We begin this issue with more Covid-19 related news, unfortunately. We’d predicted further gig cancellations in the “Time” section to last week’s issue, and sadly we’ve been proven correct.
The latest gigs to be cancelled are 13th July at Westonbirt Arboretum, Tetbury and 20th July at Thetford Forest, Suffolk. These two concerts will not be re-scheduled and those who purchased tickets are entitled to a refund. Check out our “Sign of the Times” section for more information regarding these two events.
On to much happier news now, and during the week the one and only Nick Woodgate posted over on Facebook that he’ll be bringing out a mini album to stream on June 5th. The album will be called “Indie Love” after a track on the album. Nick tells us that the title track “Indie Love” will be released as a single in the next week.
Naturally, as soon as we have further information we’ll be sure to let you know. In the meantime, check out his https://thejojomanband.com/ web site.
We continue with the upbeat news as this week a certain Lee Thompson made the most of his forced time at home by uploading the first, in what we hope will be a series, or saxophone tutorial videos. Check out our MIS Feature for further details on this which is accompanied by a massive transcript of an interview Lee gave to Barnet Radio while self isolating. Our thanks go to Nicky Elkins for sending this in.
So, without further ado, let’s get on with the issue.
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.
16th – The Courtyard, Herefordshire’s Centre for the Arts
17th – Bristol, Royal Redgrave Theatre
19th – Exeter, Corn Exchange
20th – Westlands, Yeovil
21st – Aldershot, Princes Hall
22nd – Hertford Theatre
23rd – Forum Theatre (Malvern Theatres)
24th – Warrington, Pyramind and Parr Hall
25th – Lythan St. Annes, Lowther Pavilion
27th – Hexham, Queens Hall Arts Centre
28th – Dundee Rep Theatrre
29th – Aberdeen Music Hall
30th – Edinburgh, The Queen’s Hall
The Sliencerz
May
30th – Bull and Gate, Barnet
Buy It
Record Store Day – Work Rest and Play ** revised date **
Release date: Moved to 20th June (was 18th April)
Format: Double 7″ single
Cat No. BMGCAT430DSV
Overview:
Fortieth anniversary re-issue of Madness’ “Work Rest & Play EP” – the follow-up to their debut album, 1979’s “One Step Beyond…”
Limited edition Record Store Day 2020 release on double 7” format with a triple gatefold sleeve including photos from the time of the original release.
Track listing:
Side One
Night Boat To Cairo
Side Two
Deceives The Eye
Side Three
The Young And The Old
Side Four
Don’t Quote Me On That
Record Store Day – Dance Craze 40th Anniversary Edition ** revised date **
This is a new half-speed master exclusively for RSD and part of the Two Tone Records 40th Anniversary celebrations. This is a soundtrack to the live movie of the same name featuring exclusive live recordings by The Specials, Madness, The Selecter, The Beat, Bad Manners and The Bodysnatchers. This is also first vinyl repress since its original release in 1981.
This week, MIS co-editor Rob Hazelby goes back in time to report on what was going on in the world of Madness 5, 10, 15 and 20 years ago this week.
5 years ago…
Issue Number 830 – Sunday 5th March to Saturday 11th April 2015
Our regular “Sign of the Times” section was full of Suggs related news this week as Suggs spoke to the North Wales Pioneer web site ahead of the band’s Rhyl show. Suggs commented at the time;
“In England alone there are probably 20 more festivals than there were when we began. You are playing to audiences who are there not just to see you. So through that we have managed to accrue a whole new generation by playing 40 or 50 festivals over the past 5 years. It’s been very flattering and marvellous to see so many different age groups enjoying the band. We are looking forward to this on the tour – people of all ages.
I think the reason we endure is that we genuinely do enjoy ourselves. From the very beginning you could see the joy in the early videos we made and hear it in the records. The fact that we were friends before this band started is key.
I genuinely think the whole spark or art of craft and creativity was a by-product of our friendship. I think that’s what people feel. It’s a genuine experience. It’s not manufactured.”
Also in this section Suggs talked to Robert Elms about his mum hanging out with Tornado Jones, pancreatic cancer charity work and sabbaticals from Madness.
Moving on, and with April 1st just gone by our “MIS Feature” covered some of the amusing Madness related April Fools pranks we’d seen posted online. Some were more believable than others.
Next, and we passed the reigns over to Mark Adamson who was kind enough to bring us a review of the recent Clang Group gig which took place in Soho on the 27th March.
Finally, in Tweets of a Dove Chris spoke about the original “pork pie hat” M logo and the new “crown” logo;
“Ok I could never stand the original naff pork pie hat drawing but I understand why so many people love it and have tattoos etc and I love you all. But we had to get shot of it. The actual logo is the “M” itself.” Chris said…
“I thought the pork pie one was not much cop from day one, however it has been drawn. If you put the “official” one up, the fans will say the same thing. I know everyone loves it – but there you go. That’s show business. The M logo was based on a picture of Chas (not used) from the photos taken for the back cover. (This was inspired by the photo called “Paul Hangs Loose” , back cover of Kilburn and The Highroads album ) He was squatting very low and had a pork pie hat on. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise!”
“The Crown “M” was drawn by myself using Claris Works on an Apple Mac way back. We actually didn’t have a copy of the logo and the band thought the old M was a bit badly drawn. The crown was added and is sometimes too large. Zzzzz”
10 years ago…
Issue Number 570 – Sunday 4th April – Saturday 10th April 2010
Although there wasn’t too much going on with the band that was public knowledge we’ve still had a packed issue for you.
First-up, and Chris and Emma brought news of the latest offers from Retro Madness. With the Our House Musical being staged at a number of venues up and down the country they decided to coincide their price reductions with items from the original theatre run.
Elsewhere, we had an article from the This Is Somerset.co.uk web site, reporting on Madness’ forthcoming appearance at this year’s Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza, and if that wasn’t enough, we brought you news from The Guardian, who revealed plans of a new Specials album in the pipeline.
Alongside that little lot we also took our regular lookbacks when we went back 5 and 10 years in our regular That Was The Week That Was article, and brought this issue to a close with the news that on the previous Wednesday, Suggs and Sir Cliff appeared on BBC Radio Merseyside to talk about the forthcoming Everyman fundraiser to commemorate the life of band member Eric Shark who passed away on the 7th of January.
Suggs talked about the band’s influence on music and there was also discussion about the songs he might sing!
15 years ago…
Issue number 308 – Sunday 3rd April to Saturday 9th April 2005
We started off this week’s issue with a massive review by Jonathan Young following Crunch’s recent gig at The 100 Club. The band performed an 18-track set, with 2 extra tracks for an encore.
Supported by Jag and Stiff Naked Fools, Jon commented that both were excellent, and that it was a fantastic gig and a top night.
Moving on, we took a look at the ever-growing archive section of the MIS web site. We’d now added another 3 gigs to our audio section, and a couple of bootleg DVD rips to our video download section.
The main purposes of the MIS downloads section were to give fans access to hard to find audio and video recordings, and at the same time stop the pesky bootlegger from making money. After all, why pay for an unofficial recording when you could download it from the MIS site for free?
With things being a little quiet we decided to look at a new Ska / Reggae album that had recently gone on sale over at 101cd.com. Entitled “Original Reggae / Ska Album”, this 20 track CD featured some absolute classics, and at a mere £5.99 was a total bargain.
We then passed things over to Steve Bringe as he cleared things up regarding “How well Madness releases did in the US”. Steve listed both album and single releases, detailing the peak position and number of weeks in the chart – all essential reading for the Madness stat anorak out there.
20 years ago…
Issue number 46 – Sunday 2nd April to Saturday 8th April 2000
We started off this issue with the sad news that Ian Dury had passed away on the 27th March.
Almost as soon as the news was announced on UK television and daily newspapers, words of tributes began flooding onto `The Total Madness Mailing List`. Many people just trying to put their thoughts into words, whith others letting us all know just what made `Uncle` Ian such a great man, giving us all `reasons to be cheerful`.
Meanwhile, the TMML’s Simesy had been in touch with Martina at the Cancer Bacup Charity which Ian Dury pledged his support. Simsey gave us details of how you could all donate to this more than worthwhile cause.
Martina told us at the time:
“Ian was a truly remarkable person who has helped our charity in so many ways – primarily by just being himself – a very warm and caring individual. He will be greatly missed by all in CancerBACUP, especially those who have worked with him on so many occasions over the past few years”.
The BBC re-ran the excellent Ian Dury documentary to mark his passing.
Here’s what Vince Foley had to say at the time:
“BBC2 are just after showing a replay of the wonderful insight into Dury. What was significant though was a very humble and sincere forward from Suggs. In a denim jacket, the man himself paid tribute to Ian and said that he was an inspiration. Singing in his own accent, speaking about things he knew inspired Suggs to write his first proper song ‘Baggy Trousers’.
Anyway he finished by toasting a drink to Ian ‘wherever you are’….Nice one!”
On a slightly jollier note, TMML subscriber, Suggsylia, reported that;
“London’s Design Museum is going to play host to an exhibition of Doc Martens boots, including one pair signed by Madness.
The exhibition is on from March 30th till May 8th”.
Remember the Madness documentary that the BBC had been putting together as part of the `Young Guns` series? Well, Chris Carter-Pegg reported that the date of airing had been put back again. The show now looked likely to see the light of day around September.
You may recall that in last week’s edition of the MIS, it was reported that Madstock 5 was looking doubtful? Well, this week it seemed that the situation has changed yet again. Here what Simon Roberts had to say;
“Madstock 5 is closer than ever. The Mean Fiddler have just booked the Fleadh @ Finsbury Park for the 10th No ugly roomer…… Madstock 2000 is on it’s way …Sunday 11th June 2000.
Wait and see.. tickets should go on sale within a week”.
Last week Scatty announced he was trying to organise the world’s very first Madness convention. He had ideas, and a pencilled-in date. All he needed was some feedback and some support. Well, since last week Scatty reported that, “I have had nothing but help & interest from so many people”.
Since the unfortunate passing of Ian Dury, Scatty had decided that this would be a charity event, with all proceeds going to the ever so worthwhile Cancer Bacup. The date of the event had now changed to Saturday the 10th of June. Yes, the day before Madstock 5.
Scatty was currently in touch with a support band, and was also on the look-out for people to set up stalls selling Madness and Madness related merchandise.
To cover any costs, tickets would be on sale for the event, but a price had yet to be finalised.
Scatty also told us that a website should be up and running within the next week or so with contact information, details of what was planned, and accommodation details as well.
With the sad news of Ian Dury’s departure, this issue had a number of Dury related articles throughout the usual Madness related news and information. Vince Foley returned with a wonderful tribute to Ian and puts into words what we’ve all been feeling over this past week.
There was also a small selection of some of the best articles to appear since Ian’s sad death for those of you who didn’t manage to catch them when they were first published.
Elsewhere, and Total Madness Mailing List subscriber, Colin Galbraith gave us a review of George Marshall’s excellent Madness book, `Total Madness`, Wozza revealed that a new promo CD was currently doing the rounds and that a world tour may be on the cards, and Peter Gardner reported on what tracks may be appearing on this re-mastered version of Divine Madness.
Rob Hazelby
MIS Feature
Lee Starts Sax Lessons for Those in Isolation and Speaks to Barnet Radio
To pass the time Lee has been making some Sax lessons. Lee says 0 to 10 year old children could do this with their eyes closed!
First up is an introduction to the tenor sax. Once all these are done, I’ll upload them to the website.
Please feel free to share.
Simon Roberts
Already, people are asking “Where is lesson 2?”. We’ve been informed that Lee is working on it and it’ll be made available as soon as it’s completed
Lee also spoke to Barnet Radio while in isolation. Our thanks go to Nicky Elkins for transcribing the below.
Interviewer: Where abouts are you?
Lee: Hello Rebska long time no see. Where am I at the moment, I’m somewhere on the south coast, self isolating with wife and we’re getting a bit of a system going but it looks like we’re going to be here for at least until the end of April
Interviewer: How are you?
Lee: Yeah doing pretty well at the moment. We just got back from… we went to Bali for several weeks and stopped off in Dubai to do a Madness gig but whilst out there the band were told to stand down as there were no flights into Dubai. So it just meant a few extra days at the swimming pool bar along with some Scousers turned up, some Liverpudlians got a flight in somehow as did several other people, some from Portsmouth and a couple here and there and they were a bit disappointed, but I sort of tried to entertain them. I um just wanted to get home pretty sharpish, I think I’d spent enough time twisting by the pool I wanted a bit of rainy cold windy grimy ting.
Interviewer: How are you passing time?
Lee: I’m getting a bit of a system going. I’ve got my saxophone with me, my little baby, a couple of decks of cards, a chess board, a self playing chess board, I’m doing plenty of walking. I’m basically up breakfast, wash, 5km walk, back, breakfast, catch up on the news, and then what do we do, oh yea practice for an hour and a half and then lunchtime and after lunch we are playing a little bit of chess, I have a little read.
I tell you what, that Before We Was We book ain’t bad. What do I do then oh yea scratch me Rolex, have a bit of a nap, have I done lunch? I dunno if I’ve done lunch anyway you know the score, try and do a bit of writing. I know at 3.00 we stop for a tea break and another little game of cards or something, ker plunk, I like ker plunk and twister, hahaha, don’t it hurts. And then the same old thing again it’s mind boggling.
At some point we have dinner somewhere around there, it’s nice to prepare dinner I made a lovely soup the other day, I haven’t made soup for over a year. We usually go for the chicken in a carton thing from Sainsbury’s, but I’ve made a truckload of it, it’s filled up the freezer, need to buy another freezer pop it in the front room, I mean the rest if ‘em are doing it why shouldn’t we.
With dinner we have….we try to distance ourselves in the local store, pick up a crate of wine, well alright two crates of red wine, polish off one of those watch a film and round about 10.30 bed. And then the same thing the following day. In a strange way I’m quite enjoying it but I don’t have to go out to work
Interviewer: Any plans to meet up with the band?
Lee: No plans really to meet up with the band, we were supposed to be going into rehearsals working on new songs like now, it’s been put off till further notice, last I saw the band was at a session over in east London somewhere. We had a brief chat about upcoming events, or not. I’ll probably meet up with them next… um hopefully the end of April but if not the other side of summer.
Interviewer: What are you missing most?
Lee: I suppose what I am missing the most is my two sons Kai and Daley who are supposedly self isolating. I hope the are, I’ve told them time and time again. I think it’s finally drummed in.
Daley’s is working for a building firm but he’s packed up on Tuesday, which is like a couple of days ago. Kai’s visiting the odd person but keeping his distance, I hope. Obviously my daughter Tuesday and especially very much the grandchildren.
I’m doing some, to soak up a bit of time I’m doing some sax lessons, tenor sax lessons which I’m sending off to my grandson Raphe, I might even put it up on my Ska Orchestra site which a pal Simon Roberts is running.
Interviewer: What’s the first thing you will do when this is over?
Lee: Well, once the dust has settled I’ll be straight round gathering my family, all the family and sit round having a catch up and a little tipple and a meal and probably I’d like to do something for the NHS, they’ve been absolutely brilliant. That gesture, that donation that James McAvoy made to the NHS was so inspiring. Yea I’m going to dip in and put…what was the website, NHS Masks, I’m going to get on that and make a little donation.
What else, oh yea head over to Kite Hill take a wander up there and see what’s going on down in the City from the views there . I recon there’s going to be a big old change, the new world order. It’ll be interesting to see what the fallout’s like, the statistics. I’m sure it will change, for the better, we hope
Interviewer: What have you got in the pipeline?
Lee: Ooh in the pipeline. I’ve done an advert for hearing aids for Boots now they want me to do an advert for Viagra – well it’s in the pipeline, let’s put it that way, get it.
Kai’s really interested in doing events, he’s had a go at a few, mainly The Silencerz , a band my son’s in and various others and also for the Ska Orchestra, they’ve gone pretty well, it’s all very local and it’s good for him and I’d really like for him to set up a gig in aid of the NHS and frontline workers, you know, give a bit back. We’ll see but we’re working on it now but of course everything’s in lockdown but that’s the little bit of light at the end of the tunnel
Interviewer: What music are you listening to now?
Lee: What music am I listening to, well on the radio I’ve tuned into this radio station that’s called Angel Vintage and it plays like George Fornby stuff and any old iron it’s music from um….they had a recording the other day of a lady singing, it sounded really modern but it was recorded in 1915, when the troops came marching home type song, obviously WW1 had just kicked in and it was a song about that. Really interesting station. I’m locked into that at the moment.
But otherwise I’m really into David Bowie at the moment again, that’s come back round, some do wap and a little bit of Bluegrass, so I’m sort of going back to come forward. It’s enjoyable I’ve obviously got a lot more time to have a listen to the radio.
Anything else, a bit of Crowded House and some more up-to date stuff that I can’t think at the moment
Interviewer: What’s your favourite gig in the 40th year or just in general?
Lee: My favourite gig would have to be the first Madstock performances, they were phenomenal, I mean it was a tear jerker, a goose pimpler, hairs on end, could not…just the reception we got was second to none, was really a joy, that still puts butterflies in my stomach just recalling some of the memories of that.
The most frightening gig was recently at the Electric Ballroom. I was very, very nervous and again the butterflies were kicking in. I think it was mainly because I hadn’t put enough work in rehearsal wise, a lot of distractions going on but I’ll make sure that hopefully won’t happen again if and when
Sign of the Times
All Forest Live 2020 events are cancelled
(This covers 13th June at Westonbirt Arboretum, Tetbury and 20th June at Thetford Forest, Brandon, Suffolk)
We are sorry to have to inform you that we have cancelled all Forest Live 2020 events to keep everyone safe in line with current government guidance on the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak.
We really hope that everyone’s support to fight COVID-19 means the situation will have improved by the summer however, as well as our valued customers, we work with a large number of volunteers, artists and contractors, to make these concerts happen and have taken this decision in the interest of safety for everyone involved.
Unfortunately, it is not possible for us to reschedule our concerts this year. We will be automatically refunding you the face value of your tickets, excluding booking fees, in line with our terms and conditions. *
If you purchased tickets via Forestry England Box Office: Refunds will be automatic. You do not need to make contact with us to obtain a refund. We will send a further email when refunds have been completed. We ask for your patience at this busy time.
If you purchased tickets via one of our approved ticket agents: the agent will contact you directly and issue your refund.
Please accept our sincere apologies to everyone who was hoping to see a Forest Live 2020 show. We were looking forward to welcoming you into forests across England to see some incredible live music.
Income from our Forest Live concerts goes towards looking after the nation’s forests in a sustainable way, to help make them beautiful places for people to visit, trees to grow and wildlife to flourish.
Thank you for your continued support and we look forward to welcoming you back to Forest Live in 2021.
If you do need to contact us, please email boxoffice@forestryengland.uk and the team will respond as promptly as possible. Unfortunately, due to remote working arrangements, our phone line is currently unavailable. Your understanding is appreciated at this time.
*The booking fees cover Box Office administrative costs including staffing, office costs, software systems, payment processing, ticket stationery and postage.
Time
We bring this week’s issue to a close with a post from the official Madness Facebook group which appeared earlier today;
“Night Boat To Cairo entered the UK Top 10 on April 6th 1980… oh how 40 years flies.
We’ll be posting something Night Boat related every day for a week to hopefully bring a bit of cheer to your ‘ouse.
The original Night Boat video has been remastered and can be watched in HD on our Youtube channel, the quality is so good it’s almost impossible to tell that it wasn’t actually shot in Cairo.”
