It’s a Sunday evening so it can only mean another issue of the MIS weekly email newsletter lands in your mailbox.
We begin with new that the fallout from the Covid-19 epidemic continues to decimate Madness’ live performance calendar for the remainder of the year. This week, subscriber Cédric Sabor Discos of the French MIS got in touch to tell us that the gig at the Cabaret Festival, Ardennes, France, due to take place on the 22nd August has now been cancelled.
Another cancellation / gig move is for the Pulso GNP, Queretaro, Mexico gig which was due to take place on the 30th May. This has now been moved to the 31st October. Will Madness still be appearing at the event? Read our “MIS Feature” for further details.
Reading online discussions which have taken place over the past seven days, and we can see that fans are starting to get twitchy regarding November’s 10th and final House of Fun Weekender. Will lockdown restrictions still be in place by then? We’ll have to wait and see.
One event that’s still going ahead is Recordstore Day 2020. Originally penned in to take place on the 18th April, it then moved to the 20th June. This has now been revised again and will now be taking place on three dates; Saturday 29th August, Saturday 26th September and Saturday 24th October.
At present, it’s not known what releases will surface on each date. We’ll publish further details as soon as we have more information. In the meantime check out the press release in our “Sign of the Times” section.
And finally, before we let you get on with this issue, we were pleased to learn this week that Nick Woodgate and the JoJo Man Band will release their album on Friday 8th May. You can find more information in this week’s “Buy it” section.
See below for all forthcoming Madness and Madness related gigs and events. If there’s something we’ve missed off or you feel should be added then please let us know.
New Album From Nick Woodate – “JoJo Man”. Out May Fri. 8th May ** new **
Here’s Nick;
“Because it stresses me out to have people pay for my music or have to have vast amounts of followers to earn the smallest bit of money I am releasing my album on Soundcloud totally free to listen to and stupidly it doesn’t earn me a penny. I don’t think you even need to create an account.
I’ll post the link when it’s ready; Fri 8th”
Nick also told us;
“It’s ended up being more of a compilation album with 3 new songs to people that know. I might have 8 new songs to put on this album”.
We’re blown away with Nick’s generosity of making his latest album free to download. Nick isn’t asking for any donations. What a gent!
In Before We Was We Madness tell us how they became them. A story of seven originals, whose collective graft, energy and talent took them from the sweaty depths of the Hope and Anchor’s basement to the Top of the Pops studio.
In their own words they each look back on shared adventures. Playing music together, riding freight trains, spraying graffiti and stealing records. Walking in one another’s footsteps by day and rising up through the city’s exploding pub music scene by night.
Before We Was We is irreverent, funny and full of character. Just like them.
Record Store Day – Work Rest and Play ** revised date **
Release date: TBC. Was 18th April then 20th June
Format: Double 7″ single
Cat No. BMGCAT430DSV
Overview:
Fortieth anniversary re-issue of Madness’ “Work Rest & Play EP” – the follow-up to their debut album, 1979’s “One Step Beyond…”
Limited edition Record Store Day 2020 release on double 7” format with a triple gatefold sleeve including photos from the time of the original release.
Track listing:
Side One
Night Boat To Cairo
Side Two
Deceives The Eye
Side Three
The Young And The Old
Side Four
Don’t Quote Me On That
Record Store Day – Dance Craze 40th Anniversary Edition ** revised date **
This is a new half-speed master exclusively for RSD and part of the Two Tone Records 40th Anniversary celebrations. This is a soundtrack to the live movie of the same name featuring exclusive live recordings by The Specials, Madness, The Selecter, The Beat, Bad Manners and The Bodysnatchers. This is also first vinyl repress since its original release in 1981.
This week, MIS co-editor Rob Hazelby goes back in time to report on what was going on in the world of Madness 5, 10, 15 and 20 years ago this week.
5 years ago…
Issue Number 834 – Sunday 3rd May to Saturday 9th May 2015
This week the band returned to the recording studio to work on the next set of tunes, with Woody posting;
“Looking forward to another day in the studio with Madness. Writing some cracking songs. I’m really enjoying it. More please.”
With the Grandslam tour almost upon us this was surely the greatest piece of news would could possibly hear.
Over in our regular “Showtimes” section we added a new date to Carl’s forthcoming line-up. On the 11th May it was announced that he’d be appearing at the Fopp Record shop, Covent Garden for an album signing event.
Our “MIS Feature” this week featured the Lovestruck Punch and Judy fun auction and competition. Two weeks prior, Madness and Salvo released a 7 inch record; Lovestruck backed with Grand Pantalon. Having obtained a copy we really did think it was a thing of beauty. Although the original price of £15.99 might have seemed steep for a one off 7 inch, we thought it was in keeping with the idea behind record store day; that something special was created and most of that money went to independent record stores.
Lovestruck sounded great re-mastered and the pop up theatre pull out insert made the whole package feel like Sergeant Pepper in its tangible design constructed by Pollocks Toy shop, giving it an old worldly feel fitting with Madness heritage.
If you wished to own the fold out Punch and Judy Theatre separately you could purchase it directly from the Pollocks web site, and we were kind enough to send you all the details you needed to add this desirable little item to your collection.
On to the auction, and in conjunction with The Specialized Teenage Concer Trust, we were running a blind auction where you could win one of the 5 produce white label test pressings of the Lovestruck 7” single which was released for Record Store Day.
The highest bid of an undisclosed amount, would be revealed at The House Of Fun Weekender later in the year as the winner. This meant you had until November 1st to enter.
The winner would receive the unique white label pressing of which there are only 5 in existence, and it had the purchase order sticker that authenticates it on its sleeve. It was kindly sent to us by Salvo. The winner would then need to pay the money direct to Specialized Teenage Cancer Trust, on a just giving page.
Further on into this issue and in our “Live and Intensified” section subscriber Mark Bryant reviewed the recent Skammers gig which took place on the 24th April;
“Approaching the venue and Lee Thompson is heading away from it. “Are you jumping up on stage later Lee?” I inquire, “Daley’s supposed to be, but you never know” is his response.”
We brought this issue to a close with the news that on the very evening that this issue was going out across the internet, Madness would be appearing on ITV’s to remind you that at 8:00pm this very evening Madness will be appearing on ITV’s “Saturday Night at The Palladium” show. Would it be worth a watch? You’d have to take a chance and see.
10 years ago…
Issue Number 574 – Sunday 2nd May – Saturday 8th May 2010
Following last week’s London Marathon, Woody had updated his sponsorship page, announcing that he completed the run in 3 hours and 37 minutes, which beat his previous year’s time by 5 minutes.
Woody chosen charity was Cancer Research UK, and as he quite rightly said on his sponsor page;
“It’s not too late to donate, and any money raised here will be added to the £7,589 raised last December on the Madness British Tour.
Thanks again to everyone who has sponsored me so far”.
On to the articles, and it was straight over to Retro Madness with their offer of the week. The online merchandise outlet had managed to track down a couple of copies of the Stiff Records book “Stiff: The Story of a Record Label”, published in 1983 and personally signed by the author, Bert Muirhead. Out of print for years, this book was highly sought after, and could be yours for a mere £19.99!
Suggs news next, and the Madness Central Blog reported that our favourite frontman would be performing in Birmingham on the 20th of May in aid of the Solihull branch of the Chernobyl Children’s Project.
Performing live in the Leinster Suite, we were told that Suggs would be treating the audience to a selection of his hits as well as a live on-stage interview following the set.
Doors would open at 7pm, and tickets were a mere £10! What a bargain.
Next it was on to clothing news as we reported that Warrior Clothing had now got themselves on Facebook, and not only that they were giving its visitors a sneak preview of their forthcoming steel blue Harrington jacket, which was due to be released around June of this year.
It was over to Chris and Emma next who gave us the lowdown on all currently running and planned performances of the Our House Musical that were taking or due to take place over the coming months.
Incredibly 10 different amateur theatre groups across the UK had performed the show in the 6 months since December 2009 and there were already 8 more theatres planning shows for the summer.
We brought this issue of the MIS to a close with the news that an ever growing number of Facebook users had joined a “Bring Back Bedders” Facebook group. We were more than a little surprised as we didn’t know that he’d actually left the band. Most odd!
15 years ago…
Issue number 312 – Sunday 1st May to Saturday 7th May 2005
We started off this issue with news from Dan Burdett of `Like Father, Like Son`, off-shoot, `JAG`, revealing that the boys would be playing their next gig on Tuesday 3rd May at The Metro Club, and would be on stage at 8:45pm. Dan also told us that the band had been offered a couple of big nutty supports this summer. Could this mean that JAG would be providing support for Madness? It certainly sounded like a possibility, but perhaps we were getting the wrong end of the stick. Whatever the outcome, we promised to let you know.
This week’s collection of articles kicked-off with Lee Hooky’s review of MOT’s recent gig at Middlesex University. Even before the music started, Lee was enjoying himself – as you do, when the drink is a mere £1.20 a pint! Lee finished off his review by saying;
“Despite a small turn-out I still left with a buzz (and more than a £1.20 a drink buzz ).
Every time this Band plays I think to myself it’s only a matter of time ’til they make it, and I’m not alone in thinking that”.
Next-up was news of Warrior Clothing’s special “Bank Holiday Blitz”, where for 4 days, from the 29th of April to the 2nd of May they’d be running a special sale on all Warrior, One Step, Go and Northern Soul merchandise ordered online.
For those of you who wanted to replace your tired wardrobe with some brand new clothes at very reasonable prices, this was how to do it.
Moving on, and we took a look at Suggs and his first step into serious drama. The “It’s Electric” web site caught up with him on the set of “Talk”, a new new short from first-time Director Michael Mueller, to talk about why film and why now.
On to gig news, and this week we learned that the one and only Crunch! were booked to support the Stranglers at Brockwell Park Festival, on the 12th of June. Other bands on the bill included Stiff Little Fingers, The Beat, Neville Stape, The Big and The Supertones.
We finished off this issue by thanking Birchy for giving us the heads-up on Suggs’ new film role. This was the first we’d hear of this, so it was a real surprise to us when the news turned-up.
20 years ago…
Issue number 50 – Sunday 30th April to Saturday 6th May 2000
News had yet again been thin on the ground, but there was no need to panic at the moment. We were hoping, as we were sure you all were, that things would pick up soon.
In the meantime, we decided to get this edition of the MIS underway with a short snippet from Chris Carter-Pegg;
“Madness were the highest climbers in Record Collector magazine’s annual poll of the most collectable recording artists, voted for by the readers. They rose from a position of No. 212 to No. 73. Admittedly whilst this still doesn’t sound particularly high (i.e. they ought to be in the Top 20 in my opinion!), in comparison to other notable bands it is a very good placing. Blur for instance have fallen this year from No. 64 down to No. 130”.
All you kind people out there who logged on to the Cancer Bacup web site to make a donation would, if they hadn’t already, find something coming through their door. A week or so back we’d received a card from the charity, thanking us for our donation in remembrance of Ian Dury.
It didn’t matter how small your donation was. The charity could do with all the help it could get.
Onto this week’s edition of the MIS now and although we’d been moaning about the lack of Madness news and gossip currently doing the rounds, there was more than enough info here to keep you going for the next seven days.
Thanks to Claire Keegan, we had the latest gig list for Madness tribute band, `Complete Madness`, whilst further on you could find a blow by blow (quite literally at one point!) of the weekend’s proceedings from the near-legendary `McMadmeet 2`.
A recent E-mail from `Mad Not Mad` editor, Ian Taylor brought us bang up to date with the progress of the forthcoming issue. Rather than keep the news to ourselves, Ian had given the all clear to let everyone know why the next issue had been delayed a little. Do not fret, it would be released shortly!
And finally, we knew how many of you out there loved going along to record fairs in the hope of tracking down some Madness rarity for a bargain price. Well, thanks to the assistance of Rob Lythall at VIP Events we had the lowdown of all the major record fairs taking place over the next few months.
Rob Hazelby
MIS Feature
Will They? Won’t They?
Speaking of the Mexican matters related to the band and because of the virus we all know. There is a reasonable doubt about the presence of the band at the new date but as you may think, we all Mexican fans would love to be dissipated soon. The organisers has announced already they will be reschedule the festival for October 31st with no further information on the bill.
A friend of mine noticed it today over Facebook that just came in through the events section and he was aware that Madness are held on the bill for the re scheduled Mexico festival in late October though.
But it is still unknown whether the band will be able to play or not. The festival has not confirmed yet if they are keeping the same line up.
I’ve seen the Suggs solo tour dates and he has a show on the 30th so it seems it might not be possible for the band to come in case that such date for him remains. Besides the fact they already had re arrenged the USA tour for 2021.
At least neither the band or festival had posted anything else officially about it yet
So we’ll have to wait a little more to find out and keep the hope of a return from the band.
Record Store Day 2020 official releases to be split across 3 dates to support independent record shops.
29th April 2020: In 2020, the world is a different place. And for that reason, Record Store Day has had to adapt to fit into this different place.
Record Store Day will unfortunately no longer be taking place on June 20th.
Instead, the titles on the RSD 2020 official list will be available from independent record shops on one of the three following RSD “Drop” Dates: Saturday 29th August, Saturday 26th September and Saturday 24th October.
A new version of “The List” with assigned release dates will be launched on 1st June and updates will be found on recordstoreday.co.uk and the RSD social media accounts.
Record Store Day 2020–originally scheduled for April 18 -was bound to look and feel different from any of the previous twelve. Prior events have been as much about the gatherings, parties, concerts and “group hang” element of a celebration as the financial bonus for the record shops.
However, in this unprecedented situation, the focus of these three RSD Drop dates is on supporting the stores, as well as the artists, labels, distribution and every other business behind the scenes making record stores work.
Record Store Day organizers have looked at numerous possible dates and various ways to re-work an event that takes place at thousands of record stores around the world, taking into consideration the varying circumstances and situations they and their customers might find themselves in at any point this year.
This current RSD 2020 plan to spread the spotlight and the support over three months, was made with as much available information as possible, and gives the largest number of stores a chance to participate globally in the strangest Record Store Day ever.
RSD will be using the guidance of government and scientific experts to ensure these RSD Drop dates are as socially responsible and safe for all involved as possible. Don’t necessarily expect all the normal in-store celebrations and events as these changes have been made to allow customers to get the RSD product safely in a socially distanced world. Our RSD online rules will be adapted in due course in line with retail developments.
To clarify, this year online rules have changed so that shops in the UK can sell online from 6pm. Selling online is a shop by shop decision and will be dependent on the status of the pandemic at the time of these three dates. This is new to all of us and very new to the shops. They are still figuring how to best make this work in the safest and fairest way. They will communicate how they intend to sell these records closer to the time as this is a fast-moving and ever-changing situation.
Fingers crossed for the return of the biggest party of the year on the third Saturday of April 2021. RSD Black Friday is still being planned and is scheduled to take place on November 27
We are aware that this is an ever-changing situation that brings new challenges every day. Please check www.recordstoreday.co.uk for updates.
Madness frontman, solo artist and presenter Graham McPherson, better known as Suggs, 59, has had more than 40 top 40 hits. He lives in North London with his wife Anne and has two grown-up daughters.
Last year, I was working with Paul Weller on a duet of the Ray Davies song Nobody’s Fool for a London show. He was being a real perfectionist, so one day I sent him an email saying: ‘Look, it’s only music.’
He emailed back saying: ‘No, it’s not only music.’ And he was right.
Though Madness always worked hard, we’ve never taken what we do too seriously. But I’ve come to realise that music for me isn’t just the tunes. It’s an emotional tool I’ve been able to use to get me through difficult times.
It was very hard when my mum, Edwina, died in 2018. She was a club singer, but many at her funeral had never heard her perform. So I found an old CD she’d recorded, with the song A Foggy Day (In London Town) on it, and played it during her funeral service. That was really something for me. It became a moment of shared reflection.
Full article at the above address.
Time
That’s just about it for this week. We’ll be back next Sunday for the latest Madness news.
In the meantime, if you hear details of any further Madness gigs being cancelled or moved then please let us know so that we can pass the information on to the rest of the MIS readership.
