbed Wilson's return a “triumphant homecoming”. We second that.


tags: \| brian wilson \| emi \| more...

Wax:On Live cancelled due to credit crunch!

20/05/2008

According to a statement released this morning, club night Wax:On’s first large-scale festival, due to take place in Leeds on May 31st, has been cancelled. Bands including Primal Scream and Late of the Pier were set to play at Wax:On Live, alongside over 50 acts and DJs. The six separate arenas on the site of historical country manor, Lotherton Hall, were due to due to be hosted by different club nights and record labels. According to this mornings statement, the one-day festival fell victim not to poor ticket sales or a lack of support, but the credit crunch that has hit the UK. "On forming the company there were two streams of investment scheduled in order to ensure the event was viable in year one," event promoter Dan Blackledge explained. "This morning we have been informed that due to circumstances in the global financial market place and its knock on effect, the event has become unsustainable." "We send out most sincere apologies to all of you that have bought tickets. We threw everything we had at the event to try and make it go ahead and we're really disappointed we couldn't see it through.'' Wax:On have instructed all ticket agents to give full refunds to all ticket holders. Rest assured, the Wax:On club nights will continue to rock the cities of Leeds, Newcastle and Brighton. For more details of upcoming Wax:On nights visit www.waxonuk.com


tags: \| wax:on live \| more...

Adele and Sam Sparro among new acts for T4 On The Beach!

19/05/2008

And so we continue our coverage of T4 On The Beach, taking place this July in Weston-super-Mare; home to such delights as The Helicopter Museum and the Weston Miniature Railway. Of course, this being T4 On The Beach, Weston-super-Mare is also one of the countries best-loved spots for sunny beaches; well, at least when the sun is out - which we pray it will be when the annual music event takes place. Time to cut to the chase. Joining the likes of The Hoosiers, Lightspeed Champion, Scouting For Girls, Robyn, and The Feeling, will be Brit Award winning soulstress (sic) Adele, Indie boys the Pigeon Detectives, Sam Sparro and… McFly! WOOPEE! Over thirty acts will perform at the event, taking place on Sunday 20th July and broadcast live on Channel 4’s T4. As usual, the likes of Welsh lothario Steve Jones, the stunning Alexa Chung, and the awesome Miquita Oliver will present the festivities – with tickets for this years T4 On The Beach selling at a record rate. To purchase a ticket (priced at £30) and for further announcements, visit the T4 website .


tags: \| t4 on the beach \| more...

New Oasis album set for Autumn release!

19/05/2008

Suagababes and The Feeling to play Vodafone TBA!

16/05/2008

Brand new festival heading to the South-West!

15/05/2008

Straight 8 films to be premiered on Channel 4! Next week!

15/05/2008

competition

Win a pair of tickets to 'Wild in the Country' festival!

Win an e-ticket for you and two mates to Vodafone TBA!

Notion magazine

albums


		The Hungry Saw 13/05/2008 Indie

		Fallin' Off the Reel 2 21/04/2008 Funk and Soul

		We Made This Ourselves 16/04/2008 Folk

		Antidotes 16/04/2008 Dance Punk

features


		When Dangerous Dave met The Black Lips 08/05/2008 Alas, the pen is a dangerous tool; a tool with great ability - and not just if jabbed into the retina with such force that pus spews forth, like liquid from the tested needle of a junky. No, the pen has the ability to produce information for us to see and learn, albeit without an ink-stamped Guarantee. Ah, how one takes the pen’s work as a given, eyes scanning data like a puppy-dog drooling beneath a dinner table - ever eager to sink it’s teeth into yet another juicy scrap of meat. Mmm... Many stories have been written about self-professed ‘Flower Punk’ (“we came up with that to stop the media trying to label us”) Atlanta four-piece The Black Lips, and yes, a lot of it is probably true. The pissing on stage, the vomiting, the nudity and male on male bonding RE: a tongue jammed down the throat, cannot be disputed. Nor their mad-cap live album Los Valientes del Mundo Nuevo shot in location in Tijuana, Mexico, where money buys momentary peace from the authorities, drug wars are rife and pimps, prostitutes and thieves walk the streets and seedy back-alleys like wolves on a midnight prowl. Ah, the pen can reveal such exciting truths; but it can also distort the subconscious of the reader. Sometimes one has to dig deeper, like a dog with a bone, to reveal the changing of the guard or the facts behind the facts. In this interview The Black Lips reveal that how they're perceived may be true, but there's far more to them than mere debauchery. They're a band with the same energy live on stage that they showed when pissing in each others mouths, and they still evidently have fond memories of the hedonistic Tijuana but… well, they've matured somewhat. The Black Lips history, their struggle to get signed to a major label and the hard rigours that led to its eventuality, have given them a deeper respect for their music - all too apparent on their last album Good Bad Not Evil. A modern masterpiece; no doubt. Alas, this isn’t merely an interview with bass-guitarist Jared Swilley and drummer Joe Bradley, it’s a morality tale in the vein of: “If at first you don’t succeed, keep fucking trying”… PN: Okay lads, we’ll start with the new single, Bad Kids; I heard through the grapevine that it was inspired by your time in detention centres. Any truth to this or was it inspired by something else? Jared: I think just for getting in trouble as kids - just crap, a lot of vandalism. I mean, I actually had to go to a detention centre but it’s not actually about being in a detention centre. We all hung out together in school and destroyed a lot of things; got drunk a lot. We did pretty good… Well, I guess I didn’t do so good in the end because I got caught, but we had a good run. I’d had a bad week, I got kicked out of school and got arrested a couple of times. PN: What about the other track, Leroy Faster, is it based on any experiences or… Jared: I think its just nonsense that song… Joe: Might be about a crack head who got hold of the wrong stuff. Jared: Yeah I think it’s about a crack head. Joe: There’s a lot of crack in Atlanta. Lots of crack heads too. PN: So what was it like growing up in Atlanta, other than there being shit loads of crack heads; was growing up there an inspiration to your music? Jared: Well we grew-up in a little suburb, so I’d imagine growing up in the city would have been a lot different. I enjoyed where we grew-up because there was a lot of like-minded kids… Joe: Locked up for break… Jared: I think it was maybe an inspiration to our music - cos there was just nothing else to do. I think bands from the suburbs tend to make better music than kids that grew-up in the cities. PN: Your live shows have gained notoriety for being debauched affairs, pissing in each others mouths and the like. When did you first start causing such onstage madness and what inspired you to start doing it? Jared: That was in the very early days when we were still teenagers - like a lot of that stuff doesn’t happen anymore. I mean the shows are still crazy and energetic but mostly it was just, um, being immature and not knowing how to play our instruments - I think that was it. PN: So would you say that you’ve done a lot of growing up? That you’ve matured as band? Joe: A little bit, yeah, well we would hope so… Jared: Not too much! But, um, I don’t know why we did that stuff. I think it was, you know, punk-rock - that’s what you’re supposed to do, so… We were really into The Germs and stuff like that and they were a big influence. We still have the energy we’re just not as dopey anymore. We didn’t want the antics to get in the way of the music. PN: ‘Good Bad Not Evil’ is an extremely diverse album - the way a lot of The Stones albums were in the 60s… Joe: You don’t want to constrict yourself to one type of music; you really disable your career with your ability to evolve as a band. Plus, you get bored if you play the same music all the time - it gets really boring, so we always like to explore new things. Jared: We have a lot of different influences and stuff so they all kind of creep up along the line, you know? PN: Sure… Okay, what’s the story behind the live chicken on stage (Siren Festival), was that some kind of fucked up voodoo ritual or… Jared: (laughs) It was mostly just because… Sometimes at festivals it’s hard to, you know - you’re like a tiny speck to most people, so we got our friend to build this air canon. And it was mostly just an excuse to shoot out tons and tons of feathers but it was supposed to look like we’d put a chicken in a canon and exploded it. The chicken was fine, we used food stamps to buy it at a Puerto-Rican market. The chicken was fine. We set it free in McGolrick Park in Brooklyn; someone probably killed it and ate it. It was just a pretty cool thing to have tons of feathers, like - snowing down! It looked pretty cool. PN: What about Tijuana in Mexico (The Black Lips recorded live album Los Valientes del Mundo Nuevo there), that must have been a pretty cool, debauched affair. What was it like playing there and what sort of things did you get up to? Joe: It was cool because, like - over half of the audience were - like, Mexican kids; and we played with this awesome band who came down there. It was a really dangerous place; you had to worry about the people as well as the police - probably the police more. Jared: The police are the most dangerous thing. It’s not such a great place to play shows; we had a good show just because the circumstances were right, but it can go really wrong down there as far as getting robbed or - getting arrested is the worst because they’ll arrest you for anything. We gave everyone eighty bucks in cash when we went down because that’s the going rate for a bribe. PN: Shit. That sounds like Columbia! Jared: Well, just a couple of days ago there was a battle on the street - the street we played on down there - like a big gun battle between local drug gangs. Like, all down the street there was a high-speed chase with people shooting from car to car and, like - thirteen people died. It was pretty hairy down there. The drug wars are getting bad along the border. We had a couple of things stolen and our tour manager got shaken down for eight-hundred bucks, but that’s kind of mild compared to what could have happened. You get stopped a lot - you’d be insane to take your car there; actually some people did but you had to pay someone to guard it - a lot! But we walked over there and on the way back I got stopped, like - three of four separate times. They’ll take everything out of your pockets, take your money, smell your fingers to see if you’ve been smoking joints. When you walk down the streets they’re selling prostitutes and they’ve got, like - sticks in their hands and they jab you in the side… Joe: Like that (makes jabbing motions) ‘CH-CH-CH-CH’ when you walk by… Jared: And we tried to take a picture of them right then and they started blowing all these whistles and waving flags and stuff, and all the prostitutes ran inside and all these guys were blowing whistles to try and distract you. PN: I guess you didn’t have a lot of luck with the Tijuana women then? Jared: No… Joe: You really don’t want to… Jared: It’s pretty much the most hedonistic city. It’s kind of cool that it’s still there because, I mean, San Diego’s just like an affluent Californian, Southern City town, and within a two minute walk you go straight into dirt-ball country. It’s kind of creepy to see middle-aged white men walking round alone there because you know they’re doing horrible things. It’s like a poor mans South-East Asia, I guess… for Americans. PN: So when did you first develop an interest in music? Was there a standout moment of clarity when you realised ‘this is what I want to do?’ Joe: My Mum was real musical in the church so she got me into the choir and shit when I was like, five… Jared: I was kind of the same. My Dad was a musician and I sang in church when I was a kid. But it was mostly, you know - your Beatles and stuff? And knowing about punk bands when I was real small I kind of wanted to be in a band. It was like skateboarding sure got me into it a lot because I’d skate with older kids and they got me into ‘Black Flag’ and stuff like that so… I mean, I really loved punk-rock and ‘Black Flag’ and stuff, but I was really into The Beatles and The Stones so it’s kind of a merger… PN: If I hadn’t been a journalist I’d probably still be working fruit and veg in a supermarket. What would you have done if you hadn’t done music? Joe: Engineering. Jared: I’d probably be either a garbage man or in the army. PN: Back to the live stuff, do you have any pre-stage rituals, touching a cross or going for a massive shit, or do you just get pissed before you head on stage? Joe: We slap our faces and warm-up our voices. Jared: I like to take a shot of whiskey. But we don’t really have any - I don’t know… Some bands pray. Joe: Yeah, or huddle and touch each-others butts. We’re not into that; we just go out there and do it. PN: Some writers, particularly the likes of Ginsberg and Hunter S. Thompson, have been described as outlaw writers. Some people might describe your music as outlaw music, would you agree with that? Jared: I’d agree with that mentality as far as there are a lot of bands around who are cowardly and safe and I don’t think anything artistic should be safe at all. Joe: People conform to too many norms… Normally. Jared: I don’t know - not doing what everyone else is doing and not being afraid to take risks. Joe: Not being a pussy… Jared: Yeah not being a vagina about having to be on the road all the time. Joe: Too many people are waiting for people to lead them in a certain direction and that’s just not the way you’re supposed to do things, you’ve got to find your own way. Jared: Yeah, I get real bent out of shape about a lot of these bands – they put a song on MySpace and they’re huge and they’ve never struggled or had to do anything; it‘s just kind of happened… Joe: How are they supposed to appreciate all that they’ve had when they’ve done nothing to earn it? PN: Sure. I totally agree man. But those bands are mainstream, you know? Don’t you think the mainstream’s an important thing to break into? Joe: No, that’s not true. Jared: Yeah, I like the mainstream. I mean, like - The Beatles were the biggest band in the world but they put in their time in Hamburg and slogging it out in like strip-clubs and stuff like that, so I admire that. But I don’t admire stuff that - if you don’t work for stuff… There’s nothing wrong with being on a major label. You know, maybe if they’re really good they deserve it, but there’s something that bothers me about it. Joe: It’s not them doing the hard work it’s someone else paying someone else to do the hard work for them, and that’s just not something we admire. PN: I guess it makes you stronger as band to go through the shit-run to success, right? To have to slog it out… Jared: Yeah, I mean we had to deal with four years of homelessness and poverty. Joe: Eating out of trash cans and stuff like that… Jared: And more. It just recently got more comfortable. I mean recently we’ve been able to eat and stay in hotels and pay our rent and stuff like that. PN: Man, I guess at that stage you carried on going just for the love of the music? Joe: Yeah. Homeless shelters - I mean basically they were the only thing keeping us going. We didn’t have homes to go back to or like - food to go back to so the only thing we could do is find some way of like - getting to the next show and play it… Get closer to getting home. Sheer determination! Jared: Yeah, sheer determination. And I knew if I went home I’d just be washing dishes and stuff like that. A lot of people would have quit a long time ago. PN: And it’s paid off! I mean you were on the Conan O’Brian show for Christ sake. I read, and I don’t know whether it’s true, that when you were on the show there wasn’t a single crime committed in New York. Jared: (laughs) I never heard that before; that’s awesome. Joe: A ridiculous statistic. Jared: It’s slightly crazy. I think New York’s pretty tame now. It’s pretty safe there; it’s a lot safer in New York than anywhere else. PN: Do you think you have to have some form of rebellion to make good music… Joe: Not necessarily. It doesn’t hurt though. It usually comes down to, like, when things are bad the music’s good and when things are good the music’s bad. Like when Bill Clinton was president, like, that’s when we had all the Backstreet Boys and N-Sync and all that crap; and then when things started going bad, you know, the music got better. Not always at a constant, but that’s normally how it works. Jared: I definitely think that there needs to be some rebellion in good music. I mean, even straight-laced guys - the people who make straight-lace music that my parents like, are fucked-up… Buddy Holly was a total fuck-up! Joe: Yeah, but at the same time in the 80s you had the Yuppie culture come in and that was a rebellion to everything before, like it goes both ways, you know? But you definitely need some kind of something. PN: Okay, so on the theme of rebellion, what about drugs and music? They were synonymous in the 60s - kind of went together hand in hand, to some extent. Do you think they can help with the song-writing process? Joe: It’s more about the perspective. Drugs change your perspective, you know… Jared: I think they could; I don’t necessarily think they have to. I think the only reason they’re synonymous with it is because the type of person who’s usually a musician has that kind of lifestyle – it’s what they’re around all the time. But, I mean - I’ve written good songs drunk before, so… But I think with some characters it probably helps them. I think some people with, like, predispositions to take drugs are probably pre-destined to do something like music or write or paint or something like that. Joe: Yeah, but doing drugs doesn’t necessarily always mean you’re gonna make good music. Jared: Yeah, I think cocaine makes really bad music. Joe: Yeah, unless you’re doing hip-hop. PN: What about the ‘Flower-Punk’ tag that you’ve been categorized into. Was it your idea for your music to be known as ‘Flower-Punk’ or was it a media creation? Joe: We came up with that to combat the media trying to put all types of labels on us. We got called, like, 'garage, rockabilly, punk' or something. They’d gone too far. They love to have a definition of some sort so we just came up with a definition of our own so people would stop keep trying to make up stuff. Jared: I think rock n roll’s a good enough description most of the time. But you know you don’t have to put a label on it, you don’t have to describe it. Some people do it better than others but we just kind of say it as a joke. I think there are probably other ‘Flower Punk’ bands out there now. PN: What about the track ‘How Do You Tell A Child That…’ [A thin guy in a scruffy suit two sizes too big - and a tasteless tie, probably early to mid forties, thin grey hair and a moustache like Graeme Souness circa 1980 - approaches the table with a look of lo-fi excitement strewn across his face] Guy: Are you guys playing tonight? Jared: No, no… Guy: Um, are you in a band? Jared: Yes… Guy: Um, and you’re Kula Shaker? Jared: Yeah… Guy: Come on - what’s the name of your band? Jared: The Black Lips. Guy: What? Jared: The Black Lips… Guy: Um, who? Jared: The Black Lips! Guy: The Black Lips ? Oh… Do you know Kula Shaker? Jared: No. Guy: Oh, well apparently… You know Drink Tea? Well Kula Shaker, um, they covered that. Yeah, Drink Tea, they did that. And, um, they… They had big ‘taches so I just thought… I just thought… PN: Yeah? Man, that’s great, but we’re kind of doing an interview here so… Guy: One of them, um, one of the really great songs had an Indian theme. Yes… Um, which is apparently something to do with King Arthur… [The guy walks over to the bar and takes a seat, smiling at us every now and again as he necks pint after pint after pint. He later asks a sexy blonde if he can take her photograph on his mobile phone - “You look like a model, are you a model” - to which she gives a look of genuine distain] PN: Right. The track ‘How Do You Tell A Child That Someone Has Died’ from Good Bad Not Evil - was that in anyway based on the loss of Ben (Eberbaugh, original band member killed when a drink driver going the wrong way collided with the car he was driving)? Jared: Well, no, no. It’s just about the death of everyone really. I mean, I guess if you put it into… It was mostly an ode to these old trucker sounds - an old genre of country called trucker country; and it was just, like - ballads where they talk over the music. And all of them were like, so heart-retching and depressing but like, so comical. PN: I mean, the only reason I ask is because there’s a section of the song that refers to someone getting killed by a drunk driver ( The teacher you loved Mr. Peterson / Has sadly passed away / He was killed by a motorist in a drunken act of rage )… Jared: Oh yeah! I mean, Cole wrote that and I don’t know whether that was his intentions but we’ve told people that maybe it could be. But it’s just about… We had a load of friends that died, maybe that was… But it’s kind of like a tongue in cheek song. We like to mix black and white together so it’s supposed to be, like, kind of sad but funny at the same time. Joe: I mean it sounds kind of happy, but then the contents are like, really dark, you know? Kind of like black comedy. Black comedy meets white on white crime. PN: I guess not all of your tracks are related to reality then? So how do you come up with songs that come from the subconscious? What’s the song writing process? Joe: We’ll just write songs and then come together in the studio and just show ‘em to each other. Jared: I’ve just written a song. I had just a few minutes to write the lyrics while we were in the studio so I just went through ‘The Song of Solomon’ from the Old Testament and just picked up random sentences from that. I’ve used that ‘Might is Right’ book to pick out, like, brutal things from that. Joe: I’ve got one song I’m writing. I got some lyrics, some words, from a Conservative ‘Right Wing’ talk radio show host. He had some really good one-liners like: “The Violence in Europe is oozing like the pus from a broken scab.” That was a good one. You’ve got to get it where you can. PN: Woah! This morning I read a story about Uma Thurman getting stalked by a fan. Maybe he was a maniac, who knows? Have you had any weird letters, turds in the post, or fans that follow you about in a weird fucking way? Jared: We’ve got some creepy fans. We’ve got a lot of kids who follow us around. Most of them are nice - you know, they’re just not, like, creepy. But we’ve definitely had some people that creep me out that I avoid. If I know they’re gonna be there I’ll hide! Joe: Yeah, they creep you out, you know? You’ll be standing there, you’ll start to shiver, you feel a chill up and down your spine, you’ll turn around and the person’s just standing there. Just like that... Jared: It hasn’t been so much any more, but we used to have like, old men following us around. Lately it’s been nicer because it’s just like, teenage girls, and that’s harmless. I’ve had kids say things to me that scare me; we have these like, crazy teenage boys, and I was sort of like that at their age - but they say really depraved things and they think we’re crazy and stuff like that. That freaks me out. I don’t wanna like, make some kid shoot himself or do heroin and stuff. Some kid thanked me the other day - saying he dropped acid for the first time and he was saying like, “Thank you, I dropped acid for the first time because of you.” I don’t know how I feel about that… I don’t feel too good about that… PN: You can’t blame yourself for that shit though. So how do you chill-out away from all that crap – away from the music? Jared: When I’m at home I play tennis or I BBQ. Yeah - tennis and BBQ. I’m not as good as John McEnroe - I’m not as angry as John McEnroe. I wanna start playing golf more to; I think that’d be really relaxing. But we never have time at home; when I’m at home I’ll be working on other music projects. Joe: Yeah, that’s usually the way it is. I’ll do some yard work; it feels nice doing a bit of work on your yard. Jared: I take online Spanish classes but I’ve been really slacking on it... Joe: Normally when I get home I gotta clean up my house because my room mates are kind of messy. I like to get it nice and clean so I can relax. I’ve got three room mates, it’s the only way I can like, afford to be on tour. It’s a nice house but you’ve gotta find some ways to cut corners. Jared: I share an apartment with my girlfriend so we split it. PN: Any amusing stories from your recent tour? Jared: I’m trying to think of anything funny happening. The tour we just got back from was pretty uneventful as far as… PN: I guess that’s what you were saying about growing up a bit, right? Joe: Well normally on our tours we have more time but on these last European tours all our drives were like, eight or ten hours between shows; we tried to party but then we’d have to get up at like eight-thirty in the morning so we couldn’t really hang-out and have as many funny times as usual. PN: Finally, what about a new album, any plans or details you can reveal? Jared: Yeah, we’re taking the majority of the summer off to record a new album; we have to find out where we’re recording it though. PN: Any song ideas at the moment or any that you’ve already got? Jared: I think everyone has ideas. I kind of like it when it just kind of flies by and you go in there without really knowing what to do and… Joe: It keeps things fresh. If you play the same song over and over again and then try and record them you usually find that they’re normally pretty stale… Jared: The way we did our third album I really enjoyed - the one before, Good Bad Not Evil, because a lot of that was written that week. Like - we just came up with a lot of stuff right before it. And I don’t know about the rest of the guys but I tend to work better under pressure, like, when you have to do something. If I’m sitting around with a guitar all day and it’s like, “Oh, I have to write a song” then I probably won’t, but if it comes down to the wire then I’m better at doing that. Joe: I think everyone works better under pressure… Well not everyone. Highly strung people don’t work well under pressure. If you have a deadline to meet it depends on how determined you are. If you have determination then you’ll work harder and work better towards your goal. Words: Dangerous Dave! Photograph of Jared, Joe, and Dangerous courtesy of the Kula Shaker fanatic! Bad Kids is released on Vice Records on May 12th. Check out the Black Lips MySpace page!


		Sugar Blue: A true harp hero! 15/04/2008 There’s no business like show business, you often hear them say: “Its so glitz and so damn glam”. The thing with the showbiz game is that we tend to skim over the surface; we don’t look beyond the bright white veneers, diamond rings, jet black hair, personal number plates, poodles with designer jackets, champagne breakfasts and white fur coats. I’m certain it’s a mask; a front to preserve the public image of perfect mother, sister, husband, brother, presenter, actor, actress, fucker. Music’s the same; we’ve got a tendency to ignore so many aspects of music and song. A tendency to hear what we want to hear. It’s like we don’t want to get our hands dirty and dig deeper; to find out who’s responsible for that piano intro or harmonica solo because whoever it is bares no relevance to us. Who cares? The old English spirit of caring died when people started singing about drive-by killings and gang war with the same relish Sir Cliff sang about Summer Holidays. One such guy, a guy you’ve probably heard but haven’t heard of, an amusing, engaging and humble New Yorker - rated as the greatest harmonica player by legends in the business - is Sugar Blue. He’s a master of his art and a guy you really should be aware of. Sugar’s played with everyone from Fats Domino to Frank Zappa, Bob Dylan to Ray Charles, the Rolling Stones to Buddy Guy, and he talks about such encounters in this very interview. I caught up with Sugar on a rare London visit as part of his Code Blue album tour. We sat in a small, cramped dressing room as I sucked on a Stella and Sugar reminisced on his career, the state of the music business and learning to master his art… When did you first start playing the harmonica and what attracted you to the instrument? Well I started playing harmonica when I was about, I dunno, fifteen or sixteen years old. My introduction to the instrument was through my aunt, who bought me one, and then my mother took me to see little Stevie Wonder who was about eleven or twelve at the time, and that was it. I was like: “Wow, I can do this.” I started playing around with Dylan records and The Rolling Stones came along and I was playing along with that. There was a Stones record; I think it was… What was the name of that record? Decembers Children! They did a Muddy Waters song and I heard that and I went to check out the author of the song and when I found out the author was McKinley Morganfield, Muddy Waters, I went and picked up some of his music at the library. And I heard Little Walter on the harmonica and that was it; I knew that I WANTED TO DO THAT! How did you learn the harmonica though, it’s a pretty tough instrument to master, right? You know - all instruments have a certain degree of difficulty when it comes to the technicality of learning to make the instrument speak. Harmonica is particularly difficult because you can’t see what’s happening while it’s being played; you know? You see two hands in front of the face and that’s all you see. On the inside of every harmonica, at least back in those days, there used to be a little piece of paper that showed you the technique that was required. I looked at that little piece of paper and ignored it [laughs] much to my chagrin. Because about ten years later a guy told me, Bill Dicey, a great harmonica player from New York City said: “If you want to sound like Little Walter and Sonny Boy Williamson, you know that little piece of paper in there? That’s the way they do it” [laughs]. So I had to start all over again from scratch, okay? I thought I really was good, you know, and then I had to go back to square one. But, I’m glad I did. It’s not a difficult instrument. But like any other instrument does it requires love and dedication. You know; I mean the same thing your girlfriend wants: Love and dedication, man! [Much laughter] When did you first start playing to an audience? Other than relatives obviously… I started playing in Central Park, you know? They used to call them ‘be-ins’; there’d be huge gatherings of people - everybody playing an instrument. Nobody gave a damn how good or how bad you played, everybody just got together; it was like a communal thing, you know? People bought bongos and percussion instruments and guitars and jaw-harps - those things that go ‘boing-boing-boing-boing!’ We’d start playing at like, ten or twelve in the afternoon, and it would go on way after sunset. This was the 60s, okay? I never thought about practicing, I didn’t think of it as practicing or working, I just thought: “I wanna be able to hit that note, sound better and sound good with the guys and stuff”. When all the hippies disappeared I was just like: “GEE-WHIZZ, I WAS JUST STARTING TO HAVE FUN! WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PARTY?” [Laughter] [Laughing] Yeah man, good times… Yeah! So, I ran into some guys that were still playing and some old blues cats like Charles Walker, and they said: “Well why don’t you come down and play with us?” And they were playing at a little blues club, well it wasn’t necessarily a blues club, it was a place called the Fat Black Pussycat where Jimi Hendrix used to play. So I started working with them and I think that was the first time I played in front of an audience. It was fun, we had good times, I think I made about ten bucks and I said: “What? That’s the most enjoyable ten dollars I’ve ever made!” Then I started listening to a lot of Sonny Boy Williamson and reading about the history of blues guys on the road. And I said: “Well, hey; these boys used to just set-up on the street corner and play, why can’t we do that?” So we started doing that and suddenly I started making like, two, three, four-hundred bucks a day - on a really great day we could pull in five or six-hundred bucks! I was like - “Shit!” That was a lot of money back in 1971-72. It I’d work all summer long, save money, and chill! In a Stones book I read there’s a quote by Ronnie Woods claiming you were discovered playing on the streets of France by either Mick or Keith and they were so impressed they took you on for the ‘Some Girls’ album… Is there any truth to that? Well I’ll tell you what, if Woody said it, Woody don’t lie! Woody… That’s my boy, you know? I LOVE RONNIE WOOD AND I DON’T CARE WHO KNOWS IT! [Laughs] That’s my boy - he’s a good guy man a real good guy. Sweet guy, great guitar player - plays a hell of a good harmonica by the way! I really enjoyed the time that I spent with those guys; it was a real trip… Ronnie also compared the way you play harmonica to snapping a guitar neck in half and playing both halves separately… [Sugar laughs]… I mean, to play harmonica, and get that range of sound out of it, you usually need more than one harmonica. Where did you learn to create such a range of sound with just the one harmonica? Well I’ll tell you the truth man, I listened to the old guys. People like Big Walter, Sonny Boy Williamson, Little Walter and Jimmy Wells. Man they were making all that noise back before amplifiers, okay? They were raising pure hell with a harmonica. When I heard what Big Walter could do with a harmonica, just plain and simple in his hands - in your face, I was… What’s the word you guys say? Gob-smacked!? I was flabbergasted; I couldn’t believe it, you know? I mean such powerful sounds, so much volume and such a beautiful tone. These guys were doing that long before I even thought about it. I’ve just tried to continue in the footsteps that they already laid and add my little bit to it. How did it feel though, to be invited to play on the ’Some Girls’ album? At the time the Stones were - in fact they probably still are, the biggest band ever… Well I’ll tell you man, I kept almost running into Mick Jagger in New York for years. I would play a gig and he would show-up an hour after we left; and this happened about three or four different times. I said: “Somewhere or sometime or another I’m gonna play with these guys, because all of these almost meetings means that something’s going to happen in the future.” When it happened I was like: “YYEEESSS!” [Much laughter] Getting the work with them was really a gas man; I had a lot of fun. A “gas, gas, gas.” [Sugar laughs] Were you surprised by the success of the album - and the single as well? ‘Miss You’ reached number one in… ‘Miss You’ was number one worldwide! It was the top man. It was… How do you say it? It was the TOP OF THE POPS! [Laughs] I mean I thought it was a great song when we cut-it. I said: “Man, this is jamming, this is the best thing.” For me it was the best thing on the record. I said: “Well this shit could do well.” I had no idea that it would do as well as it did; I don’t think they did either. [Laughter] The Stones went in a completely different direction with ‘Miss You’ than I think they ever had before. It’s certainly more disco oriented than… Yeah, yeah - it had a disco groove and it had that kind of little Stonesy edge they always had. It cracked with everybody. I mean it crossed generations, it crossed racial divides - everybody loved that song. That’s one of the things I like about music. It unites people when it’s really good. When it’s really special it unites people that would never think they had anything in common. That’s one of the beautiful things about music. What was it like to record with the Stones though? Oh they were great man. It was like: “HEY, COME ON OVER MAN, LET’S DO SOME OF THIS. OKAY, NOW IT’S TIME TO RECORD. OKAY, HAD ENOUGH OF THIS? OKAY, THAT’S COOL. OKAY, BACK TO THE STUDIO - HEY PUT THAT OUT! COME OVER HERE! [Laughter] ALRIGHT, NOW WE’RE GONNA GET DOWN TO BUSINESS!” And Mick would be prowling around like this: [Mock Jagger tone] “It takes ‘em forever, it takes ‘em forever to come on in!” And then it was like “HAS ANYBODY SEEN KEITH?” [Much laughter] Before I move on from the Stone there’s just one more question. What was behind your decision to pull out of the ‘Some Girls’ tour? You know, they had their thing to do and I had my thing to do. Let’s face it - DO I LOOK LIKE A ROLLING STONE TO YOU? [Laughs] I don’t think so; you know, they do what they do and… Mick plays harp and I think he wanted to get back to his harp playing. I had songs that I wanted to do that I couldn’t do with them too, you know? It was great meeting them and it helped me to get known and to get a chance at my first record deal and, you know, worldwide press and notoriety… Hey, if they’re ever on tour again and they say they need a harp I’ll be there, because it was great for me and I think it was great for them. If they ever give the call, I’ll play, you know? Stones aside, the list of people you’ve played with… Ray Charles, you know, and Stevie Wonder and… Good god man, Dylan… Yeah, and Bob Dylan was a huge inspiration to you as well… Well, I mean, it was great. Bob is such a generous, unimposing - I would say even humble man. You’d go into the studio with him and he’d be like [imitating Bob]: “Okay we’re, err, gonna play this, okay… Are you ready…? Are you ready?” And it’d be like ‘ding-ding-ding’ - “GOD-DAMN-IT!” BOING! And Bob’s broke a string. “Aye, wait a minute, somebody get me some strings.” We’d sit there and laugh and talk and jive around and by the time we got ready to record there was no more nerves, you know, because Bob just made everybody feel so secure. I met him through a wonderful lady, Victoria Spivey. Actually Victoria Spivey discovered him, okay? She introduced him to the guy who at the time was head of Columbia Records. She introduced us and she acted like everybody’s mum! So she was like: “I want you to meet my son.” So I go with her and she introduces me to Bob Dylan and I was like “You’re son?” “Yes, my son, YOU GOT SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT THAT?” “No mam!” [Laughs] Bob acted like that was mama; so that was cool. So we were like brothers, sitting there in the studio trying to work out: “How did she do that?” [Laughs] Tell us about Fats Domino and friends? Oh Fats Domino and Friends; that was great, you know? I mean to get to play with Fats Domino and Ray Charles and Ronnie Wood and some of the other cats that were there man, that was really a great, great pleasure. Actually I think… What was this guy’s name? Played piano? Great Balls of Fire? Jerry Lee-Lewis - yeah Jerry Lee-Lewis was there too. I had a ball. Shit, how can you not enjoy yourself man, surrounded by some of the best musician’s planet wide? I never dreamt that I would have the opportunities that I’ve had and I’m very thankful to the muses and the music itself for giving me the life that I’ve always dreamt of. Let’s talk about the Grammy’s… What was it like to be involved in winning two separate Grammy’s? Well I didn’t even know we were gonna win a Grammy, you know? I did the record in Switzerland at the Montreux Jazz Festival. At the time it was called the Montreux Jazz Festival. That’s before they got hip and dropped the Jazz. I think Koko Taylor was there, Ricky Lee Jones was there… (The door directly behind Blue swings open, hitting the back of his chair, sharply. A young, rugged French guy with greasy dreadlocks peers through and apologises as Blue turns to face him) ALRIGHT! YOU DON’T LIKE ME, I CAN TELL! [Followed by much laughter] (The French guy asks where he can smoke. Blue and I tell him you can only go outside. The French guy thanks us and starts rummaging around in the room for a can of Coke before leaving) Ricky Lee Jones was there and… let me see… Brandford Marsalis and his brother the trumpet player; I can’t think of his name now. B. B. King was there; a lot of really great players. I think Stevie Ray Vaughn was there - and it was great man. Actually the real bomb was the jam session, which nobody recorded! Well somebody recorded it but I think they better not put it on record or somebody’s going to jail [laughs]. I remember I had to follow Stevie Ray Vaughn as a solo act, just me and my harmonica. I’m like: “What the hell am I supposed to after all that god damn - RRROAWL !” And he was like: “Just go out there and do what you do” - so I did. And the record won a Grammy, much to my surprise. When they presented it to me I was surprised, but very gratified and appreciative. Blue, I’m going to talk about harmonicas as a modern instrument. I know you’re a modest guy, but you‘re regarded as one of the best harmonica players of the last century… Well gee-whiz, that’s nice to know! [Laughs] You are - but that only seems to be among certain harmonica, blues and music enthusiasts. When you started playing the harmonica was a popular instrument, do you think the reason it’s less popular now is due to the modern audience and… Well I’ll tell you what man, when I was a kid the harmonica wasn’t very popular – it really wasn’t. It was very rare that it was played that much. I mean Bob Dylan played it a little bit, Stevie Wonder played it, but outside of those guys it wasn’t really that well known. Jagger played some and stuff but it wasn’t really looked at as an important instrument, you know? What, you mean in the mainstream? Because obviously it was widely used in traditional blues? Well, you know, there were some guys like Big Walter and Little Walter and Sonny Boy and stuff, but these guys weren’t really known to a large audience. They were basically known to the blues audience and some rockers. You know when harmonica really popped back onto the scene? I think it really came back with ‘Miss You’ - okay? When that harp part sounded in people’s ears and the solo part, people were going: “What the hell is that?” I’m glad to have been a part of that - I think it really brought the harmonica back to the forefront of music. [Blues phone rings and he excuses himself, leaves the room and re-enters about a minute later] [Speaking on phone] Okay… Well, good, man. I’ve got to go man, I’ll talk to you later - I’ve gotta go. [Hangs-up phone] Man I shouldn’t have done that. [Laughs] You’ve made the blues sound your own; given a certain funk to it. Was that your own interpretation or… Well I remember way back when I was trying to sound like Little Walter. There was a guitar player called Larry Johnson, who I’ll never forget as long as I live. I was doing my best Little Walter copy licks and I thought I had gotten as close to Little Walter as anybody was gonna get. Larry told me, he says: “You know, you sounded exactly like Walter tonight”. I said “Yeah” and I was feeling all great and he says: “But god-damnit I’m not Muddy Waters and I don’t need that kind of shit.” He said: “Now find something - Little Walter lived and died making that his sound! Now, you see that fine sound, if you can’t find your own sound, find another job!” From that day on I started trying to find my own sound. That was very handy - it was very important. I’ll never forget it because… He shocked me; he really did shock me and he was right to. You’ll never sound as good as somebody else doing there own style. You have to come up with your own style. Its like ‘damn’, you know? If you don’t have anything to say that’s important enough to say your way - shut up! [Laughs] You’ve been touring the Code Blue tour for sometime now, how’s it been going? Hey man, it’s been doing very well. We’ve just come back from doing a tour of the United States… We continued the tour in Italy and we’ve also been up to Switzerland. We’re heading for Hungary soon. It’s going well, you know? We’ve finally got to drop in on the Queen’s realm and to see how her son and stuff dig what we’re doing. And by the way old girl, you’re invited if you wanna show up!? [Laughs] I’m of the opinion that unless you’re inspired by older records, music isn’t particularly inspiring now. During the era you started playing would you say it was decidedly more so? So many people… I mean the music has become such an industrial monster that it tends to… It dehumanises it! It’s like “If I’m not a perfect little tart with plastic boobies, you know, and a thousand dollar hair-cut I can’t be an artist”. I’m sorry, that’s not the way it goes. At least not in my day... Are there any modern acts you particularly like? Well, I don’t know how modern they are but I love Stevie Wonder; I love Prince… let me see… I mean, I’m an old school kind of guy. You know with a lot of the new stuff man, there’s just not enough melody; there’s not enough meaning. I don’t know, maybe I’ve gotten too old that I don’t get it. But to me, just having your nosed pierced doesn’t make you a musician, you know? I remember back when Eric Clapton and Jimi Hendrix and all that kind of stuff was on and it was like “Guitar players forgot how to play the fucking guitar! Now all they do is slam-it, they put a bunch of effects on it, but they don’t know how to solo; they don’t know how to use the instrument to speak!” I say that’s a great loss musically - I don’t envy the youth of today and the music that they have. I don’t. But that’s life. But I figure like this: After a while they get tired of all that noise and then expect some music from the people they’re listening to. But they’re not going to get it until they expect it. Finally, any plans to collaborate or tour again in the future? Well actually I’ve got a thing that’s coming up with [former Stone and solo artist] Mick Taylor. We’re going to be doing a thing together here soon. Keep an eye on my website and you’ll see it coming up. Or look on his website and I’m sure you’ll see it there… And that just about sums it up; unless there’s anything you’d like to add? Keep rocking! To find out more about Sugar Blue, including a biography, discography, tour dates and news visit www.sugar-blue.com Words: Dangerous Dave Dryden

		A Murmur with Mulletover promoter DJ Geddes! 09/04/2008 Mulletover has long been at the forefront of the underground party scene. Whether indoor car parks or abandoned warehouses, for the last four years Mulletover has simply been the best. “A number one, king of the hill, top of the heap” as Old Blue Eyes once sang. Legendary. What, with fellow Mulletover promoter and house legend Rob Hives venturing into the pub game (he’s recently reopened The Star of Bethnal Green) it was about time partner in crime DJ Geddes took-up a side-project of his own. Let’s face it, it was never going to be origami, or Warhammer, or bird watching with Bill Oddie. No. Geddes has created his own record label, and the man has high ambitions, as Planet Notion found out… Mulletover’s come a long way since it first started four years ago - where do you think the success behind it all lies? By doing something different to what everybody was doing, or still doing. Going to the same club night every month can become a little boring; same venue, same music and same people, it’s nice to change things round, change the elements that make the party. For us, moving venue every party works, it keeps the excitement there, not just for the people who come and enjoy themselves but also for Rob and I; if were still doing the same club for nearly 4 years I think we both would be pretty bored. How did you first get involved with Mulletover? I organized the first Mulletover party that was due to take place at the Fortress Studios off Old Street. At the time the owners were having grief from local authorities and on the week of the event The Fortress, sadly was unable to host the party. Through the grape vine we heard Rob, who at the time was running his own event called R House was having another illegal rave down in Whitechapel. A few phone calls were made and it became apparent Rob had a spare room in the venue he was using, we joined the party, got smashed, had an amazing after party and decided to do it all again. From then on we decided to work under the same banner and form a partnership - Mulletover Would you say the night has brought new life into the underground/warehouse party scene? Some would say that due to a crackdown on illegal warehouse parties it was in a slow decline before Mulletover came along? I think we did inject some life into the scene, but we weren’t the only ones. When we started there were lots of little illegal parties happening every week like Dove Bridge Studios, djscandance, Slack Alley et cetera; I remember it being a really vibrant time in East London back then. I think we stood out because when things started to get tough we continued along the same path, we both wanted the night to be successful and we knew where it could go. I suppose today is a reflection of our vision You’re just about to release the first 12” on your very own label - Murmur Records. How did this come about? I’ve promoted parties for a while and I suppose I wanted something new to get my teeth into. Running a record label never really crossed my mind, especially considering today’s market, but it feels right and I’m excited with the prospect. It’s something new and the typical model for running a record label no longer exists; this I particularly find interesting, because music is isn’t going anywhere, its just the way in which we receive it that’s changing. Instead of the ‘Product’ being rammed down our throat by the industry, music is becoming more of an experience, we have more choice and this can only be a good thing. Is Murmur an attempt to further broaden your personal musical landscape? I love music and I do what I do because I’m really into it and wouldn’t change that for anything; starting Murmur is cementing my commitment to something I love, I see it as the next stage in my career. Is there an ongoing theme for Murmur records or is it set to cover a diverse range of music? For the moment we plan to stick to a club sound that reflects the style of music I’m into. In the fullness of time I would love to broaden our musical spectrum and delve into different genres and areas that excite me. What are your hopes for the future of the label? In the future Murmur will be one of the top labels around, it will be recognised for its music, artists, ideas, vision and creativity. Murmur will be at the forefront of house and techno, setting standards and implementing innovation. I want to change the way we operate to a modern path; the typical record label model no longer works. I want to mould a new foundation, a new way of working that will inspire others to get involved. For further information on Murmur Records, regular updates and all-round news visit: www.murmurrecords.com www.myspace.com/murmurrecords www.mulletover.co.uk

60 Seconds


		MAN LIKE ME's "sweet as a nut" 60 Second homemade video! 09/05/2008 We asked ‘Man Like Me’ if they could contribute to the 60 Seconds section of Planet Notion. "Hell", we thought, "we’ll give them a wide berth", you know? We told them: “Do what you want, go crazy, let your mind wander.” You see, Man Like Me are creative guys - blending the old-school elements of ska with the new-wave grime scene, an electro-pop backbeat, a smidgen of funk, and a pinch of hip hop thrown into the equation. The results are: "Well fresh!" Anyway, the lads contributed a 60 Second video, sort of in the vein of ‘Oh My Gosh’ and ‘Doughnut’ but with a really, really low budget. We’ll let Man Like Me’s Peter Duffy talk you through it… “In 60 seconds we decided to each list our personal top ten favourite whatevers. Johnny chose crisps, I chose cartoons and Edwin chose diamonds. Johnny doesn't even really like crisps, I’m being childish, and Edwin is trying to make out like he's in the market for precious stones. Edwin kept his bit to the agreed 20 second length, Johnny went a bit OTT and overflowed at 24 seconds, but I fell short at 16 seconds so it all worked out quite nicely. Most of the items mentioned in each 'top 10' are only there because they rhymed with the previous ones. We used a camera phone for all the pictures even though there was a proper good digital camera upstairs. Safe.” Peter (Check out the 'Man Like Me' MySpace page!)

		The Parlotones share photographic memories of Munich! 23/04/2008 Planet Notion recently told the world (perhaps we’re being a little optimistic about the scale of our readership) about melody driven (semi)rock band The Parlotones. They’re from South Africa, don’t you know? You can read all about them on the ‘Who the Fuck’ section of the site so we won’t rake up old ground. As Roman poet Juvenal once said “ Like warmed-up cabbage served at each repast, The repetition kills the wretch at last”. Bass player Glenn decided to take some photos while the band were supporting the, um, Wombats in Germany, and he’s shared them with us. Isn’t that lovely? He even wrote about it too. Exciting! “It's a nice, sunny day in Munich. So nice, in fact, that our good friend Adam offers to treat us to a bicycle tour of Munich. He's a tour guide, see? So after each grabbing a bike, our 12-person strong tour rockets off down the streets of Munich, instilling fear into the hearts of the pedestrians and stopping off at historical sites to brush up on our German history. Adam is a great tour guide and has us hanging onto every word. After a ride through a big, beautiful park we stop off at a lakeside restaurant for a pint of beer. Only one though, as drinking and riding is not tolerated in this part of town. After a few more stops and near accidents we head back to the bicycle hold, rack up our bikes, and head off to soundcheck.” Glenn Hodgson – Bassist – The Parlotones

		Madchester Legends: Inspiral Carpets 04/02/2008 The Inspiral Carpets are one of music’s great forgotten love affairs. Like a wild three-day fling; a whirl-wind romance with uppers, downers and all-arounders. Necking this, necking that and necking she in the process. Oh, twas a special relationship and a high-time, remembered on rare occasions of sobriety. Alas, just like that recollection of pure ecstasy and euphoria, those that remember the Inspirals in their hey-day, always fondly recall. It’s a funny old game, the music business. Of all the ‘Madchester’ bands the Inspirals had the most consistent success. When you consider the sheer number of tracks and albums that bundled smack-bang into the charts, they were a far more prominent fixture than the Happy Mondays and the Stone Roses. They faltered in the minds eye of today’s generation merely because they split as the heady heights of Brit-pop were entering their (not so) humble beginnings. We’ve got more to thank the Inspirals for than we’re probably aware of; their experimentation into modern-psychedelica arguably had prominence on the trip-hop scene that followed in the 90s and gave many of the 90s and double-Oh acts free-reign to try new technique and style. Oh, and as for the ‘Noughties’ biggest stars… Well, a young Noel Gallagher learned the ins and outs of touring with the Carpets as a wee pre-Oasis whippersnapper. Then there were the ‘Cool as Fuck’ t-shirts that created a whirlwind of obscenity charges not witnessed since Lenny Bruce was banned from city after city as a ‘fuck-you’ comedian of the 1950s. Planet Notion caught up with lead-vocalist Tom Hingley (a bar-collector at Manchester’s infamous Hacienda before he joined the band) to chat about the Inspiral Carpets, past and present, ahead of an eight-day UK tour… Many cite you as the forefathers of the ‘Madchester’ period. Do you agree that you had a major bearing on the scene? On bands like the Mondays and the Roses… If so, how? We probably all affected one another to be fair; Clint (Boon) was in bands with Mani (Stone Roses/Primal Scream) before he joined the Inspirals. I used to rehearse next to the Stone Roses actually, when I was in ‘Too much Texas’, at a rehearsal room in Chorlton. So, I suppose we must have affected each other on some level. What about the inspiration behind the Inspirals? The music you produced was extremely unique; it was something fresh and arguably uncharted territory… What were your influences? The Inspirals were going before I joined in February 1989. At that time the bands influences were Nuggets, West Coast psychedelic bands like the Seeds, 13th Floor Elevators, the Doors, and even the Chocolate Watch band. There were also the punk bands and Hip bands which were Craig Gill's major influences. How relative was the music you were producing to the drug-scene of that period? It was pretty psychedelic, mind-altering stuff… The band were pretty straight to be honest. We prided ourselves on playing our music straight; I still don’t drink before gigs. The way I see it the music was mind expanding without the drugs. Do you still view Manchester as the singular hub of music in this country? More so than London, Liverpool and Sheffield? No, no, never. Liverpool has been hot recently, the Zutons, the Coral and more recently the Wombats. In Sheffield you’ve got Reverend and the Makers and obviously the Arctics; there are always hot spots; it moves round all the time… The Corteeners (Manchester) are good though. Those bands apart… Any particular bands out there that are catching the eye? Yeah… Arcade Fire and Lowline are fantastic; Lowline are supporting us on tour actually. The Hems are supporting us in Manchester, and they’re a band to look out for. There’s loads of Alternative Country stuff that I’m liking at the moment. How does it feel to be getting back on the road again? Do you still get the same flavour from the live experience? Yeah, definitely, it’s always good fun… Good music, good times, good laughs, and of course the adulation from the audience. In jokes between the lads and generally dropping bollocks. Having read Oasis: ‘Getting High’, and having quite an interest in the Manchester scene, I’m well aware of Noel being a roadie for you guys. Do you think that experience shaped his career in any way? If so, how? Noel wouldn’t have had a career without the Inspirals; it’s as simple as that. Whether you praise us or blame us for that fact is entirely up to you! Tell us about the ‘Cool as Fuck’ (Inspiral Carpets) t-shirts… Were you surprised by the coverage they garnered… Any amusing anecdotes or stories about them? Yeah, that was great. One bloke got arrested for wearing one and he asked us to bail him out of jail. Anyway, we found out that he was wearing and selling bootleg ones, so we told the police they could keep him in prison after that! You know, the Harlem Globe trotters once bought one each for the whole of the team. Your split infamously came before the Brit-pop era kicked-off. Do you think that was a factor in the Inspiral’s failing to hit the big-time… As being as big then as you arguably are now? You know, every dog has its day? We did a lot better than most bands of that time. I have no regrets about being one of the three biggest Indie bands of 1989 – 2002… Would you if you had been? I guess you’ve met a few people over the years… On your travels, on tour, playing gigs… Any particular highlights or encounters that were particularly enthralling? Iggy Pop in Canada 1994 has to be up there and, you know, he’d heard of us as well? Being in the same room as Morrisey twice and not talking to him because I thought he would be rude to me and couldn't be arsed to talk back… I loved his music though! What have been the most drastic changes in music since you lads first started the Inspirals? Has the music scene changed for better or worse? The internet, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the celebrity culture has all changed music… But the music itself is no better or worse now. It’s the same story; there's still good music and shite music, as always and as ever! And what about the technology of music? Do you think the whole download boom is ruining the charm of and nostalgia of the vinyl? No, not really. I would never slag off any particular format of music; though CDs are horrible things, they look like something you should keep hospital records on, so I don’t have much love for them. Vinyl has a cachet amongst the young now. I bought my daughter Elsa a turntable for her 16th birthday and she loves it. She plays Nirvana 'Live and Unplugged' at 45 and says it sounds like Dolly Parton. Rock on! Finally… What are your plans for the future? Well, there’s going to be a new album by ‘Tom Hingley and the Lovers’ called ‘Highlights’. That’s going to be released on the 10th of March. We’re working on some new material by the Inspirals, which’ll be out some time in the next two years. Oh, and doing a masters degree and getting a University lecturing job! Anything else you wish to add? Yeah, all that hippy shit about peace and love and ecology is all correct. I’m taking all my fake middle-class pseudo-punk attitudes back - for now! Inspiral Carpets Tour Dates: 7th March Glasgow ABC 8th March Oxford The Academy 9TH March Sheffield The Leadmill 10th March Northampton The Roadmenders 12th March Wolverhampton Wulfren Hall 13th March Nottingham The Rescue Rooms 14th March Manchester Academy 1 15TH March London Shepherd’s Bush Empire. Click HERE for tickets. Words: Dave Dryden, Photography: Ian Tilton, Mark Latham

who the f**k?


		The Power Lords 02/05/2008 Nuts and Bolts: The Power Lords (Pierre and Bohdan) Stomping Ground: South of France (St. Tropez) and the Ukraine. Set to Soundtrack: Clubs where people sport Croydon facelifts and neck Bacardi Breezers. Destined to Upset: Anyone without a sense of humour. You’re in business if you like: Regular trips to the Krakow club scene. “Let my weiner fire your hummer / Start in the cupboard later the freezer / Ask Boris Becker I’m a grand slam winner.” The Power Lords (Lords of the String) The Power Lords have burst onto the club scene like a teenager on his first gram of cheap whizz; garnering reactions of befuddlement, guilty pleasure and disdain in equal measure. They’re the kind of Euro-techno outfit you’d imagine four fat birds in Benidorm doing ‘big square, little square, cardboard box’ to whilst taking the occasional glug of their Lambrini and pawing over a Spanish hunk - topless but for a dickie-bowtie. We’re talking cheese-smeared, holiday-camp cabaret, only a hell of a lot more polished and with a back-story that makes Star Wars episodes I-III look as dire as Series 4 of Deep Space Nine. The Power Lords’ story started as a dream of two playboy London Hedge Funders living it large in St. Tropez, a mutual love of European Techno inspiring them to have a pop in the music production game. James Burrell, a young composer and songwriter whose résumé includes work for the BBC, Nickelodeon and John Lewis was recruited to help the dream become a reality. Alas, with the playboy Hedge Funders jobs requiring a certain je ne sais quois -“Oh so respectful” - public image, the notorious twosome’s elation soon turned to concern. Having their names attached to a Euro-Tech song deep-set around the ‘St. Tropez G-String’ was hardly going to preserve the respect they’d worked so hard to build, right? Alas, the two pulled out, expecting an end to the whole shebang, but with the wheels set in motion James felt that the “show must go on.” And so the story ends. Well, you could say “And so the story begins” because the national press are lapping The Power Lords up like the Cheshire Cat with a bowl of Jersey’s finest. The Power Lords backstory is one of intrigue and mystery with more questions than answers and this is what makes them perfect fodder for the pad and pen. Debut single Lords of the String is going to be bigger than King Kong’s crown jewels and reading The Power Lords philosophy on music it’s easy to see why: “We love dance music that make you want to dance! Laugh! Kiss! Cry! Make Love too!!!” their MySpace beams. If that’s not the talk of global superstars I’ll eat my St. Tropez G-string and lick King Kong’s bellend! Check out their MySpace ! Words: Dangerous Dave Dryden

		Jay Reatard 28/04/2008 Nuts and Bolts: Jay Reatard (vocals, guitar, bass), Billy Hayes (drums), Stephen Pope (bass) Stomping Ground: Memphis, Tennessee since 1998. Set to Soundtrack: A ketamine and whizz binge. Destined to Upset: Fans of Happy Hardcore. You’re in business if you like: Raucous full-throttle punk-dipped rock with a pinch of new wave. Sometimes an artist will come along and kick you in the balls with such ferocity they go flying through your system and drop out your mouth; before sliding back to their rightful position, intact and twice as big and brutal as before. Jay Reatard is one such artist; his short, sharp, hook-laden tracks triggering an “I’m not gonna take this shit anymore” attitude - only way more successfully than heavy-metal (which isn‘t difficult). Jay began writing songs alone in his bedroom due to an overwhelming sense of boredom and a turbulent home life. He was recognized at the tender age of 15 after sending a demo tape to Goner Records and dropping out of school - which ultimately proved a wise move. Jay produces the kind of music that grips one shoulder tightly and slaps you round the face with a free hand – with lyrics that delve into everything from inner demons and a crap childhood to romance past and drinking piss from a jar… Take ‘Not a Substitute’ from Jay’s ‘Blood Visions’ LP which at 1:04 minutes long contains the simple lyrics “It’s not a substitute / not a substitute for you” before launching into a full-throttle guitar chorus of “MISSING YOU” like a skipping record that you daren’t change. Quite what the substitute for a lost love is remains unclear. It could be drugs, it could be a new missus, and it could be a chocolate bar. The fact is Jay leaves these small details for your interpretation. Jay used to be in punk-band The Reatards, alternating between singing, guitar, and a bucket for percussion. He then created/joined a few other bands, including Lost Sounds, before finally launching his solo career. An initially surprised music press have generally lavished praise on Jay’s first and only solo LP ‘Blood Visions’ which contains a full-throttle 15 tracks at under 30 minutes long. Anyhow, if you’re after punk-rock with the occasional Adam Ant new-wave eccentricity thrown in, Jay’s as good a bet as any… Check out his MySpace .

		The Parlotones 23/04/2008 Nuts and Bolts: The Parlotones - Kahn Morbee (vocals and guitar) Neil Pauw (Drums) Paul Hodgson (guitar) Glenn Hodgson (bass and keyboards) Stomping Ground: London and Johannesburg since 1998. Set to Soundtrack: Plucking up the courage to approach that girl/boy but never quite succeeding. Destined to Upset: People who HATE teenage rom-coms. You’re in business if you like: Melodious rock with vocals like the guy from Linkin Park - only better! For a band that released their first album in 2003 and started up in ‘98 it seems strange that, if mentioned, The Parlotones garner the following response: “Who?” Or, with this section of Planet Notion being named a certain something: “Who the fuck?” But the South African four-piece have obviously been doing something right because in 2006 Universal Records snapped ‘em up. And it doesn’t stop there. FHM used The Parlotones single ‘Overexposed’ as the soundtrack to their ‘World’s Hottest Woman’ film. With lyrics that go a little something like: “This could be the end of - ‘Who the hell cares?’” it seems a bizarre choice for a film predominantly flesh and thigh. That’s until you hear a peculiar purring akin to the Cheshire Cat on five E’s and a Viagra. As far as sound goes The Parlotones appear to be a band unconfined by boundaries. Vocally they’re consistent, but musically it varies from jangly, up-lifting melodies, to heavy(er) guitar laden rock. As one would expect from a South African “rock band” The Parlotones are pretty bloody big in their native country and that popularity is fast spreading. Perhaps it has something to do with using a megaphone on stage? The band recently announced a European and South African tour which will see them playing Switzerland’s biggest indoor music festival, ‘Bscene’, and London’s legendary 100 Club. Sure, singer Kahn Morbee sounds a bit like that guy from Linkin Park, whose mainstream “nu-metal” whine appeals as much as a night in the sack with Lisa Riley and a dodgy kebab, but it’s kind of cool… Well, a hell of a lot cooler than Linkin Park, a damn sight tastier than Lisa Riley, and guaranteed to soundtrack a teen rom-com sometime in the future. I’ll put my money on it! Check them out: www.myspace.com/theparlotones The Parlotones release new album ‘Radiocontrolledrobot’ on May 5th.

future gigs


		Elvis Costello, computer game music, and Hip Hop with the RSNO at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall this June! 20/05/2008

		Levi's OnesToWatch May Tour featuring Late of the Pier, Santogold and many more! 02/05/2008

		Breakin' Convention, Sadler's Wells Theatre, May 3rd to May 5th 29/04/2008

future clubs


		Sexy Latin beats at LA BOMBA, The Scala, June 13th 16/05/2008

		DUBLIME featuring the legendary Lee 'Scratch' Perry, Fabric, 25th May 13/05/2008

		Paul Van Dyk and friends, Victoria Works Warehouse, Leeds, May 31st 13/05/2008

gig reviews


		'Smirnoff Electric Cabaret' featuring Pete & The Pirates, ABC Glasgow 12/05/2008

		Jam For Bread w/Beardy Man and Bonobo @ Shepherd's Bush Empire 07/05/2008

		The Rage Into Spring w/The Crimea at Cargo! 01/05/2008