Hello, Good Evening and Welcome
We begin this week’s edition of the MIS with big news for you record collectors as our favourite band will taking part in this year’s Record Store Day. 2019’s RSD takes place on the 13th April.
This year’s RSD release by Madness will be a Nutty Train shaped vinyl featuring the original 7” version of One Step Beyond, the 2009 remastered version, plus Italian and Spanish versions of the track.
This release is bound to sell out on day one, so please check out our “Buy it” section for more information and a link to participating retailers.
Aside from this, it’s another quiet news week in the world of Madness, and as such there’s little for us to report on, unfortunately.
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
Further information at http://www.madness.co.uk/live/
40 Years of Madness – 2019
May
17th – Aintree Racecourse
18th – Uttoxeter Staffordshire
25th – Ffos racecourse – Trimsaran Kidwelly
24 – 26th – Tunes in the Dunes, Peranporth Beach, Cornwall. (Madness appear on the Sunday.)
31st – Docklands, Limerick

June
1st – Dublin
2nd – Waterford, Day Tripper Festival
7th – Market Rasen, Lincolnshire
8th — Chepstow racecourse
9th – Carlisle, Bits Park
15th – Kenwood House, Hampstead. This Massive North London home coming gig for Madness XL features a full scale orchestra with the band.
16th – June – Isle of Wight Festival
21st – New Market Racecourse
22nd – Lingfield Park
28th -Franklin Gardens, Northampton
29th – Newcastle Racecourse plate day

July
5th – Port America, Galicia, Spain
6th – Vida Festival, Barcelona, Spain
12th- Taunton, Vivary Park
19th – Scarborough
20th – Doncaster Racecourse
24th – Sanddown Racecourse

August
17th – Newbury Racecourse
18th – Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh
20th – Belfast Custom Square
23rd – Inverness
24th – Montrose – East Links
26th – Clapham Common, XL South London festival. With “Special” Guests.
30th – Wolverhampton

November
Friday 29th – Monday 2nd December – House of Fun Weekender 2019

Buy It
One Step Beyond 40th Anniversary Single ** new **
Special release as part of 2019’s Record Store Day
Format: Shaped picture disc single
Label: BMG
Release date: 13th April 2019
More Info: 2019 marks the 40th anniversary of Madness, one of the most successful and best loved British bands of all time. Formed in Camden Town, North London, in 1976 they have gone onto to release dozens of massive hit singles and albums, selling millions of records in a career that spans five decades and is still going strong. To celebrate their “XL” year, the band are reissuing their first Top 10 hit, ‘ One Step Beyond’ .
As well as the original 7″ single and 2009 remastered version of the album track, this release also contains both the Italian and the Spanish version of the song. The single is presented as a very special, limited-edition shaped picture disc with the A side image of the band performing their iconic “Nutty Train” dance.
For more information and to find a participating store go to:
https://recordstoreday.co.uk/releases/rsd-2019/madness/?fbclid=IwAR3aN4hlsNj7HbbrpURgLtI3PuxjqR7DWKaXFgJH0H0clJIZc5J81N0PyTI

Before We Was We: The Making of Madness by Madness
The band’s first official book.
Release date September 26th. Pre order on Amazon at https://amzn.to/2SacSI1

Madness FC T-Shirt (and free badges, while stocks last)
Madness FC Sport Grey T-Shirt
“Hi, we’re Bands F.C.
The idea is a simple one, that came to us one evening back in July.
Bands as Football Teams, Football Teams as Bands.
We now have over 400 badges, working with friends and guest designers, setting up an exhibition at The National Football Museum in Manchester https://bandsfc.com/”
Bands FC have given a large number of badges to the band to give away on the Sound of Madness tour. So, if you’re buying something before or after one of the gigs don’t forget to pick up your free badge.

New Arrivals at The Madstore
If you missed the House Of Fun or you need another fix get your hands on the event range NOW at The MAD STORE with 20% OFF whilst stocks last!
NEW STOCK JUST LANDED!
2018 Christmas Sweaters, track jackets, polos, fez hats, tea towels, badge sets, dekker hats, beanie hats the list goes on….!
Stop by and take a look!
WWW.MADSTORE.CO.UK

Lee Thompson’s One Man’s Madness DVD & CD Soundtrack
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lee-J-Thompson-Mans-Madness/dp/B07CLPCL16/ref=pd_ecc_rvi_2
Lee ‘Kix’ Thompson is a most unlikely character. Early career choices had him spend a year in Borstal. He still hasn’t found the receipt for his first saxophone. Luckily, he met two other unlikely characters: Mike ‘Barso’ Barson and ‘Chrissy Boy’ Foreman, who shared his interests of graffiti, train hopping and music.
One Man’s Madness, a feature length rocku-docu-mockumentary directed by Jeff Baynes, tells the story of Madness saxophonist Lee Thompson, told by Lee and his fellow Madness band mates, his family, friends and musicologists, who strangely all look a little like him! From meeting Barso and Chrissy Boy, and later Suggs, Chas, Woody and Bedders, to becoming one of Britain’s most iconic and successful bands, this joyous and light-hearted film follows the path of Lee’s life through his lyrics and songs, including such Madness classics as The Prince, Embarrassment, House Of Fun, Lovestruck and NW5.
http://amzn.eu/cmeoxvw
Two CD set. Original soundtrack to the 2018 documentary about Madness saxophonist Lee Thompson. Includes tracks from Madness, Crunch, ‘Thommosina Leigh’, Ian Dury, and the Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra. Including Hidden Tracks.

The Silencerz – Better Days CD
https://www.musicglue.com/the-silencerz/products/better-days-cd
Danceable and delightful, this debut album of the band’s much loved original songs pushes on through, breaking the mould of standard ska cover band. Catchy tunes and powerful brass and rhythm section make this a must-listen. Featuring Lee Thompson.

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: 773 – Sunday 2nd March to Saturday 8th March 2014

Unveiled earlier this week was the fantastic new video from the one and only Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra. The video in question was for the Bangarang single mix, and was a visual promo featuring Dawn Penn and Sharon Shannon.
Once again this featured Lee in dual roles, this time as a taxi driving everyman as well as his Madness pop star self.
It was also just over a week until the Bangarang launch gig at Camden’s Dingwalls, and the single was due out later in the month.
Over in Specialized news, we were pleased to announce that “The Specialized Big One 2, Live DVD” had now gone into production. The film makers did it all for free including the editing down of over 60 hours of footage!
Moving on, and in our semi-regular “Tweets of a Dove” section Woody announced;
“Up early tomorrow for the 1st Magic Brothers rehearsal. Mustn’t forget to pack my drum kit.”
Exciting times ahead!
We brought this issue to a close with a heads-up, pointing out that the M section of the Official Madness web site had returned. Those of you who’d purchased the Norton Folgate box set could rejoice as your own private section of the Madness web site had returned.
Delights included “Extra Practice Makes Perfect” tracks from the Liberty era, “Dad’s Desk” live albums from classic year, and the Axecam motion pictures from Madness on “Later…”, before the BBC moved! It’ was all there for those of us in the M circle who had the log-in details from the box sets.
There were even the “Do not Adjust Your Nut Tour “ live downloads archived there, too. You could also find the “Behind the Scenes” of the “Sugar and Spice” video and Ambers mix of “On The Town”, from the original download album.
We suggested you logged in and partied like it was 2009.
10 years ago…
Issue 513 – Sunday 1st March to Saturday 7th March 2009
Those of you who’d stumped up the cash for box sets and/or golden circle Madstock tickets were no doubt feeling a lot more relaxed, following the news that both box set and ticket orders would be honoured, despite the collapse of Trinity Music.
The articles got underway with a transcript of a wonderful interview with Lee Thomson. With this year being not only the 30th anniversary of 2-Tone, but also Madness themselves, the Madness Central team thought it was time to interview our favourite saxophonist, and what a fantastic interview it was.
Next we looked at new releases and re-issues, and gave you the heads-up on how to pre-order the Folgate box set, plus the re-issues of Complete Madness and One Step Beyond. No doubt most MIS subscribers already had the latter two albums, so perhaps it was time to pick up one of these re-issues and give one to a friend who needed some Madness in their life.
Moving on, and when Bristol based ska band, The Communicators, recently released their first album a few weeks back the boys were kind enough to send us in a copy for review purposes. It wasn’t until we plonked the CD on that we realised just what a treat we were in for.
Weighing in at over an hour, and consisting of a whopping 16 tracks, the £11.50 price tag (including postage and packing) made it real value for money – important in these cash-starved times. (even if 10 minutes was ‘hidden track’ silence).
We finished the review by commenting that the album was “an absolute cracker”, and stating that “If you want to support a band that’s trying to make a real name for itself, then you could do a lot worse with your £11.50 than spend it on this album”.
Oz-based Madness news was the subject for our next article, as we reported that tickets were starting to go on sale for the Australian tour, which would kick off towards the end of March, and run into April. Tickets were bound to sell out fast!
On to Madness tribute album news now, and with the release of the French Madness 30th Anniversary album getting that bit closer Jean-Pierre Boutellier got in touch to reveal the (almost!) finilised track listing. Roll on the release date!
We brough this issue to a close with the news that Bristol based Ska band The Communicators, were looking for a replacement trombone player to join their ranks. If you thought you had it you were urged to get in touch.
15 years ago…
Issue 251 – Sunday 29th February to Saturday 6th March 2004
We started off the issue with reminder from Jermaine of Tour Madness, that 20 years today was when a certain Lee Thompson tied the knot with his girlfriend Debbie.
Jermaine also had a request for all MIS readers. Keen to flesh out the Crunch!/Nuttyboys section of Tour Madness, he was after any reviews of their gigs – particularly gigs at The Dublin Castle which took place on Saint Patrick’s Day 1996, and March 15th and May the 3rd 1997.
Moving on, and we had news in from the official Jools Holland web site, informing us that on Thursday the 1st of April Suggs would be taking to the stage of the Royal Albert Hall, in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust. Artists performing with Mr. Holland included David Gilmore, Mica Paris, Marc Almond, Terri Walker, Solomon Burke, Ronnie Wood, Sam Brown, Ruby Turner, Chris Difford, SUGGS, John Cale, Paul Weller, Shane Macgowan & Jamiroquai.
Next-up we had an article from issue three of “Aloah” magazine, which was kindly sent in to us by Tour Madness’ Jermaine. Jermaine pointed out that the article was full of mistakes, so we advised readers to keep their eyes peeled when reading.
Keen to keep readers up-to-date on what North London band, MOT, were up to, we gave a heads-up on their next forthcoming gig, which was at The Bull and Gate. Kentish Town, on Saturday the 6th of March. With tickets priced at a mere £5 it was a real bargain.
We finished of this issue with news of the next ‘Ska Surgery’ sessions, which were due to take place on Thursday the 25th of March and Thursday the 15th of April, at Camden’s famous Electric Ballroom.
Rob Hazelby

Time
And finally…
We’d like to thank those readers who emailed in to point out that we had several typos in our Madness tour dates. We believe these have now been corrected, but should you spot further errors then please let us know.
Those who have spotted the exceptions are now proud owners of a virtual MIS Trainspotters Award.
Until next week, take care,
Jon Young, Rob Hazelby, Simon Roberts, Paul Williams