Madness Information Service Online Newsletter Issue Number: 819 – Sunday 18th January to Saturday 24th January 2015
Howdy All!
This issue we turn our spotlight onto one John Hasler as we bring you news of his return to the music scene with two gigs in London next month.
Ahead of gigs by The Skiff Skats (the band he’s in), we bring you the full lowdown on this raucous cow punk skiffle Hillbilly group, detailing the band’s history, including the plethora of Madness men and moments who’ve been involved in the band back 30 years ago, during their hoe down hey day.
Kick back some moonshine and read on The Return of The Skiff Skats, as we catch-up with band member Robert Smith, and talk of rediscovered music by the band.
Come, check them out at The Dublin Castle in February.
Yee Ha! And 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
2015
*** New *** March 12th – The Emirates Stadium – This week “The Gig Company” has announced Madness appearing at Suggs & Friends charity event in the line up (see below).
Operation Grand Slam… Summer 2015
http://madness.co.uk/grandslam/
Do you expect us to talk? More information coming soon from Madness.co.uk on a large number of events, subscribe to official madnews with your email and hear first.
November 2015
November 20th – 23rd 2014 – Minehead – The House Of Fun Weekender Five
Early bird tickets on sale now
Suggs
March 2015
12th March – An Evening With Suggs and Friends, in aid of Pancreatic Cancer UK. Held at The Emirates Stadium. At £160 a ticket we’re not sure if many MIS readers will be attending! http://www.thegigcompany.org/events/pcuk2015/
Near Jazz Experience
January 27th
27 – NEAR JAZZ EXPERIENCE + Support + DJ
Indo 133 Whitechapel Rd, London E1 1DT *Free*
Visit: https://www.facebook.com/NearJazzExperience
The Silencerz ft. Lee Thompson
January 24th – The Spotted Bull Pub, London Road, Hemel Hempstead. More info at: https://www.facebook.com/events/1520383951558899/?pnref=story
Clang Group (Clive Langer) EP launch gigs
*** New *** February 18th – The Dublin Castle Camden
*** New *** February 19th – The Islington, 1 Tolpuddle Street, N1 0XT
BUY IT
Brand new T-Shirts, Merchandise
There are laurel leaf official polo’s in white, navy and black. T-shirts for all three beers; Night Boat, Lovestruck and Gladness. There are black laurel Beanie hats with the M crown logo, a new royal logo like Fez for gigs, blue and charcoal House Of Fun T-Shirts and a Mad Head design mug.
The black and red Dangermen Vs Invaders shirts are brilliant; half designed on the original 2004 Dangermen poster look with added flying saucers, making a really nice retro feel to the whole design. There is a blue Madhead Picture T-shirt with a slogan on, and some Oui, Oui, Si, Si merchandise still available.
2014 – Tour Programme.
http://madness.sandbaghq.com/home/2014-m-a-d-h-e-a-d-programme.html
Now only £8, and coming bundled with a link to 3 free Lee Thompson downloads, plus Rag and Bone Man download, from Madness.
It really is a really nice looking and well-written Mad-Head little bible. One all collectors should get hold of.
SIGN OF THE TIMES
Items in the press that have caught our eye over the past week or so…
Suggs on the BBC’s Q.I
On Friday evening the BBC aired the long lost episode of QI, featuring Suggs on the guest panel. Watch it again on the i-Player at the following link;
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b04yjy58/qi-series-l-15-long-lost
If you live somewhere where you can’t access the iPlayer, the 30 minute show can be found on on YouTtube here; http://youtu.be/JKy4xunBhmY
The XL edition of the show airs tonight (18th Jan). We’ll have the link in next week’s MIS if you miss it at 10pm.
MIS FEATURE – RETURN OF THE SKIFF SKATS
Ahead of next month’s gigs we delve into a full profile of a lesser known Madness related band from the late 80’s.
The Skiff Skats, with a neo punk hillbilly skiffle sound, are reforming. At least 4 members from Madness played away for the fun and a laugh by joining The Skiff Skats back in their hey day in the mid 80’s.
Carl and Lee were a permanent part of the band in the early phases of The Skiff Skat story, while photo’s show that Mark Bedford jumped on stage at least once or twice too.
Most centrally though founding Madness member John Hasler took up washboard and stayed with the band as they recorded their LP, (a number 5 indie charting album called Skiff Skat Stuff in 1985 on Making Waves), while one Hector Walker, once Madness’s valet, also played zob stick in the band (badly 
).
Their debut album was produced by Ian Horne at Liquidator studios and their single was nearly released by Zarjazz at the time. They supported Madness on the bill alongside Neil from The young ones at the Lyceum for a legendary London gig, and were at one time considered to be leading a new wave of music alongside The Pogues. The term Cow-punk being coined. Their story is one of a band of character and good times.
They were once described by Sounds Magazine as…
“Lonnie Donnigan meets the Beverly Hillbillies in a Camden boozer.”
And now in 2015 they are back. February 13th and 14th at the 100 club and then the legendary Dublin Castle.
To country and western music they brought a do it yourself Punk and Skiffle style, and a heap of Nutty sounds like stage antics. At an alternative music festival in Camden’s Electric ballroom they played their set not on the stage, but in the bar and then in the toilets!, gaining much coverage in the music papers and they performed a legendary John Peel session back in the day too, as so many great bands have done.
I don’t think MIS has ever written about this band in our many years of our online fanzine though, and so here is their story now, with details of how Madness were involved, and some memories and few more things too from the band own history, at this most fitting of times, as they face a return to Oxford street’s 100 club, and an afternoon in the legendary Dublin Castle too this February. Come and join us for a unique alternative nutty hoe-down!
Here’s the band’s founder Robert Smith with the news of the bands first gig in a very long time…
“Hello fans!! It looks as though the Skiffs are doing a gig on 13th February at the 100 Club. I was going to say “don’t get too excited – it’s just a bunch of old farts looning around on stage” but then I realised that’s what it was back then!!
Just a word of warning as I understand that tickets are bizarrely on sale already – we are supporting champion Doug Veitch whose idea I think it was and if we get stage fright, don’t show or whatever then you won’t be able to get a refund.
So come on boys and grab your poles…..!”
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THE SKIFF SKATS VIDEO
Cripple Creek. – The Skiff Skats Video.
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OLD PRESS QUOTES
“A mottley bunch squashed on stage, with everything from a tea chest bass, to a tambourine on a stick.” New Musical Express.
“Punk Rebel Hillbillies” Smash Hits.
“Reputedly a silly hill billy band.” Melody Maker
“Considerable gusto, he haw and charm, the washboard dented the ceiling, the spoons player grinned bashfully” Sounds
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TRACKS OF THE DEBUT THE LP – SKIFF SKATT STUFF
1.Here Come The Skiff Skatt’s
2. The Old Hired hand
3. Hill Billy Boogie
4. Rock This Joint (Till the cows come home)
5. Hickory Hollow
6. Maybellene (Chuck Berry cover)
7. Wind Her Up
8/9. Glendale Train / Barefoot Nelly
10. Apple Tree
11. The Crumble
12. Split personality
13. Romp and stomp
14. Skiff Skat Stuff
15. Cripple Creek
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THAT OLD SKIFF SKAT STUFF … THE HISTORY OF THE BAND…
by Robert Smith.
I wrote this diary-like account over 20 years ago, just after the band split up. If I was writing it today it would probably be longer and infinitely more boring (I am a solicitor now!). I think it’s still quite sweet and I hope you all enjoy it.
The band got together exactly as bands should get together, but rarely do. Me ‘n’ Tone used to play ‘music’ at the bothy at Kenwood lunchtimes, home-times, rain-times, in fact as much as we could (to delay the possibility of work!). He knocked up a tea chest bass and I took my guitar in, and together we would pound out songs like ‘K.E.N.W.O.O.D’, These Boots Were Made For Walking and Johnny B Goode.
We were having a party at Byways, the old country shack in Mill Hill. I had invited a band and Rowan had brought some inflatables. Unfortunately, the drummer couldn’t make it, so we had no music. For a laugh, I grabbed the banjo, Pete his guitar, Tone his tea chest and we launched into Foggy Mountain Breakdown. The Bikers, who probably arrived with Div, jumped on the large inflatable, everybody hollered and got drunk and the band was born.
Matthew Kleinman who was with the Nogoodniks (one of my favourite bands), offered us two support gigs at the Hope & Anchor and the Greyhound which, egged on by Kay, I accepted. We had a month or so to get more members.
Tone knew the members of Madness through having gone to school with Lee, so he rang Carl and asked him if he would play washboard. He turned up one night at the bothy with some beer and some smoke and he proved a good percussionist. So he was in. Next, Lee wanted to play a ‘zobstick’ and Tone made him one by copying the design from an old picture. It was to prove a lethal weapon in Lee’s hands, bits of plaster falling off walls and ceilings as he attacked them.
That was how we lined up – more or less – at the Hope & Anchor when a bunch of Carl and Lee’s friends turned up to see us (instead of going to see the Nogoodniks)! Carl couldn’t make the next gig, so someone suggested John Hasler. He just turned up at Tone’s place on the evening of the gig, picked up the washboard and was instantly brilliant. That was cool! He was in!
Big John then offered us a gig of our own at the Hope & Anchor, and we decided to make it an occasion. Lots of gimmicks – false teeth, Slim on accordion (well that would fill up the stage at least) and a bottle of whiskey to loosen the vocal chords. Well, that it certainly did and, luckily, Pete recorded the shambles on a cheap tape deck and it was one of the funniest things I’ve ever heard.
Pete then said that we would have trouble getting more gigs, but I felt that with two members of Madness playing with us something would happen. It did. Someone (Carl or maybe Jamie our ‘manager’ – our manager only because he was trying to get a job with Madness!) blagged us a half-hour gig at the Wag Club, a trendy watering hole in Soho where the ‘stars’ were prone to hang out. Four of us drove down in Pete’s van, learning the songs on the way (One-Eyed Sal, Diggin’ My Potatoes etc). Looking back it was heady stuff in it’s own way. If we had’ve made it, they would have been great stories to relate on chat shows or to the press!
I remember that first gig with special affection as I looked around at the six of us playing, there was so much energy coming from us. For the next gig at the Wag, I bought a bottle of Tequila. I remember that with less affection as I fell asleep on the loo for 3/4 hour!
Gigs began to come regularly as did the publicity (mostly from the Madness angle). We played at the Madness Lyceum Christmas gig, but gradually Carl and Lee dropped from sight. They didn’t want to overshadow the band.
However, it was a wrench seeing Carl go as he was such a stage character. At one Hope & Anchor gig, Simon on the door asked us nicely not to smoke on stage. Carl put on his JR suit, hat and shades and spent the whole gig with a massive joint hanging out of his mouth! Style!
The last gig Carl did with us was the very drunken Dingwalls gig with Roddy Radiation & the Rough House All Stars. It ended in mayhem with about twenty people on stage. I’ve yet to find out what it sounded like out front as everybody I’ve questioned said they were too drunk to remember.
Our music had improved, Tone was on the double-bass and we had good soloists playing with us – John Wallace on sax in particular. Lee handed his zobstick over to Hector.
Slim was a regular occasional and we proved we could record by doing some good John Peel sessions, live radio etc. We’d been on television (South of Watford in Carl’s front room) and in magazines (Debut etc), but it was at the ‘Alternative Country Music Festival’ at the Electric Ballroom where we really made our mark. Billed low down, we decided not to play on stage as it was the antithesis of what we were about. We tried to busk in the bar but couldn’t be heard, so we made a dive for the loos where the acoustics were good and much fun was had (in front of a small but appreciative audience). This jolly jape really got us noticed – big pictures in the Observer, the Face, Smash Hits and reviews in the music papers. It was perhaps at this point that we could have ‘made it’ or at least made ‘something’. Stiff wanted us, Madness wanted us on their own label ‘Zarjazz’ – we were news. It was hyped, but isn’t everything?
However, there were strains. Tone wanted to devote more time to his other band, The Hatchetmen. Pete stopped writing songs for us, to concentrate on his new band. Hasler couldn’t make more than one gig a week because of Sigi etc etc.
The band was simply not geared up to go anywhere. We would have had to lose at least Tone and John and perhaps Pete. That would be too much of a compromise for nothing. From then we played on with some great success I may say, but never really cracked open the scene any further because we didn’t have a manager and we had very few gigs outside London.
More than half of our gigs were in North London. We had many memorable drunken nights, many excellent gigs. The best I remember off-hand were the Farnham gigs, the first Notts Poly gig, Southend, the Cambridge Hall Ball (not for the gig itself) and many excellent gigs at the Bull & Gate. In fact we never had a bad gig there, and likewise with the Hope & Anchor until it shut down. (I mustn’t forget our two great gigs in Hendon at the Midland Arms.)
We went through many personnel changes including Dom (bass), Lonesome Tone (a story in itself), Cedric (who finally became available for regular gigs as we packed up), Slim (inevitably), the one and only Caspar Cronk (for musical authenticity) and a cast of thousands more.
We made a video on Hampstead Heath for about £140 which was shown on Max Headroom, Saturday Superstore, and came second in the Old Grey Whistle Test video competition. We turned down a part in Absolute Beginners as we were due in Cambridge that same day, and also a spot on the Lenny Henry Show as we were recording a children’s TV show (Lift Off) on the same day.
We went out live on Capital Radio (twice) and Radio 1 (Saturday Live). We still got press and we made a very good LP which was brought out on a small but worthy label.
It got reviewed but not pushed so it only sold 1500 or so. We played at benefits, festivals, big gigs and small gigs – it was the rock-star lifestyle, and fun. By the end however, after two and a half years I think we’d done as much as we could, and we hung up our straw hats.
Our last few gigs – which Tone played with us – were great fun. The Buzz Club in Aldershot and the Dental College in Camden. We just went out and enjoyed ourselves and we had a ball. So it ended up as it started – all still friends and enjoying the gig for itself.
I went into the Skiffs with the joy and enthusiasm of a teenager in his first band. I hope this account will give an idea of the fun we had and the variety of events we played at.
“Just gimme that Skiff Skat Stuff…Oh.. Skiff Skat Stuff…”
Robert Smith.
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THE SKIFF SKAT WEBSITE
THE SKIFF SKATS FORUM
https://www.facebook.com/groups/105208548495/
Check out the bands website and forum for lots of photo’s, tunes, reviews, and many more memories…
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SKIFF SKAT MEMORIES
Robert Smith: “In my wildest dreams I imagine that the Skiffs and the Pogues resurrected the acoustic music scene and all these bands flow from our efforts. Then I take my pills and everything is alright again!!!”
Tina Wigfall. “Happy memories of watching skiff skats in Camden and around the area when I was a student at North London Poly. Got sent the CD a couple of years ago because sadly I can’t find my signed copy of the album! Now I listen to Barefoot Nellie at al when I am out running. Still sounds so great nearly 30 years on!”
One legendary gig, that listeners to Madness Bootlegs might still know a bit about from the stage banter, was in the mid 80’s at the Lyceum. The bill was Bonsia forests (fronted by one Paul Whitehouse), The Skiff Skats, Ian Dury, Nigel Planer, Madness. A great line up and the poster back stage said “doors from 7pm”
Robert Smith “I did, to my eternal shame, ask when the Doors were coming on stage. Everyone laughed at my sense of humour but I actually meant it (not the real Doors, of course)!! That was when they miked up Tone’s T-chest bass to Madness’s PA and nearly blew the Lyceum up!!”
Where as Gaz’s Rocking Blues. June 28th 1985, another band member recounts…
Slim Cyder “That was the night that Keith Allen convinced me that Georgie Fame had called me up on stage, so I went and got my accordion and marched out onto the stage to be greeted with “and who the fuck are you?” .”
Amanda Coney (fan) “As a teenager, I used to travel up from Stevenage with a couple of friends to see the Skiff Skats at the Bull and Gate and The George Robey. Fun days! So sad to hear that Pete is no longer with us x”
Robert Smith “The Wag was a celebrity hang out in Soho. Bob Geldof, George Michael, Marilyn and George Melly were there that night. Lee smashed 3 ceiling lights with his zobstick that night. At the end they told us that we had earned £80 for the gig but there was a £120 bill for the lights! Happy Daze!”
Cathal Smyth “Not sure what ever happened to my glass washboard. x”
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THE SKIFF SKAT PEEL SESSION
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A RE-DISCOVERD SKIFF SKATT REHEARSAL TAPE FOUND BY MIS
If you happen to be reading this and knew of the band back in the day, including owning the album, then this next bit may interest you.
A rare rehearsal tape of the Skiff Skats was uncovered last year by the MIS. Possibly even from an era when Carl was performing with the band.
Here is some of that recording tape…
The Crumble & Cripple Creek (early band rehearsals)
Robert Smith “I’ve given them all a listen and there are a few goodies on there. It starts with a slightly wonky instrumental version of ‘Buddy Can You Spare A Dime?’ done in the same way as Lazy River – I think we might have done this once on stage. I had completely forgotten it. Also ‘I Was With the Wrong Woman’ which was a favourite and ‘I Won’t Go Hunting With You Jake’ which everyone did! Best of all is the full version of ‘Here Come The Skiff Skats’ written by Pete which ended up as our intro. (was only in a shortened version on the album) Thanks to the MIS for sending us this.”
Robert Smith “I know that somewhere I have a cassette of a rehearsal at Carl’s. I remember Lee doing a sax solo that made everyone fall about laughing – sounded like an elephant with terminal diarrhoea! Were you at that one John Hasler?”
John Hasler “Don’t think I was. Sounds like a very early one.”
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SKIFF SKATT – A SHORT AUDIO DOCUMENTARY
And now on BIRSt we have a definitive ‘rockumentary’ chronicling the trials and tribulations of the wannabies and never was’ers of pop. What ever happens to those bands that nearly make it?
This is the story of the Legendary former founding fathers of cow punk, The Skiff Skats. They aimed low and they missed.
http://archive.birst.co.uk/the-skiff-skats/
Sadly key band member Pete Smith passed away in 1999. This article is dedicated to his memory and part in the band.
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LIVE TRACKS
1985 Miners Benefit Live Gig Track.
https://soundcloud.com/plainpad/hillbilly-boogie-miners
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SEE THE SKIFF SKATTS LIVE IN 2015
February 13th Evening. 100 Oxford Street London. Supporting the headline act, Doug Veitch. £16
February 14th Afternoon. From 1pm till 5pm. The legendary Dublin Castle.
The Band return to one of the venues they used to play in the 80’s and the ancestral home of Madness. With Support from MIS DJ’s and Crunch DJ set from, Lee Swandale. £5 on the door.
Be There, Be Square Dance! A Low Down Hoe Down, A Mad Meet with hillbilly hijinks of The Skiff Skatts.
Jonathan Young
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 559 – Sunday 17th January – Saturday 23rd January 2010
In the early days of the online Madness movement trying to obtain news of what the band were up to was nigh-on impossible. Most of the time all we’d have to go on were rumours, and if we wanted something official we’d have to do some serious digging or email the band directly and wait for some juicy tidbits to land in our mailbox.
By this point things couldn’t be more different. With the band having an extremely supportive management team, in the form of Anglo Management, and a devoted record label, in the form of Union Square Music, news was pretty much handed to us on a plate.
Thankfully, a few bits were still kept under wraps by the band, their management and record label until the last minute, ensuring that at least some things were a surprise to us all.
This week the ever helpful Steve Bunyan, of Union Square Music had been in touch with details of the next two Madness album re-releases, which took the form of Absolutely and Seven. We had full tracklistings of both new albums in this very issue, along with the proposed release date.
As well as this album re-release information, Steve was kind enough to reveal that at present Rise & Fall and Keep Moving were scheduled in for June, with Wonderful and The Madness pencilled in for August.
Steve was unable to give us a release date for the Mad Not Mad re-issue, explaining that Union Square were busy enough with working on the above releases.
He finished by revealing that a new box set was under discussion for later in the year, but wouldn’t give us any further information.
Like the rest of you, we had to sit tight and wait for more news to surface on this one.
In other news we reported on Retro Madness’ deal of the week. This week’s offer was for the nickel and red enamel Madness 7 badge sold by the MIS fan club (no relation to this unofficial email newsletter) back in the 1980s. This had been reduced to a ridiculously low price of £2.50, including postage and packing. These were hand made by the legendary badge makers Dial-a-Style.
Originally contracted by Stiff Records to make badges in the late 1970s, their production line went into overdrive with the arrival of Madness on the scene and a full range of official designs were produced for them between 1980 and 1984.
These badges were not simply mass produced by machine but required a whole series of specialist techniques for the production of each individual badge. Retro-Madness had the last remaining stock of these, acquired following the closure of the MIS fan club in the mid 80s.
Moving on, and we asked if you were one of those people who had yet to purchase the recently released 30th Anniversary Madness Tribute album. If you were, there was now an online sampler for you to listen to before you parted with your cash.
We brought this issue to a close with a mix of sad and good news. The sad news was that after nine years the Madness Trading Ring group over on Yahoo Groups would close on the 18th January. With traffic declining on the group and the moderators concentrating on the Madness Central web site, it was decided to bring the curtain down on this once bustling site. The good news was that you were pointed in the direction of the Madness Central web site, with its forum which was going from strength to strength.
10 years ago…
Issue number 297 – Sunday 16th January to Saturday 22nd January 2005
This past week played host to two Madness birthdays – Suggs’ on the 13th celebrated his 44th, and Carl on the 14th celebrated his 46th.
Fans sent a mass of birthday wishes to both Suggs and Carl via the official Madness web site message board and the forum over on the chassmash.com site.
It was over at chassmash.com that Carl gave a short thank you to the well wishers;
“Dear All,
Are there any of you in the Liverpool area? I also will be releasing some information regarding projects..it is going to be a busy year…more news shortly………
Thank you for the birthday greetings…..I am a very content man with a beautiful wife, lovely children, and a great life and I am so very grateful…I am over the moon and have bought a spaceship……….with the warmest of intentions
Chas”
In time honoured tradition we promised to keep you updated if we heard anything more about these `projects` he mentioned.
With very little to report on this week Jonathan Young had spent his time typing up an article from a recent copy of The Daily Mail, which was giving Radio 2’s collaboration with The Brits a good grilling.
Organised to coincide with The Brits 25th Anniversary the organisers had put together a list of singles from down the years, which the paper had described as “staggeringly banal”.
Our Mr. Young clearly agreed with this, and had decided to put together his alternative selection of singles that he felt should have been in the list instead.
Elsewhere, and Madness Trading Ring subscriber, Kevin Tizzard, continued to dig around his collection for more unreleased gems for you to sample. This week Kev he’d kindly uploaded the following tracks:
Mistakes (Live in Boston 1980) and the Tomorrow’s Just Another Day Studio Demo.
Moving on, we ran our semi-regular “Mimics of Madness” article, where we listed forthcoming gig dates for One Step Behind, One Step Below, Los Palmas 6 and Badness. With the band either in the studio or taking a well earned rest, these tribute acts would be the only way for you to get a slice of live Madness until the real deal took to the stage once again.
We finished off this issue with a quick reminder that `Like Father Like Son` off-shoot band, `JAG`, would be performing at the famous `Bull and Gate`, Kentish Town, on Saturday 22nd January. The guys would be on stage at 8:00pm, with entry at a mere £4.00.
15 years ago…
Issue number 35 – Sunday 16th January to Saturday 22nd January 2000
A number of Madness fan-sites had closed their doors over the past couple of months, so it was nice when out of nowhere, one appeared.
The latest person to try his hand at website creation was none other than mad Scottie, Colin Galbraith with his `Magnificent Seven` site.
Colin told us that `It’s 100% Madness and 100% Scottish`.
Following on from last week’s issue listing the Complete Madness up and coming gigs, the band had been inundated with e-mails from numerous subscribers. The band are really appreciative of the fantastic response and promised that they would attempt to reply to everyone who’s mailed them in due course.
It’d taken a while, but the ill-updated MIS Online website had finally broken the 5000 hit barrier thanks to the elusive Mr. G.
Here’s the man himself;
“I was wondering if I get a prize for being the 5000th hitster to your MIS Online website?”.
Unfortunately, apart from having the accolade of being the 5000th visitor, we didn’t have anything to give him.
Way back in 1986, Madness took part in Denmark’s “Roskilde Festival” where they played their set in the rain in front of thousands of adoring fans. At this moment in time the bands for the 2000 festival are were still be sorted out, and one Danish Maddie, Johan Edgren had decided that Madness MUST be persuaded to return. The organisers were currently compiling all suggestions sent in and would attempt to contact any bands who received enough votes as a result of their internet poll.
Onto video news now, and we were recently informed that during last year’s `Maddest Show on Earth` tour, a certain Mr. Lee Thompson was out and about capturing video footage with the idea of uploading it to the official website sometime in 2000. The film contained footage of the tour, both on stage and behind the scenes. Footage of the soundcheck at the Bournemouth gig had been shot, and a number of fans were filmed by Lee holding banners which read “We want Lee for our leader”.
On to this week’s articles, and we started off by taking a look at issue 5 of the Mad Not Mad fanzine, and explained why you should invest in a subscription. Moving on, and we had a look at merchandise for Madness tribute band One Step Behind, and why you should really think about adding their bits to your collection.
A new Madness rarities album was the order of the day elsewhere in this issue. Entitled ‘First Step Beyond’, this unofficial release contained tracks that any self discerning Madness fan would want to add to their collections. Limited to 1000 copies, and no re-runs in the pipeline, this was one album you’d be wanting to track down as soon as possible.
We finished off this week’s issue with news from Mark Bedford. Mark had been kind enough to dig out the contact details of Winterland, the company behind the merchandise from the recent Christmas tour.
Many of you had asked how you could get hold of items that were originally on sale at the Maddest Show on Earth tour, and Mark was only too happy to help.
Rob Hazelby
SPECIALIZED – SIGNED 80’S MADNESS T-SHIRTS, AUCTION AND MINI ALBUM
and donated by Lee Thompson. All proceeds to teenage cancer trust
Current bid £300
January 27th is the final date for the auction.
https://www.facebook.com/events/846342132088636
PLEASE POST ANY BID AS A NEW COMMENT AT THE ABOVE PAGE.
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Out Monday!
The NEW MADNESS mini album
THE SPECIALIZED SESSIONS-WOLFMAN RADIO SPECIAL
New recorded versions of some Madness classics that were recorded especially on the Wolfman radio “48 Hours to Ska ” radio fund raising marathon back in 2014. All proceeds to Specialized in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust.
…
http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/specialized3madnotcancer
Paul Willo
THAT FACEBOOK
Items of interest from Facebook that have caught our interest…
Chrissy Boy
Speaking on a thread in The invaders Facebook page, about Madness not being nominated for a Brit Award in 2015 or ever…
“It’s an industry award. Not worth getting all hot and bothered about. It’s never bothered me”. CB
Perhaps it’s time the Give Madness a Brit Award campaign draws to a close?
TIME…
As another issue of the MIS draws to a close we go out with a few small nuggets of Nutty news…
First-up…
With recent birthdays for both Carl and Suggs this week, Radio 2’s Chris Evans played One Step Beyond as a celebration.
And finally…
This week the Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra performed a corporate gig at the Grange Hotel in St Pauls. Darren Fordham posted about what an honour ts was to sing a couple of Madness tunes with the band for a change at this event. It Must Be Love, Embarrassment, Night Boat, and Madness were the tracks performed.
And with that, we’re done.
Until next week, have a good one,
The Author
