Madness Information Service Online Newsletter Issue Number: 886 – Sunday 1st May to Saturday 7th May 2016
We begin this May Day Bank Holiday edition of the MIS Online newsletter with the news that Suggs recently posted a short teaser video to his Facebook page to promote the One Man Show Tour he’s currently appearing in.
In this video the great man talks about his school days and Bagg Trousers. The audio’s not the greatest, as both the sound and video seem to have been captured on a mobile phone in large empty room.
Check it out for yourselves by going to:
https://www.facebook.com/thesuggsmcpherson/videos/598044137025572/
Today is also the day that tickets to Madness’ Clapham Common gig “House of Common” increased in price. If you’d held off from purchasing tickets to this August Bank Holiday all day festival you delaying means that you’ll not be paying more money to get in.
Ticket prices are now £47.81 (who comes up with these pricing tiers?!) plus booking fee.
Finally, one interesting snippet in the “Promoter’s Terms and Conditions” section we spotted over on the Ticketmaster web site reads; “House of Common is a multi-act festival and the line up may be changed without prior notice. All acts, including headliners, are subject to change or cancellation at any time without notice. No refund will be owed if any act is changed or cancelled”.
So, although unlikely, if Madness did cancel their slot you wouldn’t be entitled to a refund. That seems rather unfair to us.
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
May
Saturday 21st – Hastings, The Pier
Saturday 28th – Dauwpop Festival, Netherlands (headliners)
More info at: http://www.dauwpop.nl
June
Saturday 25th – Glastonbury Festival, Main Stage
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 * New *
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 4th September -Jersey Live Festival, Jersey
Friday 30th September – Sweden, Grona Lund Amusement Park
November
Friday 18th – Monday 21st – Madness Weekender 6, Minehead
Suggs
May
1st – Crewe Lyceum Theatre
3rd – Liverpool Philharmonic Hall
4th – Sheffield Lyceum
5th – 02 Shepherd’s Bush Empire * Postponed * Venue undergoing restoration
7th – Brixton Jam Rock – Suggs plus guests. Suggs slot confirmed as DJ set.
Tickets: http://bit.ly/TheNextmenSuggs
The Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra
July
Friday 22nd, Hampton Pool Picnic, Supporting The Selecter
August
Thursday 18th, Newham Free Festival * New *
Rhoda Dakar
June
Saturday 18th – 100 Club London
(Also appearing at The London International Ska festival, Glastonbury, & European festivals this year)
Near Jazz Experience
August
Tuesday 3rd, Near Jazz Experience + Support + DJ, Indo, 133 Whitechapel Road, London, E1 1DT. 8pm. Free Entry * New *
The Silencerz
June
Friday 10th Bull Theatre, Barnet * New * (note, this does not list Lee Thompson as appearing)
The band have also recently set up their own Twitter account. Follow the, @The_Silencerz
WIN IT
Win Suggs Tickets
Like and share a post over on Suggs’ official Facebook page for a chance to win tickets to his One Man Show. At the same time you’ll will be helping the big man promote the forthcoming dates into the bargain.
https://www.facebook.com/thesuggsmcpherson/
BUY IT
Deluxe edition of The Lone Ranger.
https://www.discogs.com/Suggs-The-Lone-Ranger/release/8172245
A Deluxe Edition release of Suggs’ first solo album “The Lone Ranger”.
Originally released in 1995 this much requested reissue is the most comprehensive collection available of the original album and all the related bonus material.
Other bonus material includes the b/sides – ‘Bedazzled’, ‘Animal’, ‘When You Came’ and ‘I Feel Good’. The CD booklet features the original artwork, a UK Discography, lyrics of the original album tracks all in a 16 page colour booklet.
Out now!
Buy it if you don’t have the original classic album or want those original collected B-sides together or if you want Suggs to consider another solo album in future support this release, but if you want it for all the remixes please stop taking E and consult a doctor. Some were as dreadful as the Macarena.
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 song 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/
SIGN OF THE TIMES
Q Magazine – Suggs – The Lone Ranger – Re-issue
Identified with Madness for 40 years Suggs has released only two Solo albums in that time.
The highly Sucessful – Lone Ranger in 1995. and the uncharted 1998 Three Pyramids Club.
The former is the subject of this deluxe edition, which grows from the original 11 to 34 tracks spread across two CDs. Although Suggs Trademark vocals are easily identifiable, The Lone Ranger stands apart from the Madness cannon, and is a terrific pop album in it’s own right, with Sly and Robbie handling production.
It’s accessibility is demonstrated by the fact that no fewer than five of it’s tracks were top 40 hits, the originals Camden Town, The Tune and No More Alcohol were overshadowed by cover versions of songs by two of the most celebrated rock acts of all time. It’s a tough ask to make a success of adaptations of The Beatles I’m Only Sleeping, and Simon and Garfunkle’s Cecilia but Suggs Reggae inflected versions of both made the top 10, and to paraphrase every reality music show judge ever – he made them his own.
Bonus material includes all of the previously hard to acquire single bonus tracks, and a plethora of mixes, including seven of Cecilia alone. A 16 page booklet includes a wealth of background information and a Suggs Discography to complete and excellent package.
A Cuss Cuss Correction
In last week’s issue, in our article on five years of The Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra, we mentioned a new song debuted live by the band at their Boisdale show.
We mentioned the song Cuss Cuss being previously released by Horace Andy, and while this statement was true, and may even have possibly been a source of inspiration, it’s very much worth mentioning that the original artist to first release the tune was Lloyd Robinson.
A 1968 release on Duke Records (Purple lable) was the first instance of the tune in the UK and a similar timed Jamaican release on Harry J. That’s the classic source of this new tune given new life by the boys of the LTSO.
Our thanks to Darren Bennett for his knowledge on this one.
Suggs: My Life at Scarborough Spa
The most compelling thread (among many) running through Suggs: My Life is the sense that here is someone on stage who has had a remarkable life, but is still decidedly one of us.
This was already evident from the wit and lyricism of the songs of Madness. Their direct engagement with the lives of us ordinary people involved reflections on where we live, Our House, where we went to school, Baggy Trousers, and what is of daily importance, It Must Be Love.
Full article at: http://www.thescarboroughnews.co.uk/what-s-on/theatre/review-suggs-my-life-at-scarborough-spa-1-7873516
From Pier to Eternity
Hastings Pier is finally about to re-open six years after it burnt down in 2010 and is launching with a top class list of events.
May 21 will mark the historic moment and not only will we be able to walk again on our pier agaom, but there will be the chance to see Madness, one of British most iconic bands.
The London-based ska band will lead the opening gala as promised by Hastings-born singer Suggs when he visited back in March.
Full article at: http://www.hastingsobserver.co.uk/what-s-on/entertainments/from-pier-to-eternity-1-7349833
LIVE AND INTENSIFIED
A New Tribute Band is Born!
I’m just writing to inform you that a new Tribute Madness band based in Barcelona was founded this year, and a week ago they made his debut in a show here in Barcelona.
They are all members of veteran and recognised Barcelona ska bands like Dr. Calypso (1989 and still active), Mount Zion (90’s ska band), Soweto (1999 and still active) or Discipulos de Otilia (1996 and still active, who played in Glastonbury few years ago).
They sound pretty good, because most of them are solvent music, maybe the strange point for British people could be that the singers don’t have perfect pronunciation.
Anyway, I thought this could be of interest to all Madness fans, and perhaps fellow Maddies could have a nice surprise if they travel to our city.
In their first show they played about 15 classic Madness songs.
Here an example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwWGkDXpHKw
For more info: https://www.facebook.com/BaggyTrousersBCN/?fref=ts
I will be at the Clapham gig, so if MIS are planning a Madmeet perhaps we can meet up.
Nutty regards from Barcelona!
David Gilabert
Madness in Stockholm – Details for Those Attending
Our thanks to Julia and Ray Haywood for the below details…
We are going to this event and had the following from Grona Lund guest relations. Thought it might be useful to post on next MIS
‘Glad to hear that you are coming to Sweden and especially Gröna Lund. I would recommend you to buy the tickets för 110 SEK each, here at Gröna Lund as our webshop only allows purchases with Scandinavian credit cards. Try to come to Gröna Lund as early in the day as you can, we open at 3 o’clock on the 30th of September. We don’t sell specific Concert tickets, it’s the same tickets as always. However, if you enter the park after 6 o’clock you will need to buy a ticket that costs 220 SEK instead of 110 SEK. So the best thing would be if you could come here as early as possible because the ticket price is lower and you will be sure to get in for the concert.
Gröna Lund is located on the island, Djurgården. Take the ferry from Slussen to Djurgården and when you get off the boat you will be right outside Gröna Lund. The ferry leaves from Slussen every 10 minutes and the ride takes 10-12 minutes.
Hope you have a great time at our park!’
Gröna Lund Tivoli
MIS FEATURE – SILENCERZ SINGLE REVIEW
Silencerz – Single Review – Having a Laugh
NEW SINGLE OUT NOW!!
“Having A Laugh” is The Silencerz’ first release and is now available on iTunes and many other digital platforms worldwide! Featuring Mr Lee Thompson (from Madness & The Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra Official) on the tenor saxophone and son Daley Thompson on vocals.
See it and hear it here:
https://www.facebook.com/TheSilencerz/videos/930691737008386/
Buy it here:
https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/having-laugh-feat.-lee-thompson/id1101333956
The prolific Sax Man Lee Thompson appears on another Solo release. This time it’s The Silencerz, that join the likes of Madness, Crunch, Ska Orchestra, The Dance Brigade and many more in being an entity releasing tunes that feature Thommo in full blow.
However, this tune is penned by the band’s guitarist Nick, and features the vocal of chip off the old block Dayley Thompson, both of which really drive this creatively.
Lyrically it’s akin to Madness’ Sun and the rain. It’s a seaside tune with a touch of sods law where rain and sand spoil the day, combined with a hint of falling out with loved ones and stresses to the body. The titled “Laugh” is one of the trials of life. Laugh or cry.
It’s a catchy tune brass lilting, slow but determined tune, Lee appears for a show man flourish solo but it’s Son Daley that carries the song beautifully with a bang on understated and believable performance. It’s well worth a purchase.
Local students helped produce the track. We certainly hope the band’s other original song “Callie Road” gets a similar release.
Jonathan Young
FULL HOUSE OF FUN LINE-UP REVEALED
On Friday, the full House of Fun Weekender line-up for 2016 was finally revealed. If you missed it you can find the full details below…
3 days of Nuttiness. Live bands, DJ’s, comedy and more!
- Madness
- Lightning Seeds
- The Cuban Brothers
- Rodigan’s Ram Jam Foundation Session
o David Rodigan [History Set],
o Bitty Mclean,
o Randall [Jungle Classics Set],
o Kiko Bun
- Craig Charles Funk and Soul Club
o Craig Charles
o Men of North Country
o The Invisible Orchestra
o The Federation of the Disco Pimp
- Wigan Casino Presents
o Russ Winstanley
o The Flirtations
o Alan King
o The Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra
o The Church
o Rhoda Dakar
o Crinkle Cuts
o The Simmer Tones
o Hardwicke Circus
o Big Swing Sound
o Cut Capers
o DJ’s Darren Bennet and Madam Scorcha
o DJ Resbie
o Wedofunk
o Mr. Happy
- Fun Frivolity Merriment and Mirth
o Hip Hop Karaoke
o Mr. B
o Silent Disco
o Reggae Aerobics
o Comedy
o Poetry
o Musical Bingo
o Swimming Pool Party
o Fancy Dress (theme TBA)
Tickets www.butlins.com / 0845 026 1274
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 625 – Sunday 1st May – Saturday 7th May 2011
Half a decade ago, and it was likely that many of you had been watching the Royal Wedding which took place on the Friday before this issue went out. What we wondered, though, was how many of you had caught Suggs on that evening’s street party themed edition of the BBC’s One Show.
Our favourite frontman was one of the guests, but with BBC TV crews hopping back and forth between him and the latest goings-on with the wedding, he had little opportunity to actually get anything across of interest.
Still, any coverage was good, and it was nice to see that Madness (albeit, only Suggs) managed to be part of this historical day.
On to our articles, and we got the issue underway with the news that the Ska Orchestra had become the first band on YouTube viewable in 3D. Well, the first band the MIS team really cared about, anyway!
While the 3D effect was good, we still advised that the best way to see them in 3D was to see them perform live.
Continuing on the live theme, and in our next article we reported that Colin Ross, armed with his trusty camera, had recorded a mass of footage from a recent Ska Orchestra gig which took place on the 16th of April.
Both sound and quality were first rate. This was even more impressive when you considered that he’d recorded it all using his phone while stood in the middle of the crowd.
Moving on, and while the original London run of the Our House Musial was sadly cut short, it was great to see that it was being kept alive by amateur dramatics groups up and down the country.
This week we had news of two new runs of the musical that would be taking place very shortly.
The remainder of this issue was set aside for an absolutely mammoth review of The Ska Orchestra’s recent gig at The London International Ska Festival, courtesy of Jonathan Young. It must have taken him hours to put together!
10 years ago…
Issue 365 – Sunday 30th April to Saturday 6th May 2006
We got this issue off the starting blocks with the news that members of the Madness Trading Ring had been reporting that they’d heard the voice of Chas on a number of commercial radio stations, advertising the recently announced Christmas tour.
So far, reports had come in of adverts being aired on one of Brighton’s local radio stations, Key 103 Manchester, and Virgin Radio.
We hoped that this would not only ensure a decent number of early ticket sales, (always nice for bands and promoters) but also mean that awareness of not only the tour, but the band themselves was given a much-needed shove in the right direction.
On to the articles, and we began with the first part of a radio interview transcript between DJ Chris Evans and Suggs, which took place on Chris’ Radio 2 show on the 4th of February.
Half a decade ago, the MIS web site played host to its very own message forum, and it was this week five years ago where we announced that we’d set up a special sub-folder where the more musically minded amongst you could post links to chords and tabs and also request the help of others in digging them out.
To start things off, co-editor, Jonathan, posted a huge list of Madness tab resources from a number of different web sites.
Next, we went back to the Chris Evans interview with Suggs, where we featured the second and final part of this lengthy, but fascinating interview.
Moving on, and we had a Madness fan in need of some help. Did you remember those awful Pickwick/Hallmark albums from the 70’s and early 80’s. You know the ones that had all the latest chart hits (and the sexy? woman on the front) – but it wasn’t actually the groups singing/playing.
Well, this fan was trying to collect the ones that had Madness songs on them but was finding it impossible to find out exactly what Madness songs were covered.
He was sure of the following four:
One Step Beyond
Night Boat To Cairo
Baggy Trousers
The Return Of The Los Palmas 7
Were there any others? If you knew, we asked you to email in with the the details.
In another section of Chris Evans interview with Suggs, our favourite frontman as asked to answer one word replies to listener email questions, but he had trouble sticking to the rules or even listening to the questions….
As with the interview, we featured a full transcript of this sometimes bizarre, but always amusing, exchange.
We brought this issue to a close by urging you all to get over to the BBC Hampshire web site to register your vote for Orange Street’s World Cup Song. At the time of typing, the band were in the lead with 55% of the votes, but needed your help to make that gap wider.
15 years ago…
Issue 103 – Sunday 29th April to Saturday 5th May 2001
Rob returned from his two weeks in Cuba this week, and started by giving a big thank you to Jon for a fantastic job of running the good ship MIS during his absence.
Readers would be pleased to learn that this wouldn’t be the last they’d hear of Jon, as he would be jumping aboard on regular occasions to help out with articles, or entire issues when Rob was away.
Following the announcement that the much-anticipated Madness book from Adrian Thrills would no longer be seeing the light of day, a number of TMML subscribers had been trying in vain to find out just why the publishers had decided to can it. Virgin Publishing had been very cagey with regards to giving reasons why, but MIS and TMML subscriber Becky Lane revealed that she was informed that one or two people in the band were not happy with certain things. A release by another publisher also looked unlikely.
Over to Crunch! now, and you’d be pleased to know that Jerney and Bex had just finished putting together the first edition of the unofficial fanzine, `Saints and Sinners`. A years subscription would be £8, and for that you’d receive 4 issues of the mag, news for gigs etc. If you were interested in becoming a member, you just needed to drop them an email.
On to the articles, and what had the legendary Suggs and teenage pop sensation, Britney Spears got in common? Not much really, but the BBC music show, `A Question of Pop` was given `Heat` magazine’s `Pick of the Day` for Saturday where he was shown wearing an `interesting` Britney Spears T-shirt! Some people just had no taste!
We had some possibly tragic news from the tsmadness.co.uk website which was currently hosting a video clip taken from the newsroom of BBC South East.
Rumours were abound that the legendary `Electric Ballroom` may be heading for closure if one of the plans for the re-development of Camden’s London Underground station got the go ahead.
We had very little to go on, but asked that if anyone had any further information on this to please get in touch with us.
Over to the plans for the forthcoming Madmeet, and organiser Chris Mountain reported that a the meet web site was now up and running, and listing all the details you needed for your weekend away.
The only thing left to upload was the list of people who were going, along with new additions to the auction list.
It was on to a transcript from The Radio Times, as Suggs spoke to David Gillard, where he described his kind of day. We had a chance to read about his bungalow in Whitstable, his regular writings in the mornings, work as ambassador of charity Water Aid, and what he does for relaxation.
We passed things over to Jon Young for the next article, as he reported that every year Record Collector magazine, the bible for most collectors of Records and music memorabilia, had a readers poll. The readers send in a ranked list of their most collected artists. These votes were then counted and made up the Top 500 collectable artists list.
This year Madness came in at number 89 out of the 500 listed most collected artists in the UK. The Beatles are always at number one. With Queen, Rolling stones, Elvis etc making up the top ten.
Here’s how the band ranked in earlier years:
May 2001 – 89
April 2000 – 73
May 1999 – 212
May 1998 – 128
May 1997 – 77
May 1996 – 111
We brought this issue to a close by stating that it seemed very unlikely that a Madstock would take place this year. Although rumours had been doing the rounds, we felt it was too late to get one announced and tickets sold this close to the summer months.
However, we did hope we were wrong.
Rob Hazelby
TIME…
We bring this week’s issue to a close with an interplanetary video message from the one and only Suggs to British Astronaut Tim Peake;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oKDixOlx2PY
Enjoy the remainder of your Bank Holiday Weekend.
Until next week, take care,
Jon Young, Rob Hazelby, Simon Roberts, Paul Williams
The Author
