Madness Information Service Online Newsletter Issue Number: 898 – Sunday 24th July to Saturday 30th July 2016
MIS ONLINE – The Madness Information Service Online Newsletter
Issue Number: 898 – Sunday 24th July to Saturday 30th July 2016
Web: www.mis-online.net | Twitter: @MIS_Online | iOS: https://goo.gl/7goj5z LinkedIn: Click here
This past week saw Suggs wind-up his acclaimed My Life in Words and Music tour as he completed a final (rescheduled) performance at the O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire on Saturday night.
A few of those who attended report that the show went well after a little technical delay, and a Tommy Cooper moment receiving plenty of mentions in fan comments online. Many also noted that there was a three camera crew present. This does suggest that a future TV and/or DVD/Blu Ray released is in the planning.
Naturally, we’ll have more on the above as soon as we hear anything further.
Also this week, Madness announced that they will be performing at the Tennis Stadium, Dubai on the 6th of October. This could be a good opportunity for the band to top up on the winter tan before the slog of the Minehead Weekender and Christmas tour get underway towards the end of November.
Enjoy the read,
Jon Young, Rob Hazelby, Simon Roberts, Paul Williams
SHOWTIMES
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.
Madness
July
Saturday 30th – Kendal Calling, Penrith http://www.kendalcalling.co.uk/information/ticket-info/
Sunday 31st – Y Not Festival, Matlock
http://www.ynotfestivals.co.uk
August
Thursday 4th – Edinburgh Corn Exchange * Sold Out *
More info at: http://m.whatsoninedinburgh.co.uk/event/028964-madness/
Friday 5th – Edinburgh Corn Exchange
More info at: http://m.whatsoninedinburgh.co.uk/event/028964-madness/
Saturday 6th –Tartan Heart Festival, Inverness, Scotland (headliners)
More info at www.tartanheartfestival.co.uk
Thursday 11th – Cropredy Festival, Oxfordshire. First day headliner
Saturday 13th – Boom Town Fair – Winchester
Friday 19th – Cyfartha Castle, Merthyr Tydfil
http://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/event/37005067CAE570E4?tpab=-1
Saturday 20th – Titanic Belfast, Belsonic
http://www.ticketmaster.ie/Titanic-Belfast-tickets-Belfast/venue/461375
Monday 29th – House of Common, Clapham Common
More info at: http://www.madness.co.uk/houseofcommon/
September
Sunday 3rd – Crammerock Festival, Belgium
Sunday 4th – Jersey Live Festival, Jersey
Sunday 11th – Hyde Park. Radio 2’s Festival in a Day
Friday 30th – Sweden, Grona Lund Amusement Park
October
Saturday 1st – Norway – Rockefeller Music Hall
Monday 3rd – Germany – Berlin – Tempodrom
Tuesday 4th – Germany – Bochum – Ruhrcongress
Thursday 6th – Dubai, Duty Free Tennis Stadium, UAE ** New **
November
Friday 18th – Monday 21st – Madness Weekender 6, Minehead
December
Thursday 1st – Bournemouth – Can’t Touch us Now
Friday 2nd – Cardiff – Can’t Touch us Now
Saturday 3rd – Brighton – Matinee – Can’t Touch us Now
Saturday 3rd – Brighton – Can’t Touch us Now ** Sold Out **
Monday 5th – Groningen, The Netherlands ** Sold Out **
http://www.de-oosterpoort.nl/programma/madness/
Tuesday 6th – Tilburg, The Netherlands
Thursday 8th – Newcastle – Can’t Touch us Now
Friday 9th – Sheffield – Can’t Touch us Now
Saturday 10th – London – Can’t Touch us Now
Monday 12th – Nottingham – Can’t Touch us Now
Tuesday 13th – Bridlington – Can’t Touch us Now
Thursday 15th – Glasgow – Can’t Touch us Now
Friday 16th – Manchester – Can’t Touch us Now
Saturday 17th – Birmingham – Can’t Touch us Now
Can’t Touch us Now tickets from: http://www.gigsandtours.com/tour/madness/
Suggs
August
Saturday 27th – Bangor, Northern Ireland – Talking Musical Revolutions. Part of the “Open House Festival”
The Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra
August
Thursday 18th, Newham Free Festival
Thursday 25th – Album Launch Party – Bite The Bullet – 100 Club Oxford Street London
Sunday 28th – DJ set @ Commoners Against Cancer – Dublin Castle. Noon
November
House of Fun Weekender
Clang
July
Sunday 24th, 02 Academy Liverpool LIMFestival.com
BUY IT
Madness – New Album – You Can’t Touch Us Now – Pre Order – October 21st
Pre order now – and get “Untouchable Madhead” Status.
http://www.madness.co.uk/cant-touch-us-now/
Potential Tracks, Based on last year’s House of Fun set, Glastonbury, and Mojo – Grandslam, I Believe, Soul Denying, Mumbo Jumbo. Where Did All The Good Times Go, Herbet, Mr Apples, Blackbird On The Wing, Dont Leave The Past Behind You, Whistling In The Dark, Can’t Touch Us Now, Given The Opportunity, Another Version of Me. Kooks. Pam The Hawk
The Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra – Bite The Bullet – August 25th (available Signed from the 100 club launch on the 25th)
Vinyl £13.55 (Includes free mp3 version)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01FEA9NYE
CD £11.37 (includes free mp3 version)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01FEA9NTY
Mp3 album also available on its own £7.99
Tracks – Based on Amazon – Step It Up Sister, Bite The Bullet, Western Standard Time, Cuss Cuss, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Feel a Little Better, Hongry, The Wickerman, 30,60,90 , I am King, Cry To Me, I’ll be back again.
HEAR TRACKS IN PREVIEW
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01GM41SM6/ref=dm_ws_ap_tlw_alb7
Dance Crazy – The Best of Specialized Ska Live
A little nod and appreciation as we at Specialized celebrate the 35th birthday in 2016 of the 2Tone movie & soundtrack “Dance Craze”
This album Features original acts & covers bands paying respects to the Dance Craze phenomenon.
All recorded live.
The same songs as Dance Craze by new bands 35 years on. (Including live covers of Madness) pre order now £10 (£2.50 p&p)
http://www.specializedproject.co.uk/shop/
Trembling Earth – A Scottish Ska Collection
(F&J Records SHaG036/SHaG036CD)
Release: July 25, 2016 – 2-disc CD, + iTunes, Amazon, Spotify etc
For the first time, TREMBLING EARTH collects tracks from right across this energetic and independent scene – 33 songs on a double-disc set, from 16 bands representing the past, present and future of Scottish ska – Bombskare, The Amphetameanies, Esperanza, Victorian Trout Conspiracy, Root System, The Cut Throat Razors, Big Hand, Bis, The Newtown Grunts, Big Fat Panda, Sea Bass Kid, The Skarsoles, Urang Matang, Capone and the Bullets, Joe Viterbo and The Cherry Reds.
There are earworms, wit and virtuosity aplenty here, but true to its roots, this collection’s main aim is to make people dance. We hope that it works for you.
F&J Records, Glasgow
07779117142
SIGN OF THE TIMES
Play on the Same Bill as Madness at Belladrum
BELLADRUM Festival, held near Inverness next month, is launching a competition to give an unsigned band a unique opportunity for a slot on its high profile bill.
Wannabe performers will be asked to upload their top 10 tracks to Sound Cloud, with the winner selected by a panel, including representatives from Belladrum and the Sunday Herald in the coming weeks.
For Your Chance to Play Belladrum please email links and bio to: julie@tartanheartfestival.co.uk
MIS FEATURE – STEP IT UP SISTER MARY
Yes, it’s just one month until the release of “Bite the Bullet”, the second LP by The Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra.
If you loved the “Sister Mary” album chances are this is Absolutely one step beyond that with some ska song writing coming in from the boys in the band. They have embossed 300 albums and signed them ready for the launch party.
To give the album a push up to release day MIS has drafted in a ton of Nuns to celebrate our favourite track of the new bunch “Step it up sister”. Check it out here…
Step it up sister (live)
This includes cameos from Python’s Eric idle, Robbie Coltrane, The Blues Brothers, Father Jack, Airplane and The Flying Nun.
Jonathan Young
LIVE AND INTENSIFIED
Suggs at Latitude
The Saturday crowd at the late night Sunrise Arena was an eclectic mix of those who had heard of Madness, those who came expecting Suggs to be an up-and-coming undiscovered DJ (with a humorous exchange between daughter and father in which she asks “Is this your guy, Dad? “- about Gold Panda who was finishing his electro-chillout set) and those too drunk to know their own names, let alone what they were listening to.
Arriving on stage, cigar in mouth and pint in hand, for his turn on the mic, Suggs looks a little worse for wear and the youngsters proceed to teach him what decks are, after a short theatrical pause giving the effect he’s bust something, the tunes start pumping and the crowd start jumping.
A little more ‘Suggs School Disco’ than we were expecting, and with the man himself taking more of a supervisory role – with added Dad Dancing – it no doubt disappointed some. But his ‘nephew’ Jerome (or Jacob, Suggs couldn’t quite decide) kept the crowd alive with a little something thrown in for everyone, and those of us who stuck through the rain to the end were treated to the little bit of Madness we were waiting for.
An enjoyably silly finish to a brilliant day and great to see the old guy still enjoying himself.
Nicole Evans Reviews Hub.
MIS FEATURE – RHODA ON THE LO TEK – PT 2
Following on from last week’s launch, and publicising of the next music from Rhoda Dakar, the campaign has reached over 86% of the required total with over a month still to go.
Message on progress. Choosing Songs to record….
“The campaign total is at 85% and we’re on the home run! Last rehearsals and studio time are being booked. I think I’ve decided on which four tracks will make up Volume I …. I’m just wrestling with writing the last verse on a new track we haven’t played all together yet. Gotta get it right, gotta get it right! Thing is, I’m not so good with ‘in the moment’, as my mind’s always racing ahead. If there’s a Volume I, then of course I’m thinking about Volume II. And rewind…and focus! We have tested out a couple of the tracks we’re including, so if you’ve seen us live in the last six weeks, we sneaked them past you and you didn’t notice. I’ll take that as a compliment, because that’s just the sort of gal I am!
In the photo, you can see me versus a blank page, as the one I was writing on looked too messy. Did I mention I used to be a hand model? No? Well I was, so I always try to keep all the mess out of the shot – like my hugely pregnant belly when I modelled for a certain condom manufacturer…it’s all true!
Anyway, thank you all for your support, making this all possible. The last verse will come to me and all will be well.
Take care, Rhoda x”
Here’s is a reminder of what it’s about…..
http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/rhodadakar
Following the critical acclaim of last year’s ’Rhoda Dakar sings The Bodysnatchers’ album (**** Mojo **** Rolling Stone **** Daily Mirror) Rhoda Dakar, former lead singer of 2 Tone’s The Bodysnatchers and The Special AKA, And regular Live Guest Singer with Madness.
She is set to release a brand new series of recordings, starting with the September 2016 release of The LoTek Four, Vol I.
Each volume of the LoTek Four series takes four beautifully crafted songs and strips them back to their essence.
From there, recorded in the very best of surroundings, different versions can be engineered, versioneered, if you will.
It may be that a Rocksteady version is favoured, or perhaps an almost Acoustic rendering.
The songs draw on Rhoda’s rich and personal musical influences, with Volume I embracing a fantastic array of story tellers and versioneers that include David Bowie, The Slits, Dolly Parton, Aretha, Gram and Emmylou, and her father, famed Jazz musician and entrepreneur Rudy Evans aka André Dakar.
Alongside Rhoda Dakar on lead vocals, The LoTek Four Vol I features Louis Vause and Paul Tadman (from Crunch aka the Nutty Boys/Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra), Lenny Bignell (Pama International), Mark Claydon (The Get Up) and saxophonist Terry Edwards (PJ Harvey, The Blockheads, Madness, Tom Waitts, Spiritualized,
Siouxsie, Nick Cave and her old 2Tone label mates The Higsons).
….
More news when we know the song titles.
I REMEMBER WAY BACK WHEN
This week, MIS co-editor Rob Hazelby, goes back in time to report on what was going on in the world of Madness 5 years, 10 and 15 years ago this week.
5 years ago…
Issue Number 637 – Sunday 24th July – Saturday 30th July 2011
Our issue got off the starting blocks with a miniscule intro as we jumped into the latest collection of articles.
Up first was the news, courtesy of thebookseller.com, that Quercus had bought the memoirs of the one and only Suggs for publication in 2012.
Non-fiction publishing director Richard Milner bought world rights to the autobiography from Robert Kirby at United Agents.
Milner said: “Like millions of others, I was a huge fan of Madness growing up, and everyone at Quercus is hugely excited to be publishing Suggs’ autobiography. Popular music is littered with short-lived successes, but part of the reason Madness endures is Suggs’ literate, heartfelt and cheeky dissection of British life.
His voice leaps off the page, taking the reader on an extraordinary journey in the company of one of our genuine national treasures.”
Suggs said: “I really look forward to working with the publisher of the year, Quercus, on my autobiography. I hope it will amuse, entertain and be a bestseller in 2012!”
Next, it was ticket news as we reported that you could be in with a chance of winning tickets to see Madness perform at the Lollibop Festival in Regents Park in August. All you had to do was email the promoters with your contact details to be in with a chance.
It had been a long time in the planning, but finally, the details of “A Guided Tour of Madness”, the four disc box set had at last been revealed.
The press release (minus the original track listing) was as follows:
“An anthology of Madness’ career featuring 70 Tracks, including hit singles and favourite tracks from all of their albums, from One Step Beyond… (1979) through all the 80’s albums including Mad not Mad, and Wonderful And Our House and The Dangermen to The Liberty Of Norton Folgate (2009).
Plus, for the first time on DVD, their classic comeback concert performance from Madstock in 1992.
Includes the latest fantastic Madness single Le Grand Pantalon previously unreleased on CD. The track is a slowed-down Gallic-flavoured version of their smash hit Baggy Trousers and very much reflects the Madness of today.
A 72-page full colour booklet includes written and verbatim liner notes from band members and key personnel, plus previously unseen photos, the first issue of 1981’s Nutty Comic, a discography and a Treasure Hunt Map of the nuttiest parts of London Camden and Kentish Town.
3 CD’s and 1 DVD available on Amazon for £27.56. This set is due to be released by Salvo on the 19th of September.”
We brought this issue to a close with a small snippet from Chrissy Boy (courtesy of his famous cupboard)…
“We have got all the songs together in very good shape and now we will get cracking on getting it all together.
So it won’t be till early next year.
The album will hopefully be ready by the beginning of next year. Don’t quote me on that.”
Exciting stuff!
10 years ago…
Issue 377 – Sunday 23rd July to Saturday 29th July 2006
We pulled this issue of the MIS off the proverbial starting blocks with the news that following the band’s appearance in Berlin on the 14th of July, fans had been busy uploading photos and clips taken at the gig.
Subscribers Graham and Kim Smith had been especially snap-happy, and were kind enough to let us host their photos on the downloads section of the MIS web site.
On to the articles, and we began with an interview with Carl, taken from the Daily Yomiuri, a Japanese online newspaper, ahead of the band’s forthcoming Japanese dates. It was a lengthy and detailed interview, and actually took up the majority of the issue.
Jonathan Young took the reins for the next article, where he asked members of the MIS readership if they thought Slovakian prime minister, Robert Fico looked anything like Suggs. The opinion was divided, with both fors and against, meaning that we were unable to come up with a definitive conclusion. Ah, well.
Next, and just when you thought that the current Madness tour was beginning to look like it was nearing its end, they go and announce more dates.
This week we passed on the news announcing that the band had added another four dates to their tour, which were:
5 August 2006
Portugal Sudoeste Festival (seaside resort of Zambujeira do Mar)
Monday 7th August 2006
Belgium (Lokerse)
Wednesday 9 August 2006
Monaco, Monte Carlo Sporting Club
Thursday, 10 August 2006
Marbella Puerto Banus Bull Ring
Moving on, and it was over to Jean-Pierre Boutellier, who was kind enough to email in with links to audio and video clips of the recent gig at The Festival Des Vieilles, France. You could also go along to the French MIS web site for a selection of photos taken at the concert.
Elsewhere, and although it was short notice, we wanted to pass the message on to the readership, which was that Ultimate Madness and Bad Manners would be appearing at the Bembridge Coast Hotel, Isle of Wight, on the 25th of August. Three nights would set you back a reasonable £173 half board.
We brought this issue to a close with a detailed review of Madness’ appearance at the Zelt-Musik-Festival, Freiburg, courtesy of subscriber Lars.
“The band as well as the crowd seemed to be enjoying themselves, Woody laughed all the time, even Chas was full of energy after having received a raisin as well… Suggs wanted the heating to be turned higher as he pretended to be freezing… (at approximately 35 degrees).”
15 years ago…
Issue 115 – Sunday 22nd July to Saturday 28th July 2001
We began by welcoming you to a bumper edition of the MIS, which was literally busting at the seams. It’d been a busy week in the world of Madness, so we hoped that this issue went some way in reflecting that.
Row Wardlaw had very kindly put together a cracking review of the Badness gig which all who went to the recent Blackpool meet would no doubt have seen, but we were sure that with all that drink you were all knocking back, much of the evening was a blur. Well, thanks to Rob’s video-taping antics, he was able to sit down in the comfort of his own home and compile a track by track account of the evening, so you could now find out just what went on.
We knew that many of you weren’t just into Madness, but the ska scene in general (not that Madness can really be classed as ska). With that in mind, we thought you may have been interested in the latest subscription offer from Do The Dog. DTD was, so we were told, the number one source for up-to-date news and reviews on the Worldwide ska sceme. A subscription cost a mere £5, and if you signed up now you’d get a compilation CD thrown in.
Next we featured a reprint of an interview with David Gray, which originally appeared in Q Magazine. Why? Well, it turned out that David was a big Madness fan, and has some great things to say about the band.
Moving on, and Colin Galbraith was back in the MIS once more, this time with details of a forthcoming Terry Edwards gig. At the time of publication we weren’t sure if the legendary Woody would be making an appearance, but promised to keep you posted.
Also this week, and our esteemed deputy Editor made a welcome return following his week off to see the British Grand Prix, with reviews of parts 1 and 2 of the BBC Radio 2 comedy series, “I Think I’ve Got a Problem”, and as usual he’d compiled this coming week’s list of Madness Tribute band appearances.
Rob Hazelby
TIME…
We bring this issue to a close with congratulations to Katharina Wendelius who was one of the first fans to find one of the band’s Golden Pint Glass.
Congratulations also go to Martin Waters from Northumberland who won at The Imperial and was announced on their Facebook page yesterday.
What are we talking about? Well, during the week just gone Madness placed a mere five winning pint glasses in the following pubs:
We’re unsure if all of the prizes have been claimed, so if you order a pint of Lovestruck from the above venues your drink might come in the golden pint glass and VIP tickets to House of Common would be yours.
We imagine that their might be some very drunk fans trying to get their hands on this one.
Good luck!
The Author
