As we recently mentioned, Thommo’s film project “One Man’s Madness, A RockuMockuDocumentary”, is now live on Pledge Music
Lee Thompson’s comedy life story film, featuring multiple mad Lee performances, and starring all of Madness and many more well-known voices, is nearly complete and coming out this year. All that remains to make this possible if for your to pledge and help complete the project as planned.
The film was first teaser trailer previewed at last year’s House of Fun weekender to outstanding acclaim and fan reviews. The full-length comedy film is available to pre-order now in multiple DVD editions. Including limited collector editions.
T-shirts, Badges, Mugs, rare memorabilia and meet and greet opportunities are also available. Check out the full details through the link at the top of this section.
Tickets for the Camden Dingwalls gig on October 1st are now online, too. Two premier advance screening nights with Lee appearing and Q and A sessions will take place. We’ll be attending the Matinee screening and will see you for “One Man’s Mad Meet”, at The Dublin Castle.
Share this news far and wide for your favourite flying sax man. Let’s get this project fully funded!
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 2017
Sunday 2nd July – Spiritland Talks – Madness Q & A ** SOLD OUT **
An advanced test screening version of the new Mockumentary comedy and life story film, hosted by Lee with A Q&A after the film and a special performance.
Lee Thompson Needs you to Pledge and Share Now ** New **
As we recently mentioned, Thommo’s film project “One Man’s Madness, A RockuMockuDocumentary”, is now live on Pledge Music
Lee Thompson’s comedy life story film, featuring multiple mad Lee performances, and starring all of Madness and many more well-known voices, is nearly complete and coming out this year. All that remains to make this possible if for your to pledge and help complete the project as planned.
11. Oranges And Lemons Again – Jools Holland & Suggs
12. No More Alcohol
13. Blue Day (feat. The Chelsea Team) [Stamford Bridge Mix] – Suggs And Co
14. I Feel Good
15. Alright
It collects all 8 of his top 40 singles, adding to that the original “Alcohol” and what was arguably the most like second single, if three pyramids had reached that stage, in “So Tired”
Adding 3 b-sides, the obscure “Same again” to two covers, “I feel good” (James Brown) and “Alright” by Supergrass, to no doubt try and encourage the casual music fan to buy this budget-priced release.
Finally, it pulls the two tracks from Jools Holland and Friends albums. The near single “Oranges and Lemon’s Again” and the more forgotten bouncy “Jack of the Green.”
If you’ve never ventured into Suggs’ solo catalogue it’s got the basics and some flourishes, and it may be a cheap way to pick up on CD some scattered tunes at only a fiver.
I’s the replacement for the deleted Platinum Collection (2007), a compilation that use to house a selection of 20 tracks covering his two albums and is now deleted.
The fact that it appears on the Unassigned label perhaps means Cherry Red aren’t continuing with Suggs after the Lone Ranger 2CD (2016), which could drive people insane with 9 mixes of Cecilia. So, the Six Pyramids Club is perhaps now unlikely to join the 2 CD collections we’ve already got. If you’re a regular fan or collector of Suggs there isn’t much to be excited about with this release, coming as it does in a very plain yellow lettered cover.
Jonathan Young
Sign of the Times
Madness Sax Player Lee Lends a Hand With Pal’s First Album in Aid of Children’s Charity
A MUSICIAN is celebrating his 60th birthday by recording his first album – in aid of a charity set up to help detect rare heart conditions in children.
And Mike Sebbage has enlisted a famous pal – sax player Lee Thompson from Madness – to play on one track.
Mike, of Norrys Road, Cockfosters, will donate the proceeds to Max’s Foundation, set up last year in memory of East Finchley boy Max Schiller, who died at the age of ten from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, a thickening of the heart’s muscle wall.
Mike said: “I have always written songs and decided to do a solo album. I thought it would be nice to do something. It’s pop and soft rock genres.
“I know the family and have helped them with the design of their website.”
The record, called Dreams in my Pocket, is due for release in May or June and will also feature collaborator Ryan Woods. The charity’s website is at http://www.maxsfoundation.org.uk/
Dreams in my Pocket Blog – Lee Thompson and Other Friends Lend a Hand
Monday 30 January 2017
With all of the main instruments down we are just left with a few final bits to do…. the icing on the cake.
We then had the honour of having one of the founder members of “Madness” in the studio with us, saxophonist Lee Thompson. One of our favourite tracks on the album, Solo in Soho, needed something a bit different on the intro and choruses and we thought immediately of Lee’s unique style, it would be a perfect fit!
Sure enough, Lee generously gave up his time to lay down the sax parts for us and they sound awesome… of course!
MIS Feature – Solo in Soho
“Solo in Soho, how low can you go, a one man solo Soho show, oh no”
Why not throw in a polo and make this the worse tongue twister lyric in a chorus ever? It’s hard to take such a song seriously.
Maybe Mike Sebbage isn’t taking it totally seriously either and just having a bit of fun in the studio for a good cause, we think.
An ageing session musician with a few noteworthy collaborations, including a stiff era snowman!, with a denim album cover and guitar rock stylings in an upbeat melody. It falls somewhat in the David Brent direction in its lyrical content about a man’s night out and it’s sheer posey-ness though. Harder to tell what’s supposed to be cool and what’s more tongue in hairy cheek here. We are much nearer a quo-ho in Soho then than the Soho our Suggs has recently put into the poignant Blackbird. This is a light guitar rock song that knows Mr Ray Davies has been this way, and pays homage in its own style as the single protagonist here follows in his footsteps behind the lady that walks like a man. Preferring to remain secret after the encounter with a friendly warning to avoid big trouble in little china town.
Also, the production sounds very late 80’s with its brass stings and extended electric solo’s on guitar, like someone trying to be a Bon Jovi record in their garage. Kix gives it some extra kicks, as expected, he spices up the intro, and gives an embellishment mid-way in but it’s hardly a solo (in solo in Soho) that he gets. The track is too dominated by guitars, brass stings and dad rock to let the sax man fly.
What is clear is that Mike Sebbage is all heart, donating all profit to Max Foundation, seeking to do research for young kids who might die of a rare condition of arterial and muscle wall thickening, that took the life of Max.
That certainly deserves support, and this track and the “Dreams in Pocket” album have that aim. So if you choose to take a wander through Soho and give this tune a listen, if only the once, then it will have been for a good reason.
Here’s an old interview, but one that we don’t think we’ve run before as only on the topic of weddings.
Interviewer: So Suggs, I’ve seen you on the ones and twos before- Have you ever DJ’ed at a wedding?
Suggs: Yes once but I hadn’t been asked to! I nearly ruined my cousin Hector’s wedding entirely because they had hired this awful show band and as at all weddings I’d had a few cold drinks, and took it upon myself to liven up their show a bit. I decided to help the DJ (and band leader) play some tunes but i think I ended up making his life a complete misery that evening. Each time I left the stage to top up my drink, I could see the chaps from this poor band looking at me from afar like “here he comes again..”, and they kept trying to block me from getting back up on the stage! One of my daughters was on her way back from the toilets, and says she heard me on the mic singing ‘living la vida Loca’ before seeing me fall head first off the stage onto the floor! I had a huge carpet burn down the side of my face but the funniest thing about this wedding was hearing someone in the band say “it’s that f**king guy from Spandau Ballet trying to get on the stage again”. So I guess I haven’t DJ’ed officially no.
Interviewer: Excellent. Tell us a little about the music at your wedding, did you use a DJ or have a band?
Suggs: We had a bit of both actually, Anne and I sang a few songs as well. We had a band called ‘Pooky Snackenburg’ who were these buskers I saw in Covent Garden- who actually went on to become quite a big act in a show called Stomp.. and yes we had a DJ who played mostly sixties Soul/Motown- the stuff that I like.
Interviewer: What was your First Dance?
[long pause]
Suggs: Sorry, I thought I’d forgotten but it was ‘Can’t Take My Eye’s Off You’ by Andy Williams.
Interviewer: We recently played at a wedding where the bride and groom were total Madness fanatics and spent the night playing your entire back catalogue! Have you been asked to perform any of your songs at a fan’s wedding before?
Suggs: Firstly I’m sorry you had to play our back catalogue, I wouldn’t wish that on anyone! But yes I always get asked to perform at weddings. I sang ‘ It Must Be Love’ at Zoe Ball and Norman Cook’s wedding and I’ve sang at a couple of close friends’ but I’m not so keen on doing the fans’ to be honest, it’s a bit much. But it’s funny with ‘It Must Be Love’ because it always get’s played at weddings but always at funerals as well strangely enough, I don’t know what that is?
Interviewer: Can you tell us what your top 5 wedding tunes are?
Suggs: Come On Eileen by Dexy’s Midnight Runners.
Maggie May by Rod Stewart & The Faces.
Jailhouse Rock by Elvis.
Night Nurse by Gregory Isaacs.
Can’t Take My Eye’s Off You by Andy Williams (I need it in there to remind me of my first dance)appears on screen, compliment his performance and moments later ask “is that dead Suggs?” as the torchlight reveals him.
It’s worth 50p should you ever find a similar bargain bin or catch the movie on TV someday.
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 684 – Sunday 17th June – Saturday 23rd June 2012
The dust may have settled following the band’s recent Jubilee performance, and although we were no longer drowning in Madness related news articles as we were the previous week, we still had masses of new for you.
And what better way to start the issue than to pass the baton over to the one and only Paul Rodgers for his latest in a long line of Madness Chart Stats, Facts and Figures. So, how did the band’s Jubilee performance help them in the UK music charts? Well, here’s what Paul told us at the time;
“For the first time ever Madness had 4 albums in the top 200: Total Madness 72, Complete Madness 74, Ultimate Madness 154 and Forever Young at 175. Thanks to Music Week magazine’s chart analysis by Monday I also knew that the sales figures were quite healthy. As I’m sure you’re gagging for this information, I’m going to save you from having to ask someone else… “…Madness compilations Total Madness (a re-entry at number 72, 2,231 sales) and Complete Madness (122-74, 2,208 sales)…”
Suggs news, next, and this week the latest phase of his One Man Show grew by two dates, with the addition of two dates at the North Finchley Arts Deport on Tuesday 14th and Wednesday 15th August.
We asked that if you made it along to these two of any of the other shows that you’d consider knocking up a review of the evening and sending it in.
The issue continued with news of further live dates, and this time from Terry Edwards and his Near Jazz Experience. The band were now booked to play at Indo on the 26th June and the 17th July, and also for a free gig at the Exhibition Roadshow, London which was due for the 29th.
Moving on, and it was on to a slice of Lee Thompson news as we reported that our favourite saxophonist has released a new track entitled Legs Eleven. Of this track, Jon Young commented;
“The danceable beat and production of this instrumental track very much reminds me of The Dance Brigade sound, so it would be my guess that it’s been sitting around a while as a track.
It’s got a sax melody vs hammond keys, but also a tuneful whistle too, that carries it along. Think of a more breezy One Step Beyond that is enjoying a bounce on a trampoline on a sunny day, rather than tearing down the high street and you’ll not be far off the sound of Legs Eleven. Which is like the audio equivalent of an admiring glance at a pretty girl walking your way. It a slower cousin of Benny Bullfrog, with just as much puff in it’s chest, and you could hear a marching band do this one no trouble. Starts like it’s going to go into a Kinks afternoon before a reggae drum bounces it into a loop sequence of just over 3 minutes. In and out. Job done.
Then you’ll be whistling it all day. “
We brought this issue to a close with the news that a matinee data has been added to the forthcoming “Charge of the Mad Brigade” Christmas tour. This new date was Saturday 1st December at the Brighton Centre.
10 years ago…
Issue number 424 – Sunday 17th June – Saturday 23rd June 2007
We started off this issue with the exciting news that it was back and better than ever. What? The next Madness Weekender, which was due to take place from Friday 28th to the 30th September 2007, in Blackpool.
Those planning to go were promised a Madness tribute band, a Madness merchandise shop, a fancy dress disco, a Madness quiz, and much, much more – all in aid of the Arlington House charity.
Information and details of how to sign up would be coming soon. In the meantime, you were asked to visit the Weekender’s MySpace page and add them as a friend.
As Arlington House was the nominated charity for the forthcoming Madness Weekender, we continued the Weekender theme with the next article when we took a look at how Madness have been involved with the legendary building and association over the years.
It was over to the forthcoming Glastonbury Festival next, as we reported that Madness and the organisers of the event were hoping to break the world record for the greatest number of people kissing at one time.
According to the reporter at wenn.com, our favourite group would be halting their set at 1:30 am on 24th June, when Suggs would then instruct everyone to start smooching.
Organisers were apparently hoping that up to 30,000 people would take part in the event, and help shatter the current record of 12,800 people kissing at any one time, which was set in Hungary.
After some further research, we discovered that the whole thing was a PR stunt, which was being organised by dating site Match.com
Rumour Mill called for the next article, as Madness Trading Ring subscriber Alan Cahill reported that he’d just heard that Madness would be returning to Belfast this coming December.
He continued by telling us that the band was currently looking to play at Odyssey, which was located on the waterfront.
We did away with the rumours for the next article, as we re-printed the latest official MadBlog, which was announcing a “Win Tickets to Knowsley Hall” competition. All you had to do was submit your details.
Simple, eh?
Moving on, and it was over to Athens, where the band had recently played. News was thin on the ground, but reports were reaching the MIS stating that there were problems outside the venue at the Ejekt Festival, Athens, which then errupted into the venue.
We just hoped that all peace loving attendees of the gig were ok, and made it home in one piece.
This issue was brought to a close with us reporting that amongst the usual rubbish on TV was a fantastic show called “TISWAS Reunited”, which brought the old presenters together and featured many classic clips.
We didn’t know if the show was going to be re-aired so suggested you checked out TV show rip site UKNOVA, for your fix.
15 years ago…
Issue Number 130 – Sunday 16th June – Saturday 22nd June 2002
Following a rather quiet issue the previous week news items flooded into the MIS mailbox, meaning that issue 130 was a packed one indeed.
News over from the Madness Trading Ring revealed that there were actually two different CD releases of Chas Smash’s World Cup single, “We’re Coming Over” – both featuring slightly different covers. It turned out that the variations were due to some sort of printing error, with a mere 80 copies being printed using black with brown text rather than white with red. No doubt a few of these are now in the hands of the Madness collecting hardcore.
Over the years members of the online Madness community have regularly assisted others who have decided to base items of coursework on our favourite band, but this week the most unusual request so far went out in the issue, when Claire, (we never did find out here surname) a member of a Madness group on Yahoo got in touch and asked for some help. It turned out that her Madness project was attempting to catalogue, photo and host as many Madness tattoos as she could find. The problem was that at present her archive consisted of a mere one solitary entry. We’re not sure how she got on.
Another fan in need of assistance from the rest of the online Madness rabble emailed us this week as he was trying to piece together the lyrics to the unreleased track – ‘Moondance’. This track was previewed in a Select magazine interview in 1992 as being a One Step Beyond style shouting song with a great vibe to it, then later played live at Wembley and Birmingham. The track was dropped after the tour.
Yet more requests for help flooded in, and this time it was from Mr. Smash himself. Carl was after any Madness fans currently living or holidaying in Japan to step up and become a roving reporter for his site for the rest of the World Cup. We don’t know if anyone actually offered their services for this once in a lifetime opportunity, or not.
With the requests for info done and dusted, our main items of news this week was that the ‘Our House’ musical tickets were now on sale via booking-fee-rip-off-merchants ‘Ticketmaster’, with shows up to and including the 21st of December now on sale.
Author John Thorpe got back in touch with the MIS to thank all those people who had kindly offered to co-write his planned Madness book with him. Whilst he was most grateful for the assistance, he was keen to point out that he was finding it hard enough putting the book together on his own without having to try and co-write with another person.
Rob Hazelby
Time
That’s nearly it for this week’s issue.
Please, don’t forget to pop by the Pledge Music web site and help to back the production of Lee’s “One Man’s Madness”.
The beauty of this campaign is that you can help back the project from as little as £5. That’ll bag you either a set of badges or a posh enamel badge. £10 gets you a nice mug for your tea, and for £22 you can get hold of a lovely T-shirt.
There are advance screening passes starting at £25, a one of a kind Lee puppet for £1,000. If you really want to splash out you can even appear in the film if you stump up £3,000.
With numerous other items priced at various levels, there’s something for everyone.
The Dingwalls screenings of One Man’s Madness are billed as featuring a special performance from Lee as well as a Q & A session following the film. Based on discussions late year about this funding campaign, this may take the form of a ‘Lee Thompson & Urchins’ live set, playing music that influenced the subject matter of the movie. Watch this space for more details.
So, what are you waiting for? Visit the site and start shopping/backing!
